Bookworm had some great comments inspired by David Horowitz’s discussion of Maoism. After reproducing Horowitz’s comment Bookworm concurred:
My point exactly, and I’m going to wrap up here by quoting from language I used in a post explaining why it’s no excuse for Kevin Jennings (the “Safe Schools Czarâ€) that NAMBLA involvement is only a part of the Harry Hays gay rights mythology. That post, incidentally, pre-dated the report about Dunn’s admiration for “Mao, the Philosopher.â€
There comes a point when someone’s reprehensible side is so extreme that simple decency means that you can no longer hold that person up as an example because of his less reprehensible side. To take extreme examples to make the point, we don’t use Hitler as a poster child for vegetarianism, Mao as a model for physical fitness through swimming, or Ted Bundy to make the point that clean-cut guys can get the girls. Because reputation matters, when a person’s evil outweighs his good, we toss him from the role model pedestal.
