North Korea #1

For the Marketplace of Ideas, I am choosing to research life in North Korea as well as North Korean prison camps. I am interested in this because of the book Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden. I want to focus on the human rights aspect of North Korea. While international affairs are important, I prefer to not get involved in researching them. The most fascinating thing about North Korea to me is that nobody has done anything in terms of widespread awareness.

Escape from Camp 14 #1

This semester I chose to read Blaine Harden's Escape from Camp 14. The book documents Shin Dong-hyuk's escape from the most brutal North Korean political prison camps. Shin is the only person documented to have been born in a political prison camp and escape. Shin's parents were selected to have a child; they were not married or in love. In North Korean political prison camps, three generations of prisoners are kept. For example, if I were a North Korean citizen and my grandparents were viewed as a threat, I would be imprisoned. This is called "three generations of punishment."

I don't know much about North Korea. I know that North Korea is an incredibly secretive country. I am not really interested in international affairs. However, I am interested in human rights and making sure that humanity is safe. The North Korean political prison camps have been around twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. 

The difference between Shin's story and most escape stories is that Shin began in a prison. His sense of normal was what most people would consider inhumane. He was born into snitching. He was born into a life of grueling labor and torture. 

Despite Shin escaping and sharing his story, North Korea claims that Camp 14 and other political prison camps don't exist. 

Boston

This past Monday, the Boston Marathon was bombed. I have some commentary that I feel must be expressed.

First of all, when I heard of this, it sounded like a neo-9/11. I had the impression that Boston was destroyed and all that was left was a could of dust. Thankfully, I was totally wrong. I think back to the Michael Moore film Bowling for Columbine. Moore asserts that Americans are filled with fear. We are filled with fear. The second we feel threatened, we blow the situation up tremendously. That being said, I only think that I got a blown up perspective of the situation. The bombing was horrible. The pictures and videos of the bombing were scary.
I feel the need to be fearful but play devils advocate. The "messed up-ness" of each bombing, shooting or threat to public harmony increases each time. But at the same time, we only see the bad things that happen in the US. There are horrible things that happen around the world every single day.
At this point, I am grateful for the unity that our county has had for the city of Boston. But I can't help to wonder why these types of things keep happening.
My feelings are mixed, but I truly hope we have seen the worst of this.

Black-White IAT

I just took the Black-White IAT. My results were "Your data suggest a moderate automatic preference for African American compared to European American". 

I don't know how to think about this. I grew up in a primarily white community. I live in an a primarily white community. I am surprised that I had a subconscious bias against my own race. I genuinely thought it would be the other way around. I am not racist and have no conscious biases against any group. I thought that because of the community I live in, I would have a bias towards white people. The more I learn about places with more diversity, the more I become aware of the lack of diversity where I live. Everything is white. While there are minorities, there aren't enough for me to feel like my community is diverse. If I can find any explanation for why my results show that I have a preference for African Americans is that I highly respect tons of jazz musicians who are black. I never think that I have a bias towards anyone. Personally, I feel that everyone should start a relationship with a clean slate. I try to give everyone a chance before I form any judgement. If a person is mean, then the person is mean. Race doesn't dictate personality, intelligence, or anything like that. I'm not entirely sure race dictates anything.