Photo courtesy of CTV News.

A sculpture has appeared at the corner of Alderbridge and Elmbridge ways in Richmond, British Columbia, which depicts a miniature happy Chinese Communist dictator, Mao Tse Tung, standing on the gigantic head of Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. The title of the sculpture, “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head,” was created by two brothers from Beijing, and is part of Vancouver’s official Biennale program.

But not everybody is so happy about the artwork. Namely because the two figures being depicted, no matter how the artists justify it, are responsible for the mass murder of millions of people and the proliferation of the communist doctrine which has brought misery and suffering to untold millions.

Yet here’s a city approved project, ready just in time for the Olympic Games, and stationed disturbingly close to the Richmond speed skating oval.

Richmond has a large population of Chinese immigrants, some of whom might find the depiction of Chairman Mao rather offensive. But that hasn’t convinced Richmond city Councillor Darek Dang:

“I certainly think that it would leave the impression this city, this country is an open society, ready to grasp different concepts and different ideas,” he said. The intent, he says, is not to disrespect other cultures, but support freedom of expression.

That’s all well and good to say, but does that mean I can erect a statue of Adolf Hitler because my mother is German and he’s a part of her cultural heritage? How about if I created a statue of Goebbels dancing on the head of Adolf?

It’s particularly troubling that the work of the brothers has been banned even in China. The city of Vancouver has a budget of $75,000 to prepare art sites for various sculptures. This means that this exhibit, depicting two of the most influential communists in history, will be funded by local taxpayers.

This coincides with the recent controversy in the United States, in which the White House Christmas Tree features a famous Andy Warhol picture of Chairman Mao on a tree ornament. This incident sparked a national debate about the public presentation of historically controversial figures, particularly aided by dollars from public institutions and government.

There is also a movement of Canadians who are trying to convince the federal government to erect “A Memorial to Victims of Totalitarian Communism”, and Vladimir Lenin and Chairman Mao played significant roles in the creation of two of the world’s largest communist regimes . The group Tribute To Liberty seeks to create a major commemoration to the victims of totalitarian communism in Ottawa to serve a reminder of the over 100 million victims of communism worldwide. According to the chair of Tribute to Liberty, Alide Forstmanis, over 8 million Canadians can trace their roots to countries that were besieged by totalitarian, repressive communist regimes.

Richmond city council say that it generates debate, which is reflective of our free society. Mr.Dang said, “It is art and art generates conversation, and remember it’s not going to be there forever.”

That is of little solace to the millions of victims worldwide for whom Lenin and Mao represent a malevolent and destructive ideology, the effects of which continue to be felt to this very day.

Gate of Heavenly Piece with Mao and a Chicom Soldier in the background

Christmas Eve 2009

Unny and I explored the Forbidden City and wandered around Tienanmen Square.

We’re in Xi’an now.

Don’t have a lot of time to go through and edit pics and such.  Trying to get out and see the Terra Cotta Warriors and such.

So here’s a quick pic of Unny at the Gate of Heavenly Peace with Mao Zedong.

1. 1417

   1417 – Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) is a symbol of China. It was built in 1417, originally called Cheng Tian Men (Gate of Heavenly Succession), meaning that emperors obeyed the order of Heaven in ruling the country. From China Travel Service-Destination beijing tour beijing guide beijing travel … – Related web pages www.chinats.com/beijing/beijing10.htm

2. 1651

   1651 – An impressive 110 feet tall, Heavenly Peace is the main entrance to Forbidden City, which has been renamed the Palace Museum. Once the walled estate of emperors, only the Emperor himself was permitted to use Tian An Men — guards kept everyone else out. From GameFAQs: Mario is Missing! (SNES) FAQ by Raging_DemonTEN – Related web pages www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588464/9516

3. 1919

   May 4, 1919 – sity on May 4, 1919, to discuss a course of action. What could be done about their government’s unpopular decision to cave in to the Treaty of Versailles? Naively, they expected the Western democracies to respect the sovereignty of their nation rather than indulge …sity on May 4, 1919, to discuss a course of action. What could be done about their government’s unpopular decision to cave in to the Treaty of Versailles? Naively, they expected the Western democracies to respect the sovereignty of their nation rather than indulge in Great Power scheming. Determined to express their frustration at their government’s capitulation, about three thousand Beijing students assembled in the large forecourt of the Forbidden City directly north of … Show more Show less From Quelling the People – Related web pages books.google.com/books?id=xVCqntzw8XMC&pg=PA18 …

4. 1949

   Oct 1, 1949 – Mr Li, then a relatively junior reporter, joined several hundred of the most influential figures of 20th-century China on October 1, 1949, to climb Tiananmen — the Gate of Heavenly Peace — at the entrance to the palace of the emperors. Mr Li, his skin mottled …Mr Li, then a relatively junior reporter, joined several hundred of the most influential figures of 20th-century China on October 1, 1949, to climb Tiananmen — the Gate of Heavenly Peace — at the entrance to the palace of the emperors. Mr Li, his skin mottled with age and his white hair combed carefully back from his temples, is so slight that he is almost engulfed by his armchair. He pulls himself to his feet to greet a rare visitor to the sprawling apartment that was given to … Show more Show less From Retired reporter Li Pu recalls Mao founding People’s Republic of China – … – Related web pages www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia …

5. 1966

   Oct 2, 1966 – Many of those standing proudly on the tribunal under the arching eaves of the Gate of Heavenly Peace must have trembled a little at the harsh tones of their new master. They had come a long way through many battles and over many weary roads to be thus denounced in pub- lic. … From Lin Piao Stridently Dominates Bizarre Peking Celebration – Related web pages pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/485881272 …

6. 1976

   Feb 24, 1976 – PEKING – An old campaigner far from home pressed the flesh of the proletariat in Peking today. Richard Nixon swept through the Gale of Heavenly Peace, shaking hands, tweaking babies and inviting one and all to come visit him in America. what do you want him to be when he grows the … From Nixon politicks at Gate of Heavenly Peace . – Related web pages news.google.com/newspapers?id=2nQuAAAAIBAJ …

7. 1989

   May 27, 1989 – Article: Battering at the gate of heavenly peace. (Tiananmen, includes related articles on economic reform, Chinese army, 1919 revolution and reaction in Hong Kong) … find The Economist (US) articles. Battering at the Gate of Heavenly Peace WHATEVER its resolution, the drama that has … From … : Battering at the gate of heavenly peace. (Tiananmen, includes related … – Related web pages www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-7635807.html?refid …

8. 1995

   Oct 13, 1995 – The most objective study so far of the political storms that swept across China in 1989, “The Gate of Heavenly Peace” has drawn fire both from both the Tiananmen Square dissidents (who say it discredits the movement) and the Chinese government, notes reviewer Emily Mitchell. … From MOVIES . . . THE GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE – Related web pages www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,4898 …

9. 1996

   May 18, 1996 – By KEVIN THOMAS TIMES STAFF WRITER. In watching Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton’s superb three-hour documentary “The Gate of Heavenly Peace,” you have to wonder whether Mao Tse-tung would have created Beijing’s vast Tiananmen Square if he could have foretold the bloody massacre that … From The Gate of Heavenly Peace – Related web pages www.chicagotribune.com/topic/cl-movie960518-3 …

   1999

   Sep 27, 1999 – By MA FENG. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I would be on hand to witness the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China. I had arrived in Beijing from Shanxi province in April 1949, two months after the city had been “liberated,” to attend the first national youth … From TIMEasia.com | Visions of China: Gate of Heavenly Peace | 9/27/99 – Related web pages www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/0927 …

On December 26:

1620 Pilgrim Fathers landed at what became New Plymouth in Massachusetts.

1716  Thomas Gray, English writer, was born.

1780  Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician, was born.

1791 Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor, was born.

1860  The first ever inter-club football match took place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield.

1862 Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover were the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1870 The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps was completed.

 A contemporary illustration of Thespis from The Illustrated London News. 

1879 In Christchurch, 30 Catholic Irishmen attacked an Orange (Protestant) procession with pick-handles, while in Timaru 150 men from Thomas O’Driscoll’s Hibernian Hotel surrounded Orangemen and prevented their procession taking place.

1891 Henry Miller, American writer, was born.

1893 Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician, was born.

1898 Marie and Pierre Curie announced the isolation of radium.

1919   Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox was sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.

1933 FM radio was patented.

1935 Abdul “Duke” Fakir, American singer (The Four Tops), was born.

1940  Phil Spector, American music producer, was born.

1942  Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, Guatemalan president, was born.

1949 José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, Nobel laureate, was born.

1953 Leonel Fernández, Dominican politician and current President of the Dominican Republic.

1953 Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia, was born.

1980 Aeroflot put the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.

1982 Time Magazine’s Man of the Year was for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.

1986 World Population reaches 5 billion according to www.ibiblio.org world population tracker.

1991  The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the USSR.

2003 A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastated southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.

 Arg-é Bam, before the 2003 earthquake.

2004 A 9.0 magnitude earthquake created a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people.

2006 The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hit Taiwan.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

It’s President Obama’s first Christmas at the White House.  Many have been curious to see how he will publicly handle this holiday.  During the election, he often spoke of his conversion to Christianity and the role it played in his life.  Would the White House celebrations take on a religious tone and emphasize the birth of Jesus Christ?  On the other hand, he likes to portray himself as a “citizen of the world.”  Would he go the politically correct route and keep the festivities on a strictly “sparkle season” theme?  As it turns it, he went in a completely different direction.

This year, controversial designer Simon Doonan  was in charge of White House decorations.  He is known mostly for his Christmastime window displays for Barney’s of New York.  Past displays have included Dan Quayle dressed as a ventriloquist’s dummy and Margret Thatcher as a frumpy dominatrix.  Clearly he was hired for his ability to unify and rise above the “divisive politics of the past.”   The question was, what uplifting theme would Doonan bring to the White House?  Faith? Redemption?  Family? Holiday cheer?  No, he decided the best route was to focus on those time-honored Christmas traditions of communism and cross-dressing!  That’s right.  This year, the First Tree features ornaments in the likeness of communist leader Mao Zedong (also  Tse-tung).  Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like the slaughter of 60 million people!  Another original ornament features famous transvestite Hedda Lettuce in full drag.  What Christian doesn’t commemorate the birth of our Savior with the adoration of gender bending icons?  And finally, in a move of indescribable humility, there is an ornament of Mount Rushmore with one face added.  You guessed it!  The messiah of hope, change, and government-run health care has seen fit to celebrate Christmas with a picture of himself chiseled next to the great Presidents of the past.  Now that’s the holiday spirit!

for photos of the ornaments click here

Now what would Christmas be without a Mao ornament on the White House tree?  Call me provincial, but somehow an ornament of a Communist dictator responsible for the deaths of approximately 60 million Chinese strikes me as a tad out of place.

