North Korean defector says 'even North Korea was not this nuts' after attending Ivy League school
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As American educational institutions continue to be called into question, a North Korean defector fears the United States' future "is as bleak as North Korea" after she attended one of the country's most prestigious universities.
Yeonmi Park has experienced plenty of struggle and hardship, but she does not call herself a victim.
One of several hundred North Korean defectors settled in the United States, Park, 27, transferred to Columbia University from a South Korean university in 2016 and was deeply disturbed by what she found.
"I expected that I was paying this fortune, all this time and energy, to learn how to think. But they are forcing you to think the way they want you to think," Park said in an interview with Fox News. "I realized, wow, this is insane. I thought America was different but I saw so many similarities to what I saw in North Korea that I started worrying."
Those similarities include anti-Western sentiment, collective guilt and suffocating political correctness.
Yeonmi saw red flags immediately upon arriving at the school.
During orientation, she was scolded by a university staff member for admitting she enjoyed classic literature such as Jane Austen.
"I said 'I love those books.' I thought it was a good thing," recalled Park.
"Then she said, 'Did you know those writers had a colonial mindset? They were racists and bigots and are subconsciously brainwashing you.'"
It only got worse from there as Yeonmi realized that every one of her classes at the Ivy League school was infected with what she saw as anti-American propaganda, reminiscent to the sort she had grown up with.
"'American Bastard' was one word for North Koreans" Park was taught growing up.
"The math problems would say 'there are four American bastards, you kill two of them, how many American bastards are left to kill?'"
She was also shocked and confused by issues surrounding gender and language, with every class asking students to announce their preferred pronouns.
"English is my third language. I learned it as an adult. I sometimes still say 'he' or 'she' by mistake and now they are going to ask me to call them 'they'? How the heck do I incorporate that into my sentences?"
"It was chaos," said Yeonmi. "It felt like the regression in civilization."
"Even North Korea is not this nuts," she admitted. "North Korea was pretty crazy, but not this crazy."
After getting into a number of arguments with professors and students, eventually Yeonmi "learned how to just shut up" in order to maintain a good GPA and graduate.
In North Korea, Yeonmi Park did not know of concepts like love or liberty.
"Because I have seen oppression, I know what it looks like," said Yeonmi, who by the age of 13 had witnessed people drop dead of starvation right before her eyes.
"These kids keep saying how they're oppressed, how much injustice they've experienced. They don't know how hard it is to be free," she admonished.
"I literally crossed through the middle of the Gobi Desert to be free. But what I did was nothing, so many people fought harder than me and didn't make it."
Park and her mother first fled the oppressive North Korean regime in 2007, when Yeonmi was 13 years old.
After crossing into China over the frozen Yalu River, they fell into the hands of human traffickers who sold them into slavery: Yeonmi for less than $300 and her mother for roughly $100.
With the help of Christian missionaries, the pair managed to flee to Mongolia, walking across the Gobi Desert to eventually find refuge in South Korea.
In 2015 she published her memoir "In Order to Live," where she described what it took to survive in one of the world's most brutal dictatorships and the harrowing journey to freedom.
"The people here are just dying to give their rights and power to the government. That is what scares me the most," the human right activist said.
She accused American higher education institutions of stripping people's ability to think critically.
"In North Korea I literally believed that my Dear Leader [Kim Jong-un] was starving," she recalled. "He's the fattest guy - how can anyone believe that? And then somebody showed me a photo and said 'Look at him, he's the fattest guy. Other people are all thin.' And I was like, 'Oh my God, why did I not notice that he was fat?' Because I never learned how to think critically."
"That is what is happening in America," she continued. "People see things but they've just completely lost the ability to think critically."
Witnessing the depth of American's ignorance up close has made Yeonmi question everything about humanity.
"North Koreans, we don't have Internet, we don't have access to any of these great thinkers, we don't know anything. But here, while having everything, people choose to be brainwashed. And they deny it."
Having come to America with high hopes and expectations, Yeonmi expressed her disappointment.
"You guys have lost common sense to degree that I as a North Korean cannot even comprehend," she said.
"Where are we going from here?" she wondered. "There's no rule of law, no morality, nothing is good or bad anymore, it's complete chaos."
"I guess that's what they want, to destroy every single thing and rebuild into a Communist paradise."
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Listen up America.
We are letting them take it all away.
Back when I was a teenager we used to joke that you could take a course in basket weaving at University of Miami, but maybe that isn't a joke any more. I was shocked when I read this is in the seed...
And I had actually wondered why almost nobody on this site had any interest in Jane Austen when I created the New Jane Austen Society group here. Now I understand. But I'm now convinced of the failure of the American education system to graduate students with critical thinking and just plain old common sense abilities having seen that damn near half the voters in America voted for Trump, and even worse, that so many actually believe the election was stolen from him.
