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Letters and Blogs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-30 07:48 Poetic license not always attractive Professor Yi Zhongtian's mockery of the two comperes of BTV has evoked wide social reactions. Some people applauded him for courage and integrity, while others criticized him for absence of both elegance and tolerance. Professor Yi, who became a household name after his successful appearance on CCTV-10's Lecture Room program, used to be outstanding as a poet. On the one hand, Yi Zhongtian showed his honesty and frankness as a poet. On the other hand, comperes from BTV were exposed as being not knowledgeable and intelligent enough to preside over such a widely watched TV program, and facing such a famous, intelligent and unrestrained professor. Who is more stupid? There is no one correct answer to the question. However, it is difficult to appreciate the discourtesy of Yi. Though his behavior in the TV show may have revealed his bold and unrestrained nature as a poet, I cannot applaud his temper as a celebrity. Zhao Hualu http://blog.sina.com.cn The savant goes arrogant I used to cite Yi's words of wisdom in my blog, expressing my admiration and appreciation of both his personality and scholarship. However, after seeing the controversial TV show, I cannot help expressing my huge disappointment at the conduct of the so-called great scholar. One compere asked what he thought of his book, On the Three Kingdoms, being a hit on market. Despite the tolerance to media inquiries that a real scholar should have, Yi deliberately criticized the hosts as retarded. Later, he refused to answer the question relating to the purpose of his debate with scholar Yu Qiuyu, saying that he does not answer stupid questions. When anchorwoman Jiang Hua asked if he has felt the change in his personality after becoming famous, the arrogant interviewee only said "no comment". It is ironic that Yi had spoken of the significance of self-inspection at the beginning of the show while denying his own theory later. Being dubbed the superman scholar, Yi is popular by public acclaim. However, he was afraid of not qualifying as a real scholar, as he has neither profound works nor great academic achievements to his credit. Under social pressure, he shielded himself by being intolerant and acerbic, so as to keep a pretence of superiority. But, the question remains: Without showing respect to others, how can he keep the halo of a celebrity? Gugao Qingyue http://blog.sina.com.cn (China Daily 07/30/2009 page8) |
