How Should We Live?

As long as we get intellectually lazy, we have to latch onto a stronger person to survive. Some appeal to authority of religions, some philosophy, and some parents. Most of us need a guidebook to look for instructions of how we should act. Free will is no use in the Age of Faith. Out of all kinds of authorities, I like to appeal to the majority for most kinds of authorities always have to submit to the majority. What is good for the majority must also be good for us. If one should like to rebel against the tyranny of majority, being a social outcast or being labelled as eccentric is an unquestionable consequence.

What is so good about the majority? They have helped decide matters for us even since we were children. Ever since we were born, they have decided what religion and moral values could make us a desirable being. In the days of our childhood, we were brought up to condemn sex because it is filthy. The act of masturbation is utterly wicked. A man full of sexual thoughts should be sinned with a morbid sense of guilt. Most importantly, it violates one of the Ten Commandments.

And for surely, smoking is also a bad habit because it is harmful to your health. One must be delusional to think that having a cigarette in your hand can make you look stylish and attract the opposite sex. It would also be foolish to think that nicotine can help you relieve stress but only you will eventually realise that such chemical dictates your free will.

In the matters of romantic love, you can also witness that the love offered by the majority is immense. They tell us, with profound knowledge and wisdom, what we must do to maintain a happy relationship. The most popular of all is that we should be faithful to one and only one romantic partner. One is thought abhorrent if he is even physiologically incapable of fidelity. When it comes to marriage, we must offer the most precious diamond rings to show how much we love our romantic partners.

Filial piety is also an issue. A bad child you are if you disrespect your parents. You should bear in mind that what they tell you must always be the absolute truth. Your disagreement with them is the first sign of your immaturity. They determine what you should study in school to ensure that you have a promising career. They dictate your interests as well. Parent must force their children to learn a certain type of musical instrument because it can enhance their aesthetic sensibility. They also set up timetable for their children to make sure that they will read at a certain time of the day because illiteracy is bad. If the children happen to dislike reading, physical punishment is unavoidable. My dear reader might ask, "why do they have the right to determine what their children should like?" No one, I should reply, has more right than them because they have way more life experience than their children regardless of what they derive from experience is the confirmation of their own prejudices. The world does not need new blood. New blood deplored, the elders self-righteous.

Collective taste in arts is desirable. In the spectacle of fashion, we ought to always follow the trend. If we happen to wear something contrary to the popular trend, people will laugh at us with a despicable eye. Women should purchase expensive handbags so they will not lose face in the presence of her colleagues and friends. If a man happens to appreciate or to be touched by the beauty of a ballet dance, he must be thought feminine and weak. More importantly, this is the implication of being homosexual. If he is moved to tears by the beauty of a painting, he must be pretentious. When he freely expresses his high opinion of the painting, he should be accused of being pedantic. If we do not follow the opinion of food critics of how and what we should eat, we are more likely to have bad taste.

Speaking of collectivity, the aspect of emotions must not be left out. We should, by observing the people around us, praise vulgarity and despise delicacy. Following what I have mentioned in the last paragraph, one can deduce the conclusion easily that when a man is touched by a film or a piece of exquisite music, he is weak and feminine. But a man should uphold the characteristics which he has been instilled into his mind since childhood: he must appear strong and must be prone to emotionless. One is thought weird when he expresses his love for his lover by means of poetry or a well-written love letter. The prevalence of technology urges us to forgo traditions and express these feelings through texting messages or instant messengers. And certainly, sex is now the ultimate substitution for love. We no longer need to distinguish sex from love for they are essentially the same thing. Men do not have to learn how to please a lady with humour and talents, but only how good they perform in bed. The gospel of modernity teaches us that what matters is the resulting product, not the style displayed during its production. Men no longer have to date women. They meet each other for sex. If they cannot attain what they wish for, the relationship is no longer worthwhile to pursue. We no longer show sympathy for the poor and sick because this is the outcome of Social Darwinism, the survival of the fittest. Being poor and sick is the sign of weakness and must therefore be eliminated.

The list can go on endlessly and I do not wish to go into it with details. Having come to the end of this entry, can you, dear reader, lay your hands on your heart to acknowledge that the majority are still bad? They are like our mother nature, with immense love and care, telling us how to behave in a society to avoid conflicts and human folly. If I were not to study the gospel of modernity, I would have committed the exact opposite of the good that I thought they were. And I know that I should be deeply thankful. If you wish to be loved by your neighbours and regarded as a good citizen, here is my advice: avoid expressing your own opinions instead of those of your boss and your parents, that is to say, you should be a slave; also do not endeavour to realise the ends which you yourself think good; develop a decent friendship with millionaires and influential men; find a lady who is only sexy enough only for you to have sex with, and, keep in mind, the term of "making love" does not apply here, and feel free to abandon her after your sexual pleasure is satisfied. Do all these, and the people around shall have a high opinion of you. In this case, you will become a role model.

This is sound advice and for the first time (Pity me), I have seen the good of public opinion. But, for my part, I should like to attempt suicide.

W