Perhaps it was donated by an admirer of Mao in the Obama administration?  Maybe Anita Dunn, the former White House Communications Director?

If an image of Mao must be on the White House Christmas Tree, I would suggest this one:

Does anyone know, or care, what Richard Nixon’s favorite pork dish was, or Gerald Ford’s most-loved place to swim?  Can anyone tell me if Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed poetry or if Ronald Reagan was an obedient child?  Didn’t think so.  Ask anyone in China those same questions about Chairman Mao Zedong, however, and you’ll likely get consistent and authoritative answers.  The Chinese know lots of facts about their former leader and they toss them around like the plot points of a “Seinfeld” episode.  At times though, it seems, the frightening details and consequences of his disastrous policies, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution included, get swept under the rug.

The cult of Mao manifests itself in many ways, not the least of which is the elevation of the former dictator to near god-like status.  One colleague told me that the Chinese think of him “almost like Jesus,” apparently believing the comparison would help me better understand his true stature.  A translator in Wuhan waxed on about his “beautiful mind,” based on his “inspirational” writings, and then proceeded to describe how a doctor-prescribed traditional treatment of black tea, black tofu and black beans had restored her gray hair to its natural black color.  Questioning the wisdom of authority figures, you see, just isn’t done.

For the record, Mao’s favorite pork dish was red-braised or hong shao rou, he loved Wuhan and particularly liked swimming in its stretch of the Yangtze River, he wrote many poems and allegedly was a good kid.  These are a few bits of his real or imagined history that acquaintances, tour guides, colleagues and strangers share freely and quite regularly.  Their collective belief in, continuous recounting and spontaneous recital of the minutia of Mao’s life are one of Chinese culture’s many unifying forces.

The perseverance of a certain myth involving George Washington, an ax and a cherry tree proves that Americans are no strangers to embracing propaganda and repeating it like fact.  Washington’s dentures were not made of wood either, but that “fact” is still tossed around as well.

While most fifth graders may not know what tricky-Dick was ordering up from the White House kitchen, they can tell you that Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin, Thomas Jefferson was also an architect that spoke seven languages and the Teddy Bear was named after Theodore Roosevelt.  The myths and inflated legends of past leaders mingle freely with actual details that we know and share.  Unlike the Chinese with regards to Mao though, some of us know to take our learned history with a grain of salt.  What unifies us most, perhaps, is our skepticism and agreement to disagree when necessary.

Chairman Mao died in September of 1976, but his image is still famously displayed in Tiananmen Square at the gate to the Forbidden City, as well as in homes and businesses and on pendants dangling from rear-view mirrors in private cars and taxis across the country.  The “opening up” and free-market policies of Deng Xiaoping are the true foundation of China’s current growth and economic development, but his image and personal trivia are, comparatively and surprisingly, missing in action.

Shanghai, Chongqing and Beijing are cities that reflect the potential and portend the future of China.  In their modernity and internationalism they project an image of the country that is in sync with, and in fact a leader in, the developed world.  Little details like the stubborn persistence of the cult of Mao, however, are the real barometers to watch for when determining China’s actual entrée into the modern world.  As soon as it starts being served up with a healthy dose of perspective, that’s when we’ll see a real great leap forward.

© Markus Horak, 2009.

This morning, I read two pieces in the Contra Costa Times Travel section for Sunday, December 12, 2009. Both pieces were about China. The first was written by Carol Pucci, Seattle Times, and was about travelling around China independent of tourist groups, and I found the description of China to be one I’ve experienced many times since my first trip in 1999.

The second piece by John Boudreau, Mercury News, was a comparison between traveling to Taiwan and the mainland. Although it wasn’t as entertaining as Carol Pucci’s piece in the Seattle Times, it was interesting. However, I felt the piece by Boudreau was a little misleading when he wrote, “China maintains democratically ruled Taiwan as its territory. Taiwan, on the other hand, has evolved independently of Beijing since Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist forces fled to the island from Mao Zedong’s communist soldiers in 1949.”  That statement is accurate, but I felt it wasn’t telling the whole story.

When Mao and his Chinese Communist Party won China in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang were the overloads of China. Chiang Kai-shek was a dictator and China had never held popular elections like in America and Europe, so in reality, one totalitarian government forced out another one. 

It wasn’t until the 1986, under pressure from the United States and the United Nations, that Taiwan became a multi-party democracy and held elections.  If they had not done that, the United States was threatening to stop protecting them from the mainland. That’s the primary reason that Taiwan became a democracy. A year later, Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek’s son, lifted martial law. Until that day, Taiwan had been ruled by one party just like mainland China and was oppressed by martial law—thirty-seven years of martial law.

The big difference between these two one party systems was that in China, the communists leaned toward helping the working class improve their lifestyles while in Taiwan the rich and powerful were favored and everyone else was a second class citizen.  When Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists ruled mainland China, the situation was the same. The poor people wanted change and that was what Mao, for better or worse, gave them. Under the Nationalists, there were drugs, prostitution, dangerous gangs, and women were second-class citizens. The communists dealt with those issues after they came to power—sometimes brutally.  Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists could be brutal too.

