The White House's Anita Dunn needs to admit she knows nothing about Mao
Posted: Friday, October 23, 2009
by Jean Purcell
OpineBooks.com
The White House communications director's attack on the Fox News Channel sparked a flame of uproar and intense debate. The Fox response, as well as The New York Times and other media, was immediately to hold Anita Dunn's public attack on Fox News up to the light, with more information about this woman unknown, until then, by most Americans. An Internet search now shows a plethora of comment about her words and views. A video emerged showing Ms. Dunn making a shocking statement to an audience reported to be students.
When I saw the video clip of Ms. Dunn saying she admires Mao Zedong, I realized she had to be ignorant of the facts about Mao. How else could anyone explain her words? Mao clawed his way to power over the bodies of innocent millions and continued a cruel, murderous, Soviet-backed reign of terror! How could anyone knowledgeable about Mao admire him?
In 2006 Jung Chang's 801-page biography, The Unknown Story of Mao , written with Jon Halliday, came out in a paperback edition, and I bought a copy. I had already read Dr. Chang's personal story, Wild Swans, several years before, along with Nien Ching's Life and Death in Shanghai . I already knew of the cruelty and inhumane actions of Mao, through those two personal narratives about Mao's regime, including the deliberate separations, imprisonments, and destruction of entire families.
I got half way through Dr. Chang's Mao biography and had to stop. Four hundred pages of the scholarly account of Mao from his early years until 1948 had made me physically sick. I have not yet returned to The Unknown Story of Mao , though I often notice it on a nearby bookshelf. I will try someday to finish it, but what I have already learned is sufficient for anyone to get the point about Mao.
Writers often find quotes that are appealing and we can use them. However, we need to know more than a few words taken out of context. We need to know the context of the words and the writer.
The Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) is what I would call a conservative or orthodox Christian group. They update via e-mail about persecutions of Christians around the world. They also mention information about various ministers, pastors, bishops, and others in church leadership of different church groups and denominations, regarding their beliefs and political actions or assertions. Seeing more names on the website today, I realized how little I know about prominent religious leaders today, outside a narrow, somewhat familiar circle of one or two denominations. I realize too that I should learn more about IRD and evaluate their work more objectively.
All of this reminds me as a writer and a Christian that there is only one sure and reliable source, the Bible. It will never lead anyone wrong. It can be misused, but will never misuse. Anyone can follow its teachings by faith, careful not to assume knowing or understanding all of it. Every believer in God through His Son Jesus Christ has this assurance of God's reliability and character.
Otherwise, any person in power, whether locally, nationally, or beyond, should be known for what they say, who they follow, and what they do. Their implications matter. Loyalty never goes so far as to endorse or defend the blatantly erroneous or wrong point of view. Some views and people, like Mao, are clearly up to no good and clearly lack any admirable role model material. I think Ms. Anita Dunn needs to admit this. I think she needs to admit she knows nothing much about Mao. Honestly, could she do that?
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Wow this makes you really think. Think before you speak. Do research. How can ms dunn say her two favorite people are between a saint and a murderer? think about that. CaroleThanks, Jean, for a very necessary reminder. It seems that Chairman Mao's legacy is still alive in China. Recently, Christianity Today had an article on persecuted Christian lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who now has disappeared.Very insightful, Jean, thanks for opening eyes with this one! MarijoGreat article.Linda DWe want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.Copyright 2012 IcoLogic, Inc.Viewed from Cache.
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