Monday, May 21, 2007
Does It Gong For Thee?
Here's a Falun Gong protest, taken last year in Downtown Vancouver. I'm all for globalization, but you have to ask what kind of country censors Google and tortures people for doing the wrong kind of yoga. But I've always sensed a whiff of heavy-handedeness from the Gongers. I've long promised myself I'd look in to what's up with Falun Gong, and here's what I've found....I've found that I was too lazy to do more than skim the Wikipedia article - it does make clear than Falun Gong is a philosophical, religious, wholistic movement, not just a yoga style : - ) And no doubt the Chinese government is mistrustful of any mass movement with millions of adherents. But it sure looks to me like they've over reacted. Many Westerners consider Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi to be a great teacher and humanitarian - he's been on the short list for the Nobel Peace Prize. However, there are some Western 'cult experts' who feel that Falun Gong has cult-like elements and can be manipulative and controlling. Other Westerners dispute this. In any case, here in the West you are free to join a cult. Sometimes, your family will hire people to kidnap and de-program you. This is rather harsh, but of course preferable to torture with bamboo sticks. In China's statist model, the government steps in and supresses it. One interesting movie about 'de-programing' is Holy Smoke!, starring Kate Winslet as the cult member and Harvey Keitel as the de-programmer. At one point, Winslet pees on Keitel's feet.
Child On Vibrate
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