On the 12th, Zhang Yumeng, chairman of the Taiwan Youth Generation Community Good Association, expressed his views on musician Luo Dayou's recent remarks, questioning why Luo Dayou always "values the past and despises the present." He cited a study published in an international journal "The Illusion of Moral Decline" and pointed out that people generally believe that social morality is constantly declining, but this feeling may be just a psychological illusion; he also criticized Luo Dayou for humiliating former Presidents Tsai Ing-wen and Hsiao Meiqin through radio programs, and even provoking provincial sentiments.
According to media reports, Luo Dayou accepted an exclusive radio interview on the 10th, criticizing Culture Minister Li Yuan for "not being able to guarantee the late festival" and criticizing cultural workers for receiving government subsidies. He claimed that "people from other provinces have been bullied and miserably, and it will be over if they don't come out to vote." He also named former President Tsai Ing-wen, Vice President Xiao Meiqin, and former Supervisory Director Chen Ju as they all have no children and do not think too much about the next generation.
Zhang Yumeng posted on Facebook that after seeing Luo Dayou's remarks, he immediately thought of the study "The Illusion of Moral Decline" published in the journal Nature in 2023. The study, which covered data from more than 60 countries and 12.49 million people, was conducted by researcher Adam Mastroianni and Harvard University psychology professor Daniel Gilbert.
Zhang Yumeng pointed out that the research team collected polling data from 1949 to 2019, including questions such as "Do you think people are more dishonest now than before?", "Do you think social morality is declining?" In a survey with a total of 177 questions and more than 220,000 respondents, there were 149 questions in which more than half of the respondents agreed that society is getting worse.
He said that whether it was the 1950s, 1980s or 2010s, people tended to think that society was gradually deteriorating. This feeling has persisted for 70 years, and the same phenomenon has occurred in 59 countries outside the United States.
Zhang Yumeng went on to explain that researchers invited 698 respondents to evaluate how friendly, honest and morally friendly people of different generations were. The results showed that almost all the respondents believed that the people when they were born were more moral than the people when they were 20 years old, and the people when they were 20 years old were better than the people today.
Regarding whether society is really gradually deteriorating, the research puts forward two possible hypotheses. One is that the moral performance of the same group of people gradually becomes worse as they age; the other is that there are moral differences between generations, with the previous generation being more moral than the next generation.
For further testing, the research team collected 107 recurring survey questions from 1965 to 2020, covering 4.48 million respondents. This time, we no longer ask about abstract comparisons between the past and the present, but focus on how the interviewees feel about the current society, such as whether they are respected and whether most people are willing to help others.
Zhang Yumeng pointed out that the research results show that although the survey spanned about 60 years, people's feelings about current social morality have hardly changed. He believes that this means that people often miss the good old days, but people's actual evaluation of the society they live in in different periods has not continued to deteriorate accordingly.
He bluntly said that the so-called "the world is declining and society is becoming more and more immoral" is actually a psychological illusion.
Zhang Yumeng further cited research and pointed out that the research team invited an additional 283 respondents to evaluate society as a whole, as well as friends, family and colleagues in their own life circles. The results showed that when most people evaluate society as a whole, they tend to think that people are becoming more and more morally corrupt; but when they evaluate people they know well, they think they have become more kind over time.
In addition, the research team also invited 387 respondents to evaluate their social and moral situation 40 years before birth, 20 years before birth, the year of birth and 20 years after birth. The results showed that nearly all respondents believed that moral decay began around the time they were born.
Zhang Yumeng used this to criticize, Luo Dayou does not need to think that his youth was particularly beautiful, nor does he need to regard himself as a hero of the times.
He described that there are many "semi-retired straight men" like Luo Dayou in society who usually lack listeners. Once interviewed, they seem to think that they are still young. He even teased Luo Dayou, saying that he "started to lean his body, stretched his arms across the back of the chair, and sat on the cheap office chair like a dragon's throne." He believed that this type of person is not uncommon in society.
Zhang Yumeng said that everyone will age, and he may become the same one day, but people can choose not to become "annoying adults" and do not always have to remember their golden years or think that everyone is against them now.
He emphasized that it is the freedom of Luo Dayou and others to "value the past and despise the present". However, Luo Dayou took control of the microphone through the radio station and used the official media to humiliate Tsai Ing-wen and Xiao Meiqin. Even in 2026, he still used provincial complexes to distinguish between his own province and other provinces. In his opinion, it has gone beyond the scope of simple nostalgia.
Zhang Yumeng denounced that these remarks were like "Jurassic era remarks" and were "beyond the words 'disgusting'".
Finally, Zhang Yumeng also pointed the finger at a politician who publicly affirmed Luo Dayou's remarks, criticizing the other party for being able to smile confidently, calling Luo Dayou's speech "inspiring", and sarcastically suggesting that the other party "see a psychiatrist as soon as possible."
