上海的月亮: CN — LARRY ROMANOFF: 犹太人正在掠夺世界-第8部分–社会的原子化 — Jews are Plundering the World- Part 8

译者： Pearl

Atomisation describes a social condition in a society in which the bonds between individuals – neighborliness, solidarity, mutual obligation, collective identity – have dissolved, leaving people isolated, disconnected, and alone. The term borrows from physics: just as an atom is a single particle detached from any larger molecule, an atomised individual exists without meaningful connection to family, community, class, or nation. A society becomes atomised when people no longer see themselves as part of a “we.” They see only “me.” In an atomized society, relationships become transactional rather than relational. Trust collapses. Shared public spaces empty out. Churches, unions, fraternal organisations, neighborhood associations, and even casual gatherings on porches or street corners fade away. What remains is a crowd of solitary figures, each staring at their own screen, each navigating the world alone.

“原子化”描述的是一种社会状态，在这种状态下，个体之间的纽带——睦邻关系、团结、相互义务、集体认同——已经瓦解，使人们变得孤立、疏离和孤独。该术语借自物理学：正如原子是从任何较大的分子中分离出来的单个粒子，原子化的个体与家庭、社区、阶级或国家之间不存在有意义的联系。当人们不再将自己视为“我们”的一部分时，社会就会变得原子化。他们只看到“我”。在原子化的社会中，人际关系变成了交易关系，而非亲密关系。信任崩塌。公共共享空间空空如也。教堂、工会、互助组织、邻里协会，甚至门廊或街角的随意聚会都逐渐消失。剩下的是一群孤独的身影，每个人都盯着自己的屏幕，每个人都独自在世界中航行。

Imagine a street in a typical town fifty years ago. People knew their neighbors and their names. Their children played outside together. After dinner, families sat on porches and talked. On weekends, people gathered at churches, at union halls, at bowling leagues, at block parties. When someone fell ill, neighbors brought food. When a factory closed, workers marched together. When an election came, people discussed it face to face.

想象一下五十年前一个典型小镇的街道。人们认识他们的邻居，知道他们的名字。他们的孩子一起在外面玩耍。晚饭后，一家人坐在门廊上聊天。周末，人们聚集在教堂、工会大厅、保龄球俱乐部和街区聚会上。当有人生病时，邻居们会送来食物。当工厂倒闭时，工人们会一起游行。选举来临时，人们会面对面地讨论。

Now imagine that same street today. The porches are empty. The children are inside, staring at tablets. The bowling leagues have folded. Church attendance has plummeted, and the unions have been broken. The neighbors do not speak; they communicate through anonymous posts on neighborhood apps, often suspicious of one another. When someone falls ill, a GoFundMe link is shared on social media, but no one brings a casserole. When a factory closes, each worker files for unemployment alone. When an election comes, people scream at each other on Twitter, never meeting eye to eye. That is atomisation. It is not merely loneliness, though loneliness is its symptom. It is the structural breakdown of the social fabric that once connected human beings to one another and to a shared fate.

现在想象一下同一条街道的今天。门廊空空如也。孩子们待在屋里，盯着平板电脑。保龄球联盟已经解散。教堂的出席人数骤减，工会也已瓦解。邻居们不再交谈；他们通过社区应用程序上的匿名帖子进行交流，彼此往往充满猜疑。当有人生病时，会在社交媒体上分享一个GoFundMe（众筹平台）链接，但没有人会送上一份砂锅菜。当工厂倒闭时，每个工人只能独自申请失业救济。选举来临时，人们在推特上互相指责，从未有过眼神交流。这就是原子化。它不仅仅是孤独，尽管孤独是它的症状。它是曾经将人类彼此相连、与共同命运相连的社会结构的结构性崩溃。

Atomisation is engineered; it does not happen naturally. It is produced by design or by the coordinated logic of a capitalist system that profits from isolation. This is partially accomplished through financialisation, globalisation and so-called “economic restructuring”. When manufacturing jobs disappear and are replaced by gig work, contract employment, and remote labor, workers no longer share a workplace, a shift, a union hall, or a common struggle. They sit alone in their apartments, delivering packages or coding software, with no collective identity and no bargaining power. We now have a new and large social class of people – termed the precariat – whose jobs and incomes are insecure. They are atomised by design, because isolated workers are docile workers.

