Introduction - The Terror of the Unforeseen

这是Julian Casablancas在2019年为Henry Giroux的新书The Terror of the Unforeseen写的一篇序言。没想到抽象归抽象，组织长篇语言的能力猪还是有一点的。

除了序言，更值得关注的显然是这本书本身。下文的评论节选于《洛杉矶书评》“自我隔离中的思想家”系列。

本书讨论了特朗普治理时期的美国民主情况，并认为特朗普在表达时用到的分裂语言本身就是一种暴力行为，构成了新自由主义法西斯（neoliberal fascism）的崛起和漫长威权主义历史的观点。

祝您阅读愉快！

When I speak about politics, I’m not speaking as a musician; I'm speaking as a citizen of a country imperiled. And because Henry So kindly and humbly handed me the microphone.

当我谈论政治时，我不是以音乐家的身份发言; 我是作为一个处于危险国家的公民发言的。同时，也因为亨利（Henry Giroux）如此善良和谦卑地给我发声的机会。

Since the dawn of modern civilization the influence of wealth on power has been a relentless, often brutal, force. It might shape-shift through the eras, but the phenomenon has regenerated itself countless times. Whether it manifests through sheer military might or elaborate fraud and subterfuge, it is ever-present, ever-toxic, and ultra-persistent.

自现代文明诞生以来，富人始终是一种无情地、甚至残酷地影响着权力的力量。它可能会随着时代的演变而变形，但这种现象已经无数次再生。无论是通过纯粹的军事力量还是精心策划的欺诈和诡计表现出来，富有阶层对权力的控制都永远存在、永远有毒、永远维持着。

The wealthy don't need to hire armies to maintain their oppressive schemes anymore - they bribe politicians and control media elements instead. There is no system of oversight by independent bodies that can be trusted to maintain public welfare or truth as their priority. The internet is now the world's largest subduction zone of myth. Weaponized media is the new propaganda, essentially an evolution of the medieval model of affluence and oppression.

富人不再需要雇佣军队来维持他们的压迫——他们可以直接贿赂政客并控制媒体。没有一个可以信任的独立机构能够监督系统来维护公共福利，或把寻求真相作为其已任。互联网现在是世界上最大的神话俯冲带。武器化的媒体是新的宣传机器，本质上不过是中世纪富裕和压迫模式的演变。

The elusiveness of truth is a central problem facing democracy as we now know it. That's why reading and celebrating people like Henry Giroux, who have dedicated themselves to uncovering and teaching the truth, is so important.

真理的难以捉摸是我们目前民主所面临的一个核心问题。所以，阅读和关注像亨利·吉鲁（Henry Giroux）这样致力于发现和教导真理的人非常重要。

In this moving and passionate book, Henry revives a spirit we can find in the great abolitionist Fredrick Douglass's words:“ It is not the light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed." Henry eloquently describes an economic system that has produced massive inequities in wealth and power, undermining the very notion of justice, equality, and democracy itself.

在这本感人而充满激情的书中，亨利（Henry Giroux）复兴了一种古老的精神。我们可以从伟大的废奴主义者弗雷德里克·道格拉斯（Fredrick Douglass）的话中找到这样的精神：“需要的不是光，而是火; 需要的不是温柔的阵雨，而是雷声。我们需要风暴、旋风和地震。必须促进国家的感情；必须唤起国家的良知；国家的虚礼必须被打破; 国家的虚伪必须被揭露。”亨利（Henry Giroux）雄辩地描述了当下存在的这种经济体系：它造成了财富和权力的巨大不平等，破坏了正义、平等和民主。

I wish to offer a rallying cry for the separation of wealth and state, while lovingly confining capitalism to the private sector, as opposed to having a for-profit government, and various other for-profit political vehicles. Of course, not all business activity is bad. But as many folks are finally beginning to realize, the corporate world's indifferent attitude to the suffering it creates - not to mention their control over policy - will likely end up trashing earth. The divisive jargon and disinformation in support of neoliberal ideals is all political distraction, a basic con laid out by billionaires for one dumb reason: so that they can pay no taxes.

我希望为财富和国家分离发出战斗口号，同时将资本主义模式限制在私营部门，[1]而不是让它掌握着一个营利性政府和其他各种营利性的政治工具。当然，并非所有的商业活动都是坏的。但正如许多人终于开始意识到的那样，企业对于其造成的痛苦的漠不关心态度——更不用说他们对政策的控制——最终可能会破坏全世界。支持新自由主义理想的分裂性术语和虚假信息都只不过是一种政治障眼法，只不过是亿万富翁出于一个愚蠢的原因而设置的简单骗局：这样他们就可以不纳税。

The word for this clean-cut attitude of modern pillaging is neoliberalism. This savage word is one that Henry uses a whole lot. It sounds so sophisticated, civilized, and reasonable: the “free market" is to be left alone to do its thing. Sounds positive, right?

用来描述这种干净利落的现代掠夺态度的名词正是新自由主义。这个野蛮的词是本书作者（Henry Giroux）经常使用的词。这个词听起来是这样复杂、文明和合理：“自由市场”意味着自由地进行交易而不受其他势力干涉。听起来很积极，对吧？

But the fatal flaw of unchecked free markets and privatization is that the private sector doesn't care if people die. The private sector doesn't care if people suffer, or even if they are themselves the cause of the suffering.

但不受约束的自由市场和私有化的致命缺陷是，私营部门不在乎人们是否死亡。私营部门不在乎人们是否受苦，就算他们自己就是人们受苦的原因，他们也并不在乎。

Capitalism can work (the night is young!), but it must be more in balance with other important human values. Values like truth. Values like freedom while respecting the freedom of others. The value of human happiness over harming people to make a buck.

资本主义当然还可以继续下去（夜还长着呢！），但它必须进一步和其他重要的人类价值取得平衡：譬如真相，譬如自由并尊重他人的自由。人类幸福的价值是远胜过通过伤害他人来赚钱的。

In an ideal civilized world, companies and people would be incentivized to not hurt people. Currently, it's the other way around. Instead of using research to stop deadly behavior we use it to minimize costs. To evolve past medieval cultural values, we have to require that business succeeds without causing horrific suffering.

在一个理想的文明世界里，企业和（富）人们往往不倾向于伤人。但是，现在的情况正好相反。我们并不利用研究结果来阻止可能的致命伤害行为，而是用来降低成本。为了摆脱那种中世纪的文化价值观，我们必须要求企业在不造成（工人）可怕痛苦的情况下取得成功。

Our system motivates and rewards this behavior. It perpetuates greed as our only clear value. Corporations will never change the system and relinquish their power; it is the system that must change. That's why, for the good of everyone, we need to lovingly return real power to the people.

我们的系统会激励和奖励这种行为。我们的系统把贪婪永久化为我们唯一明确的价值。企业永远不会改变制度并放弃权力，必须改变的是制度。所以，为了每个人的利益，我们需要将真正的权力归还给人民。

Henry Giroux's work, The Terror of the Unforeseen, is perhaps his most painfully relevant work yet, is a brilliant condemnation of the most oppressive force of this modern era: propaganda. It is a clarion call for citizens who seek truth in the face of disinformation and oppression.

亨利·吉鲁（Henry Giroux）的《不可预知的恐怖》（The Terror of the Unforeseen）也许是他迄今为止最痛苦的作品，是对“宣传”这一现代社会压迫力量的精彩谴责。这也是对面对虚假信息和压迫寻求真相的公民的一声号角。

[1] 与公共部门（public sector）对应，指国家经济中的私营部分。The part of economy that is run by individuals and companies for profit and is not state controlled. 

written by Julian Casablancas

translated by Emu