MCLC: Tocqueville in China (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Martin Winter <dujuan99 at gmail.com>
Subject: Tocqueville in China (1)
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Europe's ideologies of the 19th century have to rule worldwide anyway,
right? Is there such a thing as universal capitalized Liberal Democracy as
a coherent ideology, opposed to Socialism? There are and will be many
different societies, hopefully. Capitalism in the US remains extreme,
viewed from Europe. Executives payed 400 times more than workers. Was
capitalism as a global menace a socialist invention? Is or was there ever
such a thing as Capitalism capitalized, in the way that Marxism is
Socialism, or the other way around? There were philosophers,
intellectuals, but how much influence had they? What was socialism about,
in the first place? Emancipation. Emancipation remains an urgent cause in
many places. One party dictatorships, be they Socialist or US-sponsored or
whatever, were and are repressive. There are historical reasons why they
were or are in place. I would like to think enlightened government should
mean openness, pluralism. Like when Arab and Islam societies had more
diverse culture and more tolerance than Christian ones. What did or does
enlightenment mean? Feudalism was a curious word often used in China in
the 1980s and early 1990s. What did it mean? Corruption? Of what?
Backwardness? Not going forward where?

Let us go back to the original point, said Zhuangzi, debating on the joy of
the fish, seen from a bridge. The WSJ article was mainly about Yang Jisheng
and his book, not about Hayek. Is or was Hayek neo-con? Maybe US media is
prone to harp on a notion of failed Socialism. Yang Jisheng's aim seems to
be a detailed and honest account of contemporary history. I haven't read
his book yet, but I have translated Liu Zhenyun‘s Remember (or Back to)
1942 into German. (刘震云《温故1942》). Reading and analyzing Chinese
literature 
should be at least as important as debating European philosophy. Right?

Martin