This is a mirror post to one on my blog:

One's position has an enormous impact on the trainee. If the trainer detects even the slightest attitude of discontent by the trainee, then the person would be expelled from his/her position. The idea of being denied the honor of standing at Kim Il Sung Plaza after training day and night for 1 year is the worst thing that could happen to anyone.

[Be forewarned - I use a little colorful imagery near the end to drive home a point --- nothing too vulgar, but maybe to some...]

Something was already percolating in my head after watching hours and hours of footage on North Korea (with most of it being the same documentaries over and over) while I worked on the video edits for You Tube ---

- how do the mass games work in North Korean society?...

Reading this story from a North Korean defector, it started to click a little better ----- and it surprised me to think that North Korean society has mastered, in a twisted, sick, round about way, some of the hallmarks of a capitalist society ----

In a word, I am talking about: competition.

Rather odd for a Marxist/Leninist state, no?

The knock on capitalism by the communists and socialists has been in part that it is an immoral system in which the tools and benefits of life are gained through competition. Food, material goods, leisure time, and so on, are gained or lost in a "dog-eat-dog" world order where competition is increasingly between the have and have-nots.

This is what they mean when they talk about establishing a "classless" society...

We know that has been horseshit in every nation that has tried communism --- and we know it was horseshit in North Korea (though this guy's early comments in this article call that into question...).
We know in North Korea, people were classified in a complex system that measured -- not wealth --- but loyalty to the Kim Il Sung regime. At times, the system had a few dozen categories, in times of strong hardship, it was cut down to three...

And to jump to contemporary times, that is exactly what we see today in North Korea in the mass games and other spectacles:

The image to the right is a screen shot from the recent documentary Inside North Korea (which you can watch parts of on You Tube).

Time-after-time, every time one of these Korean adults regained their sight after an operation, they went forward to praise the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and thanked the current ruler who now likes to be called The General..

If you also watch the North Korean propaganda video(s) on You Tube called either Kim Jong Il Great General or Great Warrior (I forget which one it is), you will see Koreans in a parade going nuts crying out Kim Jong Il's name and waving their hands as they pass in front of him high up in the review stand.

Are they crazy?

No. This is, I'm starting to believe, North Korea's version of "capitalism" -------- these people are competing for resources...

It is one thing to understand that bad-mouthing a regime can lead to prison and/or torture. It is something different and unique to consider that social well-being depends on how much you cream your pants in public when offered the opportunity to praise the regime.

Also, lopping off the heads of people who were always loyal just because they might be gaining too much power and could be a problem IF they ever decided to be disloyal is another hallmark of a despotic regime, creating an environment in which those who do gain some power would be well-advised to demonstrate greater signs of loyalty if they want to keep their heads ----- but North Korea's regime has taken this norm and forced it way down the food chain too. In the past in many kingdoms, the royals were just happy if the piss ant peasants simply bowed their heads and didn't look directly at them, in North Korea, the regime demands hysterical signs of loyalty from all....which is highly unique...(I think)

In fact, in North Korea, since the Soviets cut it off economically, physical well-being for the masses is predicated in significant measure to how much you display your loyalty.

In some of the other documentaries you can find on You Tube, you see the children practicing for the mass games. They do so ---- ALL FREAKING YEAR LONG YEAR TO YEAR!!

You can notice from time to time the instructors and trainers jotting down notes as they watch. Why? ---- Again, competition.

...if you want to have the chance to honor the leader, you have to work harder than most people. If you want to be on one of the featured rows, you have to work harder than almost everybody else, and if you do get the chance to honor the leader, then maybe your family will get a few extra scoops of rice....

What a sick system...

Want to live in Pyongyang? The city where people are fed? Well, buck up and see if you can kiss Kim Jong Il's corn hole more deeply and with more sincerity than your neighbor...

It is both a competition to gain social standing as well as well-being/health. Trying to top your neighbor in praising the regime might be the difference between life and death in a year with a bad harvest. It is thus also a competition of fear....

...but fear comes in another, more traditional way as well: if you fail to look sincere enough or grateful enough, others might start keeping a closer eye on you and then you might end up in a prison camp after being ratted out by someone who wants to gain brownie points and get a few extra scoops of rice for themselves...

So, if you have to get hysterical just to keep from calling attention to yourself and maybe have someone lie about you and have your whole family sent to a death camp, why not be twice or three times as hysterical crying out praise for The General than the last poor ****ing fool who was unlucky enough to be born a North Korean...???....