Wide Angle program on North Korea

[Lydia Leftcoast]

British journalists were allowed access to two families in Pyongyang, and the most striking thing about it was the way that the people resembled religious fundamentalists.

The thirteen-year-old daughter of one family, for example, was part of a special gymnastics team whose function was to perform at festivals in groups of several thousand. They practiced two hours a day during the school year and all day during vacation periods.

She spoke of how she was nervous before performances, but then she thought of pleasing Kim Jong-Il and that he might look right at her inspired her to go out there and do her best. :barf:

Everything was praise of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. It reminded me of nothing more than the type of fundamentalist who says "Praise the Lord" all the time. They talked of the Americans wanting to disrupt their "peaceful and happy lives" and blamed the Americans for the famine.

(Frankly, if I had to live there, I would probably become a dissident just to avoid boredom in that very controlled society.)

Of course, North Korea is belived to have thousands of political prisoners, so not everyone is happy. But the portrayal in this documentary meshes with what I heard of the famliy reunion visits by North Koreans to South Korea. The South Koreans complained that their Northern relatives seemed to talk about nothing but the glories of their Great Leader.

The commentator afterwards explained that North Koreans have lived under authoritarian rule throughout their history, and they have known nothing but the Kim family's rule for over fifty years. He also noted that their hatred of the Americans (often stated throughout the film) stemmed not only from propaganda, but from memories of bombings and killings of civilians by the U.N. forces, which the government was careful to foster.

It was the kind of "total information environment" that the rightwingers, especially the fundies, would love to have.

All in all, a fascinating look at a country that Americans are not allowed to visit.