Althouse: "There are at least two things wrong with this official Department of Education website quoting Mao Zedong..."

March 22, 2013

"There are at least two things wrong with this official Department of Education website quoting Mao Zedong..."

"1. Mao probably meant 'to be insatiable in learning,' not 'satiable.'

"2. WHY ARE YOU QUOTING MAO ZEDONG ON A U.S. GOVERNMENT WEBSITE?"

46 comments:

kimsch said...: #2 - Because they agree with Mao's communistic principles?; 3/22/13, 6:32 PM
john said...: Scrubbed! Someone had to be working late on a Friday afternoon to remove that quote.

Who says government workers slack off?; 3/22/13, 6:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Because Adolph Hitler was unavailable for comment.; 3/22/13, 6:37 PM
Sydney said...: Well, Mao did go to teacher's college and started his professional life as a librarian.; 3/22/13, 6:37 PM
Chip S. said...: Public schools in a nutshell.

Try to quote a mass-murdering commie lunatic approvingly, and completely alter the meaning of the quote.; 3/22/13, 6:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Even though the aims of the current regime are fascist totalitarian, they like to think of themselves upholding what they believe to morality and fairness of socialism and communism.; 3/22/13, 6:39 PM
Anonymous said...: Anita Dunn, call the White House switchboard.; 3/22/13, 6:39 PM
Bob Ellison said...: Charles Manson was unavailable for comment, because he didn't kill millions of people.; 3/22/13, 6:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Joseph Stalin was unavailable for comment.; 3/22/13, 6:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Pol Pot was unavailable for comment. he was reloading to shoot some more eyeglass-wearers.; 3/22/13, 6:42 PM
Chip S. said...: The next Quote of the Day: "The final solution of the quadratic equation is...."; 3/22/13, 6:42 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Did I ever show you Mao's restless mole? I dint? Okay, here, it's quite alarming.; 3/22/13, 6:51 PM
edutcher said...: Well, Barry appointed one of his radical buds to run Education.

why are we surprised?

bpm4532 said...

Because Adolph Hitler was unavailable for comment.

Because Karl Marx was unavailable for comment.

FIFY; 3/22/13, 6:51 PM
Anonymous said...: If I were them, I'd stick with Ben Franklin. He was after all, a revolutionary, who had lots of great and safe quotes...; 3/22/13, 6:52 PM
Roadkill said...: Using Occams razor: The US government is run by Socialists, and Mao is one of thier hero's,; 3/22/13, 6:54 PM
bagoh20 said...: They have a whole book full of those, and I told them "You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow."; 3/22/13, 6:56 PM
YoungHegelian said...: "Kidz, for extra credit, you can write a 200 word compare & contrast essay on Mao Zedong vs Josef Stalin on the role on the peasantry in the development of socialist consciousness.

But, remember, kidz, until next time, you be good & don't steal even a piece of thread from the masses!"; 3/22/13, 6:59 PM
Synova said...: And in boring news the thought process was probably "Hey, we can put up a Chinese quote for the Chinese kids. Multiculturalism for 1000!"; 3/22/13, 7:03 PM
Bob_R said...: 1. This post was well worth it if only for Mao's Restless Mole!

2. John Lennon was wrong yet again - I you carry pictures of Mao's Restless Mole you will make it on the Althouse blog. If you post Mao quotations you will make it in the Obama White House.

3. You can be completely wrong and still write a great song. It's one of the Lennon's best late period songs. A couple of competitors on the White Album, but none that I like better on the later Beatles or solo albums. (Lennon was a complete pro by this time, so he rarely wrote songs without any merit at all. I won't argue - except for people who like Imagine - who should be dipped in honey and coated with fire ants.); 3/22/13, 7:12 PM
Achilles said...: Obama has been quoted several times wishing he had more control as the Chinese Government does. These people think of China as a model.

Look at their legislative agenda:

Gun Control.

Centralized educational curriculum managed by a bureaucracy of government employees that return part of their salaries to the right party.

Government control of health care.

Centralized mandates for health care that supersede religious and individual freedom.

Higher taxes and more cronyism covered by "investment" rhetoric.

Subsidizing an increasingly fascist and ideologically rigid university system that donates heavily to the right party. Ties in with primary/secondary education centralization.

Those are just the highlights. And they never condemn the eliminationist rhetoric from their supporters. Why is the second amendment such a red line for people like me? If we don't fight these people history will repeat itself.; 3/22/13, 7:14 PM
Unknown said...: "1. Mao probably meant 'to be insatiable in learning,' not 'satiable.'

I'm sure the educrat did mean "satiable", that is stop learning once the principles of Newspeak and Obamunism have been absorbed.

"2. WHY ARE YOU QUOTING MAO ZEDONG ON A U.S. GOVERNMENT WEBSITE?"

Because the little control freak apparatchik who put up the post fantasizes about a government run by a ruthless, albeit Progressive, bloodthirsty dictator like Mao.; 3/22/13, 7:14 PM
Achilles said...: Bob_R said...

1. ...

2. ...

3. ... (Lennon was a complete pro by this time, so he rarely wrote songs without any merit at all. I won't argue - except for people who like Imagine - who should be dipped in honey and coated with fire ants.)

