Activist Tactics are Similar to those of Mao’s Cultural Revolution
I found this on social media the other day. It was a post from a local group, Healthy Talbot, Homepage – Healthy Talbot showing an inn in town and their “Pride Month” decorations:
Picture captured from Facebook post.
I have no problem with this post. I’m not gay and I don’t celebrate gay pride month. For that matter, I don’t celebrate many of the other special interest groups’ months either. If people want to, that’s their decision. I celebrate the holidays of my religion, country and culture. I respect others who do the same. It’s our right as Americans.
Usually, I would scroll past posts like this. But, I wanted to see what people were saying about this post.
We all know that when you post something on social media, people are going to respond. You may not like the responses. Most of us deal with that by either ignoring or answering what is said. Sometimes we argue, sometimes it isn’t worth arguing.
Some of the people who didn’t like the post responded with ” no thanks.” By social media standards, that’s a pretty mild comment that expresses the person doesn’t like the subject. Some of the responses I’ve seen to posts on social media are so vile I can’t share them.
The people who were in favor of celebrating Pride month took exception to these comments of “no thanks.” They were so upset they displayed a variety of sentiments in their comments. Some said that those who don’t like Pride month should just not comment at all. Okay, I can go along with that. “Scroll Past” is my mantra in those situations. But, you did put your post up on social media, so all bets are off.
You could have scrolled past their “no thanks” as well.
There were people who responded to the post by putting up the American flag emoji. Seemed innocuous. They were asked to celebrate their pride and they did, their pride in America. That’s where some of the pro-LGBTQ people lost their minds. One person decided to apologize for the “no thanks” and flag emoji responses:
There are some basic problems with the above comment.
First, the definition of the word pride is as follows:
“a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired”
Nowhere in that definition does it state that “pride” only applies to certain people, sexual preferences, etc. And, the original request was to show how you “celebrate your pride.” What’s to say that a person who is gay doesn’t celebrate being gay by posting an American flag? Who gets to define each individual’s pride?
Second, the person who posted the American flag was stating their pride in that flag; in being American. They are not saying the two expressions of pride are in opposition to each other. Our first amendment guarantees they are not. Being American is being able to state your opinion. But when one can’t see beyond their selfish interests and beliefs, we come up with an incorrect comment like the one above,
And then the poster apologized for the comments of someone they don’t know.
Unless the people who commented are your children or responsibility, there’s no need for you to apologize for anyone else’s opinion. It implies that you think YOU should control what others say and do; you don’t, and you shouldn’t. That’s another one of those pesky First Amendment things. Individuals have the right to free speech.
Another person decided to tell people that “to knowingly mis-gender someone is an act of violence, because we know what that causes, self-harm and suicide.” Not sure how that applied to posting an American flag emoji since there was no “mis-gendering” there. In fact, the emoji didn’t imply gender at all.
Then there were those who decided to dox one of the respondents who said, “No thanks” by copying his picture and FB information and displaying it. They said he wasn’t “very Christian”. Not sure why religion was mentioned.
The worst response? This hateful little gem directed at anyone who doesn’t participate fully in Gay Pride month:
The word “homophobe” implies that people who don’t agree with the gay lifestyle are pathologically afraid of it, like people are afraid of spiders or heights. This is just silly. Again, activists use language to target those who have different opinions from them.
Unfortunately, the person who posted this is not alone. If you don’t openly celebrate every special population month created in this country, you are considered a bigot or something less than human. The extremist LGBTQ+ community, while preaching inclusivity, are not afraid to berate, cancel, or vilify you if you don’t happily and fully participate in their designated celebrations in ways they (not you) consider acceptable.
That is frightening.
In the book MAO’S AMERICA, author XI Van Fleet describes her upbringing in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. We reviewed that book here:
Mao’s America: A Survivor’s Warning By Xi Van Fleet – Easton Gazette
She describes a group called the Red Guard that became powerful during Mao’s cultural revolution. Van Fleet described this group as the ” indoctrinated and mobilized youths who vowed to carry out the Cultural Revolution by loyally following Mao’s orders.”
What did this indoctrination look like?
” Indoctrination in Mao’s world was known as THOUGHT REFORM and the creation of the “New Man.” In the words of Lin Biao, Mao’s handpicked successor, what people needed was unified thought, revolutionary thought, correct thought, and that was what Mao Zedong thought.”
