It is written in the official Communist Dictator Handbook that when a leader dies he must be laid out like a meat-and-cold-cuts tray at a regional sales conference. Today mourners paid respects to Kim Jong il’s dead body.
Say what you will about despotic, repressive police states, but they can sure as Hell lay out a state funeral, knowhutimean? Now that late North Korean (not-so-benevolent) dictator Kim Jong-il is debating whether to pick up the soap off the shower floor in Hell, the faux grief is in full flower. Man, you’d think the Dear Leader had died or something.
Wait…it WAS the Dear Leader that died? Damn…is it just me, or is it just plain weird that North Koreans can muster such impressive displays of grief over a man who was happy to let them eat grass? Are North Koreans just that heavily propagandized…or do they fear for their safety if they refuse to emote sufficiently and believably when commanded to do so?
As if the Hermit Kingdom wasn’t dangerously unstable and unpredictable on a good day prior to Kim’s demise, now the international community gets to figure out what makes 27-year-old “Great Successor” Kim Jong Un tick. Judging by what few pictures are available, the kid should probably start by skipping a few trips through the buffet line. Interesting that, in a country where so many are starving, the “Great Successor” looks as if he’s never missed a meal in his life….
I imagine that we probably shouldn’t be too concerned about things changing very much in Pyongyang. The North Korean military will still come first, the country’s burgeoning nuclear weapons program won’t be far behind…and the North Korean people will still be eating grass and shoe leather. If you think I’m kidding, consider that an analysis of North Korean defectors has determined that the average North Korean is a full TWO INCHES shorter than their counterparts in South Korea. It would seem that most North Koreans are shopping at Malnutrition ‘R’ Us.
Let them eat ICBMs….
