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Should We Stand Up Against the Persecution or Blame the Victims?

Nov. 7, 2007 |   By Falun Dafa practitioner Xin Ping

(Clearwisdom.net) During eight years of persecution by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I have been clarifying the truth to people. I often encounter the following issue: many people focus their attention on the various shortcomings of individual Falun Gong practitioners who resist the persecution, forgetting to examine the misconduct of the persecutors.

For example, one person said to me that the Falun Gong website is too subjective, saying that everything is the CCP's fault. He also complained that the website exaggerates minor matters, which makes people feel practitioners are too emotional and not objective enough. I discussed this issue in detail with two of my friends for a long time. One of them has not been able to change his views. But after in-depth discussions, the other friend basically understands that the CCP's brutal and shameless actions should indeed be condemned, and that scrutiny should be focused exclusively on the CCP and its evildoers.

I said, "Everyone understands, Falun Gong is against the persecution. Certainly Falun Gong's website is primarily for exposing the persecution, and takes the facts of the persecution as its main content. Falun Gong practitioners expose the CCP's crimes to society. When a person writes a petition to court, it is unnecessary to mention any good deeds the accused did; it is only necessary to list the crimes. We do not talk about whether the CCP has done any good deeds. Even if it did, we only expose its crimes in the persecution. Moreover, its crimes are monstrous, unpardonably wicked. Today, Falun Gong practitioners' websites and media expose CCP persecution, listing so many of the CCP's dreadful evil acts, that anyone should be able to recognize that the CCP is unpardonably wicked."

"For example, 80 million Chinese died unnatural deaths under 50 plus years of CCP rule. Isn't this alone enough to see its true nature? Out of fear of losing power, the CCP has used the most vicious means and the entire power of the state to persecute a cultivation group--millions of people who believe in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." Its crimes include ruthless conduct, such as organ harvesting from living people, which even surpasses the Nazi's cruelty! Weren't the Nazi's tried by an International Tribunal? Then shouldn't this evil Chinese Communist Party also be placed on trial?"

My friend said: "Some articles by Falun Gong practitioners seem too emotional."

I said: "Falun Gong practitioners are cultivators, so they are not as emotional as most people in society. But just think of how a group of non-practitioners would react when encountering such brutal and inhumane persecution. Would they be as peaceful, rational and tolerant as Falun Gong practitioners have been? Surely the injustice encountered by Falun Gong is far more than what most people would ever experience; however during eight years of resistance, have Falun Gong practitioners ever shown extreme conduct? There are so many Falun Gong practitioners. Please try to think about what kind of group Falun Gong is! Of course practitioners are also human, so it's hard for them to completely avoid emotion. When someone is being persecuted, he or she may say a few emotional words; this is normal. But such a large scale and extremely brutal persecution has never before happened in history--even many of the persecution methods and formats are unheard-of--please put yourself in their position. Should people suffering persecution be condemned for speaking out? Shouldn't those people committing the crimes be condemned instead?"

My friend then said: "Yes, it's fair and reasonable for people to speak out loud and clear under those circumstances."

I replied: "Certainly, practitioners can't guarantee that every sentence they say is perfect. Media is media, and media is not the truth. However, compared to the CCP media, which blindly fabricates lies, practitioners' media speak so much more truthfully. "

My friend said: The book, "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party seems to curse the CCP, and with a superstitious flavor. Rational analysis and proof seem to be lacking."

I replied: "This depends on how you look at it. If you regard the Nine Commentaries as a thesis to be read at an academic seminar, and judge it according to the fixed forms of academia, then perhaps the Nine Commentaries does not fit that template. Essentially, the Nine Commentaries exposes the CCP's crimes and is a written judgment of the CCP."

My friend said: "So I am supposed to accept what the Nine Commentaries says as all facts. How can I be sure?"

I said: "Suppose you were a judge. When you read a petition, do you first see if what it says are all facts?"

Friend answered: "Of course, you first read the facts of the petition."

I said: "That is a main mental obstacle for many people in reading the Nine Commentaries and other articles exposing the CCP's crimes. They often start from their own speciality and understanding, instead of looking at the articles objectively without their notions. They judge the facts in the articles depending on whether or not they have heard them before. For this reason, many highly educated people are even slower than others in coming to understand the CCP's crimes. In other words, if a petition that charges someone of murder has conclusive facts, even if it may lack some details, it should not be condemned. On the contrary, the murderer should be condemned. The person who writes the petition, and is firm in charging the offender, should have our sympathy."

My friend said: "Of course, if the petition includes the facts and is well-written, with supporting evidence, that is the best."

I said: "That is what Falun Gong practitioners are trying to do. Falun Gong has only been practiced widely for fifteen years. It has been persecuted for the last eight years. Yet, even under such duress and within such a short time span, practitioners are striving to achieve a level of communication that both meets the standards you're talking about and that is also sufficient to make people look at things with a new understanding. "

My friend said: "Yes. As an intellectual, I have known for a long time that the CCP is no good. But, I still hope Falun Gong is able to produce articles and essays that are well written with higher standards."

I said: "They will, for sure."

My final advice to my friend was, "We should focus on the facts that expose the CCP's crimes, not on the writing level of those who are exposing them. We should condemn the persecutors, not those being persecuted because their writing skills may not be the greatest. Please think about this carefully."