Bernie's Youth Brigade and China's Cultural Revolution

Unknown Chinese Writer ^ | 2/12/2016 | PoconoPundit

[poconopundit]

Youth has always been idealistic: a utopian and egalitarian society is very alluring to them.

Trouble is, no matter how much we may dream about unicorns, we can never make them come to life. And the only way to deliver a utopian society is via a state-controlled tyranny that destroys personal liberty.

Unfortunately, many young people fail to understand these facts. What's more, the professors in America's liberal arts colleges and universities have for decades fostered a climate that ridicules free-market principles and favors of socialist and wealth distribution doctrines.

Bernie Sanders is tapping into this socialist stupidity and naivete.   And whether he realizes it or not, he's leading America down the same path that destroyed the free societies of Russia and China for several generations.

And like Mao, Lenin, and Hitler before him, Sanders is eager to enlist the youth as the vanguard of his revolutionary movement.  He knows full well that young people are an ideal target for communist propaganda because youth is impressionable, conforming, and lacks the job experience to grasp how capitalism self-regulates our market economy and therefore allow the greatest measure of prosperity and freedom we can achieve in an imperfect world.

Now we can't reform a die hard communist like Bernie, so our only choice is to educate the Youth Brigade that Bernie aims to recruit. It's urgent then that we remove the blindfolds from the eyes of young adults, cure them of their romantic notions about socialism, and awaken them to the dangers of letting nutty guys like Bernie Sanders gain power.

Fortunately I found an powerful and articulate story from a person who lived through the Chinese Culture Revolution.  I excerpted this so you can pass it along for others to read.   Maybe if enough people read testimonies like we can stop the hippie tyrant from getting elected.

Here then are a couple of provocative images followed by the personal story...

A Personal Witness to Tyranny during China's Cultural Revolution

As a child, I lived through the Cultural Revolution in China.  It was a very fearful and stressful time.

Our close knit family worked hard to make a better life.  We were relatively well-off and well educated.  Because of this we were seen as a threat to the revolution.

Lesser and uneducated communist party members — who were ardent revolutionaries — suddenly held immense power and they proceeded to "divide and conquer" our family in the name of the revolution.  These revolutionaries believed that they were doing the right thing in order to protect the majority of people's freedoms.

The Red Guard — made up of young, idealistic, teenagers and young adults with limited education, no experience and no understanding of life — had free reign to enforce revolutionary ideals on the people.  They would act on any report and they seldom investigated.  We lived in fear of being "found out".

Our whole extended family was eventually investigated — under threat of punishment for the serious crime of being "against the revolution".  Some of my close family were labelled (with a sign around their neck) as being "anti-revolutionary" and made to clean streets and were spat on and mistreated — in one case for almost a year.  Many lost their jobs or were prevented from holding an important position.  My father was put into a re-education camp for almost two years — although convicted of nothing.  He had to write up what he had done that was counter-revolutionary, and do a re-education program until he had admitted to "all that he had done wrong".

My mother was often "interviewed" and was encouraged to divorce him.  Other family members were told to have nothing to do with them.  It was not good to be connected to an "anti-revolutionary".  We were all powerless.  Everyone lived in fear.  Once caught there was no way out of the "anti-revolutionary justice system".  Even the proper justice channels did not work. There was no real justice — just the "revolution".  There was no truth — just an acceptable "revolutionary version" of truth.  Common sense and good manners and thoughtfulness were replaced by revolutionary ideals and fervour.  The revolution became more important than the people it was supposed to help.

In the name of the revolution our family was sent to different (small) towns around China.  Some never came back.

The incomprehensible thing: the cultural revolution was meant to be for the people and to improve the lives of the people.  It just did not.

Here is a list of things that actually occurred during the Cultural revolution:

• Questioning the leadership will end up in trouble.  Do not ask questions.

• The "old" conservative, experienced leadership is replaced by new leaders, loyal only to the revolution and its leader.

• People live in fear of being accused of not agreeing with the leadership -– so they keep quiet and try not to be noticed.

• No personal initiatives are tolerated — only orders from above have any value.

• Can't trust anybody — as anything you say can and will be used as evidence against you.

• People are encouraged to write reports on others — especially for not supporting the "revolution".

• No personal opinions allowed — just say what everybody else says.

• No personal thoughts allowed — just think what you are told to think.

• The State has complete power over you, your family, your life.

• While there is Mao's "red book" of guiding policy and also party policy, many orders from above are arbitrary and ignore policy, and often are based on someone's personal opinion or for their personal gain.

• People are too scared to fight it.  There is no real justice system.

• If one family member is labelled as being "against the revolution" the rest of the family is told to disconnect.

• Many families, friends and colleagues are encouraged to split up.

• Anybody not disconnecting will also be labelled as against the revolution.

• Those deemed as not too dangerous are re-educated (under threat) until they are considered as supporting the revolution.  They are made to write up exactly what they did wrong during re-education.  This can be used against them at a later stage, if necessary.

• People not permitted to read / talk about what is happening outside China.  Tight control of communication and information to prevent anti-revolutionary thoughts.

• Only revolutionary books permitted, as permitted by the leadership.

