Real life "1984" style media editing

[yakherder]

For those who have not read the book "1984," the main character of the book was basically a government worker whose job was to write articles and even rewrite previously written articles, which would replace the ones in the archives, when it was necessary to do so to change the perception or even the memory of the readers. In other words, change all media associated with an event and, assuming you have a populace who has been trained to trust that media more than their own memory, you can control the perceived past. This was so effective that even the guy writing the articles was able to convince himself that the lies he told were true.

That said, this out of North Korea:
http://www.nknews.org/2013/12/kcna-deletes-and-edits-jang-song-thaek-articles-en-masse/
(Edit: For those not following, Jang Song Thaek, the guy mentioned in this article, was just recently executed.)

North Korea’s state media outlet Korea Central News Agency has deleted every single article about Jang Song Thaek from their website database and edited his name out of all other articles mentioning him.

In total, 10-15 articles on Jang were deleted, with approximately 500 other articles mentioning Jang’s name edited to remove Jang’s name specifically.

“The scale of what they’re attempting to do here is unprecedented. North Korea ‘s websites are somewhat of an unknown quantity, and nothing on this scale has been detected before,” said Frank Feinstein, a New Zealand based computing specialist that tracks North Korean media output for NK News’s KCNA Watch.

“They’re attempting to write not just Jang, but several other elites, right out of the history books,” Feinstein added.
...

 

[Calliegirl]

They've also removed him from a documentary they made.
http://www.theguardian.com/global/g...vanishes-from-documentary-footage-in-pictures

 

[Mischief]

I was just commenting to a friend yesterday evening that the populace of North Korea is so brainwashed and so isolated from the rest of the world that it might take generations for any kind of *normal* society to develop even if the current regime went up in a puff of smoke one day.

 

[Dedalus]

That is some scary ****. I find it difficult to imagine how anyone living in this kind of environment can ever rest easy with their place in life when the slightest slip up can erase you from existence.

 

[Envy]

Soviet Russia all over again.

 

[FortyTwo]

Wow. It was bad enough the guy was killed. Now they're trying to delete him from history?

I admit that when someone draws comparisons to 1984 I usually roll my eyes simply because of how extreme that book was, but this is seriously very reminiscent of it.

 

[SummerRain]

Soviet Russia all over again.

Yeah I've seen similar collections of images/etc from Soviet Russia. It's pretty scary. Especially as people tend to see photos/videos as proof of things, it's pretty scary that you can doctor things that people readily accept as fact/truth/proof.

 

[yakherder]

In regards to similarities to Soviet Russia, I wonder how much the difference in status will play compared to them. Soviet Russia was a global military superpower. China is a global economic superpower. In these two cases, they are forced to remain somewhat accountable to the judgement of the countries on which they depend. North Korea, on the other hand, is a global annoyance with no concern for accountability. Much of the world already enforces strict economic sanctions, and no one outside of their own borders has any delusions as to their intents. This gives them (the leadership) nothing to lose. At this point it seems like their only plan for achieving some leverage in world affairs lies in becoming a nuclear threat while maintaining complete control of their enslaved population. The only allies they seem to be trying to gain are the ones who happen to be (perceived to be) against us, such as Iran and certain African countries, so I guess they could conceivably become more of a military/economic concern in the not so distant future. The building up of alliances between nations with conflicting interests is, historically, not a good omen. If their system's gonna break, I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

I kind of jumped around a bit there, but random thoughts are coming to me while I type

 

[Kitties]

I was just commenting to a friend yesterday evening that the populace of North Korea is so brainwashed and so isolated from the rest of the world that it might take generations for any kind of *normal* society to develop even if the current regime went up in a puff of smoke one day.

I can agree with this to a point but I think the same could have been said about East Germany and the rest of the Eastern block. I think though that North Korea is probably more isolated. At least in the east they could travel within the countries and older people on pension could even leave to go to the west on trips. I'm wondering if North Korea can get any TV from the outside. If most may even have a TV. I don't know if people in North Korea can get mail form outside. It does seem they are incredibly isolated and controlled.

