Godhood and Brainwashing: Only in North Korea?

 This is the image I was referring to in my first post. Notice how the power grid shows South Korea as shining with lights, the largest from Seoul. North Korea by contrast has hardly any light at all. The only determinable light is from Pyongyang.

However, this image also aides my observation after seeing the national geographic film today about the "truth" of North Korea. North Korea has existed in a state of armed alert for exactly 60 years following the "end" of the Korean War. Because of this, there is a unity among the people that I found similar to the unity that gripped the U.S. following 9/11. To our Western mind, the people seem brainwashed, and everything appears staged or monitored extensively by the government. Yet, is this any different to the attitude of Americans or our government following 9/11 and the years that followed?

North Koreans believe in their Great Leader as the only thing that has kept them alive these 60 years. This has raised him to the statues of almost a deity. Within the homes we have seen mostly images of Kim II Sung and his son. Their images are everywhere. This Great Leader has kept the colonial power of America and Japan out of its country, while observing sadly that South Korea is subjected these same powers.

What is most striking about the film is how Kim II Sung is called "mystical." Think about it. Would FDR, if he were in the situation that Kim II Sung was in, if America was invaded and colonized, would this have raised FDR to almost godlike proportions in Americans minds? The possibility is there.

Yet, when the family in the film is asked if their Great Leader can do any wrong, the family is baffled or don't understand the question, as if the very idea is heresy. Because lets face it, it is. To North Koreans the Cold War and the Korean War never ended. The above picture testifies to this. They are still fighting for their survival against a much larger and stronger foe. Yet, now it is a battle of ideologies and not arms. But if it came to arms you could be sure North Korea would come out swinging.