關於 political devices ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

淺談「假新聞」

最近上課時學到一個新單字「positionality」，讓我想到當前社群媒體上，不停看到的「fake news」——假新聞。

簡言之，「positionality」(位置性) 被定義為於種族、階級、性別、性取向以及能力等狀態中，創造你身分的社會與政治背景。位置性還描述了你的身分如何影響你對世界的理解與看法，以及潛在的偏見。

positionality 位置性；定位
https://terms.naer.edu.tw/detail/3390885/
https://www.lexico.com/definition/positionality

以下是我對「positionality」與 「fake news」的些許觀點：

“Fake news” has permeated all facets of life, ranging from social media interaction to presidential elections. Fake news can be defined as “fabricated information that mimics news media content in form but not in organizational process or intent” (Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1094). The creators and outlets of fake news do not ensure the accuracy and credibility of information, but rather disseminate misinformation or disinformation for purposes ranging from personal amusement to creating deceptions to achieve political aims. At times, fake news is created and disseminated by state or non-state actors using social media accounts and networks of bots designed to hijack feed algorithms of platforms such as Twitter or Facebook (Prier, 2017, p. 54). In the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Facebook estimated that up to 60 million bots were used to post political content. Some of the same bots were then used in an attempt to influence the 2017 French election (Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1095). Such campaigns can be understood as a form of information warfare, a comprehensive attempt to control and influence every facet of the information supply chain, thereby influencing public opinion and behaviors. (Prier, 2017, p. 54). Often, fake news is not directly created by actors that seek to manipulate but by journalists or content creators whose content favors or aligns with the narratives of these actors (Doshi, 2020).

從社群媒體的互動到總統選舉，「假新聞」（fake news）已滲透至生活的各個層面。假新聞可被定義為「在形式上而非組織過程或意圖上，模仿新聞媒體內容所捏造的資訊」（Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1094）。無論是出於個人愛好或為達政治目的而有所欺瞞，假新聞的製造者與傳播管道並不保證資訊的準確性與可信度，反而是為了散播錯誤訊息（misinformation）或扭曲訊息（disinformation）。有時，假新聞是由國家或非國家行為者（state or non-state actors）所製造與傳播，藉由社群媒體帳號及網絡機器人來劫持諸如臉書與推特等平臺的推送演算法（Prier, 2017, p. 54）。在2016年的美國總統大選中，臉書估計有多達６千萬個機器人被用來發布政治貼文。其中，有部分機器人被用於影響隔年的法國大選（Lazer et al., 2018, p. 1095）。此類行動可視為資訊戰（information warfare）的一種形式，一種對控制與影響資訊供應鏈各環節的全面嘗試，從而影響公眾輿論與行為（Prier, 2017, p. 54）。假新聞通常是由記者或內容創造者（content creators）所創造，而非試圖操弄的行為者，前者的內容偏好符合後者的敘事（Doshi, 2020）。

Nevertheless, while the term “fake news” is commonplace, there is no universal, measurable way to quantify the fakeness or truthfulness of news. There are many fact-checking and media-bias detection tools, but they cannot objectively detect and clarify the more subtle and nuanced aims of manipulative actors that play a crucial role in news production. It can also be argued that the veracity of news depends not only on the actors that seek to manipulate it, but also on the positionality of its consumers. Therefore, one’s initial line of defense against misleading news lies not in the plethora of fact-checking devices but more in one’s pre-existing dispositions and skills to think and act in response to misleading information. This ability can be referred to as critical thinking, which can be more concretely expounded as “reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do” (Ennis, 2011, p. 15).

然而，即便「假新聞」一詞隨處可見，卻沒有統一、可衡量的方式來量化新聞的虛假性或真實性。目前有許多事實查核與媒體偏見檢測工具，但它們無法客觀地檢測與說明行為操弄者更狡猾、更細緻的目標，而這些操弄者往往在新聞的生產中發揮著重要作用。我們也可以說，新聞的真實性不僅取決於試圖操弄它的行為者，同時還取決於新聞受眾的位置性。因此，一個人對抗誤導性新聞的第一道防線，不在於這些五花八門的事實查核方式，反而在於個人所固有的性格，以及針對誤導性資訊的思考與行動等相關技能。這種能力可稱為批判性思考（critical thinking），意即「專注於決定相信什麼或做什麼的理性思考與反思性思考」（Ennis, 2011, p. 15）。

Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China (ROC), is at the forefront of information warfare. It is wedged between the geopolitical struggles of global and regional hegemonies such as the United States and China, the People's Republic of China (PRC). Compounding the matter are the Taiwan’s own political actors vying for influence and power. This struggle seeps into all aspects of life and practice, mainly manifesting itself on social media, a battleground of information warfare. The Ministry of Education of Taiwan is cognizant of these information campaigns, and efforts have been made to introduce media literacy into all parts of its education system. According to the ministry, the government has tried to promote media literacy education since 2000 (MOE, 2002, p. 1), with one of its primary goals to cultivate its “citizens” abilities for independent learning, critical thinking, and problem solving” (MOE, 2002, p. 2).

