While watching a talk show yesterday, I saw an uncomfortable expression: "The reason for optimism is stupidity." Right now, I don't know if I'm an optimist or not, and I'm mostly a bystander when it comes to most social issues and news. After watching this film, I traced this question and got a vague understanding: as a descendant of the Chinese nation, which has basically maintained an independent civilization and intermittent prosperity in history, it is impossible to truly understand another person who has been suffering and discriminated against for a long time. planted. We can never imagine the thoughts and emotions of generations growing up in the face of a prosperous and ideal society from birth, and the great disjunction between an identity destined to be inferior.
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In Baldwin's text and Samuel Jackson's sober narration, viewers have the opportunity to come to Medger, Malcom X, and Martin for a glimpse into their lives and expressions before their assassination. And in Baldwin's debates with Yale professors and countless speeches, we can clearly realize that human prejudice, stupidity, indifference and cruelty often have a common source, which is ignorance. Understanding requires courage, and the foundation of courage comes from impartial, objective education, which is not limited to childhood memories, but should last a lifetime based on the ability to think independently. But in fact, this is really difficult to achieve.
It’s hard to dismiss conceptual topics like “We are created equal” because concepts are so far removed from real life and often misused to inspire people’s emotions. But it's important to note that Baldwin is not talking about concepts, but the real lives of real people (himself, the Americans he knows, both white and black), and those inescapable real lives in real life. Fear and brutality. Whatever the reason—defeating ourselves by demeaning others, replacing collective identity with individual behavior, replacing moral authority with opinion leaders who are scheming—we should be able to realize that the hardships of life make it difficult for people to face reality , so we need a lot of illusions created by businessmen and consumerism to counteract the overall suffering that ordinary people can't solve.
I have never really understood the history of black struggle in America, I have to admit. We all know Martin Luther King's dream, disappointed or puzzled by Uncle Tom's tolerance, or shouted at Django's road to freedom; but in fact, this is not a conclusion that fight is Over's victory story, in social news and daily expressions, you can still feel that the isolation of people's hearts has never been far away.
Today, we have a plethora of documentaries, memorials, and photo albums that aim to freeze a lot of pictures and materials to show the pain that most people don’t touch and remember in their daily lives. After all, when suffering becomes the norm, human nature tends to habituate and ignore it. Therefore, it is necessary to put these materials in a specific form or in a specific place to become eternal evidence. Quoted from "The Pain from Others", there is no museum in the United States dedicated to the history of the struggle for liberation of black slaves (unverified), because the rulers do not want to intensify the oppositional emotions that people are easily out of control. At the same time, the author of the book also proposed, The ruling class does not want to shatter the beautiful illusion of an "American exception" by acknowledging its bloody history.
True irony.
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Baldwin reminds me of Cicero. For great writers and thinkers, when the wheels of history roll in, should you pick up the mic and speak to your people? When you need to bear the inevitable consequences when you express, is it necessary to bear the cross for ideals and concepts; after all, more people with real power to change reality (such as Bobby Kennedy) are reluctant to make "meaningless moral gesture" The cause , it is this heavy responsibility.
People who walk alone in reality will not be optimists, not only because they are familiar with reality, but also because of their limited ability; within the limited scope of ability, have you tried your best?
If the answer is yes, then the blame from the ego can be dropped, and that is the only blame that requires vigilance.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, my friends and I have sighed a few times: "History is now." In fact, it is not a major event that can be called history. Changes, turbulence, clashes of opinions, and summarizing research allow history to continue to develop in the present. The fixed ideas and rational conventions that we hold today are the blood-drained dreams of countless pioneers.
If we don't have the same courage to stand up today, at least don't let ignorance drown out the fruits of those brilliant human efforts, otherwise you won't be able to look directly into their eyes full of tears.
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