《TAIPEI TIMES》 Debate rages over student’s ‘emperor pedestrian’ image

By Li Jung-ping and Chiu Yi-chin / Staff reporters

Debate is raging over an award-winning image created by a junior-high school student that depicts a pedestrian crossing a road as an “emperor,” prompting the school to delete a social media post celebrating the artwork.

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The student from Dongsing Junior High School in Taoyuan won a High Distinction Award in the comics category at the National Student Art Competition with a piece titled The Emperor Clause.

The school congratulated the student in a Facebook post, but on Monday deleted the message amid criticism in the comments that said the image mocked pedestrians.

The student drew inspiration from the government’s efforts to create a pedestrian-friendly environment, the post said.

However, pedestrians should cross the road quickly rather than swaggering across like an emperor, the post said, citing the student.

The image shows the pedestrian dressed in yellow robes, walking a turtle and ignoring cars and motorbikes honking as they wait for him.

School principal Lin Chi-wen （林祺文） on Tuesday said that the student wanted to convey a message of mutual respect between drivers and pedestrians, and that pedestrians should not take advantage of laws that protect them.

He thanked everyone who had shown concern about the issue and offered corrections, adding that the school would provide accurate information regarding traffic safety to its students and teachers.

Reform Taiwan Roads, a civic group that advocates for pedestrian rights, wrote on Facebook that the image took human lives lightly.

The education system and teachers have failed, it said.

Most pedestrians speed up while crossing roads and few deliberately walk slowly, other commenters said.

An online influencer who uses the name Cheap said that the competition judges showed “blatant discrimination” against pedestrians and demanded that the award be rescinded.

The Ministry of Education, which oversees the competition’s organizer, yesterday said in a statement that it would “continue to support students’ art creations.”

The competition is judged at all levels by professionals, it said.

However, not all of the comments on the school’s post were critical.

Some said that the image reflects reality and there is nothing wrong with calling for pedestrians to cross roads quickly.

The student was advocating for mutual respect between drivers and pedestrians, and should not be bullied for it, others said.

The image reminds people to be considerate of drivers while nonetheless advocating for the right of way of pedestrians, others wrote.

Lin Chih-chun （林智群）, a lawyer, said that the image is a successful caricature and Cheap should not criticize it because of “political correctness.”

Shen Jung-chin （沈榮欽）, an associate professor at the School of Administrative Studies at York University in Canada, said that criticizing opinions ignores freedom of speech.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES