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What are they crying about?
Dec. 29th, 2011 02:17 pm[Error: unknown template video]
They shake, sob, and collapse on the snowy ground, weeping hysterically. The North Koreans have astounded the world with their extreme form of mourning for their "dear leader". Such displays of desolation are not new. The older would remember the time when Stalin died. The pictures were similarly disturbing, but at least the Russians showed more dignity. But, apart from the obvious factor of coercion through fear, what else lurks behind this collective hysteria?
After the death of Kim Jong Il the North Korean state television has shown many images from the streets in Pyongyang almost non-stop, where we can see thousands of people crushed by sadness, some even rolling on the ground and beating the pavement with their fists in despair. Whether the scenes are from a square with a giant statue of the leader, or from factories and schools - still the same sight. The collective grief is pouring out inconsolably, hysterically, and is conveniently exposed on the state television.
( Read more... )
They shake, sob, and collapse on the snowy ground, weeping hysterically. The North Koreans have astounded the world with their extreme form of mourning for their "dear leader". Such displays of desolation are not new. The older would remember the time when Stalin died. The pictures were similarly disturbing, but at least the Russians showed more dignity. But, apart from the obvious factor of coercion through fear, what else lurks behind this collective hysteria?
After the death of Kim Jong Il the North Korean state television has shown many images from the streets in Pyongyang almost non-stop, where we can see thousands of people crushed by sadness, some even rolling on the ground and beating the pavement with their fists in despair. Whether the scenes are from a square with a giant statue of the leader, or from factories and schools - still the same sight. The collective grief is pouring out inconsolably, hysterically, and is conveniently exposed on the state television.
( Read more... )
