Monday, April 15, 2013

"Vice Guide" reflections and "The Peasant Question"

First, briefly comment on your reactions to "The Vice Guide to North Korea."  Pick a scene that you found compelling and explain how it connects to other themes of single party states that we have been discussing in class.

How do you see Mao's saying, "the only way to seize power is through a barrel of a gun" manifest itself in his treatment of the peasant population?  How is this similar or different from the experience in Soviet Russia?

14 comments:

  1. I think that manifesto was rather fitting for the way he handled his rise to power. HIs rule was rather similar to Soviet Russia's in that he did use force and wanted the same sort of communist policies, but Moa was much more public than Stalin about being willing to use violence. Mao was not just revered but feared in a way i don't think many in Russia feared Stalin.

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  2. I think the most interesting part of the documentary was when the documenter was the only one at the dining hall, but the waitresses put food out on the all the places. They then took the food after he was done and put it into containers that they used for the next night. This part really described how much poverty and deception is in North Korea. The deception lies in the act of trying to trick us into thinking that they treat everyone great. Clearly they knew that nobody else was coming, but they wanted to show the American that they had an abundance of food to serve if need be.

    Mao is notoriously known for running the Guomindang, which is known as "mostly communist-inspired-pauper-lumpen proletariat terror in the countryside" This fear of the Guomindang forced people to blindly follow Mao (or at least pretend they did). This is similar to the Gulag, but was more known by the world. Mao's terrible acts through the Guomindang was vastly more notorious than Stalin and the Gulag.

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  3. I thought that "the Vice Guide to North Korea" was absolutely insane. The first few videos where the masses of people walking in sync so militarily reminded me most of the extremely systematic and militaristic Nazi regime.

    As for the reading, I see many similarities with Russia and Mao. Similarities include their willingness to use violence in order to achieve an ultimate goal. Also, if I remember correctly, Stalin wanted to liquidate the landowning, rich kulaks in order to establish a more equal and communist society. I find Mao's method of creating a communist country very similar because he valued the idea of taking the large landowner's property away and redistributing it to the peasants.

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  4. I am still shocked at how strict North Korea is and how they want to keep intruders out. One scene in particular is when the man is on the ship and there is a video clip about Americans and how bad they are. I think North Korea brainwashes its citizens and looks for excuses to cause hatred towards other countries. I see Mao's saying as the prime example of the mindset of totalitarian leaders. This is what brainwashes people, such as peasants. The use of terror is similar to how some people were afraid to go against Stalin.

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  5. I really enjoyed "The Vice Guide To North Korea". I thought that with the current situation unraveling in North Korea, it was good to see a somewhat recent view of the troubled state. The video portrayed North Korea simultaneously as a country that does not make any sense but also a state that is very precise and disciplined.

    I think that the reason why the communists movement didn't really jump off for China was because they needed a role model to follow and that role model was Russia. The Chinese saw how Russia had Liquidated the Kulaks and gave their money to the lower class in order to redistribute the wealth. China did the same thing with the creation of the Communists party and giving the peasants the wealthy landowners wealth. Also, China followed the path of ruthlessness Russia had laid down. The way Mao would put his people into unnecessary danger is very simular to Stalin.

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  6. The Documentary was really surprising, primarily because i knew it was going to be bad, just not THAT bad. The indoctrination levels were through the roof. The 'Tea-Girl' and the mega-performance hit me the hardest. I started to get a grasp of just how much propaganda, false confidence, and in some cases just straight up lies were being told to the people. Also the 'electricity map' that Mikey showed me was dumbfounding. There were almost no sources of light all throughout N.K. except for Pyongyang and a few small nother anomalies which were most likely military outposts. Also i remember a line said in one of the N.K. propaganda videos that is the same as Mao's "the only way to seize power is through a barrel of a gun", i believe the N.K. version was something like 'Peace can only be found at the end of a bayonet' or something of the like. When i heard that line in the documentary i instantly thought of Mou.

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  7. North Korea and its people are very eerie, all in this weird trance that makes them do weird things. What really bothered me was the spy ship, with the people walking out looking like zombies. Peasants have little in their lives, other than, well, their lives. They dont own much so life is very fragile to them. When people legitimately threaten that, they quickly turn into sheep as a method of survival.

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  8. I thought the banquet scene was very striking. It showed that the north koreans refuse to admit they have food shortages, so they display a great amount of food only to take it back to save. It seems highly illogical, but from watvhing the film, I can appreciate just how bizarre north korea seems to us in the western world.

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  9. When the man said how much he hated the US I was taken aback. I knew they disliked us greatly, but to see it was a big difference than reading it. They don't realize how much humanitarian aid they're given from the US and how brainwashed they really are, it tragic if you think about it. About Mao I think that that explains some dictators pretty well, but you have Hitler who technically seized power legally. I think that in order to maintain power you have to used force, however for many dictators this quote is quite applicable.

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  10. I think that the most shocking thing from the video we watched yesterday was the dining hall scene. Where he was thinking, "Oh, wow there must be a big party today." Because of all the plates and meals that were being served to the tables. But then he began to realize that nobody is coming. It is only him in this room. I just got strange feeling from that.
    The quote, "the only way to seize power is through a barrel of a gun" in a way makes sense to me. Of course it isn't the only way to seize power, but it is a damn good way of maintaining it and making sure people do what they are told.

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  11. The film reminded me of Nazi Germany. I did not imagine the images to be so similar - the people walking so in sync immediately made me think of Naziism. Regarding the reading, I found there to be several similarities between the Russian and Chinese regimes. More specifically, the redistribution of wealth and land amongst the masses. Also, it seems like propaganda is readily used in both parties, along with Germany (obviously).

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  12. The scene in the Vice Guide to North Korea that stood out to me most was the staging of banquet halls, even when there was only one man in the restaurant. I think this relates to all single party states, because even though they claim to despise the Western world, they stage their rooms to make their country seem like a prosperous place, when in reality, their economic system is not effective enough to feed their population. The hypocrisy is what interested me most.

    Mao's statement is true, as most dictators need to carve a path to the top through violence. People would not support drastic governmental changes without the use of a fear tactic. Like Sydney said, both used violence, but Mao was open about his intent, while Stalin used the KGB to attack during the night.

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  13. All throughout the first pages, the author of this reading pictures extensively the violence that took place at that time in China. It is difficultto imagine what was going on in the people that did this to others in the nameof communism.
    Mao said that in a military China, you can only control the country through violence. In soviet Russia, this reflectsin the killing and robbing of the kulaks in order to abolish the upper class. Violence often seems to be the tool used by totalitairian leader to gain and keep power. The fear from a leader may be stronger than love or respectfor him.

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  14. The scene in the "The Vice Guide in North Korea" stood out to me the most is that the girls work in the restaurant and hotel, it may be just cause the exotic personality of the journalist, yet you could definitely see they are extremely board and nothing really going on in their life except to sacrifice their life to manifest the will of the single-party or their god like leader."the only way to seize power is through a barrel of a gun" from Mao sounds appealing to me, may be the barrel of a gun is not the only way, but a revolution could not be accomplished without military power.

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