Falun Gong: Part 2

Episode 43: Falung Gong Part II

• Welcome back Who’d a Thunkers to the second half of my Falun Gong story. Last week I went over how I came across this story via Reddit and the rabbit hole it took me down. I also went over ABC’s report on Falun Gong. But this episode, this half of the story, contains all the juiciest bits.
• Remember: Falun Gong is also referred to as Falun Dafa.
• The next source I want to cover is from the Falun Gong themselves, the Falun Dafa Information Center Youtube Channel. They posted a video of their own practitioners being interviewed about their “spiritual movement” as they call it. In the interviews they said:
  • the exercises made them experience unique energy in their bodies.
  • One woman said her first exercise made her feel very relaxed and afterward she felt her footsteps were lighter sort of like a floating sensation
  • They said they weren’t asked for money, nor were they pressured to come back for the next exercises. No one asked for their contact info, rather they found the practitioners to be laid back and welcoming.
  • One of the recurring themes in their interviews is that everyone in Falun Gong is very kind and that is due to the practice’s requirement that all practitioners better themselves and put others before their own self interests.
  • I must say this video was sort of compelling. It made me want to try their exercises, but then

• The Practitioners talked about the opposition their faith is up against, namely the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  • One woman said that she and her husband set up an advocacy project (she didn’t elaborate on what kind of project), but it was for Falun Gong. They invited a number of other followers to come to their house to meet and discuss the project. Later that night they found a VM on their landline. The VM was an audio recording of their meeting. They soon realized that everyone at the meeting got a similar VM. This couple called the FBI (). They explained the situation to the FBI who promptly asked if the married couple had any children. They responded by saying NO, and the FBI agent said: “good, because you are going up against a giant.”
  • The practitioners say the Falun Gong movement protests in peaceful ways only.
  • And that the CCP used anti-Falun Gong propaganda to discredit and shame them. This propaganda was everywhere for a long time and was used to justify the CCP’s arrest and detention of bus loads of Practitioners in broad daylight.
• Keep in mind, during this video, the interviewer and interviewees were both members of Falun Gong.
  • There video ended with this message: For the past 20 years, the Chinese Communist Party has conducted a global campaign to silence and demonize Falun Gong around the world. – Millions of people who practice Falun Gong have been imprisoned, tortured, and even killed in China. – Despite the atrocities and abuse, tens of millions continue to practice Falun Gong throughout China, and in over 90 countries around the world, upholding its core tenets of; Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.
• Lastly I’d like to explain JJ McCullough’s take on Falun Gong and China:
  • He describes this as a propaganda war that involves the public itself. In this propaganda war, there is no land being fought over. As a war of ideologies, our public opinion is the battle ground.
  • JJ says this conflict is “morally ambiguous and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.”
  • The reason I liked JJ’s opinion the most was because he didn’t choose sides. He starts his video by pointing all the reasons he doesn’t like the Chinese Communist Party (their handling of Covid-19 Pandemic, oppression of Hong Kong, support of Regimes like North Korea, and their oppression of their own people).
  • But then JJ says “Falun Gong is not a good guy either. [They] are a cult straight up.”

• JJ went in to detial about Falun Gong’s spiritual beliefs:
  • Master Li is an interdimensional being with super natural powers
  • He placed a magical force inside all of our abdomens called the Falun. It is represented as the image used for this episode. It is a circular symbol with a Swastika in the middle and surrounding the Swastika are yin and yang symbols.
  • Before you go connecting Falun Gong with Nazis, let me tell you that in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, swastika means “well-being”. The symbol has been used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for millennia. Nazi’s stole the Swastika symbol… they didn’t create it.
  • The Falun allows humans to harness all of the universe’s energy which is known as Gong.
  • Depending on how the Falun rotates in our stomachs, the positive energy of the universe, the Gong, is either being absorbed by us, or is being given by us.
  • In order for people to properly harness this Gong energy, they must do the meditation and breathing exercises.
  • Master Li shows his practitioners how to do these exercises via his many books, videos, and mandatory 9 day seminars…
  • And the Master promises his followers super-human levels of happiness, health, and wealth if they prove their dedication to Falun Dafa.
  • Master Li is waited on hand and foot at his 400 acre compound in upstate NY. His followers basically believe he is god.

