North Korean television takes a look at american poverty

[SamuelB]

A segment from a North Korean documentary highlighting the plight of the vast numbers of americans who live in extreme poverty.

While this is a somewhat ludicrous piece, the number of people currently living below the poverty line in the us is almost twice the DPRK's entire population.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=df8_1362850413

[BayouBengal07]

1. "somewhat ludicrous"?

Eating birds from the trees and coffee made from melted snow?

[Mika]

3. Not at all. Sounds as bombastic as MSM descriptions of the USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.

[SwissTony]

7. Fox News North Korea? n/t

[Mika]

8. Yep. It runs 24/7. Here we have a short vid. Faux Nooz trumps this at every minute.

[SkyDaddy7]

11. WTF?

An argument could have been made had you simply left it to Venezuela but NOT the USSR & Cuba. Both basically killed all opposition in the country &/or locked them up in horrid conditions. This is not "bombastic as MSM" it is REALITY! The USSR killed more Jews than did the Nazis by a long shot!

Sure Cuba has a good medical system & cares for the poor (kinda) as long as folks NEVER EVER speak their minds...The USSR was far worse than Cuba. And russia is almost as bad today in terms of how they treat the press & anyone who dares speak their mind! What happened to Pussy Riot should be all one needs to know.

Venezuela has not been that bad as long as you can look past how the press is controlled & the systematic Antisemitism that has caused half of the Jewish population to leave since Chavez took control. There are other issues but like I said NOTHING like Cuba & the USSR.

North Korea is basically modeled after the USSR & China in terms of killing off anyone who opposes you & keep the public in fear of the government via the sickest ways one can think of.

[Mika]

2. Propaganda

Propaganda

[edgineered]

23. Incredible! Thanks for putting this up -

It saddens me to know I have no friends here in the reddest part of Florida with whom sharing this wouldn't be useless. First off, being longer than a few minutes would dissuade most from even watching. Secondly, having its origin in what is truly believed to be within the 'axis of evil' would take care of nearly everyone else I know. The real let down, though, is that no one would appreciate the brutal truths of our pitiful lives that are so clearly shown in the film.

Mika, I watched the entire clip and was amazed by the propaganda. Now excuse me for being a bit slow, but there is no use in trying to explain to anyone down here that it is not DPRK generating it! Thanks again!

[LeftofObama]

4. LOL!

"There are no birds in the trees, except these which will be eaten on Tuesday."

"People are lining up for their hot snow and cakes that are provided from North Korea."

I know poverty and homelessness is nothing to laugh at, but this video is just over the top!

[Mika]

6. Its as over the top as much of the US anti NK, Cuba, & other axis of evil nation propaganda. eom

[SkyDaddy7]

12. WOW!!

I replied to one of your other comments only to scroll down & see your claims getting even more laughable...Like I said you could have made valid points in terms of the media in the USA but instead you have decided to go the utterly ridiculous route rather than the intelligent one. SAD!!

[Mika]

14. Your 1st reply is as bombastic as the NK video.

Having been to 3 of the countries you've discussed (and lived in Cuba), what would I know.
You?

But, simply pointing out that MSM media (like Fox news for example) is as over the top has you calling me out as "utterly ridiculous" and unintelligent and sad.

Methinks you know not what bombastic means.

Cheers.

[SkyDaddy7]

17. I expected exact same reply from you...

Thanks!

I don't think you know as much as you think you know...You said MSM, NOT FOX "News", that was a nice try but the discussion was around the MSM not fringe Right Wing Media.

To equate our media with the media from all the countries you mentioned who have ALL, including Chavez, put people with opposing viewpoints in prison or they kill them just shows how ridiculous your entire point is.

It is attitudes like your that take a real problem, corporate media bias, and turn it into a laughable joke. You should really be ashamed of such stunts...But we know that is not the case because you made yourself feel good & that is all that really matters, huh?

Take care.

[Mika]

18. Lil' ol' innocent USA.

Yep, none of that has ever happened here. Not only that, the ever-faithful US MSM has never engaged in propaganda prepping for, and cheering on, wars upon other nations. Nor has the US MSM ever covered up mass crimes, including murder, of our gov't. Nope. That never happens here.


What planet do you live on? Do you ever get around?

[Douglas Carpenter]

24. actually the Chavez government for years and years allowed media that openly called for the violent

overthrow of Chavez's democratically elected government. Even after the major media of Venezuela openly participated in a violent coup and openly encouraged acts of violence against democratically elected officials - even then there was little if any crack down. It really took enormous provocation that would have landed anyone anywhere in any Western democracy in jail an long, long time ago - before the Chavez government even attempted to restrain their media. Yes, the old Soviet Union's media and the media in Castro's Cuba certainly did not meet minimal human rights standards for journalistic freedom. But to fault the Chavez government in Venezuela on press freedom is simply ridiculous. No government in the history of Western democracy has ever been anywhere near as tolerant of opposition - none.

[Mika]

25. This post applies to an earlier comment by you.

The Cuba part of your post.

"But the bipartisan reasonable center which is in fact utterly reactionary will be believed by a large number of people"

[Douglas Carpenter]

26. are you stating that Cuba has at least a Western democratic standard for press freedom if not more?

I agree that the description of Venezuela under Chavez is some kind of socialist dictatorship is beyond ludicrous. But are you stating that Cuba is also very democratic and has little if no restraints on freedom of the press and little or no authoritarianism in its government?

