2020 is a weird year. Due to various reasons, people are dividing more than ever at different levels. People show more hate and become more defensive against groups they don’t like or understand. So I think it’s fitting to have 2 posts, old and new, under the theme of (no) freedom of speech.
据刘力朋介绍，刘力朋和他的同事大多是刚毕业的大学生，有的还是大专生，这个工作并不难，对于学历和技能并没有特别的要求，所以他们的工资也并不高，甚至可以说很低了，只是比电子工厂的工人稍微高一点，只要本科或是大专高校毕业生，因为他们都经过了很长时间的政治训练，从幼儿园开始就有政治课。必须得是大专或是本科上。他们来后其实都不要多大训练，在学校都训练十几年了，什么是党想听，什么是党不想听，已经很门儿清了，而且还能分出级别来，唯一要做培训的就是六四和法轮功。因为六四已经被洗得很干净，年轻一代人不知道。不过，在微博上，真正站出来为六四说话，说共产党杀人不对，这样的一周不会超过十条。
最讽刺的事莫过于要审查涉及六四的内容，所有审核员反而因此看到被掩盖的六四事件，可以当做逆向工程的经典案例了。Basically content moderators of Chinese internet companies get to learn all the stories and rumors about events like 6/4/1989 so that they will know what kind of posts they need to ban and remove. Very classic reverse engineering there. It’s easy to see them go either PTSD or grow hatred against CCP if they don’t have a bulletproof faith in CCP propaganda.
刘力朋给美国之音提供了他在新浪微博做内容审查员的工作日志，日志按时间清楚地记录了他们每天是如何处理每一条新闻事件和图片的。
这本工作日志几乎就是中国最黑暗和被掩盖的历史全貌了 - 如果哪天能搞到一本可通今古。The journal of content moderators in Chinese internet companies records everything they can give pass on and ones they need to remove immediately. It is updated everyday. It is basically the hidden side of Chinese history. I’d been interested if it ever been on sale on Ebay.
Grammatically, “nèige 那个” begins as a demonstrative, but it is frequently attenuated to become a pause particle or filler word. It is often uttered many times in succession, thus “nèige nèige nèige…”, and people who have a tendency to stutter may get stuck on it for an embarrassingly long time. Even individuals who are not actually stutterers may have an excessive addiction to such words. One can also say “zhèige zhèige zhèige… 这个 这个 这个… (this this this…)”. I’ve even heard people say “zhèige zhèige zhèige… …nèige nèige nèige…” and vice versa.
This is an excerpt from a class where the professor uses “那个“ in Chinese as an example to demonstrate how pauses in communication are like. Apparently because its pronunciation (nèige) is so close to the N word, it “caused great pain and upset among students”. As a result the professor was suspended by the school. If I were a reporter from China, I’d report this like I’ve never reported news before, from different angles, for a straight week, just to show how backwards and ridiculous “western democracy” is. I’d schedule many interviews, with students who feel the great pain, with school administration who believes they are doing the right thing, and probably with the professor who apologizes publicly during the interview.
And apparently Yao Ming has faced similar situations before.