Who the hell is Mao Zedong

[madmax]

Mousie Dung? Million laughs a minute over in freeptardville.

"In 1956, Mao Zedong decided it was time to allow people in China to speak their minds free from fear of persecution by the government. Mao wanted to encourage free speech and healthy arguments. This was introduced with the phrase "let a hundred flowers bloom."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1244144/posts

Bet this one is a homeschooler to boot! :P

[havocmom]

1. He and his followers are the ones who ran my friend Yolande and her

family out of China.

[amber dog democrat]

2. I liked Chou En Lai better.

but the survivors of the Long March stand head and shoulders above any of the Bushes in my book.

[yardwork]

3. A freeper is defending communist China?

Ok, now my head really is exploding. What's next. Peaons to Castro over at freepville?

[delete_bush]

19. Not defending at all, but there is some credit to DU

Someone complained to overstock.com about their political leanings as a result of their carrying for sale “Farenhype 911”. The above mentioned “hundred flowers” post was someone merely exposing the cleverness of the responder.

A VP of Corporate Affairs (now this sounds like my kind of job!) responded to the email as follows:

“I'm sorry that you have decided to not to purchase from Overstock.com again - even in light of the good service we have provided in the past. Our decision to purchase, advertise, and distribute Fahrenhype 9/11 was purely a business decision and does not reflect any political statement whatsoever. As you can see…not only do we sell Fahrenheit 9/11 and Fahrenhype 9/11 side by side (as well as books by Bill Clinton and Al Franken on the left and Dick Morris on the right), but we list Fahrenheit 9/11 first on the page.

It's interesting to me that no one has ever contacted us to express concerns or question our patriotism as a result of our selling Fahrenheit 9/11.

Let a hundred flowers bloom.

Respectfully, VP etc“

But elsewhere we see the FR thievery in full bloom -

"WE CAN SEND E-MAILS OF SUPPORT to them (Sinclair). I got the list off DU link and just put a support note in the title line. Copied and pasted to each address and sent them out. It took 5 minutes."

[atreides1]

4. Mao Tse Tong

Was the leader of the Chinese Communists that after WWII defeated Chiang Kai Shek, Chiang then retreated to what was known then as Formosa Island and which is now named Taiwan.

Yes Mao and his followers did kick out, "re-educate", or executed those that did not agree with his particular belief.

Encouraging free speech and healthy arguments was probably the thing farthest from Mao's mind.

I'm beginning to think that all Republicans have this misguided view of history, and for the continued safety of the planet should be locked up and instructed in reality history.

[gpandas]

9. over 30 million killed. n/t

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

5. In his partial defense...

If you're saying it's a misspelling, it isn't. It's the pinyin Romanization favored by Beijing (remember Peking?) today, and looks more like it sounds in English orthography than "Mao Tse-Tung".

If you're just talking historical inaccuracy--not sure, but I know Mao was too weak and old to oppose the Cultural Revolution. Maybe that's what Herr Freepenfuehrer was talking about?

[WoodrowFan]

7. no

this was the Great Leap Forward, 10 years before the Cultural Revolution. Mao's idea and a total disaster.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

13. Sorry

I just can't get into dissing Mao. It's because people on both sides do it, and I have an irrational aversion to consensus in any form.

[WoodrowFan]

16. you could deny he existed

that'd blow ALL their minds. :evilgrin:

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

17. Great idea

From the very day it happened, I have wanted to start a cult of Sept. 11 deniers called "Americans for Accuracy". Part of the argument is that there never was a "World Trade Center"--think of what a preposterous concept that is geographically!

[WoodrowFan]

28. that's the spirit!!! (NT)

[Merlin]

6. Name mispronounciation is a frequent way to subtly insult an enemy.

Look at how many spellings Kaddafi (Quadafy, Qadaffy, Kidafy, etc.) had in the media. Even OBL went through dozens of incarnations before it settled down to "Osama Bin Forgotten." Hussein was an exception for some reason.

Mao Zedong is indeed the pinyin version, but most media called him Mao Tse-tung. In any case, the Mao part is the surname. Of course, it's a nom de guerre anyhow.

Mao was a great warrior and a horrible administrator. He took refuge from the burden of governing in wine, women and song. And lots of it.

His 5-year plans nearly destroyed China's industrial capabilities.

[mopinko]

12. wine, women and song.

and lots of opium.