What is martial law?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law

Off the beaten path in China
by Carol Pucci
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2009331844_trpucci14.html

China Crossings
Travel in China and Taiwan
by John Boudreau
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-living/ci_13977794

Well, there you have it. The Maori Party still refuses to contact me in return! Well, so be it! They have chosen their own downfall, and, my faithful blogees, we must hasten it! Rise up against this new and vicious tyranny hat is Political PArties not replying to emails, especially ones received from persons claimed to be Earls! Thusly, all willing parties should submit the data which can be found at this link, Divided we Stand, United we Fall, as King Leopold said not all that long ago!

And here is further proof of their indisputable evil!

Their party name contains Mao, and Mao Zedong is noted for the Great Leap Forwards and other moves which destroyed China’s industrial base and killed millions! Mao also contributes negatively to your Deng Shui energies!

They have five, yes, five members in the New Zealand house of representatives. And is it not so, faithful blogees, that five is the number of JUPITER, which is merely one planet away from SATURN, which sounds far too suspiciously like SATAN. Thusly, evil!

Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ Carry on the crusade, dear friends, until the deed is done, and the evil destroyed!

To arms!

Darwin: Origin of Species

…and why you should read them (or at least be familiar with them).

These are books that have had a deleterious affect on humanity (almost exclusively Western in their thinking).  Some of them had “good intentions”* but fell flat on their face with horrible unintended consequences.  The Christian has the responsibility to defend the truth of the Gospel.  One part of defending the truth is refuting all untruth.  We need to be reading primary sources of the things we are seeking to deconstruct – not summaries, the wikipedia article, or a blog post about it.

*1.  The Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life by Charles Darwin
I do not think Darwin would agree with half of Neo-Darwinianism or macroevolution.  He makes massive concessions that geology and microbiology would need to corroborate his thesis.  He was a good scientist who followed the evidence, I think he would be in the intelligent design camp (perhaps this is a controversial statement, but read Origin for yourself).  I have listed this as #1 as this work was critical in pretty much all of the destructive thoughts of the past 150 years:  Eugenics, Scientific Naturalism, Nietzschean atheism, New Atheism, Liberal Protestantism, and Communism.

2.  Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant

This book is probably the most influential book in philosophy since the ancient Greeks.  Kant seeks to synthesize the great debate of the history of philosophy:  Being vs. Becoming aka Plato vs. Aristotle.  In the process, Kant comes to the conclusion that our minds cannot have knowledge of things that are not physical – ie. God and many other absolute truths.  In defense of Kant, his thinking did begin to change in his third work as he makes some wiggle room for faith as being a legitimate pathway for knowledge (but almost no one reads his third volume).

3.  The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

20,000,000 dead under Stalin, 6-8,000,000 dead under Lenin, 40,000,000 dead under Mao Zedong, 1,700,000 dead under Pol Pot… case and point.

4.  On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers by Friedrich Schleiermacher

This guy birthed liberal Protestantism.  His ideas split Protestantism and millions think they know Jesus when they don’t.

5.  Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche decries how humanity has killed God through our apathy.  He then espouses why humanity needs to move beyond God, morality, truth, and the good, in favor of embracing exerting power and control over the weak.

*6.  Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

Descartes had every intention of proving through pure axiomatic reasoning that God existed.  In short, his arguments for God’s existence were awful and his arguments for doubting everything were excellent.  His legacy is solid argumentation for skepticism.  Epic Fail.

7.  Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

11-17,000,000 dead.  Hitler sees Judaism, capitalism, and communism as the three major threats to Germany.  The Final Solution means purging all associated with these things and the result is the Holocaust.  Awful.

8.  Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty

In my view, this is the most important book to be read today for the Christian.  For an explanation why, read my previous blog post on post-modern-pragmatism.

9.  The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

In order to be successful in life you must exercise control through power and manipulation.  Morality hurts your ability to exert your will.

10.  Origins of the History of Christianity by Ernest Renan

The New Testament is essentially myth.  This revisionist history was seminal in classic liberalism and influential in the later Jesus Seminar.

11.  Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men by Jean Jacques Rousseau

Society is corrupt, man is good.

12.  The Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger

Sanger promoted sexual liberation and then birth control, abortion, and eugenics.  39,000,000+ babies dead worldwide… this year from abortion.

13.  Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

Humans are immoral, therefore only Leviathan is the solution… Leviathan is a strong and aggressive central government.

14.  The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig von Feuerbach

Christianity is superstition that will soon be replaced by humanism.

15.  The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud

Humanity has invented God and this delusion is a kind of mental illness.

16.  Various Writings by Pelagius

Denial of the doctrine of original sin, denial of efficacious grace, and the denial of the sovereignty of God.  1600 years later his teachings still plague the church.

17.  Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred Kinsey

This was just painful to read (and I was unable to finish) and I am not endorsing actually getting a copy (hence no link).  Kinsey basically says that no sexual behavior or orientation is immoral.  All is permissible.

18.  The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

Some bit of gnosticism had to make this list.  I wrestled with what to choose here.  Pagels is your run of the mill critic who says that the gnostic “gospels” are the real story and history.  These ideas are ridiculous due to their pseudepigraphic nature, date of writing, and mutually exclusive theologies.

19.  Prolegomena to the History of Israel by Julius Wellhausen

Wellhausen espouses that the first five books of the Old Testament were not written by Moses but by editors from four schools of thought.  A flood of Bible criticism followed Wellhausen.

20.  Why I am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell

Russell is one of the few atheists other than Nietzsche that I respect.  His thoughts are well ordered and argued.  The New Atheists (Dawkins, Hitchens…) wish they could hold a candle to Russell.

21.  Process and Reality by A.N. Whitehead

Whitehead argues for Process Theology.  Read about Process Theology here.

