[FRIAM] where are the "patriot hackers"?

[jon zingale]

Falun Gong is an interesting case. Across from the University of Texas at
Austin was one of my all-time favorite vegetarian restaurants, Veggie
Heaven. The owners of VH were Falun Dafa practitioners from China. Images
about the restaurant portrayed meditators floating above lotuses with auras
of light. The last page of the menu included a heartfelt letter speaking
about the plight of practitioners in China, complete with images of beaten,
imprisoned and tortured practitioners. The prices at the restaurant were
very inexpensive (one could get a veggie bowl for $5) and yet they would
participate in a daily humanitarian effort. Homebums and traveler kids would
find their way to the door of VH, hold up a finger or two, and shortly a man
would step out of the door and bring them food. This would happen dozens of
times a day. One day, even I tried it and low-and-behold, hot food was given
to me.

Shortly after this introduction, I started looking into the qigong practices
and history of Falun Dafa. No doubt it appeared to be a questionably
bureaucratic organization, not unlike the Christian churches here in the
west. That said, the qigong practices seemed to do something for my base
stress level.

Through my continued interest, and access to the wonderfully extensive UT
library stacks, I came across the book "Breathing Spaces: qigong,
psychiatry, and healing in China" (a book which I believe I have mentioned
on Friam before). To my surprise, the book does not so much cover the health
benefits of qigong but rather chronicles mental health issues involving
qigong practices, persecution of qigong practitioners in Chinese psychiatric
hospitals, and the rise of belief in "superhuman abilities" via qigong in
China shortly after the Tiananmen Square incident.

The big take-home for me, and a possible connection to organizations like
qAnon, is that in times of hardship it is well documented that communities
have been observed incorporating "supernatural belief and abilities" into a
kind of warrior's narrative. For instance, historians like John Hope
Franklin [1] and anthropologist Wade Davis [2] have noted this tendency in
the transformation of Yoruba into Voudun by Africans brought as slaves to
the new world.

Once while playing go with my buddy Joe at St. Johns, I asked him about the
perception of Falun Gong in China (he is from Hefei). Joe's take was that it
was a largely fraudulent and criminal organization and that the Chinese
government was very much right to go after it. I didn't press him very hard,
in part so as to not strain our relationship (a potential weakness on my
part). Still, when I search the web even now, I am surprised by the amount
of literature that exists pointing to the potential mental health risks of
such a meditative practice. In the conclusion of Qigong-induced mental
disorders: a review[3], the authors state:

"Despite the widespread use of Qigong, there is a conspicuous lack of
controlled data regarding its effects on mental health. Qigong, when
practiced inappropriately, may induce abnormal psychosomatic responses and
even mental disorders."

Which, when I read it I cannot help but feel that this "peer-reviewed paper"
is somehow propaganda.

I am not always so sure what it could mean to "trust" nations or peer-review
in this post-enlightenment period. Yesterday, the United States
president-elect gave an address where he reports that "Many of the agencies
that are critical to our security have incurred enormous damage. Many of
them have been hollowed out"[4]. If he is speaking truthfully, then I am
unsure what a network of trust can be. If he is not, then the same. My
takeaway here is that it is more than reasonable to have a lack of faith in
one another and in our institutions. I speculate, that without good cause to
restore trust, we ought to expect organizations like qAnon to become more
mainstream.

Meanwhile in the US: 300k dead from Covid, rampant unemployment, a K-shaped
economy, closings of small businesses, and a stock market decoupled from the
economy. Bipartisan politics has: given rise to climate change as a
political button, prevented many in need from receiving assistance, and a
political system decoupled from reasoning about issues. Those of us in the
upper part of the K-shape hold onto our stocks and jobs and hope that it
gets better. Those of us in the lower part prepare for what?

[1] From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (at least I
think it was here?)
[2] The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey
into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombies, and Magic
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10336217/
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mkRWc9yKIQ&ab_channel=GuardianNews




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