[DrWeird]

8. That's technically correct spelling.

As with many foreign names and words that are written with different characters, there's more than one way to spell it in English.

For example: Koran vs. Quran.

[SoCalDem]

21. I prefer the way we have seen it for decades..Mao Tse Tung

or just Chairman Mao :)

[DrWeird]

22. I myself have seen both.

for several years at least.

[Downtown Hound]

10. It's pronounced Mao Say Tung

Sometimes it's spelled Mao Tse Tung. Actually, this freeper isn't wrong. A lot of the time it's spelled Mao Zedong. I think it has something to do with the translation of Chinese to English, in Chinese the Z has an S sound and the D has a T sound. At least that's what I read somewhere. Seems strange to me because Chinese language doesn't even have English letters in its alphabet. But that's what I read.

He was the Chinese dictator for many decades. Killed millions of people, invaded Tibet, drove the former government into exile in Taiwan, and fought the United States in Korea. Not the nicest guy in the world.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

14. I think you have it backwards

The freeper's spelling is closer to Mandarin pronunciation. Like Tao (the Way) in the old Wade Giles system, is the spelling for a sound like Dow. And Tsingtao beer--also in the old system, and the US label has the phrase "Say Ching-Dow!" on it.

[Downtown Hound]

20. Thanks

That makes more sense.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

25. No, it's pronounced

something like "Mao dzuh doong."

[gpandas]

11. "well my telephone was ringing...

and they told me it was chairman mao." who remembers?

[VOX]

15. "Apolitical Blues" -- Van Halen, dude!!!!

Well, my telephone is ringin', they told me
They told me it was Chairman Mao-uh
Well, my telephone is ringin'
Only it was Chairman Mao
Ah you, just tell him anything
I just don't wanna talk to him now
Not now, baby

I got me my apolitical blues
An' it's the
meanest blues around
Talk about the apolitical blues
Baby, it's the meanest blues around-uh
Now, I don't care if you're John Lennon, baby, I just
I just d-do-don't wanna take no calls-uh
No calls baby
Just wanna play the blues

That's all I'm talkin' about

Now wait a minute
Hey, ah my telephone is ringin', they told me
They told me it was Chairman Mao-oh
Yeah, my telephone is ringin'
An' they told me it was Chairman Mao
Uh, mama, just tell him anything
I don't care, I just--
I-I just don't wanna talk
I d-d-don't wanna talk
I d- I d-don't wanna talk to him now, no
No calls! No calls

On edit: Lyrics were written by Lowell George, of Little Feat fame.

[gpandas]

18. little feat was who i had in mind...

but i'm pretty old. i'll check out van halen version. we used to sing this song at construction job in florida. blew their minds.

[jhain]

23. homeschoolers

An aside here
NON republican homeschoolers outnumber the compassionate conservative types and are fast becoming a huge force for Kerry.

[Trajan]

26. I'm glad to hear that ....

... and welcome to DU ....

[jhain]

27. thanks for the welcome

I am enjoying myself thoroughly!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. I guess the East Asian expert has to step in again

Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-tung, as spelled in the older system of Romanization) did indeed declare free speech in 1956, with the phrase, "Let a hundred flowers bloom."

After people took him seriously and began criticizing the Communists from both the right and the left, he cracked down, and that was the end of free speech in Maoist China.

There is some controversy about whether he sincerely thought that no one would criticize him (he DID have a big ego), or whether it was just a ploy to smoke out his critics. In any case, thousands, perhaps millions ended up in prison or exiled to small towns in the hinterlands.

The Great Leap Forward of 1957-58 was Mao's harebrained scheme to industrialize China instantly. He declared that all communes should start producing a certain amount of steel in backyard blast furnaces. It was a disaster, because not only was the steel worthless but the farmers were kept busy producing steel instead of food. Famine resulted, but the local officials were afraid to report this to Beijing. It wasn't until Zhou Enlai went to visit a commune in his home province that officials of the central government realized how hungry people were.

[durutti]

29. Mao is misrepresented in the West.

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0904hinton.htm

I'm no Maoist, but it's important to remember that there are always at least two sides to history.

[durutti]

30. Mao is misrepresented in the West.

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0904hinton.htm

I'm no Maoist, but it's important to remember that there are always at least two sides to history.

[durutti]

31. Mao is misrepresented in the West.

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0904hinton.htm

I'm no Maoist, but it's important to remember that there are always at least two sides to history.