Hollowed out human shells

Kim Jong-Il’s Legacy

By Jeff Harding

In one week we lose a champion of liberty, Václav Havel, and that champion of tyranny, Kim Jong-Il. We should not fail to notice that the common denominator was communism. There are other despotic non-communist regimes in the world, but none as totalitarian as the communists. Not even Iran or other Muslim states can claim to be as oppressive, unless you are a woman of course. But women in Islamic societies tend to be victims of ancient customs rather than a new anti-female ideology imposed from the top down.

With the communists, the old joke goes, even the spies have spies.

Only fellow communists Joe Stalin and Mao Ze Dong could match Kim Jong-Il in totalitarian destruction of their citizenry. It is not known how many of their citizens each killed, mostly starved to death, but total obedience to the State, no matter how zany the policies, was required. It is interesting that each one of these guys were similar in personality: paranoid at heart, duplicitous in action, and hypocritical in their personal lives.

Mr. Kim’s citizenry are now weeping openly when they should be celebrating his death. How sick is that kind of a society? 

South Korean employees, who travel to the North each day via a heavily monitored road [to work in the big maquiladoras producing goods cheaply for South Korean companies], said in interviews on Wednesday that they are treating North Korean workers with kid gloves since the announcement of Mr. Kim’s death. Still, it’s not clear whether the workers’ expressions of grief are genuine.

“I saw quite a few people crying” on Monday, when Mr. Kim’s death was announced, said one South Korean manager. “I imagine there were people who really did feel sad, but there may have been others who had to act that way. North Koreans seem to be watching each other very closely, and they are quite careful: Some may have had to cry simply because they would have been out of place not to do so and would have been noticed.”

Maybe they fear the unknown. It must be crushingly difficult when you live in a gray world with no hope.

The discussion at my morning kaffeeklatsch was why people accept this kind of life and rule. I am not sure of the “why” but I am sure of the fact that it is a part of our human nature. A few can rule the many with fear, force, and intimidation. You can make people do and believe whatever you want if you do it “right.”

I am convinced that liberty is also a part of our human nature, perhaps the main part. It is a state of individual sovereignty as defined by Natural Law. You own you. Liberty is actually the preferred state of being for humans. It is the only state of being for humans that can simultaneously allow for the development of individual potential and create the greatest good for society as a whole. It is what I believe is our true “humanity.”

They call North Korea the Hermit Kingdom because of its isolation, poverty, and oppression. Mr. Kim has created a population of emotionally and physically stunted people by destroying their humanity. Another way to put it is that there are really no human beings living in North Korea. Rather they are hollowed out human shells. That is Mr. Kim’s achievement and legacy.