原子化是人为设计的，并非自然发生。它是由资本主义体系的设计或协调逻辑所产生，该体系从孤立中获利。这一过程部分是通过金融化、全球化和所谓的“经济结构调整”来实现的。当制造业的工作消失，被零工、合同工和远程劳动力所取代时，工人们不再共享一个工作场所、一种转变、一个工会大厅或一场共同的斗争。他们独自坐在公寓里，递送包裹或编写软件，没有集体身份，也没有议价能力。我们现在有了一个新的庞大的社会阶层——被称为“无产阶级”，他们的工作和收入没有保障。他们被设计成原子化，因为孤立的工人是顺从的工人。

In the US and Canada most noticeably, atomisation is also caused by urban sprawl and car dependency, which were themselves not organic social developments but deliberately contrived. You can read the documented article in this series about GM, big oil, and the “streetcar conspiracy”; the deliberate destruction of mass transit and the promotion of suburban sprawl ensure that people spend hours alone in their cars, separated from one another by distance, by walls, by highways designed for speed rather than encounter. There is no “third place” in the suburbs; no cafe, no square, no park bench where people gather spontaneously. There are only the home, the car, and the big-box store.

在美国和加麻大，最明显的是，原子化也是由城市蔓延和汽车依赖所导致的，而这些本身并非自然形成的社会发展，而是人为设计的。你可以阅读本系列中关于通用汽车、大型石油公司和“有轨电车阴谋”的有记录文章；故意破坏公共交通和推动郊区蔓延，确保人们长时间独自驾车，彼此被距离、墙壁和为速度而设计的高速公路隔开，而不是相遇。郊区没有“第三空间”；没有咖啡馆、广场或公园长椅供人们自发聚集。只有家、汽车和大型超市。

Vanishing ‘third places’.

正在消失的“第三场所”。

The new digital world is also causing a fragmentation of society. Social media does not connect people; it isolates them in algorithmic bubbles. Instead of a shared public square, there are millions of private feeds, each tailored to confirm the user’s prejudices and fears. People scroll past photos of acquaintances they never actually see. They argue with strangers. They mistake “likes” for friendship. The screen becomes a barrier to genuine encounter with real people.

新的数字世界也导致了社会的碎片化。社交媒体并未将人们联系起来；它反而将人们隔离在算法构建的泡沫中。这里没有共享的公共广场，而是有数以百万计的私人信息流，每一条都经过精心设计，以确认用户的偏见和恐惧。人们浏览着他们从未真正见过的熟人的照片。他们与陌生人争论。他们错把“点赞”当作友谊。屏幕成为了与真实人物真正相遇的障碍。

The “Consumer Culture” is another contrived part of the atomisation of Western society. Capitalism does not want solidarities; it wants customers. A customer alone with their credit card is more profitable than a citizen embedded in a community of mutual aid. Advertising celebrates individualism; “you deserve this,” “treat yourself,” “follow your bliss”, while eroding any sense of collective responsibility. Shopping becomes a substitute for belonging.

“消费文化”是西方社会原子化过程中人为制造的另一部分。资本主义不追求团结，它追求的是消费者。一个仅凭信用卡消费的顾客，比一个融入互助社区的公民更有利可图。广告宣扬个人主义；“你值得拥有这个”、“善待自己”、“追随你的幸福”，同时侵蚀着任何集体责任感。购物成为归属感的替代品。

In a world teeming with products, the urge to shop paradoxically thrives, driven by commerce filling voids of modern uncertainty and isolation. Shopping provides a semblance of belonging, yet demands perpetual payment for acceptance, trapping individuals in a cycle of mutual insecurity. Consistency is bought, but genuine connection remains elusive. Source

在一个充斥着各种产品的世界里，购物欲望反而愈发强烈，这是由于商业活动填补了现代生活中的不确定性和孤独感。购物提供了一种归属感的假象，但接受这种假象需要不断付出，使人们陷入一种相互不安全的循环。一致性是买来的，但真正的联系仍然难以捉摸。来源

Over the last 50 or 60 years, Western citizens, North Americans in particular, have been constantly and increasing peppered by a “Propaganda of Fear”. The news media, especially local news, amplifies crime, danger, and distrust. People are taught to fear their neighbors, to lock their doors, to install security cameras, to view every stranger as a potential threat. The result is a fortress mentality: each house an island, each family a self-contained unit, suspicious of the outside world.

