我的《信報》文章(2020年10月7日A16頁) 足本
《木蘭代父從軍與疫中狂歡派對》
https://www1.hkej.com/dailynews/article/id/2601623
由數名外籍女士合作編劇、導演的2020年影片《花木蘭》，有兩個教人驚喜、深思的中西文明碰撞點。
[Note 1]
電影出現一個與木蘭同樣天生異稟，且懂得魔法的仙娘。木蘭被軍官驅逐後，萬分沮喪，仙娘乘機向她表示自己也經歷過類似的遭遇，由於心有不甘，離家棄族，孑然獨行。
以孝道為重的木蘭，決意不辱門楣，拒絕(選擇了「個人主義」的)仙娘的聯盟提議。木蘭甘願面對屈辱、承受責罰，冒死速返軍營，誠摯向長官、同袍解釋實際形勢有多兇險。儘管電影被大幅刪短至近乎支離破碎，但沒有略去此項中西文明差異的寓意。
與無窮無盡、去不復返的時間同活，必然身亡的單一個體，永遠是無法勝得過時間的失敗者。唯有像其他生物物種一樣，不斷繁殖健康的下一代，人方可與時間搏鬥:通過知識和經驗的積累，培育文化、開創道統、建立文明、延綿生機。
也只有生機勃勃的民族，才勉強談得上、做得到「以有涯隨無涯」，這就是民族主義的根本意義之一 (荒誕的是，不少知識分子刻意妖魔化民族主義，英雄化個人主義)。每個民族各有獨特的方式，保持其文明的連續性、持久性，孝乃華夏文明的特點。
第二個碰撞點，是電影於結局中，顯示孝道較忠、勇、真這三類在西方同受重視的價值更重要(「百行以孝為先」) 。而這個中西差異，對「人民」的政治詮釋有關鍵性的影響。
孝的英譯Filial Piety，源於古羅馬的一種美德 Pietas，意思是承擔對父母及血緣關係的榮譽責任。但在強調只有一個創世萬能聖神的宗教興起之後，對祖先的敬仰轉移成對上帝的崇敬 (詳見《道德譜系學》1887)，孝的重要性在西方道德巨幅下降至「護老」這個低水平。
[Note 2]
及後隨着宗教道德的熏陶力逐漸縮減，歐美民眾的護老和「及人之老」觀念一代比一代減弱、萎縮。從他們在新冠疫情中對老人的兩種態度，可見一斑。
首先是疏忽、冷漠。大量住在安老院的長者，由於員工沒有得到政府及親屬的應有支援，死亡數字驚人。初有被4月新聞稱為「加拿大近期最慘絕人寰的疫情新聞：『赫倫安養院事件』」，31位長者被發現死於無人照顧。
進入5月，仍然出現美國新澤西州退伍軍人護理之家72人死亡的情況。數份早期研究指出，在美、英、法、愛爾蘭、比利時、意大利、西班牙等先進國家，42-70％冠狀病毒死者與護老院有關。疏忽、冷漠的人包括院舍職工、議員官僚、長者親屬，且互相推卸責任。
[Note 3]
第二種是年輕人「不在乎」( I don’t care)的態度。許多新冠肺炎研究表明，五十多歲的人已屬高危群組，患者有喪失味覺或嗅覺、疲倦感、心理問題…諸種後遺症。所以儘管青年患者死亡率低，病徵輕微，但不應忽略，將病毒傳播給中老年父母、親戚、老師、辦公室同事(例如特朗普) 、公共交通工具乘客等等的可能性。但在歐美，每逢週末，參加狂歡派對、樂隊表演的年輕人，上百成千;且於進場時，虛報個人資料(據報瑞士參加派對者喜用Donald Duck為名) 。
[Note 4]
世衛組織專家Mike Ryan在8月7日按捺不住，嚴正指出「年輕人也須承擔(減少病毒傳播的)責任」，要求他們「在參加派對前仔細考慮有否此需要」。可是言者諄諄、聽者藐藐。單在英國，有多達200人於8月21日被發現擠在一家小屋內狂歡。踏入9月，即使疫情已迅速惡化，死亡人數也相應增加，到處仍有年青群眾圍着酒吧喝酒，拒戴口罩。
[Note 5]
9月中，從澳紐美加到西歐諸國，在各大城市都有數以萬計的人，參加反對禁聚、封城的遊行或集會。他們認為，人民有權利決定家居日常起居方式，有自由選擇如何照顧個人健康;政府沒有理據實施苛刻的規定、干擾人民的生活。
個人自主、人民自主此等觀念，出現在歐洲宗教重要性退縮的啟蒙時期。著名經濟學家帕累托(Pareto 1848-1923) 在他的《社會學1916:1712段》也有此見。而基於個人主義的盛行，孝道的無影無蹤，「人民」單指當時、當地活生生 (具公民權) 的人;因此，西方人高度重視活在當下的自身權利。疫情下，派對狂歡者的歡笑聲，自然掩蓋了行將就木者的呻吟聲。
[Note 6]
但包括帕累托、尼采在內的少數哲學家，指出當沒有上帝作為單一絕對價值的來源，規定一系列必須服從的道德價值規範，人民及當其時文化，是積累歷史發展迄今的動態成就實體。
從愚公之志(祖對孫之所託)、華夏孝道(孫對祖之承負)的角度來詮釋，任何年代的中國人民，不僅僅是活著的他們自己，而是一個包括祖先精神及意志活在心內的群體，是世代傳宗至當代及其積累文明的這樣一個群體。
擁有中國領土的中國人民，不僅僅是現在活著的當代人，還包括祖先世代迄今的國人。領導中國人民的政府，作出選擇、決定時，必須對得住華夏祖宗，不能單只滿足當代人的需求和慾望。
一些意識到此種中西差異的論者，儘管只是模糊、大概地了解，重孝敬老、慎終追遠的獨特濃厚歷史觀，如何先導人民的行為，但已能道出中國不屬民族國家(nation-state) 類別，而是一款「文明體國家」(civilization-state) 。
[Note 7]
於疫中護老固然不易，日常生活中，孝養、敬老對個人所要求的犧牲亦往往很大。一旦碰上「攬炒」者，下場悲慘;著名的絕地之一，是被人逼問:當慈母與賢妻同時遇溺，你先救誰?
