Yeah it looks like a bunch of older model 2 games and maybe some Naomi, but that's unfortunately the state of most brick and mortar arcades no matter where you go.

shut up

go lick some boots chickenhawk

Wait, are you under the impression we hate the individuals of the nation who've been brainwashed and have no control over their situation other than risking the only life they know to leave?

We hate their government and propaganda and general militant dickishness. Pretty sure I speak for most people here.

i'm under the impression that the US gov. keeps you supplied and fat on exaggerated and outright dishonest anti-north korean propaganda. and that this line of propaganda inculcates the racist attitude that is necessary to perpetuate support for past and future wars (and war crimes) in north korea.

so yes.

I don't want any wars in North Korea because it would likely kill a lot of civilians, destabilize the region, and quite possibly expand into a conflict between multiple nuclear powers. That doesn't mean I don't wish there were a way to liberate its people from an utterly shitty existence living in the most fully-realized fascist state on the planet.

You can acknowledge that North Korea is a terrible place without wanting to bomb it into oblivion.

Actually, until quite recently, the US government has done precious little to foment war with North Korea. Rather, it's followed a policy of appeasement. Why? Because there isn't anything in North Korea worth fighting for ($$$). So we tolerate a string of brutal dictators, because we don't want to clean up the mess left behind. Neither do the Chinese. The North Korean people suffer greatly because of it.

It's not that I disagree with you, ChocoJ, it's just that I wish you would apply the same cynicism to the rest of the world that you apply to the US. There are no "good guys" here.

there are least worst guys though!

None of my information on North Korea comes from my government. I've seen smuggled footage of things they don't want others to see, completely within context.

Not sure why you keep using the term "racism" here as it's completely without merit based on anything anyone has said.

"Until quite recently, the US government has done precious little to foment war with North Korea."

Ignoring recent developments. and long past ones such as the division of the country, the rhee repression, the horrifying bombing campaign of the war, there was..

the 60+ years the US has maintained 100 bases with over 30k personnel, and nuclear armed aircraft. threatening north korea daily.

the US considering nuking korea on 8 (mostly internally) documented occasions, the most recent known example (before Trump) being Nixon and Kissinger.

Clinton threatening to bomb Yongbyon. (threatening to bomb a nuclear facility)

then there are the near-daily cavalier and open discussions of assassination of dprk leadership, or pre-emptive nuclear attack in our government and media..

but really, what do they have to be afraid of? They're just a crazy hermit nation!

looking around, outside of internal discussions and documents, and public comments by state officials, there were at least two occasions when the US issued official declarations of "we're going to fucking nuke you!". and keep in mind, this is from a warmongering empire that has invaded you twice, bombed your country into total desolation, surrounds and occupies your territory with 'always ready' nuclear assault platforms , and has ACTUALLY FUCKING NUKED PEOPLE. LIKE A ALOT OF PEOPLE.

Specifically the Japanese, with whom we have excellent relations including military protection. You mentioned Vietnam, another nation we bombed the bejesus out of. Also on good terms with, including now selling them military hardware.

We're also pretty good friends with the British, and we all know how that relationship ended.

What you seem to neglect are the many provocations on the part of North Korea. They often threaten to bomb and invade the south ( this has happened before ), and do other terrible things, in order to extort food aid from us. Clinton got a lot of flack for giving in to that, but what are the alternatives?

All that said, you should actually travel to NK yourself and check it out. Post some clips here, we'd love to be along virtually for your travels. Perhaps you can show us the wonderful side of NK, but you'll forgive me for being a bit skeptical. Perhaps they are less racist than their southern cousins, who are infamous for being somewhere to the right of the KKK when it comes to brown people. We'll only know for sure if you test the waters!

all of the videos / pictures of north korea i've seen look fine, the only thing ominous about them were the captions and assertions. i've never seen any evidence of suffering over there that you couldn't find over here in greater quantities. including the evidence of prison abuses and torture. have any of you seen a torture camp? or just aerial photos of what look like totally normal prisons or military barracks?

"What you seem to neglect are the many provocations on the part of North Korea. They often threaten to bomb and invade the south ( this has happened before ), and do other terrible things"

You said I was being cynical regarding NK US history, that I wasn't pointing the same accusatory finger at NK. go ahead and help me out here. what am I ignoring exactly? what are their crimes? what have they done to south korea or the US over the years? I gave you a list of some prominent US provocations and the basics of their total annihilation policy during the korean war and beyond.

so tell me about north korean aggression. give me your best wikipedia scholarship oscat.

& don't forget to include the time the dprk (totally justifiably) shot down nixon's spy plane - killing all 31 spies, ahem, crew members.

oh yeah, you can totally find the equivalent of this guy in the US

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUhj4JQkqAs

also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1sKwW_Ogk

Why are any of you bothering to talk to the guy that's claiming to have not seen evidence of suffering in North Korea in excess of what happens in America?

Because,

A) He's being respectful and not just hurling insults
B) It's important to be able to justify your claims, no matter how obvious they may be.
C) ChocoJ's experience of America may be quite different from ours.

For example, I was going to point out that poor fool Otto Wambier(sp?), the guy who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for messing with some NK signage. But then I thought, he could easily point to many cases like this in the US. ( The one that just popped to mind was Kalief Browder, although Kalief did nothing wrong unlike Otto ). That's really the root of ChocoJ's argument, that for him and people like him, America can look an awful lot like North Korea. On that point, at least, I can agree with him.

