A Must Read
If you only have the time to read one link on this blog... make it this one.
I attended a mass game display in Pyongyang in 1989, and the sensation a Westerner feels is not artistic appreciation but totalitarian horror.
One card montage performed for Albright showed a North Korean missile being launched into the sky. It was an odd display for Americans who were negotiating a cessation of missile production and research. But Kim, ever the showman, turned to Albright on his right and said, ''That was our first missile launch and our last.'' To make sure his message got through, he turned to Sherman on his left and repeated his statement. The meaning was clear: the missile program can be stopped if you offer us a new relationship.
I've heard that over 100 MILLION man-hours can be spent on ONE mass-game. Still not disturbed?
Hwang's synopsis of Kim's dictatorship reminded me of a passage from his memoir. He wrote about a 1992 banquet that Kim presided over in Pyongyang; a dance troupe provided lavishly choreographed entertainment. The performance ''was enough to elicit disgust when seen through the eyes of people with healthy minds,'' Hwang wrote, recalling that he nonetheless applauded vigorously for the entertainers. A professor who was next to him was flummoxed. ''Are you clapping because you really enjoy the performance?'' the professor asked. ''It doesn't matter,'' Hwang replied. ''Just clap like mad. It's an order.''
Would using the term "worse than Stalin", be too harsh?
The Dear Leader understands, as smart tyrants do, that perpetual clapping is generated by terror.
I attended a mass game display in Pyongyang in 1989, and the sensation a Westerner feels is not artistic appreciation but totalitarian horror.
One card montage performed for Albright showed a North Korean missile being launched into the sky. It was an odd display for Americans who were negotiating a cessation of missile production and research. But Kim, ever the showman, turned to Albright on his right and said, ''That was our first missile launch and our last.'' To make sure his message got through, he turned to Sherman on his left and repeated his statement. The meaning was clear: the missile program can be stopped if you offer us a new relationship.
I've heard that over 100 MILLION man-hours can be spent on ONE mass-game. Still not disturbed?
Hwang's synopsis of Kim's dictatorship reminded me of a passage from his memoir. He wrote about a 1992 banquet that Kim presided over in Pyongyang; a dance troupe provided lavishly choreographed entertainment. The performance ''was enough to elicit disgust when seen through the eyes of people with healthy minds,'' Hwang wrote, recalling that he nonetheless applauded vigorously for the entertainers. A professor who was next to him was flummoxed. ''Are you clapping because you really enjoy the performance?'' the professor asked. ''It doesn't matter,'' Hwang replied. ''Just clap like mad. It's an order.''
Would using the term "worse than Stalin", be too harsh?
The Dear Leader understands, as smart tyrants do, that perpetual clapping is generated by terror.
posted by KnightofGoodMrIronMan at 12:53 PM
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