I remember there was a lot of arguing about this around that time. People were literally repeating the “tanks ran over corpses repeatedly to mulch them” story. Top minds of .
Same in Canada. I remember being taught about the Tiananmen “massacre” in a really graphic and honestly traumatizing way in sixth grade. What I don’t remember is being taught about the genocide of American indigenous peoples with nearly the same level and type of emotion attached to it.
It was a long time ago and the memory isn’t clear, but I remember a short story in which the protagonist character is either run over by a tank or disappears in some forested area after being shot down by soldiers. It was horribly graphic and entirely inappropriate for eleven year olds.
Christ, it was cruel of them to expose you to that at such a young age.
I remember being shown a rather brutal scene of an Civil Rights activist being shot a point blank range and left to bleed out, and I am glad I had education that was uncompromising on “The Civil Rights movement was valiant and opposed by monstrous people”, but it probably could have been communicated in a more age-appropriate way. I think I was at a similar age.
Weaponizing the “education by trauma” of things that you really have no basis for believing in is just terrible. I feel like there’s some “generational trauma” around gusano descendants that is like an intensified version of this, where they will be told completely fatuous myths that are emotionally impactful to them as credulous little kids and it will scar them into falling in line. I once met someone descended from people who fled the Chinese Civil War who told me about Mao’s guys burning down some old library. Now, I’ve spent some time reading absolutely hairbrained accusations, some real “Private Life of Mao” shit, and I have never once seen the accusation that, during or around the Civil War, his guys burned down even a single library (it surely must have happened, but by accident as with burning down any other kind of building). Even deliberately fishing through crank blogs and such, I could not even find the accusation that this was done, much less proof. You will be unsurprised to find out that this did not sway my interlocutor even in the slightest, because what can I say compared to the gravely recounted stories of memaw and pepep?
This was all well before the school curriculum got completely changed too. A christofascist and card carrying member of the “victims of communism foundation” got elected and changed the school curriculum, because it was too woke of course.
I’m dealing with some of that kind of “generational trauma” in my own family now and it’s really interesting. I’m far enough removed from it that it’s not a big deal for me, and the people closer to it didn’t turn it into any sort of amped up family mythology, but it’s still quite a trip unpacking it all. I took it all at face value for most of my life, thinking, as you say, it’s my great-grandparents’ life stories, who am I to question them. Until a couple years ago I realized they sound pretty made up, and sure enough, I’m basically descended from Kulaks.
That crypto-fascist school curriculum aside, it’s just part of the myths our western cultures tell us about China. They’re so ingrained in our lives that most people have some passing knowledge of the myths, but no idea where they first heard them.
I was in an international school, in occupied Hong Kong, right after it happened.
I remember my teacher showing us the tank man photo on the front page of the South China Morning Post.
I remember him telling us to think about (i.e. assume) what would happen next to that brave man.
I remember it vividly, because I was an 8-year-old being told by a trusted adult to imagine a man being run over by a tank. I wouldn’t see the actual tank man video and find out what really happened next for nearly 2 decades.
I remember there was a lot of arguing about this around that time. People were literally repeating the “tanks ran over corpses repeatedly to mulch them” story. Top minds of
.
It’s gospel here in Australia. You’re super massively weird if you don’t believe it
Same in Canada. I remember being taught about the Tiananmen “massacre” in a really graphic and honestly traumatizing way in sixth grade. What I don’t remember is being taught about the genocide of American indigenous peoples with nearly the same level and type of emotion attached to it.
Something tells me that brutal lynchings and burning alive unarmed PLA soldiers were not covered in that class.
They were most definitely not.
Are you including the “tanks grinding corpses” part or just the “massacre” in general?
It was a long time ago and the memory isn’t clear, but I remember a short story in which the protagonist character is either run over by a tank or disappears in some forested area after being shot down by soldiers. It was horribly graphic and entirely inappropriate for eleven year olds.
Christ, it was cruel of them to expose you to that at such a young age.
I remember being shown a rather brutal scene of an Civil Rights activist being shot a point blank range and left to bleed out, and I am glad I had education that was uncompromising on “The Civil Rights movement was valiant and opposed by monstrous people”, but it probably could have been communicated in a more age-appropriate way. I think I was at a similar age.
Weaponizing the “education by trauma” of things that you really have no basis for believing in is just terrible. I feel like there’s some “generational trauma” around gusano descendants that is like an intensified version of this, where they will be told completely fatuous myths that are emotionally impactful to them as credulous little kids and it will scar them into falling in line. I once met someone descended from people who fled the Chinese Civil War who told me about Mao’s guys burning down some old library. Now, I’ve spent some time reading absolutely hairbrained accusations, some real “Private Life of Mao” shit, and I have never once seen the accusation that, during or around the Civil War, his guys burned down even a single library (it surely must have happened, but by accident as with burning down any other kind of building). Even deliberately fishing through crank blogs and such, I could not even find the accusation that this was done, much less proof. You will be unsurprised to find out that this did not sway my interlocutor even in the slightest, because what can I say compared to the gravely recounted stories of memaw and pepep?
This was all well before the school curriculum got completely changed too. A christofascist and card carrying member of the “victims of communism foundation” got elected and changed the school curriculum, because it was too woke of course.
I’m dealing with some of that kind of “generational trauma” in my own family now and it’s really interesting. I’m far enough removed from it that it’s not a big deal for me, and the people closer to it didn’t turn it into any sort of amped up family mythology, but it’s still quite a trip unpacking it all. I took it all at face value for most of my life, thinking, as you say, it’s my great-grandparents’ life stories, who am I to question them. Until a couple years ago I realized they sound pretty made up, and sure enough, I’m basically descended from Kulaks.
Idek where it comes from here, I don’t remember it at school at all
That crypto-fascist school curriculum aside, it’s just part of the myths our western cultures tell us about China. They’re so ingrained in our lives that most people have some passing knowledge of the myths, but no idea where they first heard them.
I was in an international school, in occupied Hong Kong, right after it happened.
I remember my teacher showing us the tank man photo on the front page of the South China Morning Post.
I remember him telling us to think about (i.e. assume) what would happen next to that brave man.
I remember it vividly, because I was an 8-year-old being told by a trusted adult to imagine a man being run over by a tank. I wouldn’t see the actual tank man video and find out what really happened next for nearly 2 decades.
Fucking wormtongue ghouls.
We have more evidence that the Fascists ran tanks over Senegalese soldiers, yet I can’t say that I’ve seen antisocialists either mentioning or discussing that much, let alone as often as the rumour that the PLA deliberately ran tanks over Chinese citizens.
We have videos/photos of IOF doing it now in Gaza…