4 ms·

I don't mean to be sarcastic in my response, but the "most evil country" could be any number of countries, even given the context. Who are you referring to?

tptacek 13y ago
North Korea is the most evil country in the world.
- anon1385 13y ago
  Number of deaths due to US wars of aggression since 2001 [1][2]: 400,000 - 1,000,000 Number of deaths due to North Korean wars of aggression since 2001: 0 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_surveys_of_Iraq_War_casualties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_surveys_of_Iraq_War_cas... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_war
  - tptacek 13y ago
    Sophomoric comments like this are why we'd be better off if all politics stories were kept off HN, wholesale, like the guidelines suggest.
    - summerdown2 13y ago
      From the guidelines: > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names.
      - tptacek 13y ago
        If you reread my comment I think you'll see that I wasn't in fact calling anyone a name.
        summerdown2 13y ago
        Really? > Sophomoric comments like this ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_calling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_calling > Name calling is abusive or insulting language referred to a person or group, If I squint in a half light, I might consider you have obeyed the literal letter of the guidelines. So, congratulations. But seriously? You want to defend that comment as not insulting to the poster? Also, at what point did you reply to the argument?
    - akiselev 13y ago
      Are they sophomoric or do you just dislike being reminded of the fact? He linked statistics (although I'm almost certain it's >0 for DPRK) that are worth being reminded of, that's it. YOU made a judgement. Twice.
      - tptacek 13y ago
        If that's the count, fine, let's let this comment make it three times that I "judged" North Korea as the most evil country on the planet. Want to make it four times? Five? Fine by me.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
  - gus_massa 13y ago
    I'm not sure how are you counting the death, but according to Wikipedia [1] since 2001 there are between 8 and 54 death of South Korean in incidents against North Korea. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involving_North_Korea#2000s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involv...
    - hga 13y ago
      You've got to count the victims in North Korea, and with an official population of 24 million today, we know from the history of other Communist countries who's killing fields have been at least partly revealed that they're going to number in the millions.
  - Cyranix 13y ago
    Pay no attention the forced labor camps behind the curtain?
- wfn 13y ago
  Would you care to elaborate why, if you feel like it? When I try to cognize the word "evil", I get hazy connotations in my mind. Why North Korea in particular, what are your criteria? (genuinely curious.)
  - tptacek 13y ago
    I'll let someone else elaborate why.
  - hga 13y ago
    Let's just mention some bottom line things: Due to pervasive malnutrition, North Koreans are on average a foot shorter than South Koreans, and significantly less intelligent (IQ/g), which is one very good reason the latter don't want reunification. They are by far the largest of the last unrepentant Communist counties, so all the inevitable evils that come with that are in their greatest effect there (although China is just so big it's GULAG very possibly has more inmates). How about their still being in a state of war with, well, everyone else in "the West", and regularly reminding us of that with overt lethal attacks?
    - wfn 13y ago
      I agree that what the NK regime is and has for a long time been doing to the people of NK is brutal, atrocious and nigh-unimaginable, at least when you try to understand the scale of it all / of the labour camps where people are born and live their lives inside the camps, and so on. I don't want to be that guy arguing semantics, but just a small remark: > How about their still being in a state of war with, well, > everyone else in "the West", and regularly reminding us of > that with overt lethal attacks? I dare speculate that this must be how (in a sense) the U.S. looks/sounds like to many people from the countries it has deemed to be its enemies (say, Iran and Iraq); the difference being, the U.S. did actually go ahead and commit lethal attacks. But this line of strictly consequentialist reasoning (however one may call it, not sure) is not without its flaws, of course. Thanks for the comment.
      - hga 13y ago
- InclinedPlane 13y ago
  Note: tptacek said "most evil" not "most dangerous", and I may have to agree with him. Inside North Korea is a hellhole the likes of which we rarely see in the 21st century outside of movies about Nazi atrocities. Most estimates of deaths due to state crackdowns, gulags, and so forth within North Korea put the number right around 10% of the entire population of the country. A catastrophe equivalent to the holocaust has happened in North Korea but few people appreciate that it has because of the extreme secrecy of the regime. On top of that there are the continual threats North Korea makes to the security of the region and the world, their acts of terror (they've downed airplanes, kidnapped civilians, and worse). And, perhaps the worst of all, they've been a major player in the international export of both nuclear and ICBM technology.