Exactly. Imagine is a disgusting piece of art. In historical context this type of thinking has lead to millions and millions of deaths. This kind of stupidity and evil needs to be confronted and shamed.; 3/22/13, 7:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Lets not be too quick to pidgeonhole Chairman Mao; 3/22/13, 7:26 PM
KCFleming said...: A Mao ornament was on the first Obama Xmas tree.

But it's probably nothing.; 3/22/13, 7:28 PM
Oso Negro said...: I suspect it is more the product of mush-minded multi-culturalism than the whistledickery of collectivist whimsy. Do you really expect better than that from the Department of Education?; 3/22/13, 7:31 PM
Nomennovum said...: I love love LOVE our government. The bestest and the brightest.; 3/22/13, 7:37 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm surprised Comedy Central bothered to make a joke that points to this being an outrage. Must be like when the ACLU does their token Klan case to "prove" they are "right down the middle" and not the "leftist front group" they really are.

In conclusion, may Al Qaeda blow Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to hell.; 3/22/13, 7:39 PM
Tim said...: Hmmm.

If there is any equivalency here, it most likely falls along these lines:

Obama's Secretary of Education's hero, Mao, killed as many people as American public schools left under- and ill-educated.

Moobs Mahal will undoubtedly show up soon and prove the point, unwittingly.; 3/22/13, 8:00 PM
Anonymous said...: "2. WHY ARE YOU QUOTING MAO ZEDONG ON A U.S. GOVERNMENT WEBSITE?"

Because someone wants to be the Great Helmsman of America so he can transform America like the original Helmsman did to his country, especially the part in re-educating his enemies and clearing the undesirables from the face of the earth, without the pesky Congress bothering him, or the pajamas-cladded bloggers speaking out of turn.; 3/22/13, 8:24 PM
MadisonMan said...: Lets not be too quick to pidgeonhole Chairman Mao

Now you made me think of this so I'll have to go watch the movie.; 3/22/13, 8:32 PM
Anonymous said...: I don't know, it might be like "The Elephant's Child's 'satiable curtiosity."; 3/22/13, 8:53 PM
Temujin said...: "...and towards others be tireless in teaching."
As in- teaching them in re-education camps. Or as we like to call them today, Universities.

I see Anita Dunn is still working around town.; 3/22/13, 8:57 PM
Lydia said...: Wasn't Anita Dunn one of Obama's debate coaches back in the last go-round?

Wonder if she also rehearsed with Candy C.; 3/22/13, 9:05 PM
The Godfather said...: OK, this is really simple. Maybe somebody can post it on the White House website or something.

Don't quote Mao (or Stalin, or either Castro, or Che) except under circumstances in which you would feel comfortable quoting Hitler. They're all mass murderers and therefore not good role models. The same rule applies to T-shirts: Don't wear one with a picture of Mao (or the other guys) unless you'd be comfortable wearing an Adolph Hitler T-shirt.; 3/22/13, 10:12 PM
sakredkow said...: Uh oh. Black helicopters.; 3/22/13, 10:24 PM
Known Unknown said...: Tomorrow's quote will be from Thomas Friedman, so everything is cool.; 3/22/13, 10:26 PM
Known Unknown said...: Uh oh. Black helicopters.

Racist.; 3/22/13, 10:27 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: PHX - please inform the class your knowledge of what Mao did to his people.; 3/22/13, 10:32 PM
The Scythian said...: "Uh oh. Black helicopters."

Yes. Mocking a government website that approvingly (but incorrectly) quotes one of the most horrific totalitarian dictators of all time means that we're all wearing tinfoil hats and hiding from black helicopters.

That might be it. Or maybe you're kind of a dope.; 3/22/13, 11:16 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @AprilApple,

please inform the class your knowledge of what Mao did to his people

Years ago, I ran into a young black guy wearing a Mao tee-shirt at the Borders in Rockville, MD.

I walked up to him and told him to never wear that shirt in any Chinatown in the US, because if he did there was a good chance that someone would hurt him.

He asked me why, and I led him over to Jun Chang's biography of Mao. To his credit, he stood there reading it, and later found me in another part of the book store and told me he had no idea that Mao had done all that horrible stuff. He thanked me for the warning.; 3/22/13, 11:20 PM
AlanKH said...: Speaking of which, I've long wondered how "MAO Inhibitor" translates in Chinese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamine_oxidase_inhibitor; 3/23/13, 12:00 AM
Methadras said...: Oh no, communism/marxism hasn't infiltrated the hallowed halls of government at all. It's all a myth. Oh wait...; 3/23/13, 3:01 AM
Abdul Abulbul Amir said...: The second reason should have been a blanket policy against quoting mass murderers. That includes Mao, Hitler, Stalin, and Che at a minimum.; 3/23/13, 7:36 AM
Paco Wové said...: "dipped in honey and coated with fire ants"

++++++++++++++++++++; 3/23/13, 8:17 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: PHX - Should the democrats who run everything post positive uplifting Hitler quotes on government web sites? Would you proclaim snidely that we're all black helicopter paranoid?; 3/23/13, 11:05 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: @Young Hegelian

Glad you were able to get through to him without getting hurt.; 3/23/13, 11:06 AM