Material life has become rich, but the space for spiritual life seems increasingly cramped, filled only with anxiety and restlessness, devoid of culture. Let's take a look at this flashy world; people have devolved into illiterates who can only watch images and listen to sounds, akin to infants who have yet to be enlightened by written language. Short videos, haphazardly edited and piled together in mere seconds, have invaded people's spiritual worlds, with their eyes and ears bombarded by the utmost vulgarity, absurd parodies, and a plethora of "experts" concocting twisted theories and spoon-feeding you poisoned platitudes.
Looking at the comment sections, it is an even more filthy and disgusting world, almost unbearable to witness. This world has provided legal avenues and public platforms for male thieves and female prostitutes, and those once constrained by traditional cultural moral values have, overnight, broken free from their cages, brandishing their claws and displaying their violence.
The cultural lives of most people, especially those at the bottom of the social ladder, are not just vulgar; they are utterly chaotic. After stepping into the 21st century, time began to accelerate, technology made everything faster, material life remained commonplace, yet spiritual life appeared so monotonous, monotonous to the point of being tedious, even descending into filthy degradation.
Do you remember "Sister Feng"? Her emergence was met with universal disdain online. At that time, the prevailing values could not tolerate such extreme attention-seeking behavior; it was rejected. In hindsight, one can only say that "Sister Feng" was born at the wrong time; if placed in today's context, it seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. Today's displays of flesh and absurd flaunting of wealth have become unstoppable; people seem to relish this, fearing not how vulgar you are, but rather how insufficiently vulgar you are.
"Sister Feng" and "Guo Meimei" have become folk banners challenging traditional culture and values in the new century. The collapse of a thousand-mile dam can be attributed to an ant hole; the civilization built on piled earth has come crashing down. Why has such a situation arisen? The lack of respect for reading and culture, leading to spiritual poverty, is one of the reasons.
Today, people's lives seem to have diverse choices, yet their lifestyles and modes of thinking appear so singular. It seems that apart from scrolling through screens, there is only complaining, rapidly browsing through bizarre and foolish things in the midst of busyness, and wantonly cursing people and events unrelated to oneself amidst the noise. Books, as carriers of human civilization, have long been cast aside, leaving no trace.
More than a decade ago, "Sister Feng" could still proclaim her reading of "Zhiyin" and "Story Club." How many people today can calm down to read serious books? Many young people today, even if they read, only skim superficially, not to mention that much of what they read consists of "overbearing CEOs," "cultivating immortality," "losers turning the tables," "harem dramas," "absurd incest," and "scumbag idols," all promoting the fantasy of "getting something for nothing." Little do they know, a pie falling from the sky may instead create a trap on the ground, ensnaring them deeply.
Long-term immersion in consumerism, materialism, and fantasy thinking has put the traditional social value system in jeopardy, exacerbating social contradictions, with breaches of etiquette and improprieties emerging endlessly, challenging the authority of the ritual system, leading to the decline of traditional culture and values. The rampant spread of vulgar culture has another significant reason: as Xu Zhuoyun said, "In today's world, there are only experts, no intellectuals."
After entering the new century, intellectuals have gradually become blurred figures as the years progress. After the comment section of poet Bei Dao's Douban homepage was overtaken by aggressive language, he wrote a line—"I will henceforth close the comment section for poetry." This line echoes Gu Cheng's famous quote—"The night has given me black eyes, but I use them to seek the light."
Why have people begun to treat intellectuals and cultural figures violently? This is not unrelated to some intellectuals and cultural figures actively catering to vulgar culture. Let's see how many people today are true intellectuals, spouting theories that are "neither here nor there" to fool the masses.
Even more despicable are the pseudo "helpers" emerging from the intellectual community, calling themselves sociologists, public management experts, or senior media figures. They claim to represent the public while serving their own interests. When people realize they are merely fooling the masses for personal gain, they will rise up against them.
Do intellectuals still have a sense of responsibility? Xu Zhuoyun said, "Knowledge has become a commodity and a source of power; those who possess knowledge manipulate the market." "Give me a three-foot platform, and I can stir up China," do you remember this earth-shattering statement? The attention-seeking behavior and star-like status of intellectuals and cultural figures have altered the public's perception of them, exhausting the public's enthusiasm for consuming knowledge and culture, leading to growing aversion.
With the decline of intellectuals and cultural figures, they have begun to fall silent, becoming afraid to speak, directly resulting in dull thoughts, tedious entertainment, and uninteresting lives. Culture has begun to become unprecedentedly vulgar, exhibiting an unusual alternation of national spiritual schizophrenia, depression, and mania.
As the master said: "Whenever a culture is on the verge of decline, those who are transformed by this culture must feel pain; the more extensive the manifestation of this culture, the greater their suffering."