tptacek 13y ago

North Korea is the most evil country in the world.

anon1385 13y ago
Number of deaths due to US wars of aggression since 2001 [1][2]: 400,000 - 1,000,000 Number of deaths due to North Korean wars of aggression since 2001: 0 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_surveys_of_Iraq_War_casualties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_surveys_of_Iraq_War_cas... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan_war
- tptacek 13y ago
  Sophomoric comments like this are why we'd be better off if all politics stories were kept off HN, wholesale, like the guidelines suggest.
  - summerdown2 13y ago
    From the guidelines: > When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names.
    - tptacek 13y ago
      If you reread my comment I think you'll see that I wasn't in fact calling anyone a name.
      - summerdown2 13y ago
        Really? > Sophomoric comments like this ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_calling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_calling > Name calling is abusive or insulting language referred to a person or group, If I squint in a half light, I might consider you have obeyed the literal letter of the guidelines. So, congratulations. But seriously? You want to defend that comment as not insulting to the poster? Also, at what point did you reply to the argument?
  - akiselev 13y ago
    Are they sophomoric or do you just dislike being reminded of the fact? He linked statistics (although I'm almost certain it's >0 for DPRK) that are worth being reminded of, that's it. YOU made a judgement. Twice.
    - tptacek 13y ago
      If that's the count, fine, let's let this comment make it three times that I "judged" North Korea as the most evil country on the planet. Want to make it four times? Five? Fine by me.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
- gus_massa 13y ago
  I'm not sure how are you counting the death, but according to Wikipedia [1] since 2001 there are between 8 and 54 death of South Korean in incidents against North Korea. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involving_North_Korea#2000s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_involv...
  - hga 13y ago
    You've got to count the victims in North Korea, and with an official population of 24 million today, we know from the history of other Communist countries who's killing fields have been at least partly revealed that they're going to number in the millions.
- Cyranix 13y ago
  Pay no attention the forced labor camps behind the curtain?
wfn 13y ago
Would you care to elaborate why, if you feel like it? When I try to cognize the word "evil", I get hazy connotations in my mind. Why North Korea in particular, what are your criteria? (genuinely curious.)
- tptacek 13y ago
  I'll let someone else elaborate why.
- hga 13y ago
  Let's just mention some bottom line things: Due to pervasive malnutrition, North Koreans are on average a foot shorter than South Koreans, and significantly less intelligent (IQ/g), which is one very good reason the latter don't want reunification. They are by far the largest of the last unrepentant Communist counties, so all the inevitable evils that come with that are in their greatest effect there (although China is just so big it's GULAG very possibly has more inmates). How about their still being in a state of war with, well, everyone else in "the West", and regularly reminding us of that with overt lethal attacks?
  - wfn 13y ago
    I agree that what the NK regime is and has for a long time been doing to the people of NK is brutal, atrocious and nigh-unimaginable, at least when you try to understand the scale of it all / of the labour camps where people are born and live their lives inside the camps, and so on. I don't want to be that guy arguing semantics, but just a small remark: > How about their still being in a state of war with, well, > everyone else in "the West", and regularly reminding us of > that with overt lethal attacks? I dare speculate that this must be how (in a sense) the U.S. looks/sounds like to many people from the countries it has deemed to be its enemies (say, Iran and Iraq); the difference being, the U.S. did actually go ahead and commit lethal attacks. But this line of strictly consequentialist reasoning (however one may call it, not sure) is not without its flaws, of course. Thanks for the comment.
    - hga 13y ago
InclinedPlane 13y ago
Note: tptacek said "most evil" not "most dangerous", and I may have to agree with him. Inside North Korea is a hellhole the likes of which we rarely see in the 21st century outside of movies about Nazi atrocities. Most estimates of deaths due to state crackdowns, gulags, and so forth within North Korea put the number right around 10% of the entire population of the country. A catastrophe equivalent to the holocaust has happened in North Korea but few people appreciate that it has because of the extreme secrecy of the regime. On top of that there are the continual threats North Korea makes to the security of the region and the world, their acts of terror (they've downed airplanes, kidnapped civilians, and worse). And, perhaps the worst of all, they've been a major player in the international export of both nuclear and ICBM technology.