I hate when reactionaries infest the things I love.

This might sound like anti-sjw "I hate it when there's politics in my vydia games"; but it's so disheartening to see reactionaries get their filthy fucking hands on the things I like. I love looking at art, doing art, and reading about it. So when an article in an art magazine I like, interviewed a sculptor claiming to have been tortured by the Chinese Government, I went "oh boy here we go".

Professor Kunlun Zhang is one of China’s most accomplished sculptors. As the recipient of many awards, Zhang was once the Director of the Sculpture Institute of the Shandong Art Institute, as well as Director of its Sculpture Research Institute. He also created some of China’s largest monuments.

Yet at the peak of his career, the renowned artist became a victim of the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The recognition and respect he received from Chinese officials ended abruptly when he stood up for his freedom of belief.

Zhang was detained in China four times, beaten, and tortured for practicing the peaceful Buddhist meditation practice. Just like that, the once renowned artist was treated like a criminal.

After imprisonment and severe torture, Dr. Zhang Kunlun now lives in the US where he creates magnificent works of art and curates the world’s most toured group art exhibition, The Art of Zen Shan Ren.

The exhibition, which he launched in 2004, has since toured more than 50 countries with over 1,000 shows worldwide, from New York City to Paris, from Toronto to Milan. The intention is to expose one of the most tragic human rights violations of our times, the persecution of Falun Gong in China, while affirming the power of beauty in art.

So I'm not going to excuse torture, if these claims are real, this would definitely be abhorrent, and the proper consequences should fall on his abusers. But I was immediately curious. What is the Falun Gong and why would your affiliation with them make you a target for imprisonment and alleged torture.

Well turns out the Falun Gong is a cult. Whose main imagery involves a swastika. Fuck me, if that doesn't start ringing alarm bells in my fucking head dude. The leader of the cult promotes such beliefs as anti-miscegenation as part of an alien conspiracy to "stray further from God(s)' light" and putting their entire faith on the teachings fo their master, going so far as refusing medicine, source Australian Broadcast Company Documentary. CW: for the documentary, death, abuse, discussion of eating disorders.

This video came out earlier this year, and it also ties to the Uyghur Muslim "concentration camps" allegations. Early in the documentary, Falun Gong members are sent to reeducation camps where they are taught it is a cult and this is treated as a misuse/abuse of power by the Chinese government; but the second part of the documentary is about CHILD ABUSE AND DEATH CAUSED BY THEIR GODDAMN BELIEFS. So HOW CAN YOU FALSE EQUIVALENCE reeducation and rescuing people from cults, with LITERAL FUCKING DEATH.

Anyways. Fuck reactionaries. All they bring is sadness and death.