Dennis Hollingsworth

Happy New Year

Look what i saw on the way to lunch today. A "happy" new year parade.

It's the Falun Gong. I don't know much about them, so I wiki.. Ah so. There is a certain Li Hongshi, who created an ersatz (too strong a word?*) religion back in 1992. (!) And now there are millions of adherents. I guess Joseph Smith had his problems too, back in the day.

But as for resisting tyranny, I'm all for it! I don't think people have a vivid enough idea of the historical fact of the genocide and depredations brought on by Communism in the 20th century. Check this out. Reverb here. Another rabbit hole here.

But I wonder how much of a cult this organization is? (A cult is a group who won't let you leave them.) Now, that would be tyrannical. I hope they are as benign as they say they are... I've had it with all this irony twisting all the time.

Details here, here, and here..

*Double checking, I come across descriptions like this:

In some of his published lectures, Li states that aliens, gods and demons exist, humans have a "celestial eye" in their pineal gland (tianmu, also known as the "third eye"), that Earth has been influenced by extraterrestrials [3], and that remains of unknown prehistoric civilizations can still be found, for instance, in the bottom of the oceans. According to some sources, Li also explains that mixed-race people are instruments of an alien plot to destroy humanity's link to heaven. "By mixing the races of humans, the aliens make humans cast off gods," he said in a lecture in Switzerland. These same sources claim that he made a statement: "by embedding their technology and science in human bodies, aliens control their thoughts". However, this is one of the several instances where the alleged direct quotes cannot be traced back to Li.

...and I think that "ersatz" is as good as any other word. I know that Wikipedia is not a gold plated authoritative source. But if you, a disagreeing blog reader, have an issue with it, please inform me of the argument as to why talk of space aliens won't bring a crinkled eye upon a proposition. I'd like to learn more.

UPDATE: Check this out: " China?s economic boom has dazzled investors and captivated the world. But beyond the new high-rises and churning factories lie rampant corruption, vast waste, and an elite with little interest in making things better. Forget political reform. China?s future will be decay, not democracy. " A thorough read of this link makes me gloss past the space alien/ third eye stuff. I mean, who knows what the pineal gland really does?

Posted by Dennis at February 26, 2006 3:19 PM