the great divide between east and west has resurfaced yet again - in the form of North Korea and its nuclear tests. well, at least it's not the (far from passé) battle between muslim fundamentalism and western values, although the disparity is never far from socio-cultural differences.
as the world waits on bated breath, obedient men and women dressed in army green goosestep on parade squares while the camera pans on a landscape featuring kim il sung's face on excessively large posters and kim jung il's sculpture. oh, don't forget those of lenin. seemingly living in a bubble world based on utopia, it is far from it and paradoxically, reality itself.
however, if we consider most of asia, each country is grapling with its own definitions of culture, traditions, globalisation and the west. purity of race and culture is perhaps becoming a museum exhibit while the world races to preserve physical structures of it as a reminder.
perhaps the irony of defiance and preserving culture (and thus, ethnicity) is somewhat baffling in a socialist country.
all the more it grabs my attention. it's a textbook case study.
as the world waits on bated breath, obedient men and women dressed in army green goosestep on parade squares while the camera pans on a landscape featuring kim il sung's face on excessively large posters and kim jung il's sculpture. oh, don't forget those of lenin. seemingly living in a bubble world based on utopia, it is far from it and paradoxically, reality itself.
however, if we consider most of asia, each country is grapling with its own definitions of culture, traditions, globalisation and the west. purity of race and culture is perhaps becoming a museum exhibit while the world races to preserve physical structures of it as a reminder.
perhaps the irony of defiance and preserving culture (and thus, ethnicity) is somewhat baffling in a socialist country.
all the more it grabs my attention. it's a textbook case study.
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