In 1984, George Orwell wrote of a world where the only colour to be found was in the propaganda posters. Such is the case in North Korea. Images of Kim Il-sung are depicted in vivid colours. Rays of yellow and orange emanate from his face: he is the sun.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the use of propaganda in totalitarian regimes to create a glorified image of leadership.
Barbara Demick's quote draws a parallel between George Orwell's depiction of a colorless world dominated by propaganda and the reality of North Korea, where vivid imagery of its leader, Kim Il-sung, is used to reinforce his cult of personality. The use of bright colors symbolizes the distorted reality that governments can create to manipulate and control their citizens, illustrating how imagery can be employed as a powerful tool in political propaganda.
In practice
In a discussion about the role of propaganda in authoritarian regimes.
In 2012, a five-year-old girl in Shandong province described to me how ten officials had chased her six-months-pregnant mother through the fields to prevent the birth of the family's second child, a boy. She died during the procedure.
If you look at satellite photographs of the Far East by night, you'll see a large splotch curiously lacking in light. This area of darkness is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Yup, the whole birther movement was racist.
In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.
One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one.
There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses.
To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences, I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly with the constitutional authority of the Federal Government.
Never has so much military and economic and diplomatic power been used so ineffectively, and if after all of this time, and all of this sacrifice, and all of this support, there is still no end in sight, then I say the time has come for the American people to turn to new leadership not tied to the mistakes and policies of the past.
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