22.  The Council of Trent

Justification by faith alone is anathematized.  Veneration of Mary and saints upheld.  Transubstantiation upheld.  I love my brothers and sisters who are Christians in the Catholic church despite the Catholic church.  Trent had the opportunity to listen to the Reformation and return to God’s Word for truth.  It did not and left in its wake countless eternal casualties.

23.  His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Pullman sought to write the opposite of Milton’s Paradise Lost.  He seeks to commend humanism and ultimately atheism as the commendable life path.  His Dark Materials is aimed at young adults and has been recently popularized by the Golden Compass film.

24.  Protagoras by Plato

For clarity sake, these are sayings ascribed to Protagoras and not Platonic thoughts.  The famous quote is “Man is the measure of all things.”  Protagoras is the first person to espouse a kind of moral relativism.

25.  Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead

The logical consequences of naturalism and Darwinianism applied to anthropology and sociology.  What is primitive is good, therefore the sexual inhibition she evidenced in primitive Samoa ought to be writ large.

Some thinkers who nearly made this list:

Leon Trotsky, Mao Zedong, Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Victor Gollancz, Lillian Hellman, Cyril Connolly, Norman Mailer, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Bertolt Brecht, Johann Fichte, Georg Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, John Dewey, Joseph Smith, Percy Shelley, Henrik Ibsen, Edmund Wilson, James Baldwin, Kenneth Tynan, Jean-François Lyotard, Claude Levi-Strauss and Noam Chomsky.

What did I miss?

Speaking of eclectic, here’s the strangest pairing since Anita Dunn put Chairman Mao with Mother Theresa, my two favorite music videos.

One is a serious Christian Rock video and two is a crazy J-Pop video.  The former is by Mercy Me and their tune “I can only Imagine.”  The song about the joy of heaven.  You’ll see everyone holding up pictures of their loved one’s who’ve passed away.

This song really hits close to home since my mother passed away just last year.

The latter video is by Polysics.  They’re like a cross between early B-52’s and Devo on Red Bull extreme.  And it doesn’t get any more extreme than “New Wave Jacket.”

My two favorite videos, the oddest pairing you’ll ever see.

Nu neaga nimeni ca Evul Mediu a fost o perioada cand igiena personala, curatenia, n-au constituit preocupari majore ale oamenilor. Dupa ce in antichitate romanii introdusesera, aproape in intreaga Europa, moda bailor publice, perioada care a urmat a adus cu sine un reviriment ingrijorator in domeniul curateniei. Reviriment in care, ne place sau nu, Biserica a jucat un rol de seama, ea considerand baile locuri ale desfraului – si nu fara oarece temei, avand in vedere „fauna” care-si facea veacul prin aceste stabilimente. Problema este insa ca nu doar oamenii de rand ajunsesera sa manifeste repulsie fata de baie ci si personalitatile epocii; mai mult, aceasta repulsie s-a pastrat veacuri la rand.

Henric IV

Regele care voia ca fiecare supus al sau sa aiba duminica in oala o gaina si a pus interesele regatului mai presus de credinta personala, cand a dat Parisului o liturghie, era si el un dusman al apei si sapunului. Chiar daca de o eleganta deosebita – isi schimba camasile in fiecare zi – acest rege cu pasiuni sexuale cel putin dubioase nu s-a spalat niciodata. Pasionat vanator, el calarea ore in sir, urmarind prada prin padurile Frantei, dupa care, spre a-si masca damful de transpiratie, se stropea din belsug cu parfum. O amanta mai indrazneata, Gabrielle d’Estrees, i-a spus candva ca miroase ca un starv, ceea ce probabil era perfect adevarat, iar a doua sa sotie, Maria de Medicis, a lesinat, atunci cand l-a intalnit prima data si s-a spalat, efectiv, cu parfum, pentru a putea rezista alaturi de rege, in noaptea nuntii!

Ludovic XIV

Nici nepotul lui Henric, Ludovic XIV, maretul Rege Soare, nu era atras de igiena. Se stie clar ca el nu a facut in toata viata lui decat doua bai, si acelea la insistentele medicilor, care le considerau un mijloc terapeutic. Specialistii considera ca suveranul suferea probabil de o fobie fata de apa, intrucat nici macar nu voia sa atinga lichidul vital. El prefera ca, in loc sa se spele, sa-i fie curatata pielea cu o piele imbibata in alcool si apoi sa fie pomadat cu o pulbere parfumata. Speriat de tot ce insemna medicina – e drept ca la acea vreme chirurgia era inca la stadiul de „macelarie” – Ludovic a refuzat o interventie la un picior gangrenat, interventie care i-ar fi putut salva viata, si a murit.

Frederic cel Mare

Frederic a transformat Prusia dintr-o putere de mana a doua intr-o forta militara de prim rang. Este drept ca, la fel ca si in cazul lui Alexandru cel Mare, cuceririle sale n-ar fi fost posibile daca tatal sau, cel supranumit „regele sergent” nu i-ar fi lasat o armata de profesionisti, instruita adesea cu biciul… Dar Frederic nu iubea doar glasul tunurilor, „muzica” placuta urechilor sale ci si arta. El a fost un mare patron al artistilor, coresponda cu iluministii francezi, se voia despot, lumina si canta, cu placere, la flaut. A construit, la Sanssouci, un palat cum putine sunt in Europa dar pe de alta parte era de parere ca, vorba reclamei, „murdarirea este buna”. De pilda, in splendidele sali ale palatului sau umblau nestingheriti uriasi ogari de vanatoare, care-si faceau nevoile pe unde nimereau iar regele facea crize de isterie daca indraznea cineva sa curete dupa ei. Spre sfarsitul vietii, probabil avand mintea afectata de o maladie psihica, Frederic a devenit tot mai reclusiv. Nu-si schimba hainele cu lunile, nu se spala si cand a murit, in 1786, camasa lui era atat de murdara si de rupta incat valetul a trebuit sa-i ofere una dintre camasile sale, pentru a fi ingropat.

