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.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the stark contrast between North Korea and its neighboring regions, emphasizing the country's isolation.
Barbara Demick's quote draws attention to the lack of light in North Korea when viewed from satellite images, symbolizing not just the physical darkness but also the political and social isolation of the country. This absence of light stands as a metaphor for the restricted freedoms and the stark differences in development compared to its neighbors, suggesting that the darkness represents an area where modern life and connectivity are deeply hindered.
In practice
In a speech discussing global human rights, one might reference this quote to emphasize the plight of North Koreans.
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.
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.
What matters is that the majority of American people have become complacent in a senseless injustice that occurs all around them. What matters is that most American politicians have become more easily swayed by money than by the people who voted them into office.
Politics - I don't know why, but they seem to have a tendency to separate us, to keep us from one another, while nature is always and ever making efforts to bring us together.
It's true that it's within the realm of cultural politics that young people tend to work through political issues, which I think is good, although it's not going to solve the problems
Sheep run to the slaughterhouse, silent and hopeless, but at least sheep never vote for the butcher who kills them or the people who devour them. More beastly than any beast, more sheepish than any sheep, the voter names his own executioner and chooses his own devourer, and for this precious "right" a revolution was fought.
The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other.
May the States be so bound to each other as forever to defy European politics. Upon that union, their consequence, their happiness, will depend. This is the first wish of a heart more truly American than words can express.
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