Apathy Is Not Moral Decay — It Is the Reflex of Obedience Under Tyranny
By Hu Lili Chief Editor: Luo Zhifei Translator: Lu Huiwen
The phrase “harmonious society,” in the Chinese government’s narrative, represents political correctness. But in reality, this slogan has been used to muffle countless cries of despair and to whitewash violence and apathy. It is not a vision of social harmony, but a form of political anesthesia—a spiritual castration of the people.
China today is anything but harmonious. Even “stability” is a manufactured illusion conjured by the state’s iron grip. What the regime calls “harmony” is in fact a forced, suffocating silence—an airless atmosphere created by suppressing criticism and choking free expression.
When a child lies bleeding on the ground and bystanders merely look away; when a woman is dragged and humiliated in broad daylight and the crowd says nothing; when a delivery worker collapses and dies on the street while the world walks past without blinking—these are not coincidences. They are the conditioned reflexes of a society trained into apathy. These are not isolated events—they are blood-soaked screams buried beneath the regime’s propaganda of “harmony.”
This chilling social reality is not the product of moral decline, but the calculated result of authoritarian engineering: a society where people no longer trust one another, no longer care about the world beyond themselves. This is not just alienation—it is a regime-designed pathology, forged through brainwashing, censorship, and fear-based punishment.
Yes, rapid urbanization and the relentless pace of life have widened social gaps—but the deeper problem is institutional distrust. Government power is exercised arbitrarily and never held accountable. Ordinary citizens have no avenue for redress. Inequality widens. Social mobility is blocked. The state media sings hymns of “stability,” while silence and despair fester in the streets. In such an environment, “Don’t speak, don’t stand out, don’t get involved” becomes the unspoken rule of survival.
What is considered “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”?
Posting a tweet. Speaking a truth. Filming a video.
You think you’re exercising a right? No—you’re threatening “stability.”
To the regime, stability means: the people stay silent, the truth stays buried, and society stays deaf.
Dissenters are criminalized. Facts are reframed as “isolated incidents.”
The slogan of “a harmonious society” has become a fig leaf for injustice and a diversion from accountability.
Let us be clear: apathy is not human nature. It is the byproduct of authoritarian rule. When a society sees every act of kindness as a threat, every moment of empathy as a risk to “social order,” it has already lost its moral foundation. Its “harmony” is merely the silence of despair—the pain of a people who no longer know how to cry out.
So we must ask again:
Who uses the word “harmony” to mask suffering?
Who uses “stability” to justify violence?
Who uses “the system” to smother the people’s cries?
The answer is as plain as day:
It is the Chinese Communist Party—monopolizing power, manipulating truth, and crushing public will.
If China is ever to move toward genuine harmony, it must take a historic step:
End one-party rule.
End the blockade on information.
Return power to the people.
Rebuild a system that truly belongs to them.
Only by dismantling this lie-built order can we create a real society—a society with flesh and blood, where people can speak, express, and help each other without fear; where care is not punished, and compassion is not met with danger.
Only when dictatorship ends will apathy retreat.
Only then will “harmony” cease to be a lie and become a living reality.
提供者:袁崛 责任编辑:鲁慧文
中国民主党组党初期,全国各地来杭州取经的朋友,回去建立各地的筹委会
一九九八年六月二十五日,在美国总统克林顿抵达中国大陆访问之前仅数小时,王有才和王东海、林辉三人向浙江省民政局提出书面申请,要求成立中国民主党浙江筹备委员会。这是中共建政五十年以来,政治异议人士首次公开申请成立反对党,这是中国民主运动史上的重大事件。
王有才等人委托中国人权民运信息中心发出筹组“中国民主党”的宣言及该党的党章,于六月二十五日下午前去浙江省民政厅递交文件申请为该党注册,这是中共建国近五十年来首次有异议人士以公开的姿态宣布筹组反对党,在中国民主运动史上有划时代的意义。这个由著名学生领袖王有才及异议人士王东海、林辉组成的“中国民主党”浙江筹备委员会,发出了“公开宣言”及党章(草案)。他们表示,一切政治权力只能来自公众,服务于公众,故政府只能根据公众的意志而产生,政府应建立于直接的民主选举之上。中国民主党的宗旨是:实现直接民主选举,建立宪政民主政体,建立政治分权机制,铲除政治独裁及政治腐败的土壤。该党也号召各地民运人士加入该党,争取早日召开全国代表大会。 王有才为八九年被通缉二十一名学生领袖之一,后判刑四年,九一年底获释,现居住杭州。王东海八九年为商场经理,“六四”后入狱三年。 林辉刚由宁波大学毕业,现为浙江作家协会成员。
海外民运人士王炳章、王希哲获悉浙江组党的消息后,立即予以密切关注,在与浙江朋友联系磋商的同时,安排各省积极响应。7月初,在得到浙江朋友的委托后成立“中国民主党海外后援会”,王希哲任第一任主席。
中国民主党创始人之一朱虞夫因向市民散发大量传单,宣传「中国民主党」宣言,三十日上午十点被公安从街上强行带走。朱虞夫为七九年民主墙时期杭州民刊「钱江潮」编辑,八九年民运时,被中共公安拘押两个月。
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