Some interesting responses were posted regarding recent articles about Falun Gong at CultNews.The fiery deaths and mutilations of Falun Gong protesters that set themselves on fire didn't seem to raise any troubling questions to those still committed to Li Hongzhi and his "evil cult."
Somehow the horrific spectacle in Tianamen Square was an indictment of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to some Falun Gong devotees it was all a conspiracy and the CCP faked it.
However, that response directly contradicts a statement made by one of the survivors Chen Guo.
"We decided burning ourselves was the best way," said Chen, who lost both hands. "It was totally due to our own will. We were not forced by anyone" she told the European news service Reuters.
"We wanted to strengthen the force of Falun Gong," Chen explained while lying in a hospital bed in her hometown of Kaifeng.
Chen Guo now in her early twenties has a face that is a mass of skin grafts. She has neither a nose nor ears.
Nevertheless Hongzhi's followers seem to believe whatever they are told through their own propaganda.
"The police in Tianamen Square, that day…had cameras readied to take videos of the incident."
It was all part of a conspiracy concocted by the CCP.
One devotee said, "the girl and her mother was reported to have NEVER practice Falun Gong."
But Wang Jindong, the man that masterminded the self-immolations told Reuters, "As to whether I am a practitioner or not, it's not for other people to say."
Wang's face is badly scarred and his fingers blackened from the fire that claimed two lives.
Falun Gong has distributed CDs that claim to unravel the CCP conspiracy.
Here is an interesting comment.
"I'm not sure why you repeatedly refer to Falun Gong as a cult. According to Margaret Singer [there are] Six Conditions for thought reform" says another citing each in an attempt to disprove anyone that might label the group "cult-like." "Please do more unbiased research to find out the facts," concludes this comment.
But this Falun Gong devotee must not have bothered to read the article just below the one he or she was commenting about.
That article "Why all the fuss about Falun Gong?" quoted Margaret Singer.
She said, "If you want a good description of a cult, all you have to do is read what they say they are," Margaret Singer told the San Francisco Chronicle at a Seattle conference in 2000 explaining her expert opinion about the group.
Those remarks drew some harsh feedback.
"Regarding your quote from Margaret Singer, well, let me just say that this whole experience has made me lose any respect for people who claim to be cult experts," said another one of Hongzhi's angry disciples.
Chen agreed with Singer. "I think Falun Gong has developed into a cult with anti-human and anti-society characteristics," she explained.
"I hope those who still believe in this cult can be awakened and throw it away," she told Reuters. "I don't want to see another victim like me," She told Reuters.
Wang concluded, "I feel humiliated because of my stupidity and fanatical ideas."
But rather than examine and carefully consider those "fanatical ideas" Falun Gong goes on blaming everyone else, especially the CCP.
"We are dealing with this CCP and its mass of slanderous propaganda that has been exported globally."
Hongzhi and his followers are quite adept at slinging their own propaganda, which has been effectively transmitted globally, with the help of Western journalists.
It seems that many Westerners are willing to believe almost anything about the CCP, rather than consider Hongzhi's influence over his followers and its consequences.
The endless attacks against the CCP by Falun Gong devotees don't change Hongzhi's racist rant, or his homophobic statements. And that response won't put Cheng Guo back together; her life has been shattered forever and it will never be the same again.
Why can't Falun Gong followers consider these things?
"They actually say 'Don't Think.' Just recite the master's teaching," observed Margaret Singer.
(Cultnews.com, February 3, 2006)
Original text from: http://www.cultnews.com/?p=1720
