I recently saw a series of pictures along with descriptions taken, or said to be taken in North Korea. Made me really nostalgic since I believe that the Korean War was probably the very first proxy war between the U.S. and Russia. The good old days. Every day was “duck and cover” day and the U.S. saw no problem with deluding their young that they would be completely safe from nuclear immolation by hiding under their school desk. So I thought I might describe the dreadful conditions under which the North Koreans live as demonstrated and explained by the photos. I have no idea how to actually show the photos themselves.
The first photo is of a man and a woman looking out a residential window looking either angry, aggravated or impatient. The description says they are clearly so miserable you can feel their bitterness through the photo, despite the lie that North Korea is a communist paradise. I can attest to the validity of this interpretation because every time my face expresses misery or bitterness it’s a result of thinking about my government.
The second photo shows a beautiful but empty train station. If there is a train station this beautiful in the U.S. I haven’t seen it, but I don’t really travel that much. The explanation says they built the train station and provided the trains just for show as North Koreans are not allowed to travel. Did they maybe precede us in building those 15-minute cities that are being planned to imprison us lucky ones living in a capitalist paradise?
The third photo is of a street crawling with cabs. The explanation is that the cabs are only for tourists as there’s no private enterprise allowed so no Ubers or Lyfts and the North Korean people all live in poverty so couldn’t afford the cabs. Considering the number of cabs, they must have hella tourists. I can’t find a cab that available in downtown Boston.
The fourth photo is of a pickup truck with some men in back driving through a rural area. It’s explained that the men in the pickup truck are military and if that’s the best North Korea can do, we have nothing to worry about - as long as you forget about those pesky nuclear weapons.
The next picture is of a government building with the inscription that pictures of government buildings are not allowed. Considering the number of pictures he took that he said were dangerous, how did he not end up in a concentration camp? He is either a very brave or a very foolhardy man.
A photo of the back of a man apparently peeing in a deserted underpass. Inscription: If caught, this man could be sent to a concentration camp for doing this, along with the hope that there are enough bathrooms that peeing in public is not necessary. What he hopes for North Korea, I merely wish for the U.S. as I must cover my face from the smell emanating from every alleyway I pass in Boston. Those with the power apparently all failed in biology. Not only can’t figure out the difference between women and men, they also don’t seem to understand that even when they’re homeless, people are so intractable, they’re still going to use the bathroom even when they don’t have one. So maybe hold a few cents back that the government sends to the Ukraine to fight our proxy war with Russia and use it to provide public port-a-potties and hire someone to oversee them, perhaps a homeless person. Who was it whose presidential campaign included the slogan “A chicken in every pot”. One of those assigned to run for president should have as HIS (how do I know - I must be psychic?) slogan “Every body should have a pot to piss in”.
The description attached to the next photo speaks for itself: “Taking a page out of George Orwell’s book 1984, the North Korean government and military monitor everyone and everything at all times. There are hidden cameras and microphones everywhere in the country in order to ensure that you are doing what the regime tells you.” I’m sure glad I don’t live there. Sounds awful! Glad I live in a country that respects my privacy.
Picture of a country railroad track surrounded by fields and an unpaved road. And…”North Koreans need special permission from the government to leave their villages. Maybe the infrastructure money was spent on missiles instead?” And I am left to wonder if instead of China it is North Korea that the U.S. is attempting to emulate.
They have but one TV station in North Korea and it shows 24/7 propaganda. That’s where the U.S. shines - we Americans can take pride in the fact that we get many choices about which channel on which we prefer to watch our propaganda.
A North Korean grocery store described as having empty shelves (we’d never!!!) and the starving populace eating only turnips, leeks, apples and potatoes. And as backward as North Korea is, I’m willing to bet they’re forced to eat produce neither gmo’d or pesticided. In fact, I’d bet that their produce, as sparse as it may be, is rich with nutrients, unlike the dead produce available in Amerikan grocery stores.
A picture of what appears to be a fairly large rural market with the caption that there is nowhere in the countryside to buy groceries, due to poor farming techniques (have they never heard of monocropping?)_people are starving, eating grass soup and the government even distributes a grass cookbook. Amusing that this criticism about poor farming techniques is coming from the country which had the only dust bowl phenomenon that I was able to discover in written history. They tore up ther plains so bad after stealing it from the Natives, that there was suffocating dust from the torn up land all the way from the midwest all the way to ships standing in the New York harbor. It might be prescient to write to North Korea and order your own copy of the grass and shrub cookbook. Never know when we’ll be eating grass here or starving and we all know if we need a grass recipe book in the U.S., we’ll have to pay for it.
