Has Kim Jong-il brainwashed North Koreans?

[canetoad]

Has Kim Jong-il brainwashed North Koreans?
Hysterical mourning brings back talk of 'brainwashing', which is really just the extreme application of old persuasion techniques
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/20/kim-jong-il-brainwashed-north-koreans?INTCMP=SRCH
Kathleen Taylor

Since the death of Kim Jong-il, images of weeping North Koreans have filled the western media. But is their grief real? Some have suggested that the hysterical displays of mourning were staged, others have come up with an even shorter answer: brainwashing. But what does that mean?

It's a homecoming of sorts. The word "brainwashing" was coined in the Korean war: it was CIA man Edward Hunter's attempt to explain alarming footage of captured US personnel supporting communism and denouncing the west. The soldiers had undergone a process of "thought-reform" in Chinese prison camps. Made famous by The Manchurian Candidate, this mysterious process, it seemed, could wipe a mind clean of previous loyalties, achieving total, programmable control.

For westerners raised to believe in strength of mind and individual free will, brainwashing was a nightmare. Zombies and demonic possession have staying power in our cultures for good reason: they represent the terror of mind control. And as possession was all about black magic, so brainwashing reeks of dark and dangerous science. What else could explain those US soldiers' behaviour but mind-altering technology? A horrifying idea, but also encouraging for the US military, since technologies can be captured and transferred.

Except that, even in secretive North Korea, we can be pretty sure there is no such technology. To date. Neuroscience is developing so fast that brainwashing machines may yet appear, but they are not responsible for the grief in Pyongyang. So what, apart from propaganda, is?

[comipinko]

1. No, it is just that North Korea's political system is more advanced then ours.

They DO take pledges, and doggone it, they keep them!

[JHB]

2. Well, there's that...or...

...maybe making a big show of emotion -- especially in front of a camera -- might just improve your family's chances of getting a slightly better share of food.

At least it couldn't hurt, and it's one way to release emotion. Dancing would likely be frowned upon, and by "frown" I don't actually mean a facial expression.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Has it occured to anyone

their grief may be real.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

5. Well...

Of course its real, but so is the empathy expressed as part of Stockholm Syndrome. That's not the point.

[sulphurdunn]

4. Maybe it's akin

to the unspoken but real fear of being the first one to stop clapping when the "Leader" arrives on (or in this case leaves) the stage.

[killbotfactory]

6. Pyongyang is full of loyalists

The people living there have it about as good as life gets in North Korea. You are either there because you've swallowed the kool-aid of the state religion, or know enough to put on a front and maintain it.

[prepperdad]

7. 1984 style brainwashing

That madman ran a brutal stalinist state well into the 21st century. I really hope there is a special place in hell for the likes of Kim Jong Il


[url]http://www.survivingeconomiccollapse.net[/url]

[Boston_Chemist]

8. Is the Pope Catholic? n.t.