Post: #476

(05-03-2017 08:38 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Hopefully, the North Koreans will keep their independence so they don't turn into another America, where a man can be arrested for eyeballing a lady in the elevator or lose his livelihood for expressing his conservative views, but a trannie can go into any bathroom he wants.

Sure, they can just keep the special kind of independence that where you can be arrested for going to extensive regions of the country that Li'l Kim prefers nobody sees, and where you lose your life for expressing your capitalist views.

In America, Trump has to deal with daily criticism of his past, his present, his businesses, his children, and his personality. In North Korea, criticism of Li'l Kim is forbidden. Outright.

Unless you'd like to present evidence of a North Korean newspaper ever criticising him personally? A website perhaps? Oh, sorry, I forgot - the Internet in North Korea is owned by the government, and foreigners couldn't even access it until 2013. Let's leave aside that Facebook, Youtube, South Korean websites, and Twitter have been blocked in the entire country from April 2016.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #477

(05-03-2017 09:29 PM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 08:38 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Hopefully, the North Koreans will keep their independence so they don't turn into another America, where a man can be arrested for eyeballing a lady in the elevator or lose his livelihood for expressing his conservative views, but a trannie can go into any bathroom he wants.

Sure, they can just keep the special kind of independence that where you can be arrested for going to extensive regions of the country that Li'l Kim prefers nobody sees, and where you lose your life for expressing your capitalist views.

In America, Trump has to deal with daily criticism of his past, his present, his businesses, his children, and his personality. In North Korea, criticism of Li'l Kim is forbidden. Outright.

Unless you'd like to present evidence of a North Korean newspaper ever criticising him personally? A website perhaps? Oh, sorry, I forgot - the Internet in North Korea is owned by the government, and foreigners couldn't even access it until 2013. Let's leave aside that Facebook, Youtube, South Korean websites, and Twitter have been blocked in the entire country from April 2016.

Have you ever seen any videos of the aftermath of the bombing of Iraq? Do you know how graphic that would be? People with their body parts torn off. But you don't see it because it is totally censored. As a result there are people in the US who actually feel resentment that people aren't grateful we dropped bombs on them. They actually think bombs are harmless. They never see the visual evidence. That is delusion created by censorship. Most people supported the war in Iraq because they actually believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I argued with people at the time who thought I was crazy not to trust so mighty and honest a leader as Colin Powell. Well he lied. And they keep lying because it works. Don't cast stones when you live in a glass house.

Post: #478

(05-03-2017 10:21 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Have you ever seen any videos of the aftermath of the bombing of Iraq? Do you know how graphic that would be? People with their body parts torn off. But you don't see it because it is totally censored. As a result there are people in the US who actually feel resentment that people aren't grateful we dropped bombs on them. They actually think bombs are harmless. They never see the visual evidence. That is delusion created by censorship. Most people supported the war in Iraq because they actually believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I argued with people at the time who thought I was crazy not to trust so mighty and honest a leader as Colin Powell. Well he lied. And they keep lying because it works. Don't cast stones when you live in a glass house.

Thank you for this quality content.
Why is Kim Jong-Un a good man?

Post: #479

(05-03-2017 11:05 PM)SamuelBRoberts Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 10:21 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Have you ever seen any videos of the aftermath of the bombing of Iraq? Do you know how graphic that would be? People with their body parts torn off. But you don't see it because it is totally censored. As a result there are people in the US who actually feel resentment that people aren't grateful we dropped bombs on them. They actually think bombs are harmless. They never see the visual evidence. That is delusion created by censorship. Most people supported the war in Iraq because they actually believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I argued with people at the time who thought I was crazy not to trust so mighty and honest a leader as Colin Powell. Well he lied. And they keep lying because it works. Don't cast stones when you live in a glass house.

Thank you for this quality content.
Why is Kim Jong-Un a good man?

He protects North Korea and keeps out the degeneracy of the West.

