African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1458: A Wasted Generation

East Africa is quietly preparing for a possible economic crisis. Of course, all this is known only to the emperor and the crown prince.

However, under the special political situation in East Africa, Ernst and Friedrich had unlimited power. At least before Ernst passed away, the royal family was still the undisputed actual controller of East African politics.

……

Rhine City.

At No. 203 Constantine Avenue, a bookstore named "Hölderlin" is located here. Hölderlin is the name of a German poet.

The owner of this bookstore probably likes Hölderlin's poetry, so he named his store after Hölderlin.

As a fairly large bookstore in Rhine City, the decoration of Hölderlin Bookstore is very exquisite and luxurious, making people feel the sacredness of the palace of knowledge.

Of course, the specific situation may be different from what you imagine, and the knowledge also depends on what kind of knowledge it is. It is true that Hölderlin has many books that are indeed full of valuable information, but cultural "fast food" is also equally popular.

Today, there are still many customers in the bookstore, but most of them are middle school students. Middle school students in East Africa have always been a relatively energetic group. In the relatively relaxed educational environment in East Africa, as long as they complete the contents of the education syllabus formulated by the state, they can basically graduate.

Of course, if they are born in a family that values ​​education, or are self-motivated students, they may learn more. The goal of such people is not just to graduate from high school, but to enter university.

Rhine City, as the capital of East Africa, has a relatively good educational atmosphere. After all, many people who can settle down in Rhine City have strong financial strength.

At the same time, the educational resources in Rhine City have become more concentrated. From compulsory education to higher education, both quantity and quality are at the forefront of the empire.

In the corner of the bookstore.

"Li Jun, you are in the bookstore today too!" Hans greeted his classmate when he saw him.

"Oh, it's you, Hans." Li Jun looked up at the person who came and responded.

Hans is a very common name. Some people in East Africa joke that every East African has at least one classmate named Hans.

Hans asked, "What book are you reading?"

Without waiting for Li Jun to answer, he had already leaned over, but after seeing the contents of the book in front of Li Jun, Hans' smile froze.

"You're actually reading a math reference book, something that makes people sleepy, during the holidays?"

Li Jun said calmly, "There is no other way. My math thinking is too poor. Many textbooks and knowledge in school are difficult to understand. So I want to try to see if extracurricular books can open up my mind."

Hans was very familiar with Li Jun's level. Li Jun was undoubtedly a hard-working person, but his intelligence was just average and he could not be considered a genius.

However, even so, Li Jun's grades were among the top three in the class, and he was among the top 20 in the entire grade.

In Rhine City, there are many students who are smarter than Li Jun, but in the not-so-fierce competitive environment of Rhine City, there are not many people as hardworking as him.

Hans said speechlessly: "It is really hard to imagine your mental state. Even workers have to rest on Sundays. We students should also enjoy this short and beautiful time during the holidays."

Li Jun retorted: "I am fine like this, at least I am happy. This should be my own way of entertainment."

Hans didn't understand, but was greatly shocked. He gave a thumbs up and said, "You deserve such good grades. Anyway, ordinary people like us don't understand. Don't you usually read some leisure and entertainment books or comics?"

Li Jun said: "I read it occasionally, but compared to those things, I still prefer some classic books with more cultural value."

"The books in this Hölderlin Bookstore are very comprehensive. They have all kinds of books from Germany and the Far East, including the textbooks I have in my hand. I think only the National Bookstore in Rhine City is larger than this one. Unfortunately, it is quite far from us. But the books in Hölderlin Bookstore are so many that I can't finish reading them all."

The so-called national bookstores are large state-owned enterprises that are basically spread across every corner of East Africa. They are also rare cultural state-owned enterprises and have played a huge role in the early dissemination of East African culture.

Before 1910, the East African government basically monopolized the book sales business in the country. After 1910, other competitors appeared in the market, but their size and scale were obviously unable to shake the East African national enterprises accumulated over decades.

Hans said, "Well, I can't read this kind of book anyway. Comics are more interesting. I came here today to read the latest issue of "The King of Dinosaurs."

