I. The exposure of the ugly face of臭老九 and资学府
According to reports, around 12:00 noon on March 18, Zhang, the director of the security office and physics teacher at No. 1 Middle School (North Campus) in Zizhong County, Sichuan Province, cruelly killed an orange cat in front of many students.
“He used a net to catch a pregnant mother cat, first stepping on its belly, then stepping on its head, causing it to die on the spot. After killing the cat, while the bloodstains on the ground were still wet, he threw the body of the orange cat into the trash can like garbage.”
“This teacher specifically chose to openly kill cats in the dam area enclosed by the teaching building, with many students present, including many middle school students.”[1]
The savage behavior of臭老九 immediately provoked strong opposition from many students; they took to social platforms to expose this incident. Meanwhile, the bourgeois school also acted swiftly, first suppressing student public opinion to preserve its image.
The Zixuefu’s statement[2] on this matter is:
“The reason for killing the cat was that the cat had harmed someone at school, but his handling of the situation and the location were indeed inappropriate. We are cooperating with the education bureau’s investigation.”
“Regarding students’ claims that the school blocked information after the incident and that Zhang, the involved staff, did not apologize, the staff said ‘untrue’. ‘After the incident, Teacher Zhang publicly apologized on March 18. Currently, the school leadership attaches great importance and is studying how to handle him.’ The staff also stated that the school deeply regrets the impact on students and will establish psychological counseling classes in the future.”
What a spring and autumn brushstroke!
What are the facts? Students at the school say, “The killed cat was very docile and obedient, often visiting their classrooms; when they got their phones, they would also take a few photos of the cat.” The so-called reason that “the cat harmed someone at school” is merely an excuse to defend臭老九’s savage behavior. As for the claim that “his handling of the situation and the location were indeed inappropriate,” it actually means “the teacher’s original intention was good, to eliminate harm for the people, only the method was wrong.”
This is used to cast doubt on the angry students and the vast netizens, claiming the teacher is innocent and falsely accused. However, the methodology and worldview are unified; obviously, only those whose hearts are filled with thoughts of cruelty and oppression (not those who are genuinely “for the people’s safety”) would do such things—publicly using brutal means to kill animals. As stated in “Abusing Dogs Is Abusing People—Analysis of Pan Hong’s Incident”[3]:
“For Pan Hong’s fans, the interesting part is not about animals being cruelly killed due to biological movements, but about a specific social movement interfering with biological movements, leading to animal death. The interesting part is that Pan Hong uses violence to make dogs scream miserably and suffocates them to lie on the ground, gasping for breath. The audience enjoys watching the dogs submit to violence or even die under human brutality.”
And indeed, this is the case. When some students tried to stop Zhang’s cruelty, they were rebuked: “You are overly sentimental!” Moreover, this person is a capitalist teacher oppressing students, and his oppressive ideology is evident.
As for the school’s subsequent so-called apology, it is very hypocritical. According to students’ disclosures, “At the time of the incident, many students filmed the teacher killing the cat, and some posted the footage on social media. But now, the school has ordered it to be deleted.” Moreover, the cat’s body was immediately cleaned up by the school, denying students the opportunity to bury or memorialize it. Perhaps this is the true meaning of the so-called “school leadership attaches great importance and is studying how to handle him.” Clearly,臭老九 with a severe mentality of violence and oppression would not suddenly apologize to students. The bourgeois school leaders would not act as benevolent as “the righteous judge,” punishing evil and promoting good. Just like countless previous incidents where Chinese students exposed the bourgeois school, the first thing the school considers is controlling public opinion to preserve its image and intimidate or bribe students, making the involved teacher pretend to apologize and hurriedly dismiss the matter to quickly exit and protect itself. As for the “staff of Sichuan Zizhong County Education and Sports Bureau said they are investigating and will handle it promptly,” as of March 22, after many self-media outlets and netizens have fully disclosed the incident, no investigation report has been issued—obviously, this is a classic tactic of the Chinese reform government: “wait for the notice.”
Couldn’t the most sincere apology be to take real action and deal with臭老九? But the school’s approach is “establishing psychological counseling classes in the future.” Truly, the school leaders are extremely slick—throwing the problem onto students, as if the only issue is students’ mental discomfort, not臭老九’s unreasonable cruelty; and they still pretend to be benevolent, shirking their responsibility and the responsibility of the involved teacher.
Most ironic is that, a day before the incident (March 17), the school was still organizing students to watch “educational videos on respecting life and the value of life,” and the involved teacher Zhang was still “the teacher responsible for weekly safety education at the school”! The hypocrisy and formalism of the bourgeoisie are vividly demonstrated.