Post: #480

(05-03-2017 10:21 PM)Sherman Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 09:29 PM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 08:38 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Hopefully, the North Koreans will keep their independence so they don't turn into another America, where a man can be arrested for eyeballing a lady in the elevator or lose his livelihood for expressing his conservative views, but a trannie can go into any bathroom he wants.

Sure, they can just keep the special kind of independence that where you can be arrested for going to extensive regions of the country that Li'l Kim prefers nobody sees, and where you lose your life for expressing your capitalist views.

In America, Trump has to deal with daily criticism of his past, his present, his businesses, his children, and his personality. In North Korea, criticism of Li'l Kim is forbidden. Outright.

Unless you'd like to present evidence of a North Korean newspaper ever criticising him personally? A website perhaps? Oh, sorry, I forgot - the Internet in North Korea is owned by the government, and foreigners couldn't even access it until 2013. Let's leave aside that Facebook, Youtube, South Korean websites, and Twitter have been blocked in the entire country from April 2016.

Have you ever seen any videos of the aftermath of the bombing of Iraq? Do you know how graphic that would be? People with their body parts torn off. But you don't see it because it is totally censored. As a result there are people in the US who actually feel resentment that people aren't grateful we dropped bombs on them. They actually think bombs are harmless. They never see the visual evidence. That is delusion created by censorship. Most people supported the war in Iraq because they actually believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I argued with people at the time who thought I was crazy not to trust so mighty and honest a leader as Colin Powell. Well he lied. And they keep lying because it works. Don't cast stones when you live in a glass house.

You're welcome to disprove my points by providing one news article from a North Korean newspaper that is personally critical in any way of Li'l Kim or his regime, and where the journalist can be established as alive and not having served a period in a "re-education" camp or similar for so publishing.

Or a video (I'll accept youtube; luckily, you're not living in North Korea, so you can certainly access it) from a North Korean living in North Korea who criticises Li'l Kim on camera and, again, where that person can be established as being alive and not having served a period in a "re-education" camp for so commenting.

And the irony of your pearl-clutching about bombs: in North Korea the photos would not have been taken at all, because even photographs of conditions in North Korea are not allowed unless they are "approved" by the North Korean government. That's the main reason foreign tourists have "guides" given to them. Would you like to demonstrate to me that the US forbids foreigners taking pictures of, say, the less successful suburbs of Detroit?

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #481

Post: #482

(05-03-2017 11:11 PM)Sherman Wrote:  

And the top comment on that video?

Quote:These are paid to keep up an image for journalists and tourists in only Pyongyang. The rest of the country starves.

There's this thing called a Potemkin Village, you might want to look into it. Meanwhile, I'll go dig up a video of a Victoria's Secret parade to earnestly demonstrate that the average woman in the US is a supermodel.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #483

(05-03-2017 11:17 PM)Paracelsus Wrote:  [quote='Sherman' pid='1563927' dateline='1493871090']

And the top comment on that video?

Quote:These are paid to keep up an image for journalists and tourists in only Pyongyang. The rest of the country starves.

There's this thing called a Potemkin Village, you might want to look into it. Meanwhile, I'll go dig up a video of a Victoria's Secret parade to earnestly demonstrate that the average woman in the US is a supermodel.

Your refusal to acknowledge anything good in North Korea despite the evidence presented here of a three-dimensional North Korea and not the one dimensional image your read in the Western media, shows that you are susceptible to the massive US propaganda that you somehow can't see although you see North Korean propaganda everywhere. Well, at least you didn't claim the women were from Sweden.

Have you seen any of the images presented here of normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the US television? I haven't. If someone tried to present even what was shown here on US television, they would be fired. The elites have to keep the one-dimensional cartoonish image of a starving North Korea begging for US bombs. If you google North Korea to see what newspapers are saying, you will just get one nasty article after another, just like what they did to Trump. No propaganda ? Huh.

