These days, the “patriotic track” is really competitive—look, our Teacher Zhang Xuefeng is also here to join in the fun.
However, this year’s netizens are indeed not easy to fool. Zhang Xuefeng thought that once the promise of 50 million was made, there would be a wave of praise, but he didn’t expect the first question the netizens asked was: Since you have 50 million in your account, why don’t you donate it now?
Bragging requires skill, not just anyone can do it. Zhang Xuefeng’s downfall is certainly because he wants a share of the patriotic track, and it may also be due to his true nature, but his ability to brag, obviously, still needs to be improved.
Bragging is a bit like lying: when you have the first lie, you have to use countless lies to cover it up. And when you brag the first time, you have to have countless brags to make up for it.
This kind of example is not uncommon in history. Saddam Hussein was over the top back then—he often said he had weapons of mass destruction, and as a result, the Americans logically came in, and the country was gone, and the people were gone.
Bragging to this extent is no longer self-amusement, but handing a knife to others.
Looking back at Zhang Xuefeng, his problem is actually: he has tied bragging to “fake patriotism.”
If you say that Chinese students rely on you to fill out their college applications, then everyone will laugh it off. But once it involves “national righteousness,” then netizens may not be so easy to buy.
Because patriotism is never a concept that can be casually used for marketing. Behind it is emotion, social consensus, and the most untouchable thing.
Especially, war.
You say “donate after the first shot is fired,” this sounds a bit like: I’m holding it in my pocket now, and when the time comes to take photos, be on the news, and be remembered by history, I’ll wave my hand and throw it out, and by the way, put myself in the ranks of national heroes.
This is not called patriotism, it’s called opportunism.
This is called—cleverness is mistaken for cleverness.
War is even more something that cannot be casually joked about. If any netizen posts online that he will donate when there is a war, it is not unreasonable, but you are a public figure, especially—you are a public figure who directly faces the teenagers of the whole country.
In front of the teenagers of the whole country, advocating war, have you, Zhang Xuefeng, considered the weight of this matter?
In fact, bragging is common in the entertainment and business circles. Musk often brags, he brags about his Mars immigration, brags about his robot butler, and later, some of them really came true, and some are still in the PPT.
But Musk’s secret to bragging is that he leaves room for people’s imagination: you don’t believe it, but what if it comes true?
Zhang Xuefeng’s problem is that the bragging he does—has no time window. Donating money, either now, or forget it. You say “wait for the first shot to be fired,” what’s the difference between this and saying “wait until I win the lottery and I’ll treat the whole village to dinner”? This is not a lofty ideal, this is pure “procrastination-style patriotism.”
Therefore, the netizens’ sarcasm came: if you really want to donate, then don’t wait for war, earthquakes, floods, children in backward areas, these places all lack money. If you want to donate, please take it out now. Donating to these things is real patriotism!
Instead, you have to choose a “most exciting” scene, calculating that one day you can take the C position on the patriotic stage. This “calculating patriotism” can be seen at a glance, don’t pretend.
In recent years, the “patriotic track” is indeed competitive. Some people rely on singing red songs to gain fans, and some people rely on selling “domestic products” to earn traffic. On the surface, they are all sincere, but in fact, everyone is calculating.
True patriotism, on the contrary, has become the cheapest marketing symbol.
The problem is that patriotism cannot be measured by money, nor can it be used as a traffic chip. When patriotism becomes a business, the audience’s vigilance naturally increases. Who is sincere, who is acting, you can hear it as soon as they speak.
Therefore, Zhang Xuefeng’s “50 million” will be instantly exposed and become a joke.
In the final analysis, this matter reflects the public’s disgust with “false gestures.”
In today’s era of information explosion, netizens are no longer in the state of “listening to the radio and reading newspapers” twenty years ago. What you say, whether it can be self-consistent, whether there are loopholes, will be exposed in minutes once it is sent out.
Bragging is not impossible, but either brag in a way that makes people believe, or brag in a way that makes people laugh. Zhang Xuefeng happened to not occupy both ends: neither making people believe nor amusing the audience. As a result, he became the target of public criticism.
In the final analysis, he may have forgotten what he is best at—interpreting college entrance examination applications. That is his real moat. Now that he deviates, and tries to grab the heat of the “patriotic track,” he immediately seems to be powerless.
What’s more interesting is that this matter also reflects a kind of “national ability to identify routines.”
In the past, everyone was used to celebrities donating to disaster areas, and companies donating to the motherland, but gradually, everyone found that in many cases, what was donated was not money, but slogans: the numbers sounded big, but when you looked at the account, it was pitifully small.
So, netizens have become smart: you say you want to donate, okay, then check the account immediately; you say you want to sacrifice, okay, then immediately see if there is any action.
Don’t give me the fake stuff, just talk the talk.
Zhang Xuefeng’s mistake lies in the fact that he didn’t realize this change. He is still in the era of “saying a nice word, and everyone applauds,” but the reality is already different.
Perhaps, this is a major characteristic of today’s public environment: sincerity is more scarce than performance, and action is more convincing than words.
You say 50 million, it’s better to directly take out 5 million, even if you just donate a school first, it’s much better than empty promises. That way, at least you can leave some real traces, instead of letting netizens laugh at you.
Therefore, this matter ultimately reminds everyone: don’t treat patriotism as a traffic tool, and don’t treat grand words as a marketing shortcut. Netizens are no longer the audience who were easily led by the rhythm ten years ago.
Bragging can be fun for a while, but the car crash is just around the corner. Zhang Xuefeng, if you don’t reflect on it again, a bigger car crash may be coming.
Finally, what I also want to say is that in the video, Zhang Xuefeng has a fierce and arrogant expression, talking about donations, but using “damn it” and “I” all the time, parents, do you really want your children to be guided and influenced by this kind of person for a long time?
He once again verified a sentence: those who are fake patriots are mostly rascals in life.
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