README.adoc

The only thing that my employer _does_ believe in is that employees can have their own political opinions, and that this should not affect hiring decisions.

Obviously, this action limits my ability to lead high profile deals with China.

Also I'm quite curious if this would limit my ability to go to China for business, but I haven't applied for a visa since I've started this. It likely wouldn't be a good idea for me to go to China :-)

But my employer believes that inclusion and non-discrimination is more valuable.

I will always do my best to not let my personal opinions affect my professional decisions, as that would be unfair to my employer.

[[better-to-do]]
==== Don't you have anything better to do?

In 1989, a beautiful thing called the World Wide Web was invented.

The Internet gives everyone the magic power of writing something, and having million people read it for free!

This is how much time I spend on this to give you an idea:

* every week or two, someone sends me a message, I reply with "read the FAQ", and usually update
* I follow https://www.reddit.com/r/China amongst many other programming subs, and all major bad news show up there. See also: <<anti-commie-info>>
* when something bad enough comes up, I go to https://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/sensitive-words-series/ and update <<keyword-attack,my keyword attack>>. I've only been updating it on Stack Overflow and GitHub these days.
* when I see a good new heavily anti-CCP Twitter accounts I add it to this list: https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/lists/china

Then I just contribute to programming websites exactly as I would if I weren't making this campaign.

=== Were you influenced by the Cute cat theory of digital activism?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cute_cat_theory_of_digital_activism

Nope, someone told me about it after a while, but it is basically what I'm doing.

You can never invent anything new anymore nowadays.

=== People in China have already considered democracy, and rejected it

OK, shall we put that to an anonymous vote just to make sure?

Dear sir or madam: do you want more control over your government? y/n

=== Are for a violent revolution to overthrow the CCP?

No, I'm against physical violence.

And furthermore it would never work, since the CCP controls the army.

I propose instead a revolution of ideas, and efficient link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_resistance[nonviolent resistance].

Where efficient means: if you are a dissident, use privacy technology, and weight well the benefit vs risks of your actions.

You are often more useful to the cause outside of jail than inside.

[[dictatorship]]
=== Why do you say China is a dictatorship?

True, I'm using the word in an extended / jokingly sense.

Maybe authoritarian is a more precise term.

In particular, dictatorships are harder to sustain than authoritarianism, since it generally implies even less freedom.

Dictatorship is becoming link:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-party-term-limit.html[more and more precise under Xi] however.

[[keyword-attack]]
=== What is a screen name keyword attack?

Adding censored words to your username: https://stackoverflow.com/users/895245

This only works on websites that show usernames everywhere.

This then leads to your username appearing on thousands of pages, depending on how much you contribute to the website.

It is also possible to do it with with images, although this is less effective in taking down websites since images are harder for the firewall to track automatically. But:

* they are more memorable than words
* they also work on websites like GitHub where your real name does not show on most pages, only slug

so maybe the most effective approach is to use both keywords and images to get the best of both worlds ;-)

.<<chrysanthemium-xi-jinping>> has been used by Ciro Santilli as a profile picture censored image attack
image::https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/media/master/Chrysanthemum_Xi_Jinping_with_liusi_added_by_Ciro_Santilli.jpeg[height=400]

This type of attack is essentially an embargo.

==== Do Stack Overflow policies allow for keyword attacks?

The current consensus is yes:

* https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/286082/does-the-be-nice-policy-require-se-users-to-be-nice-to-people-who-are-not-se-u
* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/267368/are-political-avatars-and-profiles-ok
* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/299882/can-a-username-be-considered-spam
* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/299882/can-a-username-be-considered-spam
* https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/349131/users-political-display-name-triggering-government-action-against-users-who-vie

The Chinese law doesn't I'm afraid :-( https://advox.globalvoices.org/2015/04/16/new-internet-rules-in-china-target-usernames-avatars-as-subversive-tools/

[[anti-commie-info]]
==== What are the best sources of anti-commie news?

https://www.reddit.com/r/China

Catches all the important news

A large part of the posts is controversial material.

Has some noise of course as well, but less than other media I find.

Highly worth your feed.

Reddit was banned in China in August 2018: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/965k4c/reddit_banned_in_china/

Tecent will invest 150 million on Reddit in 2019: https://gizmodo.com/reddit-banned-in-china-is-reportedly-set-to-land-150-1832375439 See also: <<biased-media>>.

==== Where can I find good words for a keyword attack?

* https://chinadigitaltimes.net This is the best source I've seen so far. Extremely comprehensive and up-to-date.
** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/word-of-the-week/?view=all word of the week
** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/directives-from-the-ministry-of-truth/?view=all censorship directive reports
*** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/category/%E6%9C%89%E5%85%B3%E9%83%A8%E9%97%A8/%E7%9C%9F%E7%90%86%E9%83%A8%E6%8C%87%E4%BB%A4/?view=all chinese version
** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/space/Main_Page a wiki version of the censored word lists, the "Grass-mud horse index" (cao3n2ma3 草泥马), with a censored term of the week section.
** https://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/sensitive-words-series/?view=all sensitive words list
** Fun 2015 ebook: https://github.com/cirosantilli/decoding-chinese-internet-pdf-download
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_blacklisted_keywords_in_China | https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F%AF%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%B1%E5%92%8C%E5%9C%8B%E5%AF%A9%E6%9F%A5%E8%BE%AD%E5%BD%99%E5%88%97%E8%A1%A8
* https://github.com/jasonqng/chinese-keywords
* https://github.com/cirosantilli/media/raw/master/complete-gfw-rulebook-for-wikipedia-v3.0.pdf[Complete GFW Rulebook for Wikipedia v3.0]
* https://qz.com/698990/261-ways-to-refer-to-the-tiananmen-square-massacre-in-china/ 261 ways to refer to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China

[[keyword-choice]]
==== How do you choose keyword for the keyword attack?

I haven't counted, but the limit for Stack Overflow is quite low, and I'm always almost at the maximum, which is about "Ciro Santilli" + 3 3-4 Chinese character events with a separator.

