The unjust jailing of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, as well as the unjust re-sentencing of 13 young demonstrators from the New Territories Northeast protest back in 2014 – with prior arrests and incarcerations of countless young protesters from the Umbrella Revolution in 2014 and the subsequent demonstrations up until the so-called Fish-ball Revolution in 2016 as the backdrop – have highlighted the biggest illness plaguing Hong Kong today. Some have coined the term “Cronus Syndrome” to describe this disturbing phenomenon, and this psychological disorder has infected China, the Hong Kong SAR establishment, the pan-democrats, and the general populace.
The name comes from ancient Greek mythology, whereby the Titan named Cronus – who himself had murdered his father Uranus – was scared of a prophecy that one of his progeny would one day usurp his throne and rule over the Titans. To prevent this prophecy from ever occurring, Cronus devoured each and every baby that his wife, the Titaness Rhea, gave birth to. Thus some people used Cronus’ name to coin the term for the psychological disorder in which an older person or an entire generation would perceive the younger ones as trying to take over the world that they helped create, to the point where the former would harm the latter in order to prevent their power being “usurped”.
In Hong Kong, this psychological disorder is highly prevalent, particularly among those in the pro-establishment camp who see themselves as the ones that created Hong Kong and would not relinquish control to latter generations, for fear that in doing so “their” Hong Kong would fall to ruin. So they would hold onto everything with an iron fist, forcing the younger generations to love and hold sacred everything the older generations had constructed, even if those constructions and institutions are outdated or detrimental to later generations. Former Hong Kong Secretary of Justice Elsie Leung illustrates this best in her own words, as she lamented how she and her generation can pass Hong Kong society onto a younger generation that is pro-democracy and anti-China.
As they recognize their mortality and eventual demise, the older generations in Hong Kong are forcibly setting up policies for the later generations to follow and indoctrinating the younger generations from birth, so that the former can continue to enslave the latter even after they had passed on. This is the mentality behind the national curriculum propaganda program the pro-China establishment has concocted since 2012. This is also why the establishment and its supporters engineered draconian policies to suppress the upcoming generations, and the most vocal amongst the young ones are jailed, with their future destroyed. It is also why, if one cared to listen to the voices on the streets, the elderly Hong Kongers in general are celebrating the jailing of what they see as young “upstarts” attempting to destroy their well-being.
The irony is, just as Cronus himself had killed his own father Uranus in order to usurp the throne, the elderly themselves had overthrown the ruling generations before them to take power when they were young. Those who belonged to or sympathised with the communist party were once the upstarts that overthrew the previous generations who supported imperial rule and the nationalist era that followed. Those in Hong Kong who supported Chinese overlordship were once seen as troublemakers trying to upset the status quo established by the British and built upon by the local residents. Thus it is hypocritical for them to accuse us, the younger generations, as usurpers, and deny us our right to decide on our future as the next gatekeepers of Hong Kong.
The pan-democrats are not immune from the Cronus Syndrome either, as they too have tried to suppress and oppress the younger generations of activists from upsetting everything the older ones had established. For example, the pan-democrats have railed at the younger Hong Kongers who have grown more vocal in their opposition against the continuation of the Victoria Park Candlelight Vigil to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in China. Using their political and social power, they suppress voices of dissent and new ideas by demonising those voices as enemies.
The prophecy did come true for Cronus, as his son Zeus survived the infanticide with the help of his mother, and then helped his siblings escape from the bowels of their father to wage war upon the Titans. The Olympians eventually overpowered the Titans with the help of the Hecatoncheires (“the hundred handed ones”) who had been imprisoned in hell by Cronus’ father Uranus, and sent Titans under Cronus’ leadership to the deepest layer of hell named Tartarus. Surely this is the fate awaiting the older generations one day soon, as their machinations will not be able to prevent their inevitable demise. Yet, for the younger generations, don’t be so sure of yourselves – Zeus was also told the prophecy that one of his own children would become greater than him, and that child was Athena.
… to be continued in “The Darth Bane Complex”.