蘇格拉底節(Socmas)該取代聖誕節嗎？

黑牡丹和蘇格拉底

大部分的美國人在每年十二月慶祝聖誕節。他們怎麼慶祝聖誕節？他們買聖誕樹放在房子裡面，用燈串和聖誕飾品裝飾聖誕樹，買很多聖誕禮物放在聖誕樹下面。孩子們吃聖誕餅乾，人人唱聖誕歌曲和看聖誕電影。但是，這些歌曲和電影是關於什麼的？「聖誕節」的由來是什麼？

對孩子們來說，聖誕節的來到代表可以收到很多聖誕禮物。父母親們講聖誕老人的故事給孩子們聽。聖誕老人跟他的老婆和精靈們住在北極，精靈們在工作室裡製作玩具。聖誕老人在每年的聖誕夜與馴鹿一起飛過天空，降落在每間房子的屋頂上，把非常好的禮物放在好孩子們的聖誕樹下面，把煤塊送給壞孩子們。

美國人在每年十二月，都會被迫在每間商店、超市、購物商城、百貨公司...等地方聽到聖誕歌曲。其中一首名為"Santa Claus Is Coming To Town(聖誕老人進城來)”的歌詞中，提到聖誕老人知道你什麼時候睡覺跟起床，他也知道你是好人還是壞人。大部分的人會告訴孩子們：「如果你很乖，聖誕老人會送給你禮物。」

這個故事是虛構的，但是孩子們相信聖誕老人會給他們聖誕禮物。有一天，孩子們終究會明白聖誕老人不是真的，他們會了解不是聖誕老人給他們禮物，其實是他們父母送的，他們會知道他們父母說謊了。

                

維多利亞港加拿大

孩子們喜歡這些好玩的傳統，但是這些傳統跟宗教沒有關係。那麼聖誕節的由來是什麼？聖誕節是一個基督教節日，基督徒們在每年的12月25號，慶祝耶穌基督的誕生，大部分的基督徒去教堂做聖誕禮拜。

而且不只是美國人。多少人慶祝聖誕節？多少人是基督徒？基督教是一個很多人信仰的宗教，全世界有百分之三十一的人口是基督徒。因為大部分的美洲人、歐洲人和澳洲人是基督徒，所以他們會慶祝聖誕節。甚至在非洲和亞洲，也有一些基督徒會慶祝聖誕節。

我的家人是基督徒，我家在我小時候慶祝聖誕節，我們去教堂慶祝耶穌基督的誕生、唱歌跟祈禱。我們在祈禱的時候會說：「感謝上帝，我們的救世主。」每年我們都點蠟燭、唱“Silent Night(平安夜)“這首關於耶穌基督誕生之夜的歌曲，描述了耶穌基督是神的兒子，他是聖母瑪麗亞生下來的。這個故事也是虛構的，因為一個處女是不可能會懷孕的。

我很小的時候相信聖誕老人、耶穌基督和上帝的存在，但是在6歲的時候明白了聖誕老人不是真的，長大以後也不再相信這個世界上有耶穌基督和上帝。如果小孩子可以明白聖誕老人不是真的，他們也可以明白耶穌和上帝不真的。

我想對小孩子們誠實，讓他們模仿我，以後長大成為誠實的人。聖誕是一個謊言，我們應該取消這個節日，我們需要另外一個更好的節日來取代聖誕節。

作家兼YouTuber馬大影 (à-bas-le-ciel) 在2018年創造了一個新的節日「Socmas(蘇格拉底節)」，並且透過YouTube影片推廣這個節日。它是用來紀念蘇格拉底的生活、哲學和去世，但它不只是紀念蘇格拉底，它也慶祝哲學、科學、無神論和民主政治的發展。

à-bas-le-ciel: #ReplaceChristmas ("New Atheism" Needs New Holidays)

