The night watchman on the city wall: Do the Chinese really not pay attention to "political correctness"?

Miss Yang from the University of Maryland became popular, and she also made the Chinese people angry. Putting aside the lies about the poor air quality in Kunming, it is actually quite difficult for people who are caught between the two political cultures of China and the United States to have both sides.

My work requires me to be in contact with foreign media every day. In fact, if what Ms. Yang said had not been spread back to China by netizens, it would not have caused any waves, because these words are said by Western media every day and are commonplace. It's like you can't remember what you had for lunch the day before yesterday. What they are most concerned about in China is environmental pollution and freedom of speech. There is nothing wrong with criticizing China on these two points and then boasting about it. The United States appears to be particularly politically correct.

In China, to put it mildly, this is called abandoning the glorious patriotic tradition of the older generation of overseas students such as Hua Luogeng, Qian Xuesen, and Deng Jiaxian; to put it more seriously, to "take the position" by "blackening" the motherland is called forgetting one's ancestors. . Ignoring the stage of development and willing to be a mouthpiece to "smear" the motherland seems particularly politically incorrect.

As soon as Chinese netizens criticized her, the University of Maryland issued an official statement, elevating the protection of Ms. Yang’s personal remarks to the level of defending academic freedom and tolerating dissent. Putting aside the fatal paradox of the so-called pluralism that "cannot tolerate the intolerant", this statement alone instantly made her image in the United States more majestic and upright. But it is conceivable that after the fermentation of domestic public opinion, not only will it be difficult for her to return to China to do academic work, but the student population of her alma mater will also be affected.

The University of Maryland declares: It supports Yang’s right to share her views

I speculate on Miss Yang with the greatest goodwill. I am afraid she is also a simple child who cannot imagine what she will do. The remarks would cause such diametrically opposed reactions in China and the United States. Now it can be said that she has been forced by the political correctness under different national conditions to the point where she has no chance of turning back.

Today we will talk about political correctness.

“You are so politically correct!” “You are so politically correct!”

With the rise of US President Trump and the decline of neoliberalism, "Political correctness" suddenly became an insulting term. Trump is able to sit in such a high-power position. In addition to the comic effect of his blaming the sky and the earth, more importantly, he is like the little boy in Andersen's fairy tale, severely humiliating the American people. The domineering "emperor" - the powerful elite in Washington - exposed their new hypocritical clothes - "political correctness".

"Political correctness is killing our country." - Trump

The emperor's new clothes are stripped off, and the ugliness it previously covered is naturally exposed to the world. . People suddenly discovered that political correctness is like a gag in sexual abuse. It prevents you from speaking out freely when faced with extremism, inequality, crime, and moral decay. You can only mumble and say: "Well, Well, um..."

After taking off their gags, American Sichuan fans said that "anti-political correctness" allows the people to finally make a real voice, and the historical trend it represents is mighty and devastating. . Chinese Sichuan fans are busy guarding against the slightest glitches and defending the pure land of domestic public opinion that has not been seriously tainted by "political correctness". They label "white leftists" such as "little freshness" and "Madonna disease" usually used to describe "white leftists" on those who hold different opinions. On the heads of compatriots. Some people even suggested that fortunately, the Chinese people are practical and do not talk about political correctness in everything, so they have avoided contracting some of the ills of American society.

Chinese netizens’ ridicule of “white left” values ??has been successfully exported

But is China really not politically correct? Ms. Yang’s incident fully demonstrates that this is a false proposition.

So is political correctness really bad? not necessarily.

A distinction must be made here between political correctness in the narrow sense and broad sense.

American political correctness in a narrow sense refers to people taking the initiative to adopt neutral and more civilized language in order to avoid offending or hurting certain groups in society. It originated from the criticism of "Stalin's ideological orthodoxy" by American social democrats in the 1930s. In the 1960s, it borrowed the word "correct" from Mao Zedong's "How to Correctly Handle Contradictions Among the People", but it mainly In criticizing dogmatism within the left. It wasn’t until the New York Times published Richard Bernstein’s “The Rising Hegemony of Political Correctness” in 1990 that the term was used to describe the rule-abiding, speech-restricted, and silent American academic circle.

Leaving aside this critical origin, just picking out words and adding qualifying adverbs in front of "correct" often has overtones. For example, saying something is "technically correct" means "however, it is not essentially correct." Therefore, saying that a certain statement is "politically correct" implies that the speaker is aware of the fallacy, but in order to occupy the moral high ground or achieve certain goals. , deliberately hiding the truth. How abominable!