A soldier in the countryside with this caption: “The military in North Korea is ever present, even in the smallest village and town. They are used to keep a close eye on the population and ensure that no one even steps one foot out of line. With the world’s biggest military, and with most of that military geared towards defending against a US invasion, soldiers simply need something to do! Here, this soldier is acting as a crossing guard for a train which probably comes only once a week.” Just one small and humble question: Where do I go to determine that North Korea is the biggest bully on the block? By checking on the internet, I discovered that #1 was the U.S., #6 was South Korea, but out of 20 countries listed, not one of them was North Korea. And if the train only comes once a week, why does it need a crossing guard? Maybe it’s just that Uncle Sam doesn’t feel safe being opposed by another, any other country.
Their main religion, according to the caption on the next picture, is the cult of personality. According to this, they even pray to their political leaders. What? They never heard of signing a petition? Hmm….who should I direct my prayers to: Kim Jong-Un or Kim Kardashian? I already know not to pray to my state senators, Warren and whats-his-name, Malarkey or something like that. They only send me form letters saying “Sorry, we’ve already sold out to the highest bidder and it ain’t you.”
The next photo concerns the opportunities afforded to citizens by joining the Army. If they do that, apparently, then can even afford to buy groceries at the government store. We’d never, just never….that’s exactly why we have the draft…oops, my mistake. We have enlistment by desperate impoverished people seeking an opportunity they would not otherwise have - at the risk of their lives — or their soul. So why is it that North Korea and the U.S. are enemies? Sounds like they have a whole lot in common.
Construction workers building a skyscraper with the caption that it’s impressive that they can even work considering that they’ve “probably” been eating nothing but grass soup for a week. Perhaps if we ask nicely we can get the recipe since Biden just halved food stamps for the poorest among us.
Young women sweeping the sidewalk with a caption deriding the North Korean claim that there is no unemployment. The rest is a quote: “what these girls do is sweep dust off the street with brooms like they used to make in the 1500’s. This is a government known for lying about nearly everything, so maybe we shouldn’t take that unemployment figure to heart.” True, if we can’t believe our own government, why would we believe that of North Korea? After all our government has assured us that Kim Jong-Un is the worst monster since we arranged a hit on Moammar Gadaffi, changing Libya from the richest country in Africa to the far more acceptable to us failed state with open air slave markets it is today. Or is there argument to be made that Assad is the biggest bad guy, actually fighting back as we invade his country and steal Syrian oil. And about those 1500-era brooms, I remember a long time ago reading something about why “witches” are shown wearing those big pointy hats. It was an attempt at ridicule at women healers who were actually being portrayed as so last century, I think it was somewhere around the 13th century. That episode in history, called the Inquisition, was related to another time that medical mafioso attempted to gain a monopoly on health care. What is it with those medical people?
A picture of a farmer attempting to plow a field with what is described as a plow from the 1700’s. Worse, they actually use excrement to fertilize their fields. They need to catch up - lock their ruminants in animal prisons, turn the entire area including the nearby lakes into one big toxic waste dump and use chemicals to kill anything left alive in the soil, then grow crops with chemical fertilizers that lack both taste and nutritional value using techniques that will guarantee death for any critter unfortunate enough to live in the vicinity. And ill health for those forced to eat what they grow. Catch up North Korea! Your tools are beyond unfashionable.
Men and women are divided by sex. Does that mean they can’t “compete” in hand to hand combat, wrestling, rugby, cycling, MMA, volley ball or any other sport? How yesterday of them!
A picture of tourists in downtown Pyongyang. Apparently they have many tourists from Japan, China, Europe and America. And you can tell who are North Korean actors and who are average citizens because when the tourists ask questions, only the actors will respond. Average citizens will just stare in awe. Sounds almost like Boston, except in Boston they stare in contempt. So if you’re touring North Korea and ask a passerby a question and the passerby answers you, it might be polite to ask her or him if they are currently appearing in a play or perhaps have they seen them in some North Korean movie showing on Netflix.
A picture of a large throng of young people rollerblading. Rollerblading is very popular with the young of North Korea. But the average person is too poor to afford rollerblades for their children, so this large throng of kids are “probably” the children of the “elite”. So happy to be living in an egalitarian country where anything afforded to the “elite” is equally available to all. We’re so fortunate here that most of us can afford to buy our children rollerblades. Just too bad about the unaffordable educational opportunities and decent health care thing.
Photo of a woman standing with a gun with the caption: “The entire North Korean populace has been taught to hate the United States and the West for the past three generations. They are told that a war with the United States can break out at any second. However, this is a very dangerous photograph as guns are strictly controlled in the country for fear of starting a rebellion. This girl can be put in a concentration camp for this picture.” Imagine a country so evil that they’re taught to hate another country, perhaps even told that their leaders are insane. Wouldn’t surprise me if I were to find out that the reason one million plus or minus people are homeless here, living on the street is because of the sanctions against the U.S. by the heartless North Korean government. No wonder we hate them!
