Past Events and Thoughts | As a child of a farmer, don’t join in the fun of “patriotism”

I rarely get angry at readers’ comments. As an old internet user of more than 20 years, it’s a basic quality not to get angry. But I was still moved when I saw a comment the day before yesterday.

This comment said:

My family is in the countryside. My mother is 77 years old this year. She only receives one or two hundred yuan a month, but there are subsidies for the land, one or two thousand yuan a year. She has chronic diseases and takes medicine. She has three highs. After reimbursement, she only needs to pay a few dozen yuan for medicine every month. She has a vegetable garden at home and can plant a little bit at the door. Relatives at home give a little and don’t need to buy vegetables. She doesn’t need to buy eggs either. She has had a lumbar fracture and had surgery. After reimbursement, she only spent more than two thousand yuan. She has her own house and doesn’t need to pay any taxes or management fees. She has two free simple physical examinations every year. It’s free to take the bus into the city. My hometown is just a small village in a poor county in Anhui…

She wants to use this to show that China is good, but through this passage, I see:

A 77-year-old rural elder, with three highs, a lumbar fracture, and an income of about three hundred yuan a month, plus land subsidies, leaving more than two hundred yuan after deducting the cost of medicine. One surgery may cost her a whole year’s income. At this age, she still has to work in the fields…

I couldn’t help but say: “I can see that you ‘love the country’, but I don’t see that you love your mother, not even a little bit of empathy.” This is a mild criticism. In fact, what I want to say in my heart is: Your mother has lived such a difficult life all her life, and you still use her to sing praises for the country. Where is your conscience?!

I basically turn a blind eye to those who call me “traitor”, “running dog”, and “colonizer”. But the above paragraph of ordinary words made me feel agitated.

As a child of a farmer, why join in the fun of “patriotism”? Those who cater to you online may have parents who are in the system, receiving thousands or tens of thousands of yuan in retirement pay, dancing in the square every day, living a carefree life, and enjoying themselves. I’m not saying that the children of farmers are not qualified to “love the country”. If “patriotism” is defined by some people as only saying good things about the government and the country, then the children of farmers should not go. If you have to “tell a good Chinese story”, you can’t tell it well. If you think it’s good and tell it, it will instead “smear” the country.

The above is an angry statement. After a little calm, I know that the fire is in the wrong direction. The above paragraph is too common, especially in the countryside. The reason is simple: farmers have never been treated well, so they are grateful and tearful when they have a little improvement. You can lament their misfortune and be angry at their lack of progress, but this posture is too high. Farmers are not only exploited materially, but also spiritually, resulting in both material and spiritual poverty. They are victims and should not be the object of blame (because I wrote this article, I will delete the above comment. It doesn’t matter who said it).

I have always opposed the saying that “Chinese people deserve their suffering”, which implies a sense of superiority and detachment, speaking the most cynical words in the most indignant tone.

Wang Yi has a saying that I didn’t like at the time, but I feel it’s well said these years: “To know but not to speak is a sin.”

Because someone intentionally prevents them from knowing.

They don’t know, farmers were the first to pay social security for the whole society. If there is any group in China that should receive the highest pension, it is the rural elderly in their seventies and eighties.

They don’t know that the pension insurance they are paying now, under the current pay-as-you-go pension system, they are helping urban people support their parents, while their own parents are not taken care of.

They don’t know that among China’s fiscal expenditures, the group with the highest pension income receives the most fiscal subsidies, and the group with the lowest pension income receives the least fiscal subsidies.

They don’t know that when those people on Xiaohongshu show off how cheap vegetables and fruits are, and how convenient e-commerce is, they are actually working hard to let others take advantage.

They don’t know, China has plenty of money, but too little is distributed to itself.

They don’t know, it is themselves who support the government, not the government that supports themselves.
…

Some people may say, what’s the use of you saying this? It’s not appropriate to still want to be a public intellectual these days. I know that some people are unconvinced because they have taken advantage of the situation, and their position determines their thinking; there are also some people who are too young, and life will educate them; there are also some people who are too old to accept new ideas… And the vast majority of the rest, as long as they know, they will understand.

I have confidence in human nature. Just like this Sino-US exchange on Xiaohongshu, you will find that under the universal education of hatred, many people still have kindness and enthusiasm. And, in my article “8 Reasons to Raise the Basic Pension for Farmers to 800 Yuan“, in the vote at the end of the article, there were 548 votes in favor and only 8 votes against.

And among the majority of people who understand, there will always be someone who dares to ask “why”?

Why can’t the retirement pay of government institutions and public institutions be reduced to increase the basic pension for farmers?

Why can’t electric vehicles have the same road rights as cars?

Why can’t vocational school students receive the same educational resources as university students?

……

I know that some people will still say that this is the view of a scholar, unrealistic, naive and innocent… Maybe, when society is gradually improving, it is right to consider more practical operability, but when the car is reversing with a loud roar, who is actually unrealistic when they are still talking about being unrealistic?

As a child of a farmer, don’t join in the fun of “patriotism”. If you see some facts clearly and understand some principles, you must speak out and tell more children of farmers.