Hello everyone, this is Klaus.
I believe that every Chinese has heard the saying, "Humans are born good."
Some say humans are born evil.
Today let's discuss from the perspectives of psychology, behavioral science, biology and logics
whether humans are born good or evil.
Finally, we will discuss the relationship between human nature and society.
Let's start with a short story.
In the Spring and Autumn Era (about 2500 years ago), there was a law in the State of Lu:
If a Lu citizen saved another Lu citizen who had been enslaved in other states,
and brought him back to Lu, he would be reimbursed for the ransom.
Confucius had a student called Zigong,
who once redeemed a Lu citizen,
but did not claim the ransom from the government.
People around praised him for being selfless,
but Confucius criticized him,
and told him that he must take the money.
Want to know why?
Then check out this video.
"Men on earth, good from birth, the same nature, varies on nurture."
Everyone can recite it eloquently.
These lines come from China’s classic children's book, The Three Characters, written by Wang Yinglin in the Song Dynasty,
meaning that humans are born good,
and everyone’s nature is also similar, but can be shaped by environment and education.
The first two lines were derived from Mencius Gaozishang,
"Human nature is good just as water naturally falls downward."
Simply put, human nature is good.
The last two lines are from The Analects of Confucius, "The Master said, 'By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.'"
Contrary to Confucius and Mencius, Xunzi believed human nature is evil。
The original line comes from "Xunzi Xing Xie",
“The cultured and learned are noble men.
The debauched and unbridled are little men.
Thus, we can clearly tell that human nature is evil."
Simply put, good behaviors are a result of education.
Self-indulgence inevitably leads to evildoing.
Being good takes a lot of hard work, whereas doing evil is easy because it is in our nature.
Thoughts are subjective.
We must start with objective facts.
The theory of human nature being good by Confucius and Mencius has been the mainstream ideology since 2,500 years ago.
The Three Characters has been a children's book since the Song Dynasty.
Its opening line tells you that human nature is good.
To this day, it is still required reading for elementary school students.
For thousands of years, dynasties came and went in China, but this mainstream theory has remained unchanged.
In other words, whoever sat on the throne accepted the idea that human nature was good.
That is a historical fact.
Regardless of whether the theory is right or wrong,
the emperors all seem to like it.
To be precise, they want us to believe it is right.
There are two scenarios. 1. The emperors want us to believe it,
and they themselves believe it. and the theory is right.
2. The theory is actually wrong, but emperors want us to believe it's right.
No matter what, the emperors want us to believe human nature is good,
but it could be totally wrong.
Thus, we should carefully examine this theory.
Let’s start with the word "human". Humans can be natural persons as well as social animals.
Natural persons are born as babies uneducated by society.
Nothing reflects human nature better than babies.
Babies just want milk, and care not about hurting their mothers.
If you take away their toys, they will cry.
Children, by nature, do not share their toys.
From a biological perspective, natural persons are animals.
They live to produce, to pass on their own genes.
Note that the keyword is "their own genes", not the genes of other members of their species.
When a lion takes over new territory,
It will eat cubs born by other lions.
Some birds will kill their weakest siblings after birth
to get more food from their parents.
Therefore, a natural person is born evil.
So why do many people think human nature is good?
Because they fail to distinguish "natural men" and "social men".
People only know the concept of good through education, ethics, law, etc.
Here is an experiment on social behavior.
When people see money on the ground,
they always first think whether it is their own money.
Then, they look around to see if there's anyone nearby,
After thinking for a while,
some people decide to return the money to its owner.
We have all been educated since childhood to return things to their owners.
In the decision-making process, the idea of doing good battles human greed.
In this experiment, human nature is shown in people's initial reactions, while the subsequent good behavior is a result of education by society.
There is a famous Chinese proverb,
"To go from frugality to extravagance is easy, but the opposite is difficult."
It is relatively difficult for people to develop good habits, which takes self-restraint and discipline.
But it is much easier to develop bad habits.
One only needs to do what is in their nature: evil.
In Christianity, people are born with the original sins.
The seven deadly sins include pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, and wrath.
In Buddhism, people are said to have three unwholesome roots, also known as three poisons, greed, aversion, and confusion.
Both Christianity and Buddhism teach the idea that human nature is evil.
At this point, some people may feel a little uncomfortable.
After all, this challenges their established world view and value system.
Some people might say, "So what?
It wouldn't hurt to believe that human nature is good.
Are you encouraging people to do evil?"
Of course not. Do you remember the short story at the start of this video?
