Posted on 02/04/2010 3:32:48 PM PST by mojito
Visiting North Korea some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial "minder" whom I'll call Mr. Chae. He guided me patiently around the ruined and starving country, explaining things away by means of a sort of denial mechanism and never seeming to lose interest in the gargantuan monuments to the world's most hysterical and operatic leader-cult. One evening, as we tried to dine on some gristly bits of duck, he mentioned yet another reason why the day should not long be postponed when the whole peninsula was united under the beaming rule of the Dear Leader. The people of South Korea, he pointed out, were becoming mongrelized. They wedded foreigners—even black American soldiers, or so he'd heard to his evident disgust—and were losing their purity and distinction. Not for Mr. Chae the charm of the ethnic mosaic, but rather a rigid and unpolluted uniformity.
I was struck at the time by how matter-of-factly he said this, as if he took it for granted that I would find it uncontroversial. And I did briefly wonder whether this form of totalitarianism, too (because nothing is more "total" than racist nationalism), was part of the pitch made to its subjects by the North Korean state. But I was preoccupied, as are most of the country's few visitors, by the more imposing and exotic forms of totalitarianism on offer: by the giant mausoleums and parades that seemed to fuse classical Stalinism with a contorted form of the deferential, patriarchal Confucian ethos.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Someone needs to send a copy of that book to every member of Congress.
“The United States and its partners make up in aid for the huge shortfall in North Korea’s food production, but there is not a hint of acknowledgement of this by the authorities, who tell their captive subjects that the bags of grain stenciled with the Stars and Stripes are tribute paid by a frightened America to the Dear Leader.”
And people bitch and whine about foreign aid to Israel? STOP ALL AID, BUT NORTH KOREA FIRST!
Many Orientals absolutely will not allow their family members marry someone outside of their race.
I have read that any baby born in North Korea that is not deemed racially pure, is simply thrown in a pile and left to die. The horror of this can hardly be imagined. That’s what happens when everyone must have government health care, and the people running the government are insane.
Another fine Hitchens essay. Thanks for posting.
Most “societies” in the world are racist. It’s the hallmark of collectivism. 95% of the world’s population will never hear of John Locke.
“Myers makes a persuasive case that we should instead regard the Kim Jong-il system as a phenomenon of the very extreme and pathological right”
Uhhh yea... North Koreans are now right-wingers.
The same follows for Hindus, Indians, Arabs, and even Christian Chaldeans.............
I find it ironic that these peoples migrate here to the US but refuse to allow their offspring or relatives to merge with us original folks..........
FTA:
“This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming.”
I think this can be taken two ways. Totalitarianism is coming here by way of Soros/Obama, or North Korea is more dangerous to our future than our “dear leaders” dare admit.
“Starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult: This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming.”
Is the Liberal agenda? If so, it is purely Satanic.
btt
” find it ironic that these peoples migrate here to the US but refuse to allow their offspring or relatives to merge with us original folks”
It doesn’t last long.
Bingo! And that's not exclusively a nork thing either.
We’re getting to the point where Americans will be able to say, “Bet you our dear leader is crazier than your dear leader!”
The vast majority of Europeans feel this same way, in my experience.
I still clearly remember the conversation in Spain when several locals were complaining about racism in the US. When I asked about Gypsies, I was treated to a 5 minute lecture on how inferior and filthy they are. As I quietly listened, only 2 of a group of about 6-7 seemed to notice the irony. My punchline: “Good thing I didn’t mention the jews,” which put an abrupt stop to the larger group’s conversation, but started a much better one with the 2.
Dwarf brains maybe.
vice guide to north korea part 1 of 3
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