My argument is a bit different. Rather than dig up horror stories about NK, I'd argue that the difference is one of scale. The US has an order of magnitude more people, and is a globe spanning empire. NK can hardly project much force beyond SK. My point being, that injustices and evils done are magnified by the difference in size. Any legit comparison is going to have to take that into account. Moreover, the population of NK is fairly homogeneous, whereas America is a mix of all kinds of people. This also makes comparison hard, because there is no average American we can point to in order to draw a comparison.

do you really believe that OC? that larger countries or empires should be insulated from blame for their offenses, because of their great size and influence? why should a party with more (arguably a monopoly on) martial power, energy, information, and (proclaimed) moral righteousness and authority, be given less scrutiny. while it's victims receive more (not to mention threats and defamatory claims)? please quote stan lee in your response.

by refusing to acknowledge the conditions that created the atmosphere of paranoia and antagonism in the first place, you intentionally distort the meaning of north koreas supposed incitements or offenses.

how is this different from dismissing blacks as emotional or aggressive for defending themselves from police or state power?

i'm serious about this parallel, tell me why it's different / i'm wrong.



also, I wonder what north koreas population would be today if the US hadn't bombed every free-standing structure, killed a third of the people, then did their best to starve the rest through sanctions and economic partitioning.. not saying it would be larger or comparable to the US, but it is a point worth considering.

No, I don't believe that. I am arguing that if you want to compare the two countries, you have to take size into account. Here's an example. Let's say NK has one person in prison unjustly. Just on population size alone, we could have over 10 people in prison unjustly and still be doing better than NK. Do you see my point?

As to NK aggression, much like our aggression, it's often politically motivated. During the cold war, we were just as guilty as the Chinese for stirring up trouble on the penisula. Now, it's more about the domestic needs of the military dictatorship/personality cult that is NK's leadership. We have good relations with countries we defeated ( Japan ), and good relations with countries that whooped us ( Vietnam ) so you can at least see it is possible for the US to be reasonable. South Korea wants peace with the North. North Korea does not. That is the current problem. Kim and his family dynasty would be destroyed by peace. He needs the US as an enemy to survive. Our previous strategy was better, now the Orange One is just feeding the beast. But you see, he also needs enemies to survive, just like Kim.

"Specifically the Japanese, with whom we have excellent relations including military protection. You mentioned Vietnam, another nation we bombed the bejesus out of. Also on good terms with, including now selling them military hardware."

and the bombing has alot to do with their acquiescent or "normalized" relations as its usually put. do you think this is a good or respectable method for international relations? if not, doesn't it re-enforce my position in this discussion about who is the sane / insane nation (ie. who is moral and justifiable in their actions / ideations)?

is your assertion that the dprk was stupid, crazy, or foolish not to accept US capital domination and takeover after an attempted genocide? unlike the shrewd japanese / vietnamese who intuited correctly the implications of our carpet bombing / invasion campaigns?

"No, I don't believe that. I am arguing that if you want to compare the two countries, you have to take size into account. Here's an example. Let's say NK has one person in prison unjustly. Just on population size alone, we could have over 10 people in prison unjustly and still be doing better than NK. Do you see my point?"

i understand what you mean here, but if we actually run down the numbers you're still going to be wrong. extremely wrong.

yeah, they're all getting murdered by their own government over there. hardly anyone left. this arcade and all the people in it are holograms.

No, they're real people with armed guards and government overseers making sure they look like they're having fun, and that nobody somehow embarrasses themselves and brings shame upon Glorious Leader.

There aren't that many incidents of civilians disobeying - most infractions are simply because "you didn't do it good enough" or "you complained about something and it made its way up the chain of command".

They eat garbage, most of them live and work in the same building, and the few that DO rise higher than ordinary laborer are constantly on a knife's edge where anything less than perfection can potentially land you in a re-education center.

i think you meant to describe north korea, not black america.

Pyonyang makes me think of a Sim City for SNES Tool-assisted speedrun

but seriously, maybe all of that is bullshit. dennis rodman is more trustworthy than truman or george bush. (i literally believe this)

what does your own city make you think of? portland is one of the most immiserated shit-holes i've ever lived in. it's nothing but white profligates jogging over wounded beggars. living their fucking glory.

That's a poor way to describe black america. You should look over it again, the incongruity will most likely jump out at you unless you were just sort of half-assing this comparison to begin with.

i read it fine, dummy.

I don't feel any way in particular about Portland. I grew up there, not moved there, and my immediate family's all here. Condoization/gentrification sucks no doubt so while I'd like to relocate BACK to Wisconsin like a lot of my transplant friends already have, I don't necessarily want to be far away from my parents, who are in their 70s, than I need to be right now. As for the homeless problem, what're you gonna do? I chose Social Work over Opera Administration when I moved back and I guess that kinda sums up what I think about rose city.

is opera administration exactly what is sounds like?

and don't give me that sanctimonious shit anyway, portland is a rich city. every worker that lives here can't and shouldn't be expected to attend to the deluge of needs where and when the state refuses to. it's cruel tales of bushido out there, and the people i know barely get by themselves.

that's the point of having cities and states. so don't guilt trip me over portland's housing crisis you fucking yuppy.

Bah.. I dunno, to answer your first question Opera administration is exactly what it sounds like. It's like a combination of landlord and basic box office work and I got burnt out by the crowd, bunch of yuppies. And yeah, I'm a fucking yuppie too, although they had pretty much retired the word "yuppie" and I'm really more trustifarian without the dreads or the trainhopper mentality. As for sanctimony, that's really more of a board of directors trait, not random people who chose to be decent to other people for cheap. But hey, to each their own dude.

other jobs iz considered before condescending to social work:

Dressage Management
Yachting Superintendence
Skiing and Polo Administration
Riding Direction and Leadership

Color theorist

Yeah Takeshi Miike's gotten just plain weird the last couple of years

give me a timestamp on the emaciated people you're seeing you racist lackey! they all look fine to me.

you see, these are what normal people look like. not like the nauseating bloated flag-wavers in america (you).