Beware of the monks.?
It’s an odd sounding statement. After all, Buddhist monks are popularly known for kindness, peacefulness and generosity. But the advice comes straight from New York City Buddhist leaders, who say that panhandlers have been dressing like monks — right down to the shaved head and orange robes — as a means to con tourists out of money.?
The men reportedly hand passersby golden medallions or simply peaceful tidings before asking for donations to help build a temple in Thailand. Only, there is no temple in Thailand, and the “monks” reportedly become irate, are unrelenting in their demands and occasionally aggressive.
17 comments
The statement is made even odder with the period mark and the question mark after each other...
So, it's like Televangelists asking for donations to do "God's Work"? Which apparently means building large mansions for themselves.
Run of the mill con artists in costume aren't exactly fundie material. They aren't trying to manipulate people through faith like televangelists they're going after people that obviously don't know any better and suspect have a highly Flanderized viw of Buddhists.
That's kind of like saying Paper Moon is a religious film.
to help build a temple in Thailand. Only, there is no temple in Thailand,
Uh . . . isn't that why they might want to build one?
Not fundie, just grifters. They pretend to profess a faith that the donators probably don't practice and likely don't even particularly care about. Not a step of this requires piety and, indeed, seems to require a certain amount of impiety.
If you're a westerner who can afford to vacation in Thailand, it's a fair assumption that you can afford to support the panhandlers, be they monks or not. If they're doing this in the streets of New York, an expensive city to live in, the same assumption might be made. Annoying, yes. But the presence or absence of this apocryphal temple doesn't really change the panhandling facts, does it?
the “monks” reportedly become irate, are unrelenting in their demands and occasionally aggressive.
"Hare Krishna, Hare Rama". We'll bug the shit out of you at the subway entrance until you give us money.
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I've heard you can get rid of Jehovah's Witnesses by telling them you're a Roman Catholic (RC's apparently have a reputation for being especially resistant to proselytizing by other religions). Maybe that works with faux monks, too. Or maybe you can keep a supply of Chick Tracts for the purpose, start ranting about Jesus and ask them for money!
@Miles Gloriosus
"There's got to be an easier way to make a buck. Some people work WAY too hard at avoiding hard work."
Well, that's never stopped Ray Cumfart.
@John: Can verify this. Jehovah's witnesses are particularly numerous where I live. I started telling them I was Catholic¹ instead of Presbyterian², and they wasted considerably less of my time and eventually almost stopped bothering me altogether. Hell, I had only started telling them I was still Presbyterian in the first place because they were even worse when I said I was agnostic³. (On a related note, being confrontational or blunt with them makes them even worse still. At least the ones here will still keep coming back later even after you threaten to call the police for persistent and ongoing harassment.)
¹ Got that idea from the fact that my husband's a mostly "lapsed" Catholic.
TL;DR: Evidently agnostics are very low on the Jehovah's witnesses "don't even bother" list, while Presbyterians rank at least somewhat higher, and Catholics are at or near the very top.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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