New York Times Receives Heavy Criticism After Praising Mao’s China

For as much as they loved to mock Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” gaffe, the editors over at the New York Times truly appear to be occupying an alternative reality.

They recently ran an op-ed titled “For All Its Flaws, the Communist Revolution Taught Chinese Women To Dream Big.” Who knew that there could be such a silver lining to the reign of Mao Zedong, which resulted in 65 million deaths – the size of the entire population of France today. In the article, author Helen Gao writes, “Women were liberated from the oppression of Confucian patriarchy and imperialist threat.” She does acknowledge the flaws of communism, which included a lack of decent working conditions and low pay.

What a great trade off for the mass starvation, executions, oppression of political dissidents, and complete repression of basic freedoms!

Gao’s main focus of the article is in arguing that the communist revolution provided “more job opportunities” for women. Mao’s propagandists not only tried to enlist women in the workplace, but also help shape their “self-perception” by depicting them “as men’s equal in outlook.” Of course, such “gains” were only available to the women who didn’t starve to death or wind up in a labor camp.

Relative to the largest mass murder in human history, it goes without saying that any “gains” Gao can point too are irrelevant, aren’t they?

The headline was later changed to “How Did Women Fare in China’s Communist Revolution?” but you can still see the original headline from the original tweet the Times sent out to promote the article.

The Times set themselves up for mockery in publishing the article, and almost instantly the hashtag “ForAllItsFlaws” was coined to parody the ridiculous op-ed.

https://twitter.com/tkarpis/status/912485648577302528

https://twitter.com/ReformedintheQT/status/912526009257353216

Oh – and on an unrelated note, here’s a favorite of mine from their op-ed section, which our friend Helen shared herself:

https://twitter.com/Yuxin_Gao/status/912545249305624576

Enough said.

For all its flaws, at least the New York Times can provide us all with a laugh.

Think the New York Times went too far praising communist China? Tell us your thoughts below and share this story on Facebook!