In this eye-opening video, you can finally see the truth about North Korea. In case you've missed it. For example, you can see large buildings and forests on the countryside, which proves that the countryside is actually rich. Because the Imperialists, after seeing that Pyongyang is so rich - since they have even larger buildings there - have turned their focus on the countryside, saying most people live there in poverty. So now you can see they don't. Brilliant!
I also find the ability to read out the following sentence without a single outburst of laughter most commendable:
Hell, I would never make it! Although the guy keeps telling that he actually went to North Korea: now that might help me out as well! You know, all these things are not so funny when you see them right on the spot. At least as long as you don't want to date with a firing squad, you keep it rather serious.
By the way, it is actually true that North Korea is richer per capita than many African nations, and they also have a relatively high Human Development Index compared to what you might expect...
There's just one little problem: there is no socialism! Now if something, this misconception might really be an issue to blame that goddamn evil media juggernaut for. Of course it is always implicitly pointed out that there are other forms of socialism, but I would kindly appreciate if only they said this sentence without the word "other". It's not that we've got stalinism and other forms, no! There is stalinism and there is socialism. No intersection in between! Because what is socialism after all? Socialism is where the working class has at least some influence on the organization of labour. (Theoretically, they are supposed to organize the whole thing themselves.) Based on this standard, the United States is actually much more socialist than North Korea. The US government actually has some indirect influence on the US economy... Of course it's true that Comrade Kim's government has a much larger influence on the economy of his country, but the actual people of this country have a slightly smaller influence on their government. You see, that's the point! Socialism doesn't really function without some kind of democratic control.
It is an interesting psychological problem, why some left-wing people cannot live without postulating that stalinism was something good. For liberals, the answer is usually trivial: they put their faith into this circular theory of the political spectrum, or whatever they might call it, which postulates that the far-left and the far-right are joined together. But the point is that the far left is anything but equal to, or I might say it doesn't even contain Stalinism. I wonder if Stalin read anything but the Communist Manifesto, for example. However, if the statement is reworded and put in the proper context, it makes some sense. True, Stalinism and fascism had many similarities. If we strip the most basic tenets of leninism of all their context, it leaves a lot of "theoretical gaps", some of them so large that even the most brutal forms of political violence get through very easily. Stalinism also has its Volksgemeinschaft ideology with its anti-intellectualism and glorification of the simple worker and peasant. It not only condones but even encourages nationalism with its stupid notion of "revolutionary patriotism", which is clearly supported by the author of the video as well. On the other hand, stalinism keeps the enlightened rationalism of basic marxism, at least on the surface... But then again, nazis have also welcomed revolutionary ideas of philosophy and social sciences with open arms. So one might really keep thinking what's the difference, after all...
Well, the difference is that today, Marxists on the West do almost never get introduced to the stuff with Stalin. It's not that much of a fad on the left wing, let's just admit. I might even say it's simply impossible, with all the "imperialist propaganda" broadcasted to you from every direction...
Although I must note it's probably the West where they don't talk that much about Stalin anymore, plus the media reports on the rogue states' human rights record have lost quite a lot of their merit since the complete moral failure of neo-cons... Well, at least for those not watching Fox News.
All right, so here is my hypothesis: First of all, people usually hate to be on the defensive. Although it might seem much harder to defend North Korea than to say it was simply not socialism, but people just don't like to explain and disavow. Faced with the overwhelming force of the establishment, they need another overwhelming force to identify with. The very sad truth is that troskyists and left communists are nowadays in a state of complete disarray, while academic marxism finds it pretty hard to reach the masses. (We're not living in the 60's anymore...)
On the other hand, the brave north korean people keep standing their ground for the Dear Leader, ready to face the biggest turmoils of our time. Common ordinary citizens like you and me. So that's the point? You can really identify with these pure and simple folks. Plus they have a great army ot protects their happyness with guns! Now really, is there anything more to desire? So they only have to convince themselves that this power is still much better than the other one they are fighting against. And if someone says otherwise, it means he's simply brainwashed by America's media empire, so you cannot even argue with them. You would really like to, but you just can't.
Okay, so this argument was really convincing for the subconscious of frustrated and insecure left-wingers until 2008 when all of a sudden the great economic crisis changed everything. The establishment has suddenly turned on the defensive everywhere. Instead of the end of history and the final victory of liberal democracy, the implicit argument of "common sense" has become the very notion that capitalism itself is inherently bad. Now it's their turn to explain and to disavow! And there they are, having started to openly bash the very idea of "free market fundamentalism", which until now was actually referred to with the very simple word "reality". You know, this was not real capitalism, we want the welfare state back, we have to restore the primate of politics, et cetera et cetera. Such ideas were strictly forbidden to merely mention back in the old days, and now they are acting as if they had always been telling them.
Since 2011, we also have an overwhelming force to deal with. A new superpower, I might say: the people themselves. With the complete loss of their sources of legitimacy, the establishment finds it harder then ever to contain them. So I might rightfully say that the abomination of "socialism from above" is no longer the most powerful (self-appointed) representative of the global anti-imperialist struggle. Therefore, one can finally deal with the notion that it was actually the biggest enemy of the working class, without jeopardizing the psychological comfort which - until now - only the sight of ten thousand marching soldiers could give.
One can finally start thinking about the possible reason why Reporters Without Borders considers all these "communist countries" the most pervasive dictatorships on the globe. Because RSF is actually not based in the US. They are french. That's why people call them RSF, which stands for Reporters Sans Frontières, instead of RWB. And as we know about the cheese-eating surrender monkeys, they are simply in love with Al-Qaeda, since they still don't have any Freedom Fries! So they might after all have a point...
