Mao Tse – What?
Here's the quick and dirty on the recent controversy involving White House Communications Director Anita Dunn's high school commencement speech.
Anita Dunn White House Communications Directorcommencement speech.
* Ms. Dunn referred to her favorite political philosophers (favorite for advice on the matters she was speaking on), Mao Tse Tung and Mother Teresa for advice to the graduates.
* Glenn Beck of Fox News jumped all over it.
* The White House jumped all over Fox News.
* Ms. Dunn said it was meant to be ironic and funny.
* Glenn Beck jumped all over that.
* President Obama said he wasn't losing sleep over it while in the same speech he castigated Fox News for biased reporting.
* Glenn Beck jumped all over that.
and so on, and so on, ad nauseum.
Here are my thoughts on the matter starting with the practical and moving to the ideological.
The Practical
When giving a public speech don't do the following:
1. Take quotes from dictators who killed innocent people (feel free to use dictators who didn't kill anyone) Estimates of people Mao killed to maintain power range from 20 to 60 million. Along with Mao you might want to avoid quoting Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Nero, and Attila the Hun to name a few.
2. Group together people who don't go together. Mao and Mother Teresa? One puts bodies into gutters while the other fishes them out. Any humorous comparison here would abate the total incoherence of this connection. Dunn commented in her speech that these two are not normally grouped together. Ms. Dunn there is a reason for that.
3. Make "jokes" using mass murderers.
4. Insinuate that homicidal dictators are political philosophers.
Enough of the practical.
The Ideological
We should not be surprised by comments like these in the public square. A people and a government who are comfortable aborting over one million of their own children each year and encouraging and funding other countries to do likewise should not be expected to know why casting Mao in a favorable light and grouping him with Mother Teresa is a bad thing.
Missing from the debate on this matter is the content of Mao's quote. Mao answered a challenge to his plan to bring communism to China and himself to power against great odds with the following quote, "you fight your war and I will fight mine". Ms. Dunn explained to the high schoolers that they should not let others' views and rules keep them from accomplishing their goals. Don't follow other peoples' choices and paths. You lay out your own path. Seize power the way Mao did. Unfortunately, this is the mantra of our culture across party lines.
Ms. Dunn did use some discretion in her speech. She avoided quoting the one person you mustn't ever mention in public. If she had used the unmentionable name for a quote she may have used something like this, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Think of the controversy that would have stirred.
Mao or the other guy? Choose you this day.
Nobel Peace Prize or Piece Prize?
Nobel Peace Prize Medal
Since late last week people have been trying to understand the surprising news of President Barak Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Much of the surprise revolved around the perception of many that President Obama has done little to date for world peace. The announcement was even more surprising because nominations had to be in by the end of January making President Obama's body of work in this area only twelve days old. One online news service ran a tongue-in-cheek article detailing how to win the Nobel Peace prize in twelve days. The list was what you would expect for a new President but included little to do with the world peace process.
We shouldn't be too surprised by the Nobel Peace Prize committee. These folks gave their peace award to Yasir Arafat in 1994 apparently for killing slightly less civilians than the year before. Al Gore got one too for making a movie about global warming where he was filmed driving around in a big Cadillac while owning a mansion which has a pool house with a $500 a month heating bill. I don't write this to be anti-global warming, anti-Gore, or anti-Palestinian. I write it to illustrate a growing public comfort with incoherence.
This incoherence is further illustrated by President Obama's first twelve days and his winning the Nobel Peace Prize. On his third day in office President Obama overturned the Mexico City Policy originally instituted by President Reagan. This freed up tens of millions of dollars to advance the cause of abortion around the world. Since then he has reiterated a stand for universal abortion on-demand and tax-payer funded abortions are part of his national health care plan. I wonder how bringing deadly violence to the womb merits a "peace" prize?
There is an abortion procedure which actually cuts the aborted child into pieces, so they can be suctioned out through a tube. In a sick way a "piece" prize might be more appropriate than a "peace" prize. I know this sounds graphic and harsh; however, the reality of abortion is much more graphic and harsh than anything I could write here. The reality cannot be equivocated by pleasant sound-bites about choice.