“People who couldn’t, didn’t or wouldn’t participate in Mao’s “correct thought” were forced to study Mao’s ideologies, be subjected to “struggle sessions,” (harsh sessions of criticism, self-criticism and public ridicule), and eventually accept group think unconditionally. “
Sound familiar? Sounds like the meme and comments posted above.
You might say to me, “we don’t have a red guard here.” You’re right. This LGBTQ+ “red guard” is dressed in rainbow colors. They demand that you accept their ideas, their beliefs, their culture or suffer the dire consequences.
What if people and businesses just want you to live your life while they live theirs without all of the mandatory virtue signaling with the pretense of making someone feel happy about themselves? What if I can live next door to you peacefully without flying your preferred flag or having my tax dollars pay for it to be flown over public facilities?
The sad thing is that many people in the gay community watch as their beliefs are being hijacked by tyrannical trans and other activists. Most of them don’t want to be identified with PFLAG, GLSEN or any other of the “rainbow guard” extremist groups any more than White people want to be identified by white supremacist groups. These members of the gay community often have an inordinate amount of hate aimed at them from PFLAG, GLSEN etc. when they don’t go along with the extremist message.
Look at this post regarding the Southern Poverty Law Center designation of two gay groups:
The groups are Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine ((5) SEGM (@segm_ebm) / X), Do No Harm (Do No Harm (donoharmmedicine.org)), GenSpect ((5) Genspect (@genspect) / X) and Gays Against Groomers, ((5) Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) / X) All of these groups point out the harmful effects of the transgender orthodoxy. Now they are being targeted by the SPLC who will raise money off this targeting.
One gay gentleman told me that it angers him that he is lumped in with what he calls the “alphabet Mafia.” “That’s not who I am,” he said. He is quite outspoken about that point. “All we ever wanted was to assimilate into society, to be just like every other American.” He doesn’t want special treatment. He doesn’t feel the need to force people to celebrate him or his lifestyle. According to the SPLC, that gets him a spot on the “hate map.”
This social media post and the responses I shared are tame in comparison to the Chinese Cultural Revolution since it is just people going back and forth on keyboards, but it could be harmful. The man who got doxed? How long till the “Rainbow Guard” comes to his home or job site and bullies him and his family for what he said? What if he loses his job over this because his employer can’t take the heat? How long before he is targeted?
In his book GANG OF ONE: MEMOIRS OF A RED GUARD, Fan Shen talks about his experience as a member of the Red Guard youth group in quite frightening detail as they invaded people’s homes, destroyed their property and attacked them viciously. All while shouting, “Long live the red terror.”
Living too comfortably or being “bourgeois” would bring out the Red Guard. Expressing Western ideas would bring out the Red Guard. Teaching Chinese history would bring out the Red Guard. Or, worst of all, asking questions and having opinions would bring out the Red Guard.
And here we are in very similar circumstances. How long till we hear “Long live the rainbow terror”?
I don’t believe that the people who posted the reactions to comments on Facebook are evil people. However, I do believe that they are enchanted with the idea of being supportive of people who are different from them. They think that by shutting down those who disagree with them, they are helping their LGBTQ+ friends. They feel a moral imperative to do what they are doing. In Mao’s China, they might have been in the crowd watching dissenters get shouted down, humiliated, beaten and sometimes killed.
They are supporting oppression while claiming to be against oppression.
Some of the LGBTQ+ activists desire “affirmation” for their lifestyle so badly that they are willing to bully and destroy others to achieve it. In the Cultural Revolution their roles would be front and center, punishing those who disagree.
Points from Mao’s America:
” Mao always set the majority against the minority, although the minority kept changing.”
“The “woke” progressives are doing the exact opposite. They are setting minority groups against the majority. It is for this reason the progressives must aggressively keep creating new victim identities and use intersectionality to ever expand their victim base.”
“In order to motivate those “victims” to fight, the progressives depend on arousing hatred toward the “oppressors” by demonizing and dehumanizing them.”
“They perpetuate the belief that members of the LGBTQ+ community are living in a world of constant persecution and marginalization. They paint conservatives as extremists, domestic terrorists, and as a danger to democracy. The goal as I am sure you have figured out by now, is to foster hate.”
Thus, we get people who think that anyone who posts a picture of an American flag or says “no thanks” as a comment on a post about Pride month needs to be silenced.
