The flagellants are practitioners of an extreme form of mortification of their own flesh by whipping it with various instruments.  It was most notably a fourteenth-century movement within the Catholic Church.  It served as a sort of self-inflicted penance for the practitioners — penance for sins actual and imagined.

There is a Chinese word, baizou (pronounced "bye-tsaw"), which refers insultingly to educated Western people who advocate for peace and equality only to satisfy their own feelings of moral superiority.  They condemn their nation's past behaviors and promote tearing down statues of their historical heroes.  They advocate for minorities, illegal immigration, LGBT, and the environment.  They are obsessed with political correctness and have no tolerance for dissenting views.  Does that sound like anyone you know?  It  would seem an accurate translation of baizou would be "liberal-progressive."

The Chinese have nothing but contempt for this type of behavior and ideology.  While they are undeniably heavy-handed regarding most issues, the Chinese government has its head screwed on straight regarding any of this behavior.  Whether by edict or inherent national pride, it simply does not exist within their borders.

Meanwhile, the United States has officially adopted this self-loathing by electing the Biden-Harris ticket.  Every day's headlines bring us more examples of our baizou government's policies, be it inviting illegals to flood our southern border or placing an individual in a Cabinet position with little to recommend him (her?) other than transgenderism.  While it is unlikely that Biden has a whipping belt in his closet or sleeps on the floor of his White House quarters, he has nonetheless signed on to the left's negative obsessions with our nation's past. 

Our Chinese friends are eating our lunch, and we seem to constantly be looking for ways to make it easier for them to do so.  Their respect, tempered by fear, of Donald Trump has been replaced by total derision toward Joe Biden.

Even across the thousands of miles separating us, the sound of Chinese laughter directed at our idiotic behavior can be heard.  It is unlikely that "leadership" of the type we now possess will be able to reverse this tide of Chinese superiority.  Baizou might well translate into English, but I'd wager that "woke" has no Chinese equivalent.

Image: Goya.