· This is the 4395th original debut article with a word count of 4k+ ·
· Liu Zi | Article Follow Qin Shuo Circle of Friends ID: qspyq2015 ·
Since the Russo-Ukrainian War, various analytical articles, video dynamics, group friend comments, and folk views have been summarized as follows: Intellectuals and middle-class groups are generally supportive of Ukraine and anti-Russia; the people are more supportive of Russia, and more emotional expressions such as "pure masters" and "fighting nations" are seen; the official is rational and pragmatic, does not pull sides, prudently expresses its stance, and also uses the 50th anniversary of the publication of the "Shanghai Communiqué" to release friendly information on the United States and Australia.
The author does not take geopolitics, international situation or military science as the research direction, and has no special opinion on who is "right" and who is "wrong" and the development trend, and has no intention of composing. However, every day it is "bombarded" by the circle of friends, small videos, some "think tanks" and "forums" In the WeChat group, all kinds of views that lack professionalism and even patchwork, and it is more common for both sides and parties to stand in line with each other, accusations, "cordial greetings", network battles... Disturbed, or want to express a few views.
"The root of the problem lies in feelings and positions"
Don't comment on "right or wrong" and don't engage with either side.
First, Mao Zedong has long summed up, "The root of the problem lies in feelings and positions." Standing on the different positions of Russia and Ukraine, the "free world", ordinary people, and who have more feelings for them, the conclusions drawn are certainly different. So no one can be absolutely right, and no one can convince the other;
Second, the Russian-Ukrainian issue is indeed complex and involves all aspects of history, politics, economy, military, nationality, and culture. In fact, political scientists such as John Millsheimer and Samuel Huntington predicted the inevitable outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine more than a decade ago, and today's war is not a war that the two sides have been preparing for a long time, or even to prevent war. Most people are biased to talk about it from a certain point or even a few points. In addition to objective exposition and reporting, no responsible scholar or media should hastily exaggerate or mislead others;
Third, here we must oppose fake news and fake news for commercial and traffic purposes, as well as all kinds of alarmist rumors that violate public order and good customs by indiscriminately producing and spreading them.
No matter how much we call for "peace & love," war is always a major theme of humanity. According to incomplete statistics circulating on the Internet (2014 edition of "The History of Human Wars"), in the recorded 5560 years of human history, there have been 14531 large and small wars, an average of 2.6 times per year. According to an investigation by the Associated Press, since the end of World War II alone, about 300 local wars have broken out around the world, and about 10 million people have died in the war.
We are no strangers to war. As a post-80s, infant "counterattack war against Vietnam", childhood "Gulf War" in 1991, we did not have a special impression, the media at that time was not developed; in the 1999 Kosovo War in 1999, my embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was bombed, the first time I felt empathy; in my youth, the United States' global war against terrorism, through the form of Internet graphics and videos, intuitively stimulated us; gradually entered middle age, and encountered the Syrian war, which was a war of multinational wrestling, a dozen years, no matter how tragic, How inhumane, after a long fight, it becomes numb like life.
The smoke of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has just dissipated, and in 2022, just as we are buried in our lives and exhausted, this Russo-Ukrainian war will inevitably break out again. On March 3, Russia disclosed for the first time the casualty data of the "Russian-Ukrainian Special Military Operation", with 498 Russian troops killed and 1597 wounded, and more than 2870 people died in Ukraine and about 3700 were wounded.
"Man", in the face of war, is a string of numbers. It is hoped that all parties to the struggle as "people" can gradually stand on the common position of "people" from different positions to face and deal with it.
On the other hand, we have seen so many wars of aggression and fierce wars, why can only today's Russo-Ukrainian war blow up the net? If we really want to talk about humanity, humanity, and righteous indignation, and react so fiercely and criticize, then, against Syria and Afghanistan, the destroyed Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the Iraqis who were pressed to the ground and rubbed... Going back forty years, is the tragic sacrifice of our fathers, seventy years back to our ancestors, a little too generous and unfair?
War is not far away, don't be too busy with accusations and criticisms. Respecting the feelings and positions of others, sticking to your own bloodiness, helping as much as you can instead of fanning the flames, and preparing for the worst of your own may be the rational attitude you should have.
See hope in the quarrel
Various controversies reflect a cultural rift that has accumulated over a long period of time. For more than forty years, we have had a danger of social differentiation and solidification, and we cannot allow this rift to expand into a social rift – which is also the root of today's unswerving anti-monopoly, rural revitalization, and advocacy of common prosperity.
We must first have the courage to be self-critical.
Not only the Russo-Ukrainian War, but in recent years, on many major social issues, as the backbone of society and the representative of the middle class, many intellectual groups have become accustomed to expressing universal values such as "freedom, democracy, and equality", not being grounded, ignoring the social realities of the civilian position and full of imbalances and contradictions, being prone to extremism, and often falling into the blind of universal values and Western experience, or "not standing up"--criticizing everyone but giving practical opinions or suggestions.
Second, we need to see more hope.
I think that an ideal social thinking model should be that the people talk about blood, the middle class talks about human nature, and the upper class talks about reason.
