罗天昊
By Luo Tianhao
原标题：
罗天昊：马斯克能否成为美国的太上皇？
英文标题：
Luo Tianhao：Could Elon Musk become the God-Emperor of the U.S.?
川普解封，推特狂飙。
The reactivation of the former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter account has sent the share prices of the social medial platform into the stratosphere.
近期，马斯克以440亿美金收购推特，并解禁特朗普。此前，特朗普在2021年1月的国会山暴乱事件后，因“煽动暴力”被推特禁用近两年。
解禁特朗普，马斯克实现了“言论绝对自由”的理想。他曾宣称，推特是一个任何人都可以发表意见的城市广场。
Recently, Elon Musk completed the $44 billion deal to own Twitter, announcing to reinstate Trump’s account, nearly two years after being permanently banned by the platform for inciting violence at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.
The reactivation of Trump’s account realized Musk’s ideal of “absolute freedom of speech.” In Musk’s mind, “Twitter serves as the de facto public town square,” and as such, it should be a place where people are able to speak their minds.
马斯克粉丝众多，喜欢在推特上狂侃，并曾借助粉丝效应实现了财富增长，拥有让比特币狂涨狂跌的能力。收购推特，可免除他自己账号被封的后顾之忧。特朗普更是自带顶级大网红的特质。
假如马斯克仅仅出于商业目的收购推特，也许，并不可怕。
但是，随着时间推移，还会有一种可能：人类也许将会诞生一种新型的巨无霸：
资本+信息+技术杂交的超级怪兽，反噬社会。建立一种新型的专制。
Musk has a large following on Twitter, likes to tweet recklessly, and had used the “fan effect” to grow his wealth, possessing the ability to make Bitcoin go up and down wildly. The acquisition of Twitter would eliminate the worry of his own account being banned. Trump is also a top influencer on various social media platforms.
If Musk had acquired Twitter for business purposes only, perhaps, it would not have been terrible.
But, over time, there will be another possibility: Perhaps a new kind of ginormous enterprise will be born. A new super monster featuring capital + information + technology would come back to bite the society, and a new form of absolutism would be established.
新型巨兽，阴影逼近。
The shadow of a new super monster looms.
（1）如何看见民心？
(1) How to see the people’s hearts?
特朗普回归，引起粉丝狂热，他们合成了一个视频，特朗普在推特上缓缓敲下一句：Your favorite president is back!
马斯克被普遍认为是头号川粉。
“It’s coming……” the fans said excitedly, along with an edited video that showed Trump returning to Twitter with a tweet that read: “Your favorite president is back!” as Musk looked on.
Musk has been widely considered as the No. 1 fan of Trump.
马斯克和特朗普在质疑疫苗，歧视女性等很多领域立场接近。
那么，在两人的关系上，谁是台前的基督，谁是幕后的上帝？
Musk and Trump hold similar views on questioning of vaccine safety and efficacy, discrimination against women, and many other areas.
So, who is Christ on the stage and who is God behind the scene in the relationship between the two?
马斯克曾说过：即使是对我最严厉的批评者，也能留在Twitter上，这就是言论自由。
但这只是他还没拥有推特的时候。
一旦他掌握了这个人类最强势的社交平台，是否成为新的言论控制者？
Musk once said, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”
But that was just before he had Twitter.
Once he masters this most powerful social media platform in the world, does he become the person who controls the freedom of speech and expression?
由推特造就广泛民意的特朗普，未来命运是否会操纵在马斯克的手中？
对于舆论导向和人心向背而言，推特已成为一个巨大的公器。
手握利器，杀心自起。
马斯克将何去何从？
他是否将成为太上皇？
Will the future fate of Trump, who has gained widespread public support on Twitter, be manipulated in the hands of Musk?
Twitter has become a powerful public tool for shaping public opinion and shifting hearts and minds of the people.
With a sharp weapon in your hand, you will be able to kill anyone.
Where will Musk go from here?
emperor’s fatherf ？overlord？
对于资本+信息+技术杂交怪兽的担忧，并非空穴来风。
近年的全球政治斗争中，这只怪兽的力量，日益展现。
在本次美国中期选举中，已成为民意的放大器，政治动员的加速器。
The concern about the super monster featuring capital + information + technology is not an empty one.
