Opinion: Taiwan Man Gets Five Months For Stealing Politician’s Toupee

It is often said that politics makes strange bedfellows and that clothes make the man. Whatever those axioms may or may not mean, definitions have certainly taken a turn in Taiwan where a man has been sentenced to five months in jail for snatching the toupee off the head of a politician. According to news sources, the man violated the politician’s freedom to look good. The incident occurred last December and prominent Nationalist Party lawmaker, Chiu Yi, aged 50, took his outrage to the Taipei District Court where he filed a complaint against former president, Chen Shui-bian fulfilling the legacy of filmmaker, Woody Allen who once said: “Don’t get mad. Get even!” The judge sympathized (it is not known if he too was a secret toupee wearer) and upheld Mr. Chi’s freedom to wear whatever he wanted and improve his appearance. In his own words:

“…To intentionally remove the wig was to take away that right."

The man responsible for the toupee-snatching was the leader of the pro-Chen group. Huang admits to snatching the toupee but told the local media that his sentence was excessive. In his own words:

“Honestly, I wasn’t even aware that there WAS a freedom to look good, or I would have exercised it long ago.”

The repercussions of this act are perhaps immeasurable. This landmark decision could be the framework for future legal action against barbers who give bad hair-cuts, and the makers of nose rings etc. Still, something about this does ring a little but true about this man’s violation of another’s rights. Did he have the right to pull the man’s toupee off his head? He wanted to embarrass this leader who is in the public eye and he did. Five months on the other hand, is more time than some criminals get for much more serious offenses. Oh well. Hair today, elected tomorrow. What do YOU think about this?