People's ischemia, such as Japan and South Korea, capital and class solidification, the people with rank, seniority to determine the victory or defeat and have no intention of resisting, the lack of vitality and innovation in society, will inevitably fall into the trap of the middle class is difficult to break out;
The backbone needs to talk about human nature. First, a country must have enough middle class to maintain stable development, and the root cause of cultivating the middle class is the division of labor in the globalized market, and they advocate internationalization and universal values, which are correct and should be advocated. Second, as the leading force in society, we should also give priority to "human nature", only talking about bloodiness and not talking about human nature will inevitably lead to chaos (such as many turbulent third world countries), and the reason of the whole people is not realistic;
The superstructure must be rational. The superstructure involves the whole body, affects the lives of all the people, emotional, and reasonable, often does not work, and even misleads the country and the people - the example is close at hand, Ukraine is.
An ideal society should be mutually understood, respected and integrated by the three, rather than full of prejudice and mutual accusations, and everyone should work together to continuously "meet the people's yearning for a better life" internally, seek national rejuvenation and build a community with a shared future for mankind externally.
That's where the facts and hopes lie!
In our society, hundreds of millions of people have blood, "my fate is up to me", everyone does not believe in "fate" and nothingness, everyone seeks a future, everyone struggles, dares to resist, break through, innovate, and society and the country give more ample space, which constitutes the background of a great country;
Our society has a huge backbone. They have professional skills, open minds, a more stable family and material structure. This diligent thinking nation, they do not delay in material things, but are willing to think, have the courage to pursue and assume social responsibility, which is the fundamental driving force for the stability and progress of a country;
Our society has rational and intelligent upper-class thinking and a clear and stable national strategy. In the century-old wars and complex struggles, rooted in the people, the vision is broad and clear, the footsteps are firm, relying on a stable system and a certain ability to correct mistakes, always not dependent on people, from weak to strong, it is enough to prove its success.
For a person, blood + human nature + reason, there is a sound personality, and the same is true for the country. Looking at the world, there are only a few countries with this healthy "national character". Even if it is not perfect, even if the progress in some aspects is still a little slow, our society is still healthy and still progressing.
What is "cultural self-confidence", this is cultural self-confidence!
Be wary of "unilateral confidence"
On the other hand, unilateral "cultural self-confidence" is also full of historical lessons.
In 2019, the popular "Twelve Hours of Chang'an" depicted the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty of "all nations coming to the dynasty". Throughout the Tang Dynasty, the people were full of blood, martial, pursuing merit, and ruling the country with soldiers. But under the bloody nature, the climax came and went quickly, the emperor was very happy, and after the Anshi Rebellion in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the country fell into continuous turmoil and the people were not happy.
In the Song Dynasty, the military-born rulers overcorrected and promoted the rule of the country by civilians, and the evaluation of them by historians was completely polarized.
One view is "the peak of China's feudal dynasty": the Song Dynasty government was enlightened, heavy on literature and commerce, intellectuals had a lofty status, so that the culture of everyone came out, and after the confusion of the confucian Buddhist Tao for thousands of years, the intellectuals represented by Cheng (Cheng Yicheng) Zhu (Xi) integrated the Confucian Buddhist Taoism into Song Ming Theory and Psychology, which had a far-reaching impact.
Economically, the GDP of the two Song Dynasties accounted for 60% to 70% of the world's total, and commerce was developed, but the average commercial tax was only 2.5%, and the world's earliest paper money was born, which incidentally stimulated the enlightenment of European capitalism and social change;
Another view is that the Song Dynasty was "poor and weak", and behind the material and spiritual abundance was the dead cycle of the two Song Dynasties: the carnival of intellectuals "singing and dancing to level", and the civilian bloody loss of "good iron does not nail, good men are not soldiers" - can not fight, seek peace everywhere, spend money to buy "peace", and implement the "worst military system in history" internally, that is, the professional mercenary system of "forbidden army" + "van army", and the combat effectiveness is low - the state relies on spending money to support it, and sixty-sevenths of the fiscal revenue is used for military expenses - poverty and weakness. The Mongols, who were low-level nomadic civilizations and did not want your money but only your life, perished. It can be seen that no matter how high the degree of civilization and the economy are developed by intellectuals, there is still a fatal danger.
After the fall of the Song Dynasty, the rulers of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties learned a lesson, neither allowing soldiers to take power nor intellectuals to seize power, and always taking the road of centralized power. They closed the country to the outside world, abolished the system of ministers (intellectual leaders) at home, vigorously engaged in the secret service system, and vigorously promoted literary prisons, suppressed intellectuals, and at the same time re-levied commercial taxes, promoted official business, suppressed commerce, and used various anti-human systems to suppress the people and society, and the middle and lower classes and social vitality were lost. At a glance, the ruler looked at the scene of a "great power of the heavenly dynasty", but it collapsed in the short contact with the West.
As mentioned above, history has repeatedly proved that even the most correct one-sided theory and one-sidedness will evolve into a national and human disaster.
Knowledge is on the Internet, and wisdom is in the blood of civilization. The ancients clouded, listened to the ming, sought common ground while reserving differences, and sincerely said this.
