Comments on: Hollywood finally finds Heaven! http://www.cassyfiano.com/2007/06/hollywood-finally-finds-heaven Smokin' Hot Commentary Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:45:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Anonymous http://www.cassyfiano.com/2007/06/hollywood-finally-finds-heaven/comment-page-1#comment-14 Anonymous Wed, 06 Jun 2007 15:57:00 +0000 http://www.cassyfiano.com/2007/06/hollywood-finally-finds-heaven#comment-14 I had a teacher in high school who thought Mao was just about the greatest guy to ever walk the planet (at this was at a Catholic school!). Many years after graduation, I went to China for a month and took lots of pictures of the damage caused by the Cultural Reformation and the Great Leap Forward. <br/><br/>Thousands of historical buildings, millions of people, and countless artifacts were destroyed at Mao's behest. When Chiang Kai Shek's National Party fled China for Taiwan, they took with them 1000 railroad cars stuffed full of cultural treasures. Despite the staggering size of this collection (on display at the National Museum in Taipei - needing a 15 year rotation to get through it all!), it was a drop in the bucket compared to what was lost. The evidence of the destruction abounds in China.<br/><br/>When I went to my 10 year reunion, I made a point of showing the pictures *I* took in China to my former teacher. His response was that the pictures were fake and I was delusional because "Mao was a great man of the people."<br/><br/>The problem, in my opinion, is not just that Hollyweird idolizes all things Socialist, it is that the extent of the damage and killing under Mao is just unimaginable and without precedent in human history. How could 100 million people be killed in the short span of 10 years? How could one man be so paranoid as to think that the mere existence of a 5000-year old statue could threaten his grip on power? It is just incomprehensible. <br/><br/>Since then, I have been to China and Taiwan nearly 50 times. It takes a willful ignorance to dismiss Mao's true legacy. I can't wait for my next reunion. I had a teacher in high school who thought Mao was just about the greatest guy to ever walk the planet (at this was at a Catholic school!). Many years after graduation, I went to China for a month and took lots of pictures of the damage caused by the Cultural Reformation and the Great Leap Forward.

Thousands of historical buildings, millions of people, and countless artifacts were destroyed at Mao’s behest. When Chiang Kai Shek’s National Party fled China for Taiwan, they took with them 1000 railroad cars stuffed full of cultural treasures. Despite the staggering size of this collection (on display at the National Museum in Taipei – needing a 15 year rotation to get through it all!), it was a drop in the bucket compared to what was lost. The evidence of the destruction abounds in China.

When I went to my 10 year reunion, I made a point of showing the pictures *I* took in China to my former teacher. His response was that the pictures were fake and I was delusional because “Mao was a great man of the people.”

The problem, in my opinion, is not just that Hollyweird idolizes all things Socialist, it is that the extent of the damage and killing under Mao is just unimaginable and without precedent in human history. How could 100 million people be killed in the short span of 10 years? How could one man be so paranoid as to think that the mere existence of a 5000-year old statue could threaten his grip on power? It is just incomprehensible.

Since then, I have been to China and Taiwan nearly 50 times. It takes a willful ignorance to dismiss Mao’s true legacy. I can’t wait for my next reunion.

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