Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A52-W15

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A52-W15

Release Date: February 14, 2004

发布日：2004年2月14日

Topic: Heroes vs. Cowards (Wei Jingsheng Replies and Thanks to a Friend)

标题：魏京生给一个朋友的回信（原信请参看魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号A46-W11）

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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Heroes vs. Cowards

-- Wei Jingsheng Replies and Thanks to a Friend He Never Met

Dear friend,

I appreciate very much your caring for me personally. I am going to give your money to the wife of one of my friends who is in jail, instead of using it for myself. He is sick in jail and more in need of health and nutrition products. I may not tell them your name, not only because I do not want to cause unneeded trouble for you, but also because I think the reason that they are suffering in jail is for the sake of all 1.3 billion Chinese, instead of for the benefit of themselves. They are different from those people who surrendered themselves for earlier releases. So, we should indeed help those people who are still in jail without hoping for any gratitude.

You talked about the coward Chinese, I could not agree. Which nation or race is not coward? Even for the Americans who are under a democratic system, how many of them would go against a majority to criticize current politics? They would not even have to suffer from execution, exile, or jail for that! In comparison, in China there are plenty of brave Chinese other than myself who risk their lives for others' welfare. One after another, persistent like the tide, they make the dictators headaches with their braveness. The problem with the Chinese is that they are too smart. Smartness is not equal to rational. It ends up that that kind of smartness in irrational.

Back in the 1978 Democracy Wall era, there were so many people there that we were squeezed into the corner when we were selling our publication "Exploration'. Even then, there were only a few who were willing to take the risk of execution to work together. Most people will think: let them to take the risk. If they are successful, we will naturally have our share of democracy; if not, it is them instead of us who will be executed. Why should we risk our own lives? Unfortunately, being just as a standby will not help accomplish the mission. We may be just short of that little push to finish the era of being slaves of the Communists and no one will get the reward after all.

This type of "smart" attitude does often make the leaders who risked themselves feel discouraged. You see the proof when you check on the "democracy advocators" who are now praising the fourth generation of the Chinese Communism leadership. Beside a few of the "elites" and "well-known" who are on the mission of the regime, most of them are really former heroes who are discouraged now. Their logic could be: if the others are so smart, why could not we be smart at least once? Maybe we could be assigned into an official position. We may not leave a great mark on history, but at least it would feel good and let the others admire. Therefore, some rather give up their decade-long spirit to become a running dog. Is it worth it? It may be a smart plot, but not rational. But there are too many hungry dogs.

These former heroes do not realize that to the average person it is not an issue of cowardice or not. Instead, they do not know what would be beneficial or harmful to them. Because they cannot see everything clearly, they naturally are suspicious. Not having enough information and guidance to be able to see very clearly, they do not know which kind of risk should they take. The opposition actions by our countrymen inside of China often fall into two extremes. One is too moderate, and therefore gets cheated by the government in the end, with the leaders not able to escape the fate of jail terms. The other is too emotional, and thus lets the Chinese Communists find the excuse to give a full suppression without enough sympathy from the others. Therefore, the most important work for the opposition leader group is to provide enough correct information and play the role of advisors. Some people who are against Communism are against anything which shares the common characteristic of the Communism, including against leading the democracy forces, or being in a role of advisor with authority and reputation. They think this disengagement would make them the real "independent intellectuals". In my opinion, this is very stupid -- this type of attitude unconsciously plays a role of helping the Communist. I know there are quite a few like that out there. However, they do not understand that if everyone is "independent", then the minority dictators have the chance to rule the majority. The worst fear for the suppressors is that those people under the suppression get united together. What does "united" mean? It means more than one individual gets together into one structure, and they work together harmonically like one person. If the arms and the legs are all independent, the human body will be paralyzed and where would you find force then? Therefore one may conclude that part of the most effective work of the Communist government is to push for "an independent movement" within our democracy force. It is the most effective way to divide and dissolve us, yet is uneasy to be detected by these "elites".

The last that I want to say is do not give yourself a pessimistic conclusion. You still have time to put in your effort to work.

