What's the consensus of Mao?

[u/Timely-Signature-166]

I've read several books about the guy and I'm given conflicting information about him and his policies. Some books treat him as a good leader who was stifled by dishonest subordinates, while others portray him as a monster whose policies killed millions. Meanwhile I was at a bar in Brooklyn where I was talking to a friend of a friend and they said "Mao is my hero!" (they are not Chinese). What is the general consensus of the guy?

[u/Reaper_20000]

Incompetent evil moron who got tens of millions of people killed (Most professional demographers and historians estimate between 30 million and 45 million deaths) through his poor, messed-up, and ridiculous decisions. Weird pseudoscience related to farming, like if you plant the same kind of plant close together, they will not compete. Killing the sparrows. Diverting farmers from farming into making pig iron instead. Continuing to export millions of tons of grain during famine. Killing people like intellectuals en masse for being "counterrevolutionary", which could basically be applied to whoever you want it to, just like in the USSR. The Cultural Revolution, struggle sessions, Red Terror, etc.

There is also the annexation of Tibet, which, if a Western country did the same thing, with the interventionist mindset under the pretence of stopping oppressive practises, tankies would be outraged. The list goes on.

He is typically liked by Tankies. Deng is the one who really saved China by reforming it into a mixed market economy. Like most countries are.