As a kid visiting family in China, I was taken to see Tiananmen Square by my dad. We stood in front of the portrait of Mao for a while, watching Chinese tourists enthusiastically take photos and pay their respects. While my mom's side of the family were CCP members (1/8)

my dad's side were generally anti-CCP. (A beloved uncle in the military had been executed on suspicion of being a CIA or Soviet plant, and my dad only attained the equivalent of a general middle school education due to the Cultural Revolution disrupting his studies.) (2/8)

Given my family history, I grew up hearing constant (though hushed, in China) criticisms of the CCP and Mao's atrocities. So kid-me was confused why so many still seemed to adore him. I asked my dad this as we stood in front of that giant portrait--and I'll never forget (3/8)

his response, which struck me as earth-shatteringly honest and compassionate. The truth was, my dad explained, there had been many, many incredibly poor families who benefited from Mao's rule. While an insane amount of people starved or were killed under his regime, an (4/8)

insane amount of already starving people were given rice for the first time. And those people were *not* evil; their adoration of him was understandable. (There were more details, but that was the meat of it.)

I was lucky to learn this lesson as a kid, but it saddens me (5/8)

that so many of my friends and colleagues, who call themselves progressives and liberals, never seemed to learn this lesson. In fact, they refuse to learn it, preferring instead to tar their opponents as vaguely racist or misogynist or fascist. With few exceptions (6/8)

(the Pitzzburgh Post-Gazette being one https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2020/10/31/editorial-donald-trump-joe-biden-mike-pence-kamala-harris-presidential-candidate-endorsement/stories/202010310021), left-leaning media has only amplified this unpalatable superciliousness in recent years. While, I'll say it, I hope Biden wins, I can't condone condemning individual Trump voters or non-voters (7/8)

whatever the result. That way lies no understanding, no love, and no peace. (8/8)