What's Really Terrifying About N. Korea Attack Video (Or: Smile, You're on Canon Camera)

Much is being made of a video, posted on North Korea’s official website, that shows a young North Korean dreaming of bombs incinerating an American city to the dulcet tones of “We Are the World.” The media has called it a bizarre and alarming message from the Hermit Kingdom.  That’s probably due to the idea of massive death set to incongruously benign music. That didn’t deter YouTube users who posted it, though the site took the video down due to copyright violations asserted by the owners of the music.

I’m relatively sure Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie didn’t have this scenario in mind when they wrote the song. It’s probably a given that the makers of the video game “Call of Duty” did not give permission for the North Korean government to use scenes from the game showing a city under attack. And you have to wonder what Canon thinks when seeing their camera prominently placed throughout the video.

Maybe the message from the North Koreans is that our first fear should be copyright and trademark infringement. How do you scare the world power system? Not through the threat of bombing Manhattan. No, you threaten to steal their stuff. When you think of it that way, the video is brilliant social commentary. Even if it’s unintentional.

— Karen Hull

(screenshots: Live Leak)