A healthy society must acknowledge suffering without weaponizing it.

By Xi Van Fleet and Sasha Gong | Published by The Daily Wire

In Brief by Probe International

The Daily Wire series, “American Maoists: Warnings From The Cultural Revolution,” continues with a new instalment from co-authors, activist Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, and scholar Sasha Gong,

History reveals a troubling paradox: revolutions that promise liberation often lead to widespread destruction. From the French Revolution to Mao’s Cultural Revolution, the pattern is clear: those elevated as “victims” are soon encouraged to victimize their perceived enemies, resulting in tyranny.

Authors Van Fleet and Gong highlight how the Cultural Revolution exemplified this cycle, as students turned on their teachers, including Bian Zhongyun, a loyal Party member who was killed by her own students:

Mao empowered the youths to denounce their teachers, parents, and neighbors. In those frenzied years, almost everyone alternated between being a victim and being a victimizer, and frequently embodied both roles simultaneously. As Georges Danton, himself a leading figure of the French Revolution, devoured by the machine he helped build, lamented: “Revolution devours its own children.”

The authors trace this grim dynamic to modern movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter (BLM), where former “victimizers”—such as men and law enforcement—are now targeted. Warning against movements that elevate victims and the rhetoric of rage and grievance, Van Fleet and Gong call for history’s wounds to be recognized and honoured without deepening the scars.

For the original full-text version of this essay, see the publisher’s website here.

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