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North Korea Erases Executed Official From the Internet
itwbennett writes "The North Korean state propaganda machine has edited and deleted hundreds of news articles that mention Jang Song Thaek, the former top government and party official and uncle to leader Kim Jong Un, who was executed Thursday. Earlier this week, Jang was arrested in front of hundreds of senior members of the ruling Worker's Party of Korea and denounced for numerous alleged acts against the state and Kim Jong Un. From arrest to trial to death took only four days and the unprecedented fall from grace is widely being interpreted as an attempt by Kim Jong Un to keep officials loyal and scared."
"is widely being interpreted as an attempt by Kim Jong Un to keep officials loyal and scared."
Sounds like Stalin all over again....
"The purge was motivated by the desire to remove dissenters from the Communist Party and to consolidate the authority of Joseph Stalin. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge
The moment guilt is obvious, what's the point of spending 15 years on death row and cost millions in tax dollars?
I won't comment on North Korea, but in the USA there have been at least 311 cases where "guilt was obvious" but in fact the person had not committed the crime they were convicted of.
If you're willing to accept that your proposal would cause the state-sponsored killing of hundreds of innocent people, okay, but you should say so explicitly.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
In a book on the life of Shostakovich, there was an anecdote about Stalin giving a speech at a farm collective. After he finished, there was a thunderous applause that continued on and on for over half an hour. No one wanted to be known as the first one to stop clapping.
Funny thing is, the language in this case isn't so much "inflammatory", as much as it is descriptive. See also The Memory Hole.
(I wonder if NoKo actually calls the folks tasked with this job the Korean equivalent of "Ministry of Truth" as well...)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Well if you remember 1984, the main character's job was to re-write history removing individuals from books, news stories, etc.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
How is he supposed to serve as a lesson to others if they're busy purging all records of him?
"Remember what happened to Jang Song Thaek before you think about crossing me!"
"Who? I don't remember him at all."
"Exactly!"
Sounds a bit more like bad comedy than a real threat.
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And that isn't something new - the first example that comes to mind is the systematic removal of Pharaoh Akhenatons name after his death. The only difference is that nowadays there are photos and videos to edit too.