Split societies

For a long time I have been wondering why there have been splits in societies almost everywhere in the world. In the HK context, one might point to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a major culprit, or the defiant opposition for their intransigence; but elsewhere, such as the Middle East, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and more recently, UK and USA, societies have been split for one reason or another.

I might be wrong, but I think that the internet plays a major role. Things have been moving so fast these days, people especially young people being able to equip themselves with information (without screening), and each and everyone of us thus becomes an expert in our own right. For the older generation, as one matures and sees more things, conventional wisdom has it that most of us become conservative. However, the young generation nowadays (compared to our youthful years) demand greater pace and immediate reforms. Hence, the inter-generational conflict. They say that the Future belongs to young people. I say the Future is yet to come, but the Present belongs to everyone.

If you argue for something and google it, you may find 1 million results. Not many people care about the fact that if you google otherwise, you will also find 1 million results that are against that something. However, most people would focus on the fact that there are 1 million articles supporting their views, and conclude that this is the Truth. And Google will soon know about your likes, and will give you things that you like, and this kind of self-reinforcement thus forms the basis of our "knowledge".

When people obtain information through Google and Facebook which they like, society becomes divided into two camps with no interaction, let alone debates, and things move so quickly through group chats and forums that one cannot even have time to think. The Post-truth era has arrived, with feelings and positions coming first (立場先行), followed by rationalization and peer reinforcements to fill in the gaps, which is the other way round compared to the conventional way of: (a) definitions and fact finding, (b) contrasts and similarities, (c) debates on pros and cons, (d) rationalism and empiricism, (e) hypothesis and falsification, (f) knowledge and positions formed. Now, it's positions coming first (立場先行). Wearing a pair of "coloured glasses", one could only see the world in that colour. Being pampered in chat groups and forums with like minded people, they don't even bother to communicate with the other side of the spectrum.

Another way to describe this generation is that (they may not like what I said) nowadays young people have everything they want - cell phones, laptops, money to spend etc. Parents trying to adopt the western way don't exactly know how. For instance, during mass, children are allowed to talk to each other. Not only do their parents not stop them, but they also chat with their kids. Perhaps the parents think that this is freedom. What they don't realize is that freedom comes with a price and civic duties. In this way, young people grow up to think that freedom is to get what they want, namely immediate gratification without inhibition. There is no concept of reality (perhaps only virtual reality). All knowledge and theories about politics (realpolitik), geopolitics, history, political economy, persuasions and negotiations, etc disappear. In negotiations, there is no compromise, no acceptance of reality, and in the end, no-one wins, no progress being made.

The above sums up my views on split societies. Not that I mean the CCP and adults have no responsibility, but I hope to add some dimension to our discussions. There may be something missing, and sorry for some of the jargons.