Thread: Life in the USA as viewed by the DPRK TV.

I am not sure how to attach a video. Anyway, the direct link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukHGqUVX1fE.

This is what everyone must know! Poor Americans...

Equal Voice: Homeless ‘Bill of Rights’ becomes law in Illinois


August 26, 2013

Equal Voice: Homeless ‘Bill Of Rights’ Becomes Law In Illinois

Homeless people in Illinois gained new protections last week — including the right to keep jobs and vote as others — under a state “Bill of Rights” that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed and that received backing from housing advocates, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) reported.

Under the legislation, SB 1210, homeless people cannot be denied access to emergency medical care, public services and spaces, as well as transit systems because they lack housing or list the address of a shelter. The protections extend to a person’s right to privacy of personal records, information and property.

A person who experiences discrimination under this law and solely because of his or her housing status can pursue legal action and damages, CCH said.

“It is good for Illinois and good for the country to see us taking this moral test,” state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a key bill sponsor, said in a statement.
“How do we treat children? How do we treat the poor and disabled? How do we treat seniors?”

Specifically, an employer cannot discriminate against homeless people who use the address of their shelter or social service provider. Living in a shelter, on the street or in a temporary residence cannot disqualify a person from receiving care at emergency medical clinics.

Under the state law, a homeless person’s status also cannot disqualify that individual from being in a public place. And those without permanent housing in the state have the right to documentation which will allow them to vote in an election, CCH said.

Another key sponsor of the bill, state Sen. Ira Silverstein, explained in a statement that people should have “certain rights” that help them “get back on their feet.” Quinn called the rights under the law fundamental.

The bill signing occurred on Aug. 22 at an office of CCH.

The law will protect at least tens of thousands of people in Illinois. During the 2012-13 academic year, there were more than 116,000 homeless people in Chicago alone, according to CCH. That was a 10 percent increase compared to the same period a year earlier.

The Illinois state law is similar to a policy in Cook County, which has offered housing protection language in a human rights ordinance since 1993. In 1998, a public library released an employee from his job after it became known that he was homeless, CCH said.

Under that county ordinance, the employee filed a suit, regained his library employment and received compensation for lost wages and benefits.

Illinois is the second state in the country to approve this type of law. Rhode Island enacted a similar bill in June 2012, CCH said. Lawmakers in Connecticut also have passed a “Bill of Rights” for homeless residents.

Housing advocates in Oregon, California, Missouri and Vermont are working on similar types of bills, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.


Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit organization, works on public policies that seek to end homelessness. The group also focuses on community outreach and access to jobs, training and public schools. Watch a video about Shon Robertson, who was homeless and now works with the organization.


- See more at: Equal Voice: Homeless ‘Bill of Rights’ becomes law in Illinois

Yea, OK, sure the video portrays the whole USA. Sure it does.


Scott

I wasn't able to watch the whole video as my internet is presently too slow, but yes, there is a sad amount of homeless people in the US. I see them a lot in the cities. Take a look at this city: The Motor City...my parents lived there when they were first married and my dad says he had to have a security person from his workplace escort him to and from his car every day. This city, however, is now a lot worse. 47% of the people (adults) living there are illiterate. (I wonder what sort of health care they have! Most of them don't even speak English.)
One place we lived at in the country had ditch hunters around - people who drive slowly along the ditch hunting for small critters like rabbits, etc., just to get something to eat. I personally know several homeless people...they live out of their cars. There are many more examples.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

...
This is what everyone must know! Poor Americans...

Правильно, давайте пожалеем бедных американцев!

Originally Posted by Lampada

Правильно, давайте пожалеем бедных американцев!

Их не озарил свет чучхе.

Впрочем, что-то вроде чучхе у них было между Великой депрессией и Перл-Харбором.

Originally Posted by Lampada

Правильно, давайте пожалеем бедных американцев!

It seems to me some people did not get the whole idea why I posted this link

In fact it was my sarcasm directed towards DPRK propaganda Probably, I should have posted it into "Fun Staff" section.

That is how ALL the people live in the USA according to DPRK TV. Even in Western Europe they live the same way. In cold and misery. With no access to food. And North Korean volunteers help poor Americans with free hot drinks, cakes and warm blankets. This video is not fake, it is what the DPRK TV tells their citizens.

I thought my intention would be perfectly clear. And my comments to it were sarcastic.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

.

That is how ALL the people live in the USA according to DPRK TV.

