{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"482: Xi Van Fleet\u2014 Don't Be a Shiny Little Screw","description":"Mike sits down with author and Cultural Revolution survivor Xi Van Fleet for a conversation that\u2019s equal parts personal history and cautionary tale. Xi recounts her childhood under Mao Zedong\u2019s China, where conformity wasn\u2019t encouraged\u2014it was enforced. As a schoolgirl, she watched teachers publicly humiliated, neighbors turn on each other, and young people mobilized as ideological foot soldiers. Education gave way to indoctrination, and individuality was crushed in favor of collective obedience\u2014the kind that produces "shiny little screws.\u201d Drawing from her first book, Mao\u2019s America, Xi lays out how mass movements rooted in ideology often rely on dividing people into opposing groups\u2014\u201cgood\u201d versus \u201cbad\u201d\u2014to consolidate power. She also comments on how youth are frequently weaponized to accelerate cultural upheaval and dismantle traditional institutions, often by encouraging them to reject established norms and embrace radical ideologies. These patterns, she argues, aren\u2019t relics of history\u2014they\u2019re recurring tactics. And they are showing up in America today! The conversation then turns to her latest work, Made in America, where the focus shifts from warning signs to origin stories. The central theme: the rise of Communist China wasn\u2019t inevitable\u2014it was, in part, enabled by decisions made in the United States. Xi explores how decades of policy, economic cooperation, and ideological blind spots helped transform China into a global superpower, creating what she sees as one of America\u2019s greatest modern challenges. It\u2019s a conversation less about politics and more about people, choices, and consequences where Xi ends with a warning to America and why resisting the urge to become a \u201cshiny little screw\u201d might be more important than ever. Big thanks to our awesome sponsors ZipRecruiter.com\/Rowe to post a job for FREE. GoodRanchers.com Use code MIKE to get $40 off your first order and free meat for life. Pestie.com\/Mike to get an extra 10% off your order. AuraFrames.com\/Mike Use code MIKE to get $25 off their best-selling Carver Mat frame. ","author_name":"The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe","author_url":"https:\/\/sites.libsyn.com\/74011","html":"