10/14/23 - We all need to be wary about these kinds of tactics aimed at wearing away our faith in communism, my comrades.
“Watched my date have a total meltdown step by step.”
A long series of texts is attached.
OP: “Hi, after getting to know each other, I don’t think we’re very good together. Thank you for your time. I hope you can find someone you like.”
Date: “Was busy, just saw this. I’m super into you actually. Good-looking, sweet, straight forward. And I thought we had fun talking both times we met. I just want to know what aspect you’re unhappy with. I think we can still find a way to make this work. After all, we’ve only seen each other a couple of times. Maybe you still need to know me better to fall for me. I’m a very mellow person, and we’re in the same socioeconomic class. That’s pretty important for a marriage.”
OP: “Thanks, but it’s not necessary. I don’t think we can date each other with our personalities.”
Date: “What’s the problem? I’m pretty good about admitting to and fixing my mistakes.”
OP: “Maybe I’m just the sort of person to get obsessed about details. Over Independence Day Weekend, you were free and asked if I wanted to go out for some barbecue. I said okay, and so I thought you would take me out, so I offered to take you out to a movie in return. I even figured that if you were too polite and insisted on paying for the movie, then I would definitely buy you dinner back. But…you didn’t even try to be polite. You just asked what time I wanted to see the movie at and then vanished. So I said, “So I’ll go ahead and book it?” And you instantly replied, “Okay!” Even at the time, I felt a little confused.”
Date: “Uh, I guess that’s my fault. I thought when you asked if I wanted to see a movie, you were going to take me out to the movies.”
OP: “Yes, but you said before three times that you wanted to take me out to the movies.”
Date: “I do remember that. Guess it just slipped my mind at the time.”
OP: “Sure, I brought it up first. So I was a little wary, but I didn’t mind too much.”
Date: “I’ll remember next time.”
OP: “While we were at the barbecue, every time I was done grilling the meat and said they’re good to go, you start picking them all into your plate. I don’t know if you noticed or not, but I hardly got to eat anything except the veggies I grilled. I think even just out of politeness, you should probably tell me to take some meat for myself, right?”
Date: “Sorry. In my memory, after you put down the grilling tongs, you picked up your chopsticks. I didn’t really pay attention to whether you got any meat. I’m kind of a nerd to begin with, and I’m super nervous whenever we’re together. I was just thinking the whole time about what to chat about. I’m so sorry. I kind of remember a bit now. I was just too nervous at the time. I don’t think about these things when I’m out with friends. I can learn once you tell me what’s wrong.”
OP: “When we’re about done with barbecue, I said the movie is about to start soon. At this point, I still thought you were going to pay, so I said, “Let’s get some coffee.” And I gave my phone to you and put in your order. You took it right away and ordered some coffee. As soon as the coffee arrived, you asked if I was done eating. I said, “Yeah, let’s go.” And you said, “Okay,” And I got up, but you picked up your chopsticks and went back to eating again. So I had to sit back down to wait for you. Our movie is about to start any minute now, and I’m urging you to go at this point, and you’d agree, but you’d keep scrolling on your phone, not moving from your seat. So I said, “I’m gonna pick up the tab and go then.” And after I was done paying, you stood up and said to let you pay…”
Date: “I saw there was some food left, so I didn’t want to waste it. The bill was just a misunderstanding.”
OP: “I was kind of mad at the time, but my manners told me that maybe you’d planned to split the bill all along. And I forgot about it while we were watching the movie.”
Date: “I was going to get the bill, but some work texts came on my phone, so I had to reply to that first instead. And then you ended up paying for it. I didn’t offer to split the bill because I figured we’ll go on another date eventually. Because I’m really into you and I want to go on more dates with you.”
OP: “After we were done with the movie and heading home, you said you wanted some fruit. I figured I wanted to buy some peaches too, so I went into the fruit shop with you. I picked out what I wanted and was going to pay for mine, when you put down all your fruits next to mine and started chatting with me. So the cashier rung us up together. I even went, “Huh?” at the time. Then later, you said, “Thanks for taking me out today. I’ll take you out next time.” At that point, I even felt a little better, figuring maybe I misunderstood you.”
Date: “I thought we’d split our fruits together. I’d make them into a platter for you.”
