I appreciate that you defended the nationalistic part, but I don't appreciate that you glossed over the patriarchal part, but I digress.

Nationalism is just a crutch to bring support to the ruling class of any country. Saying that it is good if the ruling class is good or even just has good intentions is... Not good? I shouldn't have to explain how that kind of fervor can be coopted. Nationalism doesn't just disappear when it's no longer needed.

But, personally, as a US citizen, I don't think anyone I know thinks of North Korea as a hellscape. Media rarely portrays them as one, although it comes up more in Korean media, which does have some proliferation here. In the news, it's just about the weapon capabilities, and the military parades, the former I don't really care about as much coming from a country with an arsenal capable of destroying the world many times over and occasionally little hesitancy to do so, and the latter I very much do. Same with Cuba. If anything, American media tries to convince us of all African and sometimes South American countries are hellscapes. Mostly, we just get told Cuba has old cars and is poor and stuff about Fidel Castro, and North Korea is also poor and very militaristic and nationalistic. But, like, that seems pretty accurate from your replies?