They're protesting Bush's reception of the Chinese prez Hu Jintao, but just who the hell are the Falun Gong? New Yorkers know them well. They travel in packs and picket 42nd Street so far west they're practically in, well, China. (I know it's east, but it's west, too, if you go far enough.) This group of Chinese spiritualists has protested in Manhattan for years, trying to gain attention for their plight—their brethren are not treated well in Communist China (shocker)—while at the same time refusing to get out of your way. At first, I was wholly sympathetic. But the Falun Gong are obnoxious. One woman literally followed a co-worker up into our office to force literature on her (she is Taiwanese-American), and even came back after I sent her away the first time—not quite believing me that my co-worker did not care to receive her. They have worn out their welcome in New York, and that is a hard thing to do in a city so liberal that even its Republicans turn Jerry Falwell's stomach. I only recently, thanks to my friend Gordon Wallace, learned something more about the Falun Gong—that they think homosex is a major no-no, and that it brings you down (funny, it tends to perk me up). I guess this makes them my enemy.
But then again, what religion doesn't find homosex to be a sin or whatever equivalent they have? None of the big ones. I can't very well loathe a garden-variety Christian just because strict Christianity finds gay people to be sinners by nature. But doing some more digging on Falun Gong, I've discovered that they're not some ancient, persecuted religion—they're just a bunch of whack-jobs who happen to come from a civilization with ancient roots. They believe in clearing your mind with meditation...and I'm afraid that aliens are involved. In short, these are nothing but Chinese Scientologists without so much Kirstie Alley, and for this THEY MUST DIE.
(Not really, but it does sort of put their unfair torturing a ways down on my list of things to care about for two seconds every day.) If someone would like to inform me why I should not be glib about the Falun Gong, I am very open to hearing it—I would hate to be the asshole who's making Jewish jokes in the late '30s before realizing that Hitler is the real deal. But speak of the Fuhrer, the Falun Gong have incorporated a swastika into their little group insignia. Granted, I know that symbol has other, more ancient, less evil meanings. But dude, your organization was formed in 1992, so show some common sense. Even Tom Cruise knows better than that.
(Typepad.com, April 20, 2006)
Original text from: http://boyculture.typepad.com/boy_culture/2006/04/the_falun_gong_.html
