[sezna]

When I lived in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, it was no secret Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong — same thing) were nuts. They’re like the Scientology of Asia. Maybe a little weirder. They convinced my girlfriend’s Grandma she could solve her health concerns, anything from inflammation to cancer, with meditation and absolutely zero medicine. This of course ended with a hospital trip and Grandma’s swift departure from Falun Gong.

I moved back to the States and kinda forgot about them. Five years go by, and I start seeing billboards for their origin-story-in-musical-form Shen Yun in every city I visit. Ok, that’s weird, but cults are gonna cult so whatever. I visit the Chinese embassy to get my visa approved and get a pamphlet from them that has the organ harvesting stuff. Also weird. Seemed like their presence is growing outside of Asia.

Fast forward two more years and I now live in Seattle. There are literal Falun Gong parades going down the streets. The city events all have Falun booths. Random Americans have learned enough Chinese and Chinese music to stumble their way through Falun Gong’s anthems.

I guess this is all just an anecdote. People are quick to trust them, because they advertise themselves as traditional Chinese art and culture, and they don’t have a bad rap here. These organ harvesting claims against China are enticing to believe, because it is popular to distrust the Chinese government (and deservedly so). But...take this group’s claims with a hefty bowl of salt.

[intopieces]

I'm somewhat familiar with Falun Gong. But I'm not sure I understand why it constitutes a "cult" -- this term seems unnecessarily loaded. The fact that your friend's grandmother was able to "swiftly depart” increases this suspicion for me.

There are lots of religions in the world with weird practices, including some Christian sects that don't permit blood transfusions and some new-age groups that shun modern medicine.

[pwinnski]

The only Christian sect I know of that prohibits blood transfusions--Jehovah's Witnesses--are considered a cult, too.

I share your concern about labeling as a distancing or othering tactic, though.

[sezna]

These conversations frequently devolve into semantic debates over what a cult is. Some Christian groups are definitely cults. There are some signs of a cult that usually involve heavy recruiting and PR, a difficulty leaving, a rigid power structure, etc.

I use the term lightly because I rarely talk to people who aren’t already familiar with Falun and don’t think they’re a cult. That is my bad, feel free to disregard that categorization. It isn’t pivotal to the anecdote I was relaying.

[seanmcdirmid]

I wouldn’t give those Christian sects a pass on not being cults. Falun gong has some weird beliefs, some of them very self destructive. Of course, the Chinese government doesn’t do itself any favors in their typical heavy handed approaches to information supremacy, making them an unreliable source, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong.

[resters]

There's not really any practical distinction between religions, cults, and political parties.

[beisner]

As the old saying goes, cult + time = religion.

[selimthegrim]

In New Orleans they slid envelopes addressed to “Dear Neighbor” under everyone’s front door with an advertisement to Shen Yun inside

[nyolfen]

the US has an interest in supporting dissident expat communities from rival regimes (eg the mke, a marxist cult of iranians). i wouldn’t be surprised if they received some amount of mysterious funding, maybe even in the form of shen yun ticket revenue.

[rudiv]

I'm guessing you mean MEK, which is the mujahedin el khalq IIRC, but please, don't call them Marxist just because they may have professed Marxist beliefs decades ago. They've been a run of the mill personality cult for much longer than they've been Marxist, so it seems disingenuous to use that as their primary description.