In Responses to “Dark Propaganda Strategy”

I would like to respond to a recent Feb. 18 article, “The Dark Propaganda Strategy…” published by Random Length News about The Epoch Times sample paper.

First of all, The Epoch Times is one of my favorite publications. The paper includes inspiring articles about health, well-being, and traditional culture. They provide balanced and honest reporting, while highlighting world issues rarely reported in any other newspaper.

I believe their articles are well-researched. Therefore, labeling The Epoch Times  as having a “conspiracy theory” or “propaganda” is unfortunate, especially without facts to back up the claim.

The paper reports truthfully about the Chinese Communist Party, whose tyrannical regime has persecuted millions of Chinese people with torture, death, imprisonment, organ harvesting, and more.

Finally, making statements that The Epoch Times is “fake news” or the “arm of Falun Gong” appears to be far reaching, to have little grounds for publishing.

Why find fault with a publication like The Epoch Times trying to spread honest news in the world?

Why label it as a company run by Falun Dafa? The Epoch Times is a business. Falun Dafa is a mediation. They are two totally different things.

As a Canadian who believes in our country’s values of rights and freedoms, I wholeheartedly believe this paper is exactly what Canada needs.

Jesse Nuytten, Surrey, British Columbia

Your recent article, “The Dark Propaganda Strategy of Epoch Times,” is inaccurate in certain respects and seems biased against the Falun Gong spiritual practice.

First, you describe Falun Gong as “a controversial spiritual movement which has been banned in China.” It’s true that Falun Gong is banned in China, but your description is so incomplete as to be misleading. Especially given the negative tone of the rest of your article, it implies that Falun Gong practitioners must have done something to deserve being banned. In fact, Falun Gong is an entirely peaceful spiritual practice, which the Chinese government has brutally persecuted just because it perceived Falun Gong’s popularity as a threat to the ruling regime’s authority. (See generally the Report of the Tribunal into Forced Organ Harvesting from Prisoners of Conscience in China (https://chinatribunal.com/final-judgment-report/).

Also, you inaccurately conflate The Epoch Times with Falun Gong generally. I know that the Epoch Times is controversial, and it is true that some Falun Gong followers run The Epoch Times. But it is wrong to attribute the Epoch Times’ words or conduct to Falun Gong generally, as you do by falsely stating that Falun Gong spreads “fake news” and has “link[ed] arms with far-right groups around the world.” Such a guilt-by-association smear against an entire spiritual practice based on the conduct of some of its individual followers is misleading and unfair. I can assure you there are Falun Gong practitioners who disagree with The Epoch Times’ practices, including pro-Trump activities you mention in the article.

To be clear, support for Trump or “far-right” politics is not part of Falun Gong teachings. To the contrary, Falun Gong’s founder, Li Hongzhi, has consistently taught that Falun Gong (“Dafa”) should have nothing to do with politics, including in some of the practice’s most important texts. (See, e.g., “No Demonstrations When Saving People and Teaching Fa” (from Zhuan Falun Volume II) available at https://en.falundafa.org/eng/html/zfl2/zfl2.htm#_ftnref2 (“A cultivator will not take an interest in politics, lest he be a politician, not a cultivator”); “Cultivation Practice is Not Political,” (from Essentials for Further Advancement), available at https://en.falundafa.org/eng/jjyz49.htm (“…We should not get involved in politics… a cultivator will not be interested in politics or political power of any sort; failing this, he absolutely isn’t my disciple.”); (https://en.falundafa.org/eng/lectures/20030215L-full.html) (“… our Dafa as a whole doesn’t get involved in politics, and we can’t do anything political in the name of Dafa … If an individual practitioner wants to support someone, that’s his personal business and it doesn’t represent Dafa … As individual practitioners you can support whoever you’d like. That’s how it works.”).

To conclude, I hope you understand that there is a lot more to Falun Gong than its affiliation with The Epoch Times, and that The Epoch Times’ excesses do not justify bias against Falun Gong generally. It is a peaceful spiritual practice that has given purpose, and improved health and well-being, to millions of people around the world. There are a lot of good people who have endured terrible persecution, who have lost loved ones in many cases, and who have been subjected to decades of hateful propaganda in China. They do not deserve constant negative depictions in the US press too.

John Moran, Portland, Maine

I have no problem with a publication taking an anti-communist stance or one that’s simply opposed the Chinese Communist Party. I have no bias for or against Falun Gong. The movement is relevant because it is connected to The Epoch Times and The Epoch Times and the movement have similar goals. At issue is the nature of reporting on American politics in The Epoch Times. If you’re the sort of person who only reads The Epoch Times to the exclusion of all other mainstream media, particularly traditional media sources i.e. Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN, BBC, or Al Jazeera,  then your view of the world is probably warped and is likely as much of a threat to democracy and this republic as the ones who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the nation’s capitol.  

Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Hit and Run Feb. 20

On Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021 at 7:25 p.m., Babie (my dog) and I were walking down Grand Avenue for a regular evening walk when a white vehicle hit us while we were crossing 16th Street. It happened very fast, whoever was driving tried to brake but it was too late. I was hit on my left side causing me to roll onto the hood and windshield as the vehicle came to a complete stop, I was thrown to the pavement. Babie then ran over to help me when the vehicle ran both of us over, killing her and somehow leaving me alive with scrapes and bruises and with tire tracks across my upper body. Again, this happened on Feb. 20 at 7:25 p.m. on 16th Street and Grand. The Vehicle was traveling west, crossing at Grand Avenue towards Gaffey at high speed where I think it turned right. If anyone has any information about this incident, please call 310-982-5402. 

Patrick Eldred, San Pedro

Death Penalty for the Seditionists?

Although I am not a fan of capital punishment, I would make an exception in this case.

Fewer than 45 GOP senators opposed Trump’s impeachment. The 46th President is here, with 50 senators who represent 41 million more people than the other 50 senators. I pray that the Grim Reaper finds himself in a swamp drowning.

Unity with Nazis, skinheads, Proud Boys, KKK, Lincoln Project and Trumpers, is not an aspiration of mine.

The morning after Angela Davis’ 77th birthday… I want to ask the 700 to 800 folks walking around the Capitol building on Jan. 6,  “hanging or shooting? (Guilt of sedition is the death penalty.)

Murder charges should be realized against all the rioters who barged their way in the Capitol. Guilt of the murder charge should be upon all of the shoulders who reached the doorways by violence.

P.S. Fuck Daniel Bredkenridge. I’m an Okie. 

Mark A. Nelson, San Pedro

Thoughts on Returning to In-Person Instruction

The Long Beach Unified School Board is listening to the business community instead of their teachers and the parents they serve in sending teachers and students back into classrooms while the pandemic continues to rage. Although many doctors question the CDC’s decision that teachers don’t need to be vaccinated before going back, there are still questions based on science that the school board ignores.

Scientists now tell us that the number one way the virus is transmitted is by persons who are asymptomatic themselves. That means that all the district’s efforts to take the temperatures of every student and staff member every day with faulty thermometers do nothing in preventing the spread of the virus. Even if teachers got the vaccine (1500 of the more than 25,000 employees have received at least the first dose), there would be nothing to prevent students and teachers from transmitting the virus back to loved ones.

The district has selectively listened to the CDC. They have not mentioned the fact that the CDC has said that teachers who fall into the more dangerous categories (based upon age, lung compromised health, or immune deficiencies) should be given the option to continue virtual teaching from home. Nor has the district dealt with the fact that many schools have inadequate ventilation systems. The staff of my school, Jackie Robinson, had been slated to go to Butler this year so that our ventilation system could be fixed. Now they want us to go back into Robins with its inadequate system with the youngest children who are least likely to be able to keep their masks on.  

Even without the COVID-19 crisis, moving to another school would have been a costly upheaval, costing taxpayers millions of dollars just for bussing students alone. Why didn’t the district take advantage of this time off to have the construction companies, desperate for work, to fix the situation while we were at home most of this year?

When we return, our students will not have practiced a fire drill in over a year. When students leave my classroom, they walk shoulder to shoulder with students from two or three other classrooms through a narrow passage between a fence and our bungalows.  There is no way that we could possibly meet the time standards the fire department looks for—especially when you realize that even a reduced sized class of 17 would still be more than 100 feet long if the students were able to maintain 6 feet of distance while walking.

By the time a class is able to line up and go to a restroom, two boys and two girls at a time, half an hour of class time will be wasted (but now I give my students five minutes each hour to quickly use their home restrooms).  Each time a student uses a toilet, it will be compromised. Will students be expected to clean the seats after each use themselves?

Much has been said in the last couple years about SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Many students nowadays have suffered from trauma. A nurse in the news recently reported that the most heart-wrenching thing they have witnessed during this pandemic is children apologizing to their dying loved ones for having brought them the disease. Since school will only last 2 1/2 hours, it will be vulnerable grandparents who will often be called upon to pick the children up from school. How will a student’s SEL be affected when they grow up knowing that it was their “I’m done with school today” hug that killed grandma?

Why is it always up to workers to be the grown-ups in the room? What has happened to “leaders” in this country? What ever happened to an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure?

Editor’s Note: On Feb. 24 Random Lengths News received another letter from Mr. Weeks, below, in regard to teachers in the COVID-19 high-risk category.

Just wanted to forward this to you.  When I noted to my principal that the CDC recommended giving teachers in high risk categories the option of doing virtual teaching, I was sent this. It is a packet that I assume was created long before the pandemic, and does not address those identified as “high risk” during the pandemic.

When I mentioned the fact that older Americans who have contracted COVID have 15 times the mortality rate of younger Americans, I was told that the district could not discriminate based upon age. Really? Protecting older teachers because they are more at risk of dying is discriminating against them? It is time to go public with this.

