South Korea is interesting because its a window into what every capitalist government is currently trying to accomplish within their own country
The only thing connecting each tiny room at the Happiness Factory to the outside world is a feeding hole in the door.
If I wrote this in my novel I would be teased for being too corny, but to Occupied Korea this is just an average day.
I can't imagine how horrible it must be to be a shut-in and instead of anyone helping you materially they sell your parents a ticket to experience a superficial facsimile of your depression.
"In Korea, parents often express their love and feelings through practical actions and roles rather than verbal expressions,” Prof Jeong says.
“Parents financing their children's tuition fees through hard work is a typical example of a Confucian culture that emphasises responsibility."
Thank you sociology Prof Jeong Go-woon, see, this "loneliness" stuff is because Koreans are just a different race with a unique racial culture.
South Korea has some of the highest suicide rates in the world and last year, its government unveiled a five year plan aiming to address this.
Ministers announced there would be state-funded mental health check-ups for people aged 20-34 every two years.
Wow! 2.5 mental health checkups in 5 years! Why didn't I think of that?
In Japan, the first wave of young people isolating themselves, in the 1990s, has led to a demographic of middle-aged people dependent on their elderly parents.
More orientalism that is used in place of actual materialist analysis to subdue people. "Those dang Japanese and Good Koreans work too hard, it's in their blood"
The BBC should be beaten to death with a stick before it hurts more people.
At least south Koreans are choosing to be locked in a cell
Also it’s like the most inane solution to the problem at hand I can think of.
Problem statement: our society is so sick it has developed our offspring into socially withdrawn shut-ins.
Solution A: address the issues in our society to try affect the material conditions of our youth’s existence and their experiences of community/work/recreation, to try make things actually better for them and give them a society worth engaging with.
Solution B: pay money to a private corporation to have a fucking weekend’s themed getaway of a skin deep simulation of our children’s life experience, so we can develop a shred of empathy for our own children (!?!). With this new found empathy we will then do…. Nothing really.
Well Solution B is an honest capitalist free enterprise while Solution A is North Korean socialism propaganda. I mean, what's the point of mental health services to Occupied Korea if someone doesn't make bank on it?
Addressing issues in society? That's literally communism!!!
uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire
This is good news. The North-South reunification effort is just as much of a farce as the Two State Solution for Israel Palestine and it should have been abandoned sooner.
Power comes from the barrel of (an artillery) gun.
I genuinely feel like the DPRK could hasten reunification by trying to show folks in the South just how normal and well-adjusted folks in their society are. Like, hey, we work 8 hours a day and have enough to eat and a home, and we spend a lot of quality time with family and friends.
(Yes I know it’s illegal to access anything related to the DPRK in the south. And even when it’s not illegal, YouTube for example quickly shut down that one DPRK channel where it was just a little girl talking about her day).
I think a lot of NK media is just drowned out by the barrage of low-effort anti-communist propaganda. It has to do with the country's lack of digital infrastructure compared to South Korea. You just can't spend the same amount of resources like capitalist shitholes like Japan and South Korea on soft power if you're under heavy sanctions so they choose carefully choreographed news pieces instead.
If technology can only be rationed to people who live in cities or on waiting lists then you can't post harder than a society where everyone has a phone and has been conditioned by decades of dictatorship and corruption to accept capitalist rule without question and have been trained to glamorize capitalism in literally every facet of their lives. Even in their depression and horrible pain like this article.
The BBC can point at the gaping holes of South Korea and call it "Confucianism haha" while those similarly sized holes in North Korea become proof of the failure of communism.
"nonfalsifiable anti-communist orthodoxy"
This is probably a terrible idea for dozens of reasons but I cant help but think about it. I don't even smoke anymore.
Weed camps.
The shut-ins are dealing with crippling social anxiety and depression. Gather them in a place where sharing is caring, loosening up and passing the blunt in a circle. A no-pressure zone where they can connect with others and vibe without expectations.
But it's south korea so they'd probably sooner have all these kids commit suicide first.
Weed camps.
Yeah in South Korea the cops will harass you until you die if they think you're using illicit drugs, even if you're a famous celebrity.
For a society that seemingly loves alcohol so much they sure hate anything that could actually help you in any meaningful way (same with Japan, alcohol is adored but weed is somehow going to destroy society)
Turning myself into Rust Cohle in order to understand my depressed, pessimistic son, Rust Cohle.
The only thing connecting each tiny room at the Happiness Factory to the outside world is a feeding hole in the door.
The North already won
Read the article next time. It's a weird trend for parents to try and connect with their socially self isolated adult children by socially isolating themselves.
It's a little extreme sure, but sweet in a way.
And what about Occupied Korean society may be causing these social breakdowns for their children? Is it the alienation they feel from some of the most oppressive capitalism on earth?
eh, japan's the same way and it's a totally different country, so i think there's nothing to see here. it's just one of those things, you know.
Also totally not happening in the U.S right now, ignore any news articles pointing out NEETism being on the rise, they're commie fake news
Ah my bad, text based sarcasm is difficult to pick out without a tag
I’ll be honest, I was half way through writing a similar comment to your until my sarcasm detector finally went off.
Aren't situation of working class and the state of capitalism actually very similar in Japan and OcK? Which would explain the same degree of alienation.
Read the article next time.
: "That'll show OP, he didn't even read the article that he posted"It's a weird trend for parents to try and connect with their socially self isolated adult children by socially isolating themselves.
It's a little extreme sure, but sweet in a way.
Imagine how privileged you have to be to say this. Seems like you never grew any sort of empathy for people with mental health issues otherwise you'd know how unhelpful it would be for your parents to roleplay your depression using money and time that could have went to helping you.
Imagine reading the article, and being so
that you think “yes this is a wholesome good news story, all is well with society, silly OP mustn’t have even read it.”Bet this person reads those news articles about 8 year olds crowd raising funds to pay off other 8 year olds lunch debts and thinks it’s “kind of sweet in a way”
"Aww how sweet, that police officer bought lemonade to help that little girl crowdfund her own cancer treatment"
The sort of person who is literate and is able to understand what the words they’re reading mean, but has never had a single independent thought in their life, and as such is not able to think beyond the words on the page in front of them and infer any context, wider meaning or implications. So they can read that an 8 year old did a charitable thing, and then have zero further thoughts about what the conditions are that mean the other 8 year olds are getting into food debt.
Now I think about it, probably the exact same type of person that condemns Hamas because Oct 7th “wasn’t very nice”, without a single thought about the history, motivations and actions that lead up to Oct 7th.
Send airborne shit packages to the target's location. The DPRK does PPB but in real life and that's why we love em!
lmao
"Read your article fool, it completely explains things and is in no way descriptive of a problem underlying every hyper capitalist country on the planet"
You're one of those 'the curtains are blue' cretins that can't read between lines, aren't you?
Connecting with your children by.... checks notes... isolating yourself from them. Seems legit.
A "trend" of clueless parents socially isolating and trying to give themselves depression to "understand" their depressed socially isolated children
In what universe is this "sweet"??? It's willful blindness and self centered coping designed specifically to ignore the glaring and obvious problem that causes their children to withdraw from society; CAPITALISM
Wow! Cool robot!