在过去的五六十年来，西方公民，尤其是北美公民，一直不断受到“恐惧宣传”的持续且日益加剧的侵扰。新闻媒体，尤其是地方新闻，放大了犯罪、危险和不信任。人们被教导要害怕邻居，要锁好门，要安装监控摄像头，要把每个陌生人视为潜在威胁。其结果是形成了一种堡垒心态：每座房子都是一座孤岛，每个家庭都是一个自给自足的单元，对外界充满怀疑。

There was a time not so long ago when no one locked their doors. Or, if they did, the key was always under the proverbial doormat. Think about the social conditions that permitted such an attitude. We were all neighbors and (usually) friends. Trust was high; risk was very low. When I was growing up, the only crime in our neighborhood was us kids sneaking out of the house at night to steal crab-apples from a neighbor’s tree – apples which were available free for the asking during the day.

不久前，人们还从不锁门。或者，即使锁了门，钥匙也总是放在众所周知的门垫下。想想当时的社会环境，这种态度是可以被接受的。我们都是邻居，而且（通常）也是朋友。信任度高；风险很低。在我成长的过程中，我们社区唯一的犯罪行为就是我们这些孩子晚上偷偷溜出家门，从邻居的树上偷摘酸苹果——白天只要开口要，这些苹果都是免费的。

There has also been enormous institutional decay, especially again in the US and Canada. The institutions that once wove together the social fabric of a community – the churches, unions, fraternal lodges, rotary clubs, political parties, even bowling leagues, have collapsed or been deliberately undermined. In their place, we have nothing. Or rather, the nothing of Netflix, Amazon, and DoorDash: services that deliver goods without requiring or providing human contact. We see this in a plethora of ways and places. It is impossible for most people to call their bank, telephone company, cable TV company, even their local or national government office, and actually speak to a live person. Think of firms like Netflix, Amazon, Microsoft, Norton antivirus. Contrast Netflix with the experience of going to a movie theater.

此外，制度衰败现象也十分严重，尤其是在美国和加麻大。那些曾经将社区的社会结构紧密编织在一起的机构——教堂、工会、互助会、扶轮社、政党，甚至保龄球联盟——要么已经崩溃，要么被蓄意破坏。取而代之的，我们什么都没有。或者更确切地说，是Netflix、亚马逊和DoorDash这样的“无”服务：无需或无需提供人际接触即可送货上门的各种服务。我们在许多方面和许多地方都能看到这一点。对于大多数人来说，打电话给银行、电话公司、有线电视公司，甚至当地的或国家的政府办公室，并真正与真人交谈，都是不可能的。想想Netflix、亚马逊、微软、诺顿杀毒软件这样的公司吧。将Netflix与去电影院看电影的经历进行对比。

The consequences of atomization are serious. An atomized society is not merely unhappy; it is vulnerable – politically and psychologically. An atomised population cannot organise collectively. It cannot strike, march, boycott, or rebel. It can only vote. But even then, it votes only as isolated individuals swayed by television advertisements and social media manipulation. Atomisation is the precondition for modern authoritarianism: a mass of disconnected individuals, each afraid, each alone, each easily managed by a central power that promises security in exchange for submission.

原子化的后果是严重的。一个原子化的社会不仅是不快乐的；它在政治上和心理上都是脆弱的。原子化的人群无法集体组织起来。他们无法罢工、游行、抵制或造反。他们只能投票。但即便如此，他们也只是作为受电视广告和社交媒体操纵影响的孤立个体来投票。原子化是现代威权主义的先决条件：一群互不相干的人，每个人都害怕，每个人都孤独，每个人都容易被一个承诺以服从换取安全的中央权力所管理。

In an atomised society, no one trusts anyone. Each of us is alone, to cope as we can.

在一个原子化的社会中，人与人之间缺乏信任。我们每个人都孤身一人，尽自己所能去应对。

The psychological devastation caused by atomisation is immense. We see loneliness, depression, anxiety, and suicide rise as societies become increasingly atomised. The human animal is not meant to live alone. We evolved in tribes, in villages, in extended families. When those bonds are severed, something fundamental breaks. The opioid epidemic in the United States, the surge in “deaths of despair,” the mental health crisis among adolescents; these are symptoms of atomisation.

