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<blockquote data-quote="Scoundrel" data-source="post: 933763" data-attributes="member: 8823">RE: N.Korea: US student cries &amp; admits to being &quot;severe criminal&quot; during...You could just as easily ask: If Warmbier did in fact commit this relatively minor &quot;crime,&quot; why would the NK government sentence him to such outrageously harsh punishment?The answer to both questions is: Nothing about this is supposed to make sense. This is a show of force, intended to strike (or reinforce) fear in people.In the clip with Henry Rollins I posted above, Rollins sums up his impression of NK as &quot;poor people who are scared of their government.&quot; He likely understates the case.If you haven&#039;t already, I urge you to watch the &quot;press conference&quot; with Warmbier. It is Orwell&#039;s 1984 come to life:[MEDIA=youtube]dCZvgY1NGXU[/MEDIA]At 12:30, after concluding his prepared speech, Warmbier takes &quot;questions&quot; from reporters. His responses are obviously scripted and memorized, written by someone who is both completely committed to the NK regime, and not especially proficient in English.Incredibly, there seems to be no written transcripts of this &quot;press conference&quot; online. Here then is Warmbier&#039;s response to the first question he is asked, about why the Friendship United Methodist Church assigned him the task of stealing the poster:Does anyone really believe these are the extemporaneous words of an American college student? Do the North Koreans?To us, it can seem ludicrous and bizarre, impossible to take seriously. But to those who have grown up with this kind of relentless propaganda, it&#039;s one more instance of an omnipotent State flexing its muscle, and announcing itself as the ultimate authority.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scoundrel, post: 933763, member: 8823"] [b]RE: N.Korea: US student cries & admits to being "severe criminal" during...[/b] You could just as easily ask: If Warmbier did in fact commit this relatively minor "crime," why would the NK government sentence him to such outrageously harsh punishment? The answer to both questions is: Nothing about this is supposed to make sense. This is a show of force, intended to strike (or reinforce) fear in people. In the clip with Henry Rollins I posted above, Rollins sums up his impression of NK as "poor people who are scared of their government." He likely understates the case. If you haven't already, I urge you to watch the "press conference" with Warmbier. It is Orwell's [i]1984[/i] come to life: [MEDIA=youtube]dCZvgY1NGXU[/MEDIA] At 12:30, after concluding his prepared speech, Warmbier takes "questions" from reporters. His responses are obviously scripted and memorized, written by someone who is both completely committed to the NK regime, and not especially proficient in English. Incredibly, there seems to be no written transcripts of this "press conference" online. Here then is Warmbier's response to the first question he is asked, about why the Friendship United Methodist Church assigned him the task of stealing the poster: Does anyone really believe these are the extemporaneous words of an American college student? Do the North Koreans? To us, it can seem ludicrous and bizarre, impossible to take seriously. But to those who have grown up with this kind of relentless propaganda, it's one more instance of an omnipotent State flexing its muscle, and announcing itself as the ultimate authority. [/QUOTE]

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