Lin Sizhi paused for a moment, then continued, "Let me ask you, suppose there's a dictator who controls everything, and they claim to have no private property, like an emperor declaring they are very frugal, 'owning no more than eight sets of clothes for all seasons.' Would you feel touched or find it ridiculous?"
Qin Yao thought for a moment, "I'd find it ridiculous.
"Because for a dictator, they don't need any private property; the entire country is their private property.
"Power is more valuable than wealth. Once they have absolute power, whether or not they acquire wealth depends solely on whether they want to."
Lin Sizhi nodded in approval, "Hmm? Not bad, you're a bit smarter than I thought."
Qin Yao was a little annoyed, "I wasn't that dumb to begin with!
"But, this is a completely different situation from our community, isn't it?
"Fu Chen and Li Renshu, no matter how you look at it, are very far from being dictators or emperors, right? You can't use such an extreme case to argue your point, that's a slippery slope fallacy."
Lin Sizhi explained, "Yes, the degree is different, so they can't be compared.
"What I'm trying to say is that influence within the community, or to take it a step further, power, is also one of their hidden incomes. And this income is actually far more precious than visa time."
Qin Yao frowned deeply, "I understand they have influence, but where is the power?
"They can propose motions, but ultimately, it still requires a vote to be implemented.
"If it infringes on the interests of the majority, then the majority will definitely vote against it, and the motion won't pass.
"Not only that, once they propose a motion that infringes on the majority's interests, everyone will see their true colors, and they'll be shunned by all, like rats in the street.
"Then all the influence they've accumulated will vanish into thin air. Wouldn't all their effort be for nothing?"
Lin Sizhi nodded, "That's right, what you said is a possibility. But in reality, this issue is more complex than you imagine.
"How could a smart politician make such a low-level mistake?
"They would use some natural, imperceptible methods to easily influence the thoughts of the majority, and smoothly push for what they want to do.
"You have to know, the acquisition of power isn't a direct jump from 0 to 1; there are intermediate states.
"Similarly, a person doesn't go from being a nobody with no influence to a dictator who can decide everyone's fate by jumping from 0 to 1. It's accumulated bit by bit.
"You might find this hard to understand, so let me give you a more specific example.
"This morning, if we had voted directly to select a new member, how many people do you think would have voted 'yes' for the 'young male doctor' without hesitation?"
Qin Yao recalled carefully, "Probably... three or four votes at most. At that time, some people were clearly against this proposal, and there were many other options, like a chef, a nurse, a female doctor, and so on. Even when I mentioned a special forces soldier, two or three people nodded.
"Most people weren't opposed to the 'young male doctor' option, but they weren't particularly in favor of it either.
"So, if we had voted directly, these people might have subconsciously voted 'no' first to reject the motion, and then discussed it slowly."
Lin Sizhi paused, then continued, "But by the evening, the vote count became 8.
"Could it be that during the time from morning to evening, everyone, after thinking independently, suddenly and coincidentally unified their thoughts, all agreeing that a young male doctor was better?"
This question left Qin Yao a bit stumped.
Because from an intuitive perspective, that's exactly what seemed to have happened.
In the morning, everyone was speaking their minds freely, but in the evening, the motion passed smoothly with 8 votes without much argument.
"Lawyer Lin, are you saying that between morning and evening, there were actually many small groups I didn't know about that had discussed this privately and already reached a consensus? And the evening meeting was just a formality?"
Lin Sizhi shook his head repeatedly, "No, no, no, you've got it all wrong.
"The kind of private collusion among small groups you're talking about could happen, but not now.
"Because that kind of collusion would only produce two or three different options, triggering even greater controversy, and would be unlikely to form a unified opinion.
"The fact that the motion passed so smoothly in the evening precisely indicates that our community currently has only one relatively well-organized small group, which is the one Li Renshu belongs to."
Qin Yao was even more puzzled, "But that small group has at most three to five people, right? Where did the other four votes come from?"
Lin Sizhi smiled, "Very good, we're finally getting to the key issue.
"Those four votes could originally be seen as 'swing votes,' meaning they weren't sure which option to vote for. They might have thought an older male doctor was good, or a female nurse, or even a chef.
"But when it came time to vote, they were no longer wavering.
"To make them change like that, you don't need private persuasion at all. That would be too deliberate and could easily arouse suspicion.
"You only need to guide them a little during the meeting to make them change their minds.
"They might even feel that choosing the young male doctor was their own idea.
"And this kind of influence, which can also be understood as power, is the hidden income that the organizers of our community gain through each discussion of motions."
Qin Yao felt a bit dizzy, "Sorry, Lawyer Lin, I still don't get it. I didn't feel there was anything wrong with the procedure when Li Renshu was chairing the discussion."
Lin Sizhi explained, "The proposal of motions, the selection of motions, the order of discussion for motions—these seemingly trivial steps can actually influence the outcome of the discussion.
"A very simple question: why were the three motions discussed together?
"Li Renshu's reason was to save time, but in reality, we have plenty of time.
"Only the issue of recruiting a new member needed to be decided before tomorrow morning. The supplementary rules for the community security fund and the rules for medical supplies could have been implemented five or ten days later without any issue.
"However, bundling these three motions together for discussion has an additional effect:
"The first two motions were very comprehensive and in the interest of the vast majority of the community. It could be said there was absolutely no room for opposition, and they were highly likely to pass unanimously.
"And in the process of discussing these two motions, because no one objected, Li Renshu was able to establish a kind of 'temporary authority,' making people feel that she had considered all aspects and that her words and choices were the optimal solution.
"In this atmosphere, we began the discussion of the third motion.
"On top of the two reasons originally proposed by Cai Zhiyuan, Li Renshu added a third one: that we also need to consider the moral character of the new member, and that young doctors naturally have a higher moral standard.
"Combined with her previously established authority, this seemed particularly persuasive.
"But think about it now, is it a statistically supported fact that older doctors are more likely to have issues with medical ethics and moral character? Even if it is a fact, is the probability deviation large enough that we must take it into consideration?
"Of course, I'm not saying that an older doctor is necessarily a better choice. All discussions are just about a hypothetical possibility. I'm just emphasizing the issue of selection criteria.
"Is this a single criterion, or a set of multiple criteria?
"If it's a set of multiple criteria, then who decides the weight of each criterion?
"Li Renshu's words certainly had an element of 'going with the flow'; overall, she catered to the demands of the majority, but this demand actually has a lot of ambiguity.
"To put it another way, suppose what Li Renshu wanted right now was an older doctor. Could she, by changing some of her wording, have also managed to get 7 votes of approval and pass it?"