The Origins of Communal Unawareness
The Origins of Communal Unawareness
不明真相的群体性情绪因何而来
By Xiao Yu (晓宇)
Original Publication:
The Xiaoxiang Morning Paper
潇湘晨报
Translated by Anton Lee Wishik II for Mei-Zhong Guanxi
It seems that people’s sentiments are being influenced by global warming and random outbursts of extreme weather.
With the embers of the Weng’an ‘6-28’ incident still smoldering and the shock yet to wear off, an incident followed soon after involving a raid on the police station in the Zha Bei district of Shanghai in which a thug stabbed 10 people (killing six). These kinds of horrifying images have dumbfounded those who follow the news. Hatred has not been eliminated, and another wave arose on July 5th in a group incident involving a clash between citizens and police in Fugu, Shanxi. At one end of a bridge which crosses the Yellow River in Fugu County, families and traffic police performed a real-life drama involving the pillaging of the corpse of a driver who had jumped into the river. Afterwards, the surrounding masses rushed into action and clashed with the traffic police, “insulting and beating the traffic police who were on duty clearing traffic…First, they smashed a police car (license plate O8139 – Shanxi police) which was at the scene on the bridge.” Afterwards, “They gathered before the gate of the traffic police station on Hebin rd, intercepted the cars that were coming and going, and flipped over a police car that was passing by (license plate K0591 – Shanxi police).” In the process of handling the incident, the Fugu authorities took away seven instigators and those who had smashed cars. At the same time, six officers who were on duty were taken off the beat for investigation by the Fugu county traffic police squad. During the immediate reaction, the municipal party secretary of Shanxi’s Yulin city, Li Jinzhu, along with Mayor Hu Zhiqiang were asked separately to write reports. It was demanded that the unlawful elements be severely punished and the work involved in the aftermath of the incident be appropriately resolved.
From surrounding crowd to participants, from common masses to criminal elements, the process of these transformations seems to occur only in a momentary increase of hormones. The clash in Fugu between police and citizens originated in a routine inspection by the public security bureau’s traffic police on July 3rd. They found a peasant’s car with concealed plates driving illegally. The car’s owner, He Liqi, was afraid of being detained again (he had previously been detained three times and fined multiple times due to the fact he was unlicensed). This time he abandoned his car along the Yellow river and fled. The traffic police on duty chased him for more than 200 meters until He dodged away and hid in a culvert. The traffic police promised that, “If you come out, we won’t arrest you.” However, He still jumped into the river. His corpse was fished out and brought ashore by the police on July 5th. As He’s body was being delivered to the funeral parlor, it was intercepted by his family. They demanded to know why they hadn’t been notified by the police after the discovery of the body. At this point, they snatched away the body. However, the surrounding crowd’s conflict with the police actually didn’t begin until after the family left. The crowd, which was unaware of the facts of the matter, was incited to ‘band together and make trouble.’
The spread of this kind of irrational sentiment is truly frightful. As for the Weng’an incident, a young girl jumped into the river, and the site where her body was placed was where it all began. While her parents where still in the process of meeting with the authorities, the masses surrounded her body, and that was when several rumors came into being. These rumors included things like: the female student had been raped and then thrown in the river; the main culprit was the county secretary’s niece; the female student’s uncle, grandfather, and grandmother had been beaten and hospitalized for appealing to higher authorities; her mother had been beaten to the point she couldn’t speak clearly and had lost her powers of reason; her aunt had had her hair cut and been put in jail; and her uncle had been beaten to death in an argument with members of the public security bureau. These rumors are what led to the incident in which more than ten thousand people gathered to besiege and attack the county committee and county government. The language of mere individuals, in the presence of thugs, becomes the language of the group, and then the idea of ‘getting together to make trouble’ is present as well. However, traditionally, for onlookers the issue isn’t personal. But as soon as someone steps forward to take the leading role, the facts tell us that today’s crowds don’t feel antipathy, are not sharply conflicted, and don’t resist at the scene of these incidents, as they fear it’s impossible. The common people of China have arrived at a point where their angry gaze is indiscriminate. These are the issues of the day which we must consider: when the truth is not easy, why the masses are always so easily unaware of the truth; why the masses are always so easily instigated by criminal elements; and why the loss of emotional control spreads so quickly. Severe punishments alone will not prevent these things from happening again.
Why are the masses unaware of the truth? According to those who dominate from a position of authority, the truth cannot be brought to them, only grievances will come about. The lack of transparent operations, by their very nature, causes the best opportunity to tell the truth to be lost. Why are the masses always easily incited, but are very difficult to convince? By looking from the other side, in this kind of progressively civilized society, it cannot be said that the masses’ demands for fairness and justness in society are not high, and the reality is that the satisfaction of these demands is perhaps still a ways away. Also, in real situations, the usefulness of convincing people is not always raised. To have both indignation aroused by being unaware of the truth and to also have a pile of small personal matters and accumulated discontent, these repressed emotions are transformed into ruthlessness. All that is needed is just one break-through point.
Currently, we need to speak the truth like the provincial party secretary of Guizhou, Shi Zongyuan. We also need a kind of temperance and self-communion so as to draw a line between the common masses and criminal elements and to prevent the masses from being easily instigated by criminal elements. Perhaps this will not be so difficult as what is needed is nothing more than truth and sincerity.
Note: This is a translation I did from a Chinese source and is provided for informational purposes only, not to express my own views. To contact the author or original publication, please check the details listed above.
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