FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY
Phone in hand, PETER reads a message with some images.
PETER (V.O.): Days ago, young chaps illegally set road blockades. When victims intervened, they assaulted them. It seems that their identities have been identified by a social chat group.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): These suspects acted very differently from educated and law-abiding people. Will the Police get the intelligence? Can the Police do a better job?
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The victims didn't conform to the suspects' political assumptions and anti-social behaviours.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Similarly, the criminal suspects refuse to abide by the established legal standards. Riots in Hong Kong weren't new, they must be reluctant to accept changes and alternative ideas. They're also the non-conformists.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.)(Cont'd): I gave political opinions in Quora during the 2019 riots in Hong Kong. When the 2019 District Council elections were over, a Quoran from the west remarked that my opinions were of the minority.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm also an individual. Given the rioters habitual acts, do I have to conform to them? I might be liked by them but I'll hate myself.
Act 2
INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
Enjoying his sushis, Peter is in thoughts.
PETER (V.O.): The sushi chain has its origin from Taiwan. It's government may make travel and investment difficult for people from Hong Kong. So Hong Kong, China doesn't conform to Taiwanese standards.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I haven't any investment in Taiwan and don't mind not visiting it if I'm not welcome.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In a TV interview, Taiwan's President says Taiwan is an independent country.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Such a Taiwan position doesn't conform with the one China concept. Taiwan conforms with US values.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Yesterday, someone forwarded the image of a Hong Kong chap holding a placard, pleading US troops to land in Hong Kong.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): While the chap must conform with US values too, US may not act lightly as China now isn't the one in the 19th century.
Phone in hand, Peter checks notifications.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Here's an unusual question: Is China's ability to easily suppress the spread of the infectious virus within their own country a sign of governmental superiority?
Peter types on his phone and we see texts appearing on the screen:
Lead change. Those in authority in China decided reasonably timely what were the right things to do in suppressing the spread of the infectious virus.
China context. With the world's largest population at 1.439 million (c/f US 330 million), it isn't easy for China to keep the country under control during any pandemic.
Good governance. China is good in planning, acting, monitoring and reviewing, resulting in its effective and efficient suppression of the spread of CONVID.
We see and hear a journalists interviewing unmasked beach-goers.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They're non-conformists to adapt to the coronavirus situation. In Hong Kong, most people conform, for public health's sake.
INT. STUDY - DAY
Peter is watching a TV interview. We see firstly images of a fat man giving thumb-ups to groupings in black, and then a newspaper front page addressing to the President of US.
PETER (V.O.): What is he? Another conformist to US or a non-conformist to China.
FLASHBACK
INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
Peter and his WIFE are watching TV news. We hear a man in suit on TV reporting that some 38% of students were possibly misled into answering that Japan did more good than harm to China in the first half of the 20th century.
Both Peter and his wife sighs.
PETER: Such evidences the failure of Hong Kong's educational system. Most students have no independent and critical thinking ability. If they don't control their minds, people in politics will.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): They simply conform to whatever values they've been spoonfed. Exercising their brains must be painful to them.
Peter shakes his head sideways.
Act 3
INT. SITTING ROOM - NIGHT
The TV is broadcasting news about Hong Kong and we hear an anchor reporting that the PLA will be arresting people in Hong Kong who breaks the national security laws and suppressing the pro-democracy movement.
PETER (V.O.): If that's the case, the so-called pro-democracy movement is a treacherous, secessionist, seditionist and subversive one.
Peter reads a TV chyron attentively.
PETER (V.O.): It seems that the Police has arrested the suspects. Criminal non-conforming acts have to be deterred. Where the broom doesn't reach, the dust won't vanish of itself.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The arrested criminal suspects may think they're doing something cool eg setting up blockades. What they hate worse than "conformists" like me are other nonconformists who don't conform to their "prevailing" standard of nonconformity.
Peter nods.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): That's why these criminal suspects behave like psychopaths.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): With the imminent enactment of the national security laws for Hong Kong by the Central People's Government, the young chaps shouldn't be foolishly brave to continue breaching the peace.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Abiding by the law and order isn't cowardice. Without conformity, not just Hong Kong, but the whole world, can be ruined.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As for me, I owe myself. I'm wise enough to be what I'm and say what I feel, morally, legally and professionally.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's also thoughtfully healthy for me every now and then to hang question marks on issues that I've long taken for granted.
FADE OUT.
THE END

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