Chapter 16 Retribution

There are traffic lights at intersections on the streets of Beijing, and there are police officers under the traffic lights.Usually not one or two policemen, but four or five policemen.These police officers all need to be paid, and these wages come from taxes, which are originally the profits of the enterprise, which can become the driving force for production and more employment opportunities.Lowering taxes can stimulate production and improve people's living standards. This is a truth that everyone understands.Can spending on police salaries be reduced? There are no policemen under the traffic lights in the United States, and people can still obey the traffic rules.People's compliance with traffic rules can go to such a point: there is no vehicle, and a person will wait for the light to change at the intersection of the crosswalk.I have encountered such a thing in Helsinki.A middle-aged woman was across the road waiting for the light to change, so I was embarrassed to cross the empty road and wait until the red light turned green.In China, this is of course extremely rare.That is to say, in the United States and the European country I mentioned, police salaries can be saved.If it is saved, the traffic order will not deteriorate.

But I am sure that China cannot save this money.At least on the streets of Beijing, which I am very familiar with, many police officers at traffic lights are absolutely necessary.If there were no police and only traffic lights, I am sure that this intersection would be as crowded as if there were no traffic lights.Needless to say others, I myself will squeeze along with them.I have experienced this kind of thing, if I give in unilaterally, others will definitely not let me, and I will never have a chance to cross the road.Moral constraints are inherently very fragile.If a few people ignore the traffic lights and rush through, the road will be blocked, and those of us who intend to obey the traffic rules will not be able to obey them, and there is no need to obey them.

Of course, police salaries are not absolutely irreducible.For example, four or five can also be reduced to two.As long as the people on duty are serious and responsible, they should be able to maintain the majesty of the traffic rules.After being so majestic for a long time, it is also possible to reduce the number of people to two, and finally to one.However, this requires the workload and sense of responsibility of the police to be much higher than the average level of national civil servants, which seems somewhat unreasonable. What I want to show from this is that Chinese people have weak sense of self-discipline and low moral standards, which lead to bloated government and increased taxation, leading to a decline in the quality of social life.This reason does not lie in other places, in fact, it has something to do with each of us.We deserve it.It's nothing more than a reduction in income, and the international face we care about is also greatly affected, and our personal dignity is cast a shadow.

Traffic lights in Europe and the United States do not require police to control the line, which already shows the level of public morality of others.The subway in Germany does not need to check tickets, because everyone buys tickets consciously, which shows their virtuosity even more.And what are we Chinese doing abroad?To play coin-operated telephones in Japan, there is actually a trick among the Chinese people, which is to tie the coins with a thread and hang them out when they are used up.It's such a stark contrast.A very capable and well-educated friend of mine was eating in Germany. He said that he followed all the etiquette and paid the tip as usual, but he could still clearly feel the contempt of the waiter.He said he knew it wasn't an insult to himself and that the waiter looked down on the nation he represented.We Chinese also despise ourselves. As long as the conditions are the same, we would rather do business with foreigners than our compatriots, because they are more likely to break promises and cheat.

As a result, our nation suffered retribution and became a nation that people hate and hate each other.Become a group of people who only care about interests and cheat whenever they have the opportunity.Why is this so?Why is the level of public morality in European and American countries higher than ours?Why do our people refuse to abide by the traffic rules that are obviously beneficial to themselves and everyone knows are very necessary?Ordinarily, traffic rules are not a complicated issue, and do not require the support of superb rationality and belief. I have a guess that partly explains why cyclists lack self-awareness and must be supervised by the police.I admit that some people have poor self-control and need parental supervision like children.But this is not enough to explain the behavior of the masses.After all, most of the people who walk on the street are adults. They can swallow their anger in the workplace, and their self-control is not weak. What they seem to lack is public morality.Public morality is a judgment and affirmation of the relationship between self and public affairs.

