Oh what a tangled web we weave

(中文版在下方）

“Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practise to deceive” is a line from a poem by early nineteenth century Scottish author, Sir Walter Scott. An aphorism that uses just a few words to describe a life experience so well that it has become a powerful idiom.

The premise is, when you tell a simple lie, it may become necessary to tell more complex lies, which eventually spiral out of control and ultimately lead to the exposure of the original deceit.

It would appear that Ko Wen-je is wading deeper into the mire of this trap with half-truths and deception, with his usual cavalier wave of a hand and a -- Who me? No this is all perfectly normal and besides, other people do it. -- 

It is the same-old slippery, gaslighting ex-mayor we have all learned to mistrust. 

Thank heaven he is not that bright, so was easily outmanoeuvred in his bid to become President. That unedifying episode was acutely embarrassing to watch. I still cringe at the way he publicly debased himself and appeared not to even realise how far out of his depth he was or just how spectacularly he had been outsmarted. 

It’s rare to witness such a fine display of ill-founded confidence in one’s own abilities, coupled with an utter lack of self-awareness and near zero political skills. It was like watching three grown men drowning a kitten.           

Now we have the entertaining spectacle of him and his family coming under increasing, and daily, scrutiny as journalists and others stir up the mud to find questionable episodes that require greater transparency, and, yes, ultimately the absolute truth. 

The tangled web for the TPP Chairman seems to be spiralling out of control and he really needs to address where the money came from for his TWD43 million ‘office’ or was it his own money. Does a surgeon really earn that much and can stump up that amount of cash for a place without needing a mortgage? If it is from party funds, why is it in his name? 

Even if his party constitution allows for this it seems odd that it is not illegal. I’m not a lawyer but it would surprise me if it is OK under the law.  

From whatever angle you look at this it is morally bankrupt in the extreme if party funds are involved in some way, regardless of the fact he may yet say he plans to sell it in the future and hand back every cent to the party. Always assuming the TPP even exists for much longer.

If it is his own money, why not just say so and put this all to rest as there would be no case to answer.  

In 2015 just one-year after becoming Taipei Mayor he told a reporter during an interview in a breathtaking display of hubris. “I was chosen by God to save Taiwan.” 

To actually articulate something so utterly absurd gives us at least some insight into what goes on in the addled brain of such people. Frankly, such unbalanced utterances should immediately deem them unfit for public office. Just spend a while reading history books and it’s easy to see where such a belief can take someone if they are handed the reins of power. 

It’s also easy to see how this kind of thinking can take someone when it comes to the more mundane areas of life like budgets and expenses when taking money from petty-cash to pay for hairdos and their morning coffee leads into deeper waters involving more money. -- Hey, I’m the chosen one, how can what I’m doing be wrong? 

This God-complex is certainly not uncommon among some of the more unbalanced of our politicians but it also seems to infect the workings of the grey-matter of people like billionaires and other people with power. A quick glance at some of them soon proves this to be the case.

That said, we notice it more because politicians can, and do, actually affect our daily lives and generally it is our money, in the form of taxes, that is at stake. It might be just a hairdo or a coffee for you but it is my money you are spending!   

Former United Kingdom Prime Minister (2019-2022) Boris Johnson is a case in point. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and attending the most prestigious school and university he behaved like it was his right to attain the top job and he was clearly smarter than anyone around him. Ko Wen-je often indicates he thinks he is smarter than anyone else, in spite of the fact he is constantly proved wrong on this point. 

After a career in journalism then politics, Johnson’s lying got him sacked twice. His return to the political fray saw his time marred by accusations of lying including one of the most enduring lies during Brexit. Johnson put his name to the claim on the side of the Vote Leave campaign bus that “we send the European Union £350m a week” and the money could be used to “fund our NHS instead”.

This was shot down by the UK Statistics Authority who described it as “misleading”.

There were other examples of Johnson’s only loose association with the truth but the final nail in his political coffin was the so-called Partygate scandal. During several Covid lockdowns where the public was confined to their homes, parties took place at 10 Downing Street, its garden and other government and Conservative Party buildings. All in direct contravention of the laws passed by Johnson and his government. 

Johnson lied and said either there had been no parties, he was unaware of them, all the rules were followed etc. There was a spike in public anger over the then alleged parties fueled by a strong feeling there was one-rule-for-them-another-for-us.

Johnson resigned before the results of an inquiry into his behaviour was published but it is now officially on record that Johnson deliberately and repeatedly lied on the floor of the British Parliament about the parties at No.10.  