What do you mean? It's obvious from the story that they are talking about a sub-segment of the population.

I wouldn't take the English voice-over too seriously; it's a dub off a sub into Russian!
It's pretty obvious that plenty got lost or angled in the translation.

It's real footage from the USA. You can see regular people and cars in the background and I don't think anybody seriously questions that there is a problem with homelessness in the USA.

Originally Posted by Hanna

...It's real footage from the USA. You can see regular people and cars in the background and I don't think anybody seriously questions that there is a problem with homelessness in the USA.

You are right, there is. And sadly I believe that there is a problem with homelessness in almost every society. Not sure about Scandinavian countries. Unfortunately our forum is not able to fix or change anything that is wrong in the world and it is not even our mission.

Well, that should scare the North Koreans away from the US. They can get close enough to birds to catch them and eat them? Brilliant! Every time I get 20 feet from the bird feeder, epic flutters and they're gone.
Seriously, I've seen the homeless problems in the news but I don't think it can get better till the economy gets better. But dad donates to charities and hey, even our gardener was about to be homeless before dad hired him.
Well, back to my map project. I still don't get this thing with Архангельская Область. I think it includes Новая Земля - maybe Земля Франца-Иосифа too - but on some maps, the eastern half is called Ненецлий Автономные Округа. Confusing.
If anyone knows how that works, please chime in.

No problems with homelessness here

Inside North Korea - YouTube

big problems with creepiness though IMHO.

Scott

Originally Posted by Lampada

You are right, there is. And sadly I believe that there is a problem with homelessness in almost every society. Not sure about Scandinavian countries. Unfortunately our forum is not able to fix or change anything that is wrong in the world and it is not even our mission.

Lampada, that comment of hers doesn't seem to be something one would have to take seriously. Neither is anyone who takes that "footage" seriously. That's the dumbest thing I've seen in my life. From the OP's perspective (that it's supposed to give one a good laugh), it's justified though =) That phrase that, "the U.S. homeless get humanitarian aid from North Korea" made my day

By the way, I really doubt it's the U.S. in the scene. It looks more like a poor east European country.

Well, if they were trying to grab an Oscar, not even close. Yeah, no birds but they never even mentioned all the missing squirrels and cats and mice. So who ate those? And not even 1 animal rights protest group?
But yeah, life is really challenging in America. I have to get up early every morning just to turn up the thermostat so it doesn't snow indoors! And forget tablets and media players! Rockbox has issues on Sansa Plus and who can even grab a bite at lunch without Google glasses doing the live feeds online?
Dunno who directed that vid but they totally did miss our town and there's nobody sleeping on the sidewalks here.

Originally Posted by UhOhXplode

Well, if they were trying to grab an Oscar, not even close. Yeah, no birds but they never even mentioned all the missing squirrels and cats and mice. So who ate those? And not even 1 animal rights protest group?
But yeah, life is really challenging in America. I have to get up early every morning just to turn up the thermostat so it doesn't snow indoors! And forget tablets and media players! Rockbox has issues on Sansa Plus and who can even grab a bite at lunch without Google glasses doing the live feeds online?
Dunno who directed that vid but they totally did miss our town and there's nobody sleeping on the sidewalks here.

All the animal rights protesters made their way to North Korea long ago, or how do you explain millions of people there eating grass instead of catching birds and eating them?

Originally Posted by Hanna

I wouldn't take the English voice-over too seriously; it's a dub off a sub into Russian!
It's pretty obvious that plenty got lost or angled in the translation.

Hanna,

I can guess you do not even imagine what the DPRK propaganda is like. Sadly, I do not understand Korean to confirm (or to disprove) the English and Russian translations. We probably need someone who speaks Korean to comment on it.
But I do believe the translation is right. That is based on what I have read about the DPRK in general (and its propaganda in particular) so far.
We had something like that (but to a much lesser extent!) in the USSR. Our mass media used to over-emphasize the problems with unemployment and homelessness which existed in the West. But at least it never pretended to cover the whole society. Thankfully, international tourism existed in the USSR and some our citizens (although through a lot of red tape) had an ability to travel abroad as tourists.

The DPRK is not the USSR of 80-s, and it is not even the USSR of 30-s, it is rather like the USSR of 30-s if squared or even cubed. People do not have any access to any information other than the official mass media reports. No Internet, no international phone calls, and radio receivers with a fixed frequency setting (any manipulation with it is illegal). Undoubtedly, citizens take that picture seriously.

