The novel coronavirus is thean examiner for the quality of human civilization
Formerly: It is the values in deciding coronavirus working well or not
Frank May 29, 2020 in Waterloo, Canada http://www.kwcg.ca/bbs/home.php?mod=space&uid=61910&do=blog&id=13811
Now, the tragedy of so many people lost their beloved family members reveals a fact that coronavirus is an examiner for the quality of human civilization that mainly decides by social members' behaviors under driven by people's ideology that genetically modified by long-term lived social environment. Above idea is inspired by the work of David Hitchcock, who reveals the reason why that coronavirus prefer to embrace the people who prefer to embrace personal freedom and fight for personal rights by the book Asian values and the United States: how much conflict? 1994. In book, David Hitchcock who introduces a survey on the societal values that demonstrated the quality of the different civilization cultured people. The top six societal values chosen: Asian respondents are: (i) orderly society; (ii) societal harmony; (iii) accountability of public officials; (iv) open to new ideas; (v) freedom of expression; (vi) respect for authority. American respondents are: (i) freedom of expression; (ii) personal freedom; (iii) rights of the individual; (iv) open debate; (v) thinking for oneself; (vi) accountability of public officials. The difference in preferred values stemmed from different civilization to have caused people difference in social behaving. Asian people cultured by the culture of pursuing social order and harmony of China in tending to collectivism with concerning for protecting the collective interests, while Western people cultured by the culture of endlessly looting and killing of long dark Ages in tending to Individualism with protecting the individual interests. In Asia, since ancient time, the neighboring countries of China were deeply affected by the culture of China; even many countries use the character of China. The culture of China cultured the high quality of people in those countries. There are many factors in influencing the quality of people, but, in China, the major one is Confucianism.
From 771 BC to 221 BC, after the Royal Government of Zhou dynasty lost control, China once suffered 550 years chaos of wars between over 100 vassal states as that of the Dark Ages in the Europe. But the chaotic social environment of endless wars played a positive role in fertilizing the social soil for promoting enlightenments to have produced backbone thoughts - Confucianism guides social morality, Legalism enforces social order and Daoism guides dialectical reasoning; which laid the foundation of China’s civilization.
The most important enlightenment was the understanding for the vital reality – it is not all people in human feature are in proper human nature, some are in defective brain with distorted reasoning function in taking wrong as right and taking stupid as smart; and the social ideologies and people grouping were in badly harming social governance. Therefore since 2000 years ago, China has started to guide social morality by Confucianism while strictly suppressing the ignorant ideologies and people grouping.
The founder of Confucianism was Confucius (551– 479 BC) who was a teacher, politician, and philosopher. The sayings and ideas of Confucius were compiled by his followers as a collection of Analects of Confucius. The life time of Confucius was just in the middle of the chaotic period of China (771 - 221 BC).
As same as that of French Montesquieu (1689 – 1755 AD) once hard worked for, in 500 BC China, Confucius also hard worked for building social order by preaching that the son obeys the father, the wife obeys the husband; the minister obeys the monarch, the young people should respect and take care for elderly, everyone must respect social morality and respect own promise or credibility in social activities, and do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you, and so on.
Confucianism cultured people are respect of social morality, observing social order and personal commitments, focus on that how to make more money from doing more quality job, easily organized and disciplined with strong sense of collective interest – collectivism.
Thus, the collective practice maintained collective interests, the personal interests are also guaranteed.
The preaching “do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you” of Confucius cultured people of China are rarely aggressively attack others, this is the reason that China was no conquest but built Great Wall as defense and even the big Fleet of Zheng He once were 7 times around the world since 1405 without colonial occupying, looting and killing besides fair trading.
Since ancient time, China has started the practice of selecting learned people into Royal Government from out of Royal families and established Royal University as think tank to train people as officials, later by imperial examination to recruit learned people according to the need. In 587 AD of the Sui Dynasty was systematized as Imperial Examinations to hold annually until the final years of the Qing dynasty in 1905.
In nature, the practice of selecting group of high quality learned people to perform social governance was actually in technocratic democracy of today.
There reports that the Imperial Examination were copied by the Western countries, such as, Britain and the United States. But unfortunately, the west did not form humanized technocratic democracy, besides the 11th Italian President Giorgio Napolitano who personally named non-partisan technocrats as cabinet when facing partisanship fails in forming government and thus made him a longest presidency in Italian history until he self-insisted to resign at his 89. Maybe, Mr. Napolitano was a rare president who was not dumped by his people in the West.
The rational moral guidance bred high quality people with humanized social governance of technocratic democracy created peaceful social environment and developed as the supplier of life necessaries via old Silk Road since 2000 years ago before British Opium War, while after Japanese Invasion War, on the wars ruins, China quickly developed as the supplier of life necessaries via new Silk Road.
In comparison, in the West, the chaotic social environment since ancient time with a long period of Dark Ages in endless wars of looting and killing; the tragic life made people a hard living in every effort to protect self interests; for survival, people are always in alert state for self-protection; which cultured people in individualism and misbehaving in far away as quality human member.
This was why that after Columbus sailed to discover the North American continent, the West began to colonial occupation, plunder, killing and slave trading, the Opium Wars, Rob and Burn China’s summer palace, the World Wars I and II, endless provoking war threats, endless Military Exercises; with creation of dead weapons that has been able to times self-destruction.
This was why that the people of West are in excessive for personal interests; and insist the justice of striking for more by doing less. They put personal interests on the top of the national interests. Thus, individualistic practice damaged the interests of the collective and the interests of individuals are damaged also.
At present, the low Covid-19 mortality rate in Asian countries is due to the high quality in self-discipline of people in well cooperation with government. But in western countries, there more people are just going on opposite without self-discipline on social order in free practicing according to own preferred accord, so that pandemic can never be controlled.
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