Propaganda
Ok, now this was probably a pretty stressful meeting, eh? I’m glad it seems to have worked out between the Japanese and the North Koreans. This round, anyway.
I mean if you know anything about Japanese-North Korean history you’ll realize right away that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and North Korea’s Kim Jong Il are not really on speaking terms these days. The recent hostage bit in this story is really bizarre, but what can you expect from Kim. His actions speak for themselves. He’s nuts. The larger issue, however, is the, ah, hundred years or so of tension, colonialism, and war between the two nations. It’s not a pretty past.
I was in Japan last year visiting the family (my wife’s family … I’m American), and I saw North Korean images on the television that reminded me of the old WWII and Cold War images I’ve seen from Nazi German and Communist Soviet Union. You know, the stuff where they poor thousands of troops into the streets marching and driving trucks loaded with intercontinental ballistic missiles … all parading past a podium of rather old, senile-looking leaders holding their arms out stiff.
Anyway, I was having dinner one nite with everyone. They had the TV on and were chatting away. In Japanese, of course, so I was left to listen and flip through the channels. (My wife couldn’t translate for me because she was home in San Francisco). I love listening to Japanese, so I was fine. No one was paying attention to the TV except for me. I watched some of the Yankee game and flipped around a little and then was stuck like glue on some North Korean military parade. It was massive. And organized. The speeches were Hitler- and Stalin-like. The staging was typical Nazi and Soviet Union. Grand. Only this was in color, and I’m used to seeing this stuff in black and white on the history channel. It took me a few moments to realize that these guys did this dopey parade this very morning and it took place just a few hundred miles away across the Sea of Japan. I was in Iyama City, just outside Nagano. When I turned the sound up, everyone immediately stopped talking and just looked at the TV. They all looked deeply concerned. My sister-in-law’s husband looked at me and quietly whispered in broken English, "Propaganda." They, too, seemed glued to the TV now. For very different reasons, I’m sure. We went back to the Yankee game and all was well.
However, I can’t get that image out of my mind. It was just so dumb and simple. Yet the thousands of North Koreans in the streets seemed to be buying it, and the Japanese were clearly upset. I guess it hit me because I was in the proximity of the bombs. Also, I’m used to a more sophisticated, more modern form of propaganda practiced here in the states and throughout the western world. We’ve learned a great deal, I suppose. But our propaganda is not necessarily more effective than theirs. Propaganda is propaganda. It works everywhere.
