Cry, Cry for Me: On Organised Funerals

Look at some pictures

If the funeral is to express mourning, then organized mourning, especially the mourning organized by public power from top to bottom, has basically nothing to do with mourning.

The difference between the two lies in the word organization. Although an organization is a collection of people, when the organization itself acts, it has its own logic that is different from that of an individual.

From ancient times to the present, those who have the right to organize memorials are often political leaders or religious leaders, and they are all at the top of the organization. Through sacrificing this externalized behavior, organization, this abstract concept can also be concretely displayed, and at the same time, the power structure of the organization is also displayed. "The important event of the country is in the sacrifice and the Rong", ironically, the soldiers who died in battle were sent by the same group of people and sacrificed by the same group of people.

Today, this kind of "sacrificial monopoly" has risen to a new level. Not long ago, social networks mourned Dr. Li Wenliang in exchange for 404 deletion of posts. On the 404 day, we organized a memorial to them. Once again, it has been proved that organized memorial service has nothing to do with expressing grief, and "monopoly of sacrifice" has been sublimated to "monopoly of expression".

Even when we cry, we have to be given a set time.