Post: #484

(05-03-2017 11:52 PM)Sherman Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 11:17 PM)Paracelsus Wrote:  [quote='Sherman' pid='1563927' dateline='1493871090']

And the top comment on that video?

Quote:These are paid to keep up an image for journalists and tourists in only Pyongyang. The rest of the country starves.

There's this thing called a Potemkin Village, you might want to look into it. Meanwhile, I'll go dig up a video of a Victoria's Secret parade to earnestly demonstrate that the average woman in the US is a supermodel.

Your refusal to acknowledge anything good in North Korea despite the evidence presented here of a three-dimensional North Korea and not the one dimensional image your read in the Western media, shows that you are susceptible to the massive US propaganda that you somehow can't see although you see North Korean propaganda everywhere. Well, at least you didn't claim the women were from Sweden.

Straw man. I didn't say there was nothing good about North Korea. I merely think you're engaged in major cognitive dissonance - and that's giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Specifically, you're lambasting the brothers here not to believe in what you call US propaganda while blissfully pumping out North Korean government, and North Korean government-approved, videos as if that were not propaganda of its own. If you don't understand the hypocrisy of that position then there's not a lot more I can do for you except laugh at you.

Your lecturing on censorship of information is particularly amusing given North Korea heavily censors all forms of information in the regime: Internet, print, TV, even word of mouth.

In passing, I notice you've tried to change the subject to bombing of Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction in some sort of inchoate scream that "OMG the media lied to us about WMDs, they're a US propaganda organ!!!1!!!!!!!!1!"

Which is fine: except for the fact it was the Western institutional media (which, I might remind you, you claim to be tightly controlled) that also reported there were no WMDs in Iraq.

Presumably if the government was controlling the media to the same extent that North Korea controls its media and information, that fact would never have come out, because it embarrasses the government and the military behind it. So which is it? Is the press under the control of the government, or isn't it? Were the Illuminati flip-flopping on that one, or was it just a Rockefeller boo-boo that the truth got out and was plastered across the front pages of the world's press? Was the (((tribe))) all collectively asleep at the switch that week and didn't shut the truth down?

Oh, and lastly, my challenge to you still stands open: find me a press article from a North Korean media source which openly criticises Kim. This is about the third time I've asked, and you've shifted position continually to avoid that challenge. Since you seem to have a mainline on North Korean publications, I would have thought that would not be hard for you. I can certainly find US publications that openly criticise Donald Trump. And Obama. And both Bushes. And Clinton. And Reagan. And Carter. And on. And on.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #485

(05-03-2017 11:52 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Have you seen any of the images presented here of normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the US television? I haven't. If someone tried to present even what was shown here on US television, they would be fired.

If someone tried to present anything other than normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the North Korean television, they'd be shot.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #486

(05-04-2017 12:18 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 11:52 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Have you seen any of the images presented here of normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the US television? I haven't. If someone tried to present even what was shown here on US television, they would be fired.

If someone tried to present anything other than normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the North Korean television, they'd be shot.

What else can you believe? That is all you get from the US media.

Post: #487

North Koreans eating pizza.

Post: #488

(05-04-2017 12:28 AM)Sherman Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 12:18 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(05-03-2017 11:52 PM)Sherman Wrote:  Have you seen any of the images presented here of normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the US television? I haven't. If someone tried to present even what was shown here on US television, they would be fired.

If someone tried to present anything other than normal North Koreans doing normal things, on the North Korean television, they'd be shot.

What else can you believe? That is all you get from the US media.

So I should believe the North Korean media instead? For the fourth time: find me a news article from a North Korean newspaper that is openly critical of Kim. Or find me a North Korean TV broadcast where they acknowledge even a hairs-breadth of inequality of income between Potemkin Pyongyang and the outlying rural areas. Or is it that North Korea has managed to achieve the great communist dream of everyone being perfectly equal in income and status, regardless of where they live in the country?

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #489

You can be arrested for criticizing or insulting the King in Thailand as well.
Does that mean Thailand is a horrible country ?


