When I first arrived in Washington, I lived in a Chinese immigrant home in the northern suburbs of Virginia. The host works in a federal agency, not far from where I work, and often kindly drove me. One morning, the air was fresh and the sun was shining brightly, and we chatted in the car. The landlord's eldest brother brought up a spy case reported by the US media a few years ago. The protagonist of the case is Hansen, a senior agent of the FBI. He began selling intelligence to the Russians in the mid-1980s and worked until 2001. It is said that Hansen used the reward in exchange to please a stripper. This former intelligence agent, currently in solitary confinement in a Colorado prison, had previously lived in the northern suburbs of Florida where we live.
Agents, intelligence, treason, strippers, my brain was full of imagination for a moment, and I seemed to see Hansen driving past us, pretending to inadvertently throw the intelligence package into a trash can on the side of the road. Of course, I was not the only one who inspired the imagination of this story, so there was the Hollywood movie "Breach" (Breach) based on this case. Hansen in the film is of course much shrewd and sophisticated than I thought. It was also a fresh and bright morning, he stepped into a park with little people, and carefully hid the information under the bridge in the park. I don't want all of this to fall into a telescope in the distance. The FBI agents swarmed, and Hansen was tortured.
In Cantonese, the traitors of one's side or the spies sent by the other party are collectively referred to as "inner ghosts". Friends who have watched "Infernal Affairs" are no strangers to this. Seeing the text is right, the inner ghost can be explained as the inner ghost, or it can be said that someone inside is making a ghost. Also derogatory is the term "secret", which is more written and neutral called "spy" and "undercover". No matter what the name is, the inner ghosts are a very special group of people in this world: they live in lies all day, rely on deception to live their lives, seem to be loyal to one organization, but secretly serve another organization. Living in this environment for a long time, the inner ghost may suffer from schizophrenia. In "Infernal Affairs", the police officer who broke into the undercover gang had to turn to a psychologist and complained to his boss. The young assistant sent to monitor Hansen in "Double Agents" also resigned after his boss was arrested because he could not bear the pressure. The inner ghosts who are in the heart of Cao Yingxin and Han are switching between the two faces for a long time, and they must have a certain behavioral logic that is consistent, at least self-justified, in order to maintain this special personality for a long time.
From the perspective of utilitarianism, the starting point of the logic of inner ghost behavior is nothing more than personal interests or group interests. As far as pure material benefits are concerned, the profession of inner ghost is not the best choice, because the risk is too great. Once the East Window incident occurs, thousands of people refer to life imprisonment, and it is very likely to catch up with life. If the intelligence and dexterity are already competent for the work of the inner ghost, it is better to do something else, and the money will be faster and more secure. Even if you still stay in the intelligence community, you are not as good as a professional intelligence dealer, like the manor owner in the movie "Munich"-do it if you have a deal, let him die or die. Some inner ghosts’ motives for rebellion were more or less retaliatory against the organization they belonged to. For example, after Zhang Guotao failed in the political struggle within the Communist Party, he turned to the Kuomintang. "In the American film "The Three Hundred Spartans", there is a traitor with an extremely ugly appearance. It is also because it is not reused by the Greeks and provides information to the Persians in despair. In Hansen's case, he probably had a little bit of both motives.
If you are loyal to the interests of the group, the logic of the inner ghost's behavior is a bit complicated, and it can even be extended to the height of political philosophy. I once heard that before and after World War II, some British leftist intellectuals who believed in communism took the initiative to provide intelligence to the Soviets. Although this is sheer treason, their actions are not only unselfish, but also reflect the noble spirit of dedication to the cause of human progress-no matter how stupid they seem today. Hansen is certainly not in this case. As a Catholic, he not only did not believe in communism, but also attributed the collapse of the Soviet Union to atheism ("Godless"). Another type of group interest does not involve fundamental ideological judgments, such as competition between gangs, companies, ethnic groups, or nation-states. Everyone is in the arena and each is the owner. "Double Agents" deliberately beautifies American intelligence personnel on this point, as if they are purely thinking about fighting for the value of freedom. We do not like the totalitarian system of the former Soviet Union, but this regime does have the function of safeguarding Russia’s national interests. The KGB agent who was betrayed by Hansen also sold intelligence to the FBI; and the FBI also bought KGB insiders and betrayed Hansen. This is how the world works. In terms of morality, you can hardly say that the FBI is much better than the KGB. Isn't Hansen of the KGB not Hansen?
For group interests involving equal competition, we can only compare the justice of the inner ghost's actions from the perspective of one party. However, within a group, a universal ethical evaluation standard should still exist, which is why the undercover policeman in "Infernal Affairs" will arouse us more sympathy, because we know that his work serves all citizens. The interests of others, not just some gang brothers. In the German film "Eavesdropping Storm", the East German secret police conscience discovered that concealing intelligence and protecting the objects he monitored was also out of a sense of justice that transcended party groups. (Although I prefer to believe that the protagonist did this because he fell in love with the actress. I hope it’s the villain’s heart that saves the gentleman’s belly.) Within the scope of the ethical application of universalism, the inner ghost can be upright and upright. Do sneaky things.
After watching "Double Agents", I said to my neighbor: "I won't do this for how much money you give me." Fortunately, the problem of the inner ghost is not my problem.
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