A picture of a woman with a stall although private enterprise is “strictly forbidden”, she is “probably” being protected by the military as she sells cigarettes and homebaked goods. Another photo on the subject of small businesses says they are neither legal nor illegal. I’m so confused. Is that the North Korean version of non-binary? Our system is clearly better: ensure the failure of small businesses so we can increasingly limit ownership of the entire planet to perhaps ten American and European megalomaniacs. I hear that then we’ll all be happy. Especially the megalos.
Photo of an ordinary looking wedding party posing in Pyongyang Square with this caption: “Due to the lack of excitement in the picture it’s impossible to tell if this is a photo of a couple who are just actors pretending to get married, or a couple who are weak from hunger after a week of only eating grass soup”. If they’re actors would it not reflect badly on them not to “act”? Perhaps they’re bad actors who are forced on a diet of grass soup because nobody will pay them.
“This is a children’s performance for the end of the school year. They are singing nationalistic songs perfectly and in unison, without anyone stepping out of line. The regime loves bringing tourists to this kind of a performance as it shows that the entirety of the North Korean people support the regime, even the children. On top of that, they’re super cute!” Sounds like a lot of trouble for those poor kids. We’re more generous to our children. We don’t force them to entertain us, we entertain them with drag queen shows. Our children at least know how to use glitter.
“No tourist has ever seen more than two (train) stations. (Therefore and ergo no more than two stations exist). The subway also doubles as a bomb shelter which can hold tens of thousands of people.” Our government respects the fortitude of the American people. We don’t need to be coddled with bomb shelters. In fact, when the WTC was destroyed - by a plane hitting it in the upper tower, it destroyed the subway station that was right below the basement of the building. Imagine that! Besides, the government thinks we’ll all be dead of the jab before too long anyway so they’re just trying to be considerate by not trying to prolong the inevitable.
Picture is of a standard bowling alley. Caption: “For some reason, the North Koreans really really like to go bowling, as these two girls are in this picture. There are several regulation sized bowling alleys in Pyongyang, undoubtedly (probably? perhaps?) only used by the regime’s elite. This is just another example of how when it comes to fun, North Korea is still stuck somewhere in the mid 1990’s.” So what’s the right word to use that combines bitchy and propaganda?
Photo of Pyongyang showing the “stark differences” between rich and poor in the city. While the rich live in the tall, “shoddily constructed” buildings, others choose to live in the surrounding area in dirt floor huts. They get dirt floors? Really? While American homeless are sleeping on concrete in their flimsy tents in downtown cities? So unfair!
Children as young as 5 are given toy pistols to play with. They’re going to raise fragile children that way, kids who feel devastated and unsafe if someone in their vicinity says something they disagree with. The U.S. is tougher than that! I heard the NRA is currently petitioning Congress (or else paying the representatives they own) to allow 5 year olds to buy their own AR-15’s. They do add however “Aside from artillery and North Korean history, children are also taught how to sing, dance, and ride bicycles during the school day.” What happened to math and reading? Are they trying to copy the U.S.? Bad idea!
“An annual hot dog eating contest is held during the Magnificent Bounty Harvest Festival. The only catch is that participants don’t actually eat the hot dogs to win a prize; they fight in hand to hand combat and a hot dog, accompanied by a cold Pepsi, is the actual prize in itself.” Don’t repeat this if you don’t want some enterprising American to actually initiate such a contest. And considering what I know of some Americans, they’ll have contestants lined up!
Women working in an office with the caption that women with 3 or more children work 6 hours a day, with less they work a full 8 hours. This will shock and horrify all Americans, but North Korean women are paid less than North Korean men, proving as though it needed proving, that misogyny is a genuine global epidemic. Of course in the U.S., women are only paid less if they’re biological women.
July and August is Monsoon season in North Korea and has been the cause of massive flooding. We’re informed that it is no doubt a direct effect of deforestation throughout the countryside. The U.S. could, for once, be a friend and provide assistance with this problem to North Korea. Or perhaps not. With our help, their flooding season will probably expand by at least two months. Funny how The Men Who Think They’re God keep making everything worse, never noticing that all but themselves see them as a bombastic cross between Nowhere Men and Blue Meanies while remaining legends in their own toxic minds.
Now a picture of a fabulous picnic including tons of sushi and bottles of rice wine in celebration of the annual Day of the Sun national holiday. So I guess they give up the grass soup for the day. Anthony Fauci would not like this. He’s strictly an anti-Sun kind of guy. He heard it does free what his promoted jabs don’t do at all, heal people. So until they’re finishing their idea for either finding a way to patent the sun or at least create a fake, far superior gmo sun, he wants the sun shunned.