But political correctness in a broad sense refers to speech standards and behavioral norms formed in a specific political civilization ecosystem that are in line with mainstream values ??and social consciousness. Not only do the standards of political correctness differ between countries, but the standards of political correctness in the same country also change with the changes of the times. In this sense, political correctness is the normal development of human society. Where there is politics, there is political correctness.

Big Politics VS Small Politics

For politics, the historical experience of China and the West is very different, which can be seen from the etymology. The word politics comes from Greek, meaning "city affairs", which means "organized control of community affairs and determination of the distribution of power and resources", which is the essence of Western politics. In Chinese, "politics" and "governance" are originally separate. "Government" is the way of governance, and "governance" is the overall state of society. There is a causal relationship between them. The West emphasizes “small politics” within communities, while China emphasizes “big politics” based on systems.

When the tradition of "small politics" encounters Western democratic societies that have basically completed modernization, there is a direct competitive and confrontational relationship between communities due to the total growth of interests, the reduction of marginal increments, and the dilution of shares. In order to resolve conflicts between communities, people carefully avoid touching other people's minefields in words and actions. However, Chinese people with a gene for “big politics” tend to view society as a whole, rather than focusing on the zero-sum game between communities.

In the era of economic development, society maintains upward mobility, and communities are racing in the same direction. There is no direct harm to each other, so naturally they will not be extra cautious in their words. For example, there is a saying in China that "Everyone has his or her own preference for vegetables and radishes." What maximizes my interests (vegetables) may not necessarily maximize your interests (because you love radishes), but it can still fill your stomach. It's better than nothing; but the corresponding English proverb is different, "one man's meat is another man's poison". What makes me happy may kill you. Without "political correctness" as a means of appeasement and a glue, it would be difficult for Western countries with a high degree of individualism and sharply opposed communities to maintain harmony and stability - especially during a period of long-term stagnation in economic growth.

The "Black Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter" movements to safeguard the rights and interests of minority groups show the nature of confrontational games between communities

The same goes for "big politics" and "little politics" Traditional mapping of the development stages of political body strength. When the West is in a dominant position in the world, protecting individual rights is in the interests of the supranational political body, and its importance is obviously higher than safeguarding the sovereignty of nation-states from external interference. For latecomers, the process of rising and rising requires All the citizens are twisted into a rope and project their limited power in a unified direction. The collectivist model will inevitably produce the concept of "I can criticize my own country, which is called hating the iron that cannot be made into steel, but I do not allow outsiders to say that it is not good."

In this sense, the Chinese in this era cannot allow the Yang girls to cater to foreign countries by criticizing the motherland; it is also difficult for Americans to accept that controversial remarks are uniformly boycotted.

I can’t do it without going overboard

In addition to “politics”, another component of political correctness is “correctness”. Correctness must be relative to a certain fallacy, which often comes from the historical experience and lessons of national development. Today, countries emphasize "correctness" and even go so far as to advocate "correctness" because the mistakes made in the past are an unbearable burden on the country's destiny.

The reason why the West has developed such political correctness today has something to do with its "original sin" during its colonial expansion. As the core of Western civilization, Christian civilization based on white believers continues to coerce groups of other races, religions, and sexual orientations to join the Western hegemonic order in the process of expansion, forming a pyramid-shaped society in which white heterosexual men who believe in Christianity are respected. power structure.

Political correctness stems from the correction of political errors

In the United States, oppressed groups—such as ethnic minorities, Muslims, women, sexual minorities, etc.—have long been completely Unable to express their own cultural voice, it was not until the emergence of women's suffrage and the black equal rights movement that people emphasized the "political correctness" of protecting minority groups and defending pluralism and freedom under the liberal order in order to prevent the reversal of history. In Europe, the two world wars brought painful historical memories, so people were tightly guarded against nationalist tendencies, fearing that society would slide toward fascism instigated by conspirators. In Japan, the post-war economy has achieved rapid growth. The pacifist constitution and the fear of nuclear war have led most Japanese people to embrace highly individualistic pacifism. That is why some young people say, "Let a country that makes people die, let it perish." Okay.”

Similarly, political correctness in today’s China also comes from the correction of modern fallacies. After more than a hundred years of poverty and weakness, loss of power and humiliation, internal and external troubles, and social turmoil, the Chinese people have completely given up their illusions, embraced realism and utilitarianism, and urgently sought a path to self-improvement. China has three major political correctnesses on a macro level: backwardness will be punished, development is the last word, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. According to historical experience, they all have the same goal: upholding the leadership of the Communist Party.

