[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjXqdZHsNXA]
Perhaps the yelling in the background is a cry of existential angst at a futile and heretofore meaningless life.
That every step has led to this exact moment. That even if fought and won, the tide of Fate would inevitably lead back to this very moment: “This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more.”* Oh, would the Heavens open and strike down these untermensch enforcing their slave morality!
But, of course, even if God ever did exist in China, He is most surely long dead.
Perhaps it is the realization that we are condemned to be free. Without God, without the deus ex machina, we create our lives and our reality with every choice. As the blows land, this awful realization is made audible: I, and no other, am responsible for this!
But, what about the Other? Is it that he has yet to share this epiphany? If he understood the import and weight of all his actions, would he stop? Would he make a different choice?
Perhaps the only real answer is this: if you’re going to be a casual observer to a beating, pajamas are the perfect outfit.
* Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, s.341, Walter Kaufmann transl.
(Ed’s note: Chongqing’s Jiangbei district, January 9: Youku description tells us this gang of hoodlums was “quite possibly” hired by Guanghua Group to force a family to relocate so that their homes can be demolished and new developments can be built.)
John is a nihilist and a coward. Follow him @Knowsnothing.
I think this is an excellent example of China’s development. After China has proven itself on the world stage with things like the Beijing Olympics and the opening up of it’s press and internet freedom and allowing people freedom of speech, fairness and the fair treatment of the common man should surely follow. The way these peoples complaints or grievances are being dealt with in a civil fashion is just showing the world that China is no longer a third world country.
Oh come on. You’re just trying to give third world countries a bad name.
What is this drivel? And this video is not something to be laughing at either.
Pfft. You’ve got something meaningful to say? The more sense you make, the less effect you’ll have.
Modern negotiations at their finest. The enforcers mostly had red armbands, no one broke their sticks and the villagers were left to stagger around contemplating an offer they couldn’t refuse.
Anytime you read about a rich developer, just remember, this is how he makes his money, by stealing from the common people and beating them to steal their property.
Scum.