Charles Howard, duce de Norfolk

Mare om politic britanic, ferm inamic al lui George III si lider al opozitiei fata de acesta, in Regatul Unit, Charles Howard, duce de Norfolk ar fi fost un personaj admirabil daca ar fi acceptat, de buna voie, sa se imbaieze. Nu a facut-o insa niciodata si nu-i de mirare ca a ramas in istorie drept „Dirty Duke”. Valetul sau obisnuia sa-l imbete zdravan si doar asa reusea sa-l bage in baie si sa-l sapuneasca, intr-o epoca in care nasurile domnisoarelor de la curtea regala deja nu mai suportau mirosul de sudoare…

Ludwig van Beethoven

Probabil ca veti fi uimiti, poate chiar oripilati, sa-l regasiti pe lista „nespalatilor celebri” si pe cel mai celebru compozitor din toate timpurile. Dar acesta e adevarul: Beethoven nutrea o aversiune teribila fata de baie, aversiune data de durerile pe care apa i le provoca, din cauza intoxicarii cronice cu plumb. Astazi, se stie cu siguranta ca intoxicarea cu plumb a constituit cauza mortii sale; Beethoven era mare amator de vin si cupele fabricate pe atunci aveau in compozitie un insemnat procent din acest metal. Bolnav, ursuz, neinteles – nu doar la figurat ci si la propriu, fiindca avea un defect de vorbire care-i facea pe ceilalti sa nu inteleaga adesea sensul cuvintelor sale, Beethoven s-a retras in sine si a devenit un mizantrop dar si un adversar al curateniei. Putinii prieteni pe care-i mai avea erau nevoiti sa-i fure, efectiv, hainele, in timp ce dormea, si sa i le dea la spalat.

Karl Marx

Filosoful de numele caruia se leaga una dintre cele mai intunecate perioade din istoria omenirii a pledat o viata intreaga pentru triumful revolutiei proletare, fara sa realizeze ca aceasta va duce la instaurarea unor regimuri totalitare, responsabile de moartea a zeci de milioane de oameni. Si Marx, ca si Beethoven, nu suporta apa deoarece ii provoca dureri atroce: ganditorul german suferea de o dermatoza extrem de grava, manifestata prin aparitia de furuncule dureroase. El considera ca igiena personala constituie un exces burghez, in schimb n-avea habar ca durerile erau accentuate de fumatul excesiv, abuzul cronic de alcool. Marx se mandrea ca paginile manuscrisului original de la Das Kapital erau patate de propriul lui sange, pretinzand ca, prin durerile sale, simtea pe deplin suferintele proletariatului.

Mao Zedong

Programele social-politice ale lui Mao au dus la uciderea a milioane de chinezi dar au ajutat la transformarea tarii sale, dintr-un stat inapoiat, aproape feudal, intr-una dintre cele mai mari puteri ale planetei. Atitudinea sobra, aproape cazona, pe care liderul chinez o afisa in public nu era de complezenta. Toata viata, el a trait foarte cumpatat, fara excese si privea cu reticenta confortul. Inclusiv baia sau spalatul pe dinti ii provocau repulsie. De altfel, nu s-a spalat niciodata pe dinti, ci prefera sa mestece frunze de ceai, in vreme ce concubinele sale ii frecau trupul cu prosoape umede. Cand un medic a avut indrazneala sa-i ofere o periuta de dinti, Mao l-a privit cu dispret, argumentand ca n-a vazut pana atunci ca un tigru sa-si spele coltii. Cine ar fi indraznit sa-l contrazica?

Che Guevara

Revolutionarul cel mai celebru al epocii moderne, care l-a ajutat pe Fidel Castro sa ajunga la putere, iubea rugby-ul, vinul, friptura argentiniana de vita, ii placea sa fumeze trabuc si sa poarte ceas Rolex dar ura sa faca baie. In copilarie, i se spunea „Chanco” (Purcelusul) din cauza acestei aversiuni si se mandrea sa poarte acelasi tricou timp de o saptamana. Cand a fost capturat, in Bolivia, nu se mai spalase de luni de zile si avea, in loc de pantofi, cinci perechi de ciorapi groaznic de murdari…

Marilyn Monroe

Multi barbati de pe planeta o considera inca idealul feminin dar cei care i-au stat alaturi n-au avut deloc o parere buna despre ea – cel putin in ceea ce priveste curatenia. Fiindca „logodnica Americii” era o ingalata fara de pereche. Clark Gable o descrie, in biografia sa, ca fiind „extrem de murdara”. Suferind de sindromul colonului iritabil, era mai mereu la baie dar nu pentru a se imbaia. Manca doar culcata, privind la televizor si arunca resturile sub pat. Ura sa se spele, desi ii placeau parfumurile scumpe. Combinatia de mirosuri ii teroriza insa pe partenerii ei de film. Va mai plac blondele?

