I mean, there’s not much context that you can give “boiling babies” to justify it

First of all, yes you are absolutely correct and there is absolutely no way that I would ever consider that okay under any circumstance. Not for anyone at all. Just wanna make that EXTREMELY clear lol. Also I’m not a Gonzaloite and here I am just kinda playing devil’s advocate a bit because now I’ve been introduced to both sides of the argument about Shining Path and am curious about it, but still largely have reservations about Shining Path. And I think in my mind I probably need to remember the distinction between MLMs and MLMpMs because I would guess not all Maoists believe in gonzalo thought. (too many fuckin acronyms in communism)

I think what my comrade was getting at was that people will argue that Gonzalo approved of those acts because of his testimony while on trial, and that that particular testimony was misinterpreted, or that the documents may have been falsified or something like that. I don’t think my comrade was debating the validity of the massacre but that the members of the party that did it went rogue or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if a government would fabricate documents to imprison him, or any other communist insurgent. There are still people who believe that Mao intentionally starved five trillion people and that he made them eat rocks (yes, I have heard that one) and cannabalize eachother, so recognizing that is what makes me question the majority opinion on Shining Path.

I appreciate you sharing your perspective on China, how people totally glaze China here is kind of off-putting to me. I think there was a debate a while back about China-Israel relations and people seemed to bend over backwards to justify their continued relations in the midst of the Palestinian genocide. So instinctively I think your position is correct. And you allow for nuance, I feel like a lot of people kinda fall into black or white thinking sometimes.