9 ms·

The Moonies, often represented in America by some unfortunate Korean boy or girl, beg for money at American universities in exchange for food and lodging. It's

The Moonies, often represented in America by some unfortunate Korean boy or girl, beg for money at American universities in exchange for food and lodging. It's essentially human trafficking and indentured servitude because they're trapped in a foreign country. So, if see someone who doesn't speak English who shoved a photo montage flip book clipboard of deprivation in front of you, think twice before giving them money because you'd be supporting the late George Bush Sr's 2nd-favorite cult. They also own The Washington Times and United Press International (UPI). And True World Foods, which runs a major portion of the sushi trade in the US. Numerous other innocent-sounding organizations in many, many sports, interest groups, and industries. Net worth around $2 billion.

cuteboy19 4y ago
Is it a requirement for every Asian cult to own a few American newspapers? I know of two others
- hunglee2 4y ago
  no requirement, just smart business
  - photochemsyn 4y ago
    Last I checked American newspapers were not profit centers, so business is likely not the motivation - other than perhaps the value of controlling media in terms of propaganda, i.e. narrative control, which may be of value to other businesses owned by the entity. (Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post, for example, is only a 'good business decision' in the context of providing a platform that enhances the business interests of Amazon (which seeks to avoid unionization) and AWS (which seeks expanded government contracts)).
    - hunglee2 4y ago
      your second point was the main point in my admittedly overly cryptic comment. Narrative control + amplification power + even brand awareness = revenue opportunity. For example, The Epoch Times, the media mouthpiece of Falun Gong, promotes Shen Yun, the Chinese Dance troupe showcasing the 'beauty of China before Communism'. Propaganda and Profit need each other
- cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
  Don't you dare besmirch The Epoch Times. Edit: People don't understand /s. Poe's law strikes again. Also, The Christian Science Monitor does a terrible job monitoring Christian Science and Christianity, but they do alright on science. They're absolutely flying off the handle with their obvious slant towards uncontroversial, neutral, factual reporting. Those bastards.
  - xbar 4y ago
    I hope no one misses the implied /s regarding CSM. The Christian Science Monitor is a model of great reporting in a time when few models exist. I am saddened when someone downplays a CSM report as biased because the listener assumes some form of Christian fundamentalism.
    - ConstantVigil 4y ago
      So, I'm not alone in wondering if they should be treated like bible thumpers, or not. Good to know. Also good to know they aren't bible thumpers, and just happen to be 'Christians' monitoring science, as per the name implies.
      - kevinmchugh 4y ago
        The name should be read as The Monitor, owned by Christian Scientists. Christian Scientist is a specific sect. Monitor here is like any other newspaper name, it could be The Christian Science Times, or Christian Science Observer
      - pohl 4y ago
        Like kevinmchugh pointed out, imagine parentheses to group "(Christian Science) Monitor". Christian Science is a set of beliefs that the "First Church of Christ, Scientist" adhere to. Stuff like the belief that disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine but by a form of prayer that seeks to correct the beliefs responsible for the illusion of ill health. Sadly, this makes the appearance of the word "Science" even more confusing to the casual observer.
- edvards 4y ago
  Can you tell about the two others?
  - shp0ngle 4y ago
    The Epoch Times is owned by Falun Gong. (They are apocalyptic/UFO/meditation cult, they have been banned in China and, if you believe their claims, organ harvested. I don’t know how much to believe those claims, but China does keep a lot of things with organs weirdly secret. FG are present at every anti-Chinese protest. They also do the Chinese ballet which name I forgot now…. ah yeah Shen Yun) I don’t know any other.
    - JohnJamesRambo 4y ago
      Wow I did not know they did that Chinese ballet. I will be sure to never attend that now. I had checked the prices before and was amazed at how unexpectedly expensive it was.
    - netfortius 4y ago
      Attended one of the shows in France, a few months ago. They politicized it right from the beginning, by having some bozos with English language fluency critize the Chinese government (not that they don't deserve it, but the way it was done sounded like far right American rhetoric). The show itself was vomit inducing, so I left after the first half an hour. As I was waiting outside for someone to exit, at the formal intermezzo mark, I couldn't help noticing lots of other people leaving the avenue. Doesn't surprise me to learn about the relationship with falun gong cult.
      - kevinmchugh 4y ago
        The tagline on their flyers used to be "5000 years of culture reborn" And I guess they rethought the subtlety because now it's "China before communism"
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - 4y ago
- baybal2 4y ago
xbar 4y ago
They don't own the Canadian Globe and Mail which repeats some of the comments about the media in Japan and highlights some questions about the Abe/(Moonie aka Unification Church aka Family Federation) relationship. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-tetsuya-yamagami-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-tetsuya-yamaga...
