PROPAGANDA BROADSHEET

I’m writing concerning delivery by Canada Post of The Epoch Times to our doorstep. This is a far-right paper published in New York as the media arm of China’s Falun Gong religious group. It is the Jan. 1-7, 2021 edition and contains the most vile propaganda and hate.

For instance, they state that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg used $500 million to undermine the U.S. election in 2020. When I checked into this, I discovered Zuckerberg donated to various organizations to facilitate safe voting during the pandemic. The Epoch Times is selling this as “violating the law.” They say Zuckerberg sought to “increase voter turnout in key Democratic strongholds in several swing states.” There’s nothing illegal about this. However, a reader might believe Facebook violated a law to contribute to a fraudulent election.

This is retaliation against Zuckerberg because he banned ads by Epoch Times from Facebook for lying about their connection to Donald Trump and conspiracy content.

They also insinuate the coronavirus was created in a lab in Wuhan as a weapon against the world. There are some interesting articles about emasculating men and women, preferring the “days of chivalry,” and how socialism is a gateway to hardcore communism.

Every page of this rag pushes misogyny, hate, lies and fear. I used to have some sympathy for Falun Gong, but the organization has grown into a bizarre, racist, homophobic and alt-right hate group now centred in New York with an agenda to incite war between the West and Communist China.

I checked Canada Post’s list of nonmailable items and saw under article 3 (Criminal Code and other offences) that it’s an offence to mail “any article relating to schemes to deceive or defraud the public.”

Free speech is one thing, and criticizing your government is a healthy pastime (we do it all the time), but the publishers of The Epoch Times are misrepresenting themselves and their agenda. With the lessons learned from south of the border, it’s extremely distressing to think this kind of poison can leak into our country as well.

We all live by codes of conduct. By distributing lies, Canada Post compromises its own values and business ethics. I strongly urge it to reconsider distributing this dangerous propaganda.

Bonnie Lavigne, Avonport