Home late from the coffee shop this morning. Our little group was joined by an old friend and his wife. They married when he was relatively young, living in China where he worked for an American company. When the term off his "posting" ended they returned to America and lived in Texas. Right now they've come to the town where he grew up. the place he'd like to retire. But she doesn't want to.
She wants to move to Canada.
Wants that very badly.
Because she was of school age during the Chairman Mao regime. She told us how The Red Guard subjugated millions and murdered hundreds of thousands who resisted forced indoctrination. How statues were toppled and history revised or wiped away. How it was a crime punished by death to recall what actually happened.
She quoted slogans she was forced to repeat:
"To read too many books is harmful"
"War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun."
"War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun."
"Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive."
She told of her father, who had been a school teacher, being forced to "confess" that the history he had been teaching was a pack of lies. And how he was re-educated through a new career shoveling cow dung.
Then she related how what she sees going on with Antifa strongly reminding of the early days of Red Guard actions.
And she doesn't want to be here to watch it happen all over again. For her, once was enough.
Can we learn from the experience of others and push back? Push back hard? Or just be complacent and submit?
She wants to move to Canada.
Wants that very badly.
Because she was of school age during the Chairman Mao regime. She told us how The Red Guard subjugated millions and murdered hundreds of thousands who resisted forced indoctrination. How statues were toppled and history revised or wiped away. How it was a crime punished by death to recall what actually happened.
She quoted slogans she was forced to repeat:
"To read too many books is harmful"
"War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun."
"War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun."
"Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive."
She told of her father, who had been a school teacher, being forced to "confess" that the history he had been teaching was a pack of lies. And how he was re-educated through a new career shoveling cow dung.
Then she related how what she sees going on with Antifa strongly reminding of the early days of Red Guard actions.
And she doesn't want to be here to watch it happen all over again. For her, once was enough.
Can we learn from the experience of others and push back? Push back hard? Or just be complacent and submit?
