Although earlier in the week, Lauren commented how she was surprised that I, she who is all that is happy, chose such a depressing theme as Dictorships for my theme this week. All I can say is, I dunno people, it's the first thing that came to my head. I suppose I've been reading/watching a lot about Pakistan this week.
In any case, I will do my best in the following post to show you that behind (or rather, in front of) the crazy and egotistical tyranny of some of one of the world's meanest dictators is propaganda that makes him seem anything but (I do suppose that is the point of it in the first place).
Kim Jong Il 
This dude is nuts. He's the Dear Leader of North Korea who heads the 4th largest standing military in the world and is a gross violator of human rights. Besides his political insanity, he just seems like an overall weird kind of guy. Just take a look at this section of his wiki article:
"Like his father, Kim has a profound fear of flying, and has always traveled by private armored train for state visits to Russia and China. The BBC reported that Konstantin Pulikovsky, a Russian emissary who traveled with Kim across Russia by train, told reporters that Kim had live lobsters air-lifted to the train every day which he ate with silver chopsticks - historically used in the Chinese Imperial Palace in the belief that they would detect poison.[32][33]
Kim is said to be a fan of luxury cars and has been known for racing his cars at his palaces. Also Kim had spent $20,000,000 on importing 200 new Mercedes Benz S500 luxury sedans adding to North Korea's stock pile of 7,000 Mercedes. He is also said to be a fan of Cadillacs, Volkswagens, Toyotas, and Audis. Kim is said to be a huge film buff, owning a collection of more than 20,000 video tapes.[34] His reported favorites are the slasher films of the Friday The 13th film series, Rambo, the James Bond and Godzilla series, any movie with Elizabeth Taylor, and Hong Kong action movies.[35] He is the author of the book On the Art of the Cinema. In 1978, on the orders of Kim, South Korean film director Shin Sang-ok and his actress wife Choe Eun-hui were kidnapped in order to build a North Korean film industry.[36] In 2006 he was involved in the production of the Juche (self-reliance) based movie Diary of a Girl Student – depicting the life of a girl whose parents are scientists – with a KCNA news report stating that Kim "improved its script and guided its production".[37]
Kim reportedly enjoys basketball. Former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright ended her summit with Kim by presenting him with a basketball signed by NBA legend Michael Jordan.[38] Also an apparent golfer, North Korean state media reports that Kim routinely shoots three or four holes-in-one per round.[39] His official biography also claims Kim has composed six operas and enjoys staging elaborate musicals.[40] Kim also refers to himself as an Internet expert.[41]
Defectors claim that Kim has seventeen different palaces and residences, including a private resort near Mt. Paektu, a seaside lodge in the city of Wonsan, and a palace complex northeast of Pyongyang surrounded with multiple fence lines, bunkers, and anti-aircraft batteries."
I mean, take wiki for what it is, but I have heard from several sources that Mr. Kim is a big fan of musicals. And music. And propaganda.
Take these two videos, for instance:
Kind of creepy, right? Oh and who can forget his fabulous performance in Team America, World Police?
Ah, all in good fun, of course. See? Dictators can be shiny and happy too. Just don't say anything mean about them.
actually, when madeleine albright visited Kim, he entertained her w/ a musical he wrote himself. A few years ago, when now-former PM Koizumi visited N. Korea, Kim presented him w/ a gift as well-- a few dozen Japanese people he had kidnapped off the beaches of Japan some thirty years prior. One of the returned Japanese had since married a defected U.S. soldier, who had gone on to star as "the evil American" in a couple Hundred N. Korean movies (many written/directed by Kim Jong-Il).
Posted by: sally jesse | November 08, 2007 at 04:42 PM
I hope this guy gets shot
Posted by: Norrin Radd | May 07, 2008 at 11:49 PM