1-13 Information Explosion (Part 2): Disadvantages of Slogan Education

China is a country of slogans. Judging from the richness of various slogan materials, slogans usually exercise our memory ability rather than our thinking ability. However, even if we memorize all the slogans, we will inevitably lead to the wrong conclusion. Here are some examples:

Are those interpretations of slogans after the dash wrong? Although it seems ridiculous, it cannot be said to be a completely wrong interpretation literally, because many slogans themselves actually have logical flaws, and they usually only list examples of individual errors, but cannot cover everything - this reflects A major shortcoming of slogan education is that it cannot summarize complex truths in short words, nor can it fully list all possible details. Even if everyone can memorize the detailed "N should N don't" by heart, we can always cite the Nth example of not being subject to regulations. Legal education that lacks moral significance is hollow, so in my opinion those overwhelming blunt slogans cannot effectively educate and regulate people's behavior. Allowing people to free themselves from the torrent of information explosion slogans and spend more time learning and thinking about the moral meaning behind them can play a better role in educating the people.

In addition to the vague concept of the content they want to convey, most slogans are also very imprecise in the objects they want to spread - a slogan can always "sweep a large area", leaving those who have nothing to do with the content of the slogan The masses felt that "there is no three hundred taels of silver here." For example, the five notices in the above three examples only serve as a slight warning to some individuals, but are completely meaningless to most people (including the actual criminals). If you and your friends were walking on the street, and suddenly a group of people came with banners and loudspeakers and solemnly warned you that "theft is wrong", what would you think? What would your friends think? Although you know what they say is true, what does this have to do with you? Your friends may suspect that you have the urge to steal. Do you want to seriously explain to them that "I don't want to steal anything"? At this time, your friends may think that you are getting darker and darker, and they may be wary of you... Look, how embarrassing this is.

Inaccurate information dissemination not only fails to educate, but will arouse people's resentment. However, the originator of the slogan may believe that "if there is something, change it, and if it doesn't exist, encourage it." Everyone can treat slogans that have nothing to do with them as invisible scenery. Why bother to take advantage of them and humiliate themselves? I think this kind of rhetoric is a bit arrogant and strange: the purpose of propaganda is to hope that the information will be taken seriously, not to encourage people to habitually ignore it; only those who put forward these slogans themselves are already "aesthetic fatigue", will they think that the people Able to undergo selective blindness like myself. If this is a widespread social tacit understanding, how can we ask those criminals to take the slogan seriously?

In summary, I think that the inaccurate content of slogans and the inaccurate target of communication are the two major shortcomings of slogan education, and the enlightenment of "why bother to follow the instructions" is like a joke full of cynical wisdom. Looking back at many educational books and speeches by school leaders, the trend of slogan education is still prevalent. The content is all-inclusive, but everything is superficial and sloppy. The audience yawns endlessly, but they can always give appropriate applause at key points - escaping from such a harmonious tacit understanding. , does not seem to be an easy task.