Sanjeev Kumar

You might think that the phenomenon of people viewing themselves as "Christian crusaders" and behaving in ways completely opposite to Christian values is a recent one, but read this description of the behavior of actual French crusaders in the 14th century on their way to fight the Turks in the battle of Nicopolis (which the crusaders eventually lost) 👇 Sadly hypocrisy and virtue signaling weren't invented by modern politicians... Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara W. Tuchman

I find it somewhat ironical that Mike Tyson has a keener understanding of Mao than probably 90% of Western "China experts" out there because: a) he actually read his works and b) he did so when he was in a position of humiliation himself - in prison - so he could have deep empathy for the feelings of most Chinese at the time, and the reason for Mao's popularity. And as a matter of fact Mao's words resonated with Tyson so much that he tattooed his face on his body, because, in his own words (from another interview): "he helped millions of people get their independence, their self-esteem, their manhood back." Which is exactly what most Chinese would say, to this day, is Mao's greatest achievement and what no "China expert" would ever dare write (or think)... Big lessons there on cognitive empathy to understand others and history, and the disconnect of academia with lived reality.