• His followers even allow Master Li to pick who they will be married to… but no gay love is tolerated.
• Now I am fascinated by cults, as I think most people are. I’ve heard all about Scientology, NXIUM, etc. .. but why haven’t I ever heard about Falun Gong?
  • Well apparently that is due to Master Li’s vast propaganda infrastructure. Like a lot of cults, Falun Gong uses its most devoted followers as free labor. This free labor is put to use creating the Epoch Times, China Uncensored, Edge of Wonder, and other propaganda/media outlets to obscure Falun Gong’s public image and to sway public opinion.
  • I’ve already said that Master Li and Falun Gong hate the Chinese government because China kicked them out of their country, but that’s not the only reason. I said how Master Li hates “race-mixing” already, but that applies to entire governments.
  • The idea of a communist china offends Master Li because he believes that every race (Caucasian, African, Asian, Latino, etc.) was created by a different god. Therefore the idea of a European political ideology being implemented in an Asian country is evil and offensive to Master Li…
  • Master Li is very xenophobic. He believes that all the races of the world should stay completely separate and never cross-contaminate with each other. That’s why he doesn’t like mixed race people. He was quoted in 1996 saying that mixed race people are “physically and intellectually incomplete.”
  • He and his practitioners believe that in the afterlife, all races will go to our own planets and be a lot happier than we are here on earth, all intermingling.
  • Master Li believes the rulers of the Chinese Communist Party are demons from Hell sent to disrupt the universe. He believes the ideal china is one that is devoid of all foreign ideologies… that includes modern medicine, and modern science.
  • One of the main themes surrounding Falun Gong’s propaganda is that the Chinese government captures Falun Gong practitioners to kill them and harvest their organs. I don’t know if this is true, as China has had some sketchy stories come out about them harvesting death row inmates organs, but regardless, Falun Gong’s stance on the organ harvesting has become a conspiracy theory type stance…
• I know. This story has Cults, oppressive regimes, AND conspiracy theories…. it is like the Jackpot of Who’d a Thunk it episodes.
  • The Falun Gong believe that their meditation and breathing exercises make their organs extra strong and that is why the Chinese Government targets them…
  • To their credit, Falun Gong did in fact suffer under the Chinese Communist Party. The imprisonment and torture of Falun Gong practitioners is well documented. They aren’t making that up.
  • But the organ harvesting conspiracy theory hasn’t been proven nor has it been investigated by any reputable source. So chances are that it is not true.
  • Just as a little tip, if you are reading an article about China and you see something about systemic organ harvesting. That is a dead give away that what you are reading is just cult propaganda, or most likely so.
  • Their propaganda is making such progress in western countries, namely the USA because the Falun Gong message of Communism is bad and China is a force for evil in the world syncs up nicely with conservatives.
  • But the issue is that Falun Gong don’t believe the CCP is bad because they’ve objectively analyzed their political policies, but they literally believe the CCP is bad because it is being run by Evil Demons sent from hell to send the world in to Chaos….
  • So please, to my conservative friends out there: don’t be duped by cult propaganda. They honestly believe the people in the Chinese Government are demons, therefore Falun Gong’s standard for evidence in the “news” they spew out is very low… Just because they are pro-trump and anti-china doesn’t mean you share all the same views.
  • the latest conspiracy theory the Epoch Times has pushed on their readers is that China created Covid-19 on purpose as a weapon. These stories and a documentary they made had so little evidence to back their claims and included so many debunked theories that Facebook flagged them as misinformation.
  • Also, Falun Gong sees Trump as a divine angel sent from heaven to destroy Communism. They think he is the last nail in the communist coffin.

• In Canada, the Epoch Times has gone so far as to deliver news papers to people who didn’t sign up for it and didn’t want it….

• JJ concluded by saying that the idea of Conservative Americans being swayed by an Asian cult sounds bonkers, but there is actually precedence for it. In the 1970’s a cult known as the Moonies came to America. Lead by Reverend Moon who was cast out of North Korea, the Moonies swayed right-wing America on policy. Reverend Moon was a big supporter of Nixon, gun rights, and anti-communism. Western civilization allied with the Moonies because they were both anti-communism, but that was a mistake. The Moonies were an oppressive cult that sexually and physically abused their followers. And the Reverend Moon was found out as a financial crook.
• So we as the public have heard a lot about China over the past couple of decades because they are quickly becoming the next world power. And that is in direct conflict with the current world power that being The USA. But now our news about china is being muddled down with propaganda from a cult that doesn’t bother to find the truth. Their rationale is that the Chinese Government are demons so why bother with the truth… That’s why I think it is SO important for you all to be educated on this subject. Know the difference between actual news on China and what this self proclaimed God wants you to believe.
• Falun Gong is weaseling their way in to the conservative mindset, particularly in the US. Even though I don’t consider myself in line with the Liberal or Conservative side of the country, I do recognize they are the two major powers governing our country and I hate seeing either side getting in to bed with a delusional cult. The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.

That is the end of my Falun Gong story, but remember this is ongoing, so keep an eye out for how this all plays out. If you prefer to read my stories I have included the link to the accompanying blog post in the description.

Thanks for listening Who’d a Thunkers. Until next week.

• CREDIT:
• Who are the Falun Gong? | Foreign Correspondent – YouTube – ABC’s Foreign Correspondent
• This Chinese Cult is Not Your Friend – YouTube – Canadian youtuber
• Falun Gong – In Their Own Words – YouTube – Falun Gong’s own video