April Fool's Day 愚人节

April Fool's Day, we enjoy the jokes today no matter it's true or not. people are fooled just for fun, nothing else, but in the Chinese society, someone lies to others, it's not just for fun, they really think others are dumb.
One is how the government react to the scandals. For example, one governor in Shanxi province encroached the antique which is donated to China from a Chinese citizen. He said 'I took it home because I am taking care of it, it's not encroachment.' --- a typical lie. Other examples are, bad things were always done by a casual laborer; governors made a mistake, it's always a personal business, the leader is always innocent.
Another one is how the government handle public information. No matter it's a natural disaster or a public event, the government tend to hide the truth from people. For example, the HIV village in Henan province, the SARS in Guangdong province. Are people so dumb that once they know the truth they are gonna panic and results in chaos? On contrary, panic and chaos is because of lack of truth, people made a mad scramble for salt in China just several weeks ago, it's because they don't know the truth: salt in fact has no ability to prevent the irradiation at all.
Another one is how the government react to democracy. The government refuse democracy and General Value, they claim the people is not qualified or well educated yet, it's a waste of time and energy to vote, it's probably become chaos if they vote for politics. The answer to this had been provided by the Europe more than a hundred years ago. Democracy is the least bad system compared to other bad political systems. The reason is the power is restricted and supervised by the people, this reduces corruption and mistakes.
I am happy if friends fooled me on this day, but if the government fools me everyday, I am gonna say no to that.


愚人节到了，亲戚朋友之间的互相愚弄，为节日增添了无数欢乐的气息。我们在这天愚人，从内心来说，仅仅是为了娱乐，仅此而已。可是现实中有人不仅是娱乐，还真把大众当不会思考的傻子。
一个是政府丑闻被曝光后的愚人：例如陕西某官员私自贪污民众捐献给政府的文物被曝光后，竟说‘是保管在家中，不是贪污’，这就是典型的愚人。坏事，总是临时工干的；下属犯错，总是个人行为，领导永远都是不知情的。
一个是政府部门在信息公开上的愚人：无论是灾害还是公共事件，总是隐瞒不报，担心引发恐慌造成不稳定因素。比如河南的艾滋村，广东的SARS事件等等，难道民众就真的愚蠢到一听到真相就会恐慌无助社会大乱吗？前段时间的抢盐事件就是因为民众不知道盐不能防止辐射的真相，才发生这场闹剧。
另外一个是政府对民主问题上，老是把民众当傻子。政府总是拒绝民主，说民众素质太差，还没发展到全民民主的阶段，现在让民众实行决策既浪费时间又容易混乱，所以还不如让政府统一决策。这个问题早在100多年前欧洲就已经向世界给出了答案，民主宪政不论是对公民还是对国家都是比独裁专治更科学的体制，可以最大限度的减少腐败和错误，根本原因就在于来自民众对政府的监督。
如果在愚人节被朋友们愚弄，我会感到愉快，但是如果政府天天让我过愚人节，天天‘被愚弄’，那我就要说不。