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In nature, the phenomenon of food chain, biological restraint and the predation of the weak and the strong has always existed, because of the laws of nature: in the natural world without order, absolute power is "truth", and only the strong can exchange for their own happy life.
Similarly, even in human societies with rules and order, the difference between forces still exists – in today's society, 99% of people's fate is actually "exploited", but they think they can resist, but they do not know that they have long been in it, and it is difficult to reverse.
Since 2020, the increasing pressures of work and life and the sudden and global COVID-19 pandemic have made a difference in people's lives.
Many people seem to have begun to "fully understand" their lives, and began to communicate on various online social platforms, and some of the hot words have become the "memes" of the whole year, and even the social microcosm of recent years.
Exploitation everywhere
In fact, as early as more than ten years and nearly twenty years ago, people's cultural and entertainment life began to appear in the group - the "wind vane" at that time was often the CCTV Spring Festival Gala language program on the evening of the lunar Chinese New Year's Eve every year.
In these programs, it is generally necessary to sort out what happened in the past year and the social phenomena that have emerged, and at the same time, some of the more interesting "stems" will be born to become the mantras that people talk about in the second year, and even lead to new cultural trends again.
Over the decades, comedians such as Zhao Lirong, Zhao Benshan, and later Shen Teng have left us with unforgettable words.
In fact, in recent years, the entertainment life in people's lives has never returned, which is also a reflection of "being exploited by entertainment" - people are no longer accustomed to understanding the social hotspots of the past year through the annual Spring Festival Gala.
There are also some "disdainful" words that originate from the Spring Festival Gala, and more are to enjoy entertainment life through various entertainment apps in daily life, especially in the form of short videos that have been on fire in 2018.
It is not that these apps are necessarily bad, but because this way makes people's lives more and more fast-food, people's lives, especially entertainment life, are more and more like shorter and shorter videos, becoming hurried and impatient.
This is actually a kind of "exploitation" derived from the media and information dissemination: people's amateur life is almost "monopolized" by certain forms, forming an information cocoon, and can no longer understand the outside world through the way they want.
Let's look back at some of the words that began to catch fire in 2020, such as "inner volume" and "lying flat", the former of which originated in the social sciences.
Originally, it refers to the situation that the development of culture or society has reached the upper limit and it is difficult to make progress, but after being extended and used by Chinese netizens, it has the meaning of excessive competitive pressure in various industries in society.
The helplessness and confusion of people in a society with great competitive pressure is expressed; the latter was originally just a simple word, referring to a simple action, but after being extended by netizens, it refers to a state of giving up self-motivation and competition and peace of mind to become a "salted fish" in a complicated society.
Combining the two, we can find some clues to the thinking of netizens today:
First of all, people have recognized the current state of society and discovered the huge pressure that exists in various industries.
Secondly, people are no longer willing to change the current fate through their own efforts, which is quite a bit of a "confession" meaning.
Cognition and resistance
In the field of Western cultural anthropology, there is a famous theory called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
This theory, proposed by the famous American linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf, refers to the relationship between human thinking cognition and language. The duo argue that human mindsets may be influenced by their language.
Although after this, the academic community and all sectors of society have mixed praise and criticism, and there have been many voices of opposition, but the proposal of this hypothesis can play an enlightening role in broadening our horizons and increasing the perspective of the problem.
Then we may wish to follow a similar line of thinking about the relationship between human thinking, cognitive ability and the stimulation of their own potential.
As we all know, since we exist in society, we will be affected by many positive energy discourses.
For example, in the traditional Confucian culture, "Life is diligent, what can I get?" "Man will triumph over heaven"; "As long as the kung fu is deep, the iron pestle is sharpened into a needle", etc., and it is these words that inspired our ancestors to strive hard and change their destiny.
Therefore, we can roughly understand that in China's thousands of years of cultural tradition, "hard work" can be regarded as a main theme.
Therefore, people in this culture have formed a thinking mode of thinking that encounters difficulties and strives to overcome, and countless cases have also shown us the tenacity of individuals under this mode of thinking.
So what is their situation in the West? In Western European and American societies, and even within the entire Indo-European language family, people's lives are greatly influenced by religious culture, and Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. have become the main forces in their spiritual world.
So in their cognition and culture, there is reincarnation in life, and the meaning of this life is sometimes to pay for "original sin" (such as Christianity), and some to go to "Elysium (such as Buddhism)".
No matter what kind of thinking mode, when people face the fate of being "exploited", they may choose to "go against the grain" and continue in the current life, just like Europeans and Americans.
Or work hard to get yourself better in the current situation, rather than fighting against fate, just like the connotation of traditional Confucian culture.
Whether or not they can be stimulated to greater potential, it is still difficult for people to change their fate of being "exploited".
In short, as the polarization trend in all aspects of society becomes more and more pronounced, capital is always controlled by a few people, and the desire to fight for those resources cannot be obtained through hard work.
When you realize that you have been "exploited" by some force, this is perfectly normal. Sometimes your mission is not to change your destiny through hard work, but to make yourself better off in your present state.
- The End -
Author | Tommy
The First Psychological Writing Group | A group of young people who like to look up at the stars
参考资料：Vogel, D. L., & Wester, S. R. (2003). To seek help or not to seek help: The risks of self-disclosure. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(3), 351.