I’m sorry, but I’m not supporting a possible war because a dumb privileged Kid decided it would be cool to go to North Korea of all places and mess around there. I’m not saying he deserved what happened or the punishment was anywhere fair, but it’s North Korea. It’s like playing russian roulette, it’s unfortunate but it’s a real consequence of doing something like that in a country like North Korea. Harsh, but it’s not like he was there for humanitarian reasons like other American captives, his dad was quoted saying “I’m proud of Otto and the courage he showed by going to North Korea and having that adventurous side to him.”
Sorry, he wasn’t courageous or adventurous, he was foolish. Forget this kid. Sucks he had to find out life has some real harsh consequences with his life. But thats the reality of things.
It’s almost as if a transgender woman went to the capital of Saudi Arabia, got naked in the main square and started protesting for LGBT right. There are some things that you just shouldn’t do.
Of course there’s a loop of:“No one should die like that, but if you steal something in North Korea you kinda have to expect it, but no one should die like that, but if you don’t go to North Korea etc etc”.
I can understand a kid/young adult making dumb decisions, but the parents being like:“Oh you want to go North Korea? Sure, no problem, all cultures are beautiful!”, that’s outside of my comprehension.
And even IF it was safe, knowing that the money goes in the pockets of a government that starves his own people should be a good enough deterrent to keep it off the wishlist.
The deep state wants some excuse to go to war with North Korea. Wouldn’t surprise me if they seized on this as an opportunity.
American college students tend to be stupid (especially with the Marxist crap they are fed). I wouldn’t be surprised if he believed that the communists in North Korea were his friends. Plus American college students do stupid stuff. I can easily picture him ripping the poster down thinking it would be “cool” to have it in his room. Lack of discipline in American culture and ignorance of how things really are in the world leads to to this kind of thing.
ummm, isn’t it the universities job to explain Marxism? Along with other economic theories like Keynesian economics? Leave it to someone to bring political sidings into this
i also can’t understand the motivation for having a holiday to north korea. its like the same type of people who eat dog whilst travelling just to because its an ‘exotic’ and ‘adventurous’ thing to do.
that said getting your brains bashed in is a pretty steep way to pay for such a mistake.
The only topic of the first year of any school/institution that teaches economics or politics should be Solzenicyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago”. Students who understand it are then allowed to proceed further in their studies. But we’re going off topic.
The first thing we learn was wealth of nation and Keynesian economics in Econ. That was like 5 years ago. So idk where he’s getting that college kids are forced feed Marxism. The only time we learned Marxism was more in the historical context along with Maoism and Stalinism etc.
Most people I know who have been to North Korea wanted to find out by their own means, meaning head-ears-eyes, what is really going on. To get the big picture instead of just the One Feed. It is difficult, though, as “tourism” per se is not free. You cannot ask, you cannot go beyond the route. yet, most of what permeates gives people a bit of a better understanding of the trials people there go through, with just a glimpse. Of course, the ones who already drank the kool aid or who admire the power exerted and would love to export that to use as their own come back untouched. Others just do not have the mental ability to discern. Like going to China and saying it is capitalistic paradise. Or even going to Japan, or Taiwan, without witnessing some social foul up and end up having doubts as to how “wonderful” these “perfect” societies are. Heck, when I was a child and saw the checkered racial barriers in US cities, I was shocked and dissapointed. It was not what had been publicized.
In Central America, we call situations like the one where the kid goes against the establishment as The Superman Syndrome: thinking your passport will stop bullets. It is as if they watched too much Rambo, too much Avatar, and believed the hype. However, one thing is to be a hero, the other to take on a cause without real effective action, or worse: endanger yourself and others for no other good reason than to show off. Moreover, to hummilliate people in their own house has serious consequences. especially in a place where they already despise people from certain places due to “historic” -propaganda- circunstances.
That said, it was really shitty of the Nortyh Koreans to mess up the kid like that. He did not know any better. He did not deserve to be waterboarded braindead, no matter if Guantanamo whatever. That does tell us that there is a lot of pressure on the Korean side, they are working themselves up to beat someone, and a whitie is a very tempting target.
Agree, he shouldn’t have gone there at all. At the same time, he didn’t deserve what happened to him. I wouldn’t lose any sleep if their leader was taken out. This story really resonated with me. Being a parent of adult kids, I know they do things they shouldn’t. I can’t imagine receiving a family member and especially one of my kids home in this condition.
I would not call this a mistake. I get that the parents are trying to make sense of this and find someone to blame but their boy and themselves for letting him go to North Korea. A mistake is going to North Korea. Stealing from North Korea is called being suicidal. It’s like if the kid asked him parents to go to Tijuana Mexico and he steals coke from the cartel. As brutal as the cartel is, it’s really on you for doing something so stupid.
Do you have kids? And do they always do what you tell them to? We don’t know if he stole anything or not. We only saw the forced confession and know that he came home in a coma with brain damage. I’m not saying he should have gone to North Korea, but I will say the world will be a much better place for many people in this world when Kim Jong-un is gone.
By Marxism, I am referring to the undercurrent in western universities that the west is bad, socialism is good. Maybe Cultural Marxism / SJW is a better term.
Since North Korea is officially a communist state, how can you not bring politics into it? There are some people who sincerely believe in communism and would go solely for the reason to support a communist state. Given that he is college student, it is possible he might have been like that, especially when his dad applauds him for going there.
There’s a video of him taking the propaganda banner. And if I have to tell my kid, which he isn’t even at the age of 21, not to steal from the North Korean regime, I’ve either failed as a parent or my child is just a dumbass.
I’ve had successes and made huge mistakes as a child. And none of them on the level of this. I think like 8000 Americans travel to North Korea a year. They get home just fine, but I’m not exactly feeling sorry for this guy. He’s 21 years old, now he’s caused a huge international incident for no reason. It’s not like he was there to help or humanitarian reasons. He just thought it’d be cool to go there and decided to steal from a government known to be ridiculously harsh.
They aren’t a true communist state and I doubt someone this stupid can began to understand Marxist ideals. He’s just a privileged kid who never faced real consequences until now.
I think naive is a better word. When I was in college, I didn’t know much about North Korea. After graduating, I started reading more history and paying more attention to current events. Then I got the knowledge that North Korea is crazy and it’s best to stay out of it.
I’ve technically been in North Korea, but only in the buildings in the DMZ. That is the furthest I will ever go into that country.