蘇格拉底與捏造的聖誕老人和耶穌基督不同，他真的是確有其人，生活在公元前五世紀時的雅典城。他常常到雅典城的市場上問別人問題，在街頭巷尾和路人討論哲學。 他會問路人艱難的問題，比如「你是怎麼知道的?」、「什麼是正義？」、「什麼是勇敢？」...等。他經由不斷地詢問，促使人們腦力激盪，因而思考更深層的學問。

Ancient Agora in Athens, Greece (雅典古代的集市)

在公元前423年一名叫阿里斯托芬的著名劇作家，寫了一部關於蘇格拉底的喜劇《雲》。這部喜劇取名為雲的原因，是因為古雅典人相信天氣是被神明所控制的，但是蘇格拉底質疑天氣的起源。他不相信宙斯創造雷鳴電掣，他的假說是雲創造雷鳴。這部喜劇的內容，滑稽地模仿了蘇格拉底的言行舉止。當時大部分的雅典人都知道這部喜劇，並且嘲笑蘇格拉底的哲學思想。

蘇格拉底不只是哲學家，他也是一個石匠，他跟老婆和三個孩子住在一起。他曾經擔任過雅典的五百人議會（Boule）的一員，任期為一年，議會成員是由抽籤決定的。古雅典實行民主政治，男性國民可以投票決定國家的政策。他也在伯羅奔尼撒戰爭（公元前431-404年）中當過兵，雅典人與斯巴達人在這個重要的戰爭中交戰，最終雅典人敗給了斯巴達人。

The Pnyx, with a view of the Acropolis in the distance (希臘雅典)

斯巴達人勝利以後，他們幫助蘇格拉底的學生克里底亞(Critias)和查米迪斯(Theramenes)組成了三十人僭主集團（Thirty Tyrants）。這個僭主集團建立了一個寡頭政權，在8個月內處死了1500人，把一些民主政治的支持者流放了。公元前403年，一群流亡者推翻了這個僭主集團，恢復了民主政權。

雅典恢復民主政權之後，人們開始指責蘇格拉底，很多雅典人不滿蘇格拉底批判宗教。其中有三名雅典政治人物對他提出控訴，指控他涉嫌敗壞年輕人的思想，所以才會有三十人僭主集團的誕生，於是他到法庭接受公審。

根據柏拉圖在《蘇格拉底的道歉》以及色諾芬在《蘇格拉底向陪審團的道歉》中所寫的審判記述，都描述了蘇格拉底的挑釁和毫無歉意的態度。 蘇格拉底可以向法庭認罪求赦，或逃跑，或交一筆贖金，但是他拒絕了。這是為了維護真理、榮譽及法律，但是他了解到他必須遵守這個城邦的法律，所以堅忍地接受了判決。

由於柏拉圖和色諾芬也是蘇格拉底的學生，學者們對他們說法的客觀性感到有些質疑，所以無法確切得知蘇格拉底在審判中究竟說了些什麼。 可以確定的是，在對蘇格拉底的審判中，有大約五百名男性國民投票決定要處死他，強迫他喝鐵杉製成的毒藥，最終他招來了殺身之禍，成為了一名烈士。

蘇格拉底和熊貓（一些很重要書在他們的旁邊）

蘇格拉底說過一句名言「未經審視的生命是不值得活的」，我也認為每個人都應該質疑人生的道理，未經審視的生活不值得過。我也要透過不斷地詢問，激發人們腦力激盪，因而思考更深層的學問。因為教育下一代哲學、無神論、民主、科學和政治很重要，所以從2018年起，我決定不再慶祝聖誕節，反而要每年慶祝蘇格拉底節。

蘇格拉底節快樂！

作者：黑牡丹
感謝Elena修改潤飾

[Book Review:] A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics by David A. Moss

I started out my undergraduate studies as an ambivalent pre-med student. I’d always excelled in my language arts classes without much effort, but I had to apply myself more to get those same high marks in the sciences. I thought I could have the best of both worlds and double major in English and Biology, but I had my doubts. When I expressed my trepidation about the rigorousness of the pre-med coursework, my guidance counselor’s advice for my first semester was, essentially, “Just take classes that sound interesting to you! You should have some fun your first semester, don't overload yourself with those boring pre-med classes!”

