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I hate to make light of a very serious situation, but I'm quite amused at North Korean propaganda films. Some show the NK military performing martial arts demon

I hate to make light of a very serious situation, but I'm quite amused at North Korean propaganda films. Some show the NK military performing martial arts demonstrations (as though martial arts have a place on the modern battlefield, one can only wish), others show Kim Jong-un riding a horse, one claims Americans ate all the birds in our country and now only live on melted snow. I don't even know if these are legitimate propaganda films, but I find them fascinating and amusing.

bombcar 5y ago
You get melted snow? Mine is always still frozen …
- mrexroad 5y ago
  Ours is always still evaporated, at best
flycaliguy 5y ago
I guarantee martial arts are being deployed in Ukrainian urban situations right now.
- rockamadeus 5y ago
  Considering we have a recent MoH recipient who beat to death a man with a rock, hand-to-hand combative programs are very relevant.
  - TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
    What is MoH?
    - MegaButts 5y ago
      My guess is Medal of Honor.
  - sa46 5y ago
    A interesting question to ponder is how and why you would mandate training for a various task across a large organization while balancing constraints of maintaining readiness, accomplishing other mandated training, equipment availability, and minimizing training injuries. An Army War College study made waves a few years because it found: > that many Army officers, after repeated exposure to the overwhelming demands and the associated need to put their honor on the line to verify compliance, have become ethically numb. As a result, an officer’s signature and word have become tools to maneuver through the Army bureaucracy rather than being symbols of integrity and honesty. [1] In that light, if I were rolling out a combatives program I’d focus on the physical training and mental toughness benefits rather than the increased lethality in hand-to-hand combat. [1]: https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/466/ https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/466/
KennyBlanken 5y ago
I think this was linked to on HN a couple of days ago: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putin-dictator-trap-russia-ukraine/627064/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putin-dict... > In Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, for example, the lies have gotten progressively more ridiculous. Once a lie becomes widely accepted, the value of that individual loyalty test declines. Once everyone knows that Kim Jong Un learned to drive when he was just 3 years old, a new, more extreme lie must emerge for the test to serve its purpose. The cycle repeats itself, and a cult of personality is born. As for the propaganda films with martial arts fighting: I get what you mean, but it sounds a bit less silly when you realize that the US military has been effectively underwriting hollywood films for decades...and the absurd things they portray US military members doing (like, say, almost single-handedly re-activating a WW2 battleship and using its deck guns to blow up alien space ships.)
mbg721 5y ago
Short-wave radio has all this and mucho, mucho mas. The collapse of the USSR was a big setback culturally there.

bombcar 5y ago

You get melted snow? Mine is always still frozen …

mrexroad 5y ago
Ours is always still evaporated, at best

flycaliguy 5y ago

I guarantee martial arts are being deployed in Ukrainian urban situations right now.

rockamadeus 5y ago
Considering we have a recent MoH recipient who beat to death a man with a rock, hand-to-hand combative programs are very relevant.
- TedDoesntTalk 5y ago
  What is MoH?
  - MegaButts 5y ago
    My guess is Medal of Honor.
- sa46 5y ago
  A interesting question to ponder is how and why you would mandate training for a various task across a large organization while balancing constraints of maintaining readiness, accomplishing other mandated training, equipment availability, and minimizing training injuries. An Army War College study made waves a few years because it found: > that many Army officers, after repeated exposure to the overwhelming demands and the associated need to put their honor on the line to verify compliance, have become ethically numb. As a result, an officer’s signature and word have become tools to maneuver through the Army bureaucracy rather than being symbols of integrity and honesty. [1] In that light, if I were rolling out a combatives program I’d focus on the physical training and mental toughness benefits rather than the increased lethality in hand-to-hand combat. [1]: https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/466/ https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/466/

KennyBlanken 5y ago

I think this was linked to on HN a couple of days ago: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putin-dictator-trap-russia-ukraine/627064/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/putin-dict... > In Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, for example, the lies have gotten progressively more ridiculous. Once a lie becomes widely accepted, the value of that individual loyalty test declines. Once everyone knows that Kim Jong Un learned to drive when he was just 3 years old, a new, more extreme lie must emerge for the test to serve its purpose. The cycle repeats itself, and a cult of personality is born. As for the propaganda films with martial arts fighting: I get what you mean, but it sounds a bit less silly when you realize that the US military has been effectively underwriting hollywood films for decades...and the absurd things they portray US military members doing (like, say, almost single-handedly re-activating a WW2 battleship and using its deck guns to blow up alien space ships.)

mbg721 5y ago

Short-wave radio has all this and mucho, mucho mas. The collapse of the USSR was a big setback culturally there.