Xue Biqun, a popular public intellectual known as Xue Manzi on Sina Weibo, recently became embroiled in a prostitution scandal. There are still some voices on the Internet defending him, criticizing State-run media for overexposing details of his misdeed, which they think, has violated Xue's right to privacy. However, once Xue's case was first reported, the same voices accused police of "fabricating facts," and asked for "the right to know." Now they are changing arguments again and claiming that Xue is being further "persecuted."

Right now, there are two cases in the public spotlight - Li Tianyi's rape trial and Xue's sex case. As a minor, Li is having a closed-door trial according to the law. But public opinion has no intention of allowing it to be low profile. While Xue, a well-known adult who should be in the spotlight, is labeled a "victim" of overexposure according to some opposing voices. A confusing sort of logic has been formed.

In fact, Li's trial has triggered sensations at different levels of society, which makes it much more complicated than Xue's case. However, some people are rigidly drawing distinctions between Xue's civic attitudes and personal virtues, alleging that Xue's detention is a political decision made by the authorities which is dedicated to cracking down on "free speech." What they have left out is the basic fact that Xue is accused of crimes and the police are taking legal action.

Such aggressive voices can't be persuaded. They have formed a camp, which aims to fight China's mainstream ideology in the sphere of public opinion in order to acquire "legitimacy" in such a fight. By doing so, they wish for immunity from legal punishment regardless of how far they might go.

China's public opinion has been advancing in a much more open and diverse manner in recent years. But all of society is still unclear about where we should draw the boundaries for its expansion. Regretfully, the opposition camp advocates unlimited diversification. Political opposition would come later.

It should be pointed out that diverse public opinion shall not go against China's constitution so that it can oppose the CPC's leadership and socialism. Such opposition can only become an illusion.

Diverse public opinion is valuable for expressing opinions freely on the Internet. The diversification of public opinion should act as a contributor instead of a saboteur of China's development. That "opposition," if it daydreams about subversion, will be met with powerful resistance.

These opposing voices in public opinion have overestimated their strength and miscalculated that complaints and resentment in society can be accumulated as a resource to build up "political opposition."

In fact, the government is more closely related to China's grass-roots society, which makes the government have its own concerns over these complaints and this resentment.

In addition, these opposing voices in public opinion should know restraint and return to rationality.

The police arrested Xue using a sound legal basis.

These voices, who criticize the police, should be aware that they have converged with Western forces that are hostile to China.

Xue's case is just a public security case, which should not be escalated to be the frontline of confronting China's legal system. Rationality must prevail.