I looked at a variety of classes offered my first semester, but I was too intimidated to register for any economics or business courses listed in the catalog. Word on the street was that Economics 101 was a weeder course many students failed. As the first semester went on, a friend of one of my roommates who seemed to spend more time in our dorm room than the library struggled with the class and, ultimately, failed. This confirmed my impression that passing the introductory economics class would be impossibly difficult for me. I graduated four years later without having taken a single economics course.

In hindsight, Occam’s razor favors the theory that this friend of my roommate was simply not a very good student. She spent an awful lot of time complaining about schoolwork as she and my roommates gussied themselves up while “pre-gaming” for frat parties. If she’d allocated more of her time to memorizing economic theories and mathematical formulas, she would've had a better chance of passing Econ 101.

Ten years later, this book has provided me with the introduction to economics I never got at my university, nor from my high school, for that matter. Unlike the cutthroat design of Econ 101 at University of Michigan, this book is not designed to suss out who will fail the course and drop out of business school. The author does present the reader with mathematical formulas and economic theories, but even those who haven’t picked up a math textbook in years will be able to comprehend them. The charts, graphs, and figures provided are all relevant and expounded upon in the text. The theory of comparative advantage is fleshed out by the historical account of political economist David Ricardo arguing against British lawmakers’ protectionist trade policies in 1817. The relationship between the US Federal Reserve and short-term interest rates is compared to the speedometer and gas pedal on a car. If you can understand layman’s explanations of these theories and formulas, you can then understand how these same principles apply to a nation’s economy on a massive scale.

Most, if not all, macroeconomic principles were presented in a nuanced way. The reader is not encouraged to memorize these theories as though they are laws of physics. The author presents economics as an imperfect science, as actual economic conditions are messier than the principles appear on paper. He argues that learning these fundamentals of macroeconomics is important because "only by understanding the baseline relationships can you begin to recognize departures from the rule and, most important, begin to formulate reasoned explanations for what might be driving them.”

In the introduction to the book, Moss explains why it’s important for the general public to have a basic understanding of macroeconomics. The information is approachable to those coming into the study of economics as complete novices. It also could be a good refresher for those who learned a bit about economics in the past but want to get back into it. I knew very little about the subject, but careful reading of this book has given me a solid foundation for further independent study of macroeconomics.

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics is organized into two parts. Part one covers the three basic pillars of macroeconomics: output, money, and expectations. Part two goes into more depth on each of these topics. So, if you want an even more concise guide to macroeconomics, you can simply read the first three chapters, a mere 85 pages in length.

If you're looking for a compendious introduction to macroeconomics for beginners, or if you want a refresher for terms and theories you struggled to learn back in your Econ 101 class in college, you’ve found the right book.

An Autobiography in Athens: Ancient and Modern.

How different my life would have been if COVID-19 instead had been COVID-16. I flew to Kunming, China to meet Eisel on February 14, 2017. If the pandemic had struck three years earlier, our internet-assisted love story would have been impossible. Of course, the way our love story unfolded was almost impossible as it was, but not quite. 

Just a few weeks before the closure of the borders on March 21st, we moved back to Victoria, BC. This is the longest period of time we've stayed in one place since we met each other. These past nine months have probably been the most stable of Eisel's adult life.

As the year comes to an end, the border remains closed, and the case count continues to rise in both the U.S. and Canada. While in lockdown, I've had a lot of time to reflect on the past. At this time last year, Eisel and I were in Athens together. We'd met up in Toronto on November 19th and one week later we were boarding a flight to Athens. As our time in Athens came to a close, I prepared to head back to my parents' house to continue my seven-month treatment of Isotretinoin (a.k.a. "Accutane") in a small town on the outskirts of Detroit, while Eisel prepared to return to Puli, a small town in central Taiwan.  