Any elected official who pushes back on the public purchase of Pride flags and decorations is also subject to the same treatment. At a meeting of the Easton, Maryland Town Council on Monday, June 3, 2024 the LGBTQ+ community came out to chastise Town Council President Frank Gunsallus for his comments at a previous meeting regarding the funding of Pride Month flags for the town and town offices. Gunsallus questioned whether the town should use funds to support such flags and banners. Here is what he said:
He stated, “I think that we should not be using taxpayer funds to support a cause that is antithetical to our country and our principles and our Constitution.” In other words, the government should not be promoting identity politics with taxpayer money. Gunsallus compared those actions to what happens in Socialist countries.
One citizen, Elizabeth Parks did not seek to understand Gunsallus’s opinion but instead decided to demonize and dehumanize him for expressing it, saying, “Council President Gunsallus, you, sir, have done the citizens of Easton a great service by revealing your personal bigotry,” That verbal tactic could have come straight out of Mao’s Little Red Book.
Gunsallus further explained his comments at the end of the next meeting:
Closing remarks from the latest meeting. Proud to represent and serve our community with integrity and dedication. “We are all in the same boat.” MLK Jr. ❤️#CommunityFirst #EastonMD pic.twitter.com/e2dOjwPsQ7
— Frank Gunsallus (@FrankLGunsallus) June 5, 2024
Council member David Montgomery, speaking in order to be heard over the shouts and insults of some in the audience, explained the idea this way, “We were discussing first an issue about the town displaying Pride flags,” Montgomery said. “…I do not believe it is the town’s business to make everyone feel good about their identity.”
Of course, this shocked the LGBTQ+ community because they have become, like many of our citizens, used to looking to our government to validate our personal social choices and causes with virtue signaling and promotion of some groups over others. Being denied is portrayed as “persecution and marginalization” when in reality, the persecution and marginalization is against those who speak different opinions. The activists in the audience shouted down Montgomery’s comments, just like the social media post comments shared above used identity politics to silence dissenters.
From MAO’S AMERICA:
Both Chinese and American Red Guards have one thing in common: intolerance-they demand tolerance of others but not of themselves. The Chinese Red Guards went after those Mao could not tolerate. The American Red Guards have gone after those the Progressives can’t tolerate. To many of today’s college students, “speech is violence.” Not THEIR speech; only the speech of those with different viewpoints.
It seems the LGBTQ+ community and supporters in the crowd at the Easton Town Council that night felt the same way. Mayor Megan Cook stated “I feel those comments were dangerous, and they do foster a climate of intolerance and exclusion. Asserting that the Pride flag or support of our LGBTQ community is antithetical to our country or our Constitution is incorrect.”
When you analyze her comment, ask yourself these questions. Who is intolerant and exclusionary here? And why is the Mayor of Easton trying to characterize the statements of someone she disagrees with as “dangerous”?
I think we know why.
Mao Zedong would be proud.
MY NOTES: Personally, I don’t care if people or businesses in the Town of Easton want to fly the LGBTQ+ flag (which seems to have a different version every day.)* If they want to get donations to cover the flags and the labor that is required to put them up, that’s fine too. It’s called freedom and choice, not coercion.
I also believe in the right for people’s opinions to be heard, even when you don’t like the opinions. It’s hard at times. But, it’s what Americans have fought and died for.
I don’t want us to have the Red Guard, the Rainbow Guard, or any other kind of “guard” telling us what to say and do.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Watch the following video of a town meeting in Easton, Maryland. Go to the public comment section ( about 1 hour 41 minutes) and then the council members comments, particularly council member David Montgomery. Focus on the tactics. Decide for yourself.
Agendas & Minutes | Easton, MD (eastonmd.gov)
More local targeting. Sounds like a subtle threat.
News report from Channel 16 on these decisions in Easton and Salisbury. Salisbury, Maryland Mayor also opposes flying the progressive LGBTQ+ flag on government buildings:
WBOC News at 6 – May 28, 2024 | Latest Newscasts | wboc.com
Article from Easton Star Democrat:
Gunsallus scrutinized for Easton Pride flag comments – Star Democrat (newsmemory.com)
To read an article around a similar theme:
*Google the phrase “LGBTQ+ flag and notice how many versions there are. Here’s a headline off a “queer” site:
50 Different LGBTQ Flags And Meanings Behind Them! (queerintheworld.com)
Jan Greenhawk, Author
June 6, 2024
Jan Greenhawk is a former teacher and school administrator for over thirty years. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in Maryland. She also spent over twenty-five years coaching/judging gymnastics and coaching women’s softball.
This article was originally featured on the Easton Gazette.
