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#1501291
UHMThis has to be 8 kinds of strange to a Westerner without a clue of Korea...
"Mountains glow crimson, double rainbows, a family of bears weeps by the side of a road"
Ok, saying that all that happend might be strange and stupid, but it's
a literary reference to the founding myth of Korea. And therefor can be quite powerful of a propaganda tool. I'm not saying this isn't an outright lie and stupid, but it's not as crazy as it might read.
"Legitimacy comes from his forefathers. Kim Jong Un's father and grandfather may be dead, but he embodies their essence."
An often found mixture of confucianism and Cheondoism (Korean folk religion) has provided for strong role of the family within Korean culture, while being expressed by regime loyality by family in North Korea in the South this finds it capitalistic cousin in irrational brand loyalty and worship.
"North Korea's ceremonial head of state, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam, praised Kim Jong Il for "applying his unique 'military first' policy to turn our country into an invincible one that can never be defeated and has a nuclear deterrent in the face of the deadly pressing offensive of imperialists." "
The fact that cannibalism is rampant and yet they do not rebell against this government gives you an idea how deeply the former is ingrained in Korean society. While we Westerners would have served the Kim's heads on platters to the masses by now, they keep calm and carry on. Which makes this a prime example of how dangerous religion is when abused.
2/2/2013 5:30:23 AM
#1501292
aebars
I wish that North Korea would fire a missile at an uninhabited Japanese island so that America, South Korea and Japan could invade it without opposition from China and remove this clan of egotistical laughing stocks from power. A video of said invading forces tearing down one of these statues and then spitting and urinating on it would be nice. Anyone here play 'Just Cause 2'?
2/2/2013 5:55:00 AM
#1501294
Raised by Horses
Also, Kim Jong Il once beat Chuck Norris in a round of arm wrestling, and his urine is said to cure cancer.
2/2/2013 6:09:32 AM
#1501296
Dr.Shrinker
Sounds like the Tea Party talking about Reagan
2/2/2013 6:22:22 AM
#1501299
SpukiKitty
It starts off as the usual schpeil of commemorating a head of state but quickly turns into pure crazy with the glowing mountains & sobbing bears. The statue & postage stamps would have been more than enough but noooooo...
Heck, even the normalish stuff would be ludicrous...The Kim Jong bunch aren't worthy of someone buying them lunch at McDonalds!
@UHM
Agreed. But also, the North Koreans, if they didn't buy the propaganda, are just too terrified to revolt.
2/2/2013 6:31:28 AM
#1501300
D Laurier
Its emperor worship.
And like 19th century China and Japan, the "emperors" of North Korea are powerless pawns of a military class of generals/petty nobles.
The Kims are venerated, and kept in safe, comfortable, gardens, where reality does not ever intrude.
2/2/2013 6:33:44 AM
#1501306
Sheridan
State media have reported a series of supernatural events: Mountains glow crimson, double rainbows, a family of bears weeps by the side of a road, hundreds of shrieking magpies hover over mourning sites.
But has he appeared in a tortilla?
2/2/2013 6:48:17 AM
#1501312
LDM
Recommended reading-Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick.
They're not quite as brainwashed as we think they are, a lot more of them are disillusioned with their "great leader" than we think. It's not a matter of if, but when the people rise up against him. They literally have nothing left to lose.
2/2/2013 7:13:08 AM
#1501313
Will
Bears wept man, I was there.
2/2/2013 7:13:57 AM
#1501316
Rabbit of Caerbannog
And what does anyone expect from a country that is technically ruled by a dead guy?
2/2/2013 7:16:56 AM
#1501319
Arctic Knight
Other than attributing god-like status to their former leaders, what is described here is really not much different than the U.S.
--We have larger than life representations of former leaders (e.g. the Lincoln Memorial)
--Many U.S. citizens refer to the U.S. as the "greatest" of "most powerful" country in the world.
--The president of the U.S. is often heralded as "the leader of the free world."
--Many who follow politics based solely on their party affiliation will often see their party's leaders as infallible (e.g. the Tea Party's depitction of Reagan).
It is not uncommon for the citizens of a country to give such grand accolades to their country, their leaders and their former leaders. What is happening in North Korea really isn't all that unusual, crazy maybe, but not unusual.
2/2/2013 7:31:08 AM
#1501323
breakerslion
"Slogans have been carved on mountainsides in honor of his birthday, and a song has been composed in his honor"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ
2/2/2013 7:38:04 AM
#1501324
rubber chicken
A lot of religio-political propoganda yes, but fundie ? i don't think so.
