My Take | It’s toxicity and indecency that is killing Hong Kong
- It seems Hong Kong politics has reached such an extreme that many on both sides have lost all sense of restraint with the family and friends of those in the public eye subjected to doxxing and verbal assaults both online and in daily life
As they say, all is fair in love and war. When you have been engaged in political warfare in the past few years and actively take sides in the political divide one way or another, you paint yourself a target. So, we are all fair game, even when our critics and attackers are not, we think, being fair.
But that doesn’t extend to families and friends. Yes, attack your enemies, but leave their families alone. More specifically, leave innocent families caught up in this in struggle alone.
Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers ejected during chaotic Legco session
But it seems Hong Kong politics has reached such an extreme that many on both sides have lost all sense of restraint. It’s not just a failure of being civil to each other; we have given that up for a decade or two now, ever since lawmakers decided to curse and throw things at each other and government officials.
But it seems we don’t need to be decent human beings any more, so long as our targets are on the opposing side.
When the family of teenager Chan Yin-lam attended her inquest, they were harassed outside the court by several members of the “yellow” or anti-police/government camp.
When pro-democracy activist extraordinaire Joshua Wong Chi-fung recently walked his dog with his mother and girlfriend at The Peak, they were verbally abused for almost half an hour by several people, who actually filmed the whole incident and then put it online.