Student of Confucius, Zigong, didn’t claim the money from the government,
and was praised as selfless by those around him, but criticized by Confucius.
Confucius believed that if Zigong was considered selfless for not claiming the money,
people claiming reimbursement would feel ashamed,
resulting in no one being willing to spend their own money to redeem their countrymen in the future,
because selfishness is part of human nature,
and that was why a government reimbursement mechanism was introduced in the first place.
Zigong’s behavior would destroy the government mechanism.
If no one were to claim the money from the government,
the policy would be useless and no slaves would get saved.
The core of communism is public ownership and planned economy.
Making everyone equal and happy is their slogan.
Very tempting, isn't it? In the beginning, it attracted so many people who were willing to die for their revolution.
There was a time when there were nearly 50 communist countries in the world.
Communist movements have directly and indirectly caused nearly 100 million deaths worldwide.
Nowadays, there are 5 communist countries left, and in name only.
Vietnam is planning a general election next year.
Needless to say, North Korea is in stark contrast to South Korea.
In China, landlords were persecuted and killed in the past, and today's landlords are called contractors.
Capitalists were killed in the past, and today's capitalists are named entrepreneurs.
China is basically a capitalist country claiming to be a socialist country with Chinese characteristics.
After all, a slap in the face hurts.
So how come communism has been so poorly received?
Because communism is good in theory, but it does not respect the fact that humans are born evil.
In the People’s Commune, regardless of their efforts, people would receive the same number of food stamps.
You might be stronger and more capable.
You could claim to be selfless, but for how long?
What if someone was not as selfless? What if someone next to you was lazy? How long could you keep being selfless?
The end result is, everyone would expect others to work.
Indeed, nobody was willing to work for others for nothing,
which eventually led to false food production reports and a national famine,
killing over 40 million people.
During the Cultural Revolution,
if human nature were good, then how were people capable of such cruelty?
Thus, human nature is evil, and only through education and legal constraints
can humans refrain from doing evil.
When there is no rule of law, the evil of human nature is exposed.
An old man told me a story.
A landlord was killed during the communist land revolution in which not even the landlord's children were spared,
and his concubine was stripped naked and killed using vagina impalement.
Those murderers were more hentai than the Japanese invaders.
In fact, the number of Chinese people killed by communists is several times
the total number of Chinese soldiers and civilians killed by the Japanese in World War II.
The Chinese Communist Party teaches you to label.
Once a person is labeled as "a bad guy",
anyone can do anything, however dark and perverted, to him.
Five types of people were considered "bad guys" by the Chinese government.
They were landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad people, and the right-wing.
Of course, there were many other labels put on the persecuted,
who were human beings just like you and me.
Don't think those days are long gone.
If, for instance, I was arrested,
and labeled as an "inciter of insurrection", a "lapdog brainwashed by Westerners", a "separatist", etc.,
I would be tortured like an animal
and no one would care about me when they left me to rot on the streets.
Thus, only in a society that respects the fact that human nature is evil
can a system be built that encourages goodness of humanity.
Human nature is evil, so there must be rule of law rather than rule of man.
A country where human nature is believed to be evil will be governed by law.
A country where human nature is believed to be good will be governed by people.
The idea that human nature is good has existed in China for thousands of years.
This means that today’s China is fundamentally not different from feudal China.
If the people are led to believe that human nature is good, and taught to be tolerant with everything,
then in the face of social injustice, they would comfort themselves by saying, "There are still good people out there."
They would not condemn the system.
Instead, they would willingly give the power of life and death to those they hope are "good-natured".
Only when the truth of human nature being evil is respected will an individual, or a regime for that matter, be normal.
A capable person will gradually get rich and become a capitalist.
Wealthy but incapable people must have rich fathers
who would give money to their children but not to you.
That is human nature.
Disrespecting private ownership of land will affect farmers' motivation.
Disrespecting private ownership of property will affect entrepreneurs' motivation.
Disrespecting private ownership of intellectual property will affect scientists' motivation.
China has had so few Nobel Prize winners.
The media only say that the Chinese are not innovative,
and that young people need to be more innovative.
Bullsh*t! When I have no money, you tell me I should make more money?
You think I don't know that? Why don't you tell me how to make more money?
Many "characteristics" of China come down to the problems of the CCP regime.
But many people don't see that.
Each of us should listen to this advice: Know Thyself.
One can only become better by admitting their flaws?
What kind of a wuss would you be if you can't face your flaws?
However, such a wuss dares to call itself "a great and responsible country"! !
OK, that’s it.
Thank you for watching.
This is Klaus. See you next time.