GABRIEL TUDOR

The ANC seems obsessed with the Mao quote about a letting a hundred flowers blossom. Whenever there is a discussion about the nature of public debate, you can rest assured someone from the ruling party will evoke it. But does it know the terrible history that defines that particular statement? Or is it just ignorant? This edition of The Real ANC Today attempts to put that quote into its proper context and, in turn, the ANC’s commitment to meaningful debate.

Related Stories:

• The Ghost between the Lines
• A Numbing of the Public Mind
• Strengthening South Africa’s Public Debate

THE REAL ANC TODAY
Volume 2; Issue 11

Misunderstanding Mao

By: Gareth van Onselen

For President Thabo Mbeki his weekly newsletter in ANC Today served a very particular purpose: a platform from which he could exact revenge on those elements of society he deemed to stand in opposition to himself and the African National Congress.

One of the more prominent of these attacks was on Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in 2004. The Archbishop had suggested the President had surrounded himself with yes-men and had done little to alleviate the plight of the poor, concentrating his efforts, rather, on enriching a small, black elite. As is his want, the President’s response was vengeful and personal.

It is not my purpose here to interrogate the merits of that debate, only to highlight one significant excerpt from the President’s response. He wrote:

“I have made this clear in the past that I, for one, will join the public debate on any matter, exercising the same right that any other South African has, to speak out on matters of concern to the nation. In this regard, I support the call once made in China – let a hundred flowers bloom: let a hundred schools of thought contend!”

It was a reference to the statement made by Chairman Mao Zedong, the former leader of Communist China, and was evoked by Mbeki to suggest – as Mao suggested – that all debate should be encouraged and contending ideas allowed to compete.

History has ruled fairly categorically on the extent to which President Mbeki was really committed to a competition of ideas, but that particular quote seems to live on in the ANC’s daily communication and is routinely evoked by those in the alliance who would suggest that debate be encouraged and fostered.

Last Friday, ANC National Executive Member (and Minister of Police) Nathi Mthethewa opened an article penned for ANC Today with the following statement:

“The advent of democracy has given birth to free and unhindered national dialogue on virtually all issues. There are no holy cows! As Mao once said, ‘letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress.’”

He was followed this week by Kimani Ndungu, a member of the SACP and ANC, writing for the SACP online journal Umsebenzi (25 November), in which he stated, in support of the much-maligned Jeremy Cronin:

“Before throwing his next insult, cde Malema may want to pose for a moment and reflect on Mao Tse Tung’s injunction to his party comrades in 1956 that ‘let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend’.”

A week earlier (18 November), in an article in the Sowetan, the Deputy Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula wrote:

“We welcome a national dialogue on these measures and every South African must be part of this public discourse. Borrowing from the first chairperson of the Communist Party of China, Mao Tse-Tung, we say: ‘Let a thousand flowers bloom, let a thousand schools of thought contend.’”

How encouraging it is to see the ruling party so committed to public debate; at least ostensibly.

History, however, demands a different interpretation of that commitment, certainly if Mao’s quote is anything to go by.

A review of facts suggests the use of that particular statement is deeply disingenuous; either that or those who would use it are the victims of a profound historical ignorance.

Mao Zedong was a brutal and ruthless dictator who relentlessly persecuted, punished and murdered millions of innocent people; and particularly those he considered to be critical of him personally or the Communist Party’s cause more generally.

Clive James, in his book Cultural Amnesia, puts it like this:

“The full evil of Mao Zedong (1893-1976) is continually being rediscovered, because it is continually being forgotten. In 2005 it was rediscovered all over again when Jung Chang, previously the author of Wild Swans, the book that blew the gaff on the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, brought out, together with her husband, an account of Mao’s career that pitched the body count of innocent civilians where it belonged, far beyond the total achieved by Hitler and Stalin put together.”

Karl Shaw, in his book Power Mad: A Book of Deranged Dictators (which I would recommend for anyone interested in a fuller picture of Mao’s various atrocities) estimates that Mao was responsible for between 14 – 20 million deaths, “from starvation during the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and tens of thousands killed and millions of lives ruined during the ‘Cultural Revolution’”.

One might think that fact alone enough to discredit his contribution on the virtues of democratic debate. Not so the ANC.

But the problem is more acute than that. The hundred flowers quote, so glowingly referred to by various members of the alliance, was the very thing Mao used to identify those people he feared most – broadly speaking, anyone with an education – so that he might brutally pursue them.

For Mao intellectuals were a threat, and the hundred flowers speech a means of targeting them and ending their influence on society.

In her brief and yet fairly comprehensive biography of Mao, Delia Davin describes the events surrounding the hundred flowers speech as follows:

“In an extraordinary about-turn, from the spring of 1956 Mao and some other Party leaders began to advocate a freer intellectual climate. Using the slogan ‘let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend’, they urged that academic debate should be allowed to take place without undue political interference and that the Party and officials should submit to public criticism.”

Later, she continues:

“The response [to the hundred flowers statement] began and by the early summer of 1957 some were attacking the Party and its role in fundamental ways. Under mounting pressure from colleagues, and perhaps disconcerted by the strength of the resentment he had unleashed, Mao warned against ‘excesses’. Soon afterwards a new campaign of repression was launched. Almost half a million intellectuals were condemned as ‘rightists’ and punished with various degrees of severity.”

That description is fairly objective; it even suggests an authentic attempt to encourage debate when the statement was first made. But as more and more evidence on the way in which Mao behaved comes to light, even that aside now seems to carry little weight.

