Re: The paradox of Chinese support for Confucianism


shazi wrote:
ltlee1 wrote:
shazi wrote:
ltlee1 wrote:

Government officials exert their influence through policy.

that's one way. but government officials also
can and often do exert their influence using
propaganda, fear, and outright deception.

A policy of propaganda, fear, and deception is still a policy.
But this kind of policy will not win any support and usually will not
last.

true. the Qin lasted 20 some years, and Hitler 12.

13.


(not that i'm comparing the two, except in the
use of fear and brutality)

but in the meanwhile, a lot of damage can be done.

Not much we can do. Humans are not god.

1. People whho work for the press are not robots.

no, but they're not stupid either.

journalists work for organisations who depend
upon financial and government support. when
financial support or freedom to operate is
jeopardised by the actions of a journalist, then
the organisation threatens and eventually takes
action.

the bush administration has mastered this.
a journalist will be punished by any message that
does not support the party line, with job loss,
loss of access, irs audit, loss of credentials, and
other means.

According to Prof. Sommerville, America news have made Americans dumb.
And he wrote his book before Bush.

They have the sense of right and wrong just like
everyone else. They would frame the issues favorably
but most would not point to a deer and say it is a horse.

Since individual infractions by government are
usually in the 'grey zone' between right and wrong,
the value of taking issue with a given infraction
must be weighed against the overall impact to
one's career. Asking yourself the question, as a
journalist, "is it really worth it?", leads one to
say "better to say nothing".

Hence, it's not so easy to say this is right and
this is wrong, and act accordingly. oh that it
were!

A matter of probability.


2.. The press is about a small number of people
writing on a small number of issues. The truth is
always out there for those who want to know.

sure, there is *information* out there. data. as for
'truth', i'm not sure what that is as an idividual
consumer of information. Since 'truth' is effectively
indistinguishable in today's society from propaganda,
how does one tell? how does one decide?

Truth is what people believe to be true. But I don't have any general
guideline. Of course, if one works on subject X all his or her, then it
is likely that he or she know more about subject X.

on the other hand, were there a culture of integrity (信),
propriety (礼), and justice (义), there may be a greater trust
in the press, in the body politic, and 'truth', whatever
that is, might better emerge.

That is the goal.
But as Laozi would say, "The saints don't die, great theivry won't
stop."
Confucianis is primarily about ones self-cultivation. But that is
something one "can use but cannot be relied upon."


I wonder where those values come from.

BTW, I could not find a Chinese equivalent of the English word
"legitimate." What do you think?

合法 he fa in modern chinese.
at a very least, 法 fa would be the operative character
for 'legitimate'.

That is legal or "according to law." But in English "legality" and
"legitimacy" are two distinct concepts.

-shazi
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