Then once again the countryside, the starving masses and the grass and shrub cookbook. All because they use 1700’s agricultural techniques. But how about this? Bill Gates donates all that land he plans to hire others to poison for him to about 100 farmers on which to practice regenerative farming techniques. Probably in some ways closer to 1700 than 2023, which can only be a good. At present we have a system in which Big Ag poisons us with toxic produce, then sends us off to their other branch, Big Pharma to finish the job.
While not an advocate of North Korea, I reminded myself that nothing should be taken at face value, especially anything you’re told by the U.S. government. If we were to have a global contest concerning who has the worst leaders, who are the most inept and the most corrupt who would win - or should I say lose? There’d be too many contestants, but the U.S. might just win if only on the basis that it has the most impact on the world. From the little that can be sifted out as clues to the reality of North Korea, it sounds to me like exactly what the Demonic Dozen, the megalomaniacs who are, not theoretically, but factually involved in a conspiracy to take over control of the entire world are envisioning for us.
I know ultimately the North Koreans will find a way to free themselves from Kim Jong-Un. I just don’t think it’s the job of the U.S. to do so anymore than we have any real reason to be in the Ukraine. Our purpose there is obvious, to defeat all opposition to creating global fascism which is why I hope for all our sakes for a Russian win, while also hoping it’s not all a big masquerade being performed by both sides as a cat and mouse game to keep us confused and disjointed as to their real agenda. I just don’t want the final scene to be the U.S. and Russia, with big “we put it over on you” grins, coming out on stage arm in arm for their bows. Seems like it’s all theater these days and for quite a long time now. The United States commits acts of atrocity behind a facade of democracy, or rather demockracy and each time too many of us accept it as truth.
Since WW2 the U. S. has been involved in close to 100 - that we know about - interventions, coups, wars. When does support for the U.S. actions by Americans stop being patriotic and start revealing working class nationalists as fools and chumps or just blinded by idealism or perhaps patriotism? These people need to be reminded of Mark Twain’s comment: “Love your country always, your government when it deserves it”. Each and every time, they tell the same lies, only the cast of characters changes. One day it’s Saddam Hussein whose killing his people and it’s up to the brave and true heroes of Amerika to ride their white horses, uninvited and unwelcome, into Iraq to kill the bad guy, and oh yes, the million or so Iraqis who became “collateral damage”. Gaddafi was “killing his people” - that once more, was our job, as we are now spouting the same stale bullshit in Syria while justifying the theft of their oil. If we really invaded countries because they were “killing their people”, the U.S. would have long since had to invade and overthrow America. We have the worst record by far of killing our citizens than any other western nation. We’d have long since destroyed Kim Jong-Un, and, incidentally, at least a million North Koreans in the way of someone’s greed masquerading as compassion except that North Korea has nuclear weapons. The U.S. has a strict policy - we only fight those we assume can’t fight back.
We’ve passed such stringent civil forfeiture laws in the U.S. that people now lose more money through civil forfeiture than through burglary. Why doesn’t this apply to criminal billionaires and their gangster-run corporations? What a boon that would be. The problem for me at least is that while I feel sad for people in other countries who have less than ideal governments, the only one I really care about changing is the one I live in. At least for now. Where is Tom Paine when we most need him?
Thanks for reading Trapped in Sparta Newsletter! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
In the wholesome game titled "Doom Eternal": "You will take control of the Doomguy, also known as the Slayer, Doom Slayer or Doom Marine..."
Here is another charming game "Death Loop" where "you take control of an assassin who is stuck in a time loop, and the only way to break the time loop is to assassinate 8 targets before midnight."
Personally, I'd rather bowl with some North Koreans.
I got a destructive virus in my COMPUTER, so from the library, I'm just letting you know that I'm not able to do much until I get it all figured out. (Tooo much email!)
Great article, thanks. As for the North Koreans stuck bowling "like in the 1990s"
Look what they are missing out on that our American youth are apparently enjoying - https://gamersdecide.com/articles/most-violent-fps-games
In the wholesome game titled "Doom Eternal": "You will take control of the Doomguy, also known as the Slayer, Doom Slayer or Doom Marine..."
Here is another charming game "Death Loop" where "you take control of an assassin who is stuck in a time loop, and the only way to break the time loop is to assassinate 8 targets before midnight."
Personally, I'd rather bowl with some North Koreans.
Saving this for later, but FYI
I got a destructive virus in my COMPUTER, so from the library, I'm just letting you know that I'm not able to do much until I get it all figured out. (Tooo much email!)
Cheers. I'll be back!