I think though, once free, people are very resilient. Grateful for my freedom.

 

[yakherder]

Some of the elite are allowed access to internet and outside programming. The vast majority are allowed access only to state media. North Korea even has its own intranet which those who can afford smartphones can access.

 

[Blobbenstein]

They probably have their own cat thing.

 

[ledboots]

Lol!

 

[das_nut]

I can agree with this to a point but I think the same could have been said about East Germany and the rest of the Eastern block. I think though that North Korea is probably more isolated. At least in the east they could travel within the countries and older people on pension could even leave to go to the west on trips. I'm wondering if North Korea can get any TV from the outside. If most may even have a TV. I don't know if people in North Korea can get mail form outside. It does seem they are incredibly isolated and controlled.

As far as I know, if you have a TV, it must be on, and it shows the same programming.

NK / SK is like GDR / BRD on steroids. The people are much more isolated in NK than GDR, the economy is far worse in NK than GDR (GDR really didn't have the mass famines or malnutrition that seems to plague NK), and population wise, NK is a far greater percent of SK's population than GDR was of BRD's.

Reunification is a mess.

I have read that some "outside" access sneaks over from the PRC. Not entirely unfiltered, of course (Great Firewall), but far more freedom than most NKs are used to. Assuming they can get access to a cell phone on a PRC carrier.

 

[Second Summer]

I believe I've read news articles pontificating whether the surrounding countries really would want the NK regime to fall, as the reunification process would be so messy and costly, it just wouldn't be worth it. NK is 10 times, if not a 100 or worse, more messed up than the DDR and any of the Warsawa pact countries ever were.

 

[das_nut]

I believe I've read news articles pontificating whether the surrounding countries really would want the NK regime to fall, as the reunification process would be so messy and costly, it just wouldn't be worth it. NK is 10 times, if not a 100 or worse, more messed up than the DDR and any of the Warsawa pact countries ever were.

I think SK has some reunification plans they considered, but yep, it boils down to "we're screwed".

 

[Mischief]

NK is 10 times, if not a 100 or worse, more messed up than the DDR and any of the Warsawa pact countries ever were.

Yes, and I think that would make reunification, or just emerging from its current extremely repressive regime into something more normal, an extremely difficult process.

 

[yakherder]

Even under ideal circumstances (i.e. reunification goes smoothly, which it wouldn't), China naturally perceives the idea of reunification as a strategic threat. China has spent most of the last century trying to surround itself with countries and regions not under someone else's direct influence. Mongolia, Tibet, regaining control of Hong Kong, the ongoing issues with Taiwan, and of course that was one of China's major reasons for getting involved in the wars in Korea and Vietnam in the first place. A so called Democratic victory in either case would have resulted in a western stronghold right at China's doorstep. A screwed up country like North Korea works better than any giant wall ever could. A reunification headed by a U.S. backed South Korea would rip a gaping hole in that proverbial armor, and the collapse would have the potential of forcing millions of starving, brainwashed, and in many cases drug addicted refugees right into that hole. Believe that China will do everything it can to prevent this from happening. North Korea, as it has been for most of the last 50 years, is a critical component of China's defensive strategy.

This might sound crazy to people more optimistic than myself, but I honestly believe that the best chance for a successful reunification lies in a Chinese led annexation of North Korea and subsequent handover to South Korea for rebuilding and restructuring. Given the nature of North Korean relations with China, I don't think even the most loyal North Koreans would put up much of a fight against China. The idea of facing either the U.S. and SK on one side or China on the other would stamp out their will a lot faster than facing U.S. and SK under the delusion that China is still their ally. Most of them are looking for a way out anyway, but don't trust western intentions.

 

[Mischief]

It's interesting that China appears to be starting to denounce the manner in which Jang was executed. (He and five associates were supposedly fed alive to starving dogs while the supreme leader and 300 senior officials watched. The process took an hour.)

 

[yakherder]

I'd be skeptical as to the legitimacy of some of these stories if they hadn't released a video last time they performed an execution via hungry dogs.

 

[Mischief]

I found it interesting that the story first appeared in a Beijing-controlled newspaper.