Sloppy journalism or blindness? Linguistics studies how we build our perception of the world based on the language and phrases we use. Our societies generate catchphrases which shape how we see things and before we know it, we parrot the same descriptions blindly. George Orwell explored this with the creation and development of Newspeak in his novel 1984. This paradigm came to my attention with an article just posted on the BBC website by a journalist who was among the group of 80 who were suddenly invited to witness a large military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, to celebrate the 65th founding anniversary of the Korean Workers Party. To be true, I'm not even sure that the journalist was in Pyongyang to begin with. Michael Bristow has described the DPR Korean capital as 'drab and colourless and there are few new buildings going up'. Is he for real or was he that blind?
First of all, this throwaway comment is much how all Eastern bloc cities were maligned by the Western media during the Cold War years. Moscow was 'drab and colourless, (East) Berlin was 'drab and colourless', Prague was 'drab and colourless'. What a baseless cliché! Anyone who actually had been to these cities would know otherwise. The main reason given for this 'drabness' was the absence of Western-style advertising. Therefore, cities like London or West Berlin are perceived to be 'colourful' visually. My personal experience has shown that most cities in the world have a 'drab and colourless' and 'vibrant and colourful' side. So ingrained are we with this black and white, good cowboy/bad cowboy semantics is that I was surprised to find that West Berlin is not as dazzling visually as I thought it would be. Likewise, the East was actually more colourful that what it was portrayed to be like. So this reporting of a 'drab and colourless' Pyongyang is again more propagandistic fodder feeding accepted misconceptions of a North Korea that only exists in the fantasy land of those who would like to see its demise (for personal gain). Still, these primitive black and white instincts are what fuel propaganda. Likewise, North Korean propaganda, like the Eastern Bloc variety that generated from its same Soviet source, without fail always show Western cities, such as Seoul, as 'drab and colourless' places where the only bright lights emanate from the many brothels. So essentially, we are not much different from them.
Bristow's comment that 'few buildings are going up' is a joke for North Korean watchers. Now he must have been blind as the most-talked about building project happening in Pyongyang is how construction of the Ryugyong Hotel is resumed after almost 18 years of neglect. What is so puzzling that this journalist did not notice this is that the Ryugyong is huge - 105 stories high and unmissable in the Pyongyang skyline. Many other building projects are also occuring throughout Pyongyang all in preparation for the 100th birth anniversary of DPR Korea's founder Kim Il-sung in 2012. North Korean watchers and bloggers have been wondering how the DPR Korea, which according to the West is economically bankrupt and on the verge of collapse, can afford all these building projects? What I am suspicious of is that this journalist did not see any of these? How did he miss a 105 storey hotel? This leads to question whether he really was there...?
Here is an image of the Pyongyang skyline in Winter featuring the seemingly avoidable Ryugyong Hotel. Drab and colourless?
Plus a brand new 620 seat theatre was opened (below). Obviously, hardly anything new in Pyongyang. Rather drab and colourless to boot!
