Ignorance is bliss...

Thus far, I've been gathering my topics from the vbs site because I find that site absolutely amazing and interesting. I will continue to plug for them: www.vbs.tv

This post is in relation to North Korea. What do you know about North Korea? Not much I suppose because I didn't either. All I really know is that it is a communist country that is very secluded from the rest of the world, and that their president is the infamous Kim Jong Il. I have personally never seen footage or images within the confines of the North Korean border until I watched the web documentary on North Korea via the VBS website. I must admit, I am quite intrigued...

North Korea seems to exemplify all of those previous communist countries, as well as present, except with a trajectory toward hell. I can only link what I view of North Korea to China since I am more familiar with the history of communism in China in comparison to, oh I don't know, the Soviet Union. As a whole, you can't even call China a pure communist country. I mean, it's ridiculous how much of a capitalist regime they run there. The days of the Great Leap Forward are way past, and as a whole, China is on a steady progress to ruling the world. Of course, they still have much to work on.

Like any other communist country, North Korea likes to put a veil over it's citizenry and glorify a nation that in reality is heading toward troubled times. Just like China, the cult of personality is fully implemented here. Idol worship of Kim Il Song and Kim Jung Il is common among the people just as it was with Mao Zedong in China. Literally, both are at the status of almost god like figures. The citizens of North Korea only seem to live for Kim Jung Il, almost to just propel this image of him even further.

Some of the footage I saw through VBS was quite intriguing in how much the citizenry of North Korea is brainwashed. It's ridiculous how unaware of everything they truly are. Simple things that we all take for granted, they have not got a clue. They are sated with what they have simply because they know no better. Not to mention, the government obviously encourages such satisfaction, keeping their citizens docile and thus obeying.

It's funny how grandiose they portray their country to be when in fact it is quite the opposite. When they showed propaganda footage of North Korea, it appeared to be technologically advanced and seemingly very modern looking. The real footage, on the other hand, showed run down buildings, crumbling exteriors, and more. I guess it's all part of the great propaganda machine that seems to perpetuate all communist countries. In a way, it all works very clockwork like a cog in a machine. The masses are given what they need to know and thus perpetually stuck in an almost trance like state. As the VBS report showed, no one in Korea knew anything about common popular culture knowledge. To me, this is quite shocking. China could have gone the same route, but now more than ever, China has taken capitalism to another level.

In addition, as the wheels of a Communist machine should work, of course, you have a very ethnocentric point of view as a whole. Meaning, "North Korea is the best," sort of ideology. The ideology that the North Korean people are the best in the world, and the most progressive. I guess it makes sense, you want your people to be docile, you want them to believe what you want them to believe. Thus creating the ambivalent masses that will follow your every lead. I guess in a sense, ignorance really is bliss. When you don't know any better, what else is there to compare to?


Oh the questions that haunt us all....