Editor's Note: The original text of this article has been deleted.
When walking in the world, everything must follow the rules of the world. If you want to lead and take responsibility for everything, then you must bear all the responsibilities. It is not acceptable to only enjoy power without taking on obligations. It is also not acceptable to turn obligations into gifts and expect people to be grateful. It is not in line with the rules of the world to exercise power freely and push all responsibilities away when something goes wrong. This is a simple truth, but many modern people do not understand or dare not understand.
When finances are stolen, you need to find the thief. When someone is killed, you need to find the murderer. In this world, no one blames the owner for why they earn so much money, and no one criticizes the deceased for not living well. But now, here, it happens. It's not just these examples. When a girl is sexually harassed by her boss, people blame her for being too beautiful or for dressing too revealingly. If they knew that Yang Guifei invented low-cut clothing, they would probably go and blame Tang Xuanzong for not taking care of his wife. It's really shameless. Xuanzong could even say "soft, warm, new, peeled chicken head meat" when Guifei was drunk and her clothes fell off, and he could tolerate Lushan saying "smooth and tender, just starting to solidify, stuffed with crispy pastry" next to him. But you are shouting "treason" on the side. Do you think you are a high-ranking official? Others rely on their genitals to survive, but you rely on not having genitals to survive. Others rely on their looks to eat, but you rely on being shameless to eat.
Taking responsibility is difficult, and there is only one way to go. There are countless ways to evade responsibility, and one of them is to muddy the water when something happens. Once the hat is put on and the water is muddied, it is difficult to determine whose responsibility it is. Hu Bian, a journalist from the Global Times, understands this very well and has taken it to the next level. Most people muddy the water when something happens, but he takes it a step further and makes the water stink. Muddying the water can still allow for further investigation, but if the water stinks, no one will be willing to jump in. They will let Hu Bian be the only one in the water, saying how clear, pure, sweet, and refreshing the water is, while Hu Xijin is the shit-stirring stick always ready to be inserted into the pool. Sometimes, even after stirring for a while, it's hard to tell that it's a shit-stirring stick. Some people think Hu Bian is great and cute, so they use him to stir their chicken soup and drink it all. Only those who understand Hu Bian find it disgusting.
Today, Hu Xijin said on Weibo, "I think some people should criticize the country less and focus on criticizing me, which consumes energy. And it's a 'writing competition,' so it's more civilized and much better." Sometimes, when you catch the frisbee too many times, you start to feel good about yourself. Hu Bian may even have the illusion of walking upright. Can criticizing the government be equated with criticizing you? It not only belittles the critics, but also elevates yourself. This is a trick that Hu Xijin often uses, which is quite old-fashioned and low-level, fitting the style of a senior official who is about to retire. What you call criticism should be called improvement. What you call the country should be called the government. Criticism is for progress and a better future. But in your view, criticism is not just criticism, it becomes uncivilized behavior, and it is a common method of belittling others. It is simply not progressive. In another Weibo post, Hu Xijin said, "In the face of major disasters and difficulties, China has paid a price, but it has gradually regained most of the lost territories on the domestic battlefield." This Weibo post represents another characteristic of Hu Xijin, the loss of humanity. So many innocent people have lost their lives, and there are so many desperate pleas for help on Weibo. Can't you see them? In your view, they are reduced to the word "price." "At all costs, we must protect the lives and property of the people." This slogan sounds grand, but when you look back, the cost is the lives and property of the people. This time, some people became the cost, while others became the protected. And next time, these protected people may become the next batch to be sacrificed at all costs.
After a disaster, especially when natural disasters are exacerbated by human factors, someone must take responsibility, reflect, and try to avoid similar incidents in the future. Questioning and criticizing are meant to identify those responsible and the causes of the incident, and to ensure that the corrective mechanism operates properly. Hu Xijin is doing the opposite. Although the media is no longer the media, and publications like the Global Times are far from being considered media, many of his colleagues are still engaged in so-called supervised reporting, but Hu Xijin doesn't even do that. He always likes to tell you that other countries have also had the same problem, and the people in those countries are even worse off than you. It's like telling a woman who has been abused by her husband that domestic violence is a complex issue, and other families also experience domestic violence, and they even use sticks to beat their wives, while your husband only uses his bare hands to hit you. You should be grateful. Hu Xijin's tricks are not difficult to see through. What we are concerned about is not whether a problem will occur, as there are too many types of problems that occur every day in different places. We can understand these problems. What we cannot understand, and should not understand, is why the same problem keeps happening, why it happens, and how to avoid similar problems in the future. That is what everyone is concerned about.
In this epidemic, the issues we should focus on have happened many times before. Officials concealing information, officials not taking action, or even officials taking reckless actions have happened in this epidemic, just as they did during the SARS period. The virus has been found and many people have reported warnings, but they were either reprimanded by relevant departments or criticized by leaders using parallelism. "You disregard the achievements of Wuhan's urban construction after the Military World Games; you are the culprit affecting the stability and unity of Wuhan; you are the culprit hindering Wuhan's development." Grass mud horse, who taught you this? You are good at using parallelism. The responsibility of these people is what we should focus on, and of course, their superiors as well. And during this time, Hu Xijin and the official media have always been reporting that the United States has mishandled the situation, high-ranking officials in Iran have also been infected, and the chief medical officer of Italy has died from the virus... They even included rumors about the Brazilian president being infected. People's Daily has actively spread rumors. It's okay for them to spread rumors, it must be okay. They have even claimed that miracles happen, just like bumper harvests. Your uncle is still your uncle, and People's Daily is still the same as before. When high-ranking officials in foreign countries are infected and die, can those who died in China come back to life? I really don't understand why you are so happy. There are even some idiots leaving comments under Hu Xijin's Weibo post, wishing the virus to defeat the United States soon. Are these the same people who cheered when the 9/11 attacks happened? You must not be able to get infected with COVID-19. You are heartless. Wherever you go, you don't have to worry about getting infected. If it's meningitis, you don't have to worry about getting infected even more.
