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How The New York Times' Article Was Used By the Chinese Communist Regime By Ouyang Fei
(Clearwisdom.net) On February 6, 2008, the New York Times
published an article about the Divine Performing Arts "New Year
Splendor." The reporter who wrote the article clearly expressed both
prejudice and ulterior motives. His description of "possibly several
hundred people" leaving the theater was not at all accurate and later
removed. Furthermore, the reporter's attitude was both irresponsible and
unprofessional. When ChinaNews.com reprinted the report, it omitted altogether
the background of the persecution of Falun Gong, interviews with performers of
the Divine Performing Arts, and the audience's positive responses that the
original article contained. In addition, it fabricated a scene of "several
hundred" people leaving and showing the theater empty. It is well known
that the Chinese Communist media has been publishing vicious articles against
Falun Gong with the intent to fan the flames of hatred and persecution. What are
the consequences of such irresponsible journalism? Does it not assist in the
murder of innocent people? The New York Times reporter apparently never heard
the warm, resounding applause from the audience during the show. Instead, he
must have waited outside for maybe a few individuals leaving early. If he really
wanted to report some news, he should have dug deeper to find out why some
individuals didn't like what they saw. Did those people side with the Chinese
Communist party? Or did they think that the persecution of Falun Gong was not
real? Was it because they didn't like Falun Gong, so the persecution of Falun
Gong was all right with them? If the reporter had done this, perhaps his report
would have been had some value. When the Jews were being massacred by the Nazis, reporters should have been
concerned about the atrocities, and their main responsibility was to report it.
But if instead they started nit-picking about something being wrong with the
Jews, then wouldn't they have been indirectly assisting in the genocide? The
main point of the article in the New York Times was that there was no mention of
Falun Gong in the flyers or anywhere else, but some programs were related to
Falun Gong, so some people left the show. The programs were rich, colorful, and
the main theme had to do with traditional Chinese culture. Falun Gong itself is
closely related to traditional Chinese culture, so this should not be a surprise
to anyone.In the show, one could see myths, fairy tales, themes from Buddhist
and Taoist spiritual disciplines, historical allusions, ethnic dances,
traditional musical instruments, songs, drum performances, and more. Among more
than 20 programs, there were two, plus some song lyrics, related to Falun Gong:
"The Risen Lotus Flower" and "The Power of Awareness". The
promotional flyers and advertisements did not list out programs, so why should
these have been singled out? As a matter of fact, from all the feedback received, many audience members
were especially interested in these two programs and they were very moved by
them. After all, the persecution of Falun Gong has been going on for more than
eight years and is still happening. It's attracting a lot of attention and
sympathetic responses. What the Divine Performing Arts displayed was traditional culture from
ancient China to the present, from the traditional moral values dating back to
distant ages to today's "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." The
story of Falun Gong has a great impact indeed. Sometimes standing up for
morality requires courage and conviction, and one to recognize the difference
between right and wrong. February 14, 2008 Posting date: 2/24/2008 |