These are some of my prioritization guidelines:

* recent cases receive a large prime over raw death toll, because older cases can always be attributed to other people.
+
E.g., I've heard there is even some opening towards acknowledging the Great Famine, thus 烏坎事件 (and others from my previous profile names)
* words must refer to a precise event, and must be clearly summarizable in very few chars, for increased impact, and profile name length limitations.
+
E.g. "High corruption rates, high pollution", although very serious, feel too generic.
* events that relate directly to freedom of speech receive a prime, since they can only happen in China and very few other countries.
+
E.g.: Falun Gong, Tiananmen.
+
Non e.g.: corruption and pollution. Those are hard to quantify, and there is always an immediate reply: china GDP per capita is low, same happens in India, Brazil, etc.
+
Freedom of speech however, is immediately verifiable (e.g. "my Weibo was taken down"), and undeniably caused by the current central government.
* the more people affected, and the more deeply they have been affected, the more important obviously

I am currently trying to maintain in my Stack Overflow Location a ranking of events in a single string, so that it can be easily copy pasted around. The location appears on every page if you hover over my account name, so it is likely in the HTML at least.

If you think that this list can be improved, please open an issue explaining how and why.

==== Are there other openly dissident users on Stack Overflow?

Query to find them: https://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/312860/chinese-dissidents-by-keyword-aboutme-or-displayname

Notable ones only here (high rep or innovative criticism):

* "GNUSupporter 8964民主女神 地下教會"
** Real name: Vincent Tam from social media links.
** https://math.stackexchange.com/users/290189/gnusupporter-8964%E6%B0%91%E4%B8%BB%E5%A5%B3%E7%A5%9E-%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8B%E6%95%99%E6%9C%83
** https://web.archive.org/web/20180924203410/https://math.stackexchange.com/users/290189/gnusupporter-8964%E6%B0%91%E4%B8%BB%E5%A5%B3%E7%A5%9E-%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%8B%E6%95%99%E6%9C%83
** Keyword attack inspired by me
* Yu Hao
** http://stackoverflow.com/users/1009479/yu-hao
** http://archive.is/76FCb
** "GFW (Great Firewall of China) is one of the most notorious inventions in the history of Internet. Anyone working for it should be ashamed."
* iBug
** https://stackoverflow.com/users/5958455/ibug
** iBug http://web.archive.org/web/20190507140910/https://stackoverflow.com/users/5958455/ibug
** "The Communist Party of China is a state criminal that is continuously committing state crime to ordinary Chinese citizens!" followed by an event list.
* gotqn
** "Free Tibet From China Domination"
** https://stackoverflow.com/users/1080354/gotqn
** https://web.archive.org/web/20190821105901/https://stackoverflow.com/users/1080354/gotqn
* Scott 混合理论
+
https://stackoverflow.com/users/1230329/scott-%E6%B7%B7%E5%90%88%E7%90%86%E8%AE%BA
+
Same message as Yu Hao, I wonder if it is an external thing or direct copy of Yu, but no Google hits besides them.
* Terry Wang
** http://stackoverflow.com/users/1801697/terry-wang
** http://archive.is/V0aSK
** Lego recreation of Tankman on profile picture.

Users who had GFW references but removed it:

* http://stackoverflow.com/users/4594532/gnimuc-key
** http://web.archive.org/web/20170331144256/https://stackoverflow.com/users/4594532/gnimuc
* http://stackoverflow.com/users/651907/jclin
** http://web.archive.org/web/20160516065151/https://stackoverflow.com/users/651907/jclin

Misc interesting stuff:

* <location>火车站酒店小姐 (about 20 accounts with that pattern)
** https://stackoverflow.com/users/7040504/%E8%8E%86%E7%94%B0%E7%81%AB%E8%BD%A6%E7%AB%99%E9%85%92%E5%BA%97%E5%B0%8F%E5%A7%90
** http://web.archive.org/web/20190428090348/https://stackoverflow.com/users/7040504/%E8%8E%86%E7%94%B0%E7%81%AB%E8%BD%A6%E7%AB%99%E9%85%92%E5%BA%97%E5%B0%8F%E5%A7%90
** Interesting list of prostitution spam / sockpuppets? All have the exact same profile information.
** Hitting query due to "审查", but the usage is unrelated to the Firewall.

Anti-dissident users:

* https://stackoverflow.com/users/815408
** https://web.archive.org/web/20170602054631/https://stackoverflow.com/users/815408/%E8%AF%B7%E5%B0%81%E6%8E%89ciro-santilli-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%85%B1%E4%BA%A7%E5%85%9A%E4%B8%87%E5%B2%81
** username: "请封掉Ciro Santilli 中国共产党万岁"
** profile: "中国万岁！ 中国共产党万岁！ 法轮功，民运，台独在中国共产党的铁蹄下不过是螳臂当车！"
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/9393161
** http://web.archive.org/save/https://stackoverflow.com/users/9393161/ciro-santilli-%E7%9A%84%E9%80%A0%E8%B0%A3%E6%98%AF%E5%8F%AF%E8%80%BB%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%BA
** username: "Ciro Santilli 的造谣是可耻行为" http://web.archive.org/save/https://stackoverflow.com/users/9393161/ciro-santilli-%E7%9A%84%E9%80%A0%E8%B0%A3%E6%98%AF%E5%8F%AF%E8%80%BB%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%BA
* https://stackoverflow.com/users/8454187
** username: "Snowden Assange Wounded Knee"
** profile: "燃(ri)烧(si)您(ni)的(de)梦(ma)，Ciro Santilli. StackOverflow上的一个用户. The Oliver Stone Experience"
** explanation:
*** "燃烧您的梦": http://www.nq6.com/dj/1674.html
*** "Wounded Knee": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre

Query to find them: http://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/312863/mentioned-ciro-santilli-on-aboutme-or-displayname

[[separatism]]
=== What do you think about separatism?

If a large number of people in a given region want to leave an country strongly or have greater autonomy, I believe that they should be allowed to do so.

Rationale:

* if they don't feel they are getting a good deal out of your country, it is unfair to keep them in
* keeping them in the country forcibly implies large scale violation of human rights: mass incarceration and removing freedom of speech.
+
Which in turn implies terrorist backslash.
+
All of which are against my principles.

What makes me the most mad is the censorship. If you are going to put people in jail, write a clear law about it, and let international reporters come to see the situation.

But why do you do something and then hide it? Maybe because you are not doing the right thing?

See also: <<western-democracies-have-invaded-other-countries-and-crushed-separatism>>.

