War to the knife
Posted on 3/14/2019 by Mike
History, repeating itself.
Mao’s Cultural Revolution endured over a 10-12 year period, ending with his death in 1976. Millions died; many more millions were socially and professionally ruined; hundreds of millions were incessantly terrorized. But though it might seem at first glance that China’s society had descended into madness, there was very clearly a method to that madness. What were some of the defining characteristics of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and how did these characteristics manifest themselves?
- The revolution was conducted against the entire collection of established institutions in Chinese society. Particular focus was placed on eradicating religious symbols, monuments and organizations, as well as any institution that had roots in the past, as China’s pre-Communist history was treated as an endless litany of evil acts whose legacy could only have a malign influence in the future unless completely stamped out.
- The ranks of the civilian revolutionary cadres were composed mostly of university students (though K-12 students were heavily recruited as well in secondary roles.) Between their youthful vigor, the thoroughness of their indoctrination and the typical eagerness of a young generation to assert themselves and exercise their energies in effecting change, they proved to be a shrewd choice to coerce Chinese society and its institutions.
- Assembled into large gangs, the university-based Red Guards intimidated establishment figures in the educational and political spheres by publicly shaming and berating them, coercing confessions from them for imaginary crimes against the principles of social, political and economic justice of the Revolution, and with increasing frequency physically assaulting and/or killing them. These purges included Party members who had previously been considered to be staunch supporters of the Revolution but had been deemed to be lacking in sufficient revolutionary fervor.
Does any of the above sound…familiar? All too, buddy, all too.
Via Linda, who elsewhere warns:They hate us. They have contempt for us, and no hesitation about displaying it openly. They viciously attack us in public, in our homes, and use thug tactics to threaten our livelihoods, our safety, and our ability to function in a modern society.
I hate this. I have family and friends on both sides. When it’s all over, there will be a putative victor (because a fight so infused with hatred must end in complete surrender for one side), but there will not be peace. It will end in bitterness, lasting distrust, and unwillingness to associate with the other side in any way. It will be the end of the United States, as we have known it.
Logic has not stopped their lies. Resort to the courts is a lost cause. They have taken over the legislative bodies, maligning and intimidating any opposition, threatening the established leadership, and using underhanded means in their climb to power.
I don’t see an end that doesn’t culminate in death – many of them.
Linda’s “victor,” from whichever side, will be putative indeed, standing as he will be amidst the smoking, blackened rubble of what was once the most prosperous and generally beneficent society yet brought forth on Earth—miserably grubbing about for sustenance, shelter, and the other irreducible necessities of life. Should Proggy be that Pyrrhic “victor”—heaven forbid!—he will suddenly find such formerly all-consuming obssessions like gay marriage, cultural appropriation, political correctness, and carbon offsets to be much reduced in importance.
But that’s the fate that inevitably overtakes any Free Shit Army of heedless lotus-eaters. Eventually, they’ll be despoiled by their own decadence—toppled from ease and unmerited luxury back into hardscrabble savagery to once again be taught the same unlearned lesson in a far tougher school, under a pitiless master who does NOT grade on the who does NOT grade on the curve