While Western countries mourn about recent victims of Islam's fundamentalism in France, another extreme tendency is building up on the very opposite end of the European landmass. The technocrat Chinese government has noticed that many of its citizens suffer from emptiness due to over-boarding materialism and lack spiritual roots due to 65 years upheaval of communist & cultural revolution, the great leap forward, and import of Western values. Chinese citizens ask themselves: who am I; and what is my place in this ever-changing world?
Western psychotherapists answer: that's very complicated, but all indications point at high probability that you suffer from collective psychosis; in particular if you grew up during the cultural revolution; in case your parents grew up during the cultural revolution its very likely that you suffer from a transgenerational trauma.
This disintegrating force of a partially mental insane society [like all societies more or less; albeit not changing at a break neck speed as China] is countered by the government with calling upon the Eastern founder of sociology and creator of a social hierarchy, which is without doubt the most profound asset of a government to re-instill stability into a bee hive to be abandoned by its inhabitants.
I do have sincere respect for Confucian thought, but I believe that societies 2000 years ago did require different means to be pacified as they do nowadays. Human consciousness has developed since then.
If Xi Jinping supports the resurgence of Confucian tradition by letting his youngest citizens perform three kowtows and nine prostrations in front of their parents, not only filial piety, but also obedience to the government is strengthened. If military style boarding schools force their students to perform such ceremonies, then I am strongly reminded of religious sects or totalitarian youth organizations.
But just to make this point clear again: there is no difference between American Bible belt radicalism, Islamist fundamentalism and Confucian drill: overstressing collective values and traditions deprives the individual from its natural capability to develop a sound intuition and thus sound judgments. Such individuals lose their ability to think out of the box, because they are under culturally sustained peer pressure and are prone to collective mental states like war fever; in particular if supported by nationalist policies. Ceterum censeo sericum deletandum esse.
Western psychotherapists answer: that's very complicated, but all indications point at high probability that you suffer from collective psychosis; in particular if you grew up during the cultural revolution; in case your parents grew up during the cultural revolution its very likely that you suffer from a transgenerational trauma.
This disintegrating force of a partially mental insane society [like all societies more or less; albeit not changing at a break neck speed as China] is countered by the government with calling upon the Eastern founder of sociology and creator of a social hierarchy, which is without doubt the most profound asset of a government to re-instill stability into a bee hive to be abandoned by its inhabitants.
I do have sincere respect for Confucian thought, but I believe that societies 2000 years ago did require different means to be pacified as they do nowadays. Human consciousness has developed since then.
If Xi Jinping supports the resurgence of Confucian tradition by letting his youngest citizens perform three kowtows and nine prostrations in front of their parents, not only filial piety, but also obedience to the government is strengthened. If military style boarding schools force their students to perform such ceremonies, then I am strongly reminded of religious sects or totalitarian youth organizations.
But just to make this point clear again: there is no difference between American Bible belt radicalism, Islamist fundamentalism and Confucian drill: overstressing collective values and traditions deprives the individual from its natural capability to develop a sound intuition and thus sound judgments. Such individuals lose their ability to think out of the box, because they are under culturally sustained peer pressure and are prone to collective mental states like war fever; in particular if supported by nationalist policies. Ceterum censeo sericum deletandum esse.
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