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in a Stalinist country, take 'populism' with a one ton grain of salt
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grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

Re: in a Stalinist country, take 'populism' with a one ton grain of salt
Jun 26, 2009, 14:33
handofdave wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_koreas_nuclear

I'd guess that every one of these hundred thousand would split for the west in a heartbeat, if they could do so without being shot, tortured, or thrown into a forced labor camp.

I'm not so sure it's that simple, handofdave. You referred to North Korea as "the realization of Orwell's nightmare state". And it may well be something close to that. But the real nightmare in Orwell's vision is that Winston really does love Big Brother at the end of the book. The state imposes its will upon him. Completely.

The two-minutes hate weren't "bogus"... the emotions felt were very real. Just as -- I suspect -- they might be very real to the North Koreans participating in those mass rallies.

I'm not suggesting, by the way, that the people of North Korea don't live in perpetual fear of their own government. Merely that they feel a whole bunch of other contradictory stuff too. The majority of the North Korean population know nothing other than this life. And not everyone escapes from an abusive relationship when they get a chance.

This is why I'm quite worried about North Korea possessing nuclear missiles (and I'd be very worried if I were Japanese). It's a schizophrenic nation with an even more schizophrenic government. I'm not sure it's capable of truly comprehending the consequences of nuking someone.
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