Wildfire Collection: Thirty Years Anniversary Edition

Chapter 30 Wildfire 20 Years (9)
In "Wildfire Collection", the standard of civilization and the spirit of freedom are two in one, one in two, adding together and multiplying to gather a huge appealing force. This should partly explain your turmoil and waves, right?

20 years ago, 20 years later, the biggest change in Taiwan is probably the relationship between "civilized standards" and "free spirit"! 20 years ago, you could use the spirit of liberation and freedom to shape the standards of civilization. Unexpectedly, I couldn’t imagine it, and I guess you couldn’t imagine it either. 20 years later, people use freedom to destroy the standards of civilization in the name of freedom.

The spirit of freedom can no longer bring civilized standards, but instead destroys Taiwan's opportunity to accept and learn the good things of civilization when it faces the world and "connects with the world".

The most intractable problem in the Taiwanese society we have seen is that it boldly declares that it is necessary to use free will to choose closedness, superficiality, vulgarity, and self-righteousness.It freely rejects everything that is more refined, complex, and noble.It just wants to be itself, and doesn't care about what the outside world is doing or what it wants to do.

From politics to society to culture, I often feel that this society has put on a face and said to the world: "I don't care about you, how about it?"

Choose to be a "hillbilly" in the world community, and be proud of it, and use it as your chosen personality.

For several years, this situation has puzzled me and made me even more emotional.Authoritarianism has been overthrown, and freedom has been won, but what has been replaced is not refined, complicated, and noble standards of civilization, but spontaneous, self-satisfied superficiality, vulgarity, and closure.

what to do? 20 years later, what method do you come up with to stimulate the enthusiasm of this society like 20 years ago, to love and embrace the world, to love and embrace the delicate, complex and noble civilization standards?
I hate Mencken, but how much I envy their era, those who ran "smart magazines" and insisted on pursuing more refined, more complicated, and nobler standards of civilization.

While reading "Wildfire Collection" and "Wildfire Collection", I expect that the similarities between you and Mencken, apart from having edited and published articles scolding you by others, will also be useful for igniting a society. A joint contribution of "smart" enthusiasm.

more wildfire
Director of Museum of World Religions

Han Baode

Long Yingtai, in my mind, was originally a young man.It is said that in the [-]s, Taiwan was not yet very free, and the economy had not yet taken off. Young intellectuals felt a little sullen, but there was no way to vent their anger except for their close friends complaining in the living room.

The young "China Times" wanted to break through this low pressure and hired a young man named Gao Xinjiang as the editor-in-chief of "Renjian".He called and asked me to write a column.This was an opportunity to speak, but I was not mentally prepared to make random comments in the media. I could only write from the perspective of cultural observation and question some phenomena in Taiwanese society.From today's point of view, those articles are not very exciting, but they were quite suitable for the appetite of the newspaper at that time, so they were encouraged to write for several years.To be honest, my articles have too much reasoning, not only do readers rarely respond, even I am tired of reading them.So "Human World" changed its editor-in-chief a few times, and its interest in me disappeared, so I was happy to retreat.

In line with the needs of the times, "Human World" welcomes impactful writers.That's when I saw "Wildfire Episode".Looking at it as a "senior" in the "Human World" column, I suddenly feel the heat of Long Yingtai.I thought to myself, where did they find such a young man who didn't know the heights of the world and the depths of the earth, who dared to speak up like this and touched Taiwan's dull nerves!It's not easy.Later, after inquiring, I realized that Long Yingtai was not a young man, but a young girl!

I am the kind of "predecessor" writer who was criticized by Long Yingtai for being "steady, gentle and honest".Like her, I have no intention of becoming an official, so I don't care about hurting the government's heart.It's just that I'm traditionally educated, but I don't want to be mean to others when I criticize.What I can't say, Long Yingtai said, I also feel happy, and I can't help admiring this brave little girl!
What interests me the most is what is burned in the "Wildfire Collection", most of which are similar to the issues I am concerned about.The social sickness that Lung Ying-tai perceives with the sensitivity of a writer is almost the same as what I feel from the standpoint of an architect, but I lack confidence compared to her.On the surface, her writing is sharp and her words are full of anger, but behind such articles, it also shows that she not only has deep feelings for Taiwanese society, but also expresses her confidence in the future of Taiwanese society.She believes that through her articles, the conscience of the society can be aroused, and the power of transformation can be formed, so that our future can see a progressive, reasonable and enlightened society.

Reading her article made me feel ashamed.My mood of writing articles is too much like an innocuous third party.When I analyze some unreasonable phenomena, I always explain them from a cultural point of view. Culture is a tradition, and it doesn’t mean that it can be changed just by changing it.Therefore, I have been writing articles for decades, writing and writing, but I can't come up with a solution.Talk about culture, find out the source of all problems, and the result will be forgiveness, no more criticism, no more anger.So completely hopeless.

what!I am the Chinese who was scolded by Long Yingtai, no longer angry!

Frankly speaking, I don't believe that the wildfire at Long Yingtai will burn away the accumulated evils of culture.But the anger of the "foolish boy" will make us reflect and review our shortcomings in behavior earlier.Her anger only asks about the right and wrong of the behavior, not the source, and no explanation, which is a standard action style.

Twenty years ago, it was the incompetent and authoritarian government that burned wildfire that would have resonated with countless depressed governed.The issues she cares about are all social, but every absurd case she cited is all blamed on the cowardly people, crooked officials and absurd system. .This has been the voice of Chinese intellectuals for thousands of years, but under absolute power, they dare not speak out when they are angry.Long Yingtai bravely broke this taboo and made great contributions to the right of speech pursued by intellectuals.Like traditional intellectuals, she did not challenge the regime itself, but cared about the pain of the people.It was also because of this that she didn't cause trouble because of the text.