[[taiwan]]
==== Taiwan 台湾

I don't consider Taiwan separatism.

Taiwan is a country split due to civil war, long ago.

The fact that most countries in the world does officially recognize Taiwan as a country is a joke, considering that the only thing keeping it afloat is the West's military threat.

The West must not let China advance and take more territories. The more they take, the more they will want.

The West must protect China's neighbouring countries with military support and assurance.

The West must recognize Taiwan for what it is: a separate country, under threat of invasion, and in need of support.

If China's claim to Taiwan is valid, then Taiwan also has an equally valid claim on China.

If China's claim to Taiwan is valid, then so will it's claim to any other country.

If Taiwan is a part of China, why doesn't China put the Chinese flag on all major Taiwanese government buildings?

Oh, I forgot, it is because they have absolutely no control over Taiwan. Just like the have absolutely no control over any other country.

China, if you want to claim that Taiwan is a part of you, just invade them already. Or just stop this joke.

Someone once told me:

____
Taiwan should not be considered a country by China, because then it would not join back to China when China becomes a democracy, and would be used by the USA to do evil things like they did in the Middle East
____

Reply:

____
China claiming that Taiwan is a part of them only drives Taiwan closer to the West! Who wants to be part of a dictatorship unless you have been brainwashed by one?
____

Interesting quote from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/taiwans-status-geopolitical-absurdity/593371/

____
Taiwan’s Status Is a Geopolitical Absurdity
____

Some interesting links:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-China_policy every country has private relations with Taiwan through some trade organizations, they just don't call them embassies
* http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/62447/how-can-a-citizen-of-mainland-china-visit-taiwan/62466#comment178495_62466 hi, I want a "not VISA" to Taiwan. Thanks.
* https://youtu.be/6aZkM_ZLvjE?t=50 (zh) "【這就是科學｜柯文哲】EP3／從癌症治療看政治！除惡務盡→除惡「勿」盡？「與敵共存」才是生存之道！", 柯文哲, 2019-06-26. Ko Wen-je , the mayor of Taipei 台北 and a professor in medicine, applies the concept of isolation and mutation in evolution to Taiwan and China

[[xinjiang]]
==== Xinjiang 新疆

In 2017 - 2018, details of internment camps are emerging.

.<<rebel-pepper,Rebel Pepper>> 2017.4 新疆中国cartoon. TODO source.
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013085312if_/https://i.stack.imgur.com/mQFKa.png[height=400]

It is still hard to get hard evidence, much like every other mass human rights violation, here go the best ones:

* 2019-09-22 Drone footage of Xinjiang prisoner transfer uploaded to YouTube. TODO confirm location and that these are political prisoners rather than "normal criminals".
** Upload sources
*** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYoeJ5U7cQ
*** https://twitter.com/warcombatfear/status/1174031079432310785
** News coverage
*** https://news.sky.com/story/chinas-detention-of-uighurs-video-of-blindfolded-and-shackled-prisoners-authentic-11815401 Drone footage, video sources:
** Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/d78aog/chilling_video_of_chinese_police_transferring/
+
.Video still of 2019-10 drone footage of blindfolded Xinjiang prisoners being marched taken at time 00:30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYoeJ5U7cQ[Source].
image::https://ia601505.us.archive.org/27/items/cirosantilli/Video_still_of_2019-10_drone_footage_of_blindfolded_Xinjiang_prisoners_being_marched_taken_at_time_00%3A30.png[height=400]
* 2019-07-31 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/asia/china-xinjiang.html "Doubt Greets China’s Claim That Muslims Have Been Released From Camps"
* 2019-07-19 https://www.france24.com/en/20190712-37-countries-defend-china-over-xinjiang-un-letter "37 countries defend China over Xinjiang in UN letter"
+
.https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-uyghur-camp-cartoon-07162019155441.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191012074352im_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/XiJinping-uyghur-camp-cartoon-07162019155441.html/190716RFA-en-1000.jpg/@@images/c8c9143a-3a01-4116-9322-6aeb4857100f.jpeg[height=400]
* 2019-07-04 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-48825090 "China Muslims: Xinjiang schools used to separate children from families"
* 2019-05-07 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/07/revealed-new-evidence-of-chinas-mission-to-raze-the-mosques-of-xinjiang
* 2019-05-07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULaJVWOr4ko CNN does a few Xinjiang interviews and sends reporter to visit some of the concentration camps
* 2019-02-24 http://fortune.com/2019/02/21/thermo-fisher-xinjiang-china-uighurs/
* 2019-02-17 https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2186547/china-data-leak-exposes-vast-hi-tech-surveillance-operation "China data leak exposes vast hi-tech surveillance operation in Xinjiang", leak by SenseNets Technology.
* https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/world/asia/china-xinjiang.html
* 2019-03 https://shahit.biz/eng/ database of Xinjiang victims, with precise names, location, date of birth and ID card number of victims and testimonies
* 2018-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=dsd1NkCKaNg In full: 'I begged them to kill me' - ex-Xinjiang detainee Mihrigul Tursun gives testimony in the US
* 2018-11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-45812419 Xinjiang legalises 're-education' camps
* 2018-08 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-rights-un/u-n-says-it-has-credible-reports-that-china-holds-million-uighurs-in-secret-camps-idUSKBN1KV1SU
* 2018-07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eak3WRtcdko Sairagul Sawytbai testifies to the existence of Chinese concentration camps in Xinjiang
* 2018-05 generic report https://jamestown.org/program/evidence-for-chinas-political-re-education-campaign-in-xinjiang/
* 2018-05 mapping interment camps with satelite imaging:
** https://www.albawaba.com/news/mapping-china%E2%80%99s-internment-camps-its-ethnic-minorities-1136100
** https://medium.com/@shawnwzhang/list-of-re-education-camps-in-xinjiang-%E6%96%B0%E7%96%86%E5%86%8D%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E9%9B%86%E4%B8%AD%E8%90%A5%E5%88%97%E8%A1%A8-99720372419c List of Re-education Camps in Xinjiang 新疆再教育集中营列表 Shawn Zhang https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/8mbhad/satellite_imagery_of_xinjiang_reeducation_camps/
* 2018-05 Omir Bekali's account of Xinjiang education camps:
** https://apnews.com/6e151296fb194f85ba69a8babd972e4b
** https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/former-inmates-of-chinas-muslim-re-education-camps-tell-of-brainwashing-torture/2018/05/16/32b330e8-5850-11e8-8b92-45fdd7aaef3c_story.html?utm_term=.df8ea170b18f
** http://uk.businessinsider.com/what-is-life-like-in-xinjiang-reeducation-camps-china-2018-5
* 2017-04 https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/camp-photo-04262019171258.html
+
.Image of prisionners wearing blue sitting down in Xinjiang concentration camp, with some prisionners identified. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/camp-photo-04262019171258.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013085311if_/https://i.stack.imgur.com/5Gfie.jpg[height=400]

[[hong-kong]]
=== Hong Kong 香港

News source: https://www.reddit.com/r/HongKong/ Became larger than `r/china` during the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>>.