Most agree now that Johnson was never fit to be Prime Minister, just as Taiwan appears to have dodged a bullet with the TPP Chairman disappearing under the weight of his own lack of transparency. 

I guess it would take a psychologist to perhaps explain why their massive arrogance does not allow them to come clean, admit to mistakes and take the consequences. Lack of moral compass perhaps, a true belief that what they did was too minor, or a belief that they were so important and smart that the real truth would never be fully exposed. 

Or, as long as they keep lying, making excuses and avoiding the truth, the whole situation would somehow magically go away. 

The ‘tangled web’ they weave is only made worse if they go down this road, as, like Johnson discovered to his cost, it generally ends in a disaster which is likely far worse than if they had just come-clean in the first place. Johnson was popular with the voters and I personally believe he could have survived if he had been honest at the beginning - the British public would likely have forgiven him. 

His problem was, he was too used to lying…it had become a habit, and broadly speaking he had usually gotten away with it. 

Ko Wen-je seems to have very recently come to the conclusion that keeping his mouth shut is probably a good idea and has become notably quieter of late, leaving his house and scuttling to his car without saying a word. This is a wise move and may indicate he knows his position is no longer tenable and bluster, excuses and half-facts will no longer work. 

Is he preparing to come clean, or at least confront the myriad questions head-on?

Like Johnson, he appears to not have the skills and moral compass to sit comfortably in high office. I’m afraid there simply isn’t the room here to go into Donald Trump and all the shenanigans there. Although, remember it was only five years ago The Donald raised his hands and eyes to the sky telling a group of reporters “I am the chosen one”. 

In 2022 whilst still Taipei Mayor, Ko Wen-je described himself as a “Masterpiece”

With hubris oozing from every pore he told the presumably dumbfounded journalist. ”It is unlikely there will be another politician like me. Probably in 400-years there may be one” 

Well, at least let’s hope he was right about that!

Tinkerty Tonk

「哦我們編織了一個多麼糾結的網／當我們第一次練習欺騙」（Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive）

這是十九世紀初蘇格蘭作家史考特爵士（Sir Walter Scott）一首詩中的兩句。這句格言只用幾個字，就精確描述了一種生命經歷。當你說一個簡單的謊言，隨之而來需要編織更複雜的謊言來掩蓋，但最終必將失控，然後最初的欺瞞也會被揭露。

如今看來前台北市長、民眾黨主席柯文哲還在用半真半假的謊言和欺騙，讓自己陷入更深的泥淖，他繼續漫不經心的揮手比舞：我嗎？ 不，這完全正常，而且其他人也這樣做。

然而我們都已經學會了不信任這位狡猾、善於操縱煤氣燈效應的前市長。

謝天謝地，他並不那麼聰明，所以在總統大選中輕易被擊敗。他在公開場合的表現令人尷尬，但他甚至沒有意識到自己的膚淺，或者他的智商其實並不高。

他對自己毫無根據的自信，加上完全缺乏自我意識和近乎零的政治智慧，這是很少見的。去年選前的藍白合鬧劇，就像看著三個成年人淹死一隻小貓，面對侯友宜、朱立倫和馬英九，他毫無招架之力。

公私不分買豪宅不可思議

最近越來越多台灣人檢視他和他的家人，記者每天挖掘關於他的爭議事件，這一切都極具娛樂效果。人們需要的是更大的透明度，然後找出絕對的真相。

民眾黨主席錯綜複雜的謊言網似乎正在失控，例如他需要解釋他4300萬「個人辦公室」的資金來自哪裡。

如果那是他的私人財產，外科醫生真的能賺那麼多錢，並且可以在不需要貸款的情況下，花那麼多現金去買一間辦公室嗎？如果是政黨的資金，為什麼會是在他個人的名下？ 即使他的政黨黨章允許他用政黨的補助買私人房產，在我看來還是很奇怪。如果台灣法律允許，就一個外國人而言，我會感到很驚訝。

無論從哪個角度來看，把政黨資金放在私人名下都是道德破產，就算他可能會說他計劃在未來出售這個房產，並將每一分錢都歸還給政黨，那我們就得假設民眾黨能存在那麼久。如果是他自己的錢買個人辦公室，直接說出來就了事了，任何人都無話可說。

就任台北市長一年後，柯文哲在接受記者採訪時表現出令人驚嘆的傲慢態度，說自己是上天派來拯救台灣的人。

如此極端荒謬的發言，至少讓我們看清這些人混亂的大腦中到底在想什麼。坦白說，這種言論應該立即被視為不適合擔任任何公職。只要花一點時間閱讀歷史就很容易看出，這種人如果掌握了權力，會把自己帶到什麼不可思議的境界。