原子化带来的心理创伤是巨大的。随着社会日益原子化，我们看到孤独、抑郁、焦虑和自杀现象增多。人类本不应独居。我们在部落、村庄和大家庭中进化。当这些纽带被切断时，某种根本性的联系便断裂了。美国的阿片类药物泛滥、“绝望之死”激增、青少年心理健康危机，这些都是原子化的症状。

In an atomised society, no one trusts anyone. Neighbors do not trust neighbors. Citizens do not trust institutions. Workers do not trust bosses. The result is a society that cannot cooperate, cannot plan for the long term, cannot respond collectively to crises. If we have a pandemic or a natural disaster, or a financial collapse, these become catastrophes not because they are unavoidable, but because an atomised society cannot coordinate a response. Each of us is alone, to cope as we can.

在一个原子化的社会中，人与人之间缺乏信任。邻居之间互不信任，公民不信任机构，员工不信任老板。其结果是一个无法合作、无法进行长期规划、无法集体应对危机的社会。如果我们遭遇流行病、自然灾害或金融崩溃，这些会演变成灾难，不是因为它们不可避免，而是因为原子化的社会无法协调应对。我们每个人都只能独自应对，尽自己所能。

In a society of solidarity, the opposite of atomisation, people know their neighbors, they have real jobs, they belong to unions, we have and utilise public transport, we have shared public spaces, we have churches, lodges, bowling leagues. We can still largely trust our institutions. We have a sense of “we” consciousness. Our relations and relationships with others are in terms of reciprocity, of mutual aid, and we are resilient because of all this.

在一个团结的社会中，与原子化相反，人们认识他们的邻居，他们有真正的工作，他们加入工会，我们拥有并使用公共交通，我们共享公共空间，我们有教堂、会所、保龄球联盟。我们仍然在很大程度上信任我们的机构。我们有一种“我们”的集体意识。我们与他人的关系是互惠互利的，是相互帮助的，正因为这一切，我们才具有韧性。

In an atomised society, we usually do not know our neighbors or have little to no interaction with them. We are often financially precarious, much more likely to be doing contract work or gig assignments. We live in suburbs, totally dependent on a car. We no longer trust our government or institutions – or the media – to either tell the truth or to do the right thing. Perhaps one of the worst symptoms of atomisation is that personal relations and relationships are transactional – more like commercial buying and selling. Think of the relations between young men and women in this context: even the most intimate physical contact is simply a “transaction”.在原子化的社会中，我们通常不认识邻居，或与他们几乎没有互动。我们往往经济拮据，更有可能从事合同工作或零工。我们住在郊区，完全依赖汽车出行。我们不再信任政府或机构——或媒体——会说实话或做正确的事。也许原子化最糟糕的症状之一是，人际关系是交易性的——更像商业买卖。想想在这种情况下年轻男女之间的关系：即使是最亲密的身体接触，也仅仅是一种“交易”。

Perhaps the crucial point is the political function. Atomisation is not an accident; it serves power. Atomisation creates a population that is isolated, fearful, and distrustful, one that cannot challenge the existing order. It cannot form unions, rent-control boards, cooperative housing, mutual aid networks, or revolutionary committees. It can only consume, scroll, and vote for whichever candidate promises to make it feel safe.

或许关键在于其政治功能。原子化并非偶然；它为权力服务。原子化造就了一个孤立、恐惧和不信任的群体，一个无法挑战现有秩序的群体。他们无法组建工会、租金控制委员会、合作住房、互助网络或革命委员会。他们只能消费、浏览社交媒体，并投票给任何承诺让他们感到安全的候选人。

The Jewish financial oligarchy we have traced throughout this investigation and in this series of essays – the forces that destroyed Yugoslavia, looted corporations, suppressed electric vehicles, and murdered streetcars – understands atomisation intuitively. A society that moves by car, works alone, shops online, and scrolls in isolation is a society that cannot resist.

