The New York Times provided another unasked for encomium to Communism, this time by China correspondent Javier Hernandez, in “Raising Fists and Hearts to Communism" on Thursday. He reported from Nanhu Lake, a sacred site for true believers, following a student and communist's "spiritual retreat:"
He was anxious about China’s trade war with the United States. He was worried about the rise of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. So Liu Yuanrong, a lifelong member of the Chinese Communist Party, followed the advice of a friend: Go to the lake.
That would be Nanhu Lake, a cradle of Chinese communism in eastern China that in recent years has become a spiritual retreat for the party’s more than 90 million members.
....
“I vow to devote my life to defending communism,” said Mr. Liu, a 57-year-old electronics trader from southern China, reciting a party oath. “I vow to sacrifice everything for the party.”
Nanhu Lake, which played host to the Chinese Communist Party’s first congress nearly a century ago, has long been a staple of communist lore.
No mention of the atrocities and mass killing (in the millions) committed by Chairman Mao, and not a single discouraging word. Hernandez instead, calls the museum at the lake's propaganda, "a selective retelling of party history."
Hernandez himself is also prone to giving a “selective retelling” of Chinese Communism, saying they were merely "facing a series of challenges." “Series of challenges” is blandishment extraordinare: Nothing here about the Muslims in concentration camps.
Hernandez spoke with student Liu Yunlai, who probably didn’t hurt his reputation with the authoritarian regime: “I’m attracted by the spirit of the communists,” he added. “It’s like a faith. Others believe in Buddhism or Taoism. We believe in communism.”
The Times has made a habit of whitewashing the Communist past as well as the Communist regimes still creaking along. Whitewashing the crimes of International Communism, as in its Red Century series on the Soviet era, is a recurring bad habit.
NewsBusters has noted the lengths the paper will go to minimize the atrocities of Communism. An October 2008 book review carried the astounding title "East Germany Had Its Charms, Crushed by Capitalism." A headline over a 1992 story on the last Soviet political prisoners being released read: "A Gulag Breeds Rage, Yes, but Also Serenity."
