I, a generation of political apathy who grew up in China

Every July 1st, people have a sense of division.

One side is the red ocean of "Always follow the party" in WeChat Moments, and the other side is the dark "See you on the street" on Facebook. This kind of scene is repeated every year, indicating that the spiritual separation between the two places has not shown any signs of being broken over the years, and even pessimistically, it has become deeper and deeper. Just after July 1st this year, a friend from the mainland sent a message——

What happened to Hong Kong last night?

For a while, I didn't know where to start. After all, if we want to talk about the impact on the Legislative Council, we have to talk about the five major demands made before, we have to talk about the three young people who fell from the building, we have to talk about actions such as paralyzing the tax building and surrounding the police headquarters. I have to first talk about the government’s response and shrinkage over the past month. I have to talk about the police’s “righteous” clearing and the CITIC siege. I have to talk about 2 million people and 1 million people taking to the streets. All that said, is that enough? Is today's grievance really just because of the single incident of the amendment? Looking forward, whether to talk about the reclamation plan, whether to talk about the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the construction of the high-speed rail, whether to talk about the Umbrella Movement, whether to talk about anti-nationalism, or even to the conflicts between the people and the freedom movement in recent years. Do not say. I think both because they are all related. It is these things that add up piece by piece that allow the most precious trust and some other things to slowly drain from it.

Before coming to Hong Kong, I lived in the Mainland for more than 20 years. Looking back on the past, the biggest impression is that the vast majority of my generation - or not just my generation - have never really participated in political activities (only passively accept political propaganda), and do not understand their role in politics. What role (even thinking that he has no role), he is very indifferent to it. It's funny, the only time in my life that I was involved in politics was when I was in college and I got a vote for a candidate for the National People's Congress. That vote was also quite impressive. Without any notice in advance, one day the teacher organized the students to vote together. Who are the candidates? no one knows. The teacher informs the school principal that he is one of the candidates, so just vote for him. In fact, there is no difference in the minds of students who vote and who do not vote, so everyone filled in the number of the principal, and exercised the sacred right granted to us by the constitution.

Because of this, today, I understand very well the dazedness and incomprehension of my mainland friends when they face the situation in Hong Kong. Because you have never had a similar experience, you can't even find a reasonable angle for making basic judgments. There are many people who think that brainwashing means constantly promoting and outputting what the other party wants to tell you. I will call it the "covering method". In fact, in addition to this, there is a simpler "blank method", he does not need to cover you with any content, he only needs to leave you without content. When it comes to politics, the result is that an ordinary person gradually forgets how it relates to himself. The other side of the paradox is that politics is just like entertainment. Because of the money and power behind it, it always has an inexplicable attraction to people. Therefore, under the combined effect of these two forces, we gradually formed our own unique political atmosphere - a tacit understanding of "Don't talk about state affairs" in "Tea House", a self-deprecating code language system - to be harmonious, you know , try to see through without saying anything. We evaluate a person's political maturity, no longer by what kind of proposition he has, but by how deeply he understands those in power. The world looks bright on the surface, but there are conspiracy theories one after another. People can only sip the black juice of gossip in conspiracy theories, and conduct silent catharsis and carnival. There is a popular saying on the Internet in mainland China that "greasy middle-aged people", in terms of attitude towards politics, I think those of us who think we are smart and often castrate ourselves before being censored, every one of us is greasy.

As for the opinion of the ruling class, the people at the bottom are so busy running around for their basic livelihood that they have no time to take care of them. Most of the middle-level people lack self-awareness, and they mostly attribute their ability to live a decent life now to simply the credit of the rulers, rather than their own labor. Those who seem to have the most opinions are better educated. vested interests. However, no matter how badly the vested interests complain, they only use it as a tool to talk about after dinner and to show their "soberness". For the rest of the middle class, entertainment is enough to numb them (Brave New World); at the bottom, there is hope (instead of religion) enough to soothe them. So is society stable? Stablize.

But one thing is undeniable. For young people, although the mainland has already followed in the footsteps of Hong Kong's class solidification, there is still a chance to emerge as a new force. Many Hong Kong young people's cognition of the mainland is still at the stage of rough imagination, or they only rely on "Apple Daily" to try to outline what the mainland looks like. "City" and "country" are equivalent: a piece of negative news is equivalent to the national conditions of the whole of China, and a domineering individual is equivalent to the personality of all Chinese people. In fact, there are so many inland cities, huge differences between the north and the south, the gap between the rich and the poor, and the serious imbalance in regional development, which makes it appear completely different from different perspectives. Developed, refined, full of vitality, backward, ignorant, chaotic, all of which you can see at the same time in the mainland. A child who grew up in a middle-class family in a big city, and a left-behind child in the countryside, they are almost people from two different planets. It is this high and low gap that brings the power of flow. With the help of the Internet and the scale effect formed by China's huge economic volume, young people can see a rainbow-like beautiful vision. Can you imagine? A Taobao Internet celebrity anchor who does a live broadcast can drive hundreds of millions of sales, which is probably impossible to happen anywhere in the world. Young people are busy looking for opportunities in big cities, starting businesses, and seeking breakthroughs in traffic monetization... Even if there are very few truly successful people, it will not prevent more people from joining in this torrent of struggle with hope. , and believe that he is likely to be the next winner. Don't underestimate the power of belief - even if it is mostly blind, for young people who have nothing, belief is the biggest bargaining chip, and it is also a hallucinogen that is enough to endure all suffering. On the other hand, Hong Kong has a single economy, over-reliance on real estate, and a complete monopoly of big families in business. Every one of them is blocking the way of young people, making people unable to see the hope of changing their destiny and finding the meaning of struggle. . Even if many young people in the mainland fail, there is still the ultimate escape route to return to their hometowns. Where can the desperate young Hong Kong people go? There is really no retreat, no escape.

On one side is blankness and hope, and on the other side is blood and despair. If you ask me, do I think I can achieve true understanding in the future? On one side, I would say, "I don't care," and on the other side, I would say, "Do you understand?" The final answer was blankness and despair. Don't underestimate the power of disbelief, all collapses start from this.