==== 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Hong_Kong_anti-extradition_bill_protests
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEvalUQuClE "Last Hong Kong governor Chris Patten: Gov't defence of extradition bill 'absolute nonsense'", Hong Kong Free Press
** 2019-10 Daryl Morey, NBA's Houston Rockets manager sent tweet supporting the Hong Kong protests. But then he was a coward, removed this tweet, and apologized: https://twitter.com/dmorey/status/1181000808399114240 (http://archive.is/6Sdpn[archive]). NBA is huge in China.
*** https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49956385
*** https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/07/business/houston-rockets-nba-china-daryl-morey/index.html
** 2019-10 https://twitter.com/Slasher/status/1181442535962632193 Blizzard bans top Hearthstone esports player blitzchung for pro Hong Kong message in interview

=== What should all pro-democracy people do about China?

==== Appropriation attack

An appropriation attack is one where the attackers attempt to associate an existing symbol to their cause.

For example, during the <<2019-hong-kong-anti-extradition-bill-protests>> attackers attempted to use this technique to associate a generic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chun-Li[Chinese Chun-Li-like] character Mei from Blizzard's link:++https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_(video_game)++[Overwatch game] to try and get it blocked in China after the gaming company punished a pro gamer for defending the Hong Kong protests. Coverage https://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-fans-overwatch-mei-hong-kong-protests-memes-2019-10 (http://web.archive.org/web/20191012094950/https://www.businessinsider.com/blizzard-fans-overwatch-mei-hong-kong-protests-memes-2019-10[archive]).

.https://twitter.com/marnofavonlea/status/1182557311539150849[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013075823if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGlJmSEUYAE7F7G?format=jpg&name=900x900[height=400]

=== What should Western countries do about China?

Western governments must reciprocate unfair Chinese practices.

Companies only care about money and have no long term view, the following must be imposed by governments on companies.

The most obvious thing is to go https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat[tit for tat] on Censorship and completely ban all Chinese-sponsored news and culture media, e.g.:

* https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews | http://archive.is/7oshu
* https://www.youtube.com/user/ChinaViewTV/featured
* https://www.facebook.com/globaltimesnews/

Their websites should also be blocked e.g.: http://www.globaltimes.cn/

And the same must be done for cultural centers that report diretly to the CCP such as <<confucious-institute>> and <<cssa,CSSAs>>.

Western governments must identify raw material dependencies on China, and reduce them, while at the same time forbidding technology transfer to China. China has been trading cheap resources for technology, and we must stop that now.

Unfair Chinese commercial practices must be reciprocated. Chinese companies should be forced to open joint ventures to operate outside of China, which is a trick China uses to control profits and more easily steal IP from Western companies:

* https://www.msn.com/zh-hk/news/other/us-entrepreneurs-make-a-choice-rewards-of-doing-business-in-china-often-outweigh-risks-of-losing-trade-secrets/ar-BBSPC69 (http://web.archive.org/web/20190905071456/https://www.msn.com/zh-hk/news/other/us-entrepreneurs-make-a-choice-rewards-of-doing-business-in-china-often-outweigh-risks-of-losing-trade-secrets/ar-BBSPC69:[archive])
* https://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/02/china-joint-ventures-the-long-version.html (http://web.archive.org/web/20190905071738/https://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/02/china-joint-ventures-the-long-version.html:[archive])

==== Companies that comply to Chinese censorship requests

Western government should prevent companies from complying to Chinese censorship requests.

Citizens should boycott such companies.

https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina contains a "List of companies who have apologized to the Chinese government and implemented censorship requests". It only lists companies that implemented censorship outside of China however (with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau defined as outside of China), therefore it is basically a Taiwan flag takedown + Hong Kong / Taiwan censorship list: https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina/pull/56#issuecomment-541230090 | https://github.com/caffeine-overload/bandinchina/pull/84

Here is a quick  2019 summary:

.https://twitter.com/hoho90272496/status/1182669015937966080[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013075353if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGmvMb6XUAQgYq9?format=jpg&name=900x900[height=400]

And some good cartoons:

.https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/china-hongkong-us-10102019153228.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191011092825if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGikEkFXkAE-A8m?format=jpg&name=4096x4096[height=400]

.https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/China-Apple-cartoon-08242017103540.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080151if_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/China-Apple-cartoon-08242017103540.html/170731Apple-700.jpg[height=400]

=== What should pro-democracy Chinese living in China do about the dictatorship?

First of all, hide and stay safe, unless you can deal the final blow. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War[World at war, 1973], ep. 16:

____
A dictatorship is like a snake. If you put your foot on its tail as you do it, it will just bite you and no body will be helped. You have to strike the head. -- 
____

Once that is taken care of, a few good options are:

* if you are a psychopath, while hiding your thoughts, manipulate your enemies, infiltrate the power circles, and go up the ladder
* if you are an innovator, leave China and come work for the West. Don't strengthen commie power.

And regardless: remember your kids that the commies are bastards every day.

=== What is your reply strategy?

People get kind of passionate sometimes about politics. And some of them might also be just malicious wumaos, although it is generally not possible to distinguish between them.

In order to not waste too much time on those, I use the following strategy:

If the original thread post is not very interesting, I try to parse it quickly and reply once, always <<better-to-do,linking to the FAQ>>, and then unfollow. This shows that I'm still present, and takes little effort.

I then do my best to never read the inevitable reply again. An interesting reply never follows from a non-interesting original post.

If the user keeps generating notifications, warning + temporary block.

