Pious star
When can I stay away from everything in the world
Get eternal life in an eternal world?
--"Leopard"
The changes of the times are like ocean waves, sometimes undercurrents surging and sometimes turbulent. Individuals are powerless and insignificant in front of the giant currents. They are striving to work hard, or they are stubborn, or co-current with them, but they often go against their wishes and end up. Hesitating and absurd ending. Individuals are like this. If classes and groups that are fettered and involved with each other on the basis of common property, prestige or social network, may they have more effective measures in the face of the situation of "the mountains and the rain are coming and the wind is all over the building"? For example, it is difficult for one person to regain the power of water control, and the accumulation of multiple people may be able to stop it. Does this also correspond to social changes?
Individuals in a common identity and class, if there is no clear organizational mechanism, then the connection between them is very loose. Facing a new social wave, they may not have strong cohesion and common choices. , More members choose different coping methods out of their own interests, interests and expectations, and the same is true for the noble class. When the revolutionary wave swept through Europe in 1848, a noble family in Sicily was also subject to fluctuations. The young Tacredi, a young noble member, decided to join Garibaldi’s red shirts. His uncle, Prince Salina, did not stop him because he knew that change was inevitable. When the corpse of a soldier appeared in the garden early in the morning, he had already realized something, some key things. He said to the priest: "Do you know what's going on in the country? It's nothing, it's just a subtle class change . The middle class doesn't want to destroy us, they want to replace it, and they generously give us a sum of money, and then everything returns to normal. Father, the fate of the country is at stake..." He himself keenly felt the surging of history, and his perception was correct. This is a precious ability. How many people think they have this ability. Towards their own destruction!
Therefore, Prince Salina chose to blend with these upstarts. He knew that Tacredi was the careerist in the family, and he also knew that the clown-like upstart-Carlogello had huge wealth, so he did not stop or even To facilitate the wedding of Tacredi and Carlo Gero's daughter. The family will be passed on, because we will always choose to incorporate new forces and new rivers and lakes, but what about honor? Value? The new eternity takes longer to forge. Before it is forged from the temple of history, there will be countless turmoil and torture. Prince Salina looked at the barren countryside and streets and said: "This should not last. , But it will continue. "Always" means one or two hundred years. After one or two hundred years, it may change...but it will get worse." There is no utopia in history, let alone a temple of reason.
The nobility, a class with a long history, its nobility comes from its own adherence to a series of values, including the emphasis on responsibility and honor. They are the bearers of history and tradition, as the priest in the film said: " You The nobles mentioned are elusive. The world they experienced was created by centuries of trouble and joy. Those things that you and I think are trivial are very important to them. I am not saying that they are bad guys. No, they are different. They don’t care about things that we think are important, and they worry about things that we think are indifferent ."
Tocqueville, who was also born in a noble family, tried to point out in "The Old System and the Revolution": If the monarchy wants to be stable and long-lasting, respect for tradition and order is a must Conspiracy and cunning are the qualities that should be most discarded. In the monarch’s “prosperity” again and again, the aristocratic class, which should be the main value carrier and stabilizer of society, has gradually reduced to a hollow group with vested interests without any responsibilities or rights. Nobles, their value lies in their responsibility to society and the checks and balances of the monarch. Their honor is the best weapon to deal with the monarch. Once they become a profiteering class, the deterioration of morality and the deterioration of quality will become inevitable. They can no longer prevent the centralization and seizure of the monarchy, which is the root cause of the revolution. At the same time, "promising" also means destroying things that are respected and trusted by the vast majority of people in society, and this is that revolutionary culture has a strong affinity. A society without a core class, a society with nothing to do and trust, is only one step away from revolution.
When democracy became a trend, revolution also became a modern thing, so Tacredi chose to join the red shirts. Tocqueville realized that the virtues of citizens can hardly be cultivated from the perspective of the times. In the age of monarchs, virtue is contained in the pride of the nobility. In the era of democracy, how should virtue be nurtured among citizens? This is an interesting topic in Western politics, and it should be noted by all those who are concerned about current political and social changes. How can a democratic society that is in the process of transition, a society that is becoming more commonplace, free from the danger of mob (tyranny of the majority) rule? The age of leopards has passed, and the age of wolves and coyotes has arrived. How can democracy not become a blank check, a funny joke (when Carlogello announces the results of the vote funny, "democracy" is doomed to become a joke)? Tocqueville urged: Virtue should start from the practice of democracy, starting from the most basic, such as participating in court jury, witnessing the practice of the law with your own eyes; participating in township autonomy, managing your own community, etc.
This is Tocqueville's answer.
When Prince Salina knelt down and looked up at the sky piously, did he have an answer? Maybe there is, maybe not.
Me too.
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