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“水门事件”传奇记者:精英虽失败,特朗普仍需怼

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来源:羊说

我提问的对象名叫卡尔·伯恩斯坦(Carl Bernstein)。1972年,他和同事鲍勃·伍德沃德(Bob Woodward)通过内线的情报协助,率先披露了水门事件丑闻(Watergate Scandal),从而迫使总统尼克松(Richard Nixon)下台。水门事件的调查,始于1972年6月17日的清晨。当时5名男子因闯入民主党总部办公室(地点在华盛顿水门大厦)安装窃听器、偷拍文件被便衣警察逮捕。电影场景还原如下:

本来是个看上去不甚重大的刑事案件,却在《华盛顿邮报》两位年轻记者的追查下,最终撕开了一条大裂缝,矛头直指总统尼克松。伯恩斯坦和伍德沃德的报道,为新闻作为第四权正名,也获得了1973年普利策新闻奖。两位记者的自传改编为电影《总统班底》(All the President‘s Men),其中达斯汀·霍夫曼(Dustin Hoffman)饰演伯恩斯坦。

本期羊说探讨美国的文化“折叠”。折叠即社会分层,标题的灵感来自于郝景芳的《北京折叠》。这部获得雨果奖的科幻小说,描述了未来分为三个空间的北京。第一个空间住着权Q贵统T治者,人口500万,位于大地的一面。大地的另一面是拥有2500万中产白领的第二空间和拥有5000万底层劳动者的第三空间。每48小时为一个轮回:第一空间享受头一天早上6点到第二天早上6点的24小时;第二空间只享受16个小时白昼,从第二天早上6点到晚上10点;而第三空间的白天只有剩下的8个小时。每到转换的时间,前一个空间的居民需要躺到床上接受催眠,其建筑物等设施折叠起来,以便下一个空间的建筑展开。跨空间的活动,受到严厉的管制。

对“低D端D人口”(Low-end population)进行粗暴清退,我们看到的是行政命令主导的城市“折叠”。而在美国,我们常常听到富人区与隔着一条街的穷人区——似乎是经济因素主导了街区间的“折叠”。而如今的美国,更突显的是文化的“折叠”,即文化因素打败经济因素。大到自由主义和保守主义在大众媒体上的文化战争(Cultural Wars),或是社交网络催生的信息回音箱(Information Echo Chamber),小到用脚投票形成的同类聚集,甚至是全食超市(Whole Foods)与老乡村店(Cracker Barrel)的偏好对立,都体现了文化筑起的高墙。Bill Bishop在2008年的著作The Big Sort,就清晰地反映了邻里间的文化分野。而2016年的总统大选,更以“农村包围城市”的尖锐形式体现出文化的“折叠”。

如何破除文化之间的隔膜?或者具体的说如何破除知识分子和草根大众的隔绝?现有的文化“折叠”对美国的前景意味着什么?有没有破除文化“折叠”的政策手段?我们日常生活的话语如何扭转公共空间的话语?年轻人应该如何面对?水门事件发生45年后,我对话年逾古稀的卡尔·伯恩斯坦。

对话文稿

Carl Bernstein & David Axelrod

Interviewed 11/2/2017

Duration: 7:00

YANG: So I read that Nixon was actually an intellectually astute man, finishing third in his class from Duke University。 But Donald Trump was something different。 He was known as not only intellectually uncurious, but also rides on this wave of anti-intellectualism, because people feel they are not respected by the intellectuals, by the educated。 So my question is, how could our day-to-day, person-to-person discourse remedy this toxic, polarized public discourse amidst the backdrop that lots of people voted for Trump just because of this discontent towards intellectual hubris? How should the solution be, when the solution itself has become part of the problem?

向杨:我读到尼克松是个智性敏锐的人,从杜克大学以第三名的成绩毕业。但是唐纳德·特朗普就不一样了。他不仅表现出智性上缺乏好奇心,而且正是乘上了这股“反智主义”的浪潮,有这股浪潮是因为草根们感到自己并未受到知识界的尊重,即受过精英教育的人。所以我的问题是,我们如何通过人与人之间的日常话语修复这种乌烟瘴气且极化严重的公共话语,特别是在当前的背景下,很多人给特朗普投票只是因为他们不满知识分子的傲慢?当解决办法本身就是问题的一部分时,解决办法又是什么?