臺灣，也被稱為中華民國，正處於資訊戰的最前線。這是全球霸權與地區霸權之間——如美國與中國（中華人民共和國）——的地緣政治對抗。使問題惡化的是臺灣自身的政治行動者對影響力與權力的奪取。這場對抗遍布於現實生活的各個面向，主要於社群媒體中——資訊戰的戰場——展露無遺。臺灣的教育部注意到了這些資訊的煙硝，並已努力將媒體素養引入其教育體系。據該部稱，自2000年以來，政府一直試圖推展媒體素養教育（MOE, 2002, p. 1），其主要目標之一是培養「公民獨立學習、批判性思考以及解決問題的能力。」（MOE, 2002, p. 2）。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

上述段落認為，由於個人的位置性(positionality)，「假新聞」極難定義。此外，有許多人把不符合自身成見與偏好的新聞逕斥為假新聞。這其實相當危險，因為個人觀點將會變得愈發孤立與激進。

閱聽人應意識到，他們在網路上看到的每個資訊都有特定立場。是否真有毫無立場的新聞文章？為了對抗操弄性或強制性資訊（coercive information），我們必須意識到權力於個中的作用，以及我們自身的位置性如何形塑我們的詮釋。這是我們的第一道防線。

★★★★★★★★★★★★

參考文獻

Doshi, R. (2020, January). China steps up its information war in Taiwan. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved March, 21, 2021, from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2020-01-09/china-steps-its-information-war-taiwan

Ennis, R. H. (1985). A logical basis for measuring critical thinking skills. Educational leadership, 43(2), 44-48.

Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., ... & Zittrain, J. L. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 1094-1096.

MOE (Ministry of Education), Taiwan. (2002). White paper on media literacy educational policy. Retrieved March, 21, 2021, from http://english.moe.gov.tw/public/Attachment/ 2122416591771.pdf

Prier, J. (2017). Commanding the trend: Social media as information warfare. Strategic Studies Quarterly: SSQ, 11(4), 50-85.

★★★★★★★★★★★★

教育時評: http://bit.ly/39ABON9

相關詞彙: https://bit.ly/2UncrfI

TED相關影片: https://bit.ly/3BDsDKl

Taiwan Can Achieve More,
But It Takes Bilingualism
台灣可成就更高 但需要「雙語國力」

《作者從事與雙語教育相關的工作已斷斷續續30餘年。雙語已成國策，那就身體力行，開始用雙語發表意見吧。歡迎讀者對此形式提供您的意見及指教》

Among all sustaining forces, what Taiwan lacks most is the force of language. When people talk about a country’s competitiveness, most likely the main benchmarks are the military force, wealth force, technology force or even cultural force. The concept of“Force of Language”rarely came into mind. But in fact, linguistic capability is one of the key factors that can make or break a country in the long run , if not in the short.

在所有的可持續力量中，台灣最缺的就是語言的力量。當人們談論國家的競爭力時，通常主要的標竿都是軍事力量、財富力量、技術力量，甚至文化力量，而想都想不到「語言力量」這回事。但事實上，語言表達的能力，遲早也將是國家成敗的關鍵要素之一。

Examples are plenty. Take the tiny country of Singapore as a sample. Its existence and survival rests upon its capacity in applying and managing multi-lingual resources. Without that force of language, it can’t possibly thrive in a geographical setting as complex as this – with Malaysia on the north, Indonesia on the South-West, India to the West, and, particularly, the landmass of China up north. Geography is both a blessing and a curse to the country of Singapore, but its multi-linguistic capacity is a pure blessing. Without it, Singapore would still have been a trading center in that region and there is no way for it to have become one of the worldwide financial centers as today.

例子不勝枚舉，小小的新加坡就是一個樣本。它的生存，基於它運用、管理多重語言資源的氣度和能力。若缺少了這種「語言國力」，新加坡不可能在如此複雜的地理環境下茁壯 – 北有馬來西亞，西南有印度尼西亞，西有印度，尤其遠遠的北方還有中國這樣一塊大陸。地緣對新加坡這個國家既是祝福也是詛咒，但其多語能量則是百分之百的祝福。若非掌握語言國力，新加坡或許還能成為區域的貿易中心，但沒有可能變成今日的世界金融中心之一。

Hong Kong, in the past tense, also benefited tremendously from its bilingualism. By comparison, the mighty city of Shanghai in China will never replace the economic role Hong Kong used to play for China. I remember a sharp comment made by the past Premier of Singapore, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Many years ago when visiting Taiwan, he was asked this question by a reporter : “Can you foresee Shanghai replacing Hong Kong one day“? “Never!”was Lee’s reply. “Why?” Here comes the issue of the force of language, “Because I simply can’t see that the Shanghainese can speak better English than the Hong Kong people”. End of discussion.