This is not an anti-president post. It is a post to a world that fails to recognize pre-born children as humans. The callousness of peoples' view on this matter is typified in the sheer madness of awarding our current president and the ideas he embodies about life a medal representing peace. This is not a militant post either. It is a post to remind and encourage those who bend their knee to the authority of Jesus Christ, that we are to be Christ to the world. We must make Christ known by building a culture of life through our everyday interactions and decisions. As always, be the Church.
It Ain’t Over Until Its’ Over
I took a little time off from jet lag. Here's one more story from Cambodia.
On Monday afternoon in Cambodia the two remaining members of our team and I left with our host to go to the Phenom Penh airport. My 36 hour journey for home was beginning. Next stop Singapore. An end had come to my exposure to Cambodia and its' never ending heartbreak. I thought the stories were over, but as a famous sportscaster often says, "not so fast my friend."
As we walked into the airport, we walked by the line of girls pictured below. None of us gave them a second look. Our host came up behind us as we passed by the girls and commented that we all now know what modern slavery looks like. In response to our puzzled looks he explained the story of the girls:
Every day two groups of about 50 girls like the ones pictured are brought to Phnom Penh airport. A young man brings them in and arranges their paper work. He and the head airport official clear them through customs quickly as a group. We watched as they went through all of this. Once through they board an airplane for Malaysia.
The young man leading the girls is a recruiter. He recruits 13 to 16 year old girls from the impoverished villages of Cambodia. He promises the families of the girls $2000 if the girls work in Malaysia for 2 years. If the girls work a 40 hour work week for the two years their compensation would be less than 50 cents and hour. This would be a pathetic sum by any standards if 40 hour work weeks were in their future. Tragically, they experience something much worse. Their lives take one of several turns in Malaysia.
Many of them will work in homes and other businesses where they will be physically and sexually abused.
Others will work twelve hour days seven days a week. A portion of these girls will be fired with one month to go on their two year agreement and turned out on the street. Unfortunately, they are in Malaysia without a passport and no idea where home is or how to get there. By turning them out the $2000 is never paid. The girls are illegal aliens with nowhere to go. Prostitution is often their only option.
Some work the two years and complete their contract. However, when payment time comes deductions for passport, food, and lodging are netted out leaving the girls' families with only a few hundred dollars for about 4000 hours of work. They are told their pay was low because the two years was a test to see what kind of worker they are. Then they are invited to sign back up for more years for pay that will never be realized. The girls have no say in the matter. It is their parents that send them and receive the money if it comes. Who's to blame? The parents? The recruiter? Airport officials? The recruiters? The governments of Cambodia and Malaysia? The employers in Malaysia? The truth is they spread out responsibility, so it seems like no one is to blame. The reality is they are all to blame, and anyone who turns a blind eye to it is fully culpable.
From the time I hit Singapore on my way home until the present, I have been re-indoctrinating myself to a life of comfort and affluence. I had an awesome dinner in Singapore. I've had a few Starbucks coffees at home. I've bought stuff online. I drive where I want when I want. Slowly but surely the comforts of home scrub the visions of Cambodia from my mind. They don't seem so bad, and they become a bit more distant each day. However my first Sunday back in church was different. As I stood to sing in worship, the picture of these girls kept coming to my mind. My two oldest daughters are 13 and 15 and could be in that group going to Malaysia. Last night while I slept 100 more girls were shipped off, scared, lonely, and vulnerable to a horrible life of forgotten-ness. When I go to bed tonight another 100. Tomorrow night another 100, and so on and so on.
The complexity of the situation is paralyzing. It is difficult to know what a Christian response is. We cannot be so overwhelmed that we do nothing; nor can we expect that we can fix everything if we just try hard enough. However, we must be changed by the sadness we experience. God is sovereign and can be trusted that He will bring true justice to the world one day. Until He does we must prayerfully find the sphere God would like to use us in. For most of us that sphere is much bigger than we feel comfortable with, but we must listen to His leading and have the courage to move. The world is literally dying for help. A culture of abortion is not the answer. The light of Christ embodied in you and me is the answer.
So tonight when you go to sleep instead of counting sheep count Cambodian teens going off to a life of terror and slavery and ask God where He wants you to be Him to the world.