This is interesting. I recently had to deal with somebody who really hates Falun Gong, so it’s on my mind.
I had to try and get him to chill out, because it was affecting our outreach effort.
Despite by opposition to his behavior, I also dislike Falun Gong and their fronts, Shen Yun, and The Epoch Times.
Their ads constantly use the word “tradition”, and I’m wary of “tradition”, because I associate it with oppression.
I had to look up what that meant.
Traditionalism (aka perennialism) is a school of thought from the early 20th century. It’s anti-modernist, and pro-religion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditionalist_School_(perennialism)
One of the proponents of traditionalism, Julius Evola, has enjoyed a recent rise on popularity, because he appeals to contemporary fascists, like Steve Bannon.
What I didn’t know was that Huston Smith was also included in this school of thought.
That surprised me, because he was associated with the 60s counterculture, but it also, made sense, because Smith wrote about religion.
Given that traditionalism aligns so much against modernity, they can be opponents of both capitalism and communism.
So, sometimes, you can end up with situations where someone is “anti-capitalist” but can still become a fascist or sympathizer.
(I think this was one of the characteristics of 90s anarchism. Some were anti-modern, “primitivists”, and this was generally accepted; so a turn toward the archaic or occult sometimes happened – or people interested in either would find a community in anarchism.
(Fortunately, it wasn’t a common thing for these people to flip to fascism, because anti-nationalism was the norm, with a particular allowance for nationalism based around indigenous identity.
(These currents intersected with ecology or environmentalism, where anti-modern ideas enjoy popularity.)
Traditionalism has influenced both sides of this Ukraine war. On the Ukraine side, via neo-Nazi fascism, with it’s reactionary occult lean, and on the Russia side, via Duginism, and its focus on Orthodox Christianity.
This second link is to a pro Falun Gong website. While they aren’t included in the Traditionalist school of thought, their material evinces a lot of the same feelings for me. I’m not saying Falun Gong are fascists; their self-described traditionalism, conservatism, anti-communism, and current alignment with Washington DC politicians, puts them into the same cluster of international capitalist, right wing, organization, that are currently open to working with fascists. So, it’s no surprise they are pro-Trump.
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