I was right there with you until the last half of your last sentence. For fuck's sake. [deleted]
You seem to believe that the rest of us should just forget that three fourths of Trump voters believe the election was stolen from him. The country cannot get along when so many people believe in insanity.
No that is not it at all. I am wondering what the hell Trump has to do with an article about a Korean defector who sees and calls out bullshit. This is NOT a place to introduce Trump............a-fucking-gain. I swear some people just can't let go of the long gone.
How can it be long gone when 75% of Trump supporters still say the election was stolen from him and HE talks about it all the time?
Of course, it’s the Biden voters who overwhelmingly champion the values criticized by Ms. Park, such as hostility to authors of the western canon like Jane Austen.
Seems to me you pay waaaaaayyy too much attention to him and them. Let 'em go and let the chips fall where they may. My wife has a favorite saying if something is of no interest to her. "I'm sorry I can't get involved with that right now."
It's obvious. Those people OWN you Mr. Russell...............and it is a sad situation
You have it backwards, I own them.
I have yet to meet in real life or online anyone who could successfully defend Donald Trump. In an objective sense it is impossible. So they try and make it about his critics.
I really don't think they talk about or post on a public site about you every day ad nauseum nor do they care about your daily "activities" even though, for the most part, you obsess with them and what they do. They, as a whole, don't even know who you are.
Did you figure that out all by yourself?
I couldn't agree more with the first part of your comments. Your conclusion has me scratching my head.
You are saying that leftist indoctrination at a university like Columbia is the reason people believe an election was stolen from Trump?
Nope. I was lamenting the lack of students being educated to think critically and gave an example of the result of that and it is still current because the example is keeping it current.
That simply isn't true, Buzz.
The ones who aren't being taught to think critically or logically are the low information and easily brainwashed leftists.
Fair enough. We agree on the lack of teaching critical thinking or the importance of Jane Austin.
I thought you could have used a more pertinent example.
I suppose I could have used a more esoteric example, but I chose one that everyone on this site would understand.
This young lady went out of her way to mention that they dont teach people about Jesus Christ in North Korea. Assuming that her viewpoint is sincere, you can also assume she has been indoctrinated in right wing Christian beliefs.
Her speech here sounds like something written by Tom Cotton.
Why right wing Christian beliefs? There are Christian left wingers you know. Again, FFS. Sounds like something written by Samantha Bee
Oh yes, let's smear her because she told the damn obvious truth - that we allowed the American left to control the teaching at the university.
I dont doubt her horrible life in North Korea and her harrowing escape. I completely doubt the objectivity of her beliefs about America. Anyone who compares an Ivy League education to life under a communist dictator has an ax to grind that is not based on objective reality.
Unfortunately, John, we needed someone like her to say what many of us knew was true and going on for decades, beginning with Allan Bloom’s 1987 critique of higher education in the United States -The Closing of the American Mind.
In 2014 -
What is that supposed to mean, John?
It seems you can't dispute the fact that the American left is indoctrinating impressionable young minds at places like Columbia University.
Let us concede that fact.
I dont go to Columbia and do not follow their curriculum or teaching methods on a daily basis, or on any basis for that matter. And I'm sure neither do you.
This young lady has ulterior motives(money) and thus I assume she is painting a one sided story. That is my "critical thinking" at work.
This is what Columbia University's core curriculum page says about Jane Austen
Jane Austen | The Core Curriculum (columbia.edu)
Written by Deborah Aschkenes, Department of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
It seems like they discuss quite a bit more about Jane Austen than her being representative of colonialism.
Are we going to now pretend that this is only going on at Columbia?
This young lady has ulterior motives(money) and thus I assume she is painting a one sided story.
Oh, now you are going to smear her as being a fake or crook?
That is my "critical thinking" at work.
That's not critical thinking, John. It's like when a progressive watches CNN. It's the opposite of critical thinking.
That's the core curriculum page. What did the professors at Columbia say to Yeonmi Park about Jane Austin's books? That's the question, John.
Angela Davis became a teacher as did Bill Ayers or should I say they were allowed to teach! Do you think they stood by the spirit of the "curriculum page?"
Books by right wing extremists sell well. The nut case Kurt Schlichter, who is completely vile, has written over a dozen books displaying his violent right wing fantasies. Somebody must be buying them.
What does that mean?
Anyone can write a book. It shouldn't be the same with teaching!
Vic, if you take a course on Jane Austen at a famous university, or any university for that matter , do you seriously believe they are going to revolve the course around British colonialism? If you believe that then prove it.
The description of Jane Austen on the university's core curriculum page does not even mention colonialism.
Do I believe they would revolve the entire course around British Colonialism? I think that would be hard to do, nor could I envision an entire course on Jane Austin. On the other hand, I can easily envision Columbia professors calling her books racist and or colonialist along with all the books written in that era. That would be more in line with Ms Park's complaint.
The description of Jane Austen on the university's core curriculum page does not even mention colonialism.
