The truth of the unicorns: not scientific, but extremely political

Text｜Lina, an expert in avoiding dragons

attacking patriots

Recently, under the leadership of Wuhe Qilin and other big Vs, the patriotic teenagers, at the same time, relying on their intelligence, bravery and hard work, they have uncovered a number of "traitors who are hidden among the masses, and who are funded by foreign forces and funds, and who hate the country. ”, exposing them one by one in broad daylight, greatly destroying the prestige of the enemy. These identified "rebels" are mainly concentrated in literature and science, two areas that are most likely to confuse the masses, such as:

• Fang Fang, who published a diary of Fang Fang that smeared China during the epidemic, quickly translated and published it abroad, becoming a "traitor of China", handing a knife to foreign forces to smear China. Wuhe Qilin painted and mocked him as a clown.
• Jiang Fangzhou was picked up by netizens as having accepted invitations and funding for international exchange activities in Japan, and after returning to China, he published his sojourn experience as a book "Tokyo One Year", "intention to beautify Japan", "forget Japan's crimes of World War II, sell Suspected of seeking profit.”
• The Science Squirrel Society has been engaged in science popularization for 13 years since 2008. In June this year, Ent, a member of the Science Squirrel Society, and his related remarks were accused of "washing the ground" by the Japanese invaders. On June 4, the Squirrel Club decided to clear all the past content of the official blog and permanently suspend the Weibo account.
• Another popular science video from the media clip, since its establishment in 2017, has more than 3 million fans in Bilibili, and is one of the 2020 top 100 up owners certified by station B. In June this year, he was named and reported by another upholder for "accepting funding from overseas anti-China organizations" and some internal members "publishing anti-China remarks in foreign media" for a long time, and another person worked in the US military laboratory. After the team apologized to no avail, the post decided to stop updating and was banned by the Zhihu platform.

I still remember that on May 16, 1966, the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China passed the "May 16th Circular", which formulated a set of theories, lines and guidelines for the movement for the next ten years. It affirms that the political situation within the party and the country is such that the leadership in the fields of academia, education, journalism, literature and art, publishing and other cultural fields is not in the hands of the proletariat . The dictatorship of the proletariat becomes the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.” So the purpose of the Cultural Revolution was to criticize them, "to purge these people, and some to mobilize their leadership". At the same time, the "Notice" severely criticized the viewpoints put forward in the "February Outline", such as "faults and standouts" and "everyone is equal before the truth", and called for the implementation of "the dictatorship of the proletariat in the superstructure, including all cultural fields." From then on, culture, science, art and other fields must serve politics. There is no so-called "pure academic", let alone "pure literature, pure science". In the name of the Great Destruction of the Four Olds, violent acts such as fighting against scholars, writers, artists, scientists and other "bourgeois reactionary academic authorities" have become commonplace.

Today, 55 years later, in the name of patriotism, fighting scholars, writers, artists and scientists is once again popular. This time, under the leadership of big Vs such as Wuhe Qilin, the patriotic young generals started their criticism on the Internet (we will not mention the offline attacks on these writers and scholars). So, once again, literature and science must first serve politics, where politics surpasses literary and scientific rationality, and even surpasses the right to free discussion in the public sphere.

It can be said that the patriotic teenagers have achieved staged victories, exposing the financiers and ulterior ambitions of the reactionary forces, allowing patriotism to overcome rational reflection, the popularization of science and cultural exchanges, and making Fang Fang harmonious. Jiang Fangzhou and others were notorious, causing the Science Squirrel Society and Paperclip and other "collaboration" popular science accounts to be banned and suspended. Since then, literary and artistic creators have all self-criticized and self-censored, and popular science workers have consciously silenced and depoliticized. The armbands on the shoulders of the soldiers seemed to be brighter.

The Chinese who experienced the 1970s and the forerunners who embraced the "China Information Superhighway" at the turn of the century would not have imagined that in 2021, on the Chinese Internet, the overriding politics will make a comeback . "The Internet is not a place outside the law." , not even a place for rational discussion. Under the banner of patriotism, those who are labelled as "anti-thieves" will be banned from speaking and calling, and those who are serious will forever lose the possibility of surviving in the digital space, and it may even be difficult to survive on anonymity.

After scientists shut up obediently?

After the patriotic teenagers achieved a staged victory, we have to ask, and then what?

After the events of the Squirrel Club and Paperclip, some people asked on Zhihu, "How has the recent events affected popular science? As a popular science worker, what insights do you want to share with your peers?" Some of the popular science we-media workers said that they should try to avoid politicized discussions. For example, some respondents said that they used to be "key politics", and some followers left a message saying that they did not want him to participate in this, saying that everyone was following him to gain knowledge. , instead of spraying people, so he deleted the content himself. It is also said that "science" cannot be politicized (of course, whether science can avoid politicization is another big issue, and we will not list it here). It is also said to be "worthy of the country and conscience". But I was attracted by another answerer's point of view: In the case of the increasingly shrinking Internet discussion space, will we one day be "unavoidable"?

Once, we hated those who sat behind high walls to censor us. Later, we found that the self-castration of commercial platforms is even more serious. Now, the coercion of those in power is no longer required. were placed beside us. Teachers in the lecture hall may be reported by their classmates because a PPT does not conform to the core values and thus lose their jobs, and digital nomads may be attacked by people or the Internet because of an "unpatriotic" speech.

The era of debating the authenticity of science with political standpoints

Looking at it now, some people have mentioned the decline of the Nutshell and the Squirrel Club for a long time. The previous article on Zhihu was about "How did the Nutshell Network and the Science Squirrel Club decline?" The question was asked in 2014. Maybe many people said that the popular science website has long been It's gone; some people say that Nutshell and the Squirrel Club just treat "popular science as a business"; of course, some people say that the Squirrel Club has long been unable to accommodate other voices; of course, there are more people who have raised questions about Ent's own ability question.

These may be the questions, but what we want to ask today is:

• Should a healthy society hang people with dissent for political reasons?
• Should politics prevail over literary, artistic expression, and scientific debate?
• Should a certain person or group, in the name of patriotism, have the power to use violence to stop other voices from being heard?

Under this question about the Squirrel Club, one respondent used Mr. Luo Xiang's words to ridicule the squirrels for having an "inexplicable sense of superiority among intellectuals", but he didn't know whether this person knew that Mr. Luo Xiang was in the country fighting against the new crown pneumonia epidemic. On the day of the commendation ceremony and Zhong Nanshan and other anti-epidemic heroes, he published a reading note on Weibo, "To cherish virtue, but not to be a slave to honor", and was accused by netizens of satirizing national heroes, being unpatriotic, and constantly being besieged, which eventually led to his announcement. Exit Weibo. Teacher Luo Xiang probably wouldn't agree to forcing others to shut up for any reason.

When the content evaluation of literature and the debate over the authenticity of science become the debate between right and wrong political positions, and the debate over conspiracy theories about "whether foreign forces intervene", the truth is probably no longer important. The most important thing is to show loyalty and sincerity, to always express the patriotic oath, and to memorize the 24-word policy at all times, so as to protect the eyes and the body at critical moments.