Liu Haiming (Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of Chongqing University)
Philosophy is called wisdom, which answers questions about the nature of all things. In this regard, the most classic is "Who am I? Where am I from? Where am I going? " In Kant’s long philosophical career, he devoted himself to answering "what can I know", "what should I do" and "what can I hope". These three questions can also be called "Kant’s questions". Philosophers’ questions seem abstract, but in fact they are everywhere.
On July 13th, Sina Weibo issued a community announcement, and the station will carry out centralized rectification on the illegal acts of publishing and disseminating bad information by using "typos" such as homophonic characters and variant characters in the station.
Around this announcement, some people agree and others disagree. Facing the controversy of online public opinion, from the user’s point of view, "Kant’s question" is no longer a metaphysical grand proposition, but a problem closely related to itself. Here, we might as well borrow Kant’s way of thinking and look at "we", "what we can know", "what we should do" and "what we can hope for" as social media users.
The first question is, what do we, as users, need to know to rectify the phenomenon of homophonic words and variant words spreading bad information in Weibo?
In the history of human social development, homophony and variation are objective language phenomena in every era. Without homophony and variation, a language will be in a state of stagnation. At the same time, we should also realize that the development of homophonic and variant needs to go through the process from random to normative. In this process, a society needs to bear the local pain of language development. After the emergence of the Internet, the abuse of homophonic variants is prominent. On social media, some users like to express their meanings with letter symbols, such as "YYDS", "Jiojio", "Emo lived" and "giegie", which are regarded as fashionable online languages to imitate. The popularity of this letter symbol creates a language barrier, which runs counter to the mass media goal of social media.
It should also be recognized that the popularity of homophonic words and variant words also facilitates the spread of pornographic and violent content. Social media prohibits the spread of vulgar words such as sexual violence, and homophonic words and variant words provide opportunities for the spread of vulgar content in disguise, which will damage the purity of Chinese in the long run. For example, some users use homophonic stalks to violently attack others, and the injured often complain fruitlessly. If the platform interferes with this kind of homophonic variant behavior, it will naturally get users’ understanding.
In addition, it should be recognized that there is also a legal basis for the station to say "no" to homophonic variants. China’s Law on the Common Language and Characters emphasizes the standardization and healthy development of the common language and characters. Article 14 lists five types of words that should be standardized, including the words used for facilities in media institutions and public places. Social media platform belongs to a typical "public place", and the language of social media is not standardized. When "money can’t say money, it means rice; Kill can’t say kill, say s; It is obviously necessary to standardize and guide the homophonic variant phenomenon that RMB or USD is said to be MANET.
The second question is, how should we, as users, deal with the phenomenon that homophonic words and variant words spread bad information in Weibo?
In the impression of network users, the significance of the Internet is to encourage users’ personalized development and communicate with personal favorite expressions, which should not be subject to too many restrictions. However, in the face of the requirements of the station, users need to be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of homophonic variants, and consciously abide by the General Language Law. When communicating with people on social media platforms, they should be aware of the media nature of the platform, and all the activities of users mean "publishing", so they should standardize their own language. From the choice of words to the standardization of grammar, it reflects the social responsibility of citizens, and it is not appropriate to simply regard the standardized management of the station as a shackle.
Social media platform provides the possibility for citizens’ cultural creation, and the creation of language and writing should bear fruit in this fertile soil, provided that the creation of language and writing should follow the inherent law of the development of language and writing and the basic moral law (Wang Huanni’s New Media and Public Cultural Creativity, Commercial Press, January 2022). On the other hand, there are some objective reasons for the current phenomenon of network homophonic variants, as well as subjective reasons for abandoning moral laws and abusing rhetorical methods. When "we" are fully aware of the relationship between homophonic variant words and vulgar content, users need to consciously abandon indecent words and reduce the online stock of pornographic and violent words.
The third question is, what can we hope as users to rectify the phenomenon of homophonic words and variant words spreading bad information in Weibo?
About ten years ago, a well-known online media claimed that it was no longer responsible for the textual errors of news in order to enhance the timeliness of online news, which once caused widespread controversy. Today, the responsibility of online media has long been a consensus of public opinion. Weibo Station attaches great importance to the standardization of language and issues governance announcements. As users, "we" not only hope that this measure will be persistent, but also hope that the station will fully implement the Language Law, taking into account the diverse expression needs of users and the quality of platform content.
Correcting the homophonic variation phenomenon, I hope that the station can take the homophonic variation of pornographic and violent content as the target of rectification, and make directional rectification, and at the same time leave a moderate space for users’ creative rhetoric activities. In the development of Chinese, there should be Cang Xie-style figures in every era. Contemporary "Cang Xie" is not a mythical figure, but a living group. The resulting problem is how to protect the "Cang Xie" in the new era in the process of standardizing homophonic variants, which is obviously a realistic problem in front of the management of the station.
After answering the "Kant’s question" about the phenomenon of network homophonic words, we expect that the network practice of homophonic words and variant words will be harmonious and interesting, changeable and compliant, creative and orderly, and rule by virtue, so that the creation and use of homophonic words and variant words will benefit and eliminate disadvantages. Although there is a long way to go to achieve this goal, as long as we work hard in this direction, we are handing over our answers to history.