Ron,
I agree with Justin, it's sometimes difficult to tell whether you are being serious!
I didn't propose a "letter of admonishment." Although I do believe such a letter would be in order for anyone knowingly celebrating Mao's legacy, I don't have enough information to conclude that's the case here. Even if it were the case, it would probably be bad politics for the LPSF to send such a letter.
What I did suggest was that we politely let them know, as potential customers, how they could increase their chances of getting our business. The idea was to let them know that we disapprove of the name of their restaurant without being too confrontational about it. Derek put it best with his analogy of someone opening the "Adolf Hitler Hofbrau House" or something like that. You wouldn't think that was cool, would you?
Have I said something to make you think I am a supporter of the United Farm Workers? I don't think California farm workers, as a whole are "underpaid" or "exploited" except as a result of government policies. But even those policies are in no way comparable to what happened in China under Chairman Mao.
The rest of your questions get progressively more absurd from there, so I will presume you weren't serious and won't attempt to address them individually. I'm not contesting the right of the owners of "Mao Zedong Village" to run their restaurant as they choose, merely saying that in my opinion they ought to change the name, or failing that, take the opportunity to educate people about the kind of guy Mao actually was.
Yours in liberty,
<<< starchild >>>
Dear Starchild;
I believe you strongly espouse Libertarian principles and philosophies so I am somewhat taken aback by your request for a letter of admonishment to the Mao Zedong restaurant to highlight the obscenities Mao Zedong visited on the people of China. By some estimates killing some 70 million Chinese among other things.
HOWEVER .....
Will you require any pizza place we go to to print on their menus how illegal immigrant field workers picking the tomatos used on the pizza are grossly exploited and grossly underpaid and live in gross verminous hovels provided by the grossly profiting farmers?
And unless they do we will meet some other place and give some other place our business?
Will you ask the pizza place to print on their menus about how the poor wheat farmers are exploited and forced to accept government handouts and forced by the government to grow less wheat or sell it at forced government subsidy prices?
And unless they do we will meet some other place and give some other place our business?
Since we meet in California will you require the state to issue an apology to the indigenous indians of California who were slaughtered starved and enslaved by the previous administrations starting from the Spanish Conquistadors?
And unless they do we will meet in some other state?
And since we meet in the Good Old USA will we require the USA government to apologize for the slaughter of American Indians??? Or the slavery of Afircans???
And unless they do we will meet in some other country?
I believe you wrote the restaurant statement in a moment which lacked lucid lucidity since it is the antitheses of Libertarianism.......
For someone to do as they damn well please unless it infringes on someone elses rights to do as they damn well please - right???
And another thing since we meet on planet Earth and the peoples of planet Earth have managed to slaughter several hundreds of millions should we meet on another planet???
Eh - Earthling??? Just watch out for the Aliens among us and I don't mean the ones crossing the border either!!!
Ron Getty
SF LibertarianAs much as I want to make inroads with the left, and as amusing as it
would be to tell other Libertarians where we hold our meetings, I have
to go with Derek on this one. But I vote we send the restaurant a
polite letter expressing interest in meeting there in the future if
they decide to change the name at some point. It's tempting to also
suggest including the hint that we'd give them our business if they
printed information on their menus about how millions of Chinese were
killed by Mao's policies or made some similarly prominent attempt to
accurately portray the historical record. However I think the chances
of their refusing to publicly defame their namesake in such a manne are
almost 100 percent. Unfortunately in the absence of such a disclaimer
the restaurant's existence amounts to the promotion of a "kinder,
gentler" image for Mao. It would be a shame in my opinion for the LP to
help fund what amounts to a PR boost for the late murderous dictator.Yours in liberty,
<<< starchild >>>> Let's not forget that the Libertarian Party has its headquarters in
> Washington, DC. I vote for Mao Zedong. Get to know our "enemies."
>
> From: lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Derek Jensen
> Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2006 8:14 AM
> To: lpsf-activists@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [lpsf-activists] Re: New meeting place discussion
>
> I know the mao zedong restaurant, which is only a 1/2 block from my
> house. I can't get over the name. Somehow if someone opened the adolf
> hitler bratwurst emporium I don't think calling it "for fun" would be
> much of an excuse. Mao zedong was a brutal homicidal maniac. Let's not
> forget it.
>
> I vote for the pizza place on sutter and post.
>
> > Howdy,
> >
> > Okay, after not-so-long and not-so-hard research, I'd like to offer
> > my top two choices for our next meeting location and see how y'all
> > react. I only got a couple of concrete suggestions, but thanks to
> > those who did respond. I'd like to lock on this by the weekend and
> > publish it in the (already belated) newsletter.
> >
> > =====
> >
> > Option #1 -- MAO ZEDONG VILLAGE
> >
> > Clement St. between 19th & 20th
> >
> > This is very close to our old location (and even closer to my
> > house!) and I've had a few events there myself. They have a cozy
> and
>
> > attractive space for private events in the back and nice food at
> > reasonable prices. If you can't tell from the name, it's a Chinese
> > restaurant, not pizza. Oh, and about the name... It used to be
> called
>
> > Chinese Harvest. When I stopped in this week I asked the owner why
> > the name was changed and she said "just for fun".
> >
> > Option #2 -- VILLAGE PIZZERIA
> >
> > Van Ness Ave. between Sutter & Post
> >
> > Thanks to Michael Edelstein for doing some footwork in this
> > neighborhood. This is a more central location, accessible by more
> bus
>
> > lines, though perhaps worse for parking. It also keeps with our
> pizza
>
> > tradition while being cuter than Round Table. They don't have a
> > separate space for private events, but they say they're fairly slow
> > on Saturday afternoons and they're happy to turn the TV off while
> > we're there.
> >
> > =====
> >
> > Some other options I considered: The main library has decent
> > conference rooms and is fairly central, but it has more rules and
> > less service than a restaurant, besides (though consistent with)
> > being tax-funded. Mao Zedong is right across the street from Bok
> Choy
>
> > Garden, where David Goggin had one of his parties, so I stopped in
> > there as well; Bok Choy has a separate room but it's not very nice,
> > so if we're in the neighborhood I'd lean toward Mao Zedong myself.
> > The Round Table we met at this month has an okay space but the video
> > games were driving me batty.Starchild made a case for the
> Mission
>
> > without a specific location -- any place in particular we should
> > consider?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Justin
> >
> > ________________________________
> > YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
> >
> > Visit your group "lpsf-activists" on the web.
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > lpsf-activists-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service.
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
>
> --
> View my blog at http://derekj72.blogspot.com
>
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