Smoker in non-smoking area in wrong, not the scolding executive

Chinese job seekers queue up at the recruiting center of Foxconn owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, July 28, 2014. [Photo/IC]

A seven-second video posted online showed Terry Gou, president of Foxconn Technology Group, asking an employee smoking in a non-smoking area to put out his cigarette. The worker, not recognizing Gou, responded with foul language. Gou angrily replied his company does not need such employees. Many people have blamed Gou for treating the worker badly but a Qianjiang Evening News article argues otherwise:

Gou would not have expected his video of the incident to have aroused such ire directed at him online. People have been quick to scold him for being rude to his worker. Some of them have even linked the incident with the past suicides of a dozen or so Foxconn workers due to the heavy pressure they felt and claimed such pressure was the reason the man was smoking.

It is true that many workers are under heavy pressure and the suicides at the company are still in people's memories. However, nothing can justify a person's smoking in a non-smoking area and saying rude words to a person, particularly a senior citizen, who asks the smoker to stop.

Not only is such smoking against the law, smoking in designated non-smoking areas poses fire risks. The worker has violated the rules and further he insulted a man much older than him; thus he deserves punishment. Of course, the worker has rights, but also obligations as well.

The wave of criticism directed at Gou also reveals a problem with domestic online forums. When disputes happen and become material for public discussion, it has increasingly become a new kind of political correctness to side with the "weaker" party regardless of who is to blame. When a manager quarrels with a worker, people blame the manager; when an ordinary resident has a dispute with a government official, it is the official who is always in the wrong.

However, such a mentality won't promote justice, because it does not pay any obedience to the rules. If Chinese workers hold such a mentality, it will curb China's manufacturing industry from turning high-tech. If most residents hold such a mentality they won't build a civil society.

It is necessary to promote social justice and strengthen civil awareness so as to curb the further spreading of such a mentality. Residents need to develop a better awareness of the rule of law and of respect for others.