[Mika]

28. Too many sub clauses in your questions.

Here, read thru this old DU thread, then you'll have an idea of where I stand.

Cuba: Before and After the 1959 Revolution
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4653650

I'll post more later.

BTW, I've lived in Cuba and have family there. Been there many times. Also, many friends and professional associates there whom I communicate with regularly.


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[Mika]

29. More.

There's MUCH more to Cuba than the media indoctrination and corporate BS that you regurgitate.

IS CUBA DEMOCRATIC?
http://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/democracy.htm

Democracy in Cuba and the 1997-98 Elections
Arnold August
1999
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0968508405/qid=1053879619/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-8821757-1670550?v=glance&s=books

[Douglas Carpenter]

30. I asked a sincere question. There is no need to respond in such a tone

You are making yourself sound like an indoctrinated nut

[Mika]

34. Actually, the opposite.

I've cleared away the indoctrination. By getting personally involved. I've been to Cuba many times as a young man, getting an education, married a Cuban woman and lived there. Nothing but anti Cuba BS by US MSM all the while Cuba was, and still is, uplifting the entire population. Yes, Cuba has suffered several setbacks, but, despite setback, embargoes, cold war threats, and sanctions, Cuba has managed to marshal their meager resources quite well - in fact very well in comparisons made in many global social indices.

No indoctrinated here, I simply have no ax to grind against Cuba and the good and decent people of the island.

[LiberalElite]

22. yes esp. the American Red Cross distributing supplies from North Korea - since when? eom

[99th_Monkey]

5. "In America there are no birds in the trees, except for these..."

which will be eaten on Tuesday"

As if there wasn't enough truthful horror and ugliness to
Americans having to live and die on their own streets.

[JDPriestly]

9. Right. Things must be really, really bad in North

Korea if they have to lie and exaggerate that much in order to shock the North Koreans.

We do have too much homelessness, but that video is crazy to the point that it is funny.

I noticed that, in one picture of a couple of older guys on a park bench with blue bags on the side (photoshopping? I've never seen bags like that but maybe I just missed them.), one of the guys looked quite overweight. Hardly the picture of hunger. I'd like to know how he is supposed to have become so obese on birds and boiled snow. Sadly funny when the North Koreans have to lie that much to make their people feel good. Surely that video is not for real. Surely the English narrator is not translating accurately.

[99th_Monkey]

10. Truth is the first casualty of war-prepping n/t

[SkyDaddy7]

13. NK has been "war prepping"

For 6o years! LOL!!

[Mika]

15. And how long has the US been prepping?

Brits.
Native Indians.
Japanese.
Nazis.
Then commies.
Now terra-ists.
Next up, Iranians.
Well over 60 years. (I know. I skipped hundreds of US invasions, overthows, coups, peacekeeping missions,etc.)
Endless war (and war prepping).

[LiberalElite]

20. Yeh supposedly those blue bags contained their dead friends eom

[Drunken Irishman]

16. Okay. For starters, some of this footage is not even from America.

The building at 2:20 is the Cara de Nord:



It's in Romania!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucharest_North_railway_station

[LiberalElite]

19. "the lonely the cold and the homosexual" wtf?

and they're being given NORTH KOREAN COFFEE? Since when does North Korea grow coffee???!!

[Douglas Carpenter]

21. obviously ridiculous . and frankly much less sophisticated than Western propaganda

My experience in the third world has shown me that most people who live under authoritarian states where media is heavily controlled are far more skeptical of their media - and for good reason - than people living in western democracies. The problem with that is that a more sophisticated and less patently bombastic media that reports information that might have more technical trustfulness - makes agenda driven reporting much more difficult to detect. Even at the level we have in America - right-wing ideology is sold much more convincingly to the educated viewer on PBS than it is on Fox News. Fox News kind of gives itself away so obviously at least to all but the willfully dimwitted. But just last night on the PBS News hour I listened to David Brooks and Mark Shields united in bipartisan reasonableness calmly and rationally explaining why we need "entitlement reform" - (a truly Orwellian term in itself) and why we need major cuts in social services. So the agenda of the right is sold and a progressive agenda is simply not even mentioned except in derision. That is an example of truly sophisticated propaganda. What we see above would simply not be believed by very many people around the worlds. But the bipartisan reasonable center which is in fact utterly reactionary will be believed by a large number of people.

[CalFresh]

27. Read

escape from camp 14.

Done.

[Starry Messenger]

31. Um, A) does anyone here speak Korean?

Does the language spoken translate to what the English voiceover is translating?

I won't link, but Stormfront and other right-wing sites are already making red-scare hay out of this video. I'm curious what the origin of the translation is. Other forums are saying that native Korean speakers say it is not at all accurate.

[iamthebandfanman]

35. +1 n/t

[Gabby Hayes]

32. "This is Ivan Tellalie, Soviet newscaster and Hero of Soviet Union 23rd Class, reporting."

Dennis Rodman must've sneaked some old copies of Nickelodeon's Turkey TV into North Korea. One of Ivan's newscasts featured an old man on a park bench feeding pigeons so he could catch and eat them.

[Gabby Hayes]

33. Update: Fox News reports the Harlem Globetrotters have defected to North Korea

[Mika]

36. meanwhile in NK ...

[Douglas Carpenter]

37. here is another North Korean propaganda film - a more sophisticated film - to say the least

[iamthebandfanman]

38. FAKE. Not a real film from NK.

http://www.nknews.org/2013/02/truth-lies-and-propaganda-the-hoax-that-backfired/