Who do Chinese people think they are?What exactly are they in terms of relations with the state? If we really thought of ourselves as masters of the country, as theoretically we should, we paid our taxes and hired people to manage traffic, and those traffic managers were our public servants, how would we feel about entrusting them to look after us? of these things? ——We will probably be like a master, consciously and carefully taking care of the order at home, and remind the police to maintain order seriously and responsibly, work hard, and don't be lazy.After all, we are paying him.We will not regard public transportation as the business of those officials and officials, we understand that it is our business.

This brings me to a story a friend told me.He said that he saw something in the United States and was very impressed.An old man was very angry when he saw the traffic jam at the intersection, so he got out of the car and reprimanded the policeman who was maintaining the traffic.Say we pay taxes and deserve good service, how do you make the traffic like this?The police listened respectfully to his reprimand.This is obviously unthinkable in China.At least for me, I am very used to listening to the police reprimand, and I have never thought of reprimanding the police.In my experience, the relationship between Chinese police and drivers is a typical cat and mouse relationship.

Rats—this is the true self-image in the minds of Chinese people.Cat and mouse - that's the truth about your real self's relationship with the public.Few Chinese people seriously consider themselves the masters of the country.Because it's not true.Public affairs have always been monopolized by the emperor and officials, and the common people have been avoiding their punishment, extortion and extortion.In this regard, ordinary people just lack a sense of responsibility, because this is indeed not an area that ordinary people can be responsible for.If someone is ignorant and tries to act according to the master's way, it is enough if they are right with the leader's thoughts, and if they are not right, they will be beaten to death, as evidenced by Hai Rui and Peng Dehuai.This is true for those famous officials with very high status, let alone ordinary people.

According to traditional habits, and according to our understanding of reality, if the public transportation is done well, it means that the leadership is good, and it is the emperor's sage and grace.We would like to thank the government for organizing Beijing's transportation so well and making our lives so convenient.For example, taxis are not allowed to stop on the side of Chang'an Avenue, which is said to be for the convenience of management.If we people really regard ourselves as masters, wouldn't it be like a servant forbidding his master to enter the house for his own convenience?How can the master be calm?Another example is that when a senior official's car passes through the street, all overpasses and pedestrian bridges must be blocked.I once asked why the plainclothes blocking traffic did this. He taught me that we must obey the national interests and abide by the national discipline.Here again, national interests and discipline are in opposition to our normal walking common people.After so many experiences like this, we will naturally think that the affairs of the country are not our affairs, but the affairs of officials, and let them worry about it.

In such a relationship, the Chinese people have found their place.Fundamentally, he does not consider himself the master.When the master enters the house, does he still need the hourly worker he hired to remind him to change the muddy rain boots before stepping on the carpet?On the other hand, if we did not change our shoes before stepping on the carpet, and we are not ignorant children, it may be because this is not our own home, not even the home of relatives and friends.We don't think the rules of changing shoes are our own rules, they are the rules formulated by the officials to control us.In fact, not only in front of traffic lights, but also in officialdom, this mentality of ruining the carpet is very common.Officials are just employees of the emperor, so if you can be lazy, you might as well be lazy.The emperor eats hot food and drinks spicy food, and even when he comes in and out, he has to ask small soldiers and officials to stand guard for him to clear the way. His mind is not so balanced.Why should you be loyal to him?

I am willing to abide by the traffic rules, at least I don’t want to break the traffic rules first, because I regard myself as a good person, a moral person, and a person who does not do to others what you do not want to be done to others.To say it conceitedly, I'm ashamed to lower myself to the level of those who rush to grab a seat at a red light.I feel like I am much taller than them.And where does my self-expectation base come from?I used to think that I was a person who worried about the country, the people and the world.The affairs of the country are my affairs, the affairs of the nation are also my affairs, and the affairs of human beings are still my affairs.I really consider myself the master.Order is my order, traffic is my traffic.I don't think that's a police thing.Do I still use the police?Am I that low class? My understanding and expectations originally came from credulity, from a certain theory about the master that I accepted without verification in my youth, thinking that I was really the master of the country, or at least the successor of the master.Later, I maintained this self-expectation because Western economics explained the principles of public services thoroughly, from which I saw the logic of an ideal society.According to this logic, if I really want to be a complete citizen in the sense of the constitution, I can't dream of only enjoying the rights of citizens and ignoring the obligations of citizens.These two theories about the master, one from the past and the other from the future, are not products of reality. In this sense, the real implementation of the democratic system is also an important prerequisite for improving the level of public morality.Because public morality is nothing more than the morality of the master, if one is not the master, if he continues to be a subject or even a slave, this morality will have no foundation. Take the analogy mentioned above one step further: If I hired an hourly worker or a nanny to clean the house, I didn’t expect him to turn his back on the customer and become the master of my house with his own strength, how would I react at this time?I was forced to go out and earn money to support my family and was forced to pay his wages simply because there was no other way and I would be beaten.Then do I care about stepping on the carpet in wellies?I don't care if he's busy or not, as long as the indoor sanitation is returned to the hourly supervisor who refuses to step down once he's in office.It's good to be exhausted, and it's better to run tired.How can I understand his hard work?He is a cat, I am a mouse, why should I be considerate of a cat?The ruler with the emperor as the highest representative is such a public servant.Public servants are so virtuous, what should my public morality look like? About 2,000 years ago, Wang Chong talked about the issue of human nature in "Lunheng", saying that when Yao and Shun were in power, there were no crazy and stupid people in the people.He also talked about an ancient legend that people in the era of Yao and Shun could "seal their houses together", while people in the era of Jie and Zhou could not be wronged if they were killed next to their houses.He said that the difference between the people of the Holy Lord and the people of the Evil Lord is rooted in "transformation" rather than human nature. According to this statement, the unruly people are "naturalized" by the government, they are cultivated by the government, and they are not inherently tricky.Of course, unruly people can also cultivate corrupt officials in turn.But to change this vicious circle, of course the government should start.This is Wang Chong's opinion. When the ancient Chinese talked about Yao and Shun, they often gave some idealized praise, but I still believe in the legend told by Wang Chong.What was the era of Yao and Shun?It was the era before China's first dynasty was established. Both Yao and Shun were elected by everyone. Everyone was a member of a small society of acquaintances. They knew almost everything about each other, and everyone's actions would affect others. long-term view of him.Living in such a society, it is impossible for people not to take responsibility for their actions.Whether the act was good or bad, I am afraid it is not so easy to attribute or blame the chief or anyone else.According to our understanding of primitive society, these people can indeed be called aristocrats. In such a society, it should be possible to "compared with houses". In the era of Jie and Zhou, people's hearts will no longer work, and this is also reasonable.Jie and Zhou are the masters, and all others are subjects or slaves.If the masters, like Jie and Zhou, didn't even talk about the cover-up of doing justice for the sky, the moral level of the subjects should naturally be so bad that there is no cover. But I have a question about Wang Chong's statement.The logic and common sense of life in the discussion of Yao and Shun just now remind us that people who live in a group or in a small village, if they don’t get out of this small circle, are actually not going to be bad, otherwise they will have to suffer for themselves.In the era of Jie and Zhou, the blood relationship society had not yet disintegrated. How could people be so bad that they "compared with each other to punish them" without creating unjust, false and wrong cases? I estimate that all the bad things are in the field of "public morality", and the bad things are in the relationship with the "public family"—ruling groups such as princes—and the "official affairs" they are in charge of.And in the field of "private morality", within the family, among friends, neighbors and fellow villagers, our ancestors may not be behind, and maybe they can even lead the