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> They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable, thinking about who was writing and distributing

> They were full of the most disgusting bigoted hateful rhetoric. It actually made me feel quite uncomfortable, thinking about who was writing and distributing it. It's really weird that the people behind Epoch, are the same that one can find peacefully protesting in many major cities against the treatment they receive in China. I have to say, their behaviour in recent years made me rethink their claims about illegal organ harvesting. I know both things, they being a hateful cult and being oppressed and killed by the Chinese regime, can be true, but their alignment with far right groups and conspiracy theorists is hard to overlook.

czl 2y ago
See "This Chinese Cult is Not Your Friend - the Falun Gong story" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc
cubefox 2y ago
During early COVID, they also reported that, based on calls to overloaded crematoriums under false name, the number of COVID deaths was much higher than given in the official figures. Those official figures were eventually corrected upwards, confirming the Epoch times reports.
AndyMcConachie 2y ago
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 Falun Gong and Epoch Times receive funding from Congress via the National Endowment for Democracy. I guess the USA promotes them since they're a thorn in the side of China. And yeah, they get up to some weird stuff. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-bannon-and-the-trump-era-battle-over-internet-freedom https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-ba...
pycoffee 2y ago
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bakuninsbart 2y ago
Organ harvesting in Chinese prisons is a real thing that happened (state even acknowledged it), but to what extent and until when is unclear. The probably most comprehensive write-up on the issue is by the China Tribunal, but I wouldn't take their words ar face value, since all the authors are falun gong associated or have a vested interest in making China look bad. If you're interested in the topic, read the report, it contains a lot of circumstantial evidence and conjectures. Nothing that would hold up in a court of law, but imo. At least raises a number of questions surrounding Chinese claims on the issue. The Falun Gong claim that their organs were targeted because they are "purer" sounds like straight up bullshit to me. Horrible as they may be, the CCP is very materialistic and doesn't put much stake in spiritual bullshit. Falun Gong itself was both a cult and a spiritual movement, with at its peak close to 100 million practitioners in China. Since the harsh crackdown in the 90s, mostly the cult side is left, and they are dangerous loonies.
- logicchains 2y ago
  > Since the harsh crackdown in the 90s, mostly the cult side is left, and they are dangerous loonies. Be careful what you believe about the Falun Gong; the CCP has spent vast amounts of money and resources smearing them, you can't take everything you read at face value.
  - bakuninsbart 2y ago
    True, but I think what they say about themselves is already enough of an indictment. And then the leader lives on a giant luxurious ranch in DC with his dozen or so wives, while managing a global disinformation empire that allegedly is also involved in criminal behaviour.
    - speeder 2y ago
      Care to give links for that? Last I heard about it they had a property in NY and their leader had only one wife. I googled to see if I could find anything about their DC ranch but didn't found anything.

czl 2y ago

See "This Chinese Cult is Not Your Friend - the Falun Gong story" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JaPzJKycxc

cubefox 2y ago

During early COVID, they also reported that, based on calls to overloaded crematoriums under false name, the number of COVID deaths was much higher than given in the official figures. Those official figures were eventually corrected upwards, confirming the Epoch times reports.

AndyMcConachie 2y ago

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27212328 Falun Gong and Epoch Times receive funding from Congress via the National Endowment for Democracy. I guess the USA promotes them since they're a thorn in the side of China. And yeah, they get up to some weird stuff. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-bannon-and-the-trump-era-battle-over-internet-freedom https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-ba...

pycoffee 2y ago

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bakuninsbart 2y ago

Organ harvesting in Chinese prisons is a real thing that happened (state even acknowledged it), but to what extent and until when is unclear. The probably most comprehensive write-up on the issue is by the China Tribunal, but I wouldn't take their words ar face value, since all the authors are falun gong associated or have a vested interest in making China look bad. If you're interested in the topic, read the report, it contains a lot of circumstantial evidence and conjectures. Nothing that would hold up in a court of law, but imo. At least raises a number of questions surrounding Chinese claims on the issue. The Falun Gong claim that their organs were targeted because they are "purer" sounds like straight up bullshit to me. Horrible as they may be, the CCP is very materialistic and doesn't put much stake in spiritual bullshit. Falun Gong itself was both a cult and a spiritual movement, with at its peak close to 100 million practitioners in China. Since the harsh crackdown in the 90s, mostly the cult side is left, and they are dangerous loonies.

logicchains 2y ago
> Since the harsh crackdown in the 90s, mostly the cult side is left, and they are dangerous loonies. Be careful what you believe about the Falun Gong; the CCP has spent vast amounts of money and resources smearing them, you can't take everything you read at face value.
- bakuninsbart 2y ago
  True, but I think what they say about themselves is already enough of an indictment. And then the leader lives on a giant luxurious ranch in DC with his dozen or so wives, while managing a global disinformation empire that allegedly is also involved in criminal behaviour.
  - speeder 2y ago
    Care to give links for that? Last I heard about it they had a property in NY and their leader had only one wife. I googled to see if I could find anything about their DC ranch but didn't found anything.