• Only acceptable truths are communicated — bad news or negative reports are not acceptable (even if true).

• The Communist party and the revolution (group) are more important than individual.

• Crimes committed in the name of the revolution are perfectly acceptable.

• The Red Guard enforces party policy (or whatever they want).  Harshly.

• The Leader is regarded as the saviour of China.  His loyal followers cheer and clap and cry and faint when they see him at mass rallies.  They believe his every word.

Many years have passed and the Cultural Revolution is now long gone...

Only once the revolution had passed and freedoms returned did China become successful.

This is my story.  This is my observation.

---

"To Live" 1994 - A Movie that Tells the Story of Chinese Tyranny under Communism

My daughter studied Chinese in college and introduced me to the movie To Live that shows what the Cultural Revolution was like in a very compelling way.

This is a film you would enjoy.  Excellent acting and great production values, it was one of the films responsible for paving the way to modern China and greater freedoms.

The movie was banned in mainland China and the director and two principle actors, Ge You and Gong Li, were censured by the government.

I believe you can find this movie on Netflix.  So when the kids come home from college or the day after they attend a Bernie Sanders rally, it might be the perfect time to show his film. It just may cure your kids of communism's romanticism and teach the long range effect of maintaining a "politically correct" society.

[poconopundit]

Without reading, it's impossible to grasp the concepts required to sustain a complex civilization without veering into tyranny.

Yes, agree the attention span is very limited.

It also depends on what you read.   If your reading list is limited, you get a distorted view of reality.  And the leadership must come from the teachers -- the professors.  If they themselves don't have a clue, how can they instill the truth to their students?

For a while I've thought that focusing on the term "sustainability" is a good way for young people to grasp free markets concepts. Young people care about a sustainable natural environment, so maybe they can enlightened about what it takes to have a sustainable economic and human environment.

And parents have to engage with their kids when their thinking goes astray.

[Freedom56v2]

Thank you for this post. I just purchased the video “To Live” - my kids do better watching videos—plus we are always looking for a good movie.

In answer to your question, my children are conservatives and appreciate and understand capitalism—however, they are extremely concerned about their future in this economy.

[Travis McGee]

Pitiful that we have to coopt the language of the left (sustainability) to cause a few sparks to be triggered in a mind prepared by the U.S. educational system.

Two of the key pillars of civilization are 1. Deferred self-gratification and 2. Enlightened self interest.

Societies with low average IQs can never get there, books or no books. (Witness central Africa.) They would burn libraries to cook tonight’s mealie-meal mush.

No wonder the Marxists (Democrats in our current code) seek to import millions of illiterate savages.

[CodeToad]

Bottom line is that the young are stupid and will follow any crowd. They want to belong. They are weak minded and without any personal convictions. They will follow any crowd.

[CodeToad]

“The under-30s barely read. If it’s not a 30 second video, it has to be a very simple meme. They just don’t read.”

One of the complaints college professors have today is that many students don’t even bother to obtain the required books for courses. The sad thing is that many courses allow a student to pass the course with a ‘C’ without the books.

Reading is no longer a required component of college. Many students will admit to rarely cracking open a book during their entire degree program.

In fact, most students do not turn in homework because homework requires having and opening the books. Homework is only 10% of most grades and the students are targeting 75% to pass the class: “Cs get degrees” is the mantra. Pass all the exams by 80% and homework isn’t required to pass the class.

[poconopundit]

Great.  Hope you and your kids enjoy the movie.

And it sounds like you've done a good job of educating them.  Congratulations.

I would be curious to hear your observations after you watch it.

[sparklite2]

I don’t know why you have such a knot in your knickers over this, unless you routinely post material from questionable sources and I blew your cover. It’s always better to know more, not less.

[sparklite2]

“many students don’t even bother to obtain the required books for courses.”

When you routinely have to pay over two hundred dollars for a book you’ll never open again after taking the course, on a subject that you’re only taking because you have to, from a professor who sometimes wrote and gets paid above tuition for the book you’re overpaying for, you have my sympathy for not buying it.

[Skooz]

BFL

[Talisker]

Yeah, its a real question as to the horror of the Cultural Revolution. Let’s all FUD it up and act as if that’s reasonable.

You sound like a holocaust denier ask what the big deal is.

[sparklite2]

You could read Mein Kampf from a bowl of alphabet soup.
No more hits. Back to Scientology with you.

[Talisker]

You could read Mein Kampf from a bowl of alphabet soup. No more hits. Back to Scientology with you.

Yeah, the Cultural Revolution is just a hilarious subject, if you don't mind standing knee-deep in blood. I guess that's why you need to change the subject to Scientology while you do it. You're a waste of my time.

[TXBlair]

Great thread! You directed me here from another thread and I’m glad you did. I think I will have to track down “To Live” and get a copy. I had not heard of it before, but the account sounds fascinating.

The Mao/Sanders photoshop is priceless. Not that the Sanders youts would comprehend the problem with Sanders’ dubious connection to Mao.

[poconopundit]

Great. You will enjoy “To Live”

Excellent acting. It’s quite a cultural masterpiece — seeing China as Westerners don’t see it.