Falun Gong and propaganda

Arts & Sciences Religion & Spirituality
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Former Wuhan TV Station Director Zhao Zhizhen Sued in the U.S. for Making Propaganda Films Inciting Hatred, Violence and Genocide Against Falun Gong

2004-07-19
On July 14, 2004, when Zhao Zhizhen was visiting New Haven, Connecticut, he received a summons issued in a U.S. Federal District Court. Zhao Zhizhen is the former Wuhan TV Station Director and the former Wuhan Radio Station Director in Hubei Province, China. Several Falun Gong practitioners filed a class action lawsuit in Federal Court in New Haven, Connecticut on July 13th. Zhao Zhizhen is being sued for making propaganda films that incite hatred, violence and genocide against Falun Gong practitioners. This is the first lawsuit of its kind, which argues that the people involved in producing the hate propaganda against Falun Gong should be held responsible for the torture and genocide taking place in China and for hate crimes against Falun Gong practitioners outside China.

According to co-consul for the plaintiffs Dr. Terri Marsh, “The Wuhan Broadcasting and TV Bureau and TV Network Station were given primary responsibility by the former President of the Peoples Republic of China to create a climate of hatred, fear and violence against persons who practice Falun Gong in China and abroad using the same propaganda tactics deployed in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, in Rwanda, during the genocide of the Tutsi by the Hutu, and in China during the Cultural Revolution.”

Dr. Marsh added, “In all of these violent massacres, the target is first demonized as having inherently evil qualities, equated with demonic forces, and portrayed as criminals, murderers, and enemies of the state. In China, such tactics, and the media programs of the Defendant, additionally call for the ‘transformation’ of practitioners [by torture] and/or their extra judicial killing.”

According to the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) (1) under Zhao Zhizhen’s direct instruction, the production team of the popular “Scientific Time” TV program of Wuhan went to Changchun City and produced a special film titled “The Story of Li Hongzhi.” This film was used by Jiang Zemin to force other Central Government leaders to agree on the persecution of Falun Gong. Then the film began to be played over and over again on CCTV starting from July 22, 1999, three days after the persecution officially began. This film was the only TV propaganda program demonizing Falun Gong in the early stage of the persecution. It is also one of the major tools used to brainwash Chinese people nationwide. Later, this film was played in forced labor camps, prisons, and mental hospitals for brainwashing purposes, and used as an excuse to torture Falun Gong practitioners. After watching the program, many police officers intensified their hatred towards Falun Gong and, as a result, it aggravated the persecution.

Zhao Zhizhen was listed on the WOIPFG monitoring list. After hearing of his travels outside China, the WOIPFG started a “global tracking system,” and soon obtained Zhao Zhizhen’s travel itinerary.

Notes:
(1) The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) is a network composed of many human rights groups and individual volunteers. Its mission is to dynamically monitor the whereabouts of individuals who have severely violated human rights in the persecution of Falun Gong and provide accurate information for justice agencies and victims around the world.

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What’s your point?

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That’s easy - FALUN DAFA HAO :unamused:

How long y’all reckon this pointless propagandist is going to be around for?

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Out of curiosity, are the Falun Whatever a bunch of raving loonies or a group of devoted religious practitioners? They’re pretty much invariably portrayed sympathetically in the American media, but the one Taiwanese I’ve asked about them had an immediate harshly negative reaction. She’s normally pretty easygoing.

5

I’ve read Zhuan Falun in English. It’s fucking insane. Falung Gong the religion is a cult, there’s no two ways about it. Falun Gong the Qigong or meditation practice is quite nice, though. I tried it out for a few months back in NZ, but I never subscribed to the BS religious side.

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Falun Dafa is really kind of loony. It probably ranks up their in cultish status above the Church of Scientology. Among its official tenets include, an ancient nuclear reactor in africa, magical powers, aliens, and chinese racism. Of course all of that is completly IGNORED in most western media reports which operates under the paradigm that the PRC is always in the wrong. It’s western advocates play it up as some kind of meditational practice but the actual beliefs are certainly bizarre to say the least.

As to sueing the former Wuhan TV director, I seriously think this is going to be thrown out. Unless of course the judge is an anti-China idiot. (Like the hick in the He adoption case)

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OK, I struck one of those four - magical powers - reading Zhuan Falun. The rest… aliens, wouldn’t surprise me; Chinese racism (I assume you mean “supremacism”), possibly; the reactor? Sounds like anti-FLG made-up propaganda. Sources?

And as for putting it above Scientology? Hardly. Scientology is madder than anything FLG could’ve come up with, they’re far more paranoid, and they’re borderline militant. Religious FLG is just a plain old-fashioned crazy-as-shit cult.

I’m no advocate, but the meditational aspect is good. Like I said, I’ve tried it solely for that purpose and it wasn’t bad at all.

Also, the PRC is right to be cracking down on it, but they really have gone off the deep end. And some of the idiotic anti-FLG propaganda the PRC tries to sucker people with doesn’t help their cause.

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They are a cult. There English website and Chinese ones are totally different. The English ones are of course pandering to the peaceful ancient arts of Chi-Gong and mediation. But the Chinese ones are just plain nuts.

