Xu Lanzhou created quite a stir with Xiang Fei, and Bai Zhongqi learned about it very quickly. He could only respond with a smile and didn't take it particularly seriously. In fact, over the past two years, the influence of this group had far diminished compared to its former prominence.
When social networks had just opened their gates, this group quickly became the trend and exerted significant influence. Yet now, the GZJYs were increasingly struggling.
Bai Zhongqi had once seen an exposition by someone from the Fang Family online—the typical rhetoric of this group involved making comparisons and prescribing solutions. There were discussions about the various issues in Country C, how poorly its citizens lived, or some inherent flaws, and then compared them to the bright and ample moon of the Western world.
If you asked why there was such a disparity, naturally, it was because of the differences in ideology and systems!
Then, this group would start prescribing solutions—if you want to live as well as the Western commons, with large villas, personal cars, and various welfare benefits, then you should adopt their set of practices.
However, this method hadn't been very effective in recent years. Country C had grown into the world's second-largest economy and continued to maintain high growth rates. The standard of living for its people had also changed dramatically. Moreover, as netizens had seen more and been enlightened, these little tricks were becoming less effective.
As a result, without any substantial change and finding it harder to get by, the GZJYs of recent years had degenerated into clowns who caused trouble with insults and rumors. As a well-known professor from the People's University had said, the intellectual community of Country C masked the strategic rise of Country C with its own pettiness and superficiality.
Xu Lanzhou, having received no satisfactory response from Xiang Fei, turned to Bai Zhongqi. This Universe Army Commander, after all, was still young and due to his personality, was bothered by such matters.
In a resolute tone, Xu Lanzhou said to Bai Zhongqi, "Your Majesty, I can appreciate your merciful and benevolent heart. But a great nation should have its great people. We want to absorb Country C into the Star Alliance and make it an arm of the Empire, and I am willing to be your vanguard, supporting Your Majesty's intentions.
But Iridium Star has no obligation to those nationals who do not embrace their own country, nor the responsibility to let them enjoy the benefits that come with international sacrifice."
Bai Zhongqi was somewhat intrigued; the concept that Xu Lanzhou mentioned, the duality of nation and people, was actually part of the millennia-old values of Iridium Star. The root of this concept could also be found on Earth—it is the dialectical unity of rights and obligations.
That is, the nation provides public services and various welfare benefits to citizens, and citizens likewise have the obligation to recognize, support, and protect their country.
This differed from the singular responsibility of the state towards the people on Earth. Bai Zhongqi had analyzed the difference, which was fundamentally because the Earth's states were all maintained by civil taxation, whereas the United Empire of Iridium Star was essentially established upon the Supreme Command.
The resources of Iridium Star were not solely sourced from the labor provided by its citizens, and the wealth of Iridium Star wasn't purely from citizen taxation; rather, taxation was a very small part of Iridium Star's finances.
The citizens constitute the nation, the nation serves the citizens, and the citizens serve the nation, forming a two-way relationship. Therefore, on this basis, citizens opposing or even rejecting the operation of the nation seemed to Xu Lanzhou not just a matter of gross impropriety but also foolishness.
Deep down, Bai Zhongqi also felt some displeasure; after all, he wasn't a self-righteous Buddha nor a holy mother who sought no recompense.
In the future, the Star Alliance would provide enormous benefits to the people of Country C; they would gain lifespans over a hundred years long, be basically free from the torment of disease, enjoy richer material life and life experiences, and be exposed to more knowledge and entertainment.
And these things were unrelated to the efforts of the people of Country C themselves; to put it bluntly, they were bestowed upon them by Bai Zhongqi.
Therefore, if someone was neither grateful for this nor spread anything but nonsense and mindless denigration of the benefactor, creating negative energy and discord in society, even colluding with foreigners to betray their country's interests,
This was intolerable!
After thinking for a moment, Bai Zhongqi said, "These people are like fleas, it's vexing to stoop to their level, but if they don't cherish this opportunity, let them realize how foolish they are. Use artificial intelligence to check for any Iridium Star-related rumors being spread, and inform Country C to arrest and deal with those responsible.
Once we've joined the Alliance, we'll ship this lot off to the barbaric planets to reflect on their behavior."
He paused for a moment and then added, "Becoming a citizen of the Star Alliance is not something we force upon them.
We overlooked this point before; now, let's urgently add it to the Star Alliance's charter—a citizen of the Star Alliance has the right to enjoy the various welfare benefits and public services provided by the Star Alliance, and has the obligation to support the existence and operation of the Star Alliance.
If they can't accept this, they can sign a declaration forfeiting their Star Alliance citizen status."
Xu Lanzhou still felt that Bai Zhongqi's punishment was rather light, but he didn't realize that Bai Zhongqi, with just a few words, had such a profound impact on the world.
Country C, upon learning that Iridium Star was dissatisfied with some irresponsible comments on Country C's internet, implemented existing regulations with incredible efficiency.
Previously, because of the internet's ability to shield identities, many believed that they could say anything online without accountability. However, Iridium Star's technology made it so that everyone's statements in Country C were directly traceable back to themselves.
Of course, normal banter and critical comments would not be limited. Those hit were the fabricated rumors and the paid commenters online from foreign IPs. In an instant, these people were terrified and on edge, and even the internet hype teams and water armies hired by the entertainment circles were rounded up.
Those who were mainly responsible for creating rumors and false information were duly prosecuted, while those who spread rumors, whether intentionally or unintentionally, were given a warning. This so-called "Crackdown on Falsehoods" targeted culprits regardless of stance, punishing any legal transgressions.
For a time, the major Chinese-language networking platforms surprisingly became clear and free from contaminated content. While those holding different values and ideological systems continued to fight in their own ways, the excessive and false content was completely withdrawn from the internet.
This allowed many netizens, who had long suffered from the murky atmosphere online, to breathe as if they had been living in smog and suddenly could breathe freely. The alarmingly fake news that friends and family used to share frequently in their circles also vanished, leaving parents feeling empty because they no longer had toxic content to post.