- lambdasquirrel 4y ago
  The Spiegel didn't have much good to say about Abe either. The first article on their front page (when news of his death became known) was not a nice obituary. It might also reflect the huge gap between the way Germany responded to WWII and the way Japan did. https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/shinz-abe-nachruf-der-japanische-populist-a-a465786b-1ebd-45f1-9aa8-48063543e78f https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/shinz-abe-nachruf-der-japanis...
jmcgough 4y ago
They aren't nearly as influential as you might think, especially in modern times. Maybe they were during the cold war or when they protested in support of Nixon. Their media reach is pretty limited, The Washington Times has a small number of readers. Edit: to the comment about $2B: that's almost mostly belonging to the founder who takes his money from followers. $2B is 130k a person when we're talking about 15,000 followers.
- throwaquestion5 4y ago
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  They might not be as wealthy or powerful as other religious sects, but them being a cult is still of concern because by nature they are 1) secretive and non-transparent, 2) capable of fierce organizational discipline including taking advantage of members, 3) operate via proselytizing including underhanded means, 4) open to extremist and authoritarian beliefs. That's in the very nature of cults. Add that to their historically-potent political influence from the Cold War, and they're still worthy of investigation.
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  A big reason they aren't as influential anymore is because Reverend Moon died, and there is currently a battle royale going on between his widow and some of his batshit insane kids [1] over his fortune. The True World Foods story is truly fascinating to me. Since slavery is illegal, better to get true believers to work long and hard nearly for free. 1. https://www.the-sun.com/news/us-news/2977349/inside-maga-supporting-religious-sect-worship-guns/ https://www.the-sun.com/news/us-news/2977349/inside-maga-sup...
  - Terr_ 4y ago
    This article [1] is a bit more informative on the history and soap-opera dynastic schism. I don't have firsthand knowledge of it all, but I do know some ex-Moonies who've spoken of their efforts to safely detach their still-adherent relatives. 1. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/530522/lengthy-lawsuit-exposes-rifts-within-unification-church/ https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/530522/lengthy-lawsu...
donatj 4y ago
Replace "Moonie" with any mainstream religion and mention of race with the race such religion most widely applies to, and I hope the bigotry of this comment becomes far more clear.
- owlninja 4y ago
  This article is specifically about Moonies though. I've also heard first hand accounts of that exact situation happening in the town where I went to college many years ago.
  - donatj 4y ago
    I’m not saying anything about the content of the article, the article is fine. I am remarking on the commenters bigoted tone, and how people let it slide because it’s a religion they are unfamiliar with.
    - kevinmchugh 4y ago
      I think people feel more confident making generalizations about novel religious groups, even relatively large ones. And maybe especially novel religious groups with centralized control. Unification Church is basically the same age as Scientology.
- NikolaNovak 4y ago
  I agree with you on "replace it with any religion" but I don't find it bigotry necessarily - I am averse to any and all religious influence on anything, and I'm happy to see it brought up to attention and awareness everywhere. As to the frequent Venn diagram overlap of locally predominant religion with corresponding country / nationality / ethnicity / etc, while that frequently the case, I agree we should focus on the underlying viral meme that's religion and not the confounding variable of nationality. I mean, I've lived in Canada for 20 years before I've realized that friendly kids asking for donation for salvation army in super markets are in fact members of a massive church. Things some people find obvious aren't well known to others.
lupire 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
maire 4y ago
I found this list of companies affiliated with the Moonies (many defunct). https://culteducation.com/unif121.html https://culteducation.com/unif121.html Here is an interesting quote by someone who ran two of these businesses in the SF bay area. "'With no labor costs and people willing to work 14 to 15 hours a day, you can undercut anybody' he said. Scales said that when he ran the Aladdin restaurants, employees signed over their pay-checks to the personal slush fund of West Coast church leader" The article was from 1977 - and the Moonies tried to reform themselves later, but at that time they were slave labor businesses. Moon was able to shield his practices using his tax exempt status as a religious organisation.
gideon_b 4y ago
NYT did a great article on True World Foods: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sush... Archive version: https://archive.ph/ZAy6D https://archive.ph/ZAy6D Pod version: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sunday-read-the-untold-story-of-sushi-in-america/id1200361736?i=1000541735512 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sunday-read-the-un... YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqHuAJYdr8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqHuAJYdr8

