Chapter 466: The Rich Man's Battle (3)
This state of confusion and panic seems to be like suddenly discovering the truth of the world and the reality of human beings at first glance, but upon closer thought, it seems that there is something else lurking underneath.
Judging from Su Yun's "records", she would deliberately shoot and record such a program to change her life temporarily, to refute the "poor people are guilty" theory that has been very popular in society in recent years - this is indeed something she would do and can do.
However, except when she does it on purpose, Su Yun rarely creates tragic endings. Even those movies that combine literary and artistic styles try to end with helpless regrets. In a seemingly endless despair, there is more or less a glimmer of hope.
With this in mind, Su Yun would certainly not create such a special program just to refute the "poor are guilty" theory or for the poor people at the bottom who have tried their best but still can't see a way out.
When the wealthy and powerful social elites suddenly fall into misery, it can certainly make many people who suffer in their daily lives feel very happy during the broadcast. However, as soon as the excitement fades, people will inevitably sigh: the person who suffers and is ridiculed is not the challenger experiencing the life of the bottom class on TV, but simply yourself who lives in the bottom class.
The most terrifying thing is that in this era, crossing classes is becoming increasingly difficult.
This can be clearly seen from He Pingsi's "experience".
At first, she joined a low-income family with full confidence, determined to use her many years of experience in helping her mother teach her younger siblings to help change the lives of this low-income family with many children.
Little did they know that when heavy physical labor took up most of their time and energy, and the poor living environment did not guarantee sufficient rest, the once confident brain quickly abandoned all the plans they had made, and was completely occupied every day by the worries caused by survival issues.
Not to mention the gap in education level and information asymmetry, in this situation where most of our energy has been used up just to survive, no matter how many ideas and plans we had in the past, it is difficult to have the time and energy to pay attention to the education of the next generation.
The most cruel yet fair thing about this society is that it punishes those who are not good at studying extremely harshly all the time. Although the path of "studying" may not necessarily allow people to reach the pinnacle of life, at least it can allow those who are willing to work hard through studying to fight for a place to stand in this precarious society.
But the most frightening thing is that even though this is the easiest path in the world for people to climb to the upper class, due to various external and internal factors, people will still fail to seize this long and short opportunity in their most promising years.
As a result, the next generation of the lower-class poor can only continue the fate of this generation, selling their physical strength and time to maintain survival, and selling their life and health in exchange for the present.
This problem, which has been difficult to solve generation after generation, is an unsolvable vicious cycle, a dead end with no way out, and a death cage with no light of day. It goes on and on without end.
After people figure it out or are reminded of it by others, they will inevitably feel terrified.
Are the people on TV pitiful? Of course they are pitiful - whether it is He Pingsi who is exhausted from helping low-income families deal with survival and education problems; or Xu Junkeng who almost gave up but picked up a stray cat halfway and gritted his teeth to stay in the cage and fight all kinds of mosquitoes and small creatures for the cat; or Yang Qilong who was hot-tempered and could not bear hardships at the beginning but later panted and pushed a cart to pick up garbage; and politicians who put on a show to win the favor of the people but actually suffered...
It is really hard. Almost all of those who were laughing outside the TV have experienced it personally.
Therefore, it is even more frightening because I have experienced almost all of them myself.
Because, no matter how miserable and pathetic those social elites who are "experiencing life" appear on TV, their "experiencing life" will eventually come to an end, and then they will return to their original free and easy life with abundant assets.
And these miserable lives that have been "abandoned" behind are what these people at the bottom of society have been experiencing all the time...
If you only look at the surface of the audience, the letters or comments are always filled with ignorant and foolish laughter, saying that this program is well done, it vindicates the hard-working poor people like them, and effectively refutes those high-handed groups who think they should eat meat, making many people understand that the word "poverty" has a root cause...
And when this vortex traps people, no matter who they are, it is very difficult to break free from it, and in the end they can only watch helplessly as they fall into the dilemma created by the vortex of poverty: look, those people who initially said confidently that they could change their lives with their own wisdom and abilities, have now become so miserable?
When you have tried your best to live in this world, how can you have the energy to plan for the future? How can you have the vision to see the changes of the times? How can you have extra funds to improve yourself, let alone talk about those almost meaningless ambitions and ideals at this stage?
As for the strange sounds mixed in among these praises and laughter, they are the gratitude and accusation of Su Yun for her cruel exposure of the truth of the world by people who have begun to "wake up".
On the one hand, they were grateful to her for breaking the information cocoon and speaking the truth about the world; on the other hand, they found it difficult to accept the truth and could not help but vent their anger and sorrow to her.
In the face of the increasingly serious problem of the gap between the rich and the poor, can these poor people who have neither resources nor opportunities live the life they want through their own efforts and hard work?
In the show "Rich Man Fighting", these social elites who participate in the challenge to experience life will be placed in every detailed class and age stage.
From housing estates to tenement buildings, from subdivided flats to caged houses, and then to the streets where the sky is the blanket and the ground is the mat.
From the confusion of youth, to the dilemma of educating the next generation, to the crisis of unemployment in middle age and the confusion of old age, everything that should be there is included.
