(October 2, 2013 at 1:10 pm)Chuck Wrote: Actually, you bullshit. While you are bullshitting you are also confusing two issues: 1. The chinese perception of the state and the deep reality of society in the long run, and 2. the susceptibility of the chinese to superstition
Regarding chinese perception of the state, the predominant attitude towards the state is not one of worship, not even in a way that might be analogous to how people might worship the "constitution" in the US. They respect the state as a formidable present reality which may be seen as good, neutural, or in only a minority of cases, evil. But that does not mean the state is seen as an absolute authority or is worshiped. At its core, the Chinese way of thinking does not even acknowledge any abstract authority other than what might be termed "fate". To Chinese any other form of "authority" is merely a term to reflect a reality: that an agent has the power to impose its will, and the ability to use the power to confer benefits in order to mute objections to its will. Reality can change, whether by fate, or through agitation of other parties in the world. Therefore all authority other than fate, including those of the state, is fundamentally temporary, conditional, and contractual, and is never absolute.
Um what?
Sorry, but China's communist party IS absolute authority in attitude, not evolutionary history. No one is talking about long changes over history.
All human endeavors in our species history are always temporary because all life is finite, so there is no government or religion or business devised by humans that will not change over time.
There are only two things in life that are certain, death and taxes.