So what? We are discussing how various individuals at Columbia have described Austin.
PS:
The curriculum page is like the Pulitzer Prize page:
"The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher and is administered by Columbia University. Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and a US$15,000 cash award. The winner in the public service category is awarded a gold medal."
That sounds very noble.
Where has the gold medal gone in recent years?
Last year the Pulitzer judges decreed that facts were subordinate to the mission when they honored the New York Times "1619 Project." This year they expanded the definition of journalism by awarding a special citation to a citizen bystander who captured the death of George Floyd on her smartphone. Shall I guess who wins it next year?
Who votes you ask?
Answer: The Pulitzer Board, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.
[deleted]
If you approved of me I'd be worried I was doing something wrong.
Amazing that she feels that the US is ''losing its way'' yet she is able to speak freely about it and earn a very good living in our oppressive society. If she tried that in NK she would be living in a labor camp for the rest of her life.
Everyone has an opinion.
Not everyone has been able to do that in modern America:
They lost their jobs because of racist comments/actions/tweets. I'm sure that the Klan and White Supremecy groups are outraged.
Did you read their comments?
I'm impressed. There was more discussion about Jane Austen following that seed than there has been on my Jane Austen group.
Sad to say I suppose, Newstalkers is not really a Jane Austen type of place. Its more of a Game Of Thrones or Star Trek type of place.
I'm sure they have Jane Austen websites that have comment sections where they discuss Jane Austen's works.
Classic movies aren't so popular here as well, Seems that most here are more interested in politics, guns and cars/trucks/motorcycles. I guess that's why there are so many movies these days with gun violence and car chases.
Who needs movies when we have hundreds of TV channels available?
You've got one classic movie fan here Buzz.
Our recent "Prime" subscription yielded dozens of the old 1950s class B & C sci-fi movies. Even my wife has enjoyed watching them. Classics like: "Green Slime" and "Robot Monster". We're trying to turn it into a Thursday evening get together with wine and neighbors. Last week the running commentary was stellar.... Kind of like Science Fiction Theater 3000....
LOL. I never watched those junk sci-fi movies. The 1950s ones I watched were Forbidden Planet, When Worlds Collide, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Man in the White Suit, the original War of the Worlds, On the Beach, etc. These days there are junk monster movies - monster pirrhana, monster crocodiles, monster monsters, machine monsters, fire twisters, etc as a continuation of the junk movies. However, I loved Mars Attacks - it was absolutely hilarious.
I'll talk Jane Austen with you to your heart's content, Buzz. Of course, I'm also a Star Trek fan, although real Trekkies know that Trek is cerebral, too.
Okay, meet me at the group. As for Star Trek - I remain a fan of the original series and movies - IMO there was only ONE James Tiberius Kirk, as there was only ONE Bond, James Bond, as there was only ONE Dr. Jack Ryan, and there will only be for sure. ONE Henry "Indiana" Jones.
More of a TNG fan myself, but the franchise would be nowhere without the original series.
Sounds like Yeonmi Park wants to be the new Ayn Rand. Meh, back to Emma, Austin is far saner than Ms Park will ever be.
She sounds like another religious nut case. Based on what she says I can't give her any credence for dumping on the country that took her dumb ass in. If she doesn't like it she can take her sorry ass back to NK!!!
And how does Allan David Bloom sound? He essentially said the same thing in 1987. That is why I cited him.
"I guess that's what they want, to destroy every single thing and rebuild into a Communist paradise."
You would love her if she was a young socialist.
Ivy league schools, by and large. are bastions of intolerance, ignorance, and left wing indoctrination
I agree with this one, that’s fucking dumb. I don’t give a shit what pronouns you want to be used, if you look male you get male pronouns, female you get female pronouns. I am going to make exactly zero effort to remember what each specific person wants to be called as far as pronouns go, frankly you are not remotely important enough for me to make the effort.
Really what it boils down to is this, get over yourself.
I seriously doubt every class at Columbia did this.
It's called curtesy and respect. Obviously you have no respect for others that don't follow your idea of gender norms, so you'll just be rude. Perhaps others that cross your path should feel the same way about you and make no effort to be civil and respectful to you either.
And you typed that without laughing at your own hypocrisy?
I am just flat out saying I am not goi g to take the time to see what every specific person I meet wants to be referred to as aside from their damn name. Don’t much care of they, you, or anyone else don’t like it. Too many people in the world and I have too many better things to do. I am more than happy to be civil, to a degree. but when you start acting like you are special and I should bend the rules or norms for you, then fuck off.
And it isn’t hypocrisy, I’m not making a special effort for anyone. Everyone gets the same treatment, end of story.
I see. You've come across so many people asking to be referred to by a specific pronoun that it's a burden to you?
Rules and norms change all the time. Do you apply the same lack of civility when someone wants to be referred to by their heritage (hyphenated) American?