Morons At The Department Of Education: The Wisdom Of Mass-Murderers
Why run a quote from Western mass-murdering Hitler (so overplayed!) when you can run one from an Eastern mass-murdering dictator?
Jonathan Turley blogs:
The quote appeared on the "Kids' Zone" website of the National Center for Education Statistics. The quote stated "Our attitude towards ourselves should be 'to be satiable in learning' and towards others 'to be tireless in teaching.'" That was the webpage's "Quote of the Day" section....It is clear that whoever approved it had no idea who Mao was or the atrocities that he committed, particularly during the Cultural Revolution when intellectuals were massacred. The quote was taken down after various sites pointed out the irony. It was replaced by a quote from Lincoln.
Also, the quote doesn't mean what the person probably thought it meant. Satiable is another word for "sated" -- satisfied that you're full. From my Mac dictionary:
ORIGIN late Middle English: from Latin satiatus, past participle of satiare, from satis 'enough.'
And I think that "teaching," as Mao was intending it, probably means indoctrinating people in Communism and docilely doing what the state wants.
Not that this qualifies, but does wise advice automatically invalidated merely because we don't like the person saying it?
"This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day thou canst not be false to any man."
Seems like reasonably wise advice. Is it no longer wise because it was spoken by a fool? (Polonius to Laertes in "Hamlet.")
Patrick at March 24, 2013 7:42 AM
Just rename it to the Department of Re-education. It's not like anything has improved except the employment prospects for administrators since this waste was created.
MarkD at March 24, 2013 8:06 AM
Sometimes it is. Advice from Hitler urging children to brush and floss their teeth often is still from Hitler.
Mao's quote from above is not wise advice.
Polonius was a fictional character, not a real-life mass murderer.
Conan the Grammarian at March 24, 2013 10:00 AM
Wise advice huh? I just hope that the person who chose the quote did not understand it.
Yes, eschew learning so that you are ignorant - just know what you are told. And then teach the little that you know (from what has been vigorously fed to you) to others constantly. Hmmm. Could this quote be advocated brainwashing?
Yes, great quote.
Jen at March 24, 2013 10:37 AM
The quote in context:
"Our Party's mastery of Marxism-Leninism is now rather better than it used to be, but is still far from being extensive or deep...For us therefore, the spreading and deepening of the study of Marxism-Leninism presents a big problem demanding an early solution that is possible only through concerted effort...Whoever refuses to study these problems seriously and carefully is no Marxist. Complacency is the enemy of study. We cannot really learn anything until we rid ourselves of complacency. Our attitude towards ourselves should be 'to be insatiable in learning' and towards others 'to be tireless in teaching'"
So yes, the old mass-murderer was talking about the relentless brainwashing of the masses. It's awfully hard for me to believe, as Turley suggests, that the would-be revolutionary @ the D of E who selected this quote had no idea who Mao was.
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/department-of-education-kids-zone-features-marxist-quote-from-mao/
Martin at March 24, 2013 11:00 AM
Oh, criminy. This on a blog "for" evidence and reason?
A quotation's utility does not depend on its source.
You may wish to identify with the speaker, but it remains that no matter who - Forrest Gump, GW Bush, or the sitting President - says something, it must be evaluated on merit.
To do otherwise is to engage in the fallacy, Appeal to Authority - where something is considered correct merely because someone said it.
There is a sort of negative here, too. Hitler said reasonable things. So have Mr. Bush, Stalin, Mr. Obama, and the most authoritative and quoted person in history, "anonymous". This is called "Appeal to Consequences", where, if we are seen to agree with something someone despicable said, we fear to be seen endorsing her views.
You're not going to stop brushing your teeth after every meal after finding out John Wayne Gacy told people to do that.
You just have a curious kind of blindness when it comes to putting HOW something is said, and WHO said something, over WHAT is said. "Hope and change" put the ignorant in office.
I suggest a game: if you really want to see whether something someone said has merit, cite someone from the opposite POV. You can examine for absurdity, too. Guess who said, "Those who are able must go to work."
Radwaste at March 24, 2013 2:01 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2013/03/24/morons_at_the_d.html#comment-3655974">comment from RadwasteA quotation's utility does not depend on its source. You may wish to identify with the speaker, but it remains that no matter who - Forrest Gump, GW Bush, or the sitting President - says something, it must be evaluated on merit.
Evaluated, yes. Given a platform -- uh, not necessarily.
The world is rife with wise quotes. You can go centuries and centuries and centuries without posting quotes from dictators who murdered countless people.
Come on -- had this been "Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf," people would have seen the quote as inappropriate. This quote from Mao either bespeaks somebody who thinks it's okay to murder people if they "think wrong," or bespeaks somebody who doesn't have a fucking clue as to who Mao was.
Amy Alkon at March 24, 2013 2:44 PM
You just hit on why it's up to you - us - to seperate the idea from the source. So, do that.
Keep in mind that sometimes, the ideas someone has transcend the petty things, or the effects of social media in the hands of the politically correct.
Nathan Bedford Forrest invented blitzkrieg, calling it "keeping up the skeer". His founding of the KKK had nothing to do with that. Lincoln had wonderful things to say - while he suspended the Constitution and habeus corpus. Now we have "leadership" who has all sorts of things to say with no accountability. Quote them if you want to devalue the language entirely.
There's a test online somewhere that challenges you to tell the difference between Al Gore and Ted Kascynski (the Unabomber). It's tough, and a great example of how who you are conveys no guarantee of wit.
Radwaste at March 24, 2013 7:25 PM
You mean this quiz?
I got a 67%. :-(
Jim P. at March 24, 2013 8:48 PM
I'm not following you. Are you saying you wouldn't urge children to brush and floss because Hitler said it?
(And an aside to the Distort Everything To Demonize Others Committee, I didn't say Mao's quote was wise advice. I asked if wise advice coming from someone we don't like is invalidated, and I prefaced that question with "Not that this qualifies." "This" meaning Mao's quote.)
Patrick at March 25, 2013 6:44 AM
Oh, c'mon! Mao is cool! He's got his face on a T-shirt and everything!
(P.S. Stalin's big mistake was not being photogenic. If he were, he'd be widely celebrated by Western leftists today. You'd see him featured in romantic motorcycle movies.)
Cousin Dave at March 25, 2013 7:03 AM
"It was replaced by a quote from Lincoln."
Ah, switching it up for a mass-murderer closer to home. Much better.
Chris at March 25, 2013 7:38 AM
Usually I can separate the idea from the person. But then when you look at the mass of ideas from the same person that are all bad, you eventually dismiss the person.
So Hitler urging children to brush and floss their teeth is a good idea. But Hitler also promulgated such a mass of bad ideas, the single good one is not redeemable, or the idea can be found elsewhere from a more acceptable source.
Jim P. at March 25, 2013 7:50 AM
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