China's current problems
I often say in discussions with friends that the biggest problem in China today is not the economy — of course, there are problems with the economy, but the problems abroad, the Problems of the United States, are no less than ours; nor is there governance — of course, there are problems with governance, and in the same way, the problems abroad and the United States are no less than ours. Today, our biggest problem is actually culture.
If my friend still doesn't understand, I ask him this question—you, what do you believe?
market? ism? tradition? religion? technology? Both, and not all. What the hell is that?
I once made an analogy in "The Age of Rural Awakening", today's China, like a young man born poor in a martial arts novel, has gone through all kinds of hardships and tribulations, and finally learned all kinds of martial arts - whether it is free market, communism, traditional civilization, modern thought, religious belief, or high-tech ideas, all of which are proficient.
He will eventually become a generation of heroes! Walking in the rivers and lakes is more than enough, but there are too many internal exercises (and more and more), and it is impossible to give up, so you have to bear the risk of various internal force conflicts and even meridian blockage. The wind is not stopping, the trees are not quiet, all kinds of sounds often fight, and if you have to fight for your life, it will only make this hero schizophrenic and even go crazy.
No matter how powerful, rich, and powerful people are, they still have to face themselves after all. Compared with the extroversion of Western civilization + "dialogue with God", this is the strength of Eastern civilization. What this hero should do should be to fix the original, and then integrate the strengths of each faction, and finally create a new practice that belongs to himself, not to the doctrine!
He will eventually become a generation of masters! Let us help him, not cancel each other out.
A mission of the times
Such conflicts and integrations are no stranger to us. In China's history, there have been two "great integrations of internal strength" in general.
First time in the Han Dynasty.
The Spring and Autumn Warring States, relative to a country, are all foreign countries, and the hundreds of sons and hundreds of families are also foreign ideas. Fortunately, the society is open and a hundred schools of thought are competing. As for the Qin state, the Confucian and French alliances unified the world, but then they moved towards power and tyranny, but they fell within ten years.
After the founding of the Han Dynasty, after Gao Zu, the Second Emperor Wenjing used Huang Laozhi's learning to govern the country, recuperate and accumulate strength, and only then did he have the first Han Wu flourishing in Chinese history. During the reign of Emperor Wu, Dong Zhongshu integrated confucianism, law, Taoism, ink, yin and yang school doctrines, took "heaven-earth-man" as the framework, and established the idea of "great unification" with the three programs and five constants as the order, which directly and profoundly shaped China's history for thousands of years thereafter.
In the following thousands of years, although the country was divided and merged, and even after several foreign massacres and expulsions, there was always a clear main line that prompted a nation to survive in the ups and downs, and constantly assimilated foreign races and grew. Today's people simply criticize from a modern perspective, or out of the need for revolution and innovation, regardless of the laws of history and the background of the times, and are biased.
The second time in the two Song.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, the imperial power and great unification supported by the great unification of ideas went to despotism and absurdity, and Confucian etiquette became accomplices and were gradually abandoned by the world. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there was constant war and social turmoil, and all kinds of truths did not work, and the metaphysics used by mainstream intellectuals to avoid reality was popular. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the Li family dynasty searched for its roots and asked the ancestors to ask The Old Man Li Tan, still respecting the Taoists. Wu Zetian usurped the throne, and also used the Buddha to suppress the Tao, promoting the re-emergence of foreign Buddhism.
It's just that no matter the Tao or the Buddha, they can't do anything in the face of the division of the clan and the infighting. After that, the people's hearts and minds at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were in turmoil, and they were lackluster for hundreds of years. By the founding of the Song Dynasty, intellectuals once again dominated social change, represented by Cheng (程颢, Cheng Yi) and Zhu (朱熹), integrating Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and creating a collection of Song Ming theories. Internal achievements can help the country resist "poverty and weakness", and externally make Chinese civilization once again affect East Asia. To this day, Song Ming's theory of science and psychology are still highly respected by East Asian countries and are the foundation of the East Asian civilization circle.
In modern history, everyone is familiar with the impact of various foreign ideas, various self-revolutions and reforms, the Chinese people have gradually suppressed their own civilization traditions, until the current era of external prosperity and internal conflict of culture.
Only with sufficient ideological nourishment can there be full spiritual integration. Only when there is a fierce ideological conflict can there be a forward driving force for reserving differences and seeking common ground. Today, can we integrate the market with doctrine, tradition and modernity, faith and science and technology, and then realize the third "great integration" of our own civilization?
"The greatest fortune in a person's life is to discover his own life mission when he is rich and powerful", which is not only the hope of national rejuvenation, but also the hope of helping the world solve the "modernization trap" caused by the Western model and build a new community of human destiny, as well as the opportunity and mission of a generation of intellectuals.
May people wake up from the low-level quarrels of chattering, turning over and over, "ringing and ringing", to see themselves, to embrace a more open and great sea of stars!
- Author: Liu Zi, folk observer, independent thinker. Columnist, contributor, Rural Revitalization & County Economist. Personal name: Liu Zi's own place.
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