60 Minutes. Idiot defects to N. Korea and is abused. Should I care?

[devilgrrl]

Anyone see this? Some jackass defected from the US military to N. Korea was treated like an animal. What am I supposed to think? Because at the moment, I couldn't care less.

You tell me.

[TimeToGo]

1. Never clear why he went in the first place n/t

[derby378]

2. He paid his debt to society by being a DPRK prisoner for 30 years

ginbarn and I were discussing him earlier. My take is that he was a deserter and a coward, but not a traitor.

[devilgrrl]

4. I don't think he's a traitor either but I couldn't give a rats ass about..

his ordeal. :shrug:

[babylonsister]

6. Hi, derby378. I thought it was over 39 years!

And abuse? Yes, there was some, but he was also able to marry and procreate. Makes me wonder about his/their entire incarceration. It was nice to see him reunited with his mom, and sad.

[derby378]

9. Oops...

I think you're right. I stand corrected.

[INdemo]

16. I will always believe

there are Americans that were held in Vietnam and after many years were allowed to join the Vietnam culture then married and had a family realizing that would be the only life they would ever have.

[DBoon]

3. I think they are trying to make 2 points:

- North Korea is unspeakably evil
- There are Americans who so hate their country they would defect to an unspeakably evil country

Implied points:
- Any force we use against North Korea is justified
- Anyone who opposes this justified force is as complicit in evil as the American who defected.

Sort of like Saddam gassing the Kurds.

[devilgrrl]

5. That's what I'm getting from it too.

That feeling prompted the thread.

[ochazuke]

13. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

I think you're reading too much into it.

[babylonsister]

7. I watched and thought of so many wasted years in his life.nt

[pretzel4gore]

15. what's wasted?

i read a book once about a guy travelling through india back in the 80's....he went to visit a famed sage who lived in a cave and spent his waking hours staring at a spot on the wall....for like 40 years! the locals had recognised him as a wise man, they supported him with all his material needs and helpers. So i guess according to the (our)missionary mentality, the old contemplative was just a free loader with tunnel vision (or something) i recall a story told by a traveller to greece in the old days (15th century or so) who visted a monastary where there was a monk renown for his wisdom, and the monk went to his isolated cell which was away from the others every evening just before dark, not appearing til next morning. the visitor was curious about the monk, who was then about 80 years old, so one night before the old monk left the others, the visitor hid among the rocks just down from the monastary corner where the old man lived....when dark fell, the old man appeared, and he went down to the sea, stripped naked then waded in up til his neck. In that position, the old monk spent the night, praying. And apparently he'd done it for years. The point of all this is that our western way of looking at life may be selfish and short term (as the environment only put up with so much) while other cultures maybe knew something we can't even imagine...
this of course has nada to do with the defector op story, but

[wellstone_democrat]

8. well, I don't but you are welcome to do as you please!

hard to work up any energy to pity that lunk. So many more deserving cases in the world...or even in North Korea

[Historic NY]

10. Jenkins recently co-authored a book.......

that is what fueled the interview. I presonally don't feel sorry for him, and he is not asking anyone to. He made his choice in 1965 and had to live with it.

[CalmMan]

11. NYT: U.S. Widens Campaign on North Korea

Somebody must be co-ordinating this.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi CalmMan!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[ochazuke]

12. His story came to light tied in with Japanese abductees

The whole story is fascinating. Surely no couple on earth has a stranger life story than that of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

14. I watched it and 3 words came to mind "WAR IS HELL"

[Deja Q]

17. Just a reminder that we're not going to become friends with our enemies if

we surrender to them.

Food for thought.

Especially when we paid for the buffet in the middle east.