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“Massive coordinated demonstrations that devalue the individual are the totems of fascism.”
This is a fascist totem.
This is just cheerleading.
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China and Chinese people, man, they don’t know anything about HISTORY /s
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Have you seen marching bands in action? That’s about as All-American as you can get!
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Humans survive, and thrive, through collaboration and mutual support. Our mere existence defies your statement at its face.
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I honestly can’t tell if you are driving trollies with this or not. Are you seriously trying to say that co-ordinated demonstrations exist only to prop up totalitarian governments? Because, uh, history rampantly disagrees to the point that I can’t take this statement seriously.
I am pretty sure Shaolin monks don’t need to check with the pearl-clutching brigade to see if their feats meet the optics requirements before they enact them. That’s some 1984-level propaganda right there.
There are certain events that can only be accomplished with the coordinated effort of a group of people. They are more than the sum of their parts. Again, I seriously can’t tell if you are driving trollies or not with this stuff by trying to point out how supposedly suppressive these displays are to individual freedoms despite the number of individuals around the world who choose to be a part of group demonstrations regularly.
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Synchronicity? Mmm, no… sychronization. The cause of what’s seen in the vid is obvious, so…
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Could we call it “Crowd Art” (which covers ‘good’ and ‘bad’.) 
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Exactly! They’re all zombies! /s
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The origin of Shaolin Kung Fu and it’s relation to Zen Buddhism is always a weird story. Did Bodhidharma invent it before or after he spent seven years staring at the wall of the cave? Did he do it before or after he ripped off his eyelids so that they would grow into the first tea plants?
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In WWII, many Japanese Zen Buddhist abbots were vocal and enthusiastic about the military invading and occupying other Asian countries. At exactly the same time as Nazism. It adds unintentional irony of your effort to unite Chinese Chan Buddhism and Japanese Zen Buddhism a single tradition. (I know the history. Just sayin’) I don’t mean to be harsh, but… at exactly at the same time as Hitlerjugend, dude. Time to re-think!
There actually isn’t much of a connection between Shoalin and Zen. Buddhism of course. The Shoalin martial arts historically took place at a time where the monastery was under threat of attack. Zen was developed many years later from Chan Buddhism. The Shoalin Temple never identified itself as part of that school. The Japanese “formalized” Chan practices, as they tend to do with imported things, and the Samuri became big fans, combining it with their martial arts. I think it’s close to the same as linking medieval jousting and American car crash derbies! PS obviously I’m not sure how much Prooftheory is joking. 
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I think you are right on the mark. This kind of propaganda is not merely external propaganda it is very much internal. Everything, everything is centralized in China and nothing is allowed to get out of the CCP’s orbit. We used once to fear the creep of Communism and this was largely a fear of Russian expansion of its governmental model. In the 50’s and 60’s Russia and China were at each others throats for domination of the Communist movement. That war between China and Vietnam was a proxy war with Russia over its growing influence on China’s southern doorstep. Now that the USSR has gone broke and been replaced with a sorta kinda democracy (not). The mantle has been picked up by the Beijing Marxists who have moved in wherever the US has left a political vacuum, using “friendly” aid to gain a foothold in Africa, Sth America and Asia. They are firmly convinced their own political model (and form of social control) is the pre-eminent model and though they say it is up to their allies to adopt whatever form of governance is comfortable to them they are also very adept at using trade and politics to have others toe their line. Don’t worry about MAGA, Xi is all about making China great again, hence the new Silk Road (Belt and Road initiative) with fingers right into Europe (Trump might have had Mexico pay for the wall - China’s new friends will pay for the railway line, port etc.) The Maritime Silk Road is of particular concern. One difference between the Shaolin Youth and the HJ - is the latter was in a time of war.
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Unicorn chaser
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I don’t mean to add to a massive pile-on so I’m going to limit myself to comments I don’t think others have made. I think that thinking of fascism as a thing that happens when people have too little individualism is just the wrong way to understand it. Fascism doesn’t fight individual freedom, it subverts it. A society that is too dedicated to individualism is ripe for fascist takeover.
Fascism takes over from democracy when people support fascism. It doesn’t take 50% of the population to install fascism, but it takes some significant body of people. Fascists win elections to get power (and get rid of the elections after). I bet right now most Americans think America is ripe for fascist takeover or in the midst of fascist takeover. People vote for fascists, they vote for fascism.
Fascist create a situation in which people have to choose sides and then let individuals choose sides. It’s fine for the fascists that many individuals will side against them, as long as people can’t figure out how to collectively reject the fascists, they are winning.
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The English word “Zen” (and the Japanese word from which it is derived) typically applies to all Buddhist traditions that trace from Bodhidharma, including Chan and Seon. Temples in the English speaking world will typically describe themselves as being “a Korean Zen Temple” or “a Vietnamese Zen Temple” etc. Almost all of these traditions have a great emphasis on the practices that were developed in China during the Tang and Song dynasties, practices that were very formalized well before the time of Dogen. The two main schools of Zen, (Rinzai and Soto in the Japanese tradition) developed in China hundreds of years before they were introduced to Japan.
Many of the traditional stories that are told about Bodhidharma, such as the Tea invention and development of Kung Fu are obviously mythological. The development of the Shaolin Temples as a kind of tourist attraction by the secular Chinese government is another weirdness in the long history of mixing religion and state politics that has gone on there.
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