The two issues to be paid attention to in the ideological struggle 2010203040506

The human brain is not a computer and will not be so "rational, neutral, and objective" to change the calculation results based on the input data.

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Ideological struggle, the battlefield in the world's brain. The thinking of the human brain has its fixed laws. In carrying out ideological struggle, we must conform to and make use of these laws, otherwise we will be fruitless.

Since the October Revolution, the Western countries have been demonizing the eastern socialist countries. Before the collapse, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the demonization and was the first and foremost focus of demonization. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, China became the number one socialist country, and it became the primary and focus of demonization in western countries.

At first, China's economy was backward, and Westerners did not pay much attention to China. After entering the 21st century, especially after 2008, on the one hand, Western countries have been deeply affected by the FINANCIAL crisis in the United States, on the other hand, China's economy has continued to grow. As a result, China has achieved catch-up with the developed countries in the West, and the overall strength of the country is second only to that of the United States. And it's only a matter of time before the U.S. — and not too long.

The successful revival of the Chinese state has triggered strong uneasiness in Western countries, especially the United States, which has triggered a new round of demonization of China.

The two demonizations are superimposed. The first is the demonization of socialist countries by Western countries, and the second is the demonization of a powerful China in recent years. This clearly reinforces the stereotype of China in the minds of Westerners.

Only by understanding the thinking law of "labeling" can we understand why Westerners have so many absurd understandings of China. Even with plenty of obvious evidence to the contrary, they refuse to give up the absurdities. For example, all kinds of rumors about cotton in Xinjiang.

So, what to do in the face of this demonization of "labeling"?

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In this regard, it is also necessary to oppose the "theory of quick victory" and the "theory of failure".

Quick-winrs argue that if enough evidence is presented, it will convince Westerners to abandon their absurd understandings.

This kind of thinking violates the laws of human brain thinking and cannot succeed. Specifically, the evidence you present will only be considered deception and propaganda. Even the more evidence, the stronger the "propaganda flavor". You can't tell with your mouth.

Defeatists pessimistically believe that there is no way before China's economy overwhelmingly catches up with the West. What needs to be done now is to continue to bury our heads in economic development, and when the average income of the Chinese also crushes the Western countries, then the ideological problem will naturally be solved. If we wage an ideological struggle now, we will lose.

The problem with pessimistic losers is that they fall into the eyes of money and see only money, not the power of ideas. Moreover, even if the Chinese in the future surpass the Western countries, it does not mean that the Western countries will fall into poverty. Poverty is hit hard in the face of prosperity. But between the rich and the very rich, there is not necessarily an impact on ideas. Not many truly envied the rich fundamentalist life of the Arab chiefs.

Although the economy is the foundation, the problem of concepts still needs to be solved by concepts.

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People's thinking must be labeled and difficult to change. However, this does not mean that people's thinking does not change. It's just that people's concept changes are not so direct. After all, the human brain is not a computer, it will not be so "rational, neutral, and objective", and it will completely change the calculation results based on the input data. The functioning of the human brain is much more complex. All kinds of rational and irrational factors are mixed together and changed, which is very troublesome.

People's thinking is a complete set, but in this "set", it is not a simple pile of evenly distributed piles, but is divided into core areas and peripheral areas. The core area refers to the basic creed of man, and the outer area refers to the ideas born from the basic creed.

Basic beliefs are very difficult to change. And, if you try to change, you tend to irritate the person. He would see it as an offense and an insult. You just say someone is a jerk and how many people can listen to it? On the contrary, if you are reasonable and gentle enough to say that he has done something wrong, most people can listen to it.

One German, who pointed out on Chinese social media, Chinese direct criticism of Liberal Democracy in the West has had poor results because it points directly to their core beliefs. At this time, the criticized person cannot listen to anything. He doesn't analyze whether you're right or wrong, he just thinks: What does this person want to do? Why is he so evil?

Relatively speaking, it is easier for outsiders to change. It is easier for people to change their perceptions based on obvious evidence. For example, you can't directly deny Liberal Democracy in the West, they won't accept it at all, but if you justifiably criticize a specific law or policy of theirs, they are likely to listen to it.

The reason is that it is a look at the outside world. The fact that the outsider's mind is overturned and changed is not equivalent to tearing off the label, but only slightly changing the content on the label. The psychological impact on people is much smaller. Reasonable people will accept.

