Original Text:邹忌修八尺有馀，身体昳丽。朝服衣冠窥镜，谓其妻曰：“我孰与城北徐公美？”其妻曰：“君美甚，徐公何能及公也！”城北徐公，齐国之美丽者也。忌不自信， 而复问其妾曰：“吾孰与徐公美？”妾曰：“徐公何能及君也！”旦日客从外来，与坐谈，问之客曰：“吾与徐公孰美？”客曰：“徐公不若君之美也！”明日，徐 公来。孰视之，自以为不如；窥镜而自视，又弗如远甚。暮，寝而思之曰：“吾妻之美我者，私我也；妾之美我者，畏我也；客之美我者，欲有求于我也。”于是入 朝见威王曰：“臣诚知不如徐公美，臣之妻私臣，臣之妾畏臣，臣之客欲有求于臣，皆以美于徐公。今齐地方千里，百二十城，宫妇左右，莫不私王；朝廷之臣，莫 不畏王；四境之内，莫不有求于王。由此观之，王之蔽甚矣！”王曰：“善。”乃下令：“群臣吏民，能面刺寡人之过者，受上赏；上书谏寡人者，受中赏；能谤议 于市朝，闻寡人之耳者，受下赏。”令初下，群臣进谏，门庭若市。数月之后，时时而间进。期年之后，虽欲言，无可进者。燕、赵、韩、魏闻之，皆朝于齐。此所 谓战胜于朝廷。
Zou Ji was afraid of honesty and criticism, he intimidated everyone around him into flattering him and pretending to love everything he said.
One day, he began to fear that Xu Gong, a man in a neighboring country, was hotter than him.
Zou Ji himself was gorgeous, tall, slender, and elegant, with long hair and a fluttering mustache.
But, everyone was talking about Xu Gong now, he was on all the covers of the teen mags, next to Prince William, and all the hotties from the Disney Channel.
Zou Ji began to grow weak after a few weeks, not eating because just thinking of Xu Gong made him fell fat.
He asked his wife who was prettier, him or Xu Gong, his wife said that he, Zou Ji, was wayyyy hotter than Xu Gong.
Zou Ji didn't trust her, so he asked his mistress, who said the same thing, than he asked all of his staff, including the interns, who said the same thing.
But he just couldn't trust all these people who felt obligated to tell him what he wanted to hear. He grew weaker, living on one protein bar a day.
Than a visitor from another country came, and Zou Ji, tried again with the question. The visitor said the same thing as everyone else. Zou Ji decided that the visitor was just flattering him because the visitor wanted something from him.
Finally he went to the prime minister and said, "Everyone says I'm hotter than Xu Gong, but they're all just doing it to keep me on their good side."
The Prime Minister nodded wisely, "An important matter, a most urgent dilemma."
Than, Zou Ji decided that he would institute a year long policy of open criticism free from prosecution or negative consequences.
All the people of Zou Ji's country came forth and voiced their criticism, and Zou Ji found that they had no interest in his or Xu Gong's appearance, rather, they wanted improvement in their living conditions, public infrastructure, economic development, and educational opportunities.
Zou Ji just let them vent, and after five months, they were done. Now they felt like they had got something, and the Prime Minister didn't need to really deal much with their complaints, or worry about them revolting because of unaddressed grievances.
All the neighboring kingdoms realized this was a way of placating the populace without dealing with their problems, it allowed them to do things the way they always had, pacify the people, and look magnanimous. Eventually, all the neighboring set up special complaint hotlines, were their complaints and problems were listened to and disregarded.
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