Supervisory sniper shots violate privacy
A television programme in Ganyu County, Jiangsu Province has exposed 53 officials who played cards and slept during working hours, leading to their being disciplined. The videos were shot by the secret supervisors hired by the county without the knowledge of the officials. Despite the good intention, a comment in the Beijing Youth Daily says that such action involves some legal violations.
Sniper shots are gradually becoming a source of fear for officials, superstars, criminals and even ordinary citizens. Though the practice exposes "inside stories", we must be aware of the fact that we are living in a time of awakening to the rights to human dignity and privacy. There is an increasing conflict between advanced video technology and the public's stress on the right to privacy. The action taken by the Ganyu County, despite its justified purpose, contains violations of privacy, or at least, shows a lack of respect for the right to privacy. Ordinary civil servants are not public figures and should not live under monitoring and peeking cameras.
The practice in the county also invites suspicion of the abuse of public power. In a society ruled by law, the use of public power should be authorized and permitted by laws. The government departments of the county used public fund to buy cameras and carry out the sniper shots. Their action has no support in existing laws.
The practice by Ganyu County can only provide a surface cure for the low-efficiency of government departments. Administrative restructuring and reallocation of administrative resources should be the local government priorities.
Protection of traditions starts with ourselves
One year ago, a media report that the South Koreans would apply for a place on the UN list of world intangible heritages for their Dano Day, which shares its name with the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, sparked wide attention. As this year's Dragon Boat Festival on June 11 approaches, it is reported that experts from South Korea are eyeing a joint application with their Chinese counterparts. An article in the Southern Metropolitan News disapproves of the effort.
Despite their shared Chinese names, the Dragon Boat Festival and Dano Day are two different festivals that vary in subjects for worship, the time spans for celebration and their activities.
It is an embarrassing fact that we seem to value only those things that others have deemed important. A certain internationally recognized title has become an important standard for deciding the value of something. Facts have proven that our cultural relics are protected best under the UN world heritage standards, which are much more powerful than any laws or regulations in China. However, we have only 30-plus world heritage list entries for the rich heritage handed down from our ancestors. Obviously, it is almost impossible that we could rely only on the UN world heritage list to protect our civilization.
If the great importance we attach to our traditional culture is real and sincere, we'd better rely on ourselves. Maybe we need to ask ourselves why we only care about those things with international importance?