WEI Jingsheng

Washington, DC

January 6, 2004

(Note by Ciping Huang: This letter is partially edited and deleted. The original letter of the friend was published on our issue A46-W11: Holiday Greetings and a letter to Wei Jingsheng)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article Release Issue: A52-W15

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A52-W15

Release Date: February 14, 2004

发布日：2004年2月14日

Topic: Heroes vs. Cowards (Wei Jingsheng Replies and Thanks to a Friend)

标题：魏京生给一个朋友的回信（原信请参看魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号A46-W11）

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

若有阅读中文的困难，请直接访问我们的网站：www.weijingsheng.org

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魏京生给一个朋友的回信

朋友：

非常感谢你对我个人的关心，我将把买保健品的钱转交给一位尚在狱中的朋友的妻子。他在狱中已经患病，比我更需要保健品和营养品。我可能不会把你的名字告诉他。除了少给你添麻烦以外，我认为：他们在监狱中受苦，是为了包括我们每个人在内的13亿普通的中国人，而并不是为了他们自己。这和那些在狱中投降后被早早放出来的人有所不同。所以我们给他们一些帮助是理所当然的，不应该指望任何报答。

说到中国人的懦弱，我倒不以为然。哪个民族不是懦弱的呢？甚至在民主制度下的美国人，又有几个敢逆潮流批评时政的呢？他们还不需要为此而被杀头、流放、蹲班房呢！相比之下，中国人里象我这样敢冒杀头之险为民请愿的勇士，倒是前赴后继、势如潮涌，令专制统治者头疼，何之谓懦弱？中国人的问题是太聪明了。聪明不等于理智，中国人的聪明往往是不理智的。小聪明而已。

当年到民主墙的人也是人山人海。我们在那里卖我们的《探索》时被挤到了墙角上。但只有几个人敢冒杀头的风险一起干。大多数人都在想：让他们冒险去，成功了自然就有我们的一份。民主嘛，少不了我们一份。不成功，杀他们的头不杀我们的，何必冒险呢？殊不知，大家都袖手旁观是很难成功的。功亏一篑，大家仍然只能给共产党当奴隶，谁又得着什么好处了呢？

这种姿态往往使得带头犯难冒险的人气馁。看看那些替第四代吹捧的“民运人士”吧！除少数受中共特务唆使的“精英”、“名人”之外，他们大多是些气馁了的前勇士们。他们想，别人都那么聪明，咱们为什么不能投机取巧一次呢？也许咱们就成功地混个旅长师长的干干。就算不能名垂青史，也可风光一时。即使不能让人们从心里佩服，至少也让人露出艳羡的目光呀！于是把自己十几年牺牲换来的风骨白白扔掉，回头给人家当走狗去了。值吗？聪明倒是足够聪明，只是不理智。特别是那些“小人物”，精英们用卖身换来个走狗头头当，他们则往往抢不到小喽啰的饭碗，饿狗太多了嘛！

前勇士们不明白的是：对普通人来说无所谓懦弱不懦弱，他们只是不够明白。不知道自己的利和害都在什么地方。看到一些不明白的地方就会怀疑，但没有足够的信息和指导使他们看得明白，也就不知道该冒什么险。所以国内百姓的反抗活动往往是两个极端：或者过于温和，最终被中共欺骗，领头儿的仍难逃牢狱之灾；或者是过于冲动，被中共找到似是而非的理由全力镇压，反而没有很多人同情。所以，反抗活动的领导集团最重要的工作，就是给无知的百姓们提供足够的正确信息和充当导师的角色。中共的主要工作也相同而相反：提供足够的错误信息和充当导师的角色。有些人因为反共就反对所有与中共相同的事物，反对民运组织和领袖充当有权威有信用的导师角色，以为这就是真正的“独立知识分子”。这样做愚蠢至极，不自觉地充当了中共打手的角色。现在可能有不少这种自以为是的傻帽精英。他们不懂的是，如果人人都独立了，一小撮压迫者才能统治大多数人。压迫者最怕被压迫者的团结。什么叫团结？就是多于一个的人组织成一个结构，像一个生命一样协调地工作。如果胳膊腿都独立了，人就瘫痪了，哪有力量？因此可知，一部分最有效的中共特务工作就是推动民运内部的独立运动。它是最有效制造分裂和瓦解，又让“精英”们不易察觉的活动。

最后我想说：不要过早给自己下一个悲观的结论。还有时间努力。还没到盖棺定论的时候嘛！

魏京生

于华盛顿DC

2004年1月6日

（注：此回信有所修改与删节。原信请参看魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号A46-W11：魏京生基金会新年祝贺并转发节日来信一封。 -- 黄慈萍）

（魏京生基金会首发，请注明出处。www.weijingsheng.org）

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