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While I agree the document would be questionable, I don't think "North Korea bad" is so much a belief as it's a fact. It doesn't get much badder than that. Prob

While I agree the document would be questionable, I don't think "North Korea bad" is so much a belief as it's a fact. It doesn't get much badder than that. Probably the worst dictatorship for their people we have on this planet right now. I'm very lucky to have been born here and not there.

smcl 4y ago
I think the point is that "North Korea bad" is both regrettably true and an overly simplistic way to look at the current situation without really thinking about the history of the Korean peninsula, the causes of the split, the war and what roles our own governments had in causing the entire situation. This doesn't change the indisputable fact that the Kim regimes have been brutal and that the DPRK is truly a nightmarishly awful place to live, but it lets a lot of other people off the hook.
- tristor 4y ago
  Please explain how “our own governments” are in any way responsible for the actions and choices of one of the most brutal communist regimes in history. I’m presuming you’re Western. “Our own governments” have much to answer for, but North Korea isn’t one of those things. The only alternative historical path would have completely erased South Korea, now a prosperous country that acts as a positive influence on the region and world. If any outside influence is responsible for North Korea, it is China, any other take beggar’s belief.
  - trasz 4y ago
    What's communist about North Korea, apart from "something often said"? It's more of a feudal monarchy.
    - vkou 4y ago
      We can split hairs about what is true communism, but between the cult of personality, the economic system, its art and media, and the more ephemeral peculiarities of its public culture, it looks an awful lot like stepping into a time machine that takes you back to Stalinist-era USSR. There's really no place on Earth quite like it.
      - trasz 4y ago
        So it’s a “cultural communism”?
pphysch 4y ago
Calling an ideological opinion a "fact" drains that word of all meaning.
- tristor 4y ago
  What is a “fact” other than a piece of information demonstrated through repeated direct observation? Acting as if “North Korea is bad” is “just like your opinion man” is one of the most bad faith statements I’ve ever seen on the Internet. It’s utterly ridiculous and you know that too.
  - pphysch 4y ago
    This is called "browbeating", and does not make your ideological opinion any more based in fact.

smcl 4y ago

I think the point is that "North Korea bad" is both regrettably true and an overly simplistic way to look at the current situation without really thinking about the history of the Korean peninsula, the causes of the split, the war and what roles our own governments had in causing the entire situation. This doesn't change the indisputable fact that the Kim regimes have been brutal and that the DPRK is truly a nightmarishly awful place to live, but it lets a lot of other people off the hook.

tristor 4y ago
Please explain how “our own governments” are in any way responsible for the actions and choices of one of the most brutal communist regimes in history. I’m presuming you’re Western. “Our own governments” have much to answer for, but North Korea isn’t one of those things. The only alternative historical path would have completely erased South Korea, now a prosperous country that acts as a positive influence on the region and world. If any outside influence is responsible for North Korea, it is China, any other take beggar’s belief.
- trasz 4y ago
  What's communist about North Korea, apart from "something often said"? It's more of a feudal monarchy.
  - vkou 4y ago
    We can split hairs about what is true communism, but between the cult of personality, the economic system, its art and media, and the more ephemeral peculiarities of its public culture, it looks an awful lot like stepping into a time machine that takes you back to Stalinist-era USSR. There's really no place on Earth quite like it.
    - trasz 4y ago
      So it’s a “cultural communism”?

pphysch 4y ago

Calling an ideological opinion a "fact" drains that word of all meaning.

tristor 4y ago
What is a “fact” other than a piece of information demonstrated through repeated direct observation? Acting as if “North Korea is bad” is “just like your opinion man” is one of the most bad faith statements I’ve ever seen on the Internet. It’s utterly ridiculous and you know that too.
- pphysch 4y ago
  This is called "browbeating", and does not make your ideological opinion any more based in fact.