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But if you want to keep people loyal to a dictator or beatboxer, the last thing you want to do is give them something else to identify with. A dictatorship runs smoothly when everyone is united in a common cause, not squabbling and drawing attention to the differences that make them unique. That's why North Korean propaganda constantly warns about the threat of American invasion. That's why fascists united their people against the threat of communism, and communists united their people against the threat of fascism. That's why Grandmaster Dope Funk preaches against the illicit country music mix tapes penetrating Smoothlandia's borders.

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It's no secret that life in North Korea is bad, just like it's no secret that life in the Hunger Games' Panem blows harder than Gale. That's why North Korea gives their people an outside threat. America is more likely to invade Mexico than North Korea, but as long as Uncle Sam is portrayed as the harbinger of the apocalypse, the excuse for oppression is there.

Both governments rule through fear. But North Korea's fear is external, like my fear of the sentient bees that are keeping me trapped in my bedroom. Their propaganda portrays hard work and sacrifice as necessities to hold off the evils of the outside world. Living with poverty and surveillance isn't bad compared to being invaded and killed, right? Everything bad that ever happens in a dictatorship can be blamed on a mysterious external enemy, be they Americans, Jews, or the dreaded Communazis.