If you can read Russian, that is a detailed article on it: Корея - КНД

Корейцам постоянно внушается, что Корея - "страна образцового социализма", "страна чучхе и Чхоллима" является одной из самых развитых и богатых стран современного мира, а счастливая и изобильная жизнь ее граждан вызывает повсюду зависть.

Часто идут в Корее фильмы об ужасах жизни на Юге, о стремлении южан жить также, как северяне. Типичный фильм этого рода -- "Судьба Кым Хи и Ын Хи", вышедший ещ в 70-е годы, но популярный и поныне. Его сюжет прост и прямолинеен. В 1945 году родились две девочки-близнецы. Вскоре они осиротели и одна из них волею обстоятельств попала на Север, где стала знаменитой певицей, а другая - на Юг. Несчастная южанка голодала, ходила в рваном тряпье, потом пела в дешевом кабаке джазовые песни (джаз -- это, конечно, символ разложения и разврата), чуть не попала в публичный дом и, в конце концов, стала инвалидом. Ее же сестра тем временем счастливо жила на Севере, пела и танцевала в ансамбле "народной музыки чучхейского типа" (гибрид традиционной корейской музыки с советской эстрадой тридцатых-сороковых, эпохи Дунаевского), жила в прекрасной квартире, носила изысканные наряды. Фильм завершается тем, что героиня плачет от счастья у подножия статуи Ким Ир Сена на холме Мансудэ.

Счастливые люди! Но не дай бог им окунуться в суровую реальность, а это произойдёт, раньше или позже... Россия 90-х раем покажется.

А пока мы тут юморим:

Игорь Иртеньев | Добродеев и Негодяев (поучительная история)

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Hanna,

I can guess you do not even imagine what the DPRK propaganda is like.

Yes, actually. I was there in my childhood. Yeah I agree that they are a fanatical. But I don't think it's for me to judge or anyone else. They are like religious believers in their leader and ideology. Kim Il Sung was alive when I was there, and he was like a god. To a large degree it's a cultural thing in East Asia. And their ideology is a not just communism, they mixed it up with lots of other ideas that are unique to Korea. I really don't think any of us here should pass any judgement on it.It's THEIR country and THEIR culture. They can have as much propaganda as they like, as far as I am concerned.
And I am certain that even if the regime there fell tomorrow, most of the people would continue to love Kim Il Sung, regardless what anyone said about him. To them, he's like Lenin, Stalin, Jesus and your nicest grandfather in one person.

I had been in the USSR too, in my childhood (late 80s) and it was not the same at all. People in the USSR were much more individualistic and relaxed as far as I could tell. There were proper shops and restaurants, just less than I was used to. Not that different. Korea really tried hard for communism -- much harder than USSR in my opinion. For example the guide showed me and my brother a shop where no money was used. Everybody in the neighbourhood could go there to collect a fruit and nuts for free. On the other hand, my dad said the whole country was funded by the USSR (he was in Korea for work and hated it). Not sure how true it was, but I think things pretty much collapsed later.

The Koreans are VERY dignified and proud. Definitely, that country should be left alone. No Western intervention. However, it's on the US hitlist.

Anyway, this isn't very relevant to Russia is it? I mean North Korea is completely different to Russia today or any other time.

Originally Posted by Lampada

You are right, there is. And sadly I believe that there is a problem with homelessness in almost every society. Not sure about Scandinavian countries.

Mentally ill people and some extreme alcoholics for sure.
But the system is relatively good at picking up most people who are prepared to make a minimal effort to get off the street.
It used to be much better but at least the basics are still working.

And yeah, definitely: North Korean TV is just choosing to show mostly BAD things from the USA.

And the USA is doing the same thing in regards to North Korea. Only showing bad things. It's not all bad.

It's not so much propaganda, as being very selective about what you show in the news.

The news in the USA will report what that Michael Jackson's daughter ran away from home. But ignore that 1000s of kids in the Appalachians are poisoned and get cancer from the mining industry there. Or that 1000s of kids are losing their homes every day.

Before we judge North Korea's TV, we should question how partial we are....

I guess just because it's "an unique system" entitles their unique chosen dynasty to killing all those who don't think they're unique enough, huh?

In the USA, birds are allowed to go to the South.

Snow soup, just like MOM used to make. Snow, some bark and a bird.

The shelves are barren of Best Korean Coffee too.



The US is so poor, we can't afford Traffic Girls on our deserted streets.