CARL: It‘s a long question that was premised on Nixon—you started off by saying that he was “astute” and well-intimating that he was well-read and well-educated。 And you contrasted that by saying, essentially, that Trump was not。 Trump is educated—I mean, he got an education。 [LAUGHTER] But Trump is spectacularly ignorant。 There’s no question about his ignorance of our history, of things going on in the world。 It‘s quite astonishing that the President of the United States—that’s not to say he‘s not smart, I would never go there and say he’s not smart。 But in terms of ignorance, of what has gone on before and even yesterday in the country and the world—no。 But then your question went to—about how can—

卡尔:你的问题很长,首先建立在尼克松——你一开始说他心智“机敏”,意指他博览群书,很有学识。然后你又对比了一下特朗普,说他并不是这样。特朗普当然受过教育,我是说,他上过学的。[笑] 但特朗普又极其地无知。这点毫无疑问,他对我们的历史还有世界的局势知之甚少。这真的让人大跌眼镜,美国的总统竟然[是这样]——这并不是说他不聪明,我绝对不会说他不聪明。但是他的无知,比如美国历史上的事,甚至就连昨天的国事和时局,他都不知道。然后你的问题就指向了――如何――

YANG: —how can we not be intellectually too proud, to communicate with people on the other side?

向杨:我们如何避免在智识上表现得过于优越,以致于无法和另一侧的人们沟通?

CARL: So you‘re—

卡尔:所以你是说——

DAVID: He‘s talking about, how do we break down the divide between [CARL: Right。] elites and people who feel assailed by elites?

大卫:他说的就是,我们怎么才能打破这层隔阂,它隔开了[卡尔:嗯。] 精英和那些感觉被精英抨击的人群?

CARL: And incidentally, I think one of the things Trump did in his campaign is he really articulated something that nobody else did, about the failure of elites。 I mean, I think there‘s some pretty demonstrable truth to the failure of the so-called elites over the last 40 years。 If you look at what institutions in our country really have been working over the past 25, 30 years, you might say the military, you might say tech, you might say the entertainment business。 I don’t know what—how many institutions you would say really do function well after that。 So Donald Trump‘s analysis of some things, I think, was more acute—whatever prejudices it might have appealed to in some ways, whatever the nativism, whatever the latent, or not-so-latent racism of aspects of the campaign, the misogyny—all the rest。 Nonetheless, there’s some really acute things that were observed by candidate Trump。

卡尔:凑巧的是,我觉得特朗普在他的竞选过程中,真的充分展现了别的竞选者没有展现出的一点,就是精英的失败。我是说,这一次可以特别明显地看出,过去40年所谓的精英们一败涂地。如果看看美国各个行业机构在过去25年、30年里运作出色的,你可能会说军队,你可能会说科技产业,你可能会说娱乐产业。在这之后,我不知道你会觉得有多少机构算是真正运作良好的。所以我觉得特朗普的剖析更为尖锐,即便这是为了迎合某种偏见,即便是本土主义,还是竞选活动在某些方面存在的这种潜在的或是若隐若现的种族主义,对女性的贬抑等等。总之,特朗普真的观察到了一些尖锐的事情。

DAVID: Fundamentally, that our institutions often work in favor of the elites。

大卫:基本上,我们的各个行业机构都倾向于为精英服务。

CARL: That‘s right。 And also, that the elites have failed us。 But you know, I think there’s something to that。 But to your question—how do we rise above this and become the country we were, if you‘re talking about in terms of person-to-person comity and respect for points of view? I don’t know。 I‘m gonna give—I really want to know what David thinks about this too。 [LAUGHTER]

卡尔:没错。但同时,精英们也辜负了大家的期望。不过,我觉得这是有原因的。但是针对你的问题——我们如何克服当前这个难题,如何变成之前的那个美国,如果你说的是人与人之间的礼让或是对观点的尊重的话,我真的不知道,我想说的是,我也很想知道大卫对此事的看法。[笑]

DAVID: Well, look—I‘m just gonna say this—

大卫:呃,你看,我正要说点——

CARL: Let me just say one thing here。 I have always—

卡尔:我就说一点吧。我一直—

DAVID: You don‘t really want to know what I think, do you? [LAUGHTER]

大卫:你才不想知道我是怎么想的,对吧?[笑]

CARL: I want to know—I do! But I‘ve always been an optimist about the country until recently。 And my only real optimism stems from the time I spend with young people。 [DAVID: Yes。] And that has convinced me that there—in terms of policy—what you are talking about, what can we do? I think there’s one thing that can change us as a country, and might offer some hope over generations。 Compulsory national service for every 18-year-old in this country。 You can go into the forestry service for a year and a half, go into the military, work in a hospital。 [APPLAUSE] Look, I—