If the post is outright useless and offensive, direct user block, with a link to the link:CONTRIBUTING.md[].

I have also been pointed out to the following reply strategy by C.K. Hung which might be of interest: https://ckhung0.blogspot.com/2017/07/50-cents-party.html

For outbursts of activity from Chinese websites, usually programming (v2ex, hacpai), only post the following canned answer and nothing else, because cowards from the website might delete your posts, so I can't afford waste time there with that shit:

____
大家你好

关于我常见问题我在我的GitHub中国FAQ repository回答了好几个。

你们要是在那儿找不到一个回答，清在那个repository开一个issue，我马上就回答。

我不要再在这个网页评论。
____

Finally, don't forget the golden rule from https://biblehub.com/proverbs/26-4.htm[Proverbs 26:4]:

____
Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as foolish as they are.
____

which is now usually seen on the form https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/66460/origin-of-do-not-argue-with-idiots[of unclear attribution]:

____
Never argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
____

Where basically idiot == someone who creates posts that obviously aren't teaching you any new useful thing, or that not praising you :-)

=== Christianism

The commies are not a fan. Or as someone once told me: the commies are not a fan of a bunch of things!

* 2018-12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzWApdCNdik 100 Christians detained in China crackdown
* 2018-09 Vatican Christian pope makes deal with China
+
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93Holy_See_relations#September_2018_Holy_See%E2%80%93China_Agreement
+
.https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/vatican-china-cartoon-09282018102133.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20180930134934im_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/vatican-china-cartoon-09282018102133.html/180927RFA-vatican-china.jpg/@@images/190bb54e-d6be-4c98-9599-b4a88aa6b959.jpeg[height=400]
* 2018-01 Chinese authorities demolish Christian mega-church sparking fears of religious persecution
** https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-authorities-demolish-christian-mega-church-in-crackdown-2018-1
+
.https://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-authorities-demolish-christian-mega-church-in-crackdown-2018-1[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191013080937if_/https://image.businessinsider.com/5a572ca3a75e205e138b4b5f?width=1300&format=jpeg&auto=webp[height=400]
* 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/world/asia/china-zhejiang-christians-pastor-crosses.html pastor 14 years jail
* 2015 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/christians-in-china-feel-full-force-of-authorities-repression/2015/12/23/7dd0ec5a-a736-11e5-b596-113f59ee069a_story.html

.https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/china-crackddown-Christianity-cartoon-09072018150421.html[Source].
image::https://web.archive.org/web/20191012075042im_/https://www.rfa.org/english/cartoons/china-crackddown-Christianity-cartoon-09072018150421.html/180907RFA_thelastsupperinChina_1000.jpg/@@images/ac0553ed-a46d-43f6-98d8-288ce76901af.jpeg[height=400]

=== Falun Gong

==== Do you support FLG, or just use it because it is a censored?

I don't support FLG specifically, only freedom of religion.

I use it in my usernames simply because it is the most banned and censored one in China today.

I believe that individuals should only be put in jail for what they do, not for what they believe.

I consider FLG <<flg-religion,a religion like any other>>, and I am against its ban, as I am for all other religions.

Also I believe that freedom of speech and democracy imply that FLG and other religions will exist. If you want freedom, you have to <<most-chinese-people-dont-care-about-the-minorities,accept other people's choices>>.

Otherwise, <<democracy-is-a-religion,democracy and communism can also be considered as religions>>, and banned.

See also: <<flg-verifiable>>.

[[flg-bias]]
==== Do you support FLG just because your wife and mother-in-law do it?

Not consciously, I think I would likely support them even if I didn't have family ties to FLG.

Likely I wouldn't have started this campaign if I didn't know them of course.

But of course, this is impossible to answer objectively.

But don't you think that <<falun-gong-is-not-important-to-be-worth-discussing,**70 Million** people (6% of the total population in 2000!)>> getting completely squashed by the Party illustrates extremely well the dangers of the dictatorship?

With that in mind, I try my best to give FLG only the right level of exposure I think it deserves relative to other events, according to these guidelines: <<keyword-choice>>

If more recent events of mass human rights violation happen, especially affecting in the order of tens of million people, I will probably rank higher than Falun Gong, this was the case for <<xinjiang,Xinjiang in 2019>> for example, even though it only affected a measly million.

[[flg-daily]]
===== How is it like to live with Falun Gong believers?

This will obviously vary from believer to believer, but here my experience.

Like any other religion that is taken seriously, they spend several hours per week doing their standard religious activities: <<flg-religion>>.

I have never seen them, or anyone we know from FLG say or do something that I consider morally incorrect because of FLG.

This does not prevent my wife from working normally.

My mother-in-law, who is retired, dedicates all her time to Falun Gong when she is not taking care of the house.

My mother is also religious (link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism[Protestant]), and I get a very similar feeling about both groups.

Like other religions, Falun Gong gives them meaning in life, and I admire that they pursue their belief energetically.

I much prefer that my mother-in-law does Falun Gong, which is a noble meaningful goal, rather than watch stupid crap on television.

Also, although I am <<do-you-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>>, I also live in a similar way.

My religion is that of science and technology, and I pursue it fervently by trying to learn and teach it and spend several hours a week doing that, even when it does not give me money immediately.

If I pursue my meaning, why should I prevent anyone from pursuing theirs?

Previously, my wife and mother-in-law would sometimes try to persuade me to learn FLG, which was annoying.

But every time I told them very clearly that I know where to download the books if I want to, and that I may never want to read them, and that my wife must either accept this fact of leave me.

And they have accepted that: they think I'm a good person, and they can accept that you can also be a good person even without doing FLG.

I do feel Falun Gong makes my mother-in-law more reluctant to use or actively search for <<flg-medication,medication or treatment>>. But I think it is also linked to the fact that she didn't have a very good education or a good health system around. However, if we give her something, she will take it. My wife does not have any resistance to medication.

One thing that does worry me is that my mother in law sleeps too little every night, doing one of the Falun Gong meditations late in the evening, and then waking up very early to a long series of reading and exercise sessions.

==== In the Tweet you say "correctional facility", but reeducation through labour has been abolished

My bad https://twitter.com/cirosantilli/status/579270450984984576[here], the precise term is "jail". I'm _not_ talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-education_through_labor Unfortunately I can't edit a Tweet.

