1 Today I read an article that said that "the rice circle is a circle with moral genetic defects." The article argues that rice circle culture is immoral and should be governed by moral means. This view is absurd, and its suggested approach is dangerous.
2 Before morally governing the rice circle, we need to clarify two preconditions. First, what are the main objects of ethical governance? Second, is the rice circle suitable for serving as the main object of moral governance?
3 What are the main objects of ethical governance? The most destructive immorality of human society is not the immorality of the ruled, but the immorality of the ruler. Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle were all aware of this. Therefore, their teachings on morality are not to the ruled, but to the ruler.
4 What is a rice circle? Rice circle is a common translation of the English fandom. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary fandom entry, the term first appeared in 1903 and was originally used to name groups of sports enthusiasts. Fandom is a composite of fan and dom, and fan has two etymologys. The first is the Latin vannus and the second is fanatic, which is derived from the Latin fānāticus (("of a temple, divinely inspired, frenzied"). According to the former etymological relationship, the original meaning of fan is fan, according to the latter etymology relationship, fan means "infatuation", "... Fans". The dom in fandom is a suffix used to refer to "state" and "realm", such as freedom ("freedom") and kingdom ("kingdom"). Thus, fandom implies two directions of meaning: first, the fan in fandom indicates that it is related to some spiritual pursuit; second, the dom in famdom indicates that it is related to a group or field. From this perspective of both meanings, the rice circle has two characteristics at the same time: mental characteristics (fan-) and organizational characteristics (-dom).
5 Rice circles have existed since ancient times. Plato mentions one thing in the Menorians: When Gorggia, who was known for his rhetoric, arrived in Athens, he soon became fascinated by a large number of young people who had come to Athens from Thessaly to study. This group of young people formed the Golgia rice circle of the time.
6 If the rice circle does not belong to the class of rulers, the rice circle should not be the main object of moral governance. But can the rice circle be a general object of moral governance? Here we need to distinguish between three kinds of human behavior: (1) acts that are inherently good, (2) acts that are inherently evil; and (3) acts that are morally neutral in themselves. Saving lives and helping the injured is the first kind of behavior. Rape is the second type of act. This morning we spent two dollars on a cup of soy milk. My act of purchasing is neither good nor evil, but morally neutral. For the first act, the legal and moral expression is "should." For the second type of behavior, the legal and moral expression is "prohibition." For the third type of behavior, the legal and moral expression is "yes." The mental character (fan-) and organizational trait (-dom) of the rice circle are themselves morally neutral things. Because we can't say: because you are obsessed with Wu Jing, who earns a lot of money by expressing patriotic feelings, your infatuation is evil, and your infatuation with Mr. Gu Tianle, the charity master of Guangjian School, your infatuation is good. Obviously, the spiritual orientation contained in fandom is neutral.
7 A group of young people like to chase stars, in fact, there is no moral or immoral problem, some are just education and guidance problems. Even if it is an educational guide, it should be a first-class and crowd-oriented guide. We should still return to Confucius's teaching that the main direction of moral governance is not the ruled, but the ruler. As the saying goes, "the gentleman's moral wind, the villain's moral grass, and the grass will prevail."
Written on October 30, 2021 in Beibei, Chongqing