Mao the Record Setter

For John, BLUF:  A look at Fascism vs Communism.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Remembering the biggest mass murder in the history of the world

It is The Washington Post, but it is The Volokh Conspiracy, written by Ilya Somin, dateline 3 August 2016 (a year ago). The lede:

Who was the biggest mass murderer in the history of the world? Most people probably assume that the answer is Adolf Hitler, architect of the Holocaust.  Others might guess Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who may indeed have managed to kill even more innocent people than Hitler did, many of them as part of a terror famine that likely took more lives than the Holocaust.  But both Hitler and Stalin were outdone by Mao Zedong.  From 1958 to 1962, his Great Leap Forward policy led to the deaths of up to 45 million people – easily making it the biggest episode of mass murder ever recorded.

I remember, a few years ago, listening to a local NPR Station, around 7:30 in the morning and hearing the person being interviewed saying about the Great Leap Forward, "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette."  That was an absurd defense of Mao, like saying if you want an omelette it is OK to kill ten percent of all the chickens in the United States.

Here is the key takeaway from this bit of history, from the Twitter Account of Mr Frank J. Fleming:

Difference between Nazi and Communist is when you say how horrible Nazis have been, they don't say, "Well, real Nazism has never been tried"

Nazism being a form of Fascism.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff