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The author of the post you are responding to questioned the approach of relying upon paid testimony from self-selected defectors as an objective account of the
by cribbles 9y ago
The author of the post you are responding to questioned the approach of relying upon paid testimony from self-selected defectors as an objective account of the DPRK as a whole. This is not irreconcilable with a critical view of the DPRK, and only indirectly addresses the point you are making here.
It is facile to observe that any form of society can 'produce a good life' for some subset of its citizens. You have not persuasively argued that conceding this point means agreeing to the bizarre equivocal statement that 'there is no reason to chose liberal democracy over totalitarianism.'
- woodandsteel 9y agoThere are lots of other ways to determine what things are like in North Korea besides paid testimony from defectors. In fact, the interview in question mentioned at least one, namely books published by the government. The post author avoided mentioning any other means, and has not explicitly stated a belief that an authoritarian country can't be just as good as a liberal democracy. I am going to assume that is what he believes until he states otherwise. Oh, and as long as we are at it, what is your belief on this matter?