Today's Taiwan is a democratic society. The government is elected by the people. No matter how many problems there are, others cannot be blamed. If wildfires are lit, it may only lead to social reflection, and it will no longer arouse the resonance of 20 years ago.And Long Yingtai also scolded the government himself, and once made his debut as an official.Everyone can't help but want to see, if you scold others, let's see how you are an official!She was an official with the style of action, and she did a good job. When she resigned, everyone wanted to keep her.However, with the world covered by her writing, the field of culture is too small, and it cannot be fully utilized.She should be a higher official, even a mayor.

Lung Ying-tai, who hopes to restore his identity as a writer, should light another fire and burn down the Taiwanese society that has gradually become populist!

and endow soul
——Written for the 20th anniversary of the publication of "Wildfire Collection"
Professor of Literature, Fo Guang College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Gong Pengcheng

Hearing that it has been 20 years since the publication of "Wild Fire Collection", I was shocked.Qing people said: "Twenty years of Taoism, the scenery is completely different. I really don't believe it. Ordinary pavilions and pavilions are also chasing the vicissitudes of life." In the past 20 years, the youth has aged and changed dynasties, and the appearance of Taiwan's cities and towns has also changed. Many changes.And more importantly, this society is so different from the old days that it is difficult to recognize.Therefore, looking back at the present and recalling the past has a special sense of vicissitudes.

At the end of martial law, Long Yingtai set fire to the wildfire, from "Chinese, why are you not angry" to "Whose Home is Taiwan?" ", what was burned was not only the various control methods and mentality under the martial law system, but also the incompetence of each person in their specific lives.

Continuing the tradition of "national criticism" since the May [-]th Movement, combined with the social reality of Taiwan, Long Yingtai encourages everyone not to be kindergarten students, Robot middle school students should have the courage to express their dissatisfaction with the injustice and injustice of the society around them, and then improve it.The Tamsui River is stinky, the Guanyin Mountain has been over-cultivated and buried, everyone has eaten fake milk powder, the Ten Faith case has occurred in the financial sector, and the environment has plastic bottles. Everyone can't just be a silent public.

In this way, in the criticism of martial law at that time and the focus on political undemocracy, there was a tendency to emphasize civic awareness.Simply put, everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of a country.Whose home is Taiwan?is for everyone.Therefore, no one can be indifferent to the mess of this society and only want to go to the United States.

Such remarks shift the criticism from blaming others (the KMT, the government, those in power, and anyone else) to everyone themselves.Explanation: It is the moral cowardice and failure of every human being that allows evil to be done.The dominating regime and the people who lack civic awareness are accomplices, conspiring to destroy Taiwan.

This spirit of introspection is actually exactly what Taiwan lacks.Only through introspection can we truly establish a sense of subjectivity, allowing Taiwan and everyone living here to find themselves.Long Yingtai probably thought so at the time.

It's a pity that the wildfire is endless, and the spring breeze blows again. Although "Wildfire Collection" has sold hundreds of copies, it has also spawned "Wildfire Collection" by aboriginal performance groups, "Wildfire Collection" by education reform activists, etc. The electronic version even has genuine, registered, and cracked versions, which shows the popularity of the fire. .Although the fire was fierce, weeds still grew everywhere after the prairie fire.And because the burned grass ash became fertilizer, the grass grew more and more densely.

The counterfeiting of food and medicine, the destruction of soil and water conservation, the malpractice of the financial system, the control and lack of creativity in education...not only remain the same, but have already been exacerbated, becoming a more serious problem, far beyond what we used to imagine.The opposition movement, which rose up in the name of reforming the old system, grew stronger and even established a new regime.But after losing the spirit of self-reflection and the sense of subjectivity in practice, I can only cover up my incompetence by saying that other parties do not cooperate, others do not obey, and other countries threaten me; only by changing the name totem to establish Taiwan's subjectivity Sexuality, so that it finally became the alienation of the reform movement of the year.Long Yingtai once said: Whose home is Taiwan?It is our home, so we have to love it, and we all work together to make this home better.Now people say: whose home is Taiwan?Let's define it first!Who loves Taiwan?First let's compete who is qualified to love and who can yell louder!
Weber said at the end of his article "Universal Suffrage and Democracy in Germany": "Democratization means that the state apparatus must flatten the social hierarchy. This is an unchangeable thing. The only choice is: or the citizens in a In a bureaucratic authoritarian state with only the appearance of a parliamentary system, there is neither freedom nor rights, and the state "administers" citizens like cattle and sheep; or the state makes citizens a "co-ruler" by making them Integrate into the country.” At that time, Long Yingtai wanted to call on all citizens to become their own rulers and integrate the country into the citizens.Today, the result of Taiwan's political democratization is that Taiwan has successfully integrated some people and made them tools of the country, while treating other people as enemies.This group of people deeply feel that they have no freedom and no rights, and are only being managed like cattle and sheep. Therefore, they are frustrated or resentful, ashamed to be with each other, or just look away, thinking that Taiwan is no longer my home.

Therefore, the battle song originally written to promote Taiwan now looks like a testimony to Taiwan's decline and chaos. History has played a big joke here.

Therefore, re-reading "Wildfire Collection" seems to summon the soul, wanting to re-call the long-alienated civic consciousness and introspection spirit!

(End of this chapter)