Pan Shiyi is a popular opinion leader in the blog era and the Weibo era, and sometimes although he is telling the truth, many people in the Weibo comments question him, or doubt him, or simply think that what the rumor-mongers say is true.
What is this phenomenon? Instead of judging on facts, people choose what they want and tend to let it happen as "facts" and then talk nonsense.
The Oxford Dictionary calls this phenomenon post-truth. It means that objective facts have less influence in shaping public opinion than in appeal to emotions and personal convictions.
Another famous Collins English Dictionary included post-truth in its online dictionary a few months before the Oxford Dictionary, citing the Guardian as proof: "In this post-truth era, as long as you lie without hesitation, you can dominate." The more blatant the dishonesty, the less concerned you are about being caught, the more successful you can be. ”
From a business point of view, "post-truth figures" and "post-truth companies" are everywhere. Those who have become dreams come true, and those who have lost are ruined.
"Post-truth" can also be used to describe the social media around us. Every day, there are many "facts" and "truths" that cause heated discussion, controversy, and tearing, people believe in the truth, energetically share, even if the basic facts are often reversed, people are not tired, and a new round of comment sharing is opened.
The "post-truth" era does not equal a bad era. All people come to participate in the "shaping" of facts, in a sense, to return the right to interpret the "facts" to everyone, and the "facts" are no longer something that some authority has set for one.
But "post-truth" is certainly not a satisfactory era, at the very least, it makes the cost of obtaining accurate information increase, people's trust is also wasted again and again, in the future, if someone wants to figure out today's events, they will find that a small social news has been made like an elephant touched by blind people, ups and downs, and posts and comments have become part of the "facts".
Then the "post-truth" problem of "preferring to believe in falsification rather than seriousness". What is its cause?
Some people say that they have been "seriously injured" before, so they have formed cognitive inertia.
For example, in China today, the testing standards of leading dairy companies for products have been much higher than those of international brands, and they have begun to go overseas, but many parents of children are still accustomed to buying foreign milk powder. Some parents say that even if you set a high standard, china's air, water and soil quality can be compared with New Zealand and Ireland, and Chinese cows must use a lot of antibiotics.
The fact is that no one can avoid antibiotics, the large-scale breeding of large Chinese enterprises is easier to manage than foreign free range, and antibiotics for dairy cows will be affected for a few days, and the way is that the milk during this period is not used, and it is used after testing without residue. The quality of China's dairy products has improved by a large margin, but the shadow left by "melamine" in that year has not completely dissipated.
There are many brands all over the world that are made in China, and the exact same products are labeled with different brands and the prices are completely different. This is a post-truth scenario of "foreign moons are rounder". The discussion of this issue is more complicated, and it can only be said that the general trend is that as the pace of China's rejuvenation accelerates, the Chinese moon is rounding, rounder than in the past, and may one day be rounder than the West.
It is also said that "post-truth" is the egg laid by social differentiation and social anxiety. Whenever there is a doctor-patient conflict, a teacher-student conflict, an official-people conflict, and a police-people conflict, the voice of condemnation on social media will continue. Many people are not entirely on the facts, but based on their daily life experiences (such as "it is difficult to see a doctor"), empathize with this, and "substitute" other feelings into it.
Some people also say that the information is not transparent, the rumors are not timely, hidden, vague, and vague, these extremely unwise ways of handling facts, make people suspicious, but also leave a long-term hidden danger.
If viewed more broadly, "post-truth" is a global problem. Judging from the annual vocabulary of the world's famous dictionaries over the past few years, a prominent feature is that individuals participate in the judgment of facts, making their own decisions, rather than simply believing the "facts" previously identified by the "elite media".
In 2016, the annual word of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary was "surreal", the annual word of the Dictionary.com website was "xenophobia", and the annual vocabulary of the Collins English Dictionary was "Brexit". All of this is generated based on the results of the netizens' hot search, and to some extent reflects people's dissatisfaction with the existing situation (the facts) - they want to rewrite the facts, they want to have a sense of sovereignty, to change their destiny.
"Post-truth" became the Oxford Dictionary's annual vocabulary in 2016, inseparable from this year's Brexit referendum, Trump's campaign for the president of the United States, and more countries' political atmosphere where "passion overshadows reason and positions are more important than facts".
