Quote
bobze39
The way SGI conducted (and continues to conduct) defamation campaign against me was very cynical. Here are just few examples. When I was a graduate student at USC School of Music, many of the teachers at the music department were gay. SGI told everybody that I was homophobic. At that time I lived in Korea Town area of Los Angeles, which was full of immigrants, Mexican and Korean, so SGI told everyone that I was racist. Then I moved to the Valley, Encino to the Jewish community, and, of course SGI spread the rumors in this community that I was anti-Semitic. After September 11th attacks SGI told everyone that I was anti-American. Needless to say that by doing this they hurt not only my reputation, but also other people's feelings. But SGI doesn't care about people - for them end justifies the means. SGI told people im my neighborhood and my coworkers that they were from the "volunteer local threat assessment team" (not the police, just community volunteers trying to make the community safer), and they asked people to be good citizens and to write assessment reports about me. If people refused, SGI kept asking them again and again, they also let people know that by not cooperating they can themselves come under suspicion. Eventually, pretty much everyone gave in to this pressure, and they wrote the assessment reports. SGI selected the negative ones and sent them to my employers (even potential employers). I have not collected enough evidence to make a real law case against them, people who told me this begged me not to reveal their identity out of fear. One police officer actually told me, that there is nothing illegal about trying to make community safer, and this kind of activity is actually protected by Freedom of Speech! "They asked people to write reports about you? And people did? I see nothing illegal here! People can say what they think about you."
Quote
Nammy
From Scooby Dooby "Its tough for me though since the person I have to convince what a sham the organization is just won't listen to reason." Why do you have to convince anybody? People have a mind of their own, and if they are not willing to exercise that mind there is nothing you can do about it. The SGI is not a cult, people are free to leave if they choose. I did. It took a long time for me to decide that I couldn't handle the hypocrisy and the emphasis on Daisaku Ikeda, but in the end I decided to part ways. In fact a member who is still a member encouraged me to do what was right for me. I left a message explaining my reasons online for all to see and arranged to have my Gohonzon returned via another member I trusted and left. I do not regret leaving, but it is hardly a cult.
It does have some serious issues, though, starting with its intolerance of other forms of Budddhism and it's obsession with Daisaku Ikeda. I have friends who are still members. I wish they would learn to think for themselves, but they must decide to live their lives the way they see fit as I have. Some people seem to need a "group" to comfort them. I am too independent-minded for the organization and often spoke up. Nobody ever told me to shut-up, though some members got pushy. I stood strong. If someone is being unduly "influenced" by an organization, that is their choice. I made mine. Let others make theirs.
"I was THE Drum major for peace" or even "THE ONLY drum major for peace" would more likely be the Ikeda quote.Quote
SGBye
This news story immediately conjured up an image of you-know-who:
Poet Maya Angelou says a recently unveiled monument to Martin Luther King Jr. is inscribed with a quote taken out of context that makes the preacher seem "arrogant." I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness, the inscription reads. "The quote makes Dr. King look like an arrogant twit,” said Angelou. "He was anything but that. He was far too profound a man for that four-letter word to apply." The quote was taken from a sermon King gave shortly before his death, where he imagined what his own eulogy would sound like. "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice," King said. "Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."
The out-of-context quote sounds exactly like something Ikeda would say, minus the out-of-context part. So I guess I can assume that if Maya Angelou were to hear all of Ikeda’s blabbering, she’d call him an “arrogant twit.” Not too far off the mark in my opinion.