“I HAD THIS, AND YOU HAVE RUINED MY PLANS. AGAIN. YOU ARE ALWAYS RUINING MY PLANS. YOU RUIN EVERYTHING, AND THIS TIME I DO NOT FORGIVE YOU. THERE WILL BE NO MORE WARM HUGS FROM ME. YOU ARE BANNED!”

I’ll never understand how, as a parent, you can give all of your love to a child, raise them to ha e an inner voice of moral authority, and then be petty and vindictive when they are adults. If my child grew to be a petty, self involved adult (>28) I would wonder where in the world I could have been more present and more connected. Possibly not my fault, but if have to check to make sure.

I think that’s fair.

For me, it’s more than just the dangers of their ideas. Its mechanisms of control. Can members come and go freely? Do the members have a livelihood separate from the religious community? Do they have access to other perspective or is their information limited and curated? Do they use their doctrines to create obedience to the leadership? Is their financial obligation to the movement more onerous than other religious groups? Can a member leave tomorrow without being stalked or harassed?

As far as I’ve seen, Falun Gong practitioners generally live normal, secular lives and aren’t financially ‘captured’ by the organization. They might have strange or even ‘subversive’ views, but if the mechanism of total control isn’t there, ‘NRM’ remains the more precise academic fit.

This is not a defense of their views. If our net is just fringe ideas, the net would be cast too wide and catch otherwise socially accepted groups.

I really enjoy your comments. You’re even handed, considerate, and informative so I think you’ll take this push back well.

The word cult is a slippery term that is generally a perjorative morphing to the intentions of both writer and reader. A more neutral term would be the preferred academic term of “new religious movement” while highlight specific harmful behaviors that might make it either immoral, illegal, or culturally distasteful.

I hope that you see the value in being more specific with the term.

Mickey7 level shit posting.

I know.

Exactly. That’s why there’s a mix of gender and skin colors in the picture.

Agreed. 2000 was fantastic, but that was 9 years before 7. Its been 17 years since 7.

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No one knows with certainty why dogs lick you. There are many well-established theories based on understanding of dog behavior.

“I love you.”

“You’re tasty.”

“I’m anxious.”

The historicity is important at other times. But now we need to get people politically engaged with their feet. At this point if we called them Teletubbies and it mobilized people into organized resistance, I’d take it.

I dont know why some people are assholes. You asked a beginner level question on a forum that allows, I’m assuming, beginners to ask questions. I hope this never happens to you again. Some of us enjoy working with sincere, curious beginners.

There are ways to talk to these condescending sarcastic assholes. But fuck them. I sorry they were hurtful and I hope you find people who want to go with you on your journey with you.

I read the headline as “Getting Nut Neutrality” and wondering if it was Novemember. I need like 20 more minutes of sleep.

It will never be odd to me that people will share their personal lives to a bunch of strangers so freely.

Definitely has an air of truthiness.

Would your mom have posted her stories to twitter if she knew how?

Theres an old article of this happening in the USSR in 1979

Right. Because johnny bananas wrote about how s parent of their student gave their kid a comfort banana. And I’m the stupid one. Enjoy eating that onion.