Ok, time to jump back into the fires of controversy. Perhaps you have heard of the Falun Gong. The Falun Gong (also called Falun Daffa) claims to be a non-organized group of peaceful exercise enthusiasts being persecuted by evil communist devils and largely the media over here in North America has been happy to collude with this misconception. The participation of certain unimportant, former parliament hill back-bench jockies has not helped to correct these misconceptions.
Unfortunately the only dissenting opinion on this messed up little cult is usually Xinhua; a news agency not known for accuracy in reporting or transparency.
This makes it hard for me. Because, on one hand, I know that Falun Gong manipulates Western anti-communist paranoia to gain adherents but, on the other hand it's hard to point to any truly dispassionate reporting on them.
Well please say hello to one of my new favorite people: Dr. Heather Kavan. Dr. Kavan wrote the single best summary of the controversy surrounding the Falun Gong I have ever read and I think it is a must-read for anybody who wants to know what the yellow-shirted loonies handing out pamphlets in front of Chinese embassies and consolates the world around are really all about. You can read it here.
Supernatural premieres tonight. I am looking forward to it.
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Chinese embassies and consolates ... and Walmart.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting ethnography, but I wish she had more research on the racist and homophobic components of Falun Gong.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that Dr. Heather did an excellent job researching and writing this very academic article. It's based on facts, and most importantly, it's a rather objective one. Very impressive job.
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