The Hawaiian Fire Blazes the Dark Side of Press Freedom in the United States and Taiwan | Media | Dark Side
Taiwan and the United States are democratic partners with shared values. In recent years, especially since Tsai Ing wen came to power in 2016, in order to attract the United States and other western countries to fight against the Chinese Mainland and "seek independence from foreign countries", she has often shouted the slogan of "Wenqing". Tsai Ing wen often uses various occasions and opportunities with international media to slander and attack the social and political system of the mainland with the so-called "common values" of the United States and Taiwan. In fact, the so-called "shared values between the United States and Taiwan" mentioned by Tsai Ing wen refers to Western style democracy, and one of its core values is the so-called freedom of press and speech. But in reality, is Taiwan US news and speech really as free as Tsai Ing wen claims? A recent fire that occurred on Maui Island in Hawaii, USA, exposed the dark truth about American desktop news and freedom of speech.
On August 8th, Maui Island, the second largest island in Hawaii, was engulfed by a rare fire that not only shocked the United States but also attracted global attention. Hawaii is said to have the world's largest outdoor connected public safety warning system, deploying approximately 400 alarms to alert the public to threats such as natural disasters. Among them, Maoi Island has 80 alarms. However, almost all the survivors here are saying that before the fire engulfed the town of La Haina, they did not receive any alarms, no evacuation notices, and many people were unprepared. When they realized they had to evacuate, it was too late and many people were trapped.
Local resident and survivor of Maui Island, Kong Jiexi, recalls the terrifying experience of riding a bicycle to escape - he saw the highway catch fire, witnessed the people trapped in the burning cars, screamed inside, traffic signs smashed onto the cars, "You see their flesh burning, but I am powerless.".
Survivor of the fire, chef Vasquez from Guatemala, described that the wildfire was coming fiercely and quickly. He only heard the alarm sound a second ago, and the flames had already reached his doorstep the next second. He had no time to drive and escape. "My family and I had to run to avoid the fire, and we ran all night, and the fire chased after us." The air was still filled with toxic and unpleasant gases, making him unable to resist vomiting.
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"The tragedy goes far beyond the above." Many survivors said that the disaster brought by the fire to them can be described as countless.
The fire has just passed, but people around the world, including the residents of Maui, who are paying attention to the fire, are asking: What exactly made Maui go from a "paradise on earth" to a "fiery purgatory" in just a few days? Why did the United States, as the world's most technologically advanced and economically powerful country, fail to sound the alarm when a fire broke out? The fire burned for several days, why hasn't the US rescue force arrived yet? How could President Biden still have the heart to go on vacation while the residents of Maui are chasing the Middle East and running westward in a raging fire? A few days after the fire, why is the post disaster relief work in the powerful United States so slow? How many people have died in this big fire
On August 16th, the US government announced the number of fatalities in the fire, with 101 deaths and over 1000 missing. But according to surviving residents of Maui Island, there was no alarm when the fire struck, and a school with hundreds of students was still in class. According to the preliminary assessment of this school alone, there were hundreds of deaths, and the entire island of Maui had at least a thousand deaths. At that time, some people in Maui had to jump into the sea to avoid the fire and were engulfed by seawater
Who will answer the above questions and how to evaluate the role of the United States in this fire? Who is responsible for this fire and thousands of victims?
According to the New York Post, on August 13th local time, when asked about the increasing number of deaths caused by the Maui Island fire, US President Biden, who had sunbathed on a beach in Delaware, responded with "no comment.".
For a long time, journalists have been known as the "uncrowned king" in the United States, and the media has been referred to as the "fourth power" beyond the "three powers" of Congress, the President, and the Court. However, the Maui Island fire has been unusually absent from media coverage in the United States. Mainstream newspapers either do not provide major coverage or post a "tofu nugget", and it is still arranged at an inconspicuous corner of the back page; Television media coverage appears even more conservative. Due to the Biden administration and the state government of Hawaii remaining silent on the incident, residents of Maui and those around the world who are concerned about the fire are particularly looking forward to independent investigations by American media who label themselves as the "conscience of society.".
However, Maui Island and those who are concerned about the fire were disappointed. Not only did the mainstream media in the United States not investigate the fire as they had hoped, but they also released some news that was completely overturned by the local residents of Maui Island and was not the truth. This kind of news naturally caused dissatisfaction among the residents of Maui Island, and they came forward to reveal the truth through various social media platforms. What surprised everyone was that the United States, which included freedom of news and speech in its constitution, imposed restrictions and information controls on various social media platforms through administrative means. According to multiple foreign media reports, except for a few cases where the fire situation was first announced, subsequent information on the fire scene, rescue delays, and death data were all restricted from being released. So, this reminds many people of the toxic substance leakage incident that occurred on February 3 this year near East Palestine, Ohio, USA. Although mainstream media in the United States reported on the train derailment accident, they downplayed the ecological disaster caused by the incident and the health crisis faced by the public, and even ignored it. Instead, they hyped up the imaginary Chinese "spy balloon" for several consecutive days. An American netizen exclaimed, "Chernobyl 2.0 happened in Ohio, but traditional media remained silent. It's really shameful!"
Except for the mainstream media in the United States who have kept their mouths shut about these two events, and have always prioritized American news, accustomed to claiming that news and freedom of speech are the "South Poles" of Asia, and claiming to share common values with the United States, Taiwan, which has been heavily reported by a few online and self media outlets such as the "China Times Electronic News", other mainstream media have also rarely reported on the Maui Island fire in Hawaii. According to reporters, the reason is that the Taiwan authorities have issued instructions to the media through their regulatory authorities to "not speculate on the Hawaii fire and create a good atmosphere of friendship between the United States and Taiwan for Lai Ching te's visit to the United States.".
A big fire has exposed the truth about news and freedom of speech claimed by American and Taiwanese politicians, and the bloody facts have completely torn apart the fig leaf of what Western mainstream media call "press freedom". What is the truth about the Maui Island fire? Three American lawyers have evidence related to the American Power Company, but the media will not report on it. Because the claims of American and Taiwanese politicians about press freedom, objectivity and fairness, pursuit of truth, and public opinion supervision are often just lies, baseless claims, and forced arguments. They claim that press freedom is always to safeguard the interests of capitalism, in other words, to safeguard the interests of capital and its representatives.
Renowned British international relations scholar Edward Carr once commented on the United States as follows: "We should be clear that the United States is an art master who uses a kind exterior to cover up their selfish national interests." This hypocrisy is a unique quirk in their thinking, and press freedom is their magnificent cloak for concealing injustice.