OP: “So t he second time you asked me out, with what Auntie Qin said [the matchmaker], I agreed to it. During the whole meal, you kept asking me to check out your photography projects, photos of you riding your bike. I couldn’t really eat since I was looking over at your photos the whole time, so all I had was two pieces of fruit and a little bowl of fried rice. I don’t know if you had your fill or not. When I was done looking at the photos, just as I was about to start eating, you called the waitress over to pack everything up to go. Even the waitress commented that we had a lot of leftovers and she needed to get another box.”
Date: “I’m just too straight forward of a person. It’s the same problem as before.”
OP: “This has nothing to do with straight forward or not. In this kind of situation, you should ask your date if they want some of the leftovers too. Of course, I would’ve turned it down, but that’s much more polite, don’t you think?”
Date: “Nobody’s ever told me this stuff before. I didn’t think you’d mind stuff like this.”
OP: “…….”
Date: “So basically, you’re too materialistic, right?”
OP: “??????”
Date: “You don’t like it because I made you pay.”
OP: “This is about manners and social details, isn’t it?”
Date: “And you’re upset I didn’t let you have half the leftovers? You could’ve just said you weren’t full yet.”
OP: “I just want to laugh right now. I don’t want your leftovers. I’m just trying to teach you basic manners.”
Date: “Sure, I didn’t think of all the details, but you can’t put everything on the man in a date.”
OP: “You didn’t even give me a chance. I just returned your phone to you, when you called the waitress over to pack up the food. And she came over right away, right?”
Date: “I mean, if the date doesn’t work out, then I would’ve lost a lot of money. We’re all hardworking salaryman, it’s not easy to make money. I’ve learned now.”
OP: “Yeah, suuuure.”
Date: “I think this isn’t that big a deal. I’ll keep it in mind in the future. And I would be very generous to my wife.”
OP: “Anyway, please split the bill with me so far. Barbecue 296 RMB, coffee 58 RMB, movie 90 RMB, fruits 132 RMB (I forget how much your fruits were exactly, but at the very least it was more than mine). The meal is about 100 RMB, I recall. If you can find the exact receipt, I’ll split it with you too.”
Date: “Um…”
OP: “Sure, I’m generous with my friends, but I’m very stingy to pointless strangers.”
Date: “Is this really necessary? You’re making this very ugly. I could take you out tomorrow.”
OP: “I prefer just splitting the bill.”
Date: “I don’t know what to say. You’re pretty different from who I thought you were. I guess we’re done then. We really aren’t suitable for each other.”
OP: “Lololololol you’re so typical.”
Comments say, “When someone else is paying: I’m too straight forward, I didn’t notice. When he’s paying: that’s not great, is it? It’s too much if the guy has to pay every time.”
“I thought he took you out both times and thought you were being really weirdly obsessed, until I noticed that you paid for almost everything. Only eating meat that someone else is grilling at barbecue, doesn’t leave anything for you, packing up food when you’re not even done eating, and putting his fruits with yours…how is that not on purpose?”
“So basically, he was only into you to begin with because you paid for everything that day?”
A tiktok video making A5 grade wagyu beef don:
Comments say, “When the final product was shown, it just feels like…there’s no soul in this food.”
“I like watching the cooking process, but this hasn’t roused my appetite at all.”
“I don’t know why, but I just feel like it probably doesn’t taste too good.”
“An interesting comparison:
Any movie about Mother Teresa focuses primarily on her faith—because her faith is the source of all of her good deeds.
But when it comes to Principle Zhang Guimei [worked in education rural girls], a pure communist, an excellent communist party member, get movies made about her, what do they focus on? They erased her communist party badge.
Someone even once very maliciously called Principle Zhang Guimei, “China’s Mother Teresa”, stealing the IP of a socialist society, and pouring in the toxin of a superstitious Christian cult. That’s so low.
But if the movie “I’m a Tall Mountain” really did remove Zhang Guimei’s community party badge, then that’s an even lower move than above.
I hope this isn’t going to be the final product, or else this movie and this director will forever be nailed to the pillar of shame in history. And the actress who plays Principle Zhang Guimei is going to become an accomplice in editing and erasing history.
And no matter what the final outcome it, we all need to be wary about these kinds of tactics aimed at wearing away our faith in communism, my comrades.