The power of this monster has been increasingly demonstrated in the global political struggles in recent years.
In the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, it has become an amplifier of public opinion and an accelerator of political mobilization.
无论多强势的政治家，都不得不借助社交平台和信息巨头的力量。来传达自己的思想与纲领。赢得选票。
No matter how powerful a politician is, he or she has to use the power of social media platforms and media giants to communicate his or her ideas and administrative programs and to win votes.
本次选举，共和党和民主党在控枪、控制移民、通货膨胀、堕胎等领域进行了广泛交锋，各自借助媒体争取民心。
滚滚洪流，清浊混杂，难以抗拒。
In the midterm elections, Republicans and Democrats have engaged in extensive battles in areas such as gun control, immigration, inflation, and abortion, each using the media platforms to win supporters.
Rolling torrent, the clear and the muddy mixed, is hard to resist.
怪兽开动，离不开资本的支持。
民主党为了推广堕胎权，一举推出近7万个电视广告，并且在新墨西哥和佛州等共和党的传统票仓进行投放，抢夺民众基本盘，为此花费超过3000万美元的巨资。
共和党则借助民众对通货膨胀的不满，集中攻击拜登。为此也投入了海量的电视广告，耗资超过4000万美元。
The monster can’t be started without the support of capital.
The Democrats launched nearly 70,000 TV ads in one fell swoop to promote abortion rights, and ran them in traditional Republican voting blocs like New Mexico and Florida to gain the support of the people there, spending a whopping $30 million or more to do so.
The Republicans, for their part, has focused on attacking President Joe Biden through the public discontent over inflation. Numerous TV ads were also ran for this purpose, costing over $40 million.
利用媒体控制舆论造势的运作，在中国也曾普遍出现。
所谓得民心者得天下，关键是，民心如何看见？
The operation of using the media to control public opinion has also been common in China.
It is said that those who win the people’s hearts win the country. The key is, how to see the people’s hearts?
袁世凯在帝制与共和之间徘徊时，他的长子曾利用自己控制的势力，推出一份假《顺天时报》，每天都是拥袁称帝的消息，贪权的袁世凯下定决心称帝，结果仅83天就在天下人的讨伐中忧郁而终。
媒体力量所营造的民心，到底是真实的民心，还是虚幻的泡沫？
When Yuan Shikai was torn between imperialism and republicanism, his eldest son had used the power he controlled to launch a fake Shuntian Times with daily news of pro-Yuan’s claim to the throne. The power-hungry Yuan Shikai made up his mind to claim the title of emperor, but died of melancholy in the midst of national opposition in only 83 days.
Is the public opinion created by media power a real one, or an illusory bubble?
身处其中的政治家，是否有辨别能力？又或者，沉醉其中，借势而为？
制造民意的无形之手，力量恐怖如斯。
Does a politician in the midst of it have the ability to discern? Or, does he or she indulge in it and take advantage of the situation?
The invisible hand that creates public opinion is as terrifying as its power.
（2）扼制资本与信息、技术的结盟
(2) Stifling the alliance of capital with information and technology
美国代表了资本主义制度的巅峰。
相对专制时代，现代文明是一种超越。
但是，随着时代的推进，资本、技术与信息，又形成了新的专制。
The U.S. represents the pinnacle of the capitalist system.
Relative to the age of absolutism, modern civilization is a transcendence.
However, as the times progressed, capital, technology and information jointly formed a new form of absolutism.
在美国，虽然公权力被制约和制衡，但是，近几十年却开始了资本独大的畸形时代。资本成为太上皇。美国对资本精英过度纵容，在制度设计上，对资本获利极度有利，对劳动尊重不足。一度引发“占领华尔街”的运动。特朗普的崛起，某种意义上也是对资本为王的一种反动。
In the U.S., while public power is constrained and checked, recent decades have witnessed the beginning of a monstrous era of capital dominance. Capital became too much of a king. The U.S. has overindulged the capitalist elite and designed the system in such a way that it is extremely favorable to capital’s profits and insufficiently respects labor. The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement was once triggered. The rise of Trump is, in a sense, a reaction against capital as king.
