N. Korean film about Western Propaganda -- Makes valid points

[Courtesy Flush]

We've been conditioned to believe that films like this are the propaganda. This one seems to be on target on most points.

[Enrique]

1. lol @9:34

the war on terror, announced by these degenerates.

[GreenStormCloud]

2. In NK they don't buy stuff because they are broke and there is nothing to buy.

I rather like having the freedom to buy stuff that I want but that someone else may think that I don't need. I don't want some government planner telling me what I need and don't need.

Did you even bother to read the small print at the beginning of the film? It was propaganda of the most blatant sort, referring to Kim as miraculous.

[Broderick]

12. Sickening propaganda to

illustrate other propaganda.

Irony is amazing.

[xtraxritical]

3. Public relations is propaganda "lite".

Romney is using multiple PR firms to "sell" him and "persuade" the public.

Madison Ave. (a well known term for the advertising industry because they all have offices on Madison Ave. in NY city) has been spewing advertising at children on Saturday morning for decades. This is the main reason we are the monster consumers on the planet. Billions and Billions are spent every year to influence you to consume what you don't need. I see in the case of the two posts above it has worked effectively.

I think the N. Korean video is perceptive, no matter how PC it is to "bash" anything N. Korean.

[Lenomsky]

4. Excellent reply :)

Regardless the source of this material it's pretty much bang on point.

[PSPS]

7. Indeed

The points and observations of the film are accurate and, indeed, often made here on DU. But, since this comes from "the evil North Koreans," it must be deemed somehow illegitimate.

[mia]

10. I agree -

Couldn't find a thing that didn't ring true.

[Lars77]

5. This is kind of absurd

In a way they are spot on, especially that people are lured into conspicuous consumption on credit, so that the banks make more money. This ensures that people are distracted from resisting the neoliberalist agenda.

This is the chief reason, i think, that neoliberal governments such as in the UK and Quebec are upping the tuition fees by huge margins. Make sure students are encumbered with debts, and they wont have time to resist once they are done with their studies.
And the people who still resist the neoliberal agenda, such as occupy, are being put under surveillance and physically attacked when they protest too much.

However, the irony of this film is that they are showing people protesting their governments and basically says that it does not work because its not true democracy, so the protestors are unable to bring about change.
In North Korea, if you dare protest the govenrment, you are put in a hard labour concentration camp, separated from your loved ones, and your family will be punished three generations. Your siblings families, your cousins families, your children and their families if they have some, your parents, grandparents, everyone will be put to hard labor until they die of starvation, disease or are executed because a sadistic guard was bored, until your entire bloodline is gone. This is because Kim Il Sung believed that treason was in the blood.

To quote Winston Chuchill: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that has been tried".

I´ll take my chances in the somewhat free world


PS: I recommend everyone read "Escape from Camp 14". About the only person to escape a maximum security labor camp in North Korea.
http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0670023329

[Lenomsky]

16. Indeed

"This is the chief reason, i think, that neoliberal governments such as in the UK and Quebec are upping the tuition fees by huge margins. Make sure students are encumbered with debts, and they wont have time to resist once they are done with their studies."

Today I watched the initial stages of Scottish Independance debate and the wish for 1 million signatories (20% of the population or ~45% of the working population). In Scotland health care is FREE, Prescriptions are FREE and if we gain Independance Tuition will be once again be FREE .. well that's our hope and wishes. These are not comsumer commodities but necessary rights/benefits of every Scottish individual.

If you wish to debate N Korea consider that we are already slaves we just happen to be middle class slaves and not to mention US Citizens can now be arrested and held without charge (like the UK) on the premise of terrorism which is used daily in the UK for trivial matters. I'm not saying people are arrested and detained (yet) but the Police use these LAWS when they object to a circumstance or have no probable cause etc etc. Ok N.K. is fucked but what do they consume each day .. 1% of our consumption.

I think we need to get off our high horses and share the weath and recyle our/their resources but no we consume 100% and recycle little.

I think people are deluded if they think OUR system is any better than THEIR system then only difernce is we get to eat Mc D's at will and Queenie and the 1% suck our blood.

