An old man came back from seeing a doctor, and as soon as he entered the door, he began to curse the hospital, saying that it cost hundreds of yuan just to check for bone hyperplasia, and all doctors were black-hearted bastards. After a while, I talked to his son about the college entrance examination, and the old man heard this. He said resolutely: you must enter the medical school and be a doctor. Once you become a doctor, you can work for free, because you will get so much money from red envelopes (bribes) and commissions that you could live on them for several lifetimes.
In life, this kind of contradictory thinking is everywhere: we hate corrupt officials, but at the same time, we try our best to take the civil service exam and dream of becoming officials; we curse monopoly state-owned enterprises and certified public accountants, but at the same time, we do everything possible to apply for jobs there and earn unreasonable high salaries; we detest having to find connections and give gifts to get things done, but once we have to handle something ourselves, the first thing we think of is finding connections and giving gifts; we resent luxury cars, but when we occasionally have the chance to sit in one and show off, we feel incredibly exhilarated and proud...
In short, we feel angry not because we think it's unfair, but because we think we are at a disadvantage in this unfairness. Our purpose of anger is not to eliminate this unfairness, but to try every means to put ourselves in an advantageous position in this unfairness. Many of us even like, are obsessed with, and worship this unfairness deep down.
This is actually the fundamental reason why China has been repeating its history of division and reunification at a low level for thousands of years. Every time we have a peasant uprising, it's not to overthrow the system that oppresses us, but to become the master of this system and become the new oppressors.
Why, after thousands of years of repeated setbacks and killings in China, does this way of thinking among the common people remain deeply rooted and has never caused widespread reflection? From a philosophical perspective, I was surprised to find that whether it is Confucius or Mencius, the highest goal of their philosophy is "stability overrides everything". Apart from creating a bunch of passionate and catchy famous sayings with magical Chinese characters, the most important contribution of these two sages is tirelessly warning the common people that you can question people, but absolutely cannot question the system. The rulers of the Han Dynasty discovered the essence of this and spared no effort to put it into practice, making it an unchanging tool for governing the country for generations. Today, we spend a lot of resources promoting the ideas of these two sages around the world. I wonder if it's because we are still attached to this powerful tool.
The above information comes from Pengcheng Qualification Certification: www.pengcheng51.com