HistoryGuy99: “A National Case of Stockholm Syndrome”

HistoryGuy99 in a spot-on post on the death of Kim Jong-Il:

A National Case of Stockholm Syndrome

….Kim Jong’s death moves the dynasty cycle to a point that follows the old Chinese proverb about dynasties or even successful families, that says, “Wealth only lasts three generations. The first generation builds it up, the second consolidates it, and the third squanders it.” 

This proverb is a metaphor for the rise and fall of dynasties down through the ages. The dynasties start when a charismatic visionary leader comes to power, and is followed by less talented and motivated leaders until the dynasty falls and chaos reins until another leader emerges to repeat the cycle. Most nations have moved beyond that cycle today. Even China, the source of the proverb, is moving forward with succeeding generations of leaders that unlike preceding dynasties, mirror institutions that have learned to seek new charismatic leadership, instead of relying on a family blood line that invites decadence to the point of being endemic.

Where does this leave people of North Korea? Listening to the mass wailing and demonstrations of grief as if each family had lost their beloved children, the thought that crossed my mind was that the entire country was a victim of the Stockholm Syndrome were the nation had their sense of esteem so suppressed that they actually came to love their masters. ….

Read the rest here.

Very much like the death of Joseph Stalin. Many of those shedding tears would have been en route to the Gulag had the old monster lived a few years longer.