卡尔:我想知道——当然想!我一直都看好这个国家的前景,直到最近才改变了看法。我仅有的真正的乐观来自于和我交流过的那些年轻人。[大卫:嗯。] 他们让我相信——就政策而言——就是你刚才说的,我们能做什么。我觉得有一件事能改变我们和这个国家,甚至可能给后代带来希望。就是,国内年满18岁的公民必须强制为国家服务。你可以去林区做上一年半载的护林员,或者参军,或者去医院。[掌声] 我是—

CARL: In the Vietnam Era—I‘m not proud of my military service, because I tried to avoid the draft, so I went into the reserves。 But my experience—

卡尔:在越南的时候——我并不觉得自己服役有多光荣,因为我那时试图逃避兵役,所以就去了预备役部队。但我的经历——

DAVID: You could be president of the United States。 [LAUGHTER]

大卫:你可能会成为美国总统。[笑] [注:暗指克林顿当你为了避免应征越战,曾试图通过参加预备役逃避兵役]

CARL: My experience in boot camp, in the army is seminal in my life。 Being thrown together with a group of people different from your own backgrounds with a common purpose, kicking ass [LAUGHTER], it can be really transforming。 [DAVID: Right。] So I think national service is the one transformative idea I can think of for the country。

卡尔:我在新兵营的经历,在部队里的经历,对我的生活影响深远。把我扔进一群拥有不同背景的人中,但我们却有共同的目标:击败敌人。[笑] 那真的可以彻底改变一个人。[大卫:嗯。] 所以我认为参与国家服务是我能为美国想到的一条求变之道。

DAVID: And well, and I think there was something about our politics and the post-war era that resulted from people from different backgrounds serving in one common cause。 I agree with you。 I probably have time for—now I‘m being told one more—

大卫:是的,我认为影响美国政治和二战后的事情,的确有那些不同背景的人献身于相同事业的原因。我同意你的说法。我可能还有时间——我被告知还有一个——

CARL: But you didn‘t answer—go ahead and answer [LAUGHTER]—I want to know what you’re about… how you see the future, politically and culturally。

卡尔:但是你并没有回答——直接回答我吧。[笑] ——我想知道你是怎么看的,你怎么看未来,不管是政治方面还是文化方面。

DAVID: Well, first of all, well, I agree with you about young people。 That‘s one of the reasons why I’m doing what I‘m doing, and I’m inspired by young people。 But I also believe that there is a cyclical nature to our politics, and I‘m interested to see what the reaction to the Trump Era is。 Because, you know, we can go one of two ways。 We can try and replicate Trump—the Left can try to replicate Trump and match his anger and win its base。 Or someone could emerge and try to appeal to the values that we do share, the concerns that we do share as a country without ignoring the differences that we have。 And, you know, I believe that that may very well be the next turn of the page。 But we shall see。

大卫:好吧。首先,我认同你对年轻人的期待。这也是我为什么现在做这些事的原因,我也颇受年轻人的启发。但我也觉得我们的政治里有一个周期性,我很想看看人们对特朗普时代作何反应。因为,前面可能有两条路。我们(民主党)可以再造一个特朗普——左派可以复制特朗普,就学他煽动大众怒火的那一套,然后拿下自己的选民。或者有人冒出来, 倡导我们共同的价值观,倡导我们共同的担忧,这些担忧让我们凝结为一个国家,又保持了彼此的差异。所以,我认为这可能是今后的主题。但我们还得走着看。

[注:奥巴马两次成功当选总统的首席策略师大卫·阿克塞尔罗德认为,最近几届的选举换届集中体现了钟摆效应,即寻求一种“补偿”(Remedy)。选民倾向于选择的人,具有现任总统缺少的特质。这个理论解释了真人秀马戏团特质的特朗普,“补偿”了冷静超然、具有教授特质的前任总统奥巴马;奥巴马又“补偿”了依据本能和保守派信仰行动的小布什;而小布什又“补偿”了前任克林顿在道德上的不检点]

特别鸣谢Leon的英翻中以及字幕制作

向杨的微博:向杨Alan

微信公众号:xy88chicago

本文作者系新浪国际旗下“地球日报”自媒体联盟成员,授权稿件,转载需获原作者许可。文章言论不代表新浪观点。

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