“You can evade reality, but you cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.” – This aphorism by philosopher‑novelist Ayn Rand is often quoted, because it precisely captures the delusion of those who think they can rely on moral posturing to exempt themselves from the logic of reality. People can advocate ideals and criticise reality, but the law of cause and effect does not stop working for their sake. This is perhaps the most direct critique of utopian altruism.
If “public intellectuals” refers to a specific social group, then “Baizuo” is a broader label applied to Western liberals. Baizuo thinking differs from traditional left‑wing thinking: the old left focused mainly on economic issues, whereas Baizuo has shifted toward a socio‑cultural leftism that concentrates on supporting new immigrants, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ groups (sexual minorities), environmentalism and animal rights. Their arguments begin from a sense of moral superiority: they see themselves as above everyone else and regard the traditional right who oppose them as ignorant bumpkins of low intellectual calibre.
I should first confess that when I was young, I also had somewhat left‑leaning tendencies, though they were more of the economic‑left kind. In recent years, a wave of socio‑cultural leftism has emerged in the West, and at the beginning I maintained an open and respectful attitude toward the rights of various minorities, but in recent years the Baizuo trend in the US and the broader West has gone badly off track. Take the United States as an example: originally about 50% of people leaned slightly to the right and 50% leaned slightly to the left, but policies pushed by Baizuo politicians have magnified the rights of the 1% of minorities into legal obligations that everyone must comply with, becoming more and more extreme. For instance, nurseries in the United Kingdom are not allowed to refuse paid storytelling sessions by “cross‑dressing groups”, which elevates minority rights into a realm of legal norms that the general public must obey.
Of course, Baizuo thinking and radical political resistance are twin siblings that often appear together. Two examples – one foreign, one local – are worth discussing.
The Black Snow White
Disney’s live‑action remake of Snow White ended up a disastrous box‑office failure. The classic animated film adaptation, released in March 2025, ultimately racked up production costs of as much as 340 million US dollars, making it one of the most expensive productions in film history, but it only grossed 210 million US dollars worldwide. In the mainland Chinese market, the film took in just 9.24 million yuan at the box office, and its Douban rating sank as low as 4.0. After factoring in other costs, Disney suffered a huge loss of about 170 million US dollars, turning the film into a Waterloo moment for the studio.
The most controversial aspect of the film was the casting of Latina actress Rachel Zegler as Snow White. This was clearly a politically correct choice influenced by Baizuo thinking, yet it clashed sharply with the feel of the original character. Zegler’s flamboyant personal style amplified the public‑relations crisis. During promotion she claimed that the 1937 animated original was outdated, in an attempt to justify casting a non‑white actress as Snow White. She then free‑styled further, describing the prince as a “stalker”, which triggered strong backlash and boycotts among audiences with more traditional views. An actress with a “princess syndrome” only deepened the disaster for this princess movie.
In addition, to avoid reinforcing stereotypes of the dwarf community, Disney used CGI to animate the seven dwarfs instead of hiring actors with dwarfism. Although this was originally meant as a sign of respect, it prompted collective protests from dwarf actors, who argued that this actually deprived them of acting opportunities. This is a classic example of well‑intentioned efforts gone wrong.
Some say Disney is merely ideologically progressive and therefore not at fault. In reality, the production team’s mistake lay in losing touch with reality and misjudging society’s appetite for political correctness, as well as misreading audience reactions. Disney had another option: if it felt that casting a white actress as Snow White posed major problems, it could have chosen simply not to make the film. Disney did have a choice and now must pay the price for making a wrong choice detached from reality.
The fugitive who ruined her father
Fugitive activist Anna Kwok, who is wanted by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force, asked her father to help her cash in a savings‑type insurance policy, leading to his prosecution under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance for the offence of “attempting to deal with property representing proceeds of an abscondee”. On 11 February, her father was convicted.
After the verdict, Kwok posted online claiming that her father’s conviction was “only because he is my father”. This is pure buck‑passing. Hong Kong has many fugitives, and not a few are linked to national security cases, yet very few of their parents have been arrested and convicted; her father is an exception, not the rule.
Kwok’s father was charged because she had signed a document instructing him to cancel the policy and withdraw the remaining 90,000 dollars. Despite being fully aware that her assets were frozen and unavailable for use, she instructed her father to act on her behalf. As for the father, his criminal intent was also obvious: the document signed by Kwok was an old version and no longer valid, yet he still signed on her behalf on the new version and on the broker’s tablet computer in order to retrieve the policy balance. The criminal act and intent were clear, and he was consequently found guilty.
The most striking feature of Kwok’s behaviour is her claim that all problems are caused by others while she herself is spotless. The reality is that she has repeatedly made mistakes and continually dragged others down, ultimately pulling her own family into the quagmire.
Broadening the lens, Baizuo thinking has spread across the US and the wider Western world. It began as social concern that many people supported, but gradually mutated into an activist defence of extreme minority rights. The attitude toward these groups shifted from respect, to statutory protection, and finally to treating them as the social mainstream. In truth, parties like the US Democrats, in order to win the votes of what they see as the decisive 1% of extremist groups, have pushed everything to an absurd extreme.
The clearest way Baizuo politicians “cause collateral damage” is by stoking intense resentment among ordinary voters and opening Pandora’s box – ushering in Donald Trump. Even some Democratic supporters could no longer tolerate these extreme Baizuo trends and ended up switching to Trump; one could say they “turned right because the left went too far”, which is deeply ironic.
Let me end with another line from Ayn Rand as a piece of advice to Baizuo types: “Face reality. Whether you evade it or confront it, reality is always there, unchanged.”
Lo Wing‑hung
Bastille Commentary
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
