Do Ordinary People’s Stories Still Have a Place?
Recorded in Chinese
Where do ordinary people’s stories fit in the media I follow? I question my own listening preferences and consider how platforms, education, and resources shape whose voices get heard.
00:00 There's something everyone knows:
00:03 narratives today
00:07 have largely become centered on elites.
00:11 People can see that
00:12 podcasts, books, and films
00:16 are largely controlled by highly educated groups.
00:22 If ordinary people's stories have a home,
00:25 perhaps it's
00:28 in video—
00:30 short-form video,
00:32 fashion content,
00:34 or... where else?
00:40 In any case,
00:41 most fields I follow
00:44 are spaces occupied by highly educated people.
00:47 Spaces for ordinary people's stories
00:49 are quite rare.
00:52 Take podcasts.
00:56 If you listen to many,
01:00 you'll find that this space
01:03 gives ordinary people
01:06 very little voice.
01:10 They're suited only to being listeners.
01:13 Even if they try to speak,
01:17 they receive little attention.
01:21 Partly,
01:23 speaking as a listener,
01:25 I naturally want to hear
01:29 content with more knowledge in it.
01:32 If I follow AI,
01:35 I want what someone says about AI
01:37 to expand the edges of what I don't know.
01:44 If I follow film,
01:46 I likewise want
01:48 what someone says about it
01:50 to be more than information
01:54 I could find by browsing
01:55 or by briefly asking AI
01:57 for an answer.
01:59 I want them to offer a perspective
02:02 I've never encountered,
02:04 never expected—
02:06 something that surprises me.
02:08 Anyone who can do that
02:11 will inevitably be someone
02:12 who has studied the field deeply
02:15 and explored it widely.
02:17 People like that
02:19 do exist among ordinary people,
02:21 of course,
02:22 but they are ultimately a minority.
02:25 That means
02:26 even if an ordinary person
02:28 tries
02:31 to discuss a field that interests me,
02:34 it still may not appeal to me.
02:38 Maybe I'm an unusual case.
02:41 What about others?
02:43 I don't know what people
02:47 might listen to in audio.
02:50 Perhaps some
02:51 find a story very real,
02:56 feel moved by it,
02:58 and want to listen.
03:01 Or maybe they sense sincerity
03:03 in the speaker
03:05 and want to follow them.
03:08 Or perhaps they're gathering material from life
03:12 and want to hear about others.
03:15 We all live in this world,
03:18 and there will certainly be people
03:20 who live and see differently.
03:22 They may want to see
03:24 what those people's lives are like,
03:27 what their perspectives are,
03:29 and how they understand
03:32 what happens to them.
03:39 Anyway, I don't know
03:42 how to explain this.
03:48 I've always felt
03:50 ordinary people have perspectives too.
03:52 But they truly lack
03:54 a medium,
03:59 a platform, or an intermediary
04:02 to build that bridge for them.
04:06 Think of the ordinary people
04:09 we've seen in videos
04:11 or documentaries.
04:13 Their stories
04:15 usually aren't told by themselves.
04:18 They're revealed through someone's camera
04:20 and someone else's questions.
04:25 I...
04:27 how should I put it?
04:29 I don't know why
04:30 I have thoughts like these.
04:33 It's just that...
04:37 Hmm.
04:38 Platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou
04:42 gave
04:44 many ordinary people
04:46 a place to express themselves.
04:49 Some people do
04:51 create and share
04:54 on these platforms,
04:56 even though they never
04:57 post on WeChat Moments.
04:59 For people like that,
05:02 these platforms
05:04 become a place that holds them—
05:06 whether holding
05:09 pieces of their daily lives
05:11 or words
05:14 those around them didn't understand.
05:16 This is one source
05:20 of these platforms' value.
05:22 They create many
05:24 channels for people to express themselves.
05:26 Before those channels existed,
05:30 people didn't know they needed them.
05:34 But once they appeared,
05:36 they added many possibilities to people's lives.
05:42 We often
05:43 call some of these "lower-tier platforms."
05:49 I find that term
05:51 really
05:53 very unreasonable.
05:57 What kind of concept
06:01 or prejudice
06:03 classifies platforms that way?
06:09 Maybe it's an inevitable social phenomenon.
06:13 Just as classes exist,
06:16 people too
06:18 get divided into groups.
06:24 It may not be deliberate.
06:26 Rather, while living within it,
06:30 we naturally form this structure.
06:33 I seek communities
06:39 that suit me and make me comfortable.
06:42 Others do too.
06:45 So what counts as "suitable"?
06:48 What makes me comfortable?
06:52 It depends on the people.
06:55 So different people
06:58 do not actively choose different groups.
07:02 Their groups are determined by all they've accumulated.
07:08 And that accumulation
07:10 comes precisely from
07:12 the education they've received
07:15 and the resources and connections around them.