Talk:Falun Gong/Archive 4

message: Falun gong is defined as a "controversial Chinese spiritual movement" which ,in my opinion, is an inaccurate description. The New American Heritage Dictionary defines "movement" as: "An organized effort by supporters of a common goal" which is far from what Falun Gong is. And there is nothing inherently controversial about Falun Gong. Attempt has been made to provide a much more accurate Introduction. Content has been re-organized to make the article more streamlined. No existing information has been left out. And Additional section on the Qi Gong aspects of Falun Gong has been introduced - in it is a comparison of  Falun Gong with other forms of Chi Gong spread in contemporary society. Study shows a lot of significant differences with conventional forms of Chi Gong
The article is terribly incomplete with nothing discussed other than some controversies and controverisal beliefs. Wikipedia articles should not be a place for debating controversies. Anybody editing an article shuold have good, first hand knowledge on the subject. It would be outright absurd for someone who has not studied all the books and practice aspects of Falun Gong to edit an encyclopaedia article on Falun Gong. But sadly, that is what has happenned.. It is no coincidence that the article is nothing but a compilation of things plucked out from various newspapers. As of now, the whole article revolves around controversies.
:Everyone see things with different eyes. FLG routinely organises large scale protests, book publishing, websites and lecture tours and seminars by Li Hongzhi; so by that it meets the definition of a movement given above. FLG is harshly suppressed by the CCP, and called "weirdos" by the immensely popular Law and Order television show, those are two instances of controversy right there. So, rewriting the intro to say "FLG is an undirected group of people which everyone in the world agrees is the salvation of mankind" isn't going to work, I'm afraid. I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but I want to accentuate that it seems that is what you are "requiring" the article to say. --Fire Star 13:54, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Changes Required 

message: Kindly allow me to restructure the first two sections (Intrduction and (Origins and Beliefs)) of the article to improve readability and accuracy. None of the existing information has been left out. Material has been added to the Origins and beliefs section. Redundancy has been eliminated ( for instance the number of practioners and the controversies surrounding it had been discussed, in detail, in no less than three sections.)
Attempt has been made to ensure that the material discussed in the beliefs and origins secion is accurate and in-line with Falun Gong's Teachings. Though I had read all Falun Gong books before making the changes, I feel my understanding of the principles of Falun Dafa is far from adequate and I am looking forward to recieving input from others who have studied the books- especially practitioners.
After Reading through all the published Books of Falun Gong, I agree with Mccon when he says that we are "casually including statements that have so much required explanation and context behind them. Without this context they indeed sound quite odd." But I have left the controverial quotes as such for the sake of completeness. It is hoped that the issue is further discussed and appropriate changes made.
Kindly revert only if you feel the article is any less complete or inaccurate.
Dilip rajeev 11:44, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Mcconn 17:50, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article Re-Structured 

message: This source criticizes the Chinese government and all of their allies and calls for the protection of practitioners. Reading through it, I found that it actually gives quite an impartial view on the history of Falun Gong. For example, it talks about Falun Gong's attempts to silence critics in China before the ban, it talks about Li Hongzhi's supernatural powers claims, and it very clearly says that Falun Gong's teachings have apocalyptic elements, something that is mysteriously hidden from the article until this day. Human Rights Watch writes: "There is no question that Falun Gong promotes salvationist and apocalyptic ideas, in addition to its teachings on qigong." HRW also reiterates this statement three times throughout the book. In addition, HRW writes: "Falun Gong protests have been tightly organized and coordinated," something that Falun Gong practitioners continue to deny. Colipon+(Talk) 16:32, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: It can only be said that there are different narratives; all of them should be available to the reader on wikipedia, according to their prominence in the sources. Since you see HRW as such a good source, why do you have a problem with calling the persecution a persecution, when, for example, Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, says "These Falun Gong members should never have been arrested, much less given heavy sentences. If freedom of association and assembly mean anything in China, then Falun Gong members should be free to recruit others, to practice their exercises and meditation in public, and to protest their own persecution." I don't get it.--Asdfg12345 23:51, 16 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: But is there a reason why this info Colipon mentions above, from a good source, is completely absent from the article? Its a major criticism of its "cult-like' characteristics, and it should be included.76.14.42.191 (talk) 18:33, 31 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Human Rights Watch