In countries like East Africa and the United States, dinosaur fossil research is a very popular project, so there are many cultural products derived from it.

The reason for this situation is very simple. East Africa and the United States do not have the cultural heritage of other countries. The numerous cultural relics on the Eurasian continent allow them to firmly grasp the right to speak.

However, the history of East Africa and the United States is almost non-existent, so in terms of archaeology, we had to find another way, and the study of paleontological fossils came into being and grew rapidly.

Of course, in the field of paleontology, dinosaurs are undoubtedly star-level creatures. Their exaggerated size, numerous species, mysterious colors, etc. can arouse the interest of most people.

This craze has also spread across East Africa through movies, novels, comics, and dramas, and is more likely to receive state support.

After all, this extinct creature is obviously much more advanced than studying the colonial history of East Africa.

Li Jun had also heard of the recently popular comic book "King of Dinosaurs", but he had only heard of it. As for creatures like dinosaurs, he had only seen the rough posters at the entrance of the cinema.

Due to technical reasons, the dinosaur leather suits in East African movies are of very poor quality. They are completely unable to show the dominant aura of those huge ancient creatures. Instead, they look more like "retarded" lizards. Of course, even with such poor quality leather suits, they can easily arouse the interest of East African children.

Today, the general impression of East Africans about dinosaurs is that they are "tall and mighty," but in fact dinosaurs were a very large group with many strange and bizarre creatures. The reason for this deviation is the promotion of cultural products.

Obviously, there were small dinosaurs, but publishers and filmmakers knew that this was not conducive to increasing product sales.

Hans then muttered to himself, "I tell you, 'The King of Dinosaurs' is really good, especially the various domineering carnivorous dinosaurs. If they were still alive, I can't imagine how humans would survive, and I don't know if tanks can fight against them!"

If people in later generations heard Hans' words, they would definitely roll their eyes at his ignorance. After all, no matter how powerful dinosaurs are, they cannot change the fact that they are carbon-based creatures. Not to mention tanks and artillery, even slightly powerful guns can kill them. However, this cannot be blamed on Hans' ignorance. His understanding of dinosaurs comes entirely from some entertainment products. For example, in the comics he read, dinosaurs are portrayed as exaggerated creatures that can kill everything in seconds. The only thing that can kill dinosaurs is other dinosaurs.

Li Jun raised a question: "Then how did the dinosaurs become extinct?"

Hans was at a loss for words. “Who knows? Maybe it was a horrible natural disaster, such as a global storm, that froze these prehistoric beasts to death. Anyway, I’ll let the scientists worry about this problem in the future.”

Hans was not interested in these, he just knew that "The King of Dinosaurs" was very interesting, especially the giant dinosaurs portrayed in the comics, with their sharp and amazing claws, exaggerated body sizes, and bloody mouths that could swallow anything alive, which was very exciting and shocking.

"Forget it, I won't chat with you for now. I need to go check if today's weekly comic book has arrived."

After that, Hans walked towards the more crowded shelf area, where many colorful books were placed.

If you look closely, you can find that most of them are comics covered in white covers, and the contents of the books are basically in black and white.

There are quite a few readers around him, who are about the same age as Hans, both male and female, and all of them are comic lovers from East Africa.

In East Africa, reading comics is a very popular thing among students, just like the students who are addicted to games in later generations.

An old East African man stood in the historical masterpiece area, looking at the chattering young people, and lamented: "What a disgrace! Young people today are so pathetic. They have no ambition at all and are obsessed with these things that make them lose their ambition. I am really worried about the future of the country."

A prim middle-aged man next to him also said, "It is true. It is not just comics, but also many novels that are becoming more and more vulgar. How could society become like this? In the past, literary works were such noble things, but now anyone can publish a work."

“I don’t know how many people have been poisoned by these inferior cultural products. This is simply digging at the foundation and future of our country.”

"Can't they read more excellent cultural works from Germany or the Far East?"

