The United States Versus North Korea
Actually I'm not sure we would win. Not that we don't outgun them, but that place is a lot like Afghanistan. Very mountainous and overflowing with patriotic fervor. I won't call them fanatics because they have good reasons for acting the way they do based on the information they have. But winning that war isn't really what this post is about.
Information about North Korea is hard to come by but I feel qualified to write about North Korea. I'm qualified because I spent years researching a novel about a Los Alamos nuclear scientist who gets abducted by North Korean commandos and brainwashed into helping them with their weapons - for a while at any rate. It's a great book and you'll come away not only knowing how nukes work (and why they are so hard to build) but why and how North Korea is the way that it is. And why our current policy never seems to work. Unfortunately you will never get to read it because the odds for a lowly FutbolGuru to catch the attention of a NY publisher are just a few zeros better than winning the lottery.
No, this post isn't about a matchup between the US and DPRK - the real name for North Korea is Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, BTW. Generally her citizens refer to their country as Choson. This post is about how the US and the DPRK are alike. Sometimes a comparison essay is far more illuminating than a contrast essay. And often more truthful.
Most essays about North Korea begin with pointing out how the KWP (the nominally communist Korean Workers Party) control everything. And they do. Lemmings, lemmings everywhere. If you aren't in the KWP you can forget it politically. But they are democratic as their name implies. Every leader is elected to office by the people. Of course there is ever only one candidate on the ballot, the party sanctioned KWP candidate. So when Kim Jong-il gets elected as Chairman of the Party, or head of the National Defense Commission, the ballot contains only his name.
As Americans we tend to laugh at this. But is our 'system' really much better. They get on party supplied candidate. We get two party supplied candidates. At best our electoral system is only twice as good. Especially when it produces candidates like Walter Mondale, Bob Dole, Jimmy Carter, and John McCain. The occasional independent candidate is pilloried in the press by both sides. They have one party, we have two. As far as our political system is concerned, we're only twice as good!
What about propaganda? North Korea believes it is the best country in the world. It calls itself the 'workers paradise.' That title is a laughable joke at best. Conditions for workers are abysmal. Party members get better treatment but eve that depends on the depth of the famine. There are accounts of guards during the Pueblo Incident, standing in a utterly barren field, surrounded by denuded hills, loudly decrying the agricultural perfection of the Juche system. These people have actually come to believe their own propaganda! But are we really that much better?
In 1776 we shocked the world and invented something new. A free, democratic society. Over two hundred years later sees the world with many free, democratic societies. Yet we continue to loudly proclaim ourselves as the center of world freedom. In truth, our government regulates our society much more strictly than most other free nations. Only on the issue of gun control do we still have an argument, as if holding weapons are the sole determiner of freedom. In fact, among the western, industrialized nations, the only nation that comes close to North Korea in sheer number of regulations and penetration of government into all facets of citizen life, is the United States! From my automobiles to the toilets in my house, from hiring practices at the company I work at to how I can build a house, every facet of my life falls under some degree of government regulation.
Literature, it is said, is both a reflection of, and the rudder of, society. North Korea understands this only too well. In North Korea artists are held in high esteem. They are trained by the state and spend their lives working for the state. Every nuance of their work is scripted and censored. The North Koreans understand that the way to control society is to inculcate them with ideology in a way they will understand. This is the single most effective means of shaping and maintaining the ideological bent of a society and they have been very good at it. Kim Jong-il himself was trained at Kim Il-sung University as a film maker and has directed numerous motion pictures. It was his first job. He even 'invented' a new form of Korean opera.
In America, despite the proclamations of various radio talk show hosts, there is virtually no state control of the media. It isn't needed. The media has known that literature shapes society from the start. Look at what comes out of Hollywood and New York. Little of this entertainment reflects traditional American values. Rather in most cases it denegrates traditional American values in favor of promulgating liberal views. In fact, it goes one step farther by using one of the key tactics used by North Korean propagandists - it makes fun of traditional American values. The North Koreas have known for a long time that if you want to discredit something, you make fun of it. Yes, they rant and rave about Americans, but mostly they just make fun of us. They call us stupid. They dress their circus clowns as bumbling G.I.s. Very similar to the way Hollywood portrays anyone who doesn't agree with their viewpoint.
Unfortunately, especially for people such as myself, book publishing is little better than the film industry. Until you actually try to get a book published you might not realize that the entire industry is controlled by a tiny, select group of gatekeepers called literary agents. Most people who become literary agents do so because they have connections to the publishing industry and no other real talents - the same way KPW Cadres in North Korea become Party officials. Agents choose work based on whether or not it appeals to their sensibilities. Money is secondary. Just like a KWP censor. A quick Google search on 'Literary Agents" will give you an excellent indication of what is being published, and what isn't. Oh, and probably 99% of agents operate from New York City. Is there a relationship between the kind of material being censored out of publication and the fact that publishers and booksellers are getting killed? Does the industry have the ability to self-assess?
Central economic planning? They have it. Now we have it, too. Direct control of major industrues? Yes and yes. Direct control of banking? Can you say, bailout. Both nations are fixated on nuclear weapons. Both nations are fixated on missiles. Oh, and here's a few interesting questions: What two nations spend the largest percentage of their GDP on their military?* What two nations have the most men under arms?** What two nations have the fewest political parties?***
Control of political parties. Control of manufacturing, banking, and the economy. Control of literature, the press, and entertainment. Irrespective of who is doing the control, whether it be a central government or a congolomeration of unrelated entities, it is still is pretty much everything you need to maintain a society in a desired state. This is what the North Koreans do. This is what we do.
There are differences beteen the US and the DPRK of course. To imply there isn't would be ludicrous and a lie. But there are also curious similarties. And to imply the huge differences between our nations is entirely due to government would be disingenuous. Our nation was huge and filled with natural resources free for the taking (after we killed all the indigenous peoples.) North Korea only received independence after World War II, and five years after that was bombed into the Stone Age. Not that they didn't deserve it, but they are to a large degree a product of their initial conditions. And they didn't chose the best of friends. Still, it is important to recognize these differences if only to try to correct those problems that we do have here. Problems that arise, for the most part, from our similarities with a totalitarian state. Sadly, it is these similarities that will prevent a true self-assessment and, if history is any guide, only grow worse over time.
*US and DPRK.
**US and DPRK
*** US - 2; DPRK - 1
-Futbol Guru, http://mises.org/community/blogs/not-a-lemming