我们在本次调查和这一系列文章中追踪到的犹太金融寡头——那些摧毁南斯拉夫、掠夺企业、打压电动汽车、谋杀有轨电车的势力——本能地理解原子化。一个开车出行、独自工作、网上购物、孤立地刷手机的社会是一个无法抵抗的社会。

This is why community organizing, union building, and the creation of “third places” are political acts. Every potluck, every neighborhood watch, every union meeting, every pickup soccer game is a small rebellion against atomisation. Every act of solidarity – bringing a meal to a sick neighbor, marching with striking workers, attending a town hall meeting, reweaves the social fabric that the system has worked so hard to tear apart.

这就是为什么社区组织、工会建设以及“第三场所”的创建都是政治行为。每一次聚餐、每一次邻里守望、每一次工会会议、每一次即兴足球赛，都是对原子化的一种小小反抗。每一次团结的行动——给生病的邻居送餐、与罢工的工人一起游行、参加市政厅会议，都在重新编织着这个体系竭力撕裂的社会结构。

Atomisation is not inevitable. It is the product of specific policies, specific economic arrangements, and specific forms of propaganda. And like any product, it can be rejected. The choice is this: (a) a world of isolated consumers, each alone with their screen and their car and their credit card, easily managed and easily exploited, or (b) a world of connected citizens, bound by mutual obligation, capable of collective action, and free enough to imagine, and build, a different future. The tragedy of Yugoslavia was the destruction of solidarity. The tragedy of the American suburb is the construction of isolation. The tragedy of the smartphone is the illusion of connection without the reality. To understand atomisation is to understand what has been lost.

原子化并非不可避免。它是特定政策、特定经济安排和特定宣传形式的产物。而像任何产品一样，它也可以被拒绝。选择在于：（a）一个由孤立的消费者组成的世界，每个人独自拥有自己的屏幕、汽车和信用卡，易于管理，也易于利用；或者（b）一个由相互联系的公民组成的世界，他们受共同义务的约束，能够采取集体行动，并且有足够的自由去想象和构建一个不同的未来。南斯拉夫的悲剧在于团结的破坏。美国郊区的悲剧在于孤立的建设。智能手机的悲剧在于虚幻的联系，而非现实。理解原子化就是理解所失去的一切。

The tragedy of Yugoslavia was the destruction of solidarity.

南斯拉夫的悲剧在于团结的破坏。

There is an alternative that still exists in Asia and in many European countries, but I fear Europe may be pushed to go the same way as the US. When I lived in Rome, the quality of life was an order of magnitude above that in Canada or the US, in so many ways, and difficult to describe. But a main difference was the solidarity of society, the connectedness, as opposed to the atomisation occurring in North America. The street intersection where I lived, was a piazza – a public square, which was a defining adjective. If someone asked where you lived, the answer was “Piazza Euclide”. It had a fountain at the center, ringed with benches, and surrounded by sidewalk coffee shops and restaurants. The piazza was the “living room” of the neighborhood. In the evening, everyone would come to have dinner, drink coffee, chat and visit. The children and pets would play. We would see and recognise the same faces; we got to know each other. We were all “we”; a part of something. There was constant human contact. A few hundred meters in any direction was another piazza, the function of which duplicated the one in which I lived. Life had a richness that is difficult to describe, far richer than in the North American suburbs with the separate houses and manicured lawns that were pretty but atomised by design.

在亚洲和许多欧洲国家，还有一种选择仍然存在，但我担心欧洲可能会步美国的后尘。当我住在罗马时，那里的生活质量在很多方面都比加麻大或美国高出许多个数量级，这种差异难以用语言描述。但一个主要区别在于社会的团结和紧密联系，这与北美那种原子化的状态形成了鲜明对比。我住的那个十字路口是一个广场——一个公共广场，这是该社区的一个标志性特征。如果有人问你在哪里住，答案就是“欧几里得广场”。广场中央有一个喷泉，周围环绕着长椅，还有路边咖啡店和餐馆。广场是社区的“客厅”。到了晚上，大家都会来这里吃晚餐、喝咖啡、聊天和串门。孩子们和宠物会在那里玩耍。我们会看到并认出那些熟悉的面孔；我们彼此认识。我们都是“我们”的一部分；都是某个整体的一部分。人与人之间保持着持续的接触。无论朝哪个方向走几百米，都会遇到另一个广场，其功能与我住的那个广场一模一样。那里的生活丰富得难以形容，远比北美郊区那些房屋独立、草坪修剪整齐、设计上显得原子化的地方要丰富得多。

The piazza was the “living room” of the neighborhood. In the evening, everyone would come to have dinner, drink coffee, chat and visit.There was constant human contact.

