人没了,人权还会有吗?
据美国约翰斯·霍普金斯大学统计,截至北京时间2月8日13时,美国累计确诊新冠肺炎病例数已超2700万例,死亡病例数已超46万。
新冠疫情暴发以来,美国政府的应对一直饱受诟病,而不少美国民众对于佩戴口罩及居家隔离等必要防疫措施似乎也不以为意,时不时就有关于美国民众抗议“口罩令”的新闻报道见诸报端。
也许正如CGTN近日发表的评论文章所说,许多美国人对新冠疫情导致的死伤有着惊人的宽容度。
这篇文章发表于2月4号,次日,文章的截图就出现在了中国驻黎巴嫩大使馆领事部主任曹毅的推文中。
同时出现的,还有《经济学人》发表于1月的一篇文章——《许多中国人对严苛的防疫管控有着不同寻常的接受度》。两篇文章标题句式和措辞很相似,且都是对新冠疫情防控的评论。
曹毅将两篇文章的截图并列排放,并提出了一个发人深思的问题——
人权到底是什么?
China Global Television Network (CGTN) on February 4 published an article entitled “Many Americans are strikingly tolerant of massive COVID-19 casualties,” which soon attracted the attention of Cao Yi, Consul of Embassy of China in Lebanon.
Cao contrasted this article with another with a similar title, “Many in China are strikingly accepting of harsh virus controls” by The Economist, and raised the thought-provoking question “What are human rights?”
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“许多中国人对严苛的防疫管控
有着不同寻常的接受度”
《经济学人》中国相关专栏“Chaguan”(茶馆)在1月16日发布的这篇文章是从上月北京新发现的确诊病例开始说起的。
文章详细介绍了中国采取的防疫措施——健康码、公开确诊病例过去十天的行程,隔离密切接触者,以及大规模的核酸检测等等。文章还将中国人严格遵守防疫措施归因于“不关心个人自由和隐私”,而中国人之所以重视疫情是因为当局持续“渲染”它的严重性,甚至,文中使用了“羞耻”一词来解释中国人面对疫情表现出来的团结。
Official media have played up the deadly nature of covid-19, while striving to erase memories of disastrous early cover-ups in Wuhan, where the virus first emerged.
然而,即使文章从头至尾都试图表达,中国的防疫措施让许多人的生活受到了影响,“麻烦”又“险恶”,但作者还是不得不承认这些措施的“有效”。
Such restrictions are burdensome, indeed a bit sinister, but effective. At the time of writing, Beijing has detected 44 cases of covid in the past month, after millions of tests. For comparison, London is finding more than 8,500 new cases a day.
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“许多美国人对新冠疫情导致的死伤
有着惊人的宽容度”
而在CGTN发表的文章中,印度评论员巴卡尔(Maitreya Bhakal)指出,美国人喜欢挑战权威,不喜欢听人指挥。自从美国建国以来,“自由”、“展示力量”等有毒概念等一直都是美国文化的核心元素。他指出,在许多美国人心中,如果做了自己不想做的事,哪怕对自己有利,那也是“恐怖分子的胜利”。
Apparently, Americans love challenging authority. They don't like being told what to do. Ever since the nation was founded on the genocide of native Americans and the theft of their lands, toxic notions of "freedom" and the need to project strength remain core elements of U.S. culture.
但不幸的是,在面对权威专家的建议时,美国民众依然保持着这种“拒绝权威”的态度。他们为自己想相信什么就相信什么的自由而自豪,尽管他们正服着药,尽管他们的思想已被宣传带跑了。
巴卡尔认为,美国政府是这种大范围谬见的煽动者,同时也是是受益者。许多奇怪的阴谋论正是出自美国政府之手,这样一来,政府就能掌控住民众,同时分散他们对于国内问题的注意力。
Unfortunately, this concept of rejecting authority extends to authoritative expert advice too. Many Americans – with their bodies infested with drugs and minds with propaganda – are proud of the freedom to believe whatever they want.
The U.S. government is both the instigator and the beneficiary of this mass delusion. Most of these crank conspiracy theories are pumped into the public by the government itself – much like the drugs it pumps into them. This helps keep them in check and distracts them from domestic problems.
此外,评论员还猜测,美国人对新冠所致伤亡如此冷漠可能还与伤亡人员的种族有关。尽管白人约占美国总人口的73%,但黑人和原住民的新冠肺炎死亡率要高得多。
An additional explanation for America's nonchalant attitude towards deaths could lie in the race of the victims. Despite White Americans constituting about 73 percent of the population, Blacks and indigenous Americans have much higher COVID death rates.
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网友们怎么看?
最后,让我们回到曹毅提出的问题——人权到底是什么?
正如外交部发言人华春莹此前曾说过很多次的:人权绝不是什么空洞的口号,而是具体、实在的。最大的人权莫过于生命权。疫情形势下,最大的人权莫过于健康平安活着的权利和自由。