cuteboy19 4y ago

Is it a requirement for every Asian cult to own a few American newspapers? I know of two others

hunglee2 4y ago
no requirement, just smart business
- photochemsyn 4y ago
  Last I checked American newspapers were not profit centers, so business is likely not the motivation - other than perhaps the value of controlling media in terms of propaganda, i.e. narrative control, which may be of value to other businesses owned by the entity. (Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post, for example, is only a 'good business decision' in the context of providing a platform that enhances the business interests of Amazon (which seeks to avoid unionization) and AWS (which seeks expanded government contracts)).
  - hunglee2 4y ago
    your second point was the main point in my admittedly overly cryptic comment. Narrative control + amplification power + even brand awareness = revenue opportunity. For example, The Epoch Times, the media mouthpiece of Falun Gong, promotes Shen Yun, the Chinese Dance troupe showcasing the 'beauty of China before Communism'. Propaganda and Profit need each other
cvccvroomvroom 4y ago
Don't you dare besmirch The Epoch Times. Edit: People don't understand /s. Poe's law strikes again. Also, The Christian Science Monitor does a terrible job monitoring Christian Science and Christianity, but they do alright on science. They're absolutely flying off the handle with their obvious slant towards uncontroversial, neutral, factual reporting. Those bastards.
- xbar 4y ago
  I hope no one misses the implied /s regarding CSM. The Christian Science Monitor is a model of great reporting in a time when few models exist. I am saddened when someone downplays a CSM report as biased because the listener assumes some form of Christian fundamentalism.
  - ConstantVigil 4y ago
    So, I'm not alone in wondering if they should be treated like bible thumpers, or not. Good to know. Also good to know they aren't bible thumpers, and just happen to be 'Christians' monitoring science, as per the name implies.
    - kevinmchugh 4y ago
      The name should be read as The Monitor, owned by Christian Scientists. Christian Scientist is a specific sect. Monitor here is like any other newspaper name, it could be The Christian Science Times, or Christian Science Observer
    - pohl 4y ago
      Like kevinmchugh pointed out, imagine parentheses to group "(Christian Science) Monitor". Christian Science is a set of beliefs that the "First Church of Christ, Scientist" adhere to. Stuff like the belief that disease is a mental error rather than physical disorder, and that the sick should be treated not by medicine but by a form of prayer that seeks to correct the beliefs responsible for the illusion of ill health. Sadly, this makes the appearance of the word "Science" even more confusing to the casual observer.
edvards 4y ago
Can you tell about the two others?
- shp0ngle 4y ago
  The Epoch Times is owned by Falun Gong. (They are apocalyptic/UFO/meditation cult, they have been banned in China and, if you believe their claims, organ harvested. I don’t know how much to believe those claims, but China does keep a lot of things with organs weirdly secret. FG are present at every anti-Chinese protest. They also do the Chinese ballet which name I forgot now…. ah yeah Shen Yun) I don’t know any other.
  - JohnJamesRambo 4y ago
    Wow I did not know they did that Chinese ballet. I will be sure to never attend that now. I had checked the prices before and was amazed at how unexpectedly expensive it was.
  - netfortius 4y ago
    Attended one of the shows in France, a few months ago. They politicized it right from the beginning, by having some bozos with English language fluency critize the Chinese government (not that they don't deserve it, but the way it was done sounded like far right American rhetoric). The show itself was vomit inducing, so I left after the first half an hour. As I was waiting outside for someone to exit, at the formal intermezzo mark, I couldn't help noticing lots of other people leaving the avenue. Doesn't surprise me to learn about the relationship with falun gong cult.
    - kevinmchugh 4y ago
      The tagline on their flyers used to be "5000 years of culture reborn" And I guess they rethought the subtlety because now it's "China before communism"
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - 4y ago
baybal2 4y ago

xbar 4y ago

They don't own the Canadian Globe and Mail which repeats some of the comments about the media in Japan and highlights some questions about the Abe/(Moonie aka Unification Church aka Family Federation) relationship. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-tetsuya-yamagami-japan-prime-minister-shinzo-abe/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-tetsuya-yamaga...