So if you're trying to change someone's mindset, don't directly criticize and attack his core creed, but start on the periphery, on related topics that don't seem important and controversial. Only in this way can the dialogue between the two sides continue. Moreover, on these peripheral topics, evidence, facts, and logic are all useful. As long as you are reasonable, it is possible to convince him.

That brings us to the point.

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The law of human thinking is this: although the core belief is stubborn and not easy to change, the core belief actually relies on many outsiders. You can't directly change the core beliefs, but if you start from the periphery and dismantle the many outsiders one by one, his core beliefs will be unstable and then shaky. Eventually, at some point, a collapse will occur.

The point is that the change of man's concept is a process of collapse, or revolution. The perception of the outside world changes gradually, but the change of the core belief is a sudden change.

This is true of individuals, and it is true of crowds. The changes in the history of human thought are several ideological revolutions. Heliocentrism to geocentrism, relativity to Newtonian mechanics, and even industrial changes, such as smartphones to traditional mobile phones, are all fractured revolutions and mutations.

Therefore, the first problem to be paid attention to in ideological struggle is to oppose the theory of quick victory and defeat, to fight a protracted war, and to promote qualitative change with quantitative change.

Specifically, there is no need to directly attack and deny the other party's core beliefs, so that one has no effect, and the other is empty. Very few people can think abstractly. Most people have to rely on real-world cases to think. That being the case, combined with various realities, the concept dispute will be turned into a dispute over solutions, and the periphery will be gradually cleared, and then the core concept of the other party will become weaker and weaker. At this point, we have to wait for the opportunity. As soon as the opportunity comes, a revolution in ideas takes place.

This is why wars, especially large and long-term wars, have often become nodes in the history of ideas. This kind of war constitutes an opportunity for a revolution in ideas. Before the war, people's outward-looking ideas had been greatly changed by facts and logic, but the core beliefs had not yet faded. After a big war is fought, the idea of collapse can no longer be supported.

Speaking of which, it also speaks of another element of conceptual change, that is, the change of personnel.

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The process of clearing out outsiders and weakening core beliefs often takes a long time. In this long period of time, personnel will inevitably change. The older generation gradually withdrew from the stage of history, and the new generation grew up. Although the new generation inherits the core beliefs of the older generation that are difficult to change, because it is the successor, the solidity of the concept is inevitably inferior to that of the old generation.

For example, those who personally experienced the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe must have a lot of prejudices against communism and socialism. This idea will be passed on to the new generation, but the new generation will experience differently, and they may not have such a strong prejudice against socialism.

That is to say, when the personnel changes, while the outsiders' thoughts are swept away, the "persistence" of the core beliefs will also be reduced, and the possibility of the collapse of the concept will become greater.

Face-to-face individual experiences give people the feeling that a change in perception must be the result of convincing or conquering others. In fact, if you put the perspective on the long period of time and the whole of human beings, you will find that most of the conceptual changes are actually accompanied by personnel changes, which is directly said: the old guys are dead, and those concepts are finished. Persistence and waiting are important means of ideological struggle.

From another point of view, people will label people and things that are not so important in life, but for a small number of people and things that are particularly important, they will take a serious look at it, carefully analyze all kinds of information, and make correct judgments as much as possible, otherwise they will suffer corresponding losses.

There are many Westerners who ideologically demonize China, but when they act as importers and consumers, they do not hesitate to choose Chinese goods. When it comes to their wallets, they look closely at quality, price, features, and carefully analyze and select them without simplistic labeling.

The process of gradually changing the perception of outsiders with facts and evidence is also a process of "you are becoming more and more important to him". His many outsiders watched, as you presented the evidence, gradually changed. In the process, he will become more and more familiar with you and understand you more and more. The label he put on you before, as long as it is inconsistent with the facts, will not be self-destructive, and he will tear it off himself.

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In short, in the ideological struggle, we must make full use of the law of thinking of the human brain, and while maintaining patience, use active efforts to clear the periphery and promote revolutionary changes in core beliefs. At the same time, we should pay attention to the changes in personnel and attach importance to the new generation that has grown up.

This is the way for ideology to win.

The next article talks about the second issue that needs to be paid attention to.

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