Traveling to Athens meant a lot to Eisel. In his youth, he'd been interested in learning Latin and Greek but considered it to be "out of reach," an endeavor open only to elite, private-school educated students. In his political science undergraduate degree, he'd been disappointed in every aspect of the quality of education at the University of Toronto, except for what he could learn on his own at the library, seeking out primary sources like Aristotle and Plato to teach himself what was lacking in the curriculum. He spent his twenties in Southeast Asia, independently studying Pali and bits and pieces of five other Asian languages while becoming a scholar of Theravada Buddhism. His interest in Ancient Greek philosophers may not have been at the forefront of his mind during those years, but, in his thirties, he read Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War as he cradled his infant daughter in his arms. 

Traveling to Athens meant a lot to me, too. I'd actually been to Athens before, when I was only nine years old, traveling with my family on a Mediterranean cruise. My maternal grandparents enjoyed traveling together in their retirement, and, as they got on in age, they took an interest in the more relaxed form of travel offered by cruise lines. After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother didn't travel as much as she used to. She was getting into her eighties, and my family thought it would be an adventurous "last hurrah" for her to cruise the Mediterranean with her children and grandchildren. 

Kenosha: Voices Only Heard Through Their Absence

There’s a book I’ve been meaning to read since my 27th birthday: I’ve carried it with with me around the world, from one desk to another. I’ve started and stopped, picked it up and put it down, and now it sits, still with only a few dozen pages read, on my shelf. The words Surviving Genocide glimmer slightly, in gold print, on the side of the dark purple tome—a tome that has spent more time beneath a stack of Chinese textbooks than it has on top. It is, however, an important book for me, in more ways than one.

Before the police shooting in Kenosha, I’d never heard the name of the city before, although, having grown up in Michigan, it neither sounded exotic nor faraway. And it wasn’t. I could identify it as an Ojibwe word: a remnant of a language I’d always seen scattered around the map of the Great Lakes.

My high school offered three foreign languages to choose from: Spanish, French, and German. One year my elementary school even offered after-school Japanese classes that I attended but can scarcely remember. Each of these languages led to a country, somewhere in the world, that I could visit one day: it was possible, at least in my mind’s eye, and it gave the study of the language a clear purpose. Study German, go to Germany. And I did just that: there was a high school trip organized so that we could live with a German family, practice the language with native speakers, and become, in some sense, more worldly.

There was an implicit problem in the lesson that we were all supposed to learn. In Spain, people speak Spanish. In France, people speak French. In Japan, people speak Japanese. But in America, people don’t speak “American.” We didn’t speak any American language, we spoke European languages: the difficulty of understanding, or even pronouncing, place names like Kenosha remained as the sole reminder of what was there before. Ojibwe used to be spoken where I grew up, yet I had no option to learn Ojibwe in school. I didn’t even know the language existed. Arriving at Detroit Metro Airport, there isn’t a single sign printed in any native language. You’ll see signs in English and Japanese, but not Ojibwe. As a child, I understood that Japanese was an important language; that is the main message that those signs declare. Although I wouldn’t have understood signs written in Ojibwe, I could have understood this much, if they had been there: that the language existed, that the language mattered, that it had something to do with us. I went to Germany to practice that language amongst Germans. Imagine if it were possible for a German to come to Detroit to learn Ojibwe, to see and hear it spoken amongst us.

Reflections on the Last Ten Years; or, Life Advice I Should Have Received at 17 Years Old.

It's now the first week of September 2020. I've been reflecting on the fact that ten years ago I moved into my dorm room and started my first semester at University of Michigan. It was my first time living “on my own” away from the home I grew up in, away from the surveillance of my parents, away from the comfortable trappings of a suburban life that I’d grown accustomed to.

I have a lot of qualms with the American education system. (I recommend reading a book entitled Academically Adrift for a more in-depth analysis on higher education in America.) Even at an elite university like University of Michigan, much of my “college experience” was not about learning or becoming a highly-educated person.

I have learned more in the past four years than I learned in my bachelor’s degree. I don’t fault the university system entirely—I could have and should have taken advantage of the resources available at my university. What I lacked was discipline and motivation, what I lacked was optimism and vision about the person I could become.