2/2/2013 7:42:48 AM
#1501326
Adrian
North Korea, you so crazy...
2/2/2013 7:48:15 AM
#1501328
Horsefeathers
I don't think I would want to be anyone associated with the North Korean government in any way whatsoever once the North Koreans get tired of this shit and revolt, and it will happen eventually as history has shown countless times. It's not going to be pretty, and all the flowery titles and propaganda in the world aren't going to help these oppressive idiots when it happens.
2/2/2013 7:56:31 AM
#1501333
Rabbit of Caerbannog
@rubber chicken
So it isn't fundie when a country is ruled by a dead man? Or when the acting president of the country is worshiped like a god? Or when his father was said to have been born under a double rainbow while sparrows sang in human tongue? Sounds like it fits the description pretty easily.
"The celestial North Korea, as I call it. I’ve now finally been - it took me a long time - I used to wonder what it would be like to be, when I heard, when I was a kid, ‘Well, heaven will be everlasting praise of the Great Leader.’ I used to think, ‘Well, what would that be like?’ Now I know. I’ve seen it. My greatest failure as a journalist has been to try and describe to American readers what it would be like in North Korea. The utter misery, pointlessness and horror of that society...So I know what the Christian paradise would look like, feel like. They also have a father and a son who are incarnations of each other. They’re only one short of a trinity. However, even they don’t say that they’ll follow you beyond the grave. You can die and leave North Korea. It’s your only chance." -Christopher Hitchens
Of course, now with Kim Jong Un they finally have their trinity.
2/2/2013 8:13:12 AM
#1501335
rubber chicken
@Rabbit
No,it's just propaganda. It's an attempt to provide a national mythology to unify a nation against percieved external threats. All countrys/governments do it.
At its most basic it is no different from the bizarre claims of any religion and while we may deride such claims we don't call such religions fundie in and of themselves.
2/2/2013 8:23:51 AM
#1501343
Hasan Prishtina
The fact that cannibalism is rampant and yet they do not rebell against this government
A people which is so destitute that some turn to cannibalism is too desperate to eat and to survive than to summon the strength to challenge the government. North Korea would not be the first country that kept its people quiet by keeping them cold and hungry.
2/2/2013 8:49:18 AM
#1501344
Rabbit of Caerbannog
"No,it's just propaganda. It's an attempt to provide a national mythology to unify a nation against percieved external threats. All countrys/governments do it."
All governments use propaganda but not all governments turn their leaders into mystical demigods.
"At its most basic it is no different from the bizarre claims of any religion and while we may deride such claims we don't call such religions fundie in and of themselves."
To say that about a living human being is far, far more bizarre. We're just going to have to disagree on this, but I think a necrocracy is absolutely batshit.
2/2/2013 8:54:43 AM
#1501354
Reynardine
They can fantasize about their God-Kings all they want, but for the sake of the people of North Korea, I hope they realize that if they ever deploy Mr. Nuke, Mr. Thermonuke is out there waiting to turn South Korea into an island.
2/2/2013 9:40:19 AM
#1501360
Doubting Thomas
State media have reported a series of supernatural events: Mountains glow crimson, double rainbows, a family of bears weeps by the side of a road, hundreds of shrieking magpies hover over mourning sites.
Don't forget that North Korean citizens wept bitterly without any tears at all.
Kim Jong Il was said to have avoided the kind of veneration he ordered for Kim Il Sung
Since when? What about all that "Dear Leader" stuff in the North Korean press?
2/2/2013 10:13:38 AM
#1501364
Baroque Atah
This isn't worth being on here. The government forces these absurd beliefs on the people, and the people can either accept it or die. Not what I think of when I hear 'fundie'.
2/2/2013 10:34:34 AM
#1501366
Rabbit of Caerbannog
"The government forces these absurd beliefs on the people, and the people can either accept it or die. Not what I think of when I hear 'fundie'."
And that's different from a theocracy, how?
2/2/2013 10:36:06 AM
#1501369
mattiedef
I thought communists were atheists! Oh right, north korea's fucking insane.
2/2/2013 10:49:20 AM
#1501375
werewolf
Keeping the hungry masses entertained and distracted is a time-honored tradition in politics.
Personally, I prefer the use of CGI in movies and free internet porn.
2/2/2013 11:12:48 AM
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