It's always weak to say "don't pay attention to all the negative things western media is saying about this country, we shouldn't sanction them or Heaven forbid invade them" because even if people agree with what you say in that moment, propaganda is so pervasive that they'll forget all you said the moment they see a defector's story or baseless claims about public executions for having the wrong haircut. The way you fight the possibility of US intervention is to explain to people why the DPRK is as it is, to engage in specific and concrete points about their historical circumstances and the inconsistencies in the accusations western outlets have published. Sadly those things can also be wiped away by propaganda but it takes more of it. No liberal is going to stop supporting war against the DPRK because a leftist told them it's not necessary, but I'm sure they could change their minds if the narrative that the DPRK is an irrationally brutal feudal hellhole gets challenged and they're exposed to the circumstances that shaped the DPRK.
Did you watch much news? When I didn't really have a specific name for my ideology and I was just questioning the status quo, I wasn't super attentive to the news cycle which I think is part of why I became a socialist rather quickly. I've talked with family and sometimes I get them to agree about something like workers are being exploited by their employers in a general sense, but as soon as it's time to talk about a specific issue like the labor shortage they have a line prepared about how the new generation is lazy, people became reliant on unemployment checks, and all these arguments that are clearly regurgitated. Talked with a vaguely lefty friend (agrees with me on police, landlords, healthcare, etc) about China and he basically had a speech prepared about the Dalai Lama and Tibet. For people who already know the US imperialist line, you NEED to know a what's factually wrong about the most common accusations. Just getting them to acknowledge that US imperialism has made every situation the US has gotten involved in worse won't be enough because they'll just say "this time it's different, X is worse than Nazi Germany so the US is justified in intervening." Wish more people were like you or I who learned early on that US intervention made everything worse but :foucault-madness:
I think it was growing up in the iraq war era when anti intervention was a liberal issue that did it, but while everyone else forgot, I for some reason held on to it. I've never watched the news though
You have to tread a fine line in the opposite direction, though. To a lot of people, suggesting that the DPRK is anything but a totalitarian murder circus which is crazy just because will get you labelled as "brainwashed" by propaganda or simply some moron who's willing to defend all enemies of "Amerikkka". To the people who will at least hear you out, you need to angle in with the fact that the DPRK is a "monster" of the US' creation.
You're going to get inevitably labelled as brainwashed whenever you try to challenge people's existing brainwashing. I choose to challenge the very core of the characterizations of North Korea because most people have simply never heard an alternative narrative presented. I've found that coming at people directly can be more effective because people can sense and respect honesty.
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Something worty defending: they have successfully rejected and thwarted the American Empire for 7 decades.
It's always weak to say "don't pay attention to all the negative things western media is saying about this country, we shouldn't sanction them or Heaven forbid invade them" because even if people agree with what you say in that moment, propaganda is so pervasive that they'll forget all you said the moment they see a defector's story or baseless claims about public executions for having the wrong haircut. The way you fight the possibility of US intervention is to explain to people why the DPRK is as it is, to engage in specific and concrete points about their historical circumstances and the inconsistencies in the accusations western outlets have published. Sadly those things can also be wiped away by propaganda but it takes more of it. No liberal is going to stop supporting war against the DPRK because a leftist told them it's not necessary, but I'm sure they could change their minds if the narrative that the DPRK is an irrationally brutal feudal hellhole gets challenged and they're exposed to the circumstances that shaped the DPRK.
Anecdote: I've been anti imperialist my whole life, only started questioning western narratives on foreign governments last year.
My brain was like "yeah Maduro's bad, but you know what's worse? US intervention" and was like that for every single target of US imperialism.
Did you watch much news? When I didn't really have a specific name for my ideology and I was just questioning the status quo, I wasn't super attentive to the news cycle which I think is part of why I became a socialist rather quickly. I've talked with family and sometimes I get them to agree about something like workers are being exploited by their employers in a general sense, but as soon as it's time to talk about a specific issue like the labor shortage they have a line prepared about how the new generation is lazy, people became reliant on unemployment checks, and all these arguments that are clearly regurgitated. Talked with a vaguely lefty friend (agrees with me on police, landlords, healthcare, etc) about China and he basically had a speech prepared about the Dalai Lama and Tibet. For people who already know the US imperialist line, you NEED to know a what's factually wrong about the most common accusations. Just getting them to acknowledge that US imperialism has made every situation the US has gotten involved in worse won't be enough because they'll just say "this time it's different, X is worse than Nazi Germany so the US is justified in intervening." Wish more people were like you or I who learned early on that US intervention made everything worse but :foucault-madness:
I think it was growing up in the iraq war era when anti intervention was a liberal issue that did it, but while everyone else forgot, I for some reason held on to it. I've never watched the news though
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You have to tread a fine line in the opposite direction, though. To a lot of people, suggesting that the DPRK is anything but a totalitarian murder circus which is crazy just because will get you labelled as "brainwashed" by propaganda or simply some moron who's willing to defend all enemies of "Amerikkka". To the people who will at least hear you out, you need to angle in with the fact that the DPRK is a "monster" of the US' creation.
You're going to get inevitably labelled as brainwashed whenever you try to challenge people's existing brainwashing. I choose to challenge the very core of the characterizations of North Korea because most people have simply never heard an alternative narrative presented. I've found that coming at people directly can be more effective because people can sense and respect honesty.
Idk they aren't imperialists so I'll defend that at least
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