(304) TEMPUS FUGITS
"It’s funny how time slips away."
--Willie Nelson
* * *
While the Civil War was raging in the United States, there was another war going on that no one noticed. Even today, there are only a few citizens in the United States who are vaguely aware of the unnoticed war. The war about which I speak is known as the Taiping Rebellion.
As usual, a religious fruitcake was the cause of the war. Nothing like deeply held religious beliefs to get a wave of murders going. In China, an idiot named Hung kept trying to pass the Confucius test. From my limited research, I think the Confucius test was an early Chinese version of the Civil Service exam. After failing the test three or four times, Hung had a dream. In his dream, he saw a man with a gold head. The golden-headed man gave him a sword. Hung believed that the man was God--and he was the brother of Jesus! He read a book in the Chinese language that was a simple description of Christianity. Like all zealots who advocate murder, he ignored the humanity part of Christianity, declared himself heavenly king, and went about killing people at will. He went to the nearest village and spoke to the assembled masses, which may have only been three street people. He explained that he was the brother of Jesus and had been ordered to get the masses to follow him. They followed him to the nearest-larger village, and then to the city, and then to the metropolis. Soon, there were more than a million people following Hung across China.
One of the rules was that there could be no sexual relations, gambling, prostitution, or opium smoking, except with Hung and his lieutenants. Hung had a huge harem, and so did his lieutenants. The underlying theory of his revolution was that everyone should share equally, except in sex, drugs, and gambling. I am mindful of the fact that when President Obama was presenting his health-care proposal, the vast majority of the public believed that the rich should pay for everyone’s health care.
Hung and his army took Nanking and made the city his capitol. As his power grew, he became increasingly erratic and started killing his lieutenants. His men failed to take Shanghai, which was defended by a western-trained army. Hung retreated to Nanking, but soon his city was surrounded, and he withdrew to his harem and committed suicide in 1862.
In 1864, Nanking fell.
The really amazing part of the story is that twelve million died in the debacle, and not on noticed or learned anything from the crusade.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald M. Heavrin
A chronicler of war
--Willie Nelson
* * *
While the Civil War was raging in the United States, there was another war going on that no one noticed. Even today, there are only a few citizens in the United States who are vaguely aware of the unnoticed war. The war about which I speak is known as the Taiping Rebellion.
As usual, a religious fruitcake was the cause of the war. Nothing like deeply held religious beliefs to get a wave of murders going. In China, an idiot named Hung kept trying to pass the Confucius test. From my limited research, I think the Confucius test was an early Chinese version of the Civil Service exam. After failing the test three or four times, Hung had a dream. In his dream, he saw a man with a gold head. The golden-headed man gave him a sword. Hung believed that the man was God--and he was the brother of Jesus! He read a book in the Chinese language that was a simple description of Christianity. Like all zealots who advocate murder, he ignored the humanity part of Christianity, declared himself heavenly king, and went about killing people at will. He went to the nearest village and spoke to the assembled masses, which may have only been three street people. He explained that he was the brother of Jesus and had been ordered to get the masses to follow him. They followed him to the nearest-larger village, and then to the city, and then to the metropolis. Soon, there were more than a million people following Hung across China.
One of the rules was that there could be no sexual relations, gambling, prostitution, or opium smoking, except with Hung and his lieutenants. Hung had a huge harem, and so did his lieutenants. The underlying theory of his revolution was that everyone should share equally, except in sex, drugs, and gambling. I am mindful of the fact that when President Obama was presenting his health-care proposal, the vast majority of the public believed that the rich should pay for everyone’s health care.
Hung and his army took Nanking and made the city his capitol. As his power grew, he became increasingly erratic and started killing his lieutenants. His men failed to take Shanghai, which was defended by a western-trained army. Hung retreated to Nanking, but soon his city was surrounded, and he withdrew to his harem and committed suicide in 1862.
In 1864, Nanking fell.
The really amazing part of the story is that twelve million died in the debacle, and not on noticed or learned anything from the crusade.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald M. Heavrin
A chronicler of war
posted by Donald Heavrin at 12:44 PM
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