In his book Mao: The Unknown Story, Jon Haliday argues for a far more ominous agenda:

“On 27 February 1957, Mao delivered a four-hour speech to rubber-stamp Supreme Council announcing that he was inviting criticisms of the Communist Party. The Party, he said, needed to be accountable and ‘under supervision’. He sounded reasonable, criticising Stalin for his ‘excessive’ purges, and giving the impression there were going to be no more of these in China. In this context, he cited an adage, ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom’. Few guessed that was setting a trap, and that he was inviting people to speak out so that he could use what they said as an excuse to victimise them, Mao’s targets were intellectuals and the educated, the people most likely to speak up.”

That particular interpretation – that the hundred flowers speech was a deliberate ploy – is supported by Mao’s own opinion on the subject. He is quoted as saying that the statement was designed to persuade the “poisonous weeds” – his own euphemism for intellectuals – to reveal themselves. Haliday quotes Mao as saying how he was “casting a long line to bait big fish” with the intention of catching “the snakes”, by enticing them out of their lairs.

Clive James is more sardonic on the matter:

“The pretty rubric looks so harmless even today, now that we have some idea of what it cost. Halfway between a poem and a slogan, it is a small thought that would fit on a big T-shirt. It doesn’t even sound wrong. Mao designed it to sound right. For the trick to work, millions of people had to believe the words meant what they said, even though the Party, within long memory, had never rewarded a contentious voice with anything except torture and death. Anyway, the suckers fell for it. The flowers bloomed, the schools of thought contended, and Mao’s executioners went to work.”

What is beyond contention are the consequences, whether part of an initial grand scheme to identify and brutalise those that oppose him, or not, that is exactly what happened.

Survivors of the assault, in a petition to the Communist Party in 2005, estimate that over 550 000 people identified as a consequence of the hundred flowers campaign were humiliated, imprisoned, tortured, or killed.

Which brings us back to the various ways in which that statement is used in South Africa today – to cite that particular quote as representative of the suggestion that public debate be encouraged demonstrates a profound ignorance of breathtaking proportions. Mao’s call represents the very antithesis of any call for public debate, its encouragement or its protection; in fact, it represents a guise for a far more sinister agenda.

Its use by the ANC is embarrassing.

If ignorance is not the ruling party’s excuse in evoking Mao, the alternative is fairly chilling; but, given its penchant for threatening violence against those that would oppose it, not unrealistic.

Back in 2004, in response to Mbeki (whom one cannot accuse of ignorance), former DA leader Tony Leader said, “You are fond, Honourable President, of quoting the Chinese dictator Mao Zedong, who said: “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend”. But the debate he launched was soon shut down by the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.”

He continued:

“The real turning point in modern Chinese history was the speech by Deng Xiaopeng at the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party in 1978. Deng said: ‘Black cat or white cat, as long as it can catch mice, it is a good cat.’ The lesson for South Africa is that we should care less about the colour of the person who provides a service and more about the quality of the service that he or she provides”.

That sentiment remains the biggest challenge for the public debate in South Africa today and it applies particularly to the ruling party, which routinely demonstrates an inability to separate its own prejudices from the subject at hand.

That problem is often exacerbated by the superficial nature of any argument it puts forward. Indeed, its violent and, often, hate-filled rhetoric is enough in and of itself to dissuade anyone from the effort of a real or meaningful exchange; but it is equally true that the actual substance of any piece of communication is often so poorly thought through, so weak and incoherent that, even if one was able to sum up the energy to rise above that vengeful tone, the words themselves amount to nothing more than an intellectual black hole.

This entire interview is worth checking out; it is buttressed by some historical background in German but the English dialogue with Sidney Rittenberg comes through quite clearly.

http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-1023600.html

Glenn Beck’s got a one hundred year plan (oh, shit):

“We need to start thinking like the Chinese.”

In other words, Glenn Beck thinks that focused, insurgent, belligerent, fanatically committed mass movement Maoism—with its disciplined cell groups, ideological purity, and relentless propaganda—is the right model, tactically, for the advancing of ”conservatism” in the 21st century. How ironic is that?

Reason? Seriousness? Dialogue? Maturity? Calm? Suspicion of mass emotion? Nah. Mao.

Mao! 

Here’s how Conor Friedersdorf puts Beck Zedong’s bright idea:

It includes a series of adult education seminars where citizens will be taught political activism, self-reliance, and the dread community organizing. The often tearful Fox News personality also promises a book that will include more specifics. “We need to start thinking like the Chinese,” Mr. Beck said at a recent rally. “I’m developing a 100 year plan for America.”

Andrew Sullivan rightly nails this latest inanity to come out of Teabagger Land:

[T]he vessel for rethinking will not come from proud ignoramuses and populist Elmer Gantrys. It will not come from reiterating propaganda but from confronting unpleasant facts about conservatism’s recent catastrophic failures and mistakes. They’re not thinking; they’re emoting. They’re not engaged in reforming conservatism; they’re engaged in escapist denialism about real problems. They are a sign of profound cultural sickness, not resurgent political and civic health.

The flies change but the shit is the same. If you wonder why the Republican Party is undergoing a purging of moderates from its ranks, this reading of Mao’s essay, “Combat Liberalism”, is helpful. It’s not hard to see how a person like Glenn Beck could find a monomaniacal person like Mao Zedong tactically informative:

“Hypercorrectness is necessary in righting a wrong.
Otherwise one could correct nothing.”

Mao Zedong (1893-1976) dixit