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A book based on the Holocaust to reflect on how the Holocaust happened, on modernity, on rationalism, on modern society, and on sociology.
The book is rich in content and profound in thought. I can only briefly write down my harvest and feelings.
- Nazi Germany massacred more than 20 million people, 6 million of whom were Jews
- The Holocaust is a product of modern civilization, or even an achievement, rather than the result of the rupture and failure of modern civilization. Racism was not the decisive factor leading to the Holocaust. The conditions that produced the Holocaust still exist, and when the time comes, the Holocaust will recur, and modern society has no effective mechanism to prevent it. The Holocaust happened precisely because the technological means and bureaucratic system of modern civilization inhibited the function of human conscience. In this sense, the Nazi Holocaust is special, and there are good reasons why Western scholars do not attach importance to the study of the Nanjing Massacre. It is the historical responsibility of Chinese scholars to study the Nanjing Massacre, but it does not have to be at the moment. It can be carried out on its “corpse” after the Chinese nation has completely liquidated Japanese militarism.
- In modern society, the state apparatus monopolizes the right to use violence. Victims give up resistance or even actively cooperate under rational balance. Under rational calculation, a series of “objective reality” considerations, such as being unable to resist, useless resistance, and even worse, caused the victims to literally dig their own graves. Modern society uses technical rationality and strict social organization to domesticate people into sheep.
- Conscience can only take effect within the scope of the subject’s feelings, and too far “feeling distance” hinders the occurrence of empathy.
- When we perceive the presence of him and me, we perceive the existence of ourselves, just like when we touch a stone, we not only feel the coldness and hardness of the stone, but also the warmth and softness of the skin. From this, self-contemplation is formed, from which there is the discovery of conscience, and from this one sees the true self. And Confucianism emphasizes being careful and independent. Even if he and I are not present, we must be conscious. Is it just accidental?
- …
At the end of the last century, the author has deeply reflected on the failure of Western rationalism and modernity from the Nazi Holocaust, but many of our scholars are still learning from the West, which is quite sad.
In contrast to this book, I found that the reason why the Chinese nation was able to rebirth in the darkest age of the nation in the last century was precisely because of our ancient traditions, and those things were the true foundation of our nation. What are those things? It is “every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world”, it is “killing one’s body to become a benevolent person”, it is “sacrificing one’s life for righteousness”, it is “the ploughman has his own land”, it is the ideal of the Datong world of “the widow and loneliness are supported”, and it is the ideal of “even if there are thousands of people, The great courage of “I’m on my way” is the freedom and ease of “I don’t have to be successful”. These are the real powers. This also explains why it is communism, because it is in line with our ideal of great harmony.
In the last century, someone asked, “Will the world be okay?” I want to say it definitely will, because the hope for a better world lies in China, in the Chinese nation, and in us.
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