Pyongyang residents given fish in memory of Kim Jong-il

[bathroommonkey76]

&feature=youtu.be

I could be wrong, but the girl @ the 2:00 part of this video looks as if she is reading a prepared cue card statement. It's sad to see these people brainwashed by the thuggish North Korean government.

Btw... Did you get a good look at the fish?

My goodness!! Hoping that these weren't found floating in the Fukushima waters of the Pacific.

[jberryhill]

1. It's okay

She has to give the fish back after the videotaping anyway.

They need that fish for another news story next week about how fish production is up by 600% over last year due to the wisdom of Dear Leader's guidance in fishing improvements and his invention of boats and nets.

[jberryhill]

2. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

It was Kim Jong Il's favorite book.

Herman Cain is sending his condolences to U-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan.

[David__77]

3. Could be a cue card but...

it's clear that a significant segment of the population is well-versed to the point of being able to give a two-minute editorial about this or that topic that sounds straight out of the newspaper. I'm not sure it matters either way, because what does this represent anyway?

[jberryhill]

4. We have people who can recite Hannity and Rush

But, yes, to even live in Pyongyang, you have to be a top notch model citizen. It is a privilege to live there. It may suck ass, but it is infinitely better than anywhere else in that prison.

You have to be so good at it that you eventually just find it easier to live in the fantasy, incapable of recognizing or acknowledging any reality that might be staring you in the face.

[David__77]

5. That's a good description.

I was never a fan of the "Stockholm syndrome" thesis, but there's something to it. Here in Pyongyang, the "core citizens" have a real class privilege relative to those outside the large cities. Many look at a new dress, a tablecloth, an allotment of fish, and genuinely feel gratitude... But it is of course the product of their own labor - and a much smaller elite lives within walled off neighborhoods ringed with guard posts, with every modern convenience, cars with drivers, and house servants. No one except those residents will ever see those areas, and certainly not a foreigner.

[Boston_Chemist]

9. Are you in Pyongyang? nt

[jberryhill]

10. Yah, the internet access there is swell!

[Old and In the Way]

6. I watch these videos of typical North Korean's in mourning and I wonder...

are they overt showings of grief done strictly for the camera because of fear and paranoia or is it true grief learned from decades of propaganda programming? I'm thinking it's a combination of the 2.

Here's a series of excellent travelogues - pretty much bootlegged - that gives a really fascinating inside look, not all of it chaperoned. What a strange country.

http://www.vice.com//vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3
http://www.vice.com//vice-guide-to-north-korea-2-of-3
http://www.vice.com//vice-guide-to-north-korea-3-of-3

[jberryhill]

11. It's both

The folks in Pyongyang are the party faithful.

They would have no idea if they were faking it or not. They certainly can't talk to anyone about how they feel. Because every day, everybody feels the same way. They feel terrific that Dear Leader is directing them, and that they have the privilege of serving him.

When you see some bizarre Catholic folk ritual from an isolated town in Spain where they whip themselves, do you wonder if they really feel devoted?

I was in Mexico City once during some holy day or saints day or whatever, where every third person on the subways was toting around a statue of Jesus, or Mary, or some medieval nun who could see God in her pubic hair or whatever.

It's the reason why comedy shows have a laugh track.

You think it's funny just because you hear other people laughing.

[Old and In the Way]

13. I agree....idolatry comes in many forms.

The difference here is an entire nation that has condition. Various sects around the world can have their devotion, but they aren't forced to practice it if they choose not to.

If North Korea should ever become normalized, I think there's going to have to be an invasion of psychiatrists to deal with the entire population's mental stability.

[jberryhill]

14. If the entire population hasn't eaten its way south

I've found that unification is a difficult subject to discuss with South Koreans.

It is hard to imagine that it can be accomplished in any structured or orderly way.

But, there are places in Berlin where it's hard to tell where the wall was, if not for the paving markers they've put down.

[DCKit]

7. What, no loaves to go with the fishes?

Somebody is falling down on the job.

[jberryhill]

12. He fell down on the job last week!

[Boston_Chemist]

8. That fish doesn't look very appetizing. nt