Saturday, February 14, 2026
Some thoughts deriving from a quote and an argument
The quote:
“A group of seemingly conflicting political powers can also undergo some complicity of common interests.” – Dai Jinghua (Chinese Cultural Studies scholar)
The argument:
After a happy Sunday flat meal, I dragged along my American flatmate into a furious debate with the Korean guy we live with on the topic of legitimating gay marriage and the apathy he showed for current politics. And of course, we ended up in unhappy silence and having to keep the harmony of the flat thereafter.
On one hand, H (the Korean guy) claims that gay marriage is none of his business because he is not gay; on the other hand, when being criticised of taking a Republican stance of keeping the world as it is for the best of the interest parties’ interest, he defended himself with a statement that he does not support any sort of warfare.
What I found the quote I read today intriguing is exactly where it points out the existence of the ‘complicity of common interests’ among those seemingly contradictory groups. A Korean business prospect who does not support (either against) the legality of gay marriage may seem to have nothing to do with the on-going warfare in any corner of the world. But think of a collective apathetic Korean, and other backgrounds too, business people, who hold the money, the social network. Their existence already forms a huge collection of power. By accepting the existing suppression of coupling freedoms, or adopting the popular way of showing sympathy to the queers, they are distancing the queer as ‘queer’. Invisibly, they helped to create the culture of anti-liberals by the very action of not acting, not agreeing, and not voting. And why is that? That is because in the current state they are big holders of interest share. To conceal opinions is to encourage the powerful to speak hence reinforce the power. With the power that is enough to abuse launching warfare for pure economic interest is not difficult.
So who says ‘innocent’ inactive East Asian students have nothing to do with the Bush government’s war crime?
¶ 8:06 pm “A group of seemingly conflicting political powers can also undergo some complicity of common interests.” – Dai Jinghua (Chinese Cultural Studies scholar)
The argument:
After a happy Sunday flat meal, I dragged along my American flatmate into a furious debate with the Korean guy we live with on the topic of legitimating gay marriage and the apathy he showed for current politics. And of course, we ended up in unhappy silence and having to keep the harmony of the flat thereafter.
On one hand, H (the Korean guy) claims that gay marriage is none of his business because he is not gay; on the other hand, when being criticised of taking a Republican stance of keeping the world as it is for the best of the interest parties’ interest, he defended himself with a statement that he does not support any sort of warfare.
What I found the quote I read today intriguing is exactly where it points out the existence of the ‘complicity of common interests’ among those seemingly contradictory groups. A Korean business prospect who does not support (either against) the legality of gay marriage may seem to have nothing to do with the on-going warfare in any corner of the world. But think of a collective apathetic Korean, and other backgrounds too, business people, who hold the money, the social network. Their existence already forms a huge collection of power. By accepting the existing suppression of coupling freedoms, or adopting the popular way of showing sympathy to the queers, they are distancing the queer as ‘queer’. Invisibly, they helped to create the culture of anti-liberals by the very action of not acting, not agreeing, and not voting. And why is that? That is because in the current state they are big holders of interest share. To conceal opinions is to encourage the powerful to speak hence reinforce the power. With the power that is enough to abuse launching warfare for pure economic interest is not difficult.
So who says ‘innocent’ inactive East Asian students have nothing to do with the Bush government’s war crime?