香港在過去，也大大得利於它的雙語能力。相較之下，中國上海這個巨型城市，永遠也無法取代過去香港對中國的經濟角色。我猶記得新加坡前總理李光耀的一針見血評論。多年前在造訪台灣時，記者問他：「你能預見上海有一天取代香港嗎」？「絕不可能！」李光耀回答。「為什麼呢」？這裡就看出語言的力量了，「因為我根本看不到上海人的英文能力有超過香港人的一天」。討論就此結束。

Taiwan is good at technology as well as in many other aspects. It produces over 50% of the high-end semiconductor chips for the world’s high-end industrial and military uses, and it also designs at least 25% of the chips for world’s daily electronic devices. Which means, should Taiwan’s economic activities be disrupted by a hostile party , or even worse, should the island country fall under a hostile party’s control, as a consequence, the entire world would be affected severely, even to the point of functionally inoperative.

台灣在科技上很行，其他方面也不錯。在世界的高端工業及軍事應用中，台灣生產的高端半導體晶片佔比超過50%。在日常生活的電子設備上，台灣設計的晶片也至少佔比25%。這意味著，若台灣的經濟活動被某個敵意方擾亂，或在更糟情況下台灣這個島嶼國家落入敵意方的控制，後果將嚴重波及整個世界，甚至導致世界在功能上無法運作。

On top of that, Taiwan is ingenious in meeting unconventional demands for outlandish components. The most apparent case would be that of the birth of Tesla. When Elon Musk couldn’t get designers and factories from other parts of the world to risk making his non-heard-of components, he came to Taiwan and found willing and capable suppliers. Without the ingenuity of Taiwan’s able engineers, Tesla’s EV could have been delayed for many more years and might even have missed its first-to-market timing.

此外，台灣在非傳統、奇思妙想的零組件領域也很高明。最顯著的例子就是特斯拉的誕生。當伊隆馬斯克在世界其他地方碰壁、沒有工廠和設計師願意為他冒險製造那些聽都沒聽過的零組件的時候，他來到台灣找到了出路和供應商。沒有台灣的這份高明和工程師，特斯拉的電動車可能延誤多年，甚至失去市場首發的時機。

In the political arena, Taiwan has been firmly placed in the first tier among countries of democracy. To be fair, Taiwanese citizens still stand eager for eliminating the residual, inherited authoritarian elements in its political system; however, from a global standpoint, the mere presence of this remaining endeavor, by itself, proves that Taiwan has already passed the point of no return of an evolving democratic country.

在政治競技場，台灣已經被牢牢放在了民主國家的前列。但還是得公平地說，台灣公民還在熱切得期待把自己政治體制中那些殘留的、繼承來的威權成份加以剷除。然而從全球眼光來看，這種熱切現象的本身，就足以證明台灣作為一個民主還在演化的國家，在道路上已經沒有回頭餘地了。

In any aspect, Taiwan should have received a much higher level of acknowledgement from the international community than what it gets now. It makes people wonder why it didn’t.

無論哪個角度，台灣都應該得到比現在更高的國際認可和關注。這讓人感到奇怪，為什麼不是這樣呢？

Sure, one can blame the “Cut-Taiwan-off-the-World” program that the neighboring CCP (Chinese Communist Party) exercised. But blaming is not productive, not in everyday life nor in politics. We need self-assertive solutions much more than airing complaints.

當然，我們可以歸咎於中共的「切斷台灣的世界聯繫」招數。但是，歸咎往往是不起積極作用的，在生活中如此，在政治上也一樣。自我斷然提出解決方案，遠比時時抱怨要重要的多。

Citizens in Taiwan need to be able to speak out for Taiwan, not waiting for others to speak for it. To speak out to the world, you need languages! Presently, over 90% of the citizens on this island write and speak in just one language : the written Mandarin Character and the spoken Mandarin plus dialects.

台灣公民有必要自己為台灣發聲，而不是只等待第三方替台灣發聲。既然要自己對世界發聲，那就需要語言（國力）！當前，90%的台灣公民只會用單一的語種書寫和表達：書面的華文系方塊字，和華語加上數種方言。

This causes consequences in two-folds. On the political side, when Taiwan citizens shout in Mandarin, only people who understand Mandarin in other parts of the world can know what Taiwan is shouting for. Sadly, 96% of those who understand are under the firewall enclosure in China. Furthermore, Taiwanese messages are being censored, twisted and manipulated by the CCP in order to prevent its subjects from hearing it.