广场是社区的“客厅”。到了晚上，大家都会来这里吃晚饭、喝咖啡、聊天和串门。这里总是人来人往，热闹非凡。

This quality of daily life extended to shopping. Rome had forbidden the establishment of big-box stores. The largest supermarkets in the city might have been only 100 square meters and there were precious few of those. The reason was that large supermarkets are socially useless to a community; there is no human contact. In Rome, the streets were full of small family-owned shops: a bakery, a meat shop, a fruit store, a wine shop, a cheese shop … In the meat shop, the owner knew all the facts of every item he sold. He could tell you the composition and manufacturing process of every one of the 18 varieties of salami he carried. The cheese shop was the same. The owner of the wine shop would chat for hours, relating all the details of production of every wine he sold. He knew the wineries and the owners – and the wines. Shopping was 80% education and social pleasure. The man in the coffee shop knew how I liked my espresso or cappuccino. I could speak to him; he prepared my coffee to my specifications while I watched. Solidarity. In Starbucks, you give your order to one person who may or may not communicate it correctly to the “barista” – the 18-year-old kid hidden behind the counter who knows almost nothing – about coffee or anything else. Atomisation.

这种高品质的日常生活也延伸到了购物领域。罗马禁止设立大型超市。城里最大的超市可能也只有100平方米，而且这样的超市少之又少。原因是大型超市对社区而言毫无用处；那里没有人与人之间的接触。在罗马，街道上满是小型家庭经营的商店：面包店、肉店、水果店、酒铺、奶酪店……在肉店，店主对他所售卖的每一种商品了如指掌。他能告诉你他所售卖的18种萨拉米香肠中每一种的成分和制作过程。奶酪店也是如此。酒铺的店主会聊上几个小时，讲述他所售卖的每一种葡萄酒的所有生产细节。他了解酒庄、酒庄主以及葡萄酒。购物80%是教育和社交的乐趣。咖啡店里的店员知道我喜欢哪种浓缩咖啡或卡布奇诺。我可以和他聊天，他按照我的要求为我冲泡咖啡，而我就在一旁看着。这是团结。在星巴克，你向一个人点单，而这个人可能会也可能不会准确地将咖啡或其他任何东西的点单传达给“咖啡师”——那个躲在柜台后面、几乎一无所知的18岁孩子。这是原子化。

Mr. Romanoff’s writing has been translated into 34 languages and his articles posted on more than 150 foreign-language news and politics websites in more than 30 countries, as well as more than 100 English language platforms. Larry Romanoff is a retired management consultant and businessman. He has held senior executive positions in international consulting firms, and owned an international import-export business. He has been a visiting professor at Shanghai’s Fudan University, presenting case studies in international affairs to senior EMBA classes. Mr. Romanoff lives in Shanghai and is currently writing a series of ten books generally related to China and the West. He is one of the contributing authors to Cynthia McKinney’s new anthology ‘When China Sneezes’. (Chap. 2 — Dealing with Demons).

罗曼诺夫先生的作品已被翻译成34种语言，他的文章被发布在30多个国家的150多个外文新闻和政治网站上，以及100多个英文平台上。拉里·罗曼诺夫（Larry Romanoff）是一位退休的管理顾问和商人。他曾在国际咨询公司担任高级管理职务，并拥有一家国际进出口企业。他曾任上海复旦大学客座教授，为高级EMBA课程讲授国际事务案例研究。罗曼诺夫先生现居上海，目前正在撰写一系列共十本书，总体上涉及中国与西方的话题。他是辛西娅·麦金尼（Cynthia McKinney）新选集《当中国打喷嚏》（When China Sneezes）的特约作者之一（第2章——与恶魔打交道）。

His full archive can be seen at

他的全部档案可以在以下网址查看：

https://www.bluemoonofshanghai.com/ + https://www.moonofshanghai.com/

He can be contacted at: 2186604556

他的联系方式是：2186604556

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