Read this excerpt from Der Spiegel entitled North Korea: Joyful Dancing

...Tuhe protests began on a cold February morning after the public execution of eight men, all managers at the Hwanghae Iron and Steel Works. Their crime? In an effort to provide food for the workers and their families, they sold parts of the factory to Chinese businessmen.

Even though many of Songrim's inhabitants were starving at the time, the attempt to circumvent the defunct public supply system to obtain food was considered sabotage and treason. The deal with wealthy comrades from the other side of the border was quickly exposed when Chinese grain freighters were seen openly unloading cargo designated for Songrim at the port of Nampo. When the bodies of the eight functionaries, including two Central Committee members, fell into the dust, a woman in the crowd yelled: "They did not try to enrich themselves, but to help the workers. Shooting them is brutal." The courageous woman was one of the town's most respected citizens. As a nurse working in an elite hospital in Pyongyang, she had even taken care of the country's leaders. But that didn't protect her. Three soldiers grabbed the woman and shot her on the spot. The crowd, deeply fearful and horrified, quickly dispersed. A few hours later, however, the factory's employees stopped working. The peaceful protest was short-lived. The next morning, tanks broke through the factory gates and mowed down the demonstrators. According to eyewitness reports, hundreds lost their lives. Several days later, dozens of suspected agitators were shot, and countless so-called counter-revolutionaries and their families were taken away to labor camps. ...

I read this whole article, and I can't quite explain the odd feeling I had in my mind. I cannot even begin to fathom living like this. The concept of being executed for speaking my mind is so absurd it doesn't seem real, yet things like this are still happening in the world.

I am lucky. I have the Internet at my fingertips. Information flows freely around me. I know more about what's going on in the world than many 3rd world people know about what is happening in their own country. It saddens me to no extent to see people deprived of this knowledge.

What angers me more are the idiot Americans who carp on about how the Bush Administration is oppressive or America is evil. I read things like this and realize just how much of a whiney group of children they are. Few Americans know what life is like without Freedom. I don't. I cannot even comprehend what it would be like. Even in Marine Corps Boot Camp I never felt anything of the sort as I knew what I was going through was temporary.

Americans should be thankful for what they have. Our biggest arguments seem to be what to do with our excesses. Read this story and be glad you don't live there.

Hat Tip - Dean