Not long ago, Argentinian foreign aid Lavezzi of the Chinese Super League made an eye-catching gesture in a makeup photo, causing an uproar in the country. In the past, when people-to-people exchanges between China and foreign countries were not so frequent, Chinese people were not familiar with this action. In fact, if the Internet celebrity couple @KatAndSid had not popularized a wave of common discriminatory behaviors against Chinese people in the United States on Weibo, many people would have felt that Even if you say that my squinting eyes are nothing special, I also said that Koreans really squint their eyes.

According to @KatAndSid’s explanation, Ravitch’s behavior is discriminatory against the Chinese

But when viewed in the context of the racial environment in the United States, it is no less serious than speaking against black people The word that begins with "n". Early Chinese immigrants were treated extremely unfairly due to language barriers and physical characteristics that were different from the locals. They were even forced to accept the Chinese Exclusion Act, which had obvious racial discrimination. Today, Chinese Americans have entered mainstream society by relying on "exemplary performance." In order to correct the unfair treatment of Chinese Americans in history, mainstream society has censored the action of eye-rolling to avoid triggering the tragic memories of the Chinese community.

But since China is not an immigration country with prominent racial issues, and there is no such absurd thing as self-discrimination, and many people even go to the knife to pursue big eyes, why are they so sensitive to this action? ? Because it has stepped on China's most sensitive nerve - the humiliating memory of the Chinese people being reduced to second-class citizens under the iron heel of foreign powers in the late Qing Dynasty.

So even if the eye-rolling gesture is not very malicious in Latin America, which is less sensitive to political correctness, it can be attributed to low quality at most. In China, it is not just a joke in bad taste, but also involves nationality. The bottom line of dignity. Therefore, when the "correct" standards of different political civilizations collide, as an individual traveling between different societies, it is necessary to fully understand the local society and be cautious in words and deeds.

Fluid political correctness is the conscience of society

In addition, because political culture and social reality are constantly evolving, political correctness is a fluid concept. When we find that the political correctness of a certain society has become highly rigid, even to the point of absurdity, it means that it is stuck in an earlier era and has not yet adapted to social changes. At this time, the criticism and denial of political correctness is actually gathering new political consciousness and forming political correctness that adapts to the times.

In the early days of American independence, when the population was mainly composed of European immigrants, patriotism to defend the New World from the corruption of the old system was politically correct; when a new world order was established after World War II, international trade and liberalism were Political correctness; after the Cold War, the Soviet Union lost its powerful ideological opponent, identity, religious freedom, and gender role autonomy became politically correct. In the future, as the liberal establishment is counterattacked by populism, it is difficult to predict whether "anti-political correctness" will become the new "political correctness." If so, it really means "there is nothing new under the sun." ”

Rigid and rigid political correctness is not called political correctness

Looking back to the country, political correctness also changes with the historical process. During the reign of Qin II, it was political correctness to refer to deer as horses; In the Tang Dynasty, national integration was politically correct; in the Ming Dynasty, it was politically correct to "expel the Tartars"; in the first thirty years of New China, it was politically correct to let the people have enough to eat and stand up; in the second thirty years, it was politically correct to make the people rich and to allow disadvantaged groups to have wealth. The right to speak is political correctness. To give an inconspicuous example in life, when we were young, we would sing children's songs such as "Bye Bye and Join the Red Army" behind people with limited legs and feet. However, as the rights of people with disabilities have gained social attention, we have attached great importance to their personal integrity. Feelings, such as calling the blind and deaf people visually impaired and hearing-impaired, calling the mentally handicapped mentally retarded, and calling Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease.

In the past, it was not a big deal that went against social expectations that visually impaired students could not receive education and obtain qualifications like able-bodied students. But just last week (May 16), the Ministry of Education responded to the lawsuit filed by the visually impaired girl Xiaoqian in accordance with the "Law on the Protection of Disabled Persons" and specially prepared Braille test papers for her CET-4 English test. Therefore, political correctness is by no means just an avoidance of "hurtful truths" as many people think. When it is highly consistent with social reality, it should also be tempered.

In the future, as China achieves its two centenary goals, it will gradually become a global power; its national self-confidence will return to the level before the Opium War; racial and religious composition will gradually become more complicated; and the distribution of interests among communities will change. As its importance increases, politically correct content will obviously change accordingly. Fifty years from now, the absolute development level and relative international status of China and its people will have undergone tremendous changes. At that time, looking back at the words and actions of Ms. Yang and Ravitch, people can laugh at them.