Evil religion has no humanity!Can't be mourned after death, how can people go to heaven!

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by ber, Jan 3, 2020.

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  1. ber

    ber New Member

    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 3, 2020
  2. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    And now, a musical break from Rodgers & Hammerstein in one of their stereotypical moments . . .

     
  3. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I'd never heard of Falun Gong before this thread, but there is a lot of information out there from credible sources. As far as I've seen, Falun Gong is guilty of nothing and is being used by the Chinese government as a scapegoat and target for vicious persecution.

    Falun Gong has no history of violence and its core tenets are truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. I've seen no evidence that they are organized like a cult, or really, in any way that is remarkably different from any other eastern religion.

    Conclusion: Evil Chinese government has no humanity!
     
    heirophant likes this.
  4. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Thank you, Maniac.

    This is the second time in just a few weeks that individuals working (officially or unofficially) on behalf of the Chinese communist dictatorship have tried to use Degreeinfo as their mouthpiece. Last time they were trying to discredit the President of Taiwan. This time, it's a far more incoherent attack on Falun Gong in terribly broken English. Next time I expect that it might be Tibet and the Dalai Lama. I don't know what originally attracted their attention, maybe our thread about Hong Kong. But we seem to be on somebody's list now, one of the internet sites where they feel they need to show their flag.

    It's a compliment in a way, I guess.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2020
  5. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    In it's early stages Falun Gong was praised by the government but as it grew in popularity I believe that it was seen as a threat. This is not because the practice espouses any particularly harmful philosophies but because it developed so many adherents. Any organization with that many members is going to be seen as at least a potential threat to the government. Keep your xinxing up!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong
     
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Speaking of media outlets and Falun Gong, they run the Epoch Times, which means it will annoy the original poster that their SEO just got ever so slightly optimized by being mentioned here.
     
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  7. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Yes. I believe that in Chinese history during the imperial periods, popular religious movements often turned into anti-government movements and sometimes even resulted in open revolt. So the Chinese have often been touchy about unsanctioned religious movements and even today, (especially today, given communist ideology) religious organizations that aren't government-approved are illegal. I guess that the level of persecution and suppression that they receive is a function of how influential they are perceived as being.

    I've liked the Epoch Times for a long time. They used to give paper copies of the newspaper away for free around here, and that's when I started reading it. When that seemed to stop (I haven't seen free copies for quite a while) I used to read the paper on their website. But now it seems to have gone behind a paywall. While I like it, I don't like it enough to subscribe, I guess.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2020
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That says something about Islam, then, I suppose.

    Same.
     
  9. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  10. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Epoch Times is readily available on paper in the SF area. Also the very heavily-advertised Shen Yun dance performance, billed as 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Friends who went this week ($221 a ticket at the SF Opera House) agree with many reviewers that it is a lot of spectacular dancing and scenery and an awful lot of Falun Gong propaganda. Apparently Falun Gong produces Shen Yun.
     
  11. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Very interesting. I used to read the Epoch Times whenever I was in NYC- it was one of a few different surprisingly good quality free newspapers you could easily grab-and-go. I had no idea about its origins, and I don't remember seeing any kind of religious spin on its content.

    Your post makes me wonder what the Falun Gong dance propaganda consisted of. In fact, I'm rather amused by the very concept of dance propaganda in general :D
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  12. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    upload_2020-1-5_17-30-9.jpeg
     
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  13. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Their slant is not really about how great Falun Gong is and more about how dreadful the communist regime is. That, surely, you noticed in the Epoch Times? :)
     
  14. ber

    ber New Member

    [Propaganda video removed by moderator.]

    Facts speak louder than words.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 9, 2020
  15. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    It's still early in 2020 but I'm going to give this post the "Funniest Post of the year" award. And that's a fact.
     
  16. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    This thread puts me in the mood for American fake Chinese food. :p

    BTW, the Wikipedia articles on both the Epoch Times and Shen Yun cover their connections to Falun Gong quite well.
     
