Tragic shooting at Taiwanese church.

The shooting at the Taiwanese church is sad all around. The shooter was also from Taiwan, and could be a kind man, at times. But he had lost everything: his wife got cancer and left him (returning to Taiwan), he lost his home, he was old and almost out of work. He asked for help from local churches, but they didn't provide it, apparently.

I don't know how political this was. But a few words of explanation might help Americans understand. The shooter was, it seems, a "wai-sheng-ren," a "man from outside the province," meaning his parents were born in the Mainland and spoke Mandarin. At the church they probably spoke Taiwanese. The Presbyterian church was a mainstay of the Taiwan independence movement for a long time. The old KMT government used to jail Presbyterian leaders for their involvement. By contrast, the "wai-sheng-ren" long tended to desire reunification with China, preferably under a nationalist or democratic government.

I took a survey on trains in Taiwan once, asking, "Do you believe that 'all religions teach us to be good?' (a cliche in Taiwan). One person answered, "All religions except the Presbyterian Church. They meddle in politics."

Another point to remember is that all men of that age would have served in the military, which may help explain how things went down.