On modern day concentration camps and North Korea

Continuing on the theme of slightly depressing and cheerless things that's been going on for the past few days, I spent the morning reading about North Korea and watching Camp 14, the movie about Shin Donghyuk, the man who was born in a North Korean forced labour camp and is the only one to have known to have escaped and survived to tell the world about it.

 It's pretty damn terrifying to think what people can do to each other in such a systematic way. Humanity and compassion are completely removed until only the shell of people remain. What I felt particularly sad about was how when contemplating escape, the one thing he seemed to desire the most was food - cooked chicken or meat. Not wanting to be free, or fearing death or punishment - chicken. It just drove home how completely primal existance in such places is, and it makes me sad in a really profound sense. Hearing that he wants to return to the camp to live where he was born just breaks my heart. How can people mess each other up like this? How can they ever justify taking every liberty from a person like that?

I try imagining what it would be like if Sweden would be like North Korea. Suddenly Norrland is under a dictatorship where they put people in forced labour camps and starve them, keep threatening the south with war and perform nuclear launch tests in the name of their new ruler's grandfather. I wouldn't be able to see my sister and her family, or really know if she was alive or dead. Anyone trying to escape south would most likely be shot at the heavily fortified border that would probably run somewhere near Gävle. It's a terrifying thought, yet it's pretty much exactly what happened on the Korean peninsula, and where that situation used to feel really far away and foreign, it feels distinctly real and very serious now. All those young guys doing military service along the north-south border must be frightened senseless at the thought of the constant war that's been going on since the 50's. Hell, I'm concerned now and I'm nowhere near North Korea.

Seeing Shin Donghyuk in this video holding a presentation shows how tiny and frail-looking he is. Imagining as many as 200 000 other people in his situation is just mind-boggling. Pony wonders at my ability to watch depressing things without being all that deeply affected by it. I mean, obviously I'm affected by things like everyone else, but not to the degree of someone who's more emotional in their response, like Pony is. Horrible, sobering things are good sometimes, I think. I feel more aware and informed, and while watching these videos haven't done anything concrete about the situation, knowing there's even a situation at all is a step in the right direction.

So sorry, silent readers, for the less than humorous post today. Things got a little bit more serious than I'd intended, but rest assured that I'll be back to my frivolous self-centered posting like usual real soon.