world.The Chinese nation has been at the world's advanced level for a long time, and this "private morality" probably has a share of the credit.Good personal morality, low social management costs, and producers can work hard with peace of mind.But public morality is not good, if you are advanced, you will not be able to maintain it, and if others do not beat you, you will be in chaos, and sooner or later you will be in chaos. Today, our kinship society and geographical society have disintegrated, and the so-called "civil society" in the West has not been established.The streets are full of people who don't know anyone, spit wherever they want, do bad things if they want, don't even have to be afraid of losing face, as long as they can escape the police, they don't have to take responsibility and don't suffer retribution.With the shrinking of the field of private morality and the expansion of the field of public morality, our advantages have disappeared and our disadvantages have been exposed.Chinese society has fallen into a historic crisis. This dangerous period has revealed its clues at least since the Ming Dynasty: the theory of karma is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Guandi temples are blooming everywhere, and the unrelated brotherhood represented by Guan Yunchang has become the ideal of our nation.These things are all drugs. If we see a person constantly taking sedatives, we can naturally infer that there is something wrong with his nerves or spirit. The crisis seems to be getting worse.The government responsible for maintaining public order originally had the support of an unreasonable authority, which can be recognized by the ruled, and the ruling group can easily unite around the real man without dispute.Now that the Confucius shop has been smashed, no one believes in the way of heaven and destiny, and there are no unquestionable defenders in the already weak public morality field. The Chinese nation has reached the most dangerous moment. In this sense, we are now in the same period of serious illness as in the past.If there is a difference, it is nothing more than trying several medicines, but the effect is not so satisfactory.The variants and substitutes of the Dao of Heaven have lost their authority successively in more than a hundred years of historical experiments, and people's efforts to rebuild the conceptual world have failed time and time again.The efficacy and side effects of various drugs are always unsatisfactory.For example, the powerful medicine of Mao Zedong Thought was effective in treating corrupt officials for a while, but when we were shopping in the Mao Zedong era, people looked at us all day long and were scolded by those salesmen.Workers and peasants are also lazy on a large scale-this is the field where everyone lives and lives in the social division of labor, and this kind of virtue is actually displayed. Now that the economy has developed, the salespersons (the state-run business cannot guarantee it yet) dare not reprimand us.This is the achievement of social progress.Workers (with the exception of regular workers in state-owned enterprises), farmers and salespeople did not receive a higher intensity of moral education, but they worked much more seriously, although this seriousness was inevitably reflected in the manufacture and sale of fake products.I think the key to this kind of progress lies in the realistic retribution mechanism.No one is willing to pay for reprimands from salespersons and waiters, so the boss has to recruit polite people and train employees to smile at their parents.If you can't restrain yourself, you may be eliminated by market competition—unless the boss has obtained a state-franchised monopoly position and becomes a tiger and overlord in a certain field. We are talking about the economic field here.I think that market competition in general should be conducive to the realization of Confucius' ideal of "Do not do to others what you would not have done to yourself," because people are more willing to pay for products and services that embody this virtue. Politics, or the public sphere, is clearly less optimistic.If a competition mechanism is established like in the economic field, where good services get votes and get promoted; bad services lose votes and lose officials or even jobs. Of course, social life does not only include the two fields of politics and economics.A friend of mine who has lived in the United States for many years told me that Americans are very afraid of ruining their reputation.They dare not renege on their debts easily, and dare not violate traffic rules easily.My friend drove over the speed twice in one month, got pulled over by the police, and registered his social security number.It wasn't long before his record of violations came to him.He received a notice from the insurance company that his car insurance cost increased from 200 yuan to 400 yuan.The social security number of Americans is like the ID card number of China, it is the only one, and it is also the credential for citizens to receive welfare benefits.But if he defaults, if he has a bad record in public credit, anyone who does business with him will check this record.Departments such as banking insurance and traffic management, which were harmed by his bad behavior, are naturally willing to register this record.As a result, if you want to rent a house in a civilized and peaceful place, the landlord will definitely ask for your social security number, and if you have bad character and credit history, you will not be able to rent this room at normal prices.My friend believes that this sophisticated retribution mechanism is the foundation of the relatively high level of morality in American society.This mechanism rewards public