Hong Kong radical localist group Civic Passion recently launched an absurd Hong Kong "national" flag design contest. The group claimed that it would announce the result on July 1 when it would hold a flag raising ceremony. It released 63 designs, with only about 1,000 people voting online. The group later announced a change to the location of the ceremony to somewhere along the July 1 march, in an obvious move to attract attention.

Not many people in Hong Kong know about this farce. It is just self-ridicule by a small group of people who want to be famous by whatever means. If we compare Hong Kong society to a circle of adults, those who initiated the flag farce are wimpy kids. Recently, a few Hong Kong radicals have imitated Taiwan separatists and placed a "Hong Kong country" stamp on their passports.

How to deal with these radical localists seems to have become a thorny issue for the media. Serious criticism is too worthy for them, but they should not be left unaddressed. These Hong Kong separatists intend to irritate society and believe being notorious is better than being buried in oblivion.

It is more of an annoyance to Hong Kong than an urgent task for the country. For China, the independence of Hong Kong is nothing but a false proposition. Even those who started the farce know they are messing things up. They are seeking their value amid scorn and contempt.

After Hong Kong returned to China, its political arena was divided into two camps - the pro-establishment camp and the pro-democracy camp. The former supports the central government and the latter advocates Western-style democracy.

Some latecomers could not squeeze into the existing pattern and therefore created a "localist" camp. Civic Passion has been the most radical one in this camp.

If radical behavior throws Hong Kong's legal arena into confusion and the public is divided over whether to hold separatists accountable, and if localists grow strong enough to provoke Hong Kong society, Hong Kong will suffer the consequences. Hong Kong independence is still like a joke, but anxieties over it have emerged.

Extreme behavior can shoot to fame in this digitalized era, which serves as a temptation for some people. Some extreme words and deeds sometimes feel like a real threat, but are only a trap now and then.

Those radicals who launched the flag contest have no political responsibilities and they survive by making waves. Let mainstream Hong Kong society decide how to deal with them as it should know whether they have caused as much harm as to be punished by law.