These days, there have been many articles online criticizing Liao Jun, a journalist from Xinhua News Agency's Hubei branch. Liao Jun's notable works include the December 31, 2019 report from Xinhua News Agency titled "Wuhan Municipal Health Commission Announcement: Multiple cases of pneumonia found to be viral pneumonia, no obvious human-to-human transmission found" and the January 1, 2020 report from Xinhua News Agency titled "8 people punished by law for spreading false information about 'Wuhan viral pneumonia' online." It is certain that Liao Jun is not the sole responsible person, nor the primary responsible person, but it is incorrect to say that she has no responsibility. It is acceptable to write articles questioning and criticizing her. Some people call for tolerance towards her, but in my opinion, when a person has not realized their mistake, has no self-blame, and has not apologized, it is not appropriate to talk about tolerance and forgiveness. It is too self-righteous and makes oneself look lowly. Don't say that slaves have no right to tolerate their masters, they don't even have the right to tolerate their servants. Especially when Liao Jun is being praised, you have even less right.
In Liao Jun's speech at the commendation ceremony, she said, "Fighting the epidemic is a battlefield without gun smoke, and I am just an ordinary journalist among them. In this non-gun smoke war, we have always insisted on using our pens and cameras as weapons to loudly tell the world the Chinese story, Chinese spirit, and Chinese strength of the fight against the epidemic. This is our original intention and our mission." I have read it several times, and I can guarantee as a professional Chinese teacher that there is no intention to apologize or take responsibility in this statement. Here, I would like to digress a bit. Among the many voices of criticism, some people may mention Liao Jun's privacy being violated, her family information being exposed, or even threats against her. As a result, many people turn to sympathize with her and even pour scorn on those critical voices. This is a common illness. Those issues are separate from questioning and criticizing Liao Jun. She can completely resolve them through normal legal means, and she even has more abundant legal resources than ordinary people. We are a country under the rule of law, so don't easily label criticism and condemnation as online violence, just like some people easily label themselves as members of the underworld. We don't have and cannot have the underworld in our country.
In official media reports, Liao Jun is portrayed as an ordinary and warm-hearted person, just like other women. She is the only daughter of two elderly parents, a mother of two children, and the wife of a military doctor. In her work, she is a journalist with over 20 years of experience and a member of the Communist Party. These descriptions have touched many people, and many feel that how can you criticize a mother, a filial daughter, a virtuous wife, and a hardworking journalist... Therefore, we must separate life from profession. For example, Hitler, his image in life was "not smoking, not drinking, not eating meat, liking dogs, and having a warm and joyful scene with dogs, an environmentalist, living a simple life, and liking art." But you still call him a demon. What I want to say is the principle, not that Liao Jun is Hitler. Those who want to argue about this can go far away.
If you think Liao Jun is innocent and has no responsibility, then I can find many similar reasons to argue that those officials who concealed information are also innocent, helpless, and without responsibility. The people who delete posts and ban accounts on the command of relevant departments are also innocent, helpless, and without responsibility. The thousands of people in Jinan who are engaged in deleting posts are also helpless, innocent, and without responsibility. The leaders are also working hard and innocent, without responsibility... When a person dies, the responsibility lies with the dead person. Who told you not to protect yourself? The living are innocent.
Zygmunt Bauman wrote a book called "Modernity and the Holocaust." After a rough reading, Bauman believed that in highly civilized and rational Germany, the Holocaust happened because instrumental rationality overshadowed value rationality. In our context, it means that pulling the trigger is just my job, I am just carrying out the task given by my superiors, I am innocent. However, it is even more ridiculous here. We lack both rationality and humanity, and all that is left is capriciousness. Even someone like Hu Bian is pretending to be rational in the absence of humanity. Hu Bian is not like a Nazi officer who presses the button in the gas chamber. His hands were elegantly playing the piano at home yesterday, playing Johannes Brahms' lullaby. Hu Bian is the person who tells the Jews at the door of the gas chamber how comfortable it is to take a hot shower.
"People are in a panic, but they only care about a few pieces of broken silver." Hu Xijin is diligent and hardworking, but he only wants to eat a few bites of dog food. Hu Xijin used to be more dedicated when he was talking nonsense, but now he is becoming more and more shoddy. I don't know if he is tired. If you are tired, take a rest. Don't just go through the motions. It's like a mangy dog that only mooches off others without doing any work.
Finally, there is a question that I still haven't figured out. Why are there so many high-ranking officials infected with the virus in foreign countries, but we haven't heard much about it here? Does the stronger the party spirit and the longer the party membership, the stronger the resistance? If that's the case, I suggest promoting "Study Xi, Make China Stronger" globally.