Chinese Cultural Revolution survivor warns that similar youth indoctrination is happening in the U.S. right now
By isabelle // 2024-04-15
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Xi Van Fleet, a woman who survived Mao’s Cultural Revolution, recently spoke to journalist Jack Posobiec on Human Events Daily to warn that the future of the U.S. looks a lot like the horrors she lived through. Van Fleet lived in China until she was 26 under the Marxist rule of Mao and experienced the Cultural Revolution firsthand – and as you might expect, it wasn’t pleasant. Mao’s Cultural Revolution aimed to get rid of all manner of people whose views differed from his, from capitalists to traditionalists and anyone else who had any inkling of a doubt in his leadership. She couldn’t go to college until after Mao died, when she pursued her graduate studies in the U.S., but it wasn’t until 2020 that she shifted from being politically neutral to speaking out about the dangers of communism and related ideologies. Her impassioned speech against Critical Race Theory before the Loudon County school board that year in Virginia went viral, and now she is using her platform to speak out against the indoctrination that she sees taking place in the U.S. that is all too familiar to her from her childhood in communist China. Van Fleet told Posobiec that she is so moved by what she has witnessed in America that she feels compelled to speak out about it and warn everyone who will listen about the very dark path this could take. She explained how the Cultural Revolution essentially happened overnight, and many people there suddenly found themselves being forced to undergo “struggle sessions.” During these brutal events, people were forced into “self-criticism” and publicly humiliated for the “crime” of not being radical enough. This was often directed at people with some degree of authority, no matter how small, as well as those with Western connections. Numerous people were beaten to death and sent to gulags. She told Posobiec: "The teachers and the principals and every one of the principals in China without exception, had to go through the struggle session. Some were killed right on the spot, and I just talked to a friend of mine, she witnessed the Red Guards put human feces into a professor's mouth and forced him to eat it. And that's how barbaric that went."

Indoctrination and hatred are setting the stage for a scary future

How were so many young people convinced to take part in these brutal acts? She explained how Mao’s government schools indoctrinated them. "They knew nothing. They were never taught real history. The only thing they know is that they are the children of the party and Mao was our real parent. And so we were supposed to be revolutionaries. Just like today, the kids, they want to be activists." The type of indoctrination that took place was so all-encompassing that a group of young girls killed their principal just out of loyalty to Mao. It drives people to become so filled with hatred that they feel justified being violent because they are convinced it’s for the “greater good.” "And we see it's happening here. The hatred is calling someone 'orange man bad, evil,' and then that's enough for them to have that kind of hatred ... anything they can do is okay because this is the enemy of the state," she noted.

Parallels to cancel culture

A lot of what she witnessed may sound pretty familiar to anyone who is paying attention to what is going on in the U.S. these days. For example, some of the cancel culture we’re seeing today has a lot of parallels to struggle sessions. When a public figure like a celebrity says something that people think is politically incorrect or triggers some group of special snowflakes, think about how the mainstream media and social media pressure them relentlessly and destroy their reputation and livelihood until they finally give in and “confess” to their “incorrect thinking” and beg for forgiveness. From destroying statues and churches to “canceling” people who are deemed politically incorrect, many Americans worry about where things are headed in this country, but Van Fleet knows exactly how this story could end. Through interviews and her book, Mao’s America: A Survivor’s Warning, she is hoping we’ll get the message before it’s too late. Sources for this article include: HumanEvents.com Cato.org
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