On November 20, 2022, Hu Xijin said: The kind of “opening up” that some people want is impossible, at least China will not do that this winter and spring. Whether they like it or not, this is my judgment. Based on this, it is meaningless to discuss this proposal now, which will only cause confusion in people’s minds and increase anxiety in society.
On December 3, 2022, Hu Xijin said: Lao Hu is prepared to be infected within a month.
Are these two statements contradictory?
People familiar with Lao Hu know that he has ten thousand ways to prove that his current mental preparation for being infected is not the same thing as the “opening up” that some people wanted before. Who are some people? What is the definition of “opening up”? There is too much room for play.
As everyone knows, going south while driving north is valid in a strict sense, because the earth is round. But in the age of horse-drawn carriages, going south while driving north would either freeze to death or starve to death, and it would be impossible to reach the destination. So normal people will not argue for the rationality of going south while driving north.
For philosophical thinking, “the arrow is not moving” and “a white horse is not a horse” may have their significance, but we do not use language like this in our daily lives.
Therefore, for us, this set of measures or this trend that Hu Xijin is going to prepare for infection is called opening up, without quotation marks.
I don’t want to criticize Hu Xijin, and I can’t change what others call it, but I insist on calling this thing opening up in my mouth. I don’t want to follow anyone to correct my language.
In the past 2022, the word “city lockdown” disappeared from our language, replaced by “full-area static management”. But the obstacles and difficulties people actually encounter have not changed. “Full-area static management” is not more gentle, but has a layer of insincerity. Compared with this, “city lockdown” seems much more straightforward.
History has repeatedly proved that modifying language cannot eliminate difficulties, but will only increase communication costs and trust costs. If you don’t say east when you go east, but only say “anti-west”, then when you go west, it will become “anti-anti-west”, and when you go east again, it will be “anti-anti-anti-west”. When language becomes a set of nested dolls and a maze, this is called internal consumption.
I suddenly thought last night that the words that the anti-epidemic enthusiasts were still talking about not long ago have become severe criticisms of the current policy trend. And the arguments and arguments held by those who were previously slandered as “lying down” are proving the rationality and scientificity of the current policy trend. The offensive and defensive positions have changed, the world is so wonderful.
I don’t know why, the big loudspeaker sound that is standard on Beijing buses started playing in my head: The vehicle is turning, please stand firm and hold on.
But those who have squeezed through the peak-hour buses all know that you can’t find something to hold on to at any time. Most of the time, you are sandwiched in the crowd, the crowd leans east and you lean east, the crowd leans west and you lean west. Limited by objective conditions, you can only make the best of a bad situation. First, don’t lose your way, and second, if you fall, don’t fall too hard.
According to my experience, first, don’t trust the conductor’s words too much. The conductor has been shouting, go inside, go inside, there are seats inside, there are big seats. But when you squeeze in, you find that it is more crowded inside than outside. The conductor has his own responsibilities, he wants the passengers behind to get on the bus, he can only let the passengers in the car develop the spirit of squeezing is healthier. You can’t not believe the conductor’s words, and you can’t believe them all.
Then, you have to see other buses, if all the other buses are going in the same direction, and only your bus is going in the opposite direction, you have to be prepared for your bus to turn around. GPS is already very developed, the chances of all other cars going wrong at the same time will not be greater than the chances of one car going wrong.
If you can’t take the overall situation into account, you might as well keep an eye on your surroundings, if someone falls, immediately shout for help, don’t care about anyone’s face. If someone tells you at this time that someone on the bus next door has fallen even worse, don’t pay attention to him. You can never convince a person who is ready to redefine east, south, west, and north at any time.
As a passenger, there are not many things we can do, but a compass, a life-saving hammer, and a whistle, we still have to carry them with us.
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