lambdasquirrel 4y ago
The Spiegel didn't have much good to say about Abe either. The first article on their front page (when news of his death became known) was not a nice obituary. It might also reflect the huge gap between the way Germany responded to WWII and the way Japan did. https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/shinz-abe-nachruf-der-japanische-populist-a-a465786b-1ebd-45f1-9aa8-48063543e78f https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/shinz-abe-nachruf-der-japanis...

jmcgough 4y ago

They aren't nearly as influential as you might think, especially in modern times. Maybe they were during the cold war or when they protested in support of Nixon. Their media reach is pretty limited, The Washington Times has a small number of readers. Edit: to the comment about $2B: that's almost mostly belonging to the founder who takes his money from followers. $2B is 130k a person when we're talking about 15,000 followers.

throwaquestion5 4y ago
Apocryphon 4y ago
They might not be as wealthy or powerful as other religious sects, but them being a cult is still of concern because by nature they are 1) secretive and non-transparent, 2) capable of fierce organizational discipline including taking advantage of members, 3) operate via proselytizing including underhanded means, 4) open to extremist and authoritarian beliefs. That's in the very nature of cults. Add that to their historically-potent political influence from the Cold War, and they're still worthy of investigation.
hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
A big reason they aren't as influential anymore is because Reverend Moon died, and there is currently a battle royale going on between his widow and some of his batshit insane kids [1] over his fortune. The True World Foods story is truly fascinating to me. Since slavery is illegal, better to get true believers to work long and hard nearly for free. 1. https://www.the-sun.com/news/us-news/2977349/inside-maga-supporting-religious-sect-worship-guns/ https://www.the-sun.com/news/us-news/2977349/inside-maga-sup...
- Terr_ 4y ago
  This article [1] is a bit more informative on the history and soap-opera dynastic schism. I don't have firsthand knowledge of it all, but I do know some ex-Moonies who've spoken of their efforts to safely detach their still-adherent relatives. 1. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/530522/lengthy-lawsuit-exposes-rifts-within-unification-church/ https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/530522/lengthy-lawsu...

donatj 4y ago

Replace "Moonie" with any mainstream religion and mention of race with the race such religion most widely applies to, and I hope the bigotry of this comment becomes far more clear.

owlninja 4y ago
This article is specifically about Moonies though. I've also heard first hand accounts of that exact situation happening in the town where I went to college many years ago.
- donatj 4y ago
  I’m not saying anything about the content of the article, the article is fine. I am remarking on the commenters bigoted tone, and how people let it slide because it’s a religion they are unfamiliar with.
  - kevinmchugh 4y ago
    I think people feel more confident making generalizations about novel religious groups, even relatively large ones. And maybe especially novel religious groups with centralized control. Unification Church is basically the same age as Scientology.
NikolaNovak 4y ago
I agree with you on "replace it with any religion" but I don't find it bigotry necessarily - I am averse to any and all religious influence on anything, and I'm happy to see it brought up to attention and awareness everywhere. As to the frequent Venn diagram overlap of locally predominant religion with corresponding country / nationality / ethnicity / etc, while that frequently the case, I agree we should focus on the underlying viral meme that's religion and not the confounding variable of nationality. I mean, I've lived in Canada for 20 years before I've realized that friendly kids asking for donation for salvation army in super markets are in fact members of a massive church. Things some people find obvious aren't well known to others.

lupire 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

maire 4y ago

I found this list of companies affiliated with the Moonies (many defunct). https://culteducation.com/unif121.html https://culteducation.com/unif121.html Here is an interesting quote by someone who ran two of these businesses in the SF bay area. "'With no labor costs and people willing to work 14 to 15 hours a day, you can undercut anybody' he said. Scales said that when he ran the Aladdin restaurants, employees signed over their pay-checks to the personal slush fund of West Coast church leader" The article was from 1977 - and the Moonies tried to reform themselves later, but at that time they were slave labor businesses. Moon was able to shield his practices using his tax exempt status as a religious organisation.

gideon_b 4y ago

NYT did a great article on True World Foods: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sush... Archive version: https://archive.ph/ZAy6D https://archive.ph/ZAy6D Pod version: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sunday-read-the-untold-story-of-sushi-in-america/id1200361736?i=1000541735512 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-sunday-read-the-un... YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqHuAJYdr8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqHuAJYdr8