My favorite is when you bring some Mao into a conversation, get "oppose book worship!" thrown back at you, then after further discussion you start to think they haven't actually read that beyond the quote itself.

Strangely enough, within the Communist Party there are also people who always say in a discussion, "Show me where it's written in the book." When we say that a directive of a higher organ of leadership is correct, that is not just because it comes from "a higher organ of leadership" but because its contents conform with both the objective and subjective circumstances of the struggle and meet its requirements...

We need books, but we must overcome book worship, which is divorced from the actual situation.

It's basically "theory isn't prophecy; learn from it, but make sure it applies to your actual situation." It's certainly not "I don't need to read anything at all."

That's very true specifically for the MLM3Ws, who in the imperial core have very little in common with actual MLMs. They'll read the same revolutionary study guide/book for a year+, dissect it from each and every angle, spend countless hours arguing the tiniest points and mistranslations, kick out half of the group for minute (or fundamental) disagreements, and call themselves revolutionaries. And then never do an ounce of Marxist analysis on what the fuck did they spend that time on, or why have they never went outside to talk to a single person while preaching about the mass line.