Friday, November 4, 2011

The internet and Tao - an inspiration by a fellow blogger

I like to read blog posts, many are inspiring and...human and personal. For example this is an extract of one I read (as in Harvard management cases, by no means I'm making personal comment, but for its inspiration, so I leave the blogger's name out):

"A friend of mine and I gave up posting to the group because of frustration over what we perceive as bullying. People starting "flame" wars with each other, issuing physical challenges, name calling."

I can certainly appreciate the frustration of this fellow blogger. Internet forums can be quite heated sometimes. You might not agree, but oftentimes that helps to attract a larger audience too! And oftentimes, there is no hold-barred (except under the some sleepy eyes of the authority or the equally sleepy eyes of the media's moderators). It's like MMA, in which a draw with little punches from both sides will be considered boring, and audience loves to watch KOs. The blogger is a martial art coach, perhaps he should have understood or expected that he walked on dangerous ground when he entered the "ring" or the "forum".

In the political arena, there are even more no hold-barred forums, in particular related to issues concerning Mainland China and the CCP there. Rumored had it that the Chinese internet police will send young folks (probably University students or those just graduated but not yet landed on a proper career) to post in English language forums in Western countries to debate from the official perspective of the Government. And they can be very inflammatory. Of course they are paid (well, as the rumors say). These guys are nicknamed five cents cadets (五毛黨), because (again, as rumors had it) they were paid 5 cents per post in the old days (I'm sure they have had many salary increases over the years!) These folks can certainly be irritating. However, if you're in the mood of having a (verbal) fight, these are certainly great places for you to visit!

Talking about physical challenge as per my extracted quotation above, in Hong Kong (I will suppose in other places too) there were indeed heated young fellows who didn't stop at being verbal but would choose to put the challenge for real. These challenges sometimes did carried through, with both sides agreed to pre-defined rules, "officially taped", and later sometimes uploaded to YouTube too. As can be expected, those who were familiar with ring fights and their rules usually win the challenge. Afterall these are just challenges between eager young martial artists, no life and death fights, no honors to protect, no street fighting routines, and everybody has to get back to work the next day!

What is Tao in it? (As in "what is God in it?" proclaimed by some Protestant Ministers). Like it or not, in the real world, there are all kinds of challenges. The best approach is to try to understand the "order of things" (or Tao) behind each situation, and try our best to understand the thinking and behavior behind each party. Hopefully, we can then find our proper position there, contribute what limited knowledge we may have, be in Tao (or be with God as one might choose), and NOT be KO-ed.

My best wishes to all bloggers.

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