"And the government departments, their censorship is not clear, and they have allowed so many meaningless books to be popular in East Africa."

"If things continue like this, I'm sure the entire post-2010 generation will become a wasted generation."

The new generation in East Africa, that is, the generation born in 1910, encountered dramatic changes in East African society as soon as they were born, and their lifestyles also underwent major changes.

The level of social productivity in East Africa has increased significantly, urbanization has reached a certain level, and the quality of life of the people has improved significantly. In other words, many East Africans have moved from rural areas to cities to live and work, and the social structure has undergone major changes.

Therefore, in the eyes of the older generation, those born in the 2010s are also a generation living in a "honeypot". At least compared to when they were young, they are much happier and do not have to worry too much about life and material things.

Therefore, the words of the old and middle-aged people resonated with many people. Of course, there were also some people who did not take it seriously.

They said: "It's just reading some useless books. It's no big deal. When we were young, we often skipped classes and played in the fields."

"Now that urbanization is increasing, young people are just changing their entertainment methods. As long as there are no major problems, it's fine to let them continue like this."

"Everyone will die anyway, so let's live a more relaxed life so we don't have too many regrets..."

The dispute between the two sides ended in this way. The former was more concerned about whether the next generation of East Africans could become successful, while the latter was more inclined to believe that there was nothing wrong with being an ordinary person.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the world as a whole tended to be conservative, especially literature, which many people believed should be highly respected. In many countries, the identity of a writer enjoyed a high social status.

This is true whether in European and American capitalist countries or the Soviet Union. However, in East Africa, bad money has driven out good money. Serious commercialization has led to an extremely low threshold for cultural products, which has greatly reduced the status of writers in East Africa.

Just like what the middle-aged man said before, everyone in East Africa has the opportunity to publish their own masterpieces. Even if they are not artistic, they can be spread quickly as long as the public likes them.

This has made many "insightful people" feel sad and angry. They believe that the government's inaction is burying the country's future and poisoning the youth of East Africa.

However, from Ernst's perspective, it is completely different. It is true that traditional literature has many excellent works, and the overall creative attitude is more serious. Many people even really try to promote social progress.

But for an autocratic monarch like Ernst, sometimes too much social progress is not always a good thing, especially the lofty attitude of the traditional literary world, which makes him even more disgusted.

Intellectuals in many countries enjoy support from the state, but they are also ruthless in their writing. They feel at ease thinking that society should be implemented according to their ideas and that the government plays a complete "villain" role.

Directly suppressing such people will obviously arouse greater resentment among them, trigger strong resistance, and even smear and vilify the East African government. In this case, it is better to lower the threshold for literary creation to a certain extent.

This will allow ordinary people who really have no talent to participate in the creation of cultural products and promote the further commercialization of culture.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, the lives of the lower classes in the early 20th century were already hard enough. Fantastic literature and comics can at least numb the minds of some people and provide them with a spiritual haven.

At the same time, this can also undermine the social status of traditional literati and make them no longer so high and mighty.

This is also an important reason why pulp novels and comics are very popular in East Africa today. Anyway, the East African government can claim that this is part of "freedom of speech" and "marketization", and a reflection of the inclusiveness and progress of East African society.

Moreover, this has indeed caused some ordinary people who do not have much cultural literacy to become writers and change their destiny, which is also a manifestation of social progress.

In addition to these reasons, in Ernst's view, this is also a means of resisting the expansion of the "cancer" ideas of the bourgeoisie and the Labour Party in East Africa.

Providing a large number of low-quality cultural products can dazzle the people of East Africa to a certain extent. Just like the browsers of later generations, a large amount of junk information can bury the real and effective information.

The Rhine royal family and the East African government do not need too many "smart people". They will not learn from the Soviet Union and try to improve the literacy of all the people and train everyone to be "perfect people" with both academic knowledge and talent. This is neither possible nor worth the effort.

For most ordinary people, sometimes living too clearly also means more pain. In this way, life is already difficult, and with the mental torture, it becomes even more painful.

(End of this chapter)