There is such a thing as a benevolent dictatorship and it's been shown to work in various times throughout history as a practical alternative to democracy.

Post: #490

Yeah.

Just not in North Korea.

Post: #491

(05-04-2017 04:12 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  There is such a thing as a benevolent dictatorship and it's been shown to work in various times throughout history as a practical alternative to democracy.

Yes, and that's why most people in the corrupted West admire Putin.

However, Kim Jong-un is not Putin. He's not close to Putin either. In fact, they're nothing alike.

Post: #492

(05-04-2017 12:31 AM)Sherman Wrote:  North Koreans eating pizza.

Why is the restaurant empty?

Post: #493

(05-04-2017 05:53 AM)Wreckingball Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 12:31 AM)Sherman Wrote:  North Koreans eating pizza.

Why is the restaurant empty?

Pizza has only recently been introduced into the country.
Most people in the DPRK have never tried it and frankly are very sceptical.
Also, it's probably expensive due to it being something "fancy" and imported.

You may think that's crazy that people don't want to eat pizza but I've met many people in my life who are disgusted when I told them I've eaten horse, rabbit, donkey, crocodile, ostrich, bear, puffin, and whale. The only reason they're grossed out is cause it is so foreign to them. Also, these things are expensive where they are rare. Once is becomes common the price goes down.

Post: #494

(05-04-2017 06:13 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  Pizza has only recently been introduced into the country.
Most people in the DPRK have never tried it and frankly are very sceptical.
Also, it's probably expensive due to it being something "fancy" and imported.

I can understand that. Your average North Korean is used to and trusts the natural, bitter taste of grass for their main meal.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #495

(05-04-2017 06:13 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 05:53 AM)Wreckingball Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 12:31 AM)Sherman Wrote:  North Koreans eating pizza.

Why is the restaurant empty?

Pizza has only recently been introduced into the country.
Most people in the DPRK have never tried it and frankly are very sceptical.
Also, it's probably expensive due to it being something "fancy" and imported.

You may think that's crazy that people don't want to eat pizza but I've met many people in my life who are disgusted when I told them I've eaten horse, rabbit, donkey, crocodile, ostrich, bear, puffin, and whale. The only reason they're grossed out is cause it is so foreign to them. Also, these things are expensive where they are rare. Once is becomes common the price goes down.

Makes sense, nothing to do with the fact that the country is a socialist shithole where the population can barely feed themselves.
The empty gigantic restaurant, with chandeliers, neon menus, dough machines... its a ruinous operation to maintain if you have 2 tables per night. It's a ruinous operation if it's expensive fond and people don't earn enough or is not common. Why on earth would you have a huge restaurant that makes food people do not like?
And the stupid forced dance to the NK police was also not a clear giveaway.

Bad propaganda is bad.

WNB.
Would Not Believe.

Post: #496

(05-04-2017 06:26 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 06:13 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  Pizza has only recently been introduced into the country.
Most people in the DPRK have never tried it and frankly are very sceptical.
Also, it's probably expensive due to it being something "fancy" and imported.

I can understand that. Your average North Korean is used to and trusts the natural, bitter taste of grass for their main meal.

How do you have any idea what is "average" in the DPRK ?
Have you lived there ?

I can upload thouands of photos of homeless people in 1st world countries rumaging through garbage and tell people in Korea that's average too.

Post: #497

(05-04-2017 04:12 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  You can be arrested for criticizing or insulting the King in Thailand as well.
Does that mean Thailand is a horrible country ?

Yes.

Quote: The Constitutional Referendum Act, which governed the August referendum, provided for up to 10 years’ imprisonment for activities and statements “causing confusion to affect orderliness of voting”, including by using “offensive” or “rude” language to influence votes. The law was used to target those who opposed the draft Constitution. More than 100 people were reportedly charged with offences related to the referendum.2

Amendments to the Computer Crimes Act allowed for continued surveillance without prior judicial authorization and failed to bring the law in line with international law and standards on the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. The authorities also considered increased online surveillance and greater control of internet traffic.