涉及生活中的平凡領域，例如認為從辦公室零用金拿錢來支付洗頭或是晨間咖啡的費用沒有問題，可想而知隨之而來會進入更深的水域、濫用更多的錢。但是他們想的是：我是天選之人，我做的事怎麼可能是錯的呢？這種上帝情結在心態不平衡的政客中並不罕見，也存在於億萬富翁和一些有權勢的人。

我們需要更注意政客因為他們可以影響我們的日常生活，而且我們的錢（以稅收的形式）也受到威脅。對這些政客來說可能只是洗個頭或是喝杯咖啡，但他們花的是我們的錢！

傲慢說謊政客終將被拆穿

看看外國的情況，英國前首相（2019-2022）強生（Boris Johnson）就是一個很好的例子。他含著金湯匙出生，就讀於最負盛名的中學和大學，他表現得好像獲得最高職位是他與生俱來的權利，而且他認為他比周圍的任何人都聰明。一如柯文哲經常表示自己比任何人都聰明，儘管事實不斷證明他在這一點上是錯的。

強生在擔任新聞記者後從政，因為謊言他曾兩度被解僱。重返政治戰場後，他並未就此誠實，最為人知的謊言發生在英國脫歐期間。強生在鼓吹脫歐巴士上的標語這麼說：「我們每周向歐盟匯出3.5億英鎊」，脫歐後這筆錢可以來「資助我們的國民醫療服務體系」。英國統計局駁斥了這一說法，並稱其「誤導」民眾。

還有其他一些例子證明，強生總是用半真半假的說法誤導民眾。他政治棺材上的最後一根釘子是派對門醜聞，在新冠疫情封城期間，民眾被限制在家中無法外出，但在唐寧街10號首相官邸、花園以及其他政府和保守黨大樓，官員卻舉行了數次派對。這些都直接違反了強生及其政府通過的法律。

強生翻來覆去的謊言包括沒有舉辦派對、他不知道有派對、他遵守所有封城規等等。民眾對派對的憤怒與日俱增，因為這種行為很明顯雙標：他們有一條規則，我們的規則是另一條。

強生在派對門調查結果公佈之前辭職，但現在正式記錄在案的是，強生在首相官邸開派對一事，多次對英國議會故意撒謊。

現在許多英國人都同意，強生自始至終根本不適合擔任首相。台灣似乎躲過一劫，民眾黨主席在他自己缺乏透明度的重壓下，可能會就此消失。

我想也許需要心理學家才能解釋，為什麼這種政客的傲慢不允許他們坦承錯誤並承擔後果。也許是缺乏道德指南針，他們真心相信他們犯的錯誤微不足道，或者他們深信自己是如此重要和聰明，以至於真相永遠不需要出現。

或者，他們相信只要繼續說謊、找藉口、迴避真相，不利的情況就會神奇地消失。

如果他們沿著這條路走下去，這面他們編織的錯綜複雜的網，只會變得更糟，就像強生的例子以災難結束，而如果一開始就坦白，情況也許不會那麼糟糕。

強生很受選民歡迎，我個人相信如果他一開始就誠實的話，他或許可以在政壇存活下來，因為英國民眾可能會原諒他。問題是他太習慣說謊了，這已經成為一種習慣，而且過去他通常都能僥倖逃脫。

柯文哲絕非天選之人

回到台灣，柯文哲最近似乎得出結論，發現閉嘴可能是個好主意，因此他明顯安靜許多，一言不發離開住家大樓快步走向車子。可能他知道自己的立場不再站得住腳，虛張聲勢、找尋藉口和半真半假將不再有效。但他在被檢調人員帶走問話前，仍然以天選之人的高傲之姿，慷慨激昂說自己完全沒有錯。

他是否準備坦白，或至少正面面對無數問題？但和強生一樣，他似乎不具備擔任高階職位的技能和道德準則。

關於天選之人，前美國總統川普（Donald Trump）五年前舉起雙手，眼睛望向天空，告訴一群記者「我是被選中的人」。就像在2022年，柯文哲在一次媒體訪問中稱自己是「傑作」。

這個每個毛細孔都洋溢著傲慢的人，對著這位大概目瞪口呆的記者說，以後不會再有像自己這種的政治人物，大概400年才出他一個。

好吧，至少讓我們希望他是對的，台灣不會再有這樣的政治人物。