Maybe it's time to finally leave those ten thousand soldiers behind, and get acquainted with ten thousand civilians shouting "We are the 99%"...
I also find the ability to read out the following sentence without a single outburst of laughter most commendable:
"Socialism is superior and our great army protects our happyness with guns."
Hell, I would never make it! Although the guy keeps telling that he actually went to North Korea: now that might help me out as well! You know, all these things are not so funny when you see them right on the spot. At least as long as you don't want to date with a firing squad, you keep it rather serious.
By the way, it is actually true that North Korea is richer per capita than many African nations, and they also have a relatively high Human Development Index compared to what you might expect...
There's just one little problem: there is no socialism! Now if something, this misconception might really be an issue to blame that goddamn evil media juggernaut for. Of course it is always implicitly pointed out that there are other forms of socialism, but I would kindly appreciate if only they said this sentence without the word "other". It's not that we've got stalinism and other forms, no! There is stalinism and there is socialism. No intersection in between! Because what is socialism after all? Socialism is where the working class has at least some influence on the organization of labour. (Theoretically, they are supposed to organize the whole thing themselves.) Based on this standard, the United States is actually much more socialist than North Korea. The US government actually has some indirect influence on the US economy... Of course it's true that Comrade Kim's government has a much larger influence on the economy of his country, but the actual people of this country have a slightly smaller influence on their government. You see, that's the point! Socialism doesn't really function without some kind of democratic control.
It is an interesting psychological problem, why some left-wing people cannot live without postulating that stalinism was something good. For liberals, the answer is usually trivial: they put their faith into this circular theory of the political spectrum, or whatever they might call it, which postulates that the far-left and the far-right are joined together. But the point is that the far left is anything but equal to, or I might say it doesn't even contain Stalinism. I wonder if Stalin read anything but the Communist Manifesto, for example. However, if the statement is reworded and put in the proper context, it makes some sense. True, Stalinism and fascism had many similarities. If we strip the most basic tenets of leninism of all their context, it leaves a lot of "theoretical gaps", some of them so large that even the most brutal forms of political violence get through very easily. Stalinism also has its Volksgemeinschaft ideology with its anti-intellectualism and glorification of the simple worker and peasant. It not only condones but even encourages nationalism with its stupid notion of "revolutionary patriotism", which is clearly supported by the author of the video as well. On the other hand, stalinism keeps the enlightened rationalism of basic marxism, at least on the surface... But then again, nazis have also welcomed revolutionary ideas of philosophy and social sciences with open arms. So one might really keep thinking what's the difference, after all...
Well, the difference is that today, Marxists on the West do almost never get introduced to the stuff with Stalin. It's not that much of a fad on the left wing, let's just admit. I might even say it's simply impossible, with all the "imperialist propaganda" broadcasted to you from every direction...
Although I must note it's probably the West where they don't talk that much about Stalin anymore, plus the media reports on the rogue states' human rights record have lost quite a lot of their merit since the complete moral failure of neo-cons... Well, at least for those not watching Fox News.
All right, so here is my hypothesis: First of all, people usually hate to be on the defensive. Although it might seem much harder to defend North Korea than to say it was simply not socialism, but people just don't like to explain and disavow. Faced with the overwhelming force of the establishment, they need another overwhelming force to identify with. The very sad truth is that troskyists and left communists are nowadays in a state of complete disarray, while academic marxism finds it pretty hard to reach the masses. (We're not living in the 60's anymore...)
On the other hand, the brave north korean people keep standing their ground for the Dear Leader, ready to face the biggest turmoils of our time. Common ordinary citizens like you and me. So that's the point? You can really identify with these pure and simple folks. Plus they have a great army ot protects their happyness with guns! Now really, is there anything more to desire? So they only have to convince themselves that this power is still much better than the other one they are fighting against. And if someone says otherwise, it means he's simply brainwashed by America's media empire, so you cannot even argue with them. You would really like to, but you just can't.
Okay, so this argument was really convincing for the subconscious of frustrated and insecure left-wingers until 2008 when all of a sudden the great economic crisis changed everything. The establishment has suddenly turned on the defensive everywhere. Instead of the end of history and the final victory of liberal democracy, the implicit argument of "common sense" has become the very notion that capitalism itself is inherently bad. Now it's their turn to explain and to disavow! And there they are, having started to openly bash the very idea of "free market fundamentalism", which until now was actually referred to with the very simple word "reality". You know, this was not real capitalism, we want the welfare state back, we have to restore the primate of politics, et cetera et cetera. Such ideas were strictly forbidden to merely mention back in the old days, and now they are acting as if they had always been telling them.
Since 2011, we also have an overwhelming force to deal with. A new superpower, I might say: the people themselves. With the complete loss of their sources of legitimacy, the establishment finds it harder then ever to contain them. So I might rightfully say that the abomination of "socialism from above" is no longer the most powerful (self-appointed) representative of the global anti-imperialist struggle. Therefore, one can finally deal with the notion that it was actually the biggest enemy of the working class, without jeopardizing the psychological comfort which - until now - only the sight of ten thousand marching soldiers could give.
One can finally start thinking about the possible reason why Reporters Without Borders considers all these "communist countries" the most pervasive dictatorships on the globe. Because RSF is actually not based in the US. They are french. That's why people call them RSF, which stands for Reporters Sans Frontières, instead of RWB. And as we know about the cheese-eating surrender monkeys, they are simply in love with Al-Qaeda, since they still don't have any Freedom Fries! So they might after all have a point...
Maybe it's time to finally leave those ten thousand soldiers behind, and get acquainted with ten thousand civilians shouting "We are the 99%"...
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