Chapter 1029 - On Fair Language
Chapter 1029 of "High School of Demon Hunting" starts with unexpected events: Chapter 1029: Chapter 91 On Fair LanguageRegarding the Doctorâs last words, Zheng Qing somewhat disagreed."You... Find out more!
Chapter 1029: Chapter 91 On Fair LanguageRegarding the Doctorâs last words, Zheng Qing somewhat disagreed.
"You canât say that!"
The young state-funded student raised his eyebrows, shaking his head in dissatisfaction, "We also heard the speech in front of the library that day. The choice of words was quite reasonable... unlike todayâs report, which purely distorted the facts, substituted concepts, maliciously speculated, and unjustly defamed!"
"This is because of bias," Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses and corrected, "You stand from Jiuyou Academyâs perspective, so naturally, you feel the âDeath of Lineageâ makes a lot of sense. But if you stand from Alpha Academyâs perspective, that speech was very accusatory. Not a single person from Alpha Academy would appreciate that speech."
"I can testify to that!" Zhang Ji Xin immediately raised his hand, adding, "You guys were only focused on listening to the speech that day, you didnât see the expressions on Sepulano and Friedman... Sepulano was okay, heâs scheming, squinting from beginning to end, expressionless. Friedman isnât as crafty, his face was livid with anger. I bet if there werenât a few âTriple-A Clubâ members stopping him, Friedman would have definitely wrecked the event."
"Isnât Friedman a vampire? His face should be deathly pale normally," Xin Fat Man muttered under his breath.
Zheng Qing couldnât help but laugh.
Then, he noticed Matthew, sitting in the front row of the classroom, turning his face, looking somewhat unhappyâcreatures like werewolves and vampires are always a bit more sensitive than ordinary wizards in sensory aspects.
Zheng Qing immediately remembered Matthewâs identity, as well as his relationship with Friedman, and quickly waved his hands to his companions, signaling towards where Matthew was.
Everyone then restrained themselves a bit.
Nicholasâs mood had also calmed down quite a bit by now. He pointed to the part about himself in the text, sighed, "I actually didnât intend to treat her harshly... just wanted her report to be a bit more objective and fair. Donât you all think this counts as manipulating public opinion? Shouldnât the school, or the Mage Alliance, handle this kind of thing?"
"Public opinion? What is public opinion?" Xiao Xiao counter-questioned, then, grabbing a feather pen, drew a circle in mid-air, "Only that which captures the attention of people is public opinion. Public opinion is never manipulated; it simply provides a new focal point for people. Itâs not about fairness, itâs merely a unique perspective of reporting."
"Pandering to the crowd, disregarding fairness, typical of someone from Alpha Academy," Zheng Qing sneered, "If I were the chief editor, I would definitely write the report with an objective and fair attitude."
"Your comment just now is just like Ms. Pulitzerâs reports, filled with bias. The so-called fairness is actually just a compromise between different opinions; there is no true objectivity and fairness in the world." Noticing that Zheng Qing still looked unconvinced, Xiao Xiao changed the question:
"If you were to describe Blue Bird in one word, what would it be?"
Hearing this question, Zheng Qing was somewhat puzzled, tentatively replied, "Cold on the outside, warm on the heart?"
Xiao Xiao pulled out a piece of paper, wrote down Blue Birdâs name, then next to the name, he wrote Zheng Qingâs four-character assessment, continuing to ask, "Describe Mike Gold Cypress Plano with a word."
"Warm on the outside, cold on the heart," Zheng Qing slightly adjusted the order of the previous words, decisively giving his opinion, "That guy, he looks friendly and smiles at everyone, but in reality, heâs extremely ruthless."
"Very good," Xiao Xiao, pointing at the two names on the paper with the tip of his pen, and the four-character assessments next to them, summarized, "Anytime we start to use language to evaluate a person or an affair, we inherently carry biases; this is the nature of language and it canât be changed."
"Just like the two words you just used."
"Cold on the outside, warm on the heart, reads as a very good phrase, as a commendatory term; while warm on the outside, cold on the heart, just a slight adjustment in order, gives a very negative impression."
"Both are people whose appearances do not match their hearts, but because of the different attitudes towards others, the linguistic treatment they receive differs as well."
Having said this, Xiao Xiao folded the paper, put it in his notebook, and concluded, "So, language is never fair. Words are always biased. As long as we use language to judge others, we naturally carry our own stance."
This speech was too absolute, much like long ago when Xiao Xiao told Zheng Qing that âtimeâ was the only metric standard in the world, it was hard to persuade anyone.
"By your reasoning, are you suggesting there is no fair and objective language in the world?" Zheng Qing retorted.
"Itâs not quite that bad." Xiao Xiao furrowed his brow, slowly shaking his head.
"So there is?" Xin Fat Man seemed very interested in the topic, interrupting to ask, "Can you give an example or tell us the name of that language?"
Xiao Xiao touched his notebook, hesitated for a moment.
"Iâm referring to something like a primitive machine language." He chose his words carefully, trying to describe the âfair and objectiveâ language in terms everyone could understand, "I could give an example... but that doesnât mean Iâm right. This is just a bit of personal reflection."
The others said nothing, only gesturing with their eyes for Xiao Xiao to continue.
"For instance, individual 1234 represents Blue Bird, and the compounds controlling different emotional chemicals inside his body could be represented as A1-A100, with the secretion volume of each compound in a certain timeframe indicated by values 1-10... things like that."
"I could say âindividual 1234, compound A5 value 3, compound A1 value 9, compound B2 value 2, compound D7 value 10, Alpha organ expands, Bing organ contracts, child system fifth branch nerve signal frequency XX...â something along those lines."
The audience looked at each other, all with a face of confusion.
"What the heck is this!" Zhang Ji Xin expressed everyoneâs thoughts with a brief comment.
As the Hunting Team Leader, Zheng Qing had to appear slightly more competent than the others.
Thus, he cleared his throat and tentatively asked, "Um, you just mentioned the A series represents different emotional chemicals in the body... so what about the B series, D series, and that Alpha, Bing, Yi, Ding... what do they all mean?"
"How should I know?!" Xiao Xiao rolled his eyes, looking at everyone with disdain, "As I said, this is just an example. Using this language would minimize âsubjective wordingâ and maximize âobjective descriptionâ... itâs just an expression. If such a language really existed, there probably would be a dictionary for you to consult."
The conversation fell a bit cold for a moment.
After a few seconds of silence, Nicholas seemed to finally come back to his senses, softly coughing.
"Cough cough, so, if you eventually change your mind and decide to trouble that journalist, remember to let me know." The sallow-faced repeat studentâs eyeballs resumed their previous trembling, looking very seriously at Zheng Qing, "Though I canât help much, I will do everything I can."
With that, he glanced back at the front rows of the classroom.
There sat the star students from Astronomy Class 08-1, the Witch division.
"I donât want Fifi overthinking this matter." He added finally.
The other Warlocks emitted ambiguous, soft chuckles.
"Definitely, definitely." Zheng Qing stretched a smile, touching the tip of his nose, "If I have a plan, I will definitely notify you!"