[iamthebandfanman]

6. just because you agree with some points (this video is garbage)

doesnt mean this isnt still propaganda.

garbage like this shouldnt have a place on DU.

same with anything from government controlled media from Iran and China.

We dont need these fools to re-enforce what we believe.

they are monsters who starve their own people.

THAT is a fact.

Take this garbage off DU.

BTW, since a jury decided these types of videos are okay..


Just to clarify... if i post a video of hitler making remarks and say "this has valid points!" just because a few things he says match our believes...it makes it okay to post?

[Iggo]

9. Three to six jurors decided one post was okay.

Yep.

Now it's a hard and fast rule that everyone on DU MUST OBEY!!!

I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

[Lenomsky]

17. "garbage like this shouldnt have a place on DU."

It may be Propoganda but it remains FACT!

Which part do you feel is INNACURATE?

Please hit me up with the MINUTE:SECOND which you feel has been mis-respresented.

DU is about Democracy be it Al-Jazeera, Russia Today or fact from a totalitarian regime .. I'm in no way condoning their system but facts are facts!

[Lenomsky]

19. "they are monsters who starve their own people"

Yes mate in the USA it's food stamps (nobody starves right .. a free McDonalds) and in the UK we get welfare benefits (unlimited based on need) .. so who's right and who's wrong?

North Korea are far far from angels but really how many starved during the Iraqi debacle? Instituted by the USA and UK I believe.
How goes the powder milk consideration in Africa by US and UK Corporations.

The list goes on .. so please spare us this sanctimonious attitude!

Take your small minded input off of DU!

[Warren DeMontague]

25. "Small minded input"....Are you for real? North Korea is a HELL HOLE.

Does the UK put barbed wire around its beaches to keep people from trying to SWIM out of the country? I know the US doesnt. Do you have concentration camps where the families of political prisoners are kept for 3 generations so that not just the families of dissidents, but their children, and their grandchildren, are punished?

Give. Me. A. Break.

[Lenomsky]

26. The US has concentration camps.

So if a Nation (even a criminal one) spouts accurate 'propoganda' then it should be removed from DU?

The USA, UK and many other nations are criminals but hey we are better criminals.
We court criminal nations befriend them so we can gain access to their resources failing that we invade them or assassinate (assist certainly) even democratically elected leaders.

We are so self righteous.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. "The US has concentration camps." ... Oh, Really.

Got a link or other source for that claim?

[Lenomsky]

28. Childish TINY URL Pfft

That aside I was playing devils advocate to a degree and maybe (a tiny maybe) a tad flippant ..

How many secret prisons are there around the world controlled and sponsored by the USA not least in Cuba!?

How many are incarcerated in the USA (in private for profit Prisons or otherwise) for minor crimes i.e. personal supply of weed etc which harms nobody except themselves yet the USA is still years behind the rest of the globe and does not allow proper visual and written warnings about the true hazards of smoking tobacco especially not in Virginia.

So God Bless the USA my friend land of the free except if you're poor or wrong place wrong time and a Islamist.

For the record I spend 3-6 months year in the USA as my partner is American and have respect for the American people but your Government sucks ass as does mine.

Feed your 401(k) with facebook stock buddy.

[Warren DeMontague]

29. You said "The US has concentration camps". A simple retraction would be nice.

Like, "Okay, sorry, the US does NOT have concentration camps"

The US has way too many people in prison, particularly for non-violent drug offenses. You'll get no argument from me. But that's not the same thing.

But that, and the url (thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten about it. I agree, it has outlived its usefulness) and the rest of it is all beside the point, but I suppose like when George Will starts talking about baseball, for some people an attempt to change the subject is the closest we'll ever get to an admission of "I was wrong".

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Re: The url.... I changed it! For youuuu!

You can thank me later. Enjoy the duck.

[SemperEadem]

8. It does make some valid points

and saying that doesn't mean that I approve of how they proceed against their citizens. They have stated a lot of what I've seen here on DU, so in that vein, nothing is new except from where this emanates.

The irony is that N. Korea's leadership's methods do not work either. I see no difference in how they inculcate their people and how the west inculcates their people, except for the amounts of money required to do so in each situation.

Pot, meet kettle.