不喜歡「中國人民」這個群體及其文明的個人，可以移民海外、入籍他國，但不應逆行倒戈。在台灣省、香港市只生活了短時間的人，以為擺弄「去中國化」技掚，便可偷天換日，實際只會自取滅亡(詳見拙文《2022年統一台灣的兩個考慮》，刊2018年10月) 。
「唧唧復唧唧，木蘭當戶織…」出於一顆孝心，一位平凡的鄉村女子，也會踏上險惡難測的征途，「揚名聲、顯父母、光於前、裕於後」(《三字經》) 。這份鯤、鵬(《逍遙遊》)的情懷，豈是那些畏罪潛逃的蟪、蛄所能理解!!!
Reference
[Note 1]
Wiki, Mulan (2020 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan_(2020_film)
It is directed by Niki Caro,
with screenplay by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth
Martin
[Note 2]
Wiki, Pietas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietas
The Greek equivalent is eusebeia (εὐσέβεια).[4]
Cicero defined pietas as
the virtue "which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our
parents or other blood relations."[5] The man who possessed pietas "performed
all his duties towards the deity and his fellow human beings fully and in every
respect," as the 19th-century classical scholar Georg Wissowa described it.[6] Cicero suggests people should have awareness
of our own honor, we must always attempt to
raise the honor of others by our dignified praise, such praise, admiration and honored actions must be beyond all our
own desires, as Cicero said, we must choose our actions and words with respect
to our friends, colleagues, family or blood relations. Cicero describes youth in the pursuit of honour:
“How they yearn for praise! What labours will they not undertake to stand fast
among their peers! How will they remember those who have shown them kindness
and how eager to repay it!”.
Wiki, Filial Piety
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety
Merriam, Filial
Filial Has Familial
Origins
Filial is descended from
Latin filius, meaning "son," and filia,
meaning "daughter,"
See Second essay in Friedrich
Nietzsche (1887), On the Genealogy of Morality, translated by Carol Diethe and
edited by Keith Ansell-Pearson (2007), Cambridge University Press.
[Note 3]
Taiwan Crossing, 2020/04/27
加拿大近期最慘絕人寰的疫情新聞：「赫倫安養院事件」
https://crossing.cw.com.tw/article/13311
Daily Voice, 2020 May 12
At last count, 72
deaths of those who proudly served the U.S. were
reported at the state-run New Jersey Veterans Home at Paramus.
Aliazeera,
2020 Apr 18
A report released
by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) on April 15 said between 42 percent and 57 percent of deaths from the coronavirus in Italy, Spain,
France, Ireland and Belgium have been linked to care homes for the
elderly.
[Note 4]
Nature, ‘The coronavirus is most deadly if
you are older and male — new data reveal the risks’, 2020 Aug 28.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02483-2
“COVID-19 is not just hazardous for elderly people, it is
extremely dangerous for people in their mid-fifties,
sixties and seventies,” says Andrew Levin,
an economist at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, who has estimated
that getting COVID-19 is more than 50 times more likely to be fatal for a
60-year-old than is driving a car.
[Note 5]
Swissinfo.ch, 2020 Aug 5
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/reuters/-do-you-really-need-to-party---who-asks-world-s-youth/45948974
"Younger
people also need to take on board that they have a responsibility," said WHO emergencies chief and father-of-three Mike Ryan in an online
discussion. "Ask yourself the question: do I really need
to go to that party?"
Swiss newspapers said that in one night club in Zurich from
which cases emerged recently, partygoers had given fake names
including "Donald Duck".
As well as reducing risks to others, WHO epidemiologist
Maria Van Kerkhove said young people should be careful as even a mild version
of the disease might have long-term consequences.
Global News, 2020 Aug 21
https://globalnews.ca/news/7290610/coronavirus-uk-house-parties-police/
Police in the U.K. are
turning to the skies to put a stop to illegal house parties during the coronavirus pandemic.
When the Greater Manchester Police were
notified of a house party containing about 200 people in the Gordon area on
Aug. 15, they sent a police helicopter equipped with heat-sensitive cameras
over the home.
Daily Mail, 2020 Sep 27
'Shambolic!': Pub bosses blast 10pm Covid
curfew as social distancing goes out the window when city centre streets and
stations are mobbed by revellers all leaving at same time - and Uber prices
surge
Vast swathes of Saturday-night drinkers
were seen downing pints on empty roads in Soho, London, last night
[Note 6]
Vilfredo Parteo (1916), ‘The
Treatise on General Sociology, 3 vols.’, Florence.
English translation as ‘The
Mind and Society’ by A. Bongiorno and A. Livingston, London: Jonathan Cape
1935.
中譯:普通社會學綱要2001新華書店
[Note 7]
Wiki, Civilization State
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization_state
The term "civilization-state" was first
used by scholars in the 1990s to categorize China as having a distinct
sociopolitical character, as opposed to viewing it as a nation state in the
European model.
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