但是，占领华尔街运动之后，美国的制度环境并无大变化。贫富严重分化，阶层内斗逐步激烈。对资本的过度放纵，终于催生出时代的巨怪。
However, the institutional environment in the U.S. did not change much after the Occupy Wall Street movement. The rich and the poor were severely divided, and the class infighting was progressively more intense. The overindulgence of capital finally gave birth to the super monster of the times.
资本、信息、媒体等势力，逐步独立于政治之外，成为新的权力，侵蚀和压迫社会。
从哲学领域说，是物权侵蚀了信仰。
立国两百多年之后，美国逐步也形成了既得利益集团。
The forces of capital, information and media, gradually independent of politics, have become the new power, eroding and oppressing the society.
Philosophically speaking, it is the property right that has eroded faith.
More than two hundred years after the founding of the country, the U.S. has gradually formed vested interests as well.
吊诡的是：在民主社会，公权无法直接继承，资本却是可以继承，只要一个家族善于经商，可以长期拥有财富以及背后的影响力。在这种模式下，资本的力量，逐步成长为可以左右公权的势力。
The paradox is that in a democratic society, public power cannot be inherited directly, but capital can be inherited. Thus, as long as a family is good at business, it can have wealth and influence behind it for a long time. Under this model, the power of capital gradually grows into a force that can influence public power.
在政治角逐中，推特竟然发展到可封杀在任总统特朗普的地步。
马斯克仅50出头，只要稍为长寿，美国换10任总统。他仍可控制推特。
In the political contest, Twitter has surprisingly developed to the point where it can block the account of the incumbent President Trump.
Now, Musk is only in his early 50s. As long as he lives longer, he could witness 10 U.S. presidencies, while Twitter is still under his control.
仅仅驯服权力，还远远不够。
节制了政治权力，却没有节制资本，是美国逐步走向权力失衡、社会失衡的一大原因。
美国未来最重要的使命，是制约资本，阻止资本与技术、信息巨兽的产生。
It is not enough to tame the power.
Restraining political power but not capital is a major reason why the U.S. is gradually moving toward power and social imbalance.
The most important mission for the U.S. in the future is to restrain capital and prevent the creation of the alliance of capital with technology and information.
（3）中国比美国更严峻——
既要驯服权力，又要驯服资本
(3) China faces a tougher situation than the U.S.:
Taming both power and capital
中国既要节制权力，也要节制资本。
资本与权力的结盟，对社会危害巨大。
贪腐最厉害的都是权力和资本勾结的领域。地产和金融成为重灾区。每一个贪官倒下，成批商人殉葬，同样，每个大财阀的倒台，也能看到权力的影子。
China needs to restrict both power and capital.
The alliance between capital and power is extremely harmful to the society.
The most corrupt areas are those where power and capital congregate. Real estate and finance have been the severely afflicted areas. For every corrupt official who falls, a number of businessmen backing him or her will also fall. And similarly, the shadow of power can be seen in the fall of every business tycoon.
资本坐大之后染指政治，更是一种越界。
在亚洲，韩国财阀干政，近十几年受到强力打击，甚至现代集团前总裁自杀，三星、乐天等掌门人遭受牢狱之灾。泰国的前首富，也在政治上受到限制。
The rise of capital in politics is more of a transgression.
In Asia, Korean chaebols’ interference in national politics has been cracked down on in recent decades. Even the former president of the Hyundai Group committed suicide, and the leaders of Samsung, Lotte and other large companies were also arrested. Thailand’s former wealthiest businessman, too, has been restricted in politics.
资本对社会的广泛控制，更远比政治影响复杂。
近二十年来，金融，互联网和地产三大集团崛起，并逐步变异，曾经助力产业崛起的资本势力，因为监管与制衡的缺失，逐步反噬实体经济；以帮助青年和创新为初心的蚂蚁，变形为“吸血蚂蟥”；以创造美好生活为使命的地产，蜕变为阉割青年雄心，扼杀青年活力的利器。
Capital’s extensive control over society is far more complex than political influence.
