"The Power of the Powerless" after reading

The short 150 pages will make you re-understand the modern " #totalitarian ", no nonsense is easy to understand, and most of what the author observes and talks about is so intimacy, you may even feel that he wrote it more than 30 years later Today, although it is because they have experienced it early in the morning.

Must see. The preface written by Yang Junxian of the Youth Torture Room reinforces my meaning: "The darker the world is, the more we need to read; and the first book to read may be Javier."

The book quickly defines the difference between the "#posttotalitarian system " (later referred to as "post") in Javier's eyes and the "totalitarian" we usually use. The author thinks that most people follow the thinking of classical dictatorship, that totalitarianism is an imperial dynasty, and that as long as it is overthrown and replaced by the people or a new government, the world will be peaceful.

Is it really that easy?

I don't know if you have ever had FF, even if you have 30,000 thanks, you know that everything will not change, even if the above is buried, the system will automatically adjust, and there are thousands of dead one. Javier thinks that the "later" is at a disadvantage because the public has not tried and has no interest in providing answers to various metaphysical and existing questions, but has the ability to feel lost in the material. The ideology with this becomes attractive, and it provides the simple and direct answer - entrusting reason and conscience to a higher authority. In an instant, everything seems to be clear and clear, becoming a religion will give you a belonging, and the price is only to give up independent thinking, conscience and responsibility. It's not worth the money, why not do it, anyway, system2 is less open.

And the "later" ideology permeates all citizens and becomes part of the system?

A good example in Javier's book is that of a civil servant who hangs a banner in his shop.

The uncle knew that Zhang Banner was Dou Yan, but he understood that he could not stand out and had to bury him without thinking. No one agrees that the slogan is not the key point, but that everyone hangs up the slogan as a trivial matter and a ritual to increase the pressure on everyone to hang up. If everyone hangs on you, if you hang on to the regime, you will be nailed, so you can only become a tool for the regime to extend its power. Ideology invades all public spaces, and totalitarianism finally succeeds in permeating every corner. Feel so innocent? “People are forced to live a lie, but they are forced because they can actually live that way. So it’s not just the system that alienates people, but the human support of alienation. with this system.”

Javier believes that the only thing that can fight against the "later" is that everyone is "living in truth". This feels like a difficult version of the twenty lessons of "Tyranny". At the beginning, you may feel that a democratic society is not enough. It's difficult, but after thinking about it, post-totalitarianism does not necessarily need a "government", as long as there is an insincere ideology, it may already mean that it will fall into place.

Let’s return to the scene, if the uncle who sells vegetables changes one day, stop putting up banners with the regime to please others; don’t vote because you know it’s a farce; speak your heart to the regime; don’t swear to the regime; even Supporting fellow travelers… he must have consequences, and he may be reduced or dismissed. It's not because of your conscience that you feel that you have done something wrong, but because everyone knows a system and wants to play, Biaozhong will not be the first bird, and Biaozhong will be imprisoned with him every minute. To be clear, the awakened uncle may not be resisting for the sake of resisting, he may just be unbelieving or disliking the slogan so he doesn't want to hang up, but because the "later" is the meaning of existence for everyone who enters the face, it is the operation of this machine. Work, housing, social and cultural activities, etc., are all planned and controlled in advance, so all things that do not follow the ideological script will be automatically upgraded to "resistance" in the "later" interview.

"Hey, if you don't talk nonsense, you don't have to work, don't you eat?" The author knows it, and he can see us all: "The people who live in the "behind" know too well that they Being able to live like one person is far more important than whether one party has multiple ranks, how the party defines itself, and what name it gives to itself. "

Javier believes that when you live well and truly and quickly, you will be regarded as a "dissident" by the regime. "You do not become a dissident because you decide to go down this road one day, but you become a dissident because of some personal responsibility, plus Many complex external factors, and being expelled from the existing structure to become their opponents. This matter starts when you want to do your duty well, but ends up being beaten as a social scum.”

And even if there is a large group of "dissidents", they can move the "rear" regretfully? It’s a pity that we can’t have the so-called government. People who are familiar with colors will help the government, because at least the system can guarantee a certain degree of rules for them. When you think you are good at opposing the system, you can take a look at @高建建's [ talking about money-everyone is a pro-establishment party ] and frighten yourself that you are really "dissent" as you say.

“The establishment, pro-establishment, as the name implies, is the tendency to, support, and trust the existing system. In the context of money, the existing system is legal tender — the currency prescribed by law, and the financial system that surrounds it .”

Havel later talked about whether the whole overthrow or introspection of the new political platform and new policies can help things. In short: "The problem is not what line or what political platform is wrong, but the problem of life itself." As long as The inner and same culture of the people is still within the wall, and the system is all the same.

"Democracy cannot defend or prevent a concern for one's own human identity from being superficial; it cannot make a man transcend concern for his own existence and become an upright and responsible member of the state. , make a real contribution to the prospect of creating a state."

Looking at this, I feel that Javier really pays attention to the quality of "people". Do you think the system is a chicken-and-egg? Quoting one of Yu Qiuyu's "What is Culture": "Culture is an ecological community that includes spiritual values and lifestyles. It creates a collective personality through accumulation and guidance." If a person's character will determine fate, I believe that collective personality will also determine the nation. ending.

In fact, he is not just talking about the "totalitarianism" that he usually speaks of, but later he said that a democratic society will actually face the same problem or even more difficult to deal with. In the contemporary system, the responsibility is constantly being shot away, and there are NGO indulgence coupons to help everyone feel better. We are satisfied with our survival as "advanced". In fact, an automatic system is not different from "later".

The sentence is not too gray, so let's make a summary to leave the blood and sadness:

"To live with integrity is an attempt to regain a sense of responsibility, a resistance of human nature to imposed arrangements. In other words, it is clearly a moral act. Not only because people pay a high price for it, but most importantly because it is You can only ask about the cultivation, not the harvest.”

English title: The Power of the Powerless
ISBN: 978-988-75052-3-5
Author: #Vaclav_Havel
Translation: Luo Yongsheng Publishing: Hummingbird Publishing

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