[[flg-changed]]
==== Falun Gong is completely different in the West than it was in China

I believe that it has changed.

But isn't that the case of every cultural religious movement that migrates to a completely new culture?

Main points which may have changed:

* It has become more organized.
+
But why shouldn't they organize to defend themselves now that they have the chance without being put into prison?
+
The CCP is highly organized and has way more resources.
* Less emphasis is given to the religious / mystical aspect, and more to the corporal exercises, and health aspect.
+
This may be because people in the "West" are:
+
** are "scientific-educated" atheists who wouldn't go for a "religion"
** already have other religions, which would view FLG as a taboo

Also maybe only the richest and most educated believers managed to escape China, and thus the movement carried that bias outside China.

If you know more ways in which it may have changed, let me know.

But once again, we can know nothing for sure about the past in China because of censorship.

Even if you saw something yourself, how can you be sure that it is representative?

And if it has changed, now that it has changed, maybe China should unban it?

==== FLG has been funded by the US government at least once, therefore it is evil

1.5M USD in 2010 for a FLG controlled internet freedom group http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8678760.stm

But well, if you are going to do something anyways, and someone offers you money, why wouldn't you take it?

Taking the money does of course give a "bad impression" that someone is trying to buy influence, but does it in itself imply that you are doing something bad?

But do you really think that the US government paid that to buy influence in FLG? What would they force upon that FLG group that they didn't already want to do? Isn't it more likely that the US government wanted them to continue doing exactly what they were doing?

Every government funds groups it supports, it is an all out war I suppose. Compare that to the propaganda funds of the CCP.

What about the funding of political campaigns, which vastly outnumbers 1.5M USD every year?

==== FLG is illegal in China, we must follow the law

This might be a bad law that should be changed.

It was perfectly legal for Nazis to kill Jews. Does it make that right?

==== FLG is fake

The same can be argued about any other religion or political belief of type: it is better if we organize society in this or that way.

How can you disprove their belief, when as in any other religion, every affirmation made hinges on "miracles only happen around when true believers are around" or "only true believers can perceive evidence in their hearts / minds directly". He died of cancer? Not a true believer.

Conversely, do you understand the full sequence of experiments that imply quantum field theory? Have you seen videos of those experiments? Have you attended live demonstrations? Do you understand the construction of the experimentation apparatus? Yet, why do you believe it?

More importantly: what do you propose that should be done about it? Should we kill followers? Or is jail enough?

Also do let me know when you have achieved irrefutable proof that democracy / freedom of speech are the optimal ways to organize the government: <<democracy-is-a-religion>>.

See also: <<flg-religion>>

[[flg-verifiable]]
===== FLG never makes any predictions that can be reasonably verified by non-believers

Exactly, just like any other <<flg-religion>>, this is why I'm <<do-you-believe-in-or-practice-falun-gong,agnostic>>.

The closest claims to observable I've heard are:

* when pictures are taken in sacred events, notably Shen Yun, sometimes you can see magic Falun energy wheels in the pictures
* in the homes of some followers, small magic good plants-like fungi-like things have grown
* the sacred books of some believers had a closed lotus flower when they were bought, and after several years, the flower opened

but I suspect they are not even <<flg-canon,canon>>, just believer oral culture.

Of course, like every other religion, reality happens to be is constructed in a way that prevents non-believers to verify anything with their eyes in a reproducible way.

===== FLG is a very new religion and therefore fake

The Romans called <<Christianism>> the "Cult of Jesus".

If I tell a lie today, will it become true in a thousand years? Or a truth today become a lie?

Try sending an email to <<flg-lhz,LHZ>> asking him to prove his powers to you :-)

[[against-censorship-and-flg]]
==== Many people both are against censorship and FLG

I know that, and that supporting FLG is "bad" for my public image with most Chinese, including those that are against censorship.

But without censorship, there will be democracy, and with democracy FLG followers will have voting rights, and FLG will become legal.

I think the situation is very similar to Scientology in the USA today: most people dislike it, but believe that you can believe whatever you want.

Democracy and Communism <<democracy-is-a-religion,can also be considered as religions and persecuted>>.

Isn't it convenient when a dictatorship gets rid of those weirdos for you? But not so much when suddenly you or your family is the weirdo...

If you are not ready to accept the beliefs of others, dictatorship is the only choice for you.

See also: <<flg-bias>>

[[democracy-is-a-religion]]
===== Why do you say that democracy is a religion just like FLG?

Because it also specifies irrational and fundamental aspects of how one should live, notably voting and freedom of speech.

Like the Cult of CCP has one fundamental belief: the Party is always right.

[[flg-stability]]
===== Falun Gong had to be banned because it was a threat to the stability of the country

Then they link to the Taping Rebellion:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Heavenly_Kingdom

Of course FLG it was a threat to the stability of the country.

It is, as I have said, a highly organized political power: <<flg-political>>.

However, <<democracy-is-a-religion,democracy>> is a threat to the stability country in the exact same way:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution

Anything that goes against a dictatorship is a threat to the stability of the country.

Now read: <<stability>>

==== Many people say they do FLG only to get VISAs to the USA

Heard this a few times, and I believe it has happened.

But I don't see how this is relevant at all to this discussion:

* if they are not really FLG believers, they should be prosecuted, but this says nothing about the real FLG believers,
* if they are, then why wouldn't they seek a VISA, since they are in constant threat of going to jail or worse in China, and the USA law gives them that right?

Sample news:

* https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/09/28/652218318/thousands-could-be-deported-as-government-targets-asylum-mills-clients

[[flg-witness]]
==== I have personally seen people do bad things because of Falun Gong

Either direct suicide or <<flg-medication,dying because of not taking medication>>.

First, I'm not saying I don't believe you, and I'm sorry about what happened.

