North Korean defector says 'even North Korea was not this nuts'

North Korean defector says 'even North Korea was not this nuts'(foxnews.com)

5 points by gpetukhov 4 years ago | 4 comments

uniqueid 4 years ago |

Is this satire? I refuse to believe there is an audience of people willing to take seriously an essay which compares Columbia University to North Korea.

inglor_cz 4 years ago | |

As a child of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, looking at the public shaming campaigns like this:

https://reason.com/2020/12/28/new-york-times-racial-slur-tee...

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/sdge-worker-fired-ove...

makes me wonder if social networks combined with the spread of recording devices managed to build a new kind of tyranny - a chaotic, distributed, unevenly enforced one. No secret police needed, just a bunch of people who patrol the Internet and look for the next outrage material. And a "Share" button to get the snowball rolling.

This new chaotic evil is neither as powerful as the Communist party was, nor as systematic in its activity. Its legal options are fairly limited. But it wields an absolutely terrifying power over reputations, whose value has grown with the connected age, and does not have even a travesty of a trial, it just crushes the victim.

Our civilization will have to develop a thick skin, unless we want to teach our young that they better be silent at all times - because who knows what ordinary remarks of 2021 will be beyond the pale in 2025 or 2030.

imwillofficial 4 years ago | |

Have you been to North Korea? I haven’t. I’ll listen to the person that has first hand info over you.

uniqueid 4 years ago | | |

To each their own. To me, the comparison is too ridiculous to entertain but granted I have never been to North Korea. In any event I have no illusions that I can change anyone's mind about anything online.