Individuals were charged with or convicted of offences under Article 112 of the Penal Code for criticizing the monarchy. The Article carried a prison sentence of up to 15 years. Military courts interpreted the provisions broadly and imposed sentences of up to 60 years’ imprisonment for convictions on multiple counts of the offence, including against people with mental illnesses. Bail was routinely denied to those arrested under Article 112.

Individuals were charged or convicted under a ban on political gatherings of five or more people imposed by a 2015 order from the NCPO Head. It was used especially against opposition political groups and pro-democracy activists. In June, the authorities initiated criminal proceedings against 19 members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship for holding a press conference to celebrate the opening of a centre to monitor the constitutional referendum. Pro-democracy student activists faced charges in multiple criminal cases for peaceful protests and other public activities opposing military rule and Thailand’s draft Constitution.

The authorities sought to silence those raising concerns about torture and other ill-treatment. In September, Amnesty International was forced to cancel a press conference in the capital Bangkok to launch a report on torture, after officials threatened to arrest the scheduled speakers.3

Somchai Homla-or, Anchana Heemmina and Pornpen Khongkachonkiet were charged with criminal defamation and violations of the Computer Crime Act for reporting on torture by soldiers in southern Thailand.4 A 25-year-old woman faced similar charges after campaigning to hold accountable military officers responsible for the torture and killing of her uncle, a military trainee.

Authorities cancelled many events involving discussions about human rights or political events. In October, immigration officials detained and forcibly returned to Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who was invited to speak at a commemoration of the 1976 massacre of student protesters by Thai authorities.

And that's before we get to Thailand's identity as a preferred destination for paedophiles. In part because it's a third world shithole where life comes cheap, and the younger the cheaper.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #498

(05-04-2017 06:30 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 06:26 AM)Paracelsus Wrote:  

(05-04-2017 06:13 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  Pizza has only recently been introduced into the country.
Most people in the DPRK have never tried it and frankly are very sceptical.
Also, it's probably expensive due to it being something "fancy" and imported.

I can understand that. Your average North Korean is used to and trusts the natural, bitter taste of grass for their main meal.

How do you have any idea what is "average" in the DPRK ?
Have you lived there ?

I can upload thouands of photos of homeless people in 1st world countries rumaging through garbage and tell people in Korea that's average too.

Good, you're getting the point. Now if you wouldn't mind telling Sherman that so he slows down on posting pictures from Potemkin Pyongyang. That aside, I'll offer you the same challenge I offered him: don't post thousands of pictures of happy people in North Korea. Post up one verified article from a North Korean newspaper which is openly critical of Kim or his regime. That's a much better metric of whether the country is free or not. Unless of course you'd like to explain the reason you need permission to take photographs in North Korea.

This is why all the videos saying "HERE'S FOOTAGE OF NORTH KOREA THAT WASN'T AUTHORISED BY THE REGIME, EVERYONE LOOKS HAPPY!" are laughable: they're missing, or trying to conceal the fact that you need permission to take the photos at all. Can you think of any other country on the planet that is that anal about the electric photographic device? Perhaps Kim thinks the cameras will steal the souls of the people they photograph?

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #499

It's true...you cannot be openly critical of the rulers of the DPRK.
I still believe you can have a normal society that works fine where that is the rule.
Most monarchies in Europe & Asia up until the 19th century functioned like that for hundreds of years.


Dictatorship is the wrong word to describe the DPRK.
It's really a lot more like a hereditary absolute monarchy.

They are already on the 3rd generation of the same family line.

Post: #500

(05-04-2017 06:41 AM)Mercenary Wrote:  It's true...you cannot be openly critical of the rulers of the DPRK.
I still believe you can have a normal society that works fine where that is the rule.
Most monarchies in Europe & Asia up until the 19th century functioned like that for hundreds of years.

If they were still functioning like that we would not be speaking right now.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm