Thursday, December 22, 2011

Kind of like a waiting room, with the teevee tuned to FoxNews

On my first trip to North Korea in 1989, I made a nuisance of myself by randomly barging into private homes. I wanted to see how ordinary North Koreans actually live, and people were startled but hospitable.

The most surprising thing I found was The Loudspeaker affixed to a wall in each home. The Loudspeaker is like a radio but without a dial or off switch. In the morning, it awakens the household with propaganda. (In his first golf outing, Comrade Kim Jong-il shoots five holes-in-one!) It blares like that all day.

(source)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like 1984 - wasn't there a speaker in Winston's Room?

bjkeefe said...

That sounds familiar, yes. Also a camera.

I think we've long since achieved that latter state, sadly. Especially after 2001.

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