(scrap of comment someone else said to me that i wanted to look up: )

"… Taoist philosophy very helpful for our modern society. It talks about the dangers of language used in propaganda during the warring states period in China… " (just plugged into ai to start conversation)

You’ve hit on one of the most sophisticated aspects of Taoism. While many people see it as just “going with the flow,” it actually began as a radical critique of how language is used to manipulate human behavior and perception.

During the Warring States period, philosophers (the “Hundred Schools of Thought”) were traveling from kingdom to kingdom, selling “wisdom” to rulers on how to effectively control their populations and win wars. The Taoists saw this linguistic arms race and realized that words weren’t just tools for communication—they were tools for coercion.

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The Taoist Critique of Language

The Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi offer a deep skepticism of language that feels incredibly relevant in an era of “alternative facts” and algorithmic propaganda.

1. “The Name that can be Named”

The very first line of the Tao Te Ching—“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao”—is a warning. Once you put a label on something, you limit it. In propaganda, “naming” is used to box people into categories (friend vs. enemy, patriot vs. traitor). Taoism suggests that reality is too fluid for these rigid labels.

2. The Danger of Moral “Labels”

Laozi argued that when we start obsessively defining “goodness” or “justice,” we actually create their opposites.

• The Logic: By creating a strict definition of “Virtue,” you provide a script for hypocrites to follow.
• Modern Parallel: We see this in “virtue signaling” or corporate branding where the language of ethics is used to mask unethical behavior.

3. Wu Wei vs. Social Engineering

Propaganda is a form of Yu-Wei (highly intentional, forced action). It tries to “carve” the human mind like a block of wood. Taoism advocates for the “Uncarved Block” (Pu), representing a state of perception that hasn’t been shaped by the biases and definitions imposed by society or the state.

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Why It Matters Today

In our modern “Warring States” of social media and political polarization, Taoist philosophy offers a psychological shield:

• Skepticism of Binary Logic: Propaganda thrives on “Either/Or.” Taoism thrives on “Both/And” (Yin and Yang). It encourages us to see the hidden complexity rather than the simplified slogan.
• Silence as Resistance: In a world where everyone is shouting for your attention, the Taoist emphasis on stillness and the “fasting of the heart” (xinzhai) allows you to filter out the noise and reclaim your own mental space.

“When the great Tao is forgotten, kindness and morality arise. When intelligence and knowledge appear, the Great Hypocrisy begins.” — Tao Te Ching, Chapter 18

It’s a bit ironic, isn’t it? The more a society talks about “values,” the more the Taoists suspect those values have already been lost.

Would you like to explore how specific Taoist concepts like “The Fasting of the Mind” can be used as a practical tool for media literacy today?

tell me just a lot about this: During the Warring States period, philosophers (the “Hundred Schools of Thought”) were traveling from kingdom to kingdom, selling “wisdom” to rulers on how to effectively control their populations and win wars

The Warring States period (c. 475–221 BCE) was essentially the world’s first “open market” for political strategy and psychological warfare. Because China was fractured into several competing states, rulers were desperate for an edge. This created a class of traveling intellectuals known as Shi (itinerant scholars) who functioned like a mix between modern lobbyists, management consultants, and spin doctors.

Here is a breakdown of how these “merchants of wisdom” operated and why the Taoists were so horrified by them.

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1. The “Hundred Schools” Marketplace

Think of this era as a chaotic intellectual boom. If you were a king, your palace gates were open to anyone who claimed they could make your state richer or your army harder to defeat.

School	Their “Sales Pitch” to Rulers
Confucians	“Govern through ritual and hierarchy. If you act like a father to your people, they will be loyal sons.”
Legalists	“Forget morality. Use a system of harsh punishments and predictable rewards to automate obedience.”
Mohists	“Practice ‘Universal Love,’ but also build incredible defensive fortifications and a meritocratic spy network.”
Diplomatists	“I can use rhetoric to trick your neighbors into a disadvantageous alliance or break their treaties.”

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2. Selling “The Art of the Mind”

The most dangerous “wisdom” being sold wasn’t about spears or chariots; it was about social engineering. Rulers wanted to know how to make people want to die for them in battle.

• Standardization of Thought: Philosophers like the Legalist Han Fei argued that a ruler should “empty the people’s minds and fill their bellies.” They sold the idea that diverse opinions were a bug, not a feature.
• The Power of Names (Zhengming): Confucians argued for the “Rectification of Names.” While they meant it sincerely—that a “king should act like a king”—the Taoists saw this as a gateway to state propaganda. If the State defines what a “Good Citizen” is, they can then label anyone who disagrees as “Subhuman” or “Criminal.”

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3. The Taoist “Anti-Consultant” Stance

While other philosophers were polishing their resumes to get government jobs, the early Taoists (like Zhuangzi) were famously turning them down. There’s a famous story of officials offering Zhuangzi a high-ranking post; he replied by asking if a slaughtered turtle used for divination would rather be “dead and honored” or “alive and dragging its tail in the mud.”

The Taoist critique of these traveling “wise men” was twofold:

A. The “Cleverness” Trap

Taoists believed that the more “wisdom” and “cleverness” these scholars sold to the kings, the more miserable the people became. They saw intellectualism as a tool for tax collection and conscription.

