长江客轮遇难的同胞们，去诅咒这个丑恶的社会吧！
To our deceased brothers on the East Star steamship: go curse this hideous society!
On June 1st 11PM, the (the East Star) passenger liner crashed and capsized in the Hubei Province Shishou segment of Yangtze River. More than 400 peoples on board were killed. All the victims are elders, women, and children. The Captain, turbines, and crews of the ship, however, had immediately abandoned the ship and quickly dressed up in life jackets---they got minutes to dress up but not even one second to call it in. Two hours after the tragedy---when the captain finally reached the shore---he sent the distress signals. In a civilized nation featured in “so-called” socialism, shameless and impudence events, such as this sinking ship, displayed in an everyday base. The outrageous scene pierced through the moral baseline of humans and demonstrated the natures of this knavish country!
Within this roguish nation, events as catastrophic as the sank of the East Star attract attentions from all of the states. The government addresses them as priority; governors visit the disaster scenes and sent condolences to the injured and lost; the family members of the lost remain emotionally stable; the mainstream media reports the official statements; the secondary medias write with sentimentality and describe the “heroism” during the rescue; the police investigates the cause of the disaster, searches for the unlucky sponsor, and goes through detailed troubleshooting... One event slowly proceeds until a new one occur. Last night, I saw the families of the “East Star shipwreck” victims on the TV---appreciating the government in a hurried manner---and felt the sense of nausea and anger rushing to my heart: the bodies of the victims were still warm, yet the CCTV had started to, eagerly, chases after the families and “politely” demands for their appreciations. The brutality and cruelness of Chinese regime along with its despicable propaganda were clearly shown. To a “prosperous” nation, disasters are enormous stains. However, the government of this “Golden Age” obliterate the disaster with ease and invented an affectionate “aesthetics of disaster”: replacing the cruelty of catastrophes with heroic events during the rescue and turn the rescuers into main characters while reducing the presence of the victims. The “aesthetics of disaster” had replaced “reflection over tragic events”. Celebrations and catastrophes are the antithesis, but aesthetics of these two are not. This is the phenomenal aesthetic of the “Golden Age”. “From the sinking in Yangtze River, I not only saw the worthlessness of Chinese lives, but also the deep gap between the ‘rising’ China and Western countries in regular search and rescue equipment: we can’t find any helicopter, or quick respond group in position, or advanced equipment in practice...” The only things we do see are the repeating and consistent reports: the leaders directly demanding; the leaders personally approving; the leaders are overtime working; the leaders displaying a sentimental moment; the leaders... Whenever man-made catastrophes occurred, China sing and dance in carols, turning funerals into weddings while the worthless civilians pay the debt of the authorities with their lives. Such a sensational scene! Yet it is nothing compare to the poesy that officials created during the Wenshan earthquake: “with the love of our country and our communism, we are happy even to death”. Shanghai Province, a state that included 97 victims from “East Star”, celebrated for Xinghong Stock’s break over 5000 points. Meanwhile, the Japanese, with no ties to the event, had played condolences to the deceased Chinese upon the big screen on the streets.
The distance between us and a civilized country can’t be measured in material but in the level of humanity! The greatest skill of Chinese is worsening the situation--- people reach to collective climax under the public opinions, so no one is going to alters or reflects on the mistake. Going along the rhythm, are we going to have another “hero award” ceremony for this disaster? Mourning! To our 400 deceased brothers! May you go into the heaven and curse this sinful government.
