垃圾信息的狂欢  The Carnival of Spam

文｜西坡 Text by Xi Po

前些天写某一篇文章的时候，突然感觉算力不足，脑袋发出了预警。那是一个大热点，无数观点蜂拥而至，大致分为针锋相对的两派，但每一派我都不认同。这可如何是好，要跟他们分别干仗，想着想着，不禁有种令人窒息的眩晕感。
A few days ago, while writing an article, I suddenly felt a lack of computational power, and my brain issued a warning. It was a big hot topic, with countless viewpoints swarming in, roughly divided into two opposing factions, but I didn't agree with either. What should I do? Should I fight them separately? As I thought about it, I couldn't help but feel a suffocating dizziness.

我强迫自己冷静下来，心想我这是做什么呢。我要写我的文章，管别人怎么说呢。于是我把接收到的各种观点尽力从脑子里排出去，只剩下可以采信的基本事实。然后试着以一个赤裸裸的生命，面对赤裸裸的事实，我有什么感受，我有什么想说的，一句一句写出来，这就是我的文章了。
I forced myself to calm down, thinking, what am I doing? I need to write my article, regardless of what others say. So I tried to clear my mind of all the received viewpoints, leaving only the basic facts that could be trusted. Then I tried to face the bare facts with a bare life, expressing my feelings and thoughts one sentence at a time. This became my article.

文章发出来，我的朋友唐平君说，还得看西坡啊。我心甚慰。
After the article was published, my friend Tang Pingjun said, "We still need to look at Xipo." I was very comforted.

从传播效果来看，那篇文章的阅读数一般，因为当时大家都是忙着反击对手，大多数文章也都是为了满足这个用途被制造出来的。但是在这样一个时期，自己身边寥若晨星的熟悉信任的朋友的反馈，要比山呼海啸的附和更重要。
From the perspective of dissemination, the article's readership was average because everyone was busy counterattacking their opponents at the time, and most articles were created to serve this purpose. However, during such a period, feedback from the few familiar and trusted friends around me was more important than the overwhelming echoes.

我想说的是，今时今日，人们好像越来越依靠自己反对的事物来定义自己的精神世界，却淡漠了直接感受事物的能力。
What I want to say is that nowadays, people seem to increasingly rely on the things they oppose to define their spiritual world, while neglecting the ability to directly feel things.

很多微信群，每天一打开，全是“我们共同讨厌的事物”的集锦，硬邦邦的段子、图片、表情包。但很少有人分享自己主张什么，自己热爱什么，自己在学习什么探索什么。
In many WeChat groups, every time you open them, they are full of compilations of "things we collectively hate," with hard-hitting jokes, pictures, and emojis. But few people share what they advocate, what they love, what they are learning, or what they are exploring.

我经常会纳闷，你们明明那么厌恶他们，为什么还要天天关注他们，分享他们？如果他们是敌人，那么他们在你们身上已经赢得了最大的胜利。因为你们只能从敌人那里获取生命仅剩的价值感、存在感。在精神上，你们是不能自立的。
I often wonder, if you hate them so much, why do you pay attention to them every day and share them? If they are the enemy, then they have already won the greatest victory over you. Because you can only derive the remaining sense of value and existence from the enemy. Spiritually, you cannot stand on your own.

这就涉及到信息茧房的本质。现实中的信息茧房，并不是一群人沉浸在自己热爱的事物中，无暇他顾，而是充斥着他们共同讨厌的事物，只有反对可以维持他们之间虚弱的认同。只有虚弱的认同，才需要没日没夜的反复印证。
This involves the essence of the information cocoon. In reality, the information cocoon is not a group of people immersed in what they love, ignoring everything else, but rather filled with things they collectively hate. Only opposition can maintain their weak sense of identity. Only a weak sense of identity needs to be repeatedly verified day and night.

我越来越不喜欢加入这种垃圾信息的狂欢。因为每次当我想要真诚地讨论他们发起的某一个话题的时候，都会发现，你永远说服不了时间成本足够低的人。有时候你抛出一些认真的探讨之后，群里会沉默片刻，然后继续进入垃圾信息的狂欢。他们从来不辨析，从来不困惑，从来不感动，只是一味地高明。
I increasingly dislike joining this carnival of junk information. Because every time I want to sincerely discuss a topic they initiated, I find that you can never persuade people with low time costs. Sometimes, after you throw out some serious discussions, the group will fall silent for a moment, and then continue the carnival of junk information. They never analyze, never feel confused, never feel moved, just always act superior.

我觉得这是一种精神内循环。没有什么比证明自己高明更容易也更浪费生命的了。归根结底，发展一种热爱，要比维持一种反对的姿势消耗更多的能量。人的能量级别降低之后，就无力热爱了。
I think this is a kind of spiritual internal circulation. Nothing is easier and more wasteful of life than proving one's superiority. Ultimately, developing a passion consumes more energy than maintaining a stance of opposition. When a person's energy level drops, they are unable to love.

世界可能很糟糕，但人们每天吞食的垃圾信息，又有多少是自己千辛万苦扒拉到嘴边的呢？
The world may be terrible, but how much of the garbage information people consume every day is painstakingly shoveled into their mouths by themselves?