# Auf Wiedersehen To Kim Jong-Il **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 19, 2011, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712 "2011-12-19T05:02:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/81 "2011-12-20T03:06:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But “wise” is never “omniscient” and any absolute ruler labors under what Robert Anton Wilson calls “the burden of nescience,” i.e., he can never be sure what’s going on because when you’re that powerful nobody dares to tell you honestly. A benevolent dictator can do horrible damage just by being honestly **mistaken** about what’s good for his people. So can the US Congress, or the Politburo. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/82 "2011-12-20T03:24:42Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > So can the US Congress, or the Politburo. But a ruler or ruling-body who is **not** absolute is not burdened with nescience. Everybody gives you their POV, the challenge is filtering out the noise. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/83 "2011-12-20T03:56:23Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > But a ruler or ruling-body who is **not** absolute is not burdened with nescience. Everybody gives you their POV, the challenge is filtering out the noise. Do you really think that the majority of the U.S. Congress is listening to anything that is not in their personal political interest and doesn’t have an underlying political agenda? It’s gotten to the point where party politics and party money rules all. An individual conscience is worth almost nothing. After what we have seen from the fall of communism, do you really think that those guys were acting in the best interest of the “people” or were they protecting their own cushy existence while the “people” were suffering because of their misguided dogma? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/84 "2011-12-20T06:27:57Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > This is kind of not germane, but I thought I read somewhere that the version of Korean spoken in the North vs. the South is actually very different. That refugees have found that their accents are very distinctive and strange and that they are speaking an archaic dialect that hasn’t been used in the South since earlier in the 20th century. They don’t have the same slang, the same expressions borrowed from other languages, etc. I guess while they’re technologically stuck in the 1950s, their language has stagnated due to isolation as well. Sort of like what happened to French in France vs. Quebec. Kind of interesting. That’s very germane, actually - nationality is often defined by language. If the split becomes permanent, South and North Korea may go the way of Spain and Portugal, Russia and Belarus or Germany and the Netherlands. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/85 "2011-12-20T10:28:43Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > Do you really think that the majority of the U.S. Congress is listening to anything that is not in their personal political interest and doesn’t have an underlying political agenda? It’s gotten to the point where party politics and party money rules all. An individual conscience is worth almost nothing. [1 in 2 Americans are now poor or low income](http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9461848-dismal-prospects-1-in-2-americans-are-now-poor-or-low-income) 50%? And don’t contemplate dissent otherwise the Patriot Act will get you. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/86 "2011-12-20T11:23:04Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Watching the number of people bawling their eyes out, and I mean genuinely bawling their eyes out, makes me fearful for humanity’s future. Just imagine if only Gaddafi had consulted with him to learn how to successfully run a brutal dictatorship and have the people love you for it in the 21st century. God! its scary. As to their GENUINELY bawling their eyes out, I think that their behaviour is more akin to being the person who didn’t stop clapping first after one of Stalins speeches. Be seen to not be OTT grieving, and you won’t be around to not grieve about anything in the near future. That said, I for one welcome our new hereditary communist overlord. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/87 "2011-12-20T12:08:03Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That’s very germane, actually - nationality is often defined by language. If the split becomes permanent, South and North Korea may go the way of Spain and Portugal, Russia and Belarus or Germany and the Netherlands. Yes, the Korean spoke up North sounds pretty quaint to South Koreans, but we can still understand each other. I think North Koreans would have more difficulty understanding us rather than vice versa, because while their Korean is a bit weird it’s still Korean. But South Koreans use a lot of foreign words. For example, we use the English term “ice cream”, but North Koreans call it something that would translate to “ice candy” (I think, or something of that nature). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/88 "2011-12-20T15:31:57Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Yes, the Korean spoke up North sounds pretty quaint to South Koreans, but we can still understand each other. I think North Koreans would have more difficulty understanding us rather than vice versa, because while their Korean is a bit weird it’s still Korean. But South Koreans use a lot of foreign words. For example, we use the English term “ice cream”, but North Koreans call it something that would translate to “ice candy” (I think, or something of that nature). The NK policy of complete national autarchy _(juche)_ extends to vocabulary too? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/89 "2011-12-20T16:48:47Z")
C’mon, even the French try to battle the tide of loan words. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/90 "2011-12-20T17:05:25Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > I also believe the statement is true that “Power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts.” The correct quote is “Power _tends_ to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Those North Koreans who [collapsed in tears](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/kim-jong-il-dead-north-koreans-cry-streets-mourn-leader-tears-real-article-1.993918?localLinksEnabled=false) on learning of the death of their dear Leader tend to be morons in my view. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/91 "2011-12-20T17:47:10Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The correct quote is “Power _tends_ to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. > > Those North Koreans who [collapsed in tears](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/kim-jong-il-dead-north-koreans-cry-streets-mourn-leader-tears-real-article-1.993918?localLinksEnabled=false) on learning of the death of their dear Leader tend to be morons in my view. God is dead. Whaddaya expect? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/92 "2011-12-20T17:51:38Z")
I’ve read on this board, forget whose post, that NK is perhaps the only totalitarian state in modern times where there is literally **no** culture outside the State. The Leader is the only God the majority have ever known or worshipped. **Of course** they’re sincerely broken up, how could they not be? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/93 "2011-12-20T18:08:14Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Too soon to mingle levity with Hitler & Pol Pot. I disagree. Some Hitler reaction videos are awesome. So’s the World’s Funniest Joke sketch. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/94 "2011-12-20T18:18:47Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The correct quote is “Power _tends_ to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. > > Those North Koreans who [collapsed in tears](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/kim-jong-il-dead-north-koreans-cry-streets-mourn-leader-tears-real-article-1.993918?localLinksEnabled=false) on learning of the death of their dear Leader tend to be morons in my view. I simply assume that the ostentatious mourning is fakery for the purpose of survival - that the secret police are taking notes and if you don’t publicly “mourn”, you will be given rather more personal reason to do so privately. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/95 "2011-12-20T18:59:34Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I disagree. Some Hitler reaction videos are awesome. So’s the World’s Funniest Joke sketch. I was referring to mainstream humor. I would have been giggling at “[Concentrated Orange Jews](http://www.google.com/imgres?q=concentrated+orange+jews&hl=en&safe=active&sa=X&biw=961&bih=773&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=3T0vgllCSc7jMM:&imgrefurl=http://xavixjf.tumblr.com/post/4002396249&docid=7ilYLulfKGd2PM&imgurl=http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhwqczYY151qb5gkjo1_500.jpg&w=500&h=400&ei=uNrwTsHaLJPZiQKwnrWjDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=0&sig=109560206059938070792&page=1&tbnh=121&tbnw=148&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=61&ty=49)” by 1950. But then, I’m a bit of a dick, according to some. Ok, many. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712/96 "2011-12-20T18:59:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The correct quote is “Power _tends_ to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. > > Those North Koreans who [collapsed in tears](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/kim-jong-il-dead-north-koreans-cry-streets-mourn-leader-tears-real-article-1.993918?localLinksEnabled=false) on learning of the death of their dear Leader tend to be morons in my view. How is it moronic to shed tears in public to avoid getting yourself, your parents, your brothers, your sisters, and your children killed for not shedding tears in public? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/auf-wiedersehen-to-kim-jong-il/606712.md?page=4)