Lately I haven’t been able to avoid hearing, passively, a great deal about the death of Floyd. News reports show heavy security in major American cities, while the economic recovery shows no sign of improvement — apparently many small businesses are in dire straits. Burning American flags, massive banners, the chant of “Black Lives Matter” — these scenes show how high anti-racism sentiment has risen in America. Around the same time, another story I learned about passively was the opposite kind of protest — against stay-at-home orders, marching to demand a return to work. In terms of so-called weight or significance, the two may not be comparable; if you tried to elevate the latter to a matter of national character or politics, you might be accused of overreaching. And yet, if we look at both through the lens of repression, we can see that the behavioral motives on display among Americans are actually quite similar.

After the anti-lockdown protests broke out, Americans shouted: “I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.” Similar language of “slavery” and “freedom” can also be found in the anti-racism movement. On one hand, this makes you marvel at how fast information spreads in the streaming media era; on the other, it reflects where mainstream society’s focus is concentrated. Looking at the motivational link: the former is concerned with humanitarian issues, the latter with violence.

The effectiveness of stay-at-home orders can’t be denied, and the public’s desire to return to work is easy to understand. But many news headlines use highly suggestive language to bait readers’ attention: opposing government bans, blaming the failure to control the pandemic. Lincoln’s famous speech declared that the American government is of the people, by the people, for the people. That’s the language of a revolutionary — but everything changes, so how could anything last forever? As civilization develops, repression keeps accumulating along with it; the more advanced the civilization, the more abundant the repression. Take, for instance, the repression of the individual built up over several thousand years of civilization in China — shaped further through the May Fourth Movement, the warlord era, the founding of the People’s Republic, and the Cultural Revolution — which ultimately erupted suddenly on a certain morning in April of ‘89. It’s worth noting that no single movement could ever fully “satisfy” a people. Nietzsche proposed the Apollonian and Dionysian forms of beauty, and in events like these, the two switch back and forth remarkably fast.

Now consider the violence-focused side. The U.S. Constitution guarantees citizens the right to assemble and protest, and Americans deeply embrace this. Every so often, you can see righteously indignant crowds marching on TV. And of course there are other forms too, like rallies and demonstrations in the city. I don’t go into the city often, so I imagine many of you have seen more of this than I have. As for the recent looting and vandalism across America, I might coin a name for this desire by analogy with “collective XX desire” — call it collective riot desire. The most direct way to satisfy this desire is through riot — uprising, rebellion, violent resistance — though it takes many other forms too, such as marching, mass suicide, or attending religious services.

The repression of collective activity naturally leads to the boiling-over of this collective riot desire. Such eruptions and surges are, for the most part, irrational and unrestrained. Today I saw someone suggest that anti-racism protesters should protest rationally — thinking it over, that’s simply not possible. Once a desire repressed for too long erupts, of course it can’t be reined in. Others believe this “resistance movement” can increase solidarity and integration between races; but solidarity can’t simply be willed into being on demand, and integration is even less attainable by mere wishing. I can easily picture those employees — already struggling because of the pandemic, their already meager incomes now further threatened by the destruction of the storefronts where they work. They’ve done nothing wrong; some of them are themselves minorities; they too are trying to earn their share of what society owes them through their own effort; some of them may not even know what’s happening.

— It’s still better for the stock market to keep climbing; having the mutton snatched right out of your mouth always leaves some people deeply dejected.