[mia]

11. Read the comments on YouTube. This the first part of a much longer movie.

The next segment will be posted there after being translated. Interesting propaganda about propaganda.
Thanks for posting this.

[pa28]

13. As we can see this is a propaganda film about propaganda.

The chilling part is if you remade this in English it would be become a fairly insightful documentary.

[Lenomsky]

18. Kudos!

Exactly .. but who would produce or air this to the masses if created in the West!? Rhetorical.

[pa28]

20. Well I just saw your other post upthread and I agree.

I always take a critical view when watching a documentary or reading a political feature. I fully realized I was sitting through 15 minutes of pure propaganda. North Korea is kind of a hobby for me and I can tell you their PR efforts usually end up as golden examples of unintentional comedy.

Not this time. I had difficulty finding flaws in the the facts presented or the overall reasoning.

[sulphurdunn]

14. If anyone knows anything

about propaganda and the mass control of domestic populations it's the N. Korean's. The video came across like professional recognition that ours is much more sophisticated than theirs even though no more effective.

[Swede]

15. And the Nazis had the trains running on time.

nt

[Bolo Boffin]

21. I have a really hard time believing that this is a North Korean film.

The last thing an absolute dictator like Kim Jong-Un would want to do is have his loyal subjects questioning the propaganda holding their society together.

What I can believe is that someone wants us to believe this is a North Korean film in order to watch it and get their message about Western civilization. With that kind of subterfuge existing in the film, I question the motives of the filmmakers.

ETA: I was still listening to the film while posting. At the end, the Korean presenter explains how things are actually supposed to work in a democracy. Kim Jong-Un wants his people to understand this? Bullshit.

With the droning Korean interpretation, the Korean graphics, and the soothing English narration by a female voice, this film itself is as propagandistic as anything it's condemning in Western culture. Since the filmmakers chose to present this information under false pretenses, and since part of this clip is attacking President Obama as much as anything else, I don't know why this is something we should see as reliable or trustworthy. Sorry, Courtesy Flush.

[fasttense]

23. I agree.

I have my suspicions that this is not really a North Korean film. Why would a dictatorship want to explain how democracy works, or should work? Why would a dictator, who uses propaganda, want to explain what propaganda really is? Why would a dictator, who fiercely puts down any protests, put protesting in a positive light?

I understand that dictators can be blinded by their own ideas and do stupid things, but can this dictator make so many obvious mistakes in propaganda, yet be so insightful about propaganda?

I wonder who really is the target audience for this film. Perhaps this film was never used inside North Korea and was really intended for disenfranchised citizens in other countries.

[marble falls]

22. anti-propaganda propaganda.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. So they think the CIA created the Beatles to put a stop to the political protests of the late 60s?

Maybe they dont understand how time works.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. "...his mother, who was hanged in 1996, on the same day Shin's only brother was shot to death."

Last edited Tue May 29, 2012, 05:25 PM - Edit history (1)

Both killings, Shin writes in his book, occurred at Camp No. 14 in a kind of public square, a place where he had seen many others executed.

Before he was taken to the square and ordered to watch them die, Shin said, he had spent seven months in an underground cell, where guards used torture to force him to talk about a supposed "family conspiracy" to escape from the camp.

***

As described in the book, they built a charcoal fire. Shin was stripped of his clothes. Ropes were tied to his arms and legs and secured to the ceiling of the cell. He was dangled over the fire. When he writhed away from the flame, a guard pierced his gut with a steel hook to hold him in place. He lost consciousness.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003855.html


But let's not forget, the US oppresses people TOO! In, like, Concentration Camps*, you heard it here first! Yea!!!!

And with scantily clad dancers in commercials! You know, having your finger cut off at the knuckle for stealing 3 grains of rice in a prison camp may be bad, but having ADS selling shit is completely fucking way, WAY WORSE!!!!!

And the Beatles, don't forget those vanguards of fascism, maaaaan, the BEATLES!!

TOTALITARIANISM, MAAAAAN! Big Brother is Manumotherfacturin' your consent with his jackbooted QVC fist of consumerism! TOTALITARIANISM!!!!!! Tear it DOWN, BRAH! PUNK RAWK!







* ...we actually don't.

[Proles]

32. They make many good points, but the irony is astounding. nt