In the past two decades, the three major groups of finance, Internet and real estate have risen and gradually mutated. The capital forces that once helped the rise of industry have gradually turned against the real economy because of the lack of regulation and checks and balances; Ant Group, whose original intention was to help youth and inspire innovation, has transformed into a “blood-sucking leech”; real estate, with the mission of creating a better life, has morphed into a sharp tool to stifle youth ambition and vitality.
部分人认为，在没有将权力关进笼子之前不应节制资本，这是种短视。
推特封杀特朗普，引起了中国的警觉。大力反腐的同时，也开始节制资本。
Some believe that capital should not be restricted before locking power into the cage of regulations, which is short-sighted.
The blocking of Trump’s account by Twitter has caused alarm in China. While vigorously fighting corruption, it also began to restrict capital.
2020年国家突然提出“防止资本无序扩张”。隐含深意。
蚂蚁上市被叫停，滴滴被调查，遏制新型巨头对社会的挑战。
湖畔大学被叫停，资本在媒体、信息、思想文化领域被限制。
Since late 2020, China has been advocating “the prevention of disorderly expansion of capital,” implying deep meaning.
Ant Group’s IPO was called off, and Didi was investigated, aiming at curbing the challenges of new giants to the society.
Lakeside University was renamed, and capital inflows were restricted in media and information industries, as well as ideological and cultural fields.
全球各国普遍出现阶层分裂，贫富分化的乱相，本源乃是真理、力量与人心三大逻辑的脱节所致。
真理的逻辑，超然个人意志。
资本和权力是物化的力量，以力多取胜。
人心向背，则基于个人价值的平等。
The global chaos of class division and the division between the rich and the poor are the result of the disconnect among the three major logics of truth, power and people’s hearts.
The logic of truth transcends individual will.
Capital and power are materialized forces that win with more strengths.
The people’s hearts are based on the equality of individual values.
今天，资本和权力等“物化”的力量，不仅罔顾真理，而且敢于践踏人心。
市场并非万能，资本必有边界。过度放任资本，社会乱象横生。
Today, capital and power and other “materialized” forces not only ignore the truth, but also dare to trample on people’s hearts.
The market is not omnipotent, and capital must have boundaries. If we let capital go too far, social chaos will arise.
全世界无产者，从未联合起来。
全世界有产者，早已全球联合。
英国脱欧，法国黄马甲运动，美国民粹主义狂潮。全球孤立主义崛起。表象是是逆全球化，本质却是各国的阶层重整，资本的过度贪婪引起了全球性的反思。各国都对资本掠夺本国之后逃离海外不满，都要求关门打狗。抑制既得利益，推行改革。
The proletariat of the world never unite.
The propertied class of the world has long been united globally.
The Brexit, the French Yellow vest movement, the populist surge in the U.S., and the rise of global isolationism. While these movements appear to be counter-globalization, the essence is a reorganization of classes in each country, and the excessive greed of capital has caused a global rethinking. All countries are dissatisfied with the flight of capital from abroad after plundering their own countries and are demanding that the door be closed. Vested interests are to be curbed and reforms are to be conducted.
中国未来的改革包含三个方面。
一是遵循真理体系，政治、经济、社会，文化和生态建设同步，本质上也是敬畏天理。
二是驯服权力和资本，使权力和资本为民众服务，而不是凌驾于民众之上。
两大关键：将权力关在笼子里，将资本限定在市场中。
三是调整阶层结构，抑制豪族，确立平民主导地位。
China’s future reforms are composed of three aspects.
One is to follow the system of truth and synchronize political, economic, social, cultural and ecological construction, which is also essentially reverence for the “Divine Principle.”
The second is to tame power and capital, facilitating power and capital to serve the people, not override them.
The two keys: Locking power into the cage and confining capital to the market.
The third is to adjust the class structure, suppress the tycoons, and establish the dominance of the common people.
服从必然的天启真理；
尊重应然的民心民愿；
驯服实然的权力资本。
Obeying to the inevitable revealed truths.
Respecting the natural people’s will.
Taming the materialized capital and power.
驯服资本，对于资本的安全和久远，也是一种保护。
河出伏流，必有河道，既有奔腾的激情与活力，又不至于越轨溃堤。
For the safety and longevity of capital, the taming of capital is also a kind of protection.
A river from an underground stream has to follow a proper course, so as to keep its momentum while avoiding breaching embankments.
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