morality and punishes the wicked. Originally, my description of the retribution mechanism of the developed countries ended here.After finishing writing, I passed this article to a friend in the UK. She said that I had overlooked an important aspect, that is, a fair and efficient judicial system.With her permission, I have translated some of her remarks to enrich this article: The legal and judicial system plays a very important role in maintaining social order in the West.For example, according to the law, if anyone speeds or drives under the influence of alcohol, he will risk having his driver's license revoked.Is it really worth taking such a big risk?If you break the law, you won't be allowed to drive for at least one year.If you are used to driving to work every day, but now you have to take a bus or a taxi, this is of course very inconvenient and will cost you more money for daily transportation.More troubles are yet to come: Even if you get your driver's license back after a while, you are no longer a clean driver's license holder.That means you're not someone your boss can fully trust.To apply for a job in the UK, you must show your clean driver's license to prove you are a law-abiding citizen. Here, the central role in maintaining good social order is law, not moral principles.Without the regulation of people's behavior by law, moral principles are nothing, at least they are pale and powerless. In Western society, you can break the rules in places like supermarkets, subway stations, and gas stations, but you can't help but face the consequences of your actions.Few people want to do something that violates the rules and risk their future, career, family life, etc.We heard a story about a Chinese student who stole something from a supermarket and was immediately deported.In my opinion, the vast majority of people feel that breaking the rules is not worth it.That's it. When it comes to the fairness and efficiency of the judiciary, we are back to the political field.This is really an inescapable starting point. After the practical effort to get out of the vicious circle begins, there will naturally be irreplaceable spiritual work.For example, we need to find something similar to belief, a basis for conduct.The foundation of Confucianism has been scolded, where is the foundation of new beliefs? I think this foundation is actually in our lives, and there is no need to search for it in heaven and hell.For example, the retribution of good fortune.As I said before, we are now suffering retribution.And there's nothing mysterious about the retribution. Our ancestors have always said that the good will be rewarded, and the retribution will not be happy. We hope that good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil.In fact, good fortune entrusted the work of retribution to human beings themselves, and to the system they designed and established.If this society listens to this request, establishes a system that balances rights and obligations on the basis of respecting individuals, and establishes an appropriate accountability system and contribution reward system, a system of retribution will be established.If this society does not establish such a system, then this society will suffer retribution, it will be eliminated by other societies with a system that is more in line with the requirements of nature, or it will be destroyed by itself.The 2000-year cycle of dynasties in China is the retribution given by nature to the imperial system. Retribution falls not only on the entire society and system, but on everyone.We spit, we don't line up, we ignore immoral international and domestic behavior.Is the retribution for these serious acts of lack of public morality still unclear?We are looked down upon by others.Our own living environment and health environment decline, so that everyone lives in a world he does not like, this is retribution.In order to live a more dignified, healthier, and better life, is it worthwhile to curb spitting and other problems?Or, hire some law enforcers to take care of it, and every Chinese person pays an extra tax for their work.Isn't it stupid and ridiculous to pay someone to force you, and use insult and punishment to force you not to spit, and then we pay more money to bribe you to avoid punishment?Why don't you restrain yourself a little and have to get such a stupid and ridiculous retribution?The retribution of good fortune is such a thing, if you are stupid, it will pay you back for being stupid.If you are ridiculous, it will make you ridiculous again.All actions will be included in the income and expenditure accounts, it is really a sky net, and it is not missing.Any society and individual must pay the price for their dereliction of duty. If you escape this price yourself, others will pay for you.If everyone can escape such a price, it must be paid by the society and the nation as a whole that allows the escape, and it will be paid even harder.Our black hair can be dyed, but our dark eyes and yellow skin cannot be concealed. After all, good fortune is awesome and cannot be fooled.We, China, and human beings are all part of this creation, and our actions today will definitely affect our future and our destiny.This creation is not just a deterrent, it is also an encourager, the basis of a broad, poetic life - as long as you have enough understanding and respect for it. China is now a society that people are fleeing, and this society and us members of society are being punished for past and present departures from nature.We accept retribution, we don't complain, we deserve it all.At the same time, we must work hard to establish a new retribution mechanism for the future, in line with the nature of the system, and escape the cycle of vicious retribution.