II. “Small globe, a few flies hitting the wall”
The public opinion on this incident is also complex, even comparable to the Pan Hong incident: ordinary people generally oppose such violent cruelty (though not yet breaking out of the legalist circle that opposes individual teachers but not the entire education system). However, we see more and more flies appearing. They blindly defend臭老九’s brutal killing of animals in front of students and the school’s immediate manipulation of public opinion after the incident, disregarding the facts. This group resembles the “Holy Alliance” of today—they attack feminism when Chinese women resist, and defend capitalists like Pan Hong who made a fortune from dog abuse. They are the representatives of today’s imperialist China’s moral decay, yet they cloak themselves in justice (often even in the guise of Marxism) and spread foul air everywhere.
This reflects a disturbing reality: China’s fascist groups (mostly small-bourgeois right-wing) are growing increasingly arrogant. Their common traits are:淫 (lust), 色 (desire), 男 (male), 保 (conservative). Immersed in lustful life, they inevitably indulge in capitalist porn culture that oppresses women; supporting this culture, they inevitably defend the rising fascist male power; defending this power, they inevitably support the bourgeois government, becoming “royalist supporters.”
On the other hand, mainstream bourgeois media’s reports on this incident always deviate from the main point, shifting the discussion to animal protection or so-called life education. The former is often the bourgeois opposition—calling for minor reforms within the current bourgeois-capitalist system; the latter is the official stance, which refuses any reform, only admitting that the education system is imperfect and spouting falsehoods. This duality reflects the characteristics of these two bourgeois factions, which can be seen in many news events. Here are examples of their statements:
On Bilibili, popular content creators “Song Xiangyu and Edogawa Umi,” although expressing fierce opposition and calling it “hell for education,” also praised Jiangsu Haian Senior High School for properly placing stray dogs like Ah Huang as “paradise for education.”[4]
The question is, how can “hell” and “paradise” coexist in the same China? Clearly, properly placing stray animals is not the fundamental issue of Chinese education, nor does it touch the core interests of the Chinese reform government. It’s obvious that, in any school, the oppression of students and exam-oriented education still continue. For the bourgeoisie, as long as they can say some nice words and pretend to do small things that don’t impact them much, they can earn endless praise—an unprofitable deal. As Engels said: “The bourgeoisie’s good deeds are for their own benefit; they do not give charity for free; they see their charity as a business.”[5]
The official “Xinjingbao” of the Chinese reform government published an article titled “Teacher publicly kills cat in school, should add life education class”[6], which, while condemning the teacher’s cruelty, is full of euphemisms and superficial rhetoric. The real attitude is exposed: “Killing cats in public is undoubtedly too cruel… because it’s a school, a place for teaching and nurturing, carrying the expectations of values… This reflects a societal perception today: kindness should be a fundamental trait in schools; how to treat animals is also one of the standards to measure education level and character. Lacking in this aspect, campus culture will be stained. The involved teacher clearly needs to take a good life education class…”
In fact, it’s just a small scolding that makes the problem seem solely about the teacher’s personal morality, ignoring that China’s education system and fascist social atmosphere are fundamentally problematic. The issue is not just the teacher’s personal failure to teach “life education,” but the entire system’s flaws.
Looking at the whole incident, two points are most ridiculous. One is that the small-bourgeois right-wing defenders of the cruelty are forced to admit it’s brutal due to public opinion pressure, turning them into clowns. The other is the opportunists like the “Continuing Revolution Society” (perhaps better called “Continuing Revision Society”), who, under the banner of revolutionary Marxism, fiercely defend Pan Hong and others (as mentioned in the forum posts “The True Face of the Unlearned Chinese Left—The Continuing Revolution Society’s Hypocrisy”[7] and “[Public Notice] Supporting Pan Hong’s Dog Training and the Continuing ‘Revolution’ Society’s Response”[8]). Their ugly faces are even more exposed. Even the bourgeois school feels guilty, apologizing under pressure and admitting their wrongdoings; the masses can see clearly that the teacher’s behavior is heinous, but the “Continuing Revolution Society” members still insist that animal abuse is justified. This reminds me of a childhood story: bats attend the celebration of flying birds, claiming they can fly; then they attend the celebration of walking beasts, claiming they can walk. Eventually, the flying and walking animals see through the bat’s treacherous nature and drive it out of the animal kingdom. I think, if they keep claiming to be revolutionaries and spout fascist rhetoric, perhaps there will be no place left for the “Continuing Revolution Society” members in this world!
“The Condition of the Working Class in England,” Engels ↩︎