307. 再读李世默在 TED 的演讲

李世默在 TED 的这篇演讲，被加上中文字幕，在中国墙里墙外都流传甚广。Eric X. Li 的这篇《A tale of two political systems》我似乎是在2013年什么时候看过，看过之后也确实有点触动。记得当时不久之前有另一篇关于中国的TED演讲，我还对比两者了一下，但是现在回想不起来当初想的什么，另一篇演讲似乎是《Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China's workers》。时隔数月，现在也不能肯定。

看TED演讲的视频，是我在机器上跑步时候的功课。当时李世默这篇确实曾经是在我的手持的TED软件上“每天推荐”的单子上出现过。微信上转来的这篇题为《出乎意料，香港学生回家》的文字，秉承中文网络上一贯的夸大其词的传统，本不值得讨论，但是有几点需要更正的地方，觉得还是写一下为好。

首先，就推特网上看，香港的学生至少 2014-10-26 那天还在香港的街上。“李世默对“元叙事”教条的颠覆性演讲”给听众带去了震撼，是确切的，是不是“极大的”就不咬文嚼字了。但是“该演讲最终成为TED年度最佳演讲”一说，不知道作者的根据是什么，互联网时代，给个链接应该不难，否则总难免口说无凭的困惑。

文章介绍，“李世默，汉族，加州大学伯克利分校学士，斯坦福大学工商管理学硕士，复旦大学国际关系及公共事务学院博士。”应该说，李氏的这些头衔不是摆设。在TED演讲的中国脸本来就不多，李氏的演讲听来确实让人觉得言出有据，不是喊口号。他的演讲得到追捧，也不出意外。

李氏是成功人士，人际交流应该是他的强项。而且李氏是做了功课的，他把马克思的共产主义原理，与西方关于资本市场、民主政治的教条作的对比和批判，大把关于中国三十年来变化的素材，加以幽默，以流利的英语捧到听众耳边，很能赢得听众的掌声。

我不是来批判李世默的，李氏显然有自信和能力，站在TED的讲台上，给民主世界的听众讲述世界的“多元性”(Pluralism)。我没有这个能力。不过有一个问题：如果不考虑个人社会地位所带来的经济地位的差别，我相信李氏会愿意生活在中国，我则愿意生活在一个我不会受到政治压迫的地方。

对于李氏而言，这可能不是一个问题。以他的才华，只要他愿意，他可以在中国这个一党专制的政治体制里游刃有余，也可以在苏格兰爱丁堡的TED讲台上赢得听众的掌声。但是看一个社会的进步，我想不是看她那里的精英们能够有多么风光，而是要看社会下层的人群生活的文明与自由程度。

李氏说共产党不是靠选举上台的，其合法性 (legitimacy) 来自其执政能力。先且以他的说辞为前提吧，在一党专政的制度下，李氏是怎么证明共产党的“执政能力”的呢？我也看到了三十年来中国的变化，不过我也记得三十年前的三十多年，曾经几千万人成为饿殍。李氏一字不提，而只说中国目前还有人口问题，这是他存心为共产党洗地呢？还是我这人纠缠鸡毛蒜皮？而且，共产党说合法性，可从来都说的是“枪杆子里面出政权”。

李世默把习近平与小布希、奥巴马相提并论，说到习近平从小村干部做到党主席，这条官路走了三十年，宦途艰辛。这是事实。但是，一个问题就来了：习近平这个清华大学“人文社会学院马克思主义理论与思想政治教育专业在职研究生班”毕业的“法学博士”做了主席之后，许志永这位北京大学法学院的法学博士，却被北京市第一中级人民法院以“聚众扰乱公共场所秩序罪”为名判处有期徒刑四年。怎么个“聚众扰乱公共场所秩序罪”？这是不是需要对社会有个解释呢？

中国需要基本的社会公正吗？ 还是有钱就行？

中国人需要人权吗？还是只要有好吃好喝，当猪一样圈养也可以？

Inauguration of the 44th President

Just came out of the conference room watching the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama.

This will be a historic day in history of this nation and of this world -- The number of people showing on the CNN news camera says that, as well as the constant alert messages from our backbone router to the Internet. It seems that the whole nation is watching the ceremony.

It is a day to be festival, to celebrate the end of 8 looong years and the beginning of a new era. But no one should forget the cost of the festivity. I have been a supporter of the new president. Now I hope that he can get the nation back to work.

Election Day is Here

It is election day '08.

CNN has reported the first poll result in the country from Dixville Notch, New Hampshire: 15 Barack Obama, 6 John McCain, 0 for Ralph Nader.

On last Sunday's Meet the Press and a Fox News program, all predictions including one from Karl Rove gave 300+ electoral votes to Barack Obama, with landslide gains for Democrats in both the House and the Senate. Barring any disaster, Democrats will likely win both the White House and the Congress. That would be a historically significant shift of power and a sound rejection of Republican policies of the last eight years.