“When the world has many prohibitions and taboos, the people become poorer… The more ‘clever’ devices people have, the more confused the state becomes.” (Tao Te Ching)

B. The Invention of “False Needs”

Taoists argued that these philosophers were creating problems just so they could sell the solutions. By defining “Virtue” and “Success,” they made people feel inadequate, which made them easier to control. A person who wants nothing is impossible to bribe; a person who is convinced they must be “virtuous” or “patriotic” can be led anywhere by a string.

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4. Propaganda and the “Art of the Switch”

The traveling scholars were masters of rhetoric. They taught rulers how to use “benevolent” language to justify “violent” ends.

• They used Historical Revisionism, claiming that the “Ancient Kings” did exactly what they were currently proposing.
• They used False Binaries, telling rulers that if they didn’t adopt a specific harsh policy, their state would be swallowed by its neighbors.

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Why this resonates today

This period mirrors our modern “attention economy.” Just as the Shi traveled from court to court, modern think tanks, PR firms, and algorithm-driven platforms “sell” ways to capture and direct the public’s will. The Taoist response—to remain “unpolished” and skeptical of labels—was an early form of mental self-defense.

Would you like to dive deeper into the “Legalist” school to see the specific, darker tactics they sold to rulers that the Taoists were so against?

sure

If the Taoists were the “hippies” or “anarchists” of the Warring States period, the Legalists (Fajia) were the cold-blooded efficiency experts. They didn’t care about “The Tao” or “Virtue”—they cared about power, punishment, and productivity.

Legalism was the “wisdom” that eventually allowed the State of Qin to conquer all others and unify China. It was the ultimate manual for state-sponsored propaganda and social control.

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1. The Core Philosophy: Humans are “Self-Interested Animals”

Legalists like Shang Yang and Han Fei argued that trying to rule through “kindness” (the Confucian way) was like trying to stop a flood with a teaspoon.

• Their Pitch: People are naturally lazy and selfish. Therefore, a ruler shouldn’t try to make them “good”; he should make it impossible for them to be bad.
• The Mechanism: The “Two Handles”—Reward and Punishment. If the reward for obedience is high and the punishment for dissent is gruesome (death for you and your entire family), the people will be “orderly.”

2. The Dark Tactics of Legalism

The “wisdom” they sold to kings was chillingly modern. Here are the specific tactics the Taoists rebelled against:

A. “Weakening the People” (Ruo Min)

Shang Yang wrote a book literally titled The Book of Lord Shang. In it, he argued that a weak people makes a strong state. * If the people are poor and struggling, they have no time to think about politics or philosophy.

• If they are uneducated, they are easier to lead.
• The Goal: Turn the population into two things only: Farmers and Soldiers. Anything else (like being a poet or a merchant) was considered “parasitic.”

B. The “Rectification of Names” as Mind Control

While Confucians used “names” to encourage moral behavior, Legalists used them to create a snitch culture.

• They implemented the Baojia System: Groups of 5 or 10 families were held collectively responsible for each other’s crimes.
• If your neighbor committed a crime and you didn’t report it, you were executed along with them.
• This turned language into a weapon—speech was no longer for connection, but for surveillance.

C. Burning of Books and Burying of Scholars

When the Legalists finally won and the Qin Dynasty began (221 BCE), they acted on their “wisdom.”

• They ordered the burning of all books that didn’t deal with agriculture, medicine, or divination.
• They didn’t want people comparing the present to the past or imagining a different future.
• Taoist perspective: This was the ultimate violation of the “Uncarved Block.” The state was trying to “carve” every mind into the exact same shape.

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3. The “Invisible Ruler” (A Twisted Wu Wei)

Interestingly, Han Fei (the greatest Legalist writer) stole the Taoist concept of Wu Wei (non-action) and weaponized it.

He told the King: “A great ruler should be like a ghost. Hide your likes and dislikes so your ministers can’t manipulate you. Sit back and let the Laws do the work. If the Law is perfect, the King does nothing, yet everything is governed.”

• Taoist Wu Wei: Harmony with nature and spontaneity.
• Legalist Wu Wei: A terrifying, automated machine of state power where the ruler is the “operator” who never has to show his face.

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4. Why Taoists Called it “The Great Hypocrisy”

The Taoists watched these Legalists “selling” their services and saw a world being stripped of its soul.

• The Legalists turned trust into suspicion.
• They turned spontaneity into drills.
• They turned human beings into units of labor.

When the Tao Te Ching says, “The more laws and edicts are publicized, the more thieves and robbers there will be,” it was a direct shot at these Legalists. Laozi was saying that by creating more rules, you aren’t creating more “good” people—you are just creating more “criminals.”

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The Result

The Legalist “wisdom” worked—for a while. The Qin Dynasty was incredibly powerful, but it was so brutal that it collapsed after only 15 years. The Taoists would have said, “I told you so”—you cannot “carve” the human spirit for long before it shatters.

Does this “Two Handles” (Reward/Punishment) approach remind you of any modern systems, like “gamification” in apps or corporate performance reviews?

(no haha)

so what they were really referring to was a specific time period they witnessed of basically fascism with its usual attendant propaganda on one hand and repression on another, sandwiching vague general militant aspirations in between. just another time period like that.

what we need is a constant defense! a constant, uniform, defense-!!

what i really feel bad about is how it said they burned all of china’s books. china existed thousands of years and was one of the most advanced civilizations; i wonder what books they burned and how much knowledge was lost!!!

in a sense we just had our books burned by trump, who has erased the knowledge that pollution harms the environment.