05-02-2020, 12:34 PM
(05-02-2020, 12:06 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(05-02-2020, 11:34 AM)David Horn Wrote: The big difference: the Koreans actually followed the rules from day one without being forced to do so. The why is easy: they had prior experience. We Americans pooh-poohed the entire thing until the oh-oh moment arrived, and denial became impossible. To be honest, the West Coast did better, but the so-far less affected are ready to do stupid again -- even with the examples they see on TV everyday.
I don't know whether to disagree with you that denial is impossible. It should be impossible. Some deny it anyway.
The people of South Korea are a disciplined lot, which one might expect of a people who are seconds away from a barrage of missiles or a few hours away from conquest by an insane regime to its north. In such an environment one can expect people to honor legitimate authority that keeps its credibility clean. Also, South Koreans are well educated and seem averse to crackpot ideas.
Crackpot ideas are most likely among the partially-educated, such as those who barely graduated from an American high school.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.