They will never stop trying to brainwash you, saying that, “This is just the acts of a kind human being,” and “This has nothing to do with communism.” If you believe any of that, then all of our previous hard work will have been wasted.
Could our new China have been built by just relying on kind people doing kind things? Did we ever lack for kind people throughout our 5000 years of history?
We’re coming once again to a Legend of Wu Xun moment [movie made in the fifties].
So what is the truth? How did our children today have the privilege of growing up in a peaceful environment, sitting in front of a wide school desk?
Is it because a beggar named Wu Xun pled for donations from capitalists and land lords? Or is it because of communist warriors like Principle Zhang Guimei, who fought hard and tirelessly for these opportunities?
History has its answer, but don’t let that answer only exist in history.
I’m sure all of my comrades out there know the answer too. This is how we can avoid the mistakes and failures of the past.”
Comments say, “I don’t quite get it. Is there some kind of requirement in the movie industry?”
“Wow, your ideology is pretty high-strung.”
“I thought of Mother Teresa right away too. Movies about her never take out the crucifix, so why would they remove the communist party badge in a movie about Principle Zhang? Is believing in communism somehow more shameful than believing in Christ?”
A blogger that transcribes Qing Dynasty ghost stories writes, “In the Qing Dynasty, there’s a cruel tradition in Yong’an County of Guangdong. If a baby girl is born, then she has to be killed or abandoned. This tradition was so widespread that few baby girls ever opened their eyes to see this world.
The local officials have many strict ordinances against this practice. The County Mayor even donated money towards building an orphanage to keep these abandoned baby girls. After these policies were passed, people in the cities got a little better, but nothing changed in remote rural areas.
At the time, there was an old man named Li, who was pretty well off. When he was in his sixties, his only son married a wife. Several generations of the Li family have only had one child, so he desperately wanted a grandchild.
Soon enough, his new DIL didn’t disappoint and got pregnant. But alongside the good news, Li’s only son also suddenly died.
After his grief, old man Li found his DIL and told her, “If you can have a son, that’s great, but if you have a daughter, I would love her just as much too. Remember, please do not kill her or throw her away.”
His DIL agreed to it.
But when she was close to giving birth, something happened to come up and she had to return to her family. Her carriage was very bumpy, so by the time she made it home, she went into early labour.
After she was done giving birth, she passed out, and didn’t even have a chance to ask whether she had a boy or a girl.
When she woke up, she asked what kind of baby she had, and her brother replied, “Stop thinking about it. It was a girl, and I’ve already thrown it into the river.”
The woman was devastated, but there was nothing he could do.
On Old Li’s side, when he heard his DIL had given birth, he hurried over, only to find out that the last of his bloodline had just been drowned. He beat his chest and stamped his feet in grief, regretting ever agreeing to let his DIL return home. But the baby was already dead. There was nothing he could do. So he had to return home in anger.
As he passed by a pond, he heard a cry. It was a newborn baby, floating on top of the water, still alive.
Li hurried into the pond and grabbed the baby. He planned to return to his DIL’s home and have her raise his baby.
Just as he made his plans, his DIL’s brother happened to pass by this pond, and when he saw the baby Li was holding, his expression immediately changed. Before Li could ask anything, a loud thunder crack rang through the air, and the man fell over. When Li ran over to take a look, he found the man had been killed by lightning.
That’s when Li realised that he was holding his actual grandson. And even more than that, he realised that his DIL’s brother had always been after his estate. That’s why he’d killed the newborn baby, so make it so that there was no one to inherit Li’s property.
Strict laws never enter people’s hearts, but this sort of supernatural tale always spread very quickly among rural villages. Because of this incident, drowning baby girls became not so popular in the villages near by.”
The blogger finishes this story by commenting, “I hate this one.”
Comments say, “If ghosts and karma really exists, why did none of the other innocently murdered baby girls ever come back for revenge?”
“Um…so everyone drowns baby girls so they all get away with it, but if you drown a baby boy, you get divine retribution? …I don’t know what to think…”
“The lightning came too late, and came too infrequently. :/ “
“This isn’t a well thought out story. If all the baby girls were drowned, where did he get a DIL from?”
It's not even just about where that specific daughter-in-law came from; if all the girls (or even most of the girls) were drowned the entire county would have died out long ago.