We have a couple of special events this week during our TOK class. On Wednesday, we will be attending a screening of a documentary film called "Hiding." It is about human rights in North Korea - a nice tie-in to our discussion of human rights and ethics last week. If you have time, below is some background on what is going on in North Korea. The screening will take place in the band room.
BBC Newsnight segment on North Korea (15 minutes)
BBC Newsnight interview with North Korean defectors (13 minutes)
BBC Newsnight segment on internet access in North Korea (1 minute)
Movie trailer for "Hiding" (2 minutes)
LINK website (this is the group that will be presenting)
On Thursday, you will have to take the healthy youth survey. I tried REALLY HARD to get you out of it - I didn't want to lose class time. But I lost that battle. They supposedly really need seniors to take it. Sorry.
For your homework this week,
1. Post at least one comment to the United Nations post (below) and respond to at least one comment by other students. (Total of 2 posts)
2. Post a comment or two to this post about Wednesday's film. What knowledge issues are raised by the situation in North Korea?
All posts are due by Tuesday, October 26th.
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There are so many issues with the North Korean situation! How can a government be allowed to do this? Is it ethical to keep people from knowledge?
ReplyDeleteAs you all come up with knowledge issues, use the chart that I gave you last week and see if you can come up with some really high level ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat the citizens of North Korea are enduring is horrible.
ReplyDeleteTo what extent is a dictatorship an ethical way of governing a country?
How can reason ad ethics be used to justify the oppression the people of North Korea must endure?
Would it be ethically right for the people of North Korea to rebel against thier government?
I agree with both Daniel and Julianna. It deeply saddens me that things such as this occur all over the world and that everything can't be fixed nd healed all the time. I was definitely intrigued by the governments' immense amount of relying on fear in order to keep the people in order. Who should have the power to control how much a human being should know about the world surrounding them? Another question is how does the government make these decisions...is it safe to say that the head totalitarian of North Korea is a consequentialist? I think that he is indeed a consequentialist because when he punishes or suppresses his people through a lack of education,food, and freedom he must be thinking of how "the ends justify the means". My question for the American Link program is similar to Peter Singer's thoughts on the world contribution to countries in need of food, resources, or any other intervention...To what extent should North Korean people suffer in order for more of us to create helpful programs such as Link and etc.? When do we as "good-hearted Americans step in? Or better yet, when does such a close neighbor such as China step in to help these suffering people?
ReplyDelete"Hiding" shed light on the horrifying truths of North Korea-China immigration. Although I believe that Link as an organization is doing the morally right thing, they are still breaking the law according Chinese and North Korean agreements. Can breaking the law ever be the morally right thing to do? Looking through different ethical perspectives, Kant would believe that under any circumstances, the law is the law and the defectors should be brought back to Korea. I believe that a utilitarian would disagree with Kant because the outcome of the escapes would allow the defectors to live life in a way that makes them happy and ultimately give hope to those who would like to get away from the oppression in North Korea.
ReplyDeleteWatching the video Link truly opened my eyes to the autrocities that are happening in this world today. We also have recently seen the Invisible Children presentation regarding the situation in Uganda concerning childhood soldiers as well as the rape and pilage of thousands of innocent civilians.
ReplyDeleteWatching these videos and seeing the victims of such corrupt government, is extremely hard to watch. When watching these videos, I realized that generally the only kind of programs out there for countries like Korea and Uganda, come from the United States. This lead me to think about how much damage the United States does to other countries in this world.
I guess this got me thinking about people doing good and bad.
Does a good deed for someone else, make up for a bad deed?
Do people get to feel good about themselves for the "good" things they've done for others, even when they have done something "bad" to someone else?
Yes I agree, that the dictatorship is something that is indeed a far greater oppression of the people of North Korea than I knew. And of course there are many different ethical standpoints one can take when trying to sort out what to do about the current situation.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Daniel's question "Would it be ethically right for the people of North Korea to rebel against their government?", I do think that there is a point at which under a great deal of oppression and henceforth suffering, it cannot be considered "wrong" to rebel against one's government. In this case, I would not look down upon the people of North Korea, and think "hey you guys aren't doing the right thing, it's never ethical to go against the law", because as we've heavily discussed in class, everything is relative, and I think that this is one case where it would be okay to rebel. However, I would rather consider the idea that rebelling might not be the right thing to do in this situation. Is rebelling against the government, for end gains, worth it, if a good deal of human life may be lost in the process? Or indeed, is it worth it if the country may be put into a worse state of turmoil than it were under a previous, though oppressive, regime? Is there another way to help try and fix North Korea's problems?
Also, I do agree with what some of Ebony was saying though I'm not sure I would say that North Korea's government is run under a 'consequentialist' point of view. Though, perhaps one could argue that the 'end is justifying the means", what exactly is the 'end' plan where life will turn out better for these North Korean people? To me, it seems like the North Korean government does not actually have any particular plan in place, and that instead they are simply power hungry and constantly trying to stay in control by prosecuting those who choose to disobey the government, or even say a single bad word against the government. It does not seem like 'the ends' will ever end in this case, and it does not seem like there is anything better to look forward to, because it seems more like the North Korean government is one of the present, and does not seem to be thinking about a better future for their people at all.
And yes, I do agree with Ebony that we, not only Americans, but the rest of the people of the world who are also better off, must try to help relieve the people in North Korea. Yet, how do we do this without causing a war? This whole situation is dangerous ground for other countries to be treading upon.