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Video of grief and mass hysteria in North Korea

somebodyelse

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This is scary, I wasn't around for Kim Il-Sung's death, but I'm assuming it was pretty much the same. Either they are actually mourning, which would make them brainwashed freaks, or they are fake crying, which proves they are terrified of their government.
 

I assume it's probably a small minority and they are being exploited by the state-controlled media.
 
Or maybe it is an entire nation that is a victim of the Stockholm Syndrome.
 
I'm sorry, but I laughed my ass off watching that. As a matter of fact, I'm almost in tears here.
 
I agree with the OP. Either these people are incredibly brainwashed or they cry out of fear for their government. Either that, or they are being paid to mourn. I noticed they seemed to be wailing and not necessarily crying with tears. Regardless, Kim can't hear their cries in hell :mrgreen:
 
Just a hunka, hunka burning love. What a ruler! What a guy!

 

It's a bit of both.

As far as escapees of the country say, until certain points in their lives they really did believe that Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung were some kind of divine beings... the North Korean cult of personality machine is a complete, cradle to grave powerhouse of unrivaled magnitude, it is the most deeply intrenched cult of personality ever devised.

The hysteria is partially out of fear, but more in the way of societal pressure then direct government pressure. If you don't show up to beat the ground a bit and cry, your neighbours will notice and may report you.
 
I think its mostly brainwashing and a little bit of fear of their government.
 

lets quit giving those assholes aid and we will really see some genuine crying
 
Just shows how extreme nationalist/cult of personality propaganda can make people.
 
I think it's an important lesson to see what kind of power the State can have over people if rights and freedoms are abolished. NK is an extreme, I admit, but... it shows you that it can definitely be done, and is still being done today. These people were raised to think Kim Jong-il and his family are akin to the divine right of kings. Imagine one of your holy beings suddenly dying. It wouldn't be much different than suddenly finding out that you just lost your savior.

Others in this thread are right though... there is also pressure to grieve because the State is watching and they will use their opportunity to spot non-conformists. And surely there is some Stockholme syndrome in there too.
 
I saw this ridiculous hysteria on YouTube. I'm sure they are insincere.

I don't know the details on the aid given to NK, but if it's helping to keep the poor from starving and dying, then it shouldn't be stopped. If the authorities in NK are siphoning/taking that aid, then I'm not sure what the best option would be.
 

This is always the tricky thing with food aid to North Korea.

The official state ideaology basically dictates that the military comes first. The military does get quite a bit of that food aid.

However the North Korean government still has to give people food in order to keep as many people as they can onside.

The lack of food aid in the last few years has had a devestating effect on NK's armed forces, which while still fed if you can use that term is hungry, while many other parts of the country scenes like this play out...



But unfortunately due to North Koreas tight regime it's literally impossible to know the full extent of the food problem in North Korea, but we assume it's biblical.

Whether it's on the same scale as the famine in the 90's which we think killed millions is not clear yet.
 
That's the dumbest video I've ever seen.

Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk
 

No one is getting paid to mourn, why would they be getting paid? North Koreans must cry over Kim's death, there is no other option. To not cry would raise suspicion against you and your family, to not show enough grief would place you in ill standing at your local work unit. On top of that there's always the genuine tears, when you are told a man is a God your entire life you start believing it. You cannot listen to that amount of propaganda and not have some part of your brain fearful once the God is gone, regardless of what you think to yourself. Those kinds who know no better are almost entirely hopeless, I'd believe most of them are genuine tears
 

Just proves that you know nothing about North Korea.
The people there have been brainwashed. Just imagine this: You've been raised your entire life believing that Kim-Jung-Il and Kim-Il-Sung are demigods. Heroes. Something like George Washington or Jesus. They, of course, don't hear the bad things that Kim-Jung-Il and Kim-Il-Sung commit. The state propaganda machine is the only source of information they get. NK propaganda teaches them that they live better than South Korea and the US, and is morally better. Wouldn't you cry if George Washington died in the present?
Of course, some do know what a horrid regime they live under, but many, probably the majority really believe in Kim-Jung-Il and Kim-Il-Sung.
For those that don't truly mourn, they have to act like it, because the result will be obvious
 
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I consider brainwashed behavior to be insincere. Thoses who aren't brainwashed are undoubtedly acting, thus insincere as well.

You would be wrong to say that I "know nothing about North Korea," PSK.
 
Meh...Im guesing it is no more legit than

 
TacticalEvilDan said:
Someone who is brainwashed genuinely believes what they say and think. By definition that makes them sincere.
Click to expand...

Oh well. :shrug:

It's not my idea of "sincere." But if that's accurate, it's accurate.

I find the people in that video to be foolish.
 
It's very surreal. Yes, part of me wants to laugh, but then another part of me realizes how sad it is that these people genuinely are grieving his passing.
 
Wake said:
Oh well. :shrug:

It's not my idea of "sincere." But if that's accurate, it's accurate.

I find the people in that video to be foolish.
Click to expand...

I get what you're trying to say -- the Kims aren't really gods and they fill the ears and eyes of the people with propaganda and the only opinion published is the state opinion, so it's hard to take it seriously.
 
Thorgasm said:
It's very surreal. Yes, part of me wants to laugh, but then another part of me realizes how sad it is that these people genuinely are grieving his passing.
Click to expand...
Perhaps its just over-analyzing it...but there is a very telling eye gesture that many of the people in the crowd make...and they all look in the same direction. Why...its almost as if they are checking to see if they are being watched and expressing the appropriate amount of agony.

I cant imagine what it must be like to live in North Korea. Im grateful for that.
 

I wonder if they are punished for not attending the procession.
 
Thorgasm said:
I wonder if they are punished for not attending the procession.
Click to expand...
From what I have read (and perhaps it is all anti-Kim propoganda promoted by the US) thats probably a fair assumption.
 
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