North Korea is possibly one of the most bizarre things about our modern age. Whether it makes you want to laugh or cry, it is without a doubt one of the biggest social experiments ever undertaken. This is mind control on a national scale and literally everything about how the country is run is in service to this mass manipulation. There are plenty of elements at play in NK, but it largely boils down to two things: Control of information and survival instincts. Most people would be tempted to think of the North Koreans as gullible, and you'd be forgiven for doing so considering the frankly insane levels of propaganda they appear to swallow. However, the regime has carefully engineered an almost completely sterile information environment in which citizens simply don't have access to any other information than that which is presented to them by the government. For example, you know that the sun is a massive ball of gas far out in space, but you've never actually been there to see it for yourself, just to make sure. You are, in essence, putting the same trust in authority figures on the matter that the North Koreans put in their leaders. Civilians are told that they are living in a utopia, and that however bad their lot might be, the rest of the world is ten times worse. The West is an evil force, hell-bent on invasion and destruction, and they have only their glorious leader to stand in its way. The beauty of this is that it is built on a grain of truth as, during Korean war, the Americans weren't exactly skipping around handing out kittens. However, even this level of intellectual control isn't really enough, and many in NK still have their misgivings about the regime (further discrediting the idea that they're all gullible sheep). The second line of attack is to ensure that people are forced to put their own survival above anything else. As anything from a glib quip to a poorly-worded question can get you sent to a labour camp, it's usually better to keep your head down and your misgivings to yourself. In NK, the idea of social mobility is virtually non-existent, except for cases of spying and informing. A civilian can move pretty far up the ranks through "services to the state" and, whether they do it cynically or out of genuine devotion to their leaders, this is a highly effective way of ensuring the population essentially enslaves itself. This is mind control come full circle, almost cycling it back to free will once more. Want to write for What Culture Science? Click here to find out how you could get paid to write about what you love.You seem like the social type. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for loads more science tingles in your brain box.
