Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Dreams of a slave.....

A few days back I was watching a programme about North Korea on the Nat Geo channel.It was rare insight into the life of world's most secretive country.I was amazed to see the respect and admiration that people of North Korea have for their leader Kim Jong 2.The leader who has kept the whole country starving........the leader who is responsible for the execution of millions of innocents ....the leader who has kept his country behind the world by atleast 50 yrs.How can such a person command such a respect and admiration from the very people he so brutally exploits.Is it really respect or is it fear.The narrator too was confused but he had feeling that it indeed was respect.And I was not at all surprized.He is indeed worshiped as god by his people.

The programme made me to remember a brilliant story " THE DREAMS OF MANIK NULLAH " written by my friend Ankur and which was published in the my engg institute's monthly news letter 'N'SCAPE.The story was about a society where everyones dreams( day dreams ) was from chilodhood itself was controlled by the rulers of the society.The rulers,according to their own future needs, made the people to dream .It was decided that which child is going to become what in future and the dreams of that child was modelled on that basis only.It was decided that Manic Nullah would be cobbler when he grows up.And he made to dream of becoming a cobbler.
As a result he strived hard to become a cobbler and ultimately he became one.The story brilliantly showed what could be the result if thoughts and dreams of masses can be controlled.

And this is what is happening in North korea.In that country the dreams and thoughts of whole population is controlled by a single man.Earlier that man was Kim Sung 2 ,now it is Kim Jong 2.
He has total control over every aspect of North Korean life.The population see what he wants them to see,they hear what he wants them to hear and they feel what he wants them to feel.Imagine the thought process of such a person who has been exposed to such a propoganda throughout his life since childhood.

According to psychological research ,the perception which a child forms till the age of 12-13 persists for whole life unless the person has got very high analytical ability which is generally not the case.

Imagine generations after generations of children being taught daily that their leader is their god ...he is always right ...he is the absolute.Imagine whole population growing and leading their life surounded by this propoganda.Its not surprizing that the North koreans have got so much of admiration for such a cruel leader.Kim jong has ensured that those who deviate in their dreams and thoughts are quickly eliminated or segregated from the society.He has also used fear as a supplemntary weapon to ensure his greatness.It a crime to talk anything against Kim even in private and is punishable by life imprisionment for the whole family of the accused.In north korea the TV and radio does not have tunners so that the people don't get to see or listen to other channels except those of the government.
I think Saddam Hussain should have learnt something from North Korean leaders.

Looking at the dreams,I realize that even in a free society our dreams are not exactly our own.But in such a society the dreams are fashioned by the collective society not a particular a individual.Here also there is a soft propoganda.If society needs more Engineers or docs they glorify that profession in the mind of children.And the child starts dreaming of becoming one.This is the reality all over the world.

But the big question is that whether a person will be able to lead a happy life if his dreams are not his own.We need to think over it.
Most probably my next blog will be on this topic only.