  17. heirophant

    heirophant Well-Known Member

    Especially when the words are incomprehensible Chinese.

    The Youtube channel seems to ostensibly (maybe not really) belong to a young woman who looks very spiffy in her communist uniform. I take it that she's an actress, who once played a police officer on Chinese TV. But the image of her in the uniform is fitting somehow, since I get the feeling that the Chinese government is trying to lean on Degreeinfo and use it as a propaganda channel.

    I will say that I'm an American who isn't literate in Chinese. Given that freedom of speech and thought is very important to me, frankly my sympathies are with Falun Gong. While in some cases their religious beliefs sound like bullshit to me (though not quite so implausible as evangelical Christianity), the mere fact that the Chinese government is so intent on smearing and persecuting them makes me sympathetic to them. Falun Gong are one of the few voices that the rest of the world sees coming out of China that doesn't always conform to the official government line.

    My only personal exposure to Falun Gong was by reading the Epoch Times, and that was a very positive experience. I thought that it was an excellent newspaper, certainly better than most. (I take it that the editors and most of the writers of the American English language edition are American and not Falun Gong adherents.) It did have occasional columns on vaguely religious/ethical topics, but those were mostly common-sense spirituality, virtue and ethical practice stuff that people of almost any religious tradition could probably agree on. I expect that in Beijing's eyes, their foremost sin isn't their peculiar religious ideas, but rather their criticism of the Beijing dictatorship.
     
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  18. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I'd like to see you try stating a fact without using words.

    Better yet, I'd like to see you try to state any fact at all. That would be a good start.

    If you're actually reading and responding to this, know one thing: I feel sorry for you. Whether you are brainwashed and actually believe your government's lies, or you are deathly terrified of not obeying your government's orders, I hope that one day you find a way to break free.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2020
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  19. Steve Levicoff

    Steve Levicoff Well-Known Member

    There have been several articles recently about how the Epoch Times, after being banned from Facebook, has been spending millions to advertise on YouTube. If you use YouTube at all, chances are that you've seen their ads.

    Roman Balmakov, their former circulation manager and the guy who does almost all of the YouTube ads, has gone viral thanks to his polished delivery - the guy is a natural in front of a TV camera.

    But here's a little bit of his background, from an article that appears at http://www.pureinsight.org/node/7348:

    Improving through Delivering Newspapers

    Roman Balmakov started delivering newspapers for the Epoch Times six years ago.

    He gets up at 3:30 a.m. every day. Carrying 60 pounds of newspapers, he bicycles ten miles around Manhattan each day, rain or shine. Five days a week, he delivers 5000 copies.

    “On one rainy winter day, my finger was hurt at a newspaper box,” he recalled, “But I didn't complain because I knew this was one of the best ways for people to learn the truth of Falun Gong.”

    He shared a miraculous experience with the audience.

    One day on his delivery route, Roman felt his soul elevate to the sky. From 40 miles above, his soul saw himself delivering the newspapers. This lasted for 30 minutes.

    “I watched the entire city from above while I was walking on the street,” he said, “I saw the relationship between karma and virtue, and I saw good meet with good, and evil meet with evil. I also saw that our newspaper was a shining golden light.”​

    As Dana Carvey would say, "Well . . . Isn't that special?" :rolleyes:

    Side note: I could perhaps get behind the whole human rights thingey with regard to Falun Gong . . . if their logo wasn't a swastika.
     
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  20. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Nice try, Steve. You know that we know that you know, and we know that you know that we know, that the swastika was originally a symbol of divine provenance, prosperity and good luck before a bunch of morons appropriated it as a symbol of dominance and hatred.

    For your attempt at riling us up, I laugh at you, and for your continuous failed attempt at being the Andy Kaufman of degree info, I laugh at you even more...

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

    Also, thanks for the article and info :D
     

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