But the biggest crux of the matter here is, can "post-truth" really solve the problem? In britain, many people want to vote again, and in the United States, Trump's approval rating is declining. It turns out that those who are indifferent to politics and casually vote for it regret it, because the "fact" they cast is becoming a more intolerable "fact".
In the past five years, China's economic growth rate has been the fastest among the world's large economies, China has become the most important driving force for globalization, and China's achievements in anti-corruption, poverty reduction, and improving government services are also very obvious, but in terms of rational peace, has it increased or decreased, which have increased and which have decreased? The background of the discussion of the social mentality and mode of thinking in the "post-truth" era is, how can this power be properly viewed and grasped after the rise of China's power?
Zhang Jianjing wrote a book "The Rise of China" more than a decade ago, saying that behind the power is the competition between system and civilization, and the system production force also produces the control of power.
In addition to institutions, culture is also a key factor. From the "post-20s" to the "post-00s", nine generations of Chinese entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs work hard in the same time and space, tirelessly, tirelessly, almost do not know how to pass the time without work, there must be a culture at work behind this.
At the same time, behind almost all the hidden dangers of China's economy, there is also a role of culture.
If China, like the world, is already in the "post-truth" era, is there any way to improve our situation in this era, closer to rational peace?
The first method: replace zero-sum thinking with positive and positive thinking
In layman's terms, the so-called positive sum is to believe that the whole society is moving forward, the overall interests are increasing, and the interests of both sides in the game will increase, at least one party's interests will increase, and the other party's interests will not be damaged. From this point of view, how to promote development will be put first, and it will be through cooperation (compromise) to play a game, rather than always thinking of depriving the other party and benefiting itself.
Positive and positive thinking is also incremental thinking, and its focus is on how to improve the institutional environment and social and cultural environment, and stimulate people's initiative and creativity. If we base ourselves on distribution in the existing stock, you have more and less, you are big and I am small, it will increase a lot of contradictions.
The same is true of many localities, units, and enterprises, which are mainly based on promoting development and oriented towards doing things, and there are fewer contradictions. With the toss-up stock as the mainstay and the people-oriented approach, there are many contradictions. Jealousy is human nature and cannot be eradicated, but if the "culture of man" is allowed to be left unchecked, and some people are allowed to devote their main energies to creating imaginary enemies, creating the mistakes of others, and living in the mistakes of others, then there will never be a peaceful day here.
At the same time, while creating increments through positive sum thinking, it is necessary to pay attention to the moderate tilt of incremental distribution to relatively weak groups to correct differentiation. This is to overcome the rigidity of the "Matthew effect" and increase social flexibility.
The second method: replace confrontational thinking with concord thinking
Replacing confrontational thinking with concordant thinking means seeking harmony through self-reflection and putting oneself in the shoes of others, not taking extremes, but seeking the path of harmony. The social divisions, anxieties and rifts of the "post-truth" era are not inevitable, and even if they do, their intensity can be tempered, rather than hitting others with a straight face and paranoidly defending themselves. The most effective way to do this is to think in the other's shoes. After all, take a step back from the sea and the sky.
One of the basic genes of Chinese culture is "culture", pluralism and harmony, pluralism and coordination, in order to transform all things. On the other hand, today's business community is eager to destroy all opponents, attack them less than the rest, and spare no effort when boasting about themselves.
The third method: do not insist on thinking consistently
Finally, it needs to be emphasized that the effort in the direction of rational peace is not the same as limiting people's thinking to a box and demanding consistency.
In China's history, the emphasis on "harmony and difference" means respecting differences. "He" can produce all things, just as soil and water are added to mud, and can be built against walls to build houses; and when burned, they can be turned into pottery." The movement of the unity of opposites of different things promotes the development of the objective world. The monotonous "same" cannot be gained, the soil is still soil, water is still water, there is no qualitative change, can only stop moving forward.
What kind of thinking does China need to get out of the "post-truth" era? The answer lies in the depths of our own history.
To neutralize, heaven to the heavens, and all things to nurture. Hopefully, we can get out of the "post-truth" and open up a new era of our own and the world.
The content of this article is derived from "Reflections on Civilization (Series III): Touching the Pulse of the Times of Chinese Commercial Civilization", by Qin Shuo.