There was a letter to the Ann Arbor News a couple of days ago, in which the writer commented that the current and the last two economic recessions in the US all had been preceeded with eight years of Republican presidencies. I didn't know the US history that well. So here is a quick googling of US presidents: Calvin Coolidge (1923-29), Ronald Reagan (1981-89) and George W. Bush (2001-08) are indeed Republicans. The end of William Jefferson Clinton presidency (1993-2001) also saw a recession. But over all, the US economy grew significantly over the Clinton presidency. History never guarantees the future. But history is a good indicator.

The end of the election day is now only 16 hours away. Hope is within grasp.

Notes from 2008-11-01:

There is an article on Ann Arbor News today, front page, about McCain/Palin supporters being harrassed in Ann Arbor. I think I understand why those who did those things did them. Afterall, I myself have felt depressed for the last eight years by the stupidity, ignorance and arrogance so rampant in the administration. Then there are all those lives lost in the Iraq war. It's understandable that some people may have an ax to grind. However, such harrassing actions against individual are obviously just as stupid. Such stupidity only serves to divide the people in this United States.

On our way out of the house today, two senior African American Obama volunteers came to our door to remind us to vote. I told them that I was prepared to vote. I have been ready for a few years. This country is a bit too radical for me personally -- although they label themselves conservative. There is nothing conservative about racking up national debt in trillions while the individuals pocket hundreds of millioms a year. There is nothing conservative about going into a country, killing tens or even hundreds of thousands of people and then just calling them collateral damage. There is nothing conservative about labeling themselves compassionate conservative to fool the voters and turn around leaving them hanging in the wind to dry when disasters strike. Their behaviors have shown themselves to be radicals, repeatedly. As W himself quoted, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." A third time would be bryond shame for all.

Reading Joe Klein's Article in Time

Read Joe Klein's article in Time today. The title is «Why He's Winning -- The evolution of Barack Obama». I hope he is right -- since I do agree with pretty much all he wrote in the article.

People may be cynical about Obama, about politics. John McCain seems to reenforce that cynicism. Barack Obama's vision of an "Apollo Project" to create an alternative energy based economy encourages me greatly. It is an idea much more creative and productive than tax cut and war, those have been basically all what the Republicans have been feeding to the American public for the last eight years.

I will vote for the Proposal No. 2 on the Michigan ballot on the election day. I disagree with the Conservatives' view of pro-life. They kind reminded me the ancient Chinese belief that every minute piece of your body, down to every single hair, is from your parents and therefore linked to your ancestors. If you believe in that, then cutting your hair would be a crime against your heritage.

I am pro-life, especially of those who are living through it. All those letters against Proposal 2 carry one message: fear. Fear of what may go wrong. But fear before any action seems to be counter-productive to me. I am not for human cloning. Even further, cloning of any living being makes me less than comfortable. However, embryonic stem cell research for the understanding of human body and human life is far from human cloning. Linking those two together, or any implication of that, makes me suspicious of those letters.

On CNN, ads from right-wing 527 groups have started to pop up for the last week or so. Some of them call Obama a socialist, which makes me want to laugh. Isn't "socialist" a label some conservative economists pinned on W, Ben Benenke and Henry Paulson? Based on what have happened in the last month or so, the current administration is becoming the most socialistic gang in the history of the United States of America. Actually, I feel that labelling the current administration "socialists" is an insult to the word itself. All who have any progressive social ideals should protest that.

Election Day is Coming

Today on the way home from Chinese school, we drove passed the Obama campaign office outside down town. I stopped the car and took the kids for a little walk. We went into the office. There were quite a few people in there. But the atmosphere did not smell like battle ground.

That didn't surprise me although Michigan is called a "battle ground state". John McCain has pulled out his troops and given up Michigan. Elsewhere in Michigan may be different. Ann Arbor, however, is definitely covered with Obama-Biden signs with McCain-Palin dotted here and there. A week of two ago Lynn came home and told me that the first house entering the neighborhood had a McCain-Palin sign in their front yard -- sort of a news story. One morning I drove by the house, the sign was gone. In the evening it was back out again.

There was a letter in the News a week or two ago about a missing McCain-Palin sign. I would suspect that it was a kid's prank. But the letter writer seemed to suspect some Democrat had stolen the sign. The letter was a bit hysteric.

Driving in and out of the neighborhood, seeing that McCain-Palin sign makes me smile, every time.

Change is not enough!

Barak Obama's motto for his campaign is Change. That has attracted much of the votes to his camp. Yet for me, change is not enough. I want progress.

Change is not necessarily progress. It only means to be different. Dramatic changes often brings swing motion, slowing down progress forward. This country needs moderation at this point. That may sound counter-intuitive, but is a core concept in the Confucius philosophy.

Maybe I am showing my age. Maybe it's because I have seen charisma induced disaster. I have become wary of people with flashy words. The wisdom of Confucius shows through his plain spoken language.

Anyway, the two Democratic candidates are both capable people to me. Even John McCain could make a good president. Too bad that he is a Republican.