But your testimony is worthless unless you give the following:

* clear unique personal identification
+
This is because the CCP has thousands of wumaos who could make fake reports.
+
There are basically two ways to do that:
+
.  your testimony is done in video form on YouTube clearly showing your face as you make it
.  links between a notable social media presence that is hard to achieve, e.g. Twitter with many followers, Stack overflow with a lot of rep, and the account
+
Either of those must contain / link to information that uniquely identifies you. Generally, full name, city and date of birth is enough.
* a precise testimony that states exactly what you saw happen with your own eyes, or heard from people that are very close to you.
+
The testimony must include:
+
--
** when the events happened
** where they happened, in which city at the very least
** the full names of who did what
--
+
This is to:
+
** make it easier to verify the truth of the event
** uniquely identify the event so we don't count a single event multiple times

If you do provide all of the above, I add your report to a list of reports that I will maintain. This list does not exist yet because there were no valid reports yet.

Next consider this:

* are you sure that Falun Gong made the person do the bad thing, and that the person wouldn't have done it anyways?
+
Did someone from Falun Gong told the person to do it?
+
I bet that if you look into patients of psychiatrists, you will find more suicides than average. So should we ban psychiatry?
* are you sure that the order came from <<flg-lhz,LHZ>>, and that it was not just some disgruntled local leader using Falun Gong for his personal madness and doing things he did not approve?
+
Branch Davidians were inspired by <<Christianism>>. So should we ban Christianity? What about the majority of Christians who have never done anything bad?
* only statistics has any meaning, and it would require a very large number of reports to make up statistics, so you will likely be wasting your time. I will do my part and maintain a list however.
* if ask for FLG believers to compile a list of horrors they have suffered, which they have already been doing since the start of the persecution, I bet that their list will be much longer than yours, because they are so <<flg-organized,well organized>>

==== FLG does not have proof of their persecution claims

How much proof do you think they would be able to get when there is no freedom of press?

Do you think that forbidding a <<falun-gong-is-not-important-to-be-worth-discussing,70 million>> person religion could have gone smoothly?

Do you think the thousands of personal of accounts of human rights violations that exist are all fake, and don't indicate that many, many more have taken place but fallen under censorship?

Conversely, there is no reliable proof that FLG is bad as claimed by CCP that has been verified by international media.

==== Someone from movement X did something bad, therefore the movement should be banned

By this logic, everyone should go to jail. The law should only punish individuals.

The communist party, which has had continuous power since 1949, killed millions during the cultural revolution. Surely they must be banned, no?

But the CCP has changed so much since those days, I hear you say.

I agree. And <<flg-changed,so has FLG>>.

===== Movement X tells people to do something bad, therefore the movement should be banned

E.g. kill.

Yes, convincing someone to do something bad is as bad as doing it yourself of course, and must be forbidden.

Now proceed to prove that FLG made and will continue making people do bad things, going through:

* <<flg-witness>>
* <<flg-changed>>

[[flg-political]]
==== People from movement X are only in it for political power

For every desire of the masses, there will be amoral representatives that will step to use that power.

Still, those representatives cannot gain power if there is no backing desire from the society.

The only advantage of <<richer,democracy>>, is that those representatives have to pretend harder to do things for that group to retain their power.

==== Western media has exaggerated reports on FLG for propaganda reasons

Possibly true, but which reports are you talking about specifically?

All that I care about is:

* it is censored today
* if you do it you go to jail
* there were tens of millions of followers at the time of the ban

which I think are undeniable.

The only question that matters is: should it be banned or not?

==== Do you believe in the allegations of organ harvesting made by Falun Gong believers?

In short: I believe that it has happened to many people.

Long version:

It is obviously very hard to prove and quantify it definitely, much like it was hard to prove the Holocaust: bodies were cremated, and bribes were paid.

Even if we had a video showing the whole process, showing the whole money flow from donor to prison guard, it would still be hard to quantify it, so I do have some room for doubt in this opinion.

But consider the following, which is based on what I heard.

Even Chinese officials have admitted that in the past, if the body of the executed person is not claimed by family, then the organs can be extracted even without the consent of the prisoner:

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/07/china-still-using-executed-prisoners-organs-transplants-vatican
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-the-face-of-criticism-china-has-been-cleaning-up-its-organ-transplant-industry/2017/09/14/d689444e-e1a2-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html

Perhaps now that they claim that there is a large voluntary organ donor database, then this has stopped or been reduced, but let's focus on that period when the extractions were widely done.

From this, even though China does not publish execution statistics, we can imagine that a large part of the organs come from prisoners sentenced to death.

Then, consider that a <<falun-gong-is-not-important-to-be-worth-discussing,70 million>> person religion was banned, leading to a huge influx of prisoners from that religion.

FLG followers are just de-facto criminals like any other, and so extracting their organs is also de-facto legal.

Also, people from that religion don't drink alcohol, smoke or take drugs, and their organs are of good quality.

Furthermore, FLG prisoners continue to not bow down to the government even in prison, e.g. by doing their <<flg-religion,Falun Gong meditation>>, which makes them clearly identifiable and dangerous to the system.

Finally, add to that mix the huge level of corruption found in dictatorships.

Don't you think, then, that it is extremely likely that it has happened many times that such people have been selected to be executed earlier than others on average, due to the monetary value of their organs?

Bibliography:

* The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem, by Ehtan Gutmann, 2014
** <https://www.amazon.com/Slaughter-Killings-Harvesting-Solution-Dissident/dp/161614940X>
** <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Gutmann#The_Slaughter:_Mass_Killings,_Organ_Harvesting,_and_China's_Secret_Solution_to_Its_Dissident_Problem>

===== 2018 China Tribunal

2018 https://chinatribunal.com/

This is a mock tribunal, without any power of law, and was of course initially lobbied / organized brought up by FLG: https://endtransplantabuse.org/

However, none of the lawyers / jury members are FLG followers I believe, and I do believe that they are trying to honestly decide if there is enough evidence or not for organ harvesting in China.

They also have non-FLG witnesses.

Wether you believe in their partiality or not, I highly recommend watching some of what the witnesses, which I find very convincing and informative:

* https://youtu.be/oW3IaaXWE8s?t=7225 Swedish man who spent several years in prison in China

A notable precursor to mock tribunals is the link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Tribunal[Russel Tribunal].

===== Falun Gong is not important to be worth discussing

The main reason I emphasise FLG it that is shows how the CCP can mercilessly crush a 70M strong group (according to CCPs own statistics) out of a population of 1.3B in 2000, i.e. 5% of the population.

If that is correct, I'm curious to understand what you consider an important movement? :-)

Anything much larger would take down the government and change China's history forever.

