To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must be allowed to say, write and publish whatever they want. Freedom of expression is the most basic, but fundamental, right. Without it, human beings are reduced to automatons.
Interpretation
Self-awareness is achieved through diverse opinions and the freedom to express oneself.
In this quote, Ma Jian emphasizes the importance of freedom of expression as a fundamental human right that enables individuals to develop self-awareness. He argues that when people are exposed to a variety of opinions and allowed to express their thoughts freely, they are empowered to think critically and form their own identities; without such freedoms, they risk becoming mindless automatons, lacking individuality and depth of thought.
In practice
This quote could be used during a speech advocating for free speech rights.
After the Tiananmen Massacre, I felt compelled not only to continue writing but to actively resist the restrictions placed on freedom of speech. I set up the publishing company in Hong Kong, with offices in Shenzhen in mainland China, and managed to publish works of fiction, philosophy, and politics by unapproved authors.
Before the counter-culture revolutionary Li Lian was executed in 1971 for criticising the Cultural Revolution, pour policemen pushed her face against the window of a truck, lifted her shirt and cut out her kidneys with a surgical knife,’ Mau Sen said, his face stony and white. ‘I think that removing the organs of convicts while they are still alive is too much. It completely contravenes medical ethics.’ ‘This is a dissection class, not a political meeting,’ Sun Chunlin said.
...majority Patriotism is the customary Patriotism.
I have an instinctual distrust of conventional happy endings.
Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic un-interestingness as an intellectual position. Where was the ingenuity, the ambiguity, the humanity of saying that the universe just happened to happen and that when we're dead we're dead?
The cat dropped the rat between its two front paws. "There are those," it said with a sigh, in tones as smooth as oiled silk, "who have suggested that the tendency of a cat to play with its prey is a merciful one - after all, it permits the occasional funny little running snack to escape, from time to time. How often does your dinner get to escape?
Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger. We were strangers once, too.
All big things are made up of trifles. My entire life has been built on trifles.
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