Yes, if you read Chinese you can go on the Chinese forums of FLG and talk about aliens and levitating and how the leader living in NYC is above Jesus, Budda, and every other religious leader on the planet.

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So, you approve of the torture and imprisonment of these people, who are misguided at worst, like you approved of the Tiananmen massacre? I take your refusal to comment on Tiananmen, despite repeated requests, as tacit approval.

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[quote=“Tetsuo”]That’s easy - FALUN DAFA HAO :unamused:

How long y’all reckon this pointless propagandist is going to be around for?[/quote]

A long time. They are everywhere here in Europe! I’ve seen them in Vienna, Frankfurt,… these guys would set up shop close to city centre, put up huge signs saying how the CCP is persecuting them, and then meditate in the lotus position for an hour or two.

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I meant Lizi118, daniel.

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Since its public introduction in May 1992, Falun Dafa has attracted over 100 million practitioners worldwide in just ten years. Falun Dafa cultivation emphasizes that one should conduct oneself according to the principle of “Truth-Compassion-Tolerance”. Regardless of gender and age, regardless of nationality and race, every practitioner who persistently cultivates his/her heart and practices the exercises has benefited tremendously. Constant diligent cultivation has brought significant changes to many practitioners in both physical conditions and moral values. At the same time, Falun Dafa is gaining worldwide understanding and appreciation, especially in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
Listed below are some awards issued by some local governments and organizations in China, Canada, US and other countries in recognition of the extraordinary contribution made by Master Li Hong Zhi and Falun Dafa to people’s mental and physical health.
See the details of the awards(more than one thousand—http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/special_column/recognition.html

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Lizi, that’s all well and good, but explain the personality cult side of it please?

I mean, the fact that your “falun” is “installed” ONLY by Li Hongzhi? He is the only person in the world capable of enabling your cultivation?

Don’t try and bullshit someone who’s read the core texts of your little cult.

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I don’t know much about Scientology but do know movie stars are involved in the religion. What pulls them into this? Why the heck is Tom Cruise and Travolta in it? Maybe they aren’t real Scientologists? What’s the deal with it?

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Money, vapidity, and status.

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The treatment of practitioners of Falunggong in China clearly violate human rights norms, including those that China is a signatory to and are legally obligated to protect under international humanitarian law.

I was living in China when the crackdown began and I saw the video in question. It was replayed seemingly nonstop for a whole week in July 1999 when the crackdown began. Absurd on the face of it, but sadly, so many Chinese people are completely brainwashed, most took it without any critical thinking. Sad, truly sad.

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[quote=“Tetsuo”]Lizi, that’s all well and good, but explain the personality cult side of it please?

I mean, the fact that your “falun” is “installed” ONLY by Li Hongzhi? He is the only person in the world capable of enabling your cultivation?

Don’t try and bullshit someone who’s read the core texts of your little cult.[/quote]

What is personality?
Do you think the respect of the Buddhists to Shikyamuni is personality?
Or the respect of Christians to Jesus is personality?
If they donot follow the Enlightments teaching, how could they be saved?
Maybe you have read some of the texts of Falun Gong, but you donot really get the meaning. please read carefully without your prejudice.

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Look, Falungong IS a cult in the sense that they believe some crazy stuff, and give way too much money to their founder.

Come to think of it, so is Roman Catholicism.

I think people should have the right to follow cults. So I applaud the efforts of all these people to get the Chinese government off their back–and off the back of the Catholics, pentecostals, Tibetan Buddhists, etc.

Scientology is different from Falungong in that although they believe the same crazy stuff, more or less, the Scientologists have also probably killed people. (Okay, so have Catholics, but you know what I mean.)

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[quote=“Lizi118”]
What is personality?
Do you think the respect of the Buddhists to Shikyamuni is personality?
Or the respect of Christians to Jesus is personality?
If they donot follow the Enlightments teaching, how could they be saved?
Maybe you have read some of the texts of Falun Gong, but you donot really get the meaning. please read carefully without your prejudice.[/quote]
Yes, Gautama is a personality in the Buddhist religion, as is Jesus in the Christian religion. The difference there is, these religions are more focussed on the message than the messenger. In fact, in Buddhism, even the messenger himself declared his own irrelevance to practice. In Falun Gong, without devotion and worship of the messenger one cannot proceed in cultivation.

And just so you know, if I had any predjudice regarding Falun Gong when I read Zhuan Falun, it was pro-FLG rather than anti. Until I read that book, and the others, I was a big backer of FLG. Reading those books put me off the religious aspect once and for all.

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"that they believe some crazy stuff, and give way too much money to their founder. "

The practitioners do not give a cent to master, maybe you heard some slander.

Our master does not aquire the practitioners to worship him, the practitioners follow the great law.

Although Tetsuo said he had read the books of Falun Gong, but it appeared that he had some misunderstanding of Falun Gong.

Not all the 1000000 practitioners are fools, not all the governments, which gave Falun Gong awards are not responsible for their people.

Please,if you donot agree with Falun Gong, respect other people’s rights to practice their beliefs.

When you see those kind people persecuted only for their beliefs, that is a challenge to our civilization.

Respecting others’ rights is respecting ourselves.