OK, maybe the fact that 69M of those were likely old ladies didn't help much either. Tip to next prophet: make something that appeals to aspiring military officers.

And of course: <<flg-bias>>

==== Falun Gong overviews

Some possibly neutral overviews.

For:

* http://www.icsahome.com/articles/the-prc-and-falun-gong-langone

Against:

* http://www.culteducation.com/group/1254-falun-gong.html

Interesting:

* http://www.orange-papers.org/orange-cult_q0.html

==== Things I personally dislike about FLG

But also as explaining why I don't think it justifies the ban.

This section also gives me more credibility as a balanced critic >:-)

[[flg-religion]]
===== FLG downplays the fact that it is a religion

If asked if they follow a religion, I think most FLG practitioners will say no. E.g. they call themselves "practitioners" instead of believers.

But I strongly believe that all most people in the West would classify FLG as a religion if they are told that for FLG:

* absolute truth comes from an enlightened <<flg-lhz,prophet>>, who is perfect and has super human abilities
* weekly meetings where they read from a sacred book, either written by the prophet, or transcribed from his presentations to disciples, including the disciples questions, much like traditional Chinese texts like link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analects[The Analects of Confucius]
* prescribed daily meditation exercise hours, somewhat like Muslim Salah prayers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazhengnian
* higher intelligent beings
* other dimensions
* aliens that looks like humans are amongst us, they gave us part of our modern technology
* meetings in which people tell their religious testimonies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testimony#Religion
* an impending link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Judgment[final judgement]-like event, which will happen "very soon" (<<flg-verifiable,unspecified date>>), and in which the just will be rewarded
+
I predict that when <<flg-lhz>> dies, the claim will be that he went to another dimension so save us all, therefore putting this final judgement on hold, a bit like Jesus.
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-air_preaching[street preaching] with stands and leaflets like link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses[Jehovah's Witnesses]

Or a cult, which is nothing but a new / small religion with negative connotation, and thus meaningless.

But consider this: how to classify what a religion is?

Some would answer: science is what everyone can perceive with their own senses.

But FLG followers claim to feel FLG energies when doing the exercises, and a few of them have the power of seeing the other dimensions.

On the other hand, how many of your friends have experienced the laws of quantum field theory or general relativity in a very direct way?

And aren't pro-democracy believers also taking actions based solely on a shared belief, possibly organized by a pro-democracy leader?

From a purely strategic point of view, the "religion" denomination would be:

* good to FLG because the concept of freedom of religion carries considerable weight in the West
* bad for FLG because people who already have a religion would be less likely to try it out and start believing

See also: <<flg-daily>>.

[[flg-organized]]
===== FLG downplays the fact that it is highly organized

Many FLG practitioners claim that they are not at all organized, or that they have no political interest, and I truly believe that they mean it.

But it is obvious from the size of the FLG related media, namely:

* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NDTV[NDTV television network]
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoch_Times[Epoch Times newspaper]
* link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Yun_Performing_Arts[Shen Yun Performing Arts]

that in practice they do have are a highly organized hierarchical structure, and very likely with <<flg-lhz,LHZ>> at the very top, e.g.:

* Shen Yun's 2018 libretto says that their Artistic Director and founder is "D.F." (likely an abbreviation for Da Fa, which is an abbreviation for Falun Gong Dafa, which is a full name of Falun Gong), with a picture of LHZ on top. It also amusingly says that D.F. is a "Distinguished Professor of Music and Dance at Fei Tian College in New York", which is likely where many of Shen Yun's dancers are trained, and therefore controlled by himself to a large extent
* LHZ mentions NDTV, Epoch Times and Shen Yun extensively on his <<flg-canon>>. TODO link to source, this based on unintentionally overhearing to my family members reading it.

Furthermore, Falun Gong practitioners directly lobby foreign governments to take action against human rights abuses in China, e.g.:

* http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+P7-RC-2013-0562+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
* https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-court-cisco-must-be-held-accountable-aiding-chinas-human-rights-abuses

Like any other religion, they have all the right to take those actions, and it is definitely in their best interest, and perhaps in the best interest of the whole world, that they do so.

The only thing that annoys me is their lack of self perception on this matter: the large majority of Western people would definitely classify them as an organized political force after having observed their activities. When they say otherwise, they are hurting their own credibility.

====== FLG media is not transparent about its affiliation

Agreed, and it is a point that hurts more than helps their cause.

But the media is not legally obliged to state their affiliation.

And if that were the case, then we should force _all_ newspapers start taking pools of how many employees follow which religion and support which political party, and then put that in their print.

===== FLG dislikes several other groups like homosexuals and some other religions

Like most old religions.

Democracy dislikes dictators.

You and I dislike certain personality traits without any logical reason.

What matters is that we treat everyone with respect and without bias at work, even if we don't like them.

But the law can't force you to like everyone.

If one specific FLG member breaks a law by discriminating someone, they should be punished just like anyone else.

[[flg-medication]]
===== FLG believers are less likely to take necessary medication

Due to their beliefs in the healing power of FLG, which seems to have certain level of support on <<flg-canon,canonical texts>> TODO precise quotes.

This is a point that makes me worry, and I do believe that it is true for some believers, that but consider:

* what matters are statistics. Maybe FLG people live longer than non FLG in average. But we will never have statistics because of censorship: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/27529/have-many-falun-gong-practitioners-forgone-medical-treatment-and-died-of-treatab
* maybe people should be link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_legislation[allowed to choose how they want to die], not to take medication if they don't want to
* maybe the number of people killed during persecution vastly outnumbers those who died because they would not take medication
* several religions, including <<Christianism>> have miraculous cure claims. My impression is that claims were mostly notable in the old times apparently, likely because people noticed that Christians were still dying of all kinds of diseases like everyone else, no matter how devout!
* maybe the main reason why communists banned FLG is the political threat it posed, but that a ban was unjustified given the situation. Christian crosses are being taken down as of 2016, have they stopped taking their medications as well?
* maybe many of those people would also have died soon even if they had taken medication
* maybe not all Falun Gong believers thought that it was wise to stop taking medication. But their religion was banned anyways. Who can agree and follow all the innumerable prescriptions of any religious or legal system?
* all the following also reduce people's lifespan:
+
--
** riding motorcycles vs cars / buses
** smoking
** moving to a poor country to do charity there