P.J. O'Rourke Quote
Mao asks Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, How do you get a cat to bite a hot pepper? Zhou says, You hold him down, pry his jaws open, and shove the pepper into his mouth. Mao says, No, that’s force. We want the cat to bite the pepper of his own free will. Deng says, You take the pepper, wrap it in a delicious piece of fish, and, before he knows it, the cat has bitten the pepper. Mao says, No, that’s trickery. We want the cat to know he’s biting the pepper. Zhou and Deng say, We give up. How do you make a cat bite a hot pepper? It’s easy, Mao says. Stick the pepper up the cat’s ass. He’ll be glad to bite it.
P.J. O'Rourke
Mao asks Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, How do you get a cat to bite a hot pepper? Zhou says, You hold him down, pry his jaws open, and shove the pepper into his mouth. Mao says, No, that’s force. We want the cat to bite the pepper of his own free will. Deng says, You take the pepper, wrap it in a delicious piece of fish, and, before he knows it, the cat has bitten the pepper. Mao says, No, that’s trickery. We want the cat to know he’s biting the pepper. Zhou and Deng say, We give up. How do you make a cat bite a hot pepper? It’s easy, Mao says. Stick the pepper up the cat’s ass. He’ll be glad to bite it.
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About P.J. O'Rourke
After beginning his career writing for the National Lampoon, O'Rourke went on to serve as foreign affairs desk chief for Rolling Stone where he reported from far-flung places. Later he wrote for a number of publications, including The Atlantic, the Daily Beast, the Wall Street Journal, and the Weekly Standard, and was a longtime panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.
The Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994 states, "O'Rourke's original reporting, irreverent humor, and crackerjack writing makes for delectable reading. He never minces words or pulls his punches, whatever the subject."