Reflecting on who I was at age 17, I remember that as I learned more, I became more and more disillusioned with my childish beliefs that things made sense, that there was a conclusion to every story, that there was a balance of good and evil in the world. I hated feeling lost and hopeless when confronted with the injustices and atrocities that had previously been hidden from me. Instead of getting positively motivated by this lack of knowledge and researching on my own to mitigate that lost and hopeless feeling, I retreated as much as I could to the childish worldview until it became intolerable. I was sick of feeling ignorant and living a self-indulgent life, but it was hard not to fall back into habits that were familiar yet self-destructive.

I decided to develop my ability to generate well-informed opinions about the issues we face in society, to expose what’s fact and what’s fiction, to devise solutions that could rectify what’s wrong with the world. As I learned more, what used to be mysterious and confusing became understandable with concentrated effort. I started to base my world view not on my feelings, not on religious dogma, not on any ideology or belief system. Over time I started to base my world view on historical reality. Each fragment of knowledge is like a puzzle piece to understanding why things are the way they are, and more often than not it leads me to re-evaluate things I thought I knew but had actually been misinformed about. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I still don’t know.

In life, we can’t know the full range of consequences of our actions until after the fact. Having started college at 17 years old, sometimes I wish I could transport myself back in time and warn myself of all the pitfalls to avoid. I would tell myself that, although it’s seen as normal, college should not be treated as a prolonged adolescence. Starting now, you are no longer a child—you are an adult—and this is your chance to take responsibility for your actions. Adulthood means understanding the gravity of your decisions, your behaviors, and your habits. I would tell her that who you decide to let into your life is your choice, and you should choose wisely.

Now here I am, ten years older. I feel ten years wiser, but when I’m 37 years old I will probably look back and reflect on how stupid I was at age 27. I can’t know who I will be when I’m 37, but I worry about it every day because the terrifying and exciting reality is that the choices I make each day are what mold me into the person I become. I wonder how things would be different if, when I was 17, some mentor could have told me that there isn’t a soul deep down inside that determines who you are—that’s a childish notion, and it's time to grow up and come to terms with the fact that who you are is a conglomeration of all the choices you have made and continue to make. How you handle hardships is within your power alone, and every day you determine for yourself what you will do with the life you have chosen to lead. I imagine at age 37 that will still be a bitter pill to swallow. 

My reply to a netizen who asked me: "What makes you interested in Xinjiang?"

Terrorist Attacks/War on Terror.
How should a government fight terrorism? Which is worse: China’s response to the many terrorist attacks within China, or America’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks?


Presentation of Information in the Media.
How is it that western media sources condemn the Chinese government’s attempts at reeducating Uyghur Muslims as concentration camps while the Chinese media sources laud them as peaceful programs that provide Uyghur Muslims with practical career education (e.g., baking, mechanical work, administrative work) and Mandarin language education? Are both sides engaging in misinformation campaigns? Are there elements of truth to both sides?


Atheism/Anti-theism.
In recent history, the Communist Party of China has promoted state atheism and persecuted religious adherents. How is it that the Uyghur Muslims maintained their religion during a time when Buddhist temples and religious texts were destroyed?

As an atheist/nihilist/anti-theist, I question: is government-enforced secularism appropriate? If so, under what circumstances? Is living with the threat of terrorism due to religious extremism a circumstance under which it is appropriate for a government to resort to a policy of enforced secularism/religious persecution?


Indigenous Culture/Cultural Genocide.
Is Xinjiang an example of the Chinese government engaging in cultural genocide? China has praiseworthy policies in place to preserve ethnic diversity: indigenous minority languages and cultures are protected and celebrated. Are the oppressive religious elements of Uyghur Muslim culture worth preserving?


General Knowledge of World History/History of Islam.
Over 20% of the world’s population is Muslim. My education left me with many gaps in my knowledge of world history, and I learned next to nothing about Asia until I lived in China. Learning about of the spread of Islam is crucial to understanding the history of the last 1,500 years. Because of my interest in Chinese history, I’m especially interested in the effects of the spread of Islam within China and Central Asia.

AR&IO Chinese Course Episode 1