Theory: It is immoral for the elites to belittle Wang Baoqiang on the basis of his background

Thread Content

　　Theory: It is immoral for the elite to belittle Wang Baoqiang on the basis of his background. On the late night of the 14th, Wang Baoqiang dropped a bombshell in the entertainment industry, which had been relatively calm for some time, by announcing his divorce from his wife Ma Rong, and accusing her of having an extramarital affair with her agent Song Zhe. Those dissatisfied with Wang Baoqiang are likely to be either entertainment journalists or sports journalists; the news of Wang Baoqiang’s divorce quickly surpassed the Rio Olympics to become the focus of public attention. In addition, there is another group of people who hold deep hostility toward Wang Baoqiang, and that are those so-called elites. 　　Instead of condemning Wang Baoqiang’s wife for her infidelity in the first place, the elites used a magnifying glass to examine every word of Wang Baoqiang’s statement, eventually finding flaws in it. They revealed the fact that his wife was unfaithful, and they also exposed the male accomplice. While the entertainment accounts were still trying to piece together the whole situation and look for clues, the elites had already begun to criticize Wang Baoqiang harshly. 　　First came an article titled “Wang Baoqiang’s Divorce Statement: The Barbaric Revenge of a Vulgar Rural Man.” The article claimed that Wang Baoqiang’s behavior was nothing short of that of a farmer from Hebei who had been cheated on by his neighbor, and who was standing at the entrance of the village shouting insults. Regardless of whether the author’s views are valid or not, the fact that he labeled Wang Baoqiang as a “vulgar rural man” alone shows the author’s disdain for him. Another article that followed, titled \"Outshining the ‘adulterers’ – Wang Baoqiang is still deeply fascinated by the values of the agricultural era,\" openly displayed disdain for Wang Baoqiang’s peasant background, using the concept of \"matching social status\" – a value from the agricultural era – to counter his own agricultural-oriented values. 　　The latest article by these elites accuses those who watched Wang Baoqiang’s divorce with interest of being \"law ignorants\" and of engaging in recklessness, using the so-called right to privacy to claim that it is illegal for Wang Baoqiang to make public information about his infidelity. Regardless of the exact boundaries of privacy rights, what exactly is Wang Baoqiang’s statement supposed to violate regarding the privacy of Ma Rong and Song Zhe? Can’t those two have an improper romantic relationship without Wang Baoqiang or anyone else knowing about it? Is it considered a violation of privacy just because people find out? The privacy of entertainment stars differs to some extent from that of ordinary people. There were already signs of trouble in Wang Baoqiang’s marriage, and even if he didn’t reveal anything on his own, people like Zhuo Wei would go to great lengths to uncover the details. If revealing private information counts as a violation of privacy, then why didn’t the elites step in to defend Article when Zhuo Wei exposed his infidelity back then? If Wang Baoqiang truly has evidence of Ma Rong’s infidelity, then such a statement is at most a straightforward description of the facts; if he doesn’t have such evidence, it can only be considered an infringement of reputation, and it has nothing to do with privacy at all. What truly violates privacy is not telling the world that one’s wife has cheated, but exposing her naked photos of that infidelity to the public. 　　Wang Baoqiang’s incident clearly illustrates one thing: China’s elites, through decades of development, have developed a unique set of values based on self-fulfillment; they possess a set of theories that they believe are logically sound. Deep down, they still look down on Wang Baoqiang – a farmer from Xingtai, Hebei, with only an elementary education. They call him a \"rural fool\" or accuse him of having outdated values, criticizing him from a godlike perspective; they say that someone like him will surely fail if he marries a beautiful wife. Just as those who accuse women of wearing too little of being worthy of rape do, Wang Baoqiang, who is accused of having weak values as a farmer, is deemed worthy of being betrayed. 　　The elites criticize Wang Baoqiang, just as those who used to be poor criticized Liu Qiangdong. The former are dissatisfied with Wang Baoqiang, a child from a rural background who became a box-office star through luck; they pay no attention to his genuine acting skills or his efforts, as if he has stolen the resources meant for the elites. It seems to them that Wang Baoqiang’s wife should be Xiao Fang from the village, rather than Ma Rong from Northwest University. What’s the difference between this and ordinary people being dissatisfied with Liu Qiangdong? After all, didn’t Liu Qiangdong marry the goddess in the hearts of those ordinary people? 　　While the elites claim to be concerned about the country and its people as well as about the entrenchment of social classes, they look down on those from lower social classes like Wang Baoqiang, who strive to change their own social status and fate through their own efforts. They felt they had a responsibility to guide people like Wang Baoqiang, not realizing that Wang Baoqiang, who was ignorant of the law, would have used the values of the agricultural age to subjugate his wife long ago if he had known and obeyed the law. The law that Wang Baoqiang is now learning is not one related to respecting privacy rights, but rather how to protect his own interests in divorce cases.