Bill Weeks, Teacher, Robinson Academy, Long Beach Unified School District

The Pedestrian’s Accessing Royal Palms Beach Enter Into Harm’s Way

There is nothing I or anyone else can do. In the matter to convince the Los Angeles Department of Harbors and Beaches (who operate there), we the public must have a 5-foot wide sidewalk adjacent to the roadway. We must get people off the road and onto a safe surface to avoid being struck by motor vehicles.

The once casual and low volume beach playground has become a meeting place for thousands of visitors on weekends. No longer a safe and friendly place, it has become a meeting place for young intoxicated youths who have recklessly driven up the road at high speeds; and a place for young inner-city families with children who have visited the park unsuspectingly the first time; plac(ing) their lives at the hands of speeders! Because there is no sidewalk, no escape from a speeder.

My pleas are for the families, children and older citizens who walk, unsuspecting of the dangers that lurk upon a roadway that (do) not meet Federal or City Safe Road Standards. The county ignores my requests, but these officials obviously have never witnessed the impact upon the human body by a speeding vehicle. I have. The result to (the) victim was catastrophic. It saddened me to the point I vomited. So please use your rhetorical force. Use your ability at persuasion. Get others to listen.

Bruce Bacon, Harbor City

Support for Workers Coops

I’m going to share three quick facts with you: After a 30-year period, the costs of housing rose by 290%, education costs rose by 311%. And there are about 40,000 of our neighbors living on the streets of Los Angeles. Let me explain why I’m telling you this.

To shelter about 75 of our homeless community members, the city government plans to construct a temporary village of tiny homes here in Wilmington. The village will be in a parking lot near the intersection of Figueroa Place and L Street, across from LA Harbor College. The goal is to house people until they get connected with services and housing that will more permanently improve their lives.

To be honest with you, the news of this project brought many thoughts and emotions to my mind. At first I saw this as a cruel and strange juxtaposition: a shanty town of people struggling, next to an institution of bright eyed youths and professors furthering our human knowledge.

But I realized that these two developments being next to each other illustrates a larger problem. The real problem is our exploitive economic system.

Remember, after 30 years housing and education costs basically tripled. So if it cost $10,000 to go to college 30 years ago, it costs $30,000 to go to college now. And if it cost $300,000 to buy a house thirty years ago, it costs $900,000 now.

Meanwhile, the real wages of our workers in the middle class have only risen by 14%. Let me repeat that, housing and education have almost tripled, and wages have not even increased by one fifth. The change in real wages is even worse for our friends and family who are at the bottom 10%. Black women in this group have seen wages increase by less than a dollar. Latino men have seen their wages go down by a couple of dimes.

So it is not really a surprise that nowadays there will be a college next to a temporary village meant to get people off the streets. Many middle class workers can’t send children to college and buy a house without going into debt. And for the bottom 10%, the threat of homelessness is much closer than the dream of owning a house will ever be. This is a shame and a failure.

If you are one of these workers, this is not your fault. You and your family have worked hard, put in overtime or even gotten a second job. Your missing wages, dollars that should be yours, have gone to executives at mega corporations, investment bankers and the more than 600 billionaires in the U.S.

This wage and wealth inequality is the underlying cause of homelessness and there are many potential solutions. The tiny home village proposed here is a very small step in the right direction. It’s better than living totally exposed to the streets. But we can do better than that. And we have done better very recently. 

There is a program called Project Room Key that temporarily houses formerly homeless people in hotels and motels. On-site service providers work with these brothers and sisters to put them on a path to permanent housing and other supports. Expanding Project Room Key is a much better short-term solution than temporary housing shelters and villages. In either case, more labor and other resources must be focused on accelerating the completion of supportive housing in our communities.

We also need to make housing more affordable in general. A long-term solution to this end is to decrease the wage and wealth gaps. 

We can do this by greatly expanding worker cooperatives. In a worker coop, each worker gets one vote to determine the policies and actions of their business. Instead of a select few executives or boards of directors, the workers decide what to produce, where to produce and how much money the workers get. And I ask you, if you and your coworkers got to determine all your wages, would you allow them to rise only 14%, while housing nearly tripled?

We can encourage the proliferation of worker cooperatives by demanding that our governments give stimulus, bonds, grants and low interest loans to people who want to start worker coops.

In the past our governments have given such benefits to capitalist corporations, and that has gotten us into this mess. The closure of supermarkets run by the Kroger Company just because they don’t want to pay higher wages to at-risk workers, is one concrete example of how corporations exploit our economic system. I assure you that if we start to advocate and demand democracy at our workplaces, we will reduce homelessness in a dignified and respectable way. This will take time and some very tough conversations, but if we maintain our solidarity, we can make housing and a livable wage a democratic guarantee.

Christian Guzman,San Pedro