The New York Times seemingly strains to be “politically correct” when it comes to the “C” word. The “paper of record” doesn’t seem to like the word “cult” and prefers to say “sect.”
However, Times reporter Daniel Wakin may have taken this apparent doctrine of correctness a bit further. Yesterday in his article “Followers of Falun Gong in Public Relations Battle,” he decided not only to call Falun Gong a “spiritual movement,” but also to ignore or neglect researching the more negative aspects of the group.
The Times reporter described the teachings of Li Hongzhi, Falun Gong’s founder, as simply “slow-motion exercises, meditation and…healing theories.” But what Wakin neglected to report is that Hongzhi also specifically teaches racism and promotes homophobia.
Maybe Wakin is just too lazy to utilize the Internet and do his homework. Though after an earlier omission by the Times about the widely reported sexual abuse allegations concerning another “cult” leader, it does make you wonder.
Is this just part of a predetermined pattern that is now somehow a Times policy? Does the newspaper essentially often publish puff pieces about “cults,” or at least mute the more negative aspects about many of these “new religions”?
It seems that the “paper of record” needs to evaluate its priorities. Is it more “politically correct” to be deferential and sensitive to the feelings of “cults,” or is it more important and correct to expose racism, bigotry and sexual abuse wherever it is?
no comment untill now