Most of the poor people at the bottom of society go through life like this, and then it repeats itself over and over again.
"But the life of the poor at the bottom is not a reality show to be experienced. This long and painful life journey has a deadline but is also endless. When we face this dilemma, we try to endure it and struggle hard to move forward. Isn't this the real life of human beings?"
"The social elites drove away in their sports cars with a sense of relief, but are we left with nothing but hope that will never be reached, growing old and dying in despair?"
This program, which has been extremely controversial since its launch, was exactly as those pessimistic yet realistic viewers had expected when it came to the end of the first episode: after experiencing a month of life, the half of the challengers who persisted to the end waited for the crew's shuttle bus with complicated expressions on their faces.
This car is to take them to a final dinner and let them talk about their experiences in the past month.
What moved or dissatisfied the audience was that before leaving, these social elites more or less left what they had gained and accomplished in the past month to the people who filmed with them.
While being moved by the kindness of these people, one also seems to be able to sense the "compassion" coming from above.
Such extremely complicated thoughts continued throughout the dinner party.
These protagonists who have been the focus of attention for a whole month can finally get to know others' views of themselves during this month.
When faced with good feedback, they will undoubtedly show joy on their faces; but when faced with bad feedback, especially when faced with comments that their one-month life experience is just a show, a public relations activity designed for the rich and powerful so that they can gain political capital among the people at the lowest cost, their happy smiles will freeze in an instant.
Fortunately or unfortunately, most of the people present grew up under the spotlight since childhood and knew how to behave in different situations.
The best among them is of course He Pingsi, an old friend whom Su Yun pays special attention to.
“Human capabilities are limited, but once we have the opportunity to unite, we may be able to possess unimaginable power.”
“Although our experiences cannot change the world or change people’s mentality, I believe that as long as there are people willing to understand and do it, we can always encourage and guide more people to pay attention to them, understand them, and help them.”
"I've seen people say that education is actually a scarce resource and a means of dividing people into different classes. Just like what another gentleman present said, although education is as fair as possible to a certain extent, this society still punishes those who are not good at studying extremely harshly..."
"I want to say that as an ordinary person whose life seems to be predictable, it is important to understand that the real society is not easy. Compared with these people, people like us are undoubtedly much luckier."
“Although people are born unequal, no matter who you are, you should not discriminate against or look down on others, and you should not think that you can do it and demand others to do it, because this is not caused by laziness or any other reasons, but a difficult dilemma caused by the combination of external and internal factors.”
"My good friend Mary discussed this kind of problem with me before preparing for this program. She said something that left a deep impression on me at the time - it is impossible to eliminate poverty."
"I thought she was too pessimistic at the time and argued with her several times... It wasn't until I went through this for a month that I realized that what she said was actually very correct."
"But such 'very correct' words can only be said by 'irrelevant' people like her, and not by people who are involved in politics - even to some extent, those people should not think that this view is correct."
"Because one of the responsibilities of these people is to use their own strength to help poor areas and people get out of poverty."
“‘Escape from poverty’ are just four simple words; but achieving it is a never-ending journey.”
“When you have no ability, I hope you can live your life to the best of your ability; and when you have ability, I hope you can use your ability to give back to society - this is the responsibility that society has given to people. It varies from person to person, but the end result is the same.”
This final episode was like a stone that set off a thousand waves. Once released, it set off a huge wave that started from Hong Kong, the first broadcast area, and then quickly radiated and spread to the surrounding areas.
It turns out that what Su Yun wanted to discuss this time was not the "poor are guilty" or "rich are guilty" theory, but the deeper "social responsibility that varies from person to person"!
In the increasingly open and mature new era, most of the wealthy people who have achieved prosperity will also increasingly lack empathy and social responsibility.
It is undeniable that in such a materialistic society there will still be people who remain untainted, but when information is cut and separated and class distances are widened, those workers who have paid with their blood, sweat and health to create a prosperous new world are still suffering from the pain of the past.
When a program directly and nakedly reveals such a truth, people who see it should reflect on whether their success is due to their own efforts and luck, as well as the care of society and the support of grassroots workers?
Putting oneself in others' shoes is always easier said than done.
But most people still have empathy and conscience in their hearts.
Therefore, this program, in addition to alerting the society, is also using cruel but real images and the subsequent public opinion to awaken and inspire those high-ranking officials and the middle-level people who constitute the main force, so that they begin to reflect and pay attention to the current situation at the grassroots level.
The world cannot eliminate poverty, but we can still improve the lives of the grassroots. Such "improvement" does not rely solely on the power of the government, but requires the participation of responsible people to make the candy bigger and let the suffering people taste the sweetness of the new era.
The controversy and discussion on this topic is so wide and deep that even many years later, people still occasionally mention the beginning and spread of this reality show in the late 1980s.
However, many years later, Su Yun also gave everyone a sequel that may not be considered a sequel -
When the big title of "Endless Road" disappears and the host's footsteps step onto the "Suyun Road" located in remote areas of poor mountains and bad waters, it not only tells of the endlessness of this action; it is also a metaphor for the fact that the efforts of many people over many years have finally paid off, and the results are not yet concluded.
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