這造成了雙重後果。在政治面，當台灣公民用華語呼喊時，世界上只有聽得懂華語的人知道台灣在呼喊什麼。遺憾的是，96%聽得懂華語的人被鎖在中國的防火牆內。更糟的是，中共為了防止其控制的人民聽懂，持續不斷得堵絕、扭曲、操弄來自台灣的訊息。

On the economy side, although the top-layer of the academics, businessmen and technical elites are all quite proficient with a second language, mostly English or Japanese, the majority of the able engineers and middle managers in Taiwan cannot communicate efficiently enough to bring out their personal or organizational potentials.

在經濟面，雖然頂端的學術工作者、企業家、技術精英都有不錯的外語能力，例如英文或日文，但是大多數的能幹工程師和中層管理者，還無法有效的通過外語溝通以展示他們自身或組織的真實潛力。

It’s such an obvious yet ignored national issue : Taiwan needs bilingualism for its political sustainability and economic prosperity. A thriving bilingualism in Taiwan can be achieved by flipping its mentality towards education, or by changing its attitudes towards “outsiders” and installing a more open-minded immigration policy.

如此明顯的國家級議題卻遭到忽視：台灣的政治可持續及經濟的繁榮，非需要「雙語國力」不可。若想如火如荼的推動雙語國力，有兩條路可走，一是翻轉其對教育之心態，或改變對「外來者」的態度、建立一套更開放的移民政策。

Either way, Taiwan must implement a bold and innovative approach to this “force of language” challenge. And that approach can start today. Are you ready? Yes, I meant YOU！

不論採哪一種方式，台灣對這「語言國力」的挑戰，必須實施一種既大膽又創新的路數。今天就可以開始，你準備好了嗎？沒錯，說的就是你！

* 更多有關台灣之未來，請往 《范疇 前哨預策網》InsightFan.com
* 註冊為免費會員，瀏覽部份熱點議題電子書、觀點及預先的對策
* 註冊為追蹤會員，支持一個永遠獨立、終身不受任何政治體制管
束、推動台灣世界地位、思考人類文明未來的園地

Hong Kong authorities have started sending phones and other digital devices confiscated from political suspects to mainland Chinese counterparts, as the advanced technology on the other side can be used to break into the gadgets and extract information for investigation, United States media says.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3siVzTp

「港版國安法」陰霾下，電子設備和網絡也充斥白色恐怖。《華盛頓郵報》報道，香港警方已開始將被捕人士的電子設備運往中國，因中國當局有更先進的技術提取裝置內的資料，並以收集得來的資料進行調查。
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Witch Weapon Gameplay (English)
Size: 1.34 GB
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The price of saving the world is to become a girl?
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[Backstory]
In the summer of 2037, the world is destroyed by the activation of Substance H. Ren, the only boy who lived, made a wish on the Ross Goblet, wishing that all this were just a dream. With a flash of white light, he found the city back to normal the next morning and himself a girl. Meanwhile, the Ross Goblet disappeared from its site under the watchful eyes of a dozen surveillance devices. After a confusing battle, the young girl gains the magic of witches, and the conspiracy of Substance H among various political forces got underway...

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Sonya (Voice: Satomi Arai)
Alice (Voice: Yui Ishikawa)
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[Details]
Substance H
Substance H, a.k.a. the Divine Touch, is a general term for items and tools that activate supernatural phenomena at certain conditions. They are not bound by any known barriers such as dimension, time, space, or mind. Substance H has long been lurking around. Most of them exist under the cover of daily items and are hard to notice. But once touched by specific activators, they will trigger unknown anomalies.

[Seven Years War]
As more and more Substance H are discovered, many countries gradually realized their great strategic significance. An arms race over Substance H had begun. In the summer of 2027, World War III broke out as the main zone of Tokyo was destroyed by Substance H, which ended in 2034 with the loss of half of the population and the dissolution of more than 200 countries and governments. This war is also known as Seven Years War.

[Academy City]
Six of the most advanced organizations in the field of Substance H have formed a peace alliance. The reason for the truce is that each side has a weapon of Substance H, being capable of destroying the world. Under such circumstances, the result is a global standoff. In response to strong anti-war sentiment, the six organizations branded themselves as Academy Cities through political propaganda.

[The Ross Goblet]
On July 6th, 2037, a group of terrorists broke into a public exhibition of Substance H and unsealed the Ross Goblet. Its curse was unleashed, causing brimstone and fire falling from the sky. The Fifth Academy City was destroyed in the blink of an eye... That was how it should be. However, the causality had been forcibly manipulated by an unknown force as if the catastrophe never happened. The Ross Goblet mysteriously disappeared, and a boy became a girl because of the change of the causality...