The predicament of Hong Kong's narrative, the defeat of the intellectual elite (3. The defeat of the intellectual elite)

Continuing from "The Dilemma of Hong Kong's Narrative, the Defeat of the Intellectual Elite (2. What is Democracy and Freedom?)"

3. The defeat of the intellectual elite

I don't know how you feel when you see Luke Wen's article swiping the screen? My most intuitive feeling is that "the army is defeated like a mountain", which stems from my experience of the successive successes of the censorship and propaganda machines on the Hong Kong issue, as well as the great harvests of those who hitchhike to cut leeks.

I have repeatedly told my friends that if it were not for Hong Kong, I would not have seen the results accumulated over the years by the censorship mechanism, nor would I have seen the wonders of the propaganda machine running at full power.

I admire those who still find a little gap in such a copper wall and express even the most restrained and mildest disagreement. For example, those public account authors who tirelessly calculated logic and historical facts with Lukewen, such as those mainland students who wrote their true experiences when CUHK was captured.

I recently watched an interview video of Zhao Sile, and she mentioned a point that resonated with me very much. She said that 2008 was once known as the "first year of civil society" in China. After the Wenchuan earthquake, the public's sense of responsibility and enthusiasm for participating in society was unprecedentedly high, and a large number of non-governmental organizations emerged and were very active. The control of the organization fell silent. It has only been ten years since 2008. Where have so many people who were once civic-minded have gone? Did they disappear?

I also clearly remember that Weibo was founded in 2009, and it really became popular in the country around 11 or 12 years. At that time, the public knowledge on Weibo was still an opinion leader. At that time, it seemed that the whole people were paying attention to and discussing social current affairs on it. There was also a slogan of "onlookers changing China".

I have been sorting out many social activities of the Chinese feminist activists since 2012. From the state of their movements once in full swing, I can also glimpse the flourishing civil society at that time.

In less than ten years, have those people disappeared? I don't think so, but mostly silenced because of the chilling effect. Therefore, we should not regard the huge pinkish public opinion trend as the truth of society, let alone judge from the essence that "the Chinese are servile" and "the Chinese are not worthy of democracy and freedom."

Weaknesses in human nature are universal, the absence of Europeans and Americans is braver, smarter, more disciplined than East Asians, or born independent of us, born to know how to operate democracy. If the United States and China have the same harsh political environment, people will be expelled from schools and fired from work for saying the wrong thing. If things go on like this, I think very few are willing to come out and be heroes.

So some intellectual elites should also wake up. People are not a bunch of lambs to be slaughtered, nor are they subject to brainwashing and oppression, and even today, they are still the subject of society.

A few days ago, Liu Guo came to New York to give a lecture. We talked about the current situation. I agree with what he said. The general idea is: water carries a boat, water determines where the boat goes, and the boat cannot determine the flow of water.

The political system of a society is not determined by an individual, but emerges from the society, and is facilitated by various factors already existing in the environment. The people and their leaders are also mutually reinforcing, and the reason why such a system is still working effectively is also because the majority of people believe, approve, accustom and rely on such a system.

Some intellectual elites discuss democracy and freedom, but they do not believe in the role of the people, and believe that the root of all problems lies in the party and in a certain person in power. And as long as the latter does not change, what the former does is in vain.

They scoffed at those who were willing to do their own work on the ground, to connect and build communities, to open up people's wisdom, and to change the tide bit by bit, saying, "What's the use of you doing this?"

But when you go further and ask: If this person in power steps down, what will this country be like? If the social system on which people live does not change, people’s values and ways of thinking do not change, the relationship between people and the mode of getting along with them do not change, and people’s vision and ability to deal with problems do not change, the power structure will truly change. ? Will it be different next time?

I have no idea. However, it is a pity to see China's thousand-year dynasties reincarnation, and to see the failure of democratic transformation in several countries.

Before the Hong Kong issue was radicalized, I saw Mr. Zhou Baosong wrote an article to the effect of comparing the anti-extradition movement of Hong Kong youths to the movement of the June 4 students for democracy and freedom, in order to awaken the communists of the mainlanders. Affection.

But unfortunately, in my opinion, June 4th has always been a taboo topic in the mainland. It is a huge stain on the authorities and a huge trauma to the people, so the whole society keeps it a secret, and people have no chance to spread the word about June 4th. Adequate discussion, let alone positive reflection—makes its experience as a social movement summarized and passed on. The fragments that remain on domestic social media today have been brought up again because of the Hong Kong issue, but they have also been stigmatized and turned into negative teaching materials for "pursuing democracy and freedom."

The reason why Lukwen's article should not be underestimated is that it is also compiling the Hong Kong issue as a negative teaching material for "pursuing democracy and freedom", and in an anti-Western context, its impact may be more than the side effects caused by June 4th. Bad (after all, on June 4th, the public still generally recognized and sympathized with students' motives for spontaneously pursuing democracy), and the amount of dissemination of the article proves this influence. In the face of this kind of article that is comparable to dung, some intellectual elites only care about complaining and expressing disdain in their own small circles. Don't criticize the people who eat melons anymore.

As a former keyboard warrior, the luckiest thing for me in the past two years is to meet a group of feminist activists, and I have learned a lot from them. They taught me to empathize with the public and stand with ordinary people. They taught me to dare to overcome my cleanliness, to reveal my vulnerability, to refuse to be obsessed with power, and to whitewash perfection. They taught me to walk into the arena to get my hands and feet dirty, to polish my beliefs in practice, instead of standing on the sidelines shouting cheers like a cheerleader.

Only action can overcome inner emptiness and fear, so at the end of these three articles, I also give you this good medicine.

I was also constantly bitterly disappointed by seeing what the authorities did, and because I was often not understood by those around me, I fell into a cynical trough and couldn’t help but vent my resentment around me. But I'll break free countless times to do everything I believe in about civic education.

I said above that it's only ten years, and those civic-minded people have not disappeared, but what about another ten years? After an entire generation has passed?

Under the pressure of the censorship mechanism, because I repeatedly felt the powerlessness of language and ideology, I turned to the real space, tried to establish connections with more people, organized offline activities as much as possible, and constantly advocated the need to deepen the community. Disrupting the status quo can be quick, but building human capabilities is a long process. I don't have the courage to sacrifice, I can only choose to do things within my power while protecting myself. If one day the water temperature warms up, and everyone does not get separated, and still retains the vitality of civil society, let us catch up together.

So I'm still optimistic because this era won't last forever and I'm still young.

History is always moving forward, and some of us are always young.