Need Help on DPRK Essay - Should I Bother?

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

Yeah, so this is just an English class, I have to write a research paper about whatever I want, so I figured I would write it on North Korea. I am NOT trying to talk about the Left or anything. I'm actually going to try to argue that North Korea is a right wing regime operating with a state capitalist economic model, and I'm going to slightly talk about how revolution against NK's govt must be internal, not external (external meaning imperialism). I'm arguing it's a right wing regime contrary to popular belief about it being a leftist communist regime.

Here's my problem. Take a look at the conversation I had with my teacher when I was asking if my thesis sounded ok.

Me: Here's my thesis (read my first paragraph) above

Teacher: Oh ok, I don't think you'll find much opposition to that, but you need to address opposing viewpoints

Me: Yeah, I'm mainly going to argue it is rightist and state capitalist since most people think it is a left wing regime with a communist economy (I was putting it in simplified terms)

Teacher: Well communism isn't really left wing is it

Me: Yeah I mean you know, fascism is far right, communism is far left

Teacher: Oh yeah, I was thinking more American left but yeah, that sounds fine

So yeah. Should I really even bother with this? I feel like I would first have to sort of define the left-right spectrum and characteristics of each, because my teacher seems to be stuck on the typical conservative-liberal thing as left and right and doesn't seem to have any kind of grasp on political science or whatever. So I feel like I would have to waste a lot of pages just giving clear definitions and stuff.

Like, I really don't even want to talk about communism. This isn't meant to be some propaganda piece. Am I wrong in assuming that most people (mainly Americans) think North Korea's government is leftist and communist? Because my teacher didn't seem to think so. Does that mean she agrees it is rightist or just that she thinks communism is outside the spectrum because she thinks left is liberal?

Some insight would be cool.

[Bala Perdida]

American left. What the fuck. Then again this is the same country that drastically distorted the meaning of libertarian.
I think if you explain that leftism favors popular sovereignty and rightism favors hierarchy, you can get rid of the issue with a paragraph. I would call North Korea more of a monarchy.
That's all I can give for now so, good luck!

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

I'm not sure how this relates to your English class?

Perhaps as it's an English essay you could critique the North Korean constitution and the language it uses as evidence of any ideological shift? Of course, the problem with trying to combine such big concepts as socialism, capitalism, the 'state' into a school English essay is that they are rather large concepts to research, review, define and evaluate. You have to ask yourself: are you going to have the time/space to do justice to this topic?

Even at 3rd year university level, a problem you will encounter is that your ambitions are loftier than the tools and time at your disposal.

My humble advice would be that you choose a less ambitious topic, that is smaller in scope and has more resources available, and then make sure that you can really do justice to it. Then you can build up towards the bigger projects that involve the more complicated concepts.

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

American left. What the fuck. Then again this is the same country that drastically distorted the meaning of libertarian.
I think if you explain that leftism favors popular sovereignty and rightism favors hierarchy, you can get rid of the issue with a paragraph. I would call North Korea more of a monarchy.
That's all I can give for now so, good luck!

Huh, good point. I might as well just keep it super simple and be like "left is equal, right is unequal hierarchy." I was thinking something along those lines too.

I'm not sure how this relates to your English class?

Perhaps as it's an English essay you could critique the North Korean constitution and the language it uses as evidence of any ideological shift? Of course, the problem with trying to combine such big concepts as socialism, capitalism, the 'state' into a school English essay is that they are rather large concepts to research, review, define and evaluate. You have to ask yourself: are you going to have the time/space to do justice to this topic?

Even at 3rd year university level, a problem you will encounter is that your ambitions are loftier than the tools and time at your disposal.

My humble advice would be that you choose a less ambitious topic, that is smaller in scope and has more resources available, and then make sure that you can really do justice to it. Then you can build up towards the bigger projects that involve the more complicated concepts.

Yeah lol weird for an English class, but she said literally any topic and this is the kind of stuff I know about. But that's true, that's what I was thinking because it almost produces an endless chain reaction of other concepts I have to define and explain before I even get to the main point. I just don't know what else to write about. I don't wanna write about communism because she'll think I'm weird as fuck. And my classmates have the most boring topics such as writing about successful companies or weed legalization. I just don't know what else to do, really.

[synthesis]

Why does she think communism isn't left-wing?

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

Why does she think communism isn't left-wing?

I wanted to ask that in those exact words to be honest, but I didn't want to come off as a conceited know-it-all. Even though that's pretty fucking common knowledge. I think she was just thinking in terms of Democrat and Republican…? I have no clue though, and I am still confused about why she thought that.

[synthesis]

I wanted to ask that in those exact words to be honest, but I didn't want to come off as a conceited know-it-all. Even though that's pretty fucking common knowledge. I think she was just thinking in terms of Democrat and Republican…? I have no clue though, and I am still confused about why she thought that.

I guess the thing is that I don't know if it's possible to answer the questions in the OP, in terms of what you would need to include about the basic elements, without knowing more about her own familiarity with the concepts.

Perhaps she was thinking capital-C Communism, like the Soviet bloc? In that case maybe include a few sentences about the common thread between what we see as "leftist" in the U.S. and the ideology upon which those states claimed to be based.

I definitely don't think you should dumb it down for her though, like reducing the left-right spectrum to just "equal" and "unequal hierarchies." Just put it in terms that would make sense to you if you knew nothing about it. You could also talk about how Marxism supersedes the left-right spectrum in favor of class analysis.

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

I guess the thing is that I don't know if it's possible to answer the questions in the OP, in terms of what you would need to include about the basic elements, without knowing more about her own familiarity with the concepts.

Perhaps she was thinking capital-C Communism, like the Soviet bloc? In that case maybe include a few sentences about the common thread between what we see as "leftist" in the U.S. and the ideology upon which those states claimed to be based.

I definitely don't think you should dumb it down for her though, like reducing the left-right spectrum to just "equal" and "unequal hierarchies." Just put it in terms that would make sense to you if you knew nothing about it. You could also talk about how Marxism supersedes the left-right spectrum in favor of class analysis.

Very good advice, thank you. I forget that communism is usually associated with the Soviet bloc by default, so comparing that to the common view of leftism in the US will certainly help.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

I think it's fine to talk about communism, but you need to limit your scope, as i've said above.

One of the best ways to do this is to set a specific time frame. So instead of writing an essay on communism in general (which could literally be endless, and could never satisfactorily be answered in a PhD thesis, let alone a school essay), focus on a 5 or 10 year period that has good sources available, research the fuck out of it and write a nice clear essay with a good argument, concise language and well-argued conclusion.

[Blake's Baby]

250 words on how Marx saw communist society (bringing in other theorists would be too much).

500 words describing N Korea.

250 words summing up the mismatch between the first and second parts.

Expand or contract in proportion to the size of your essay.

That's how I'd approach it.

[Thirsty Crow]

Why wouldn't you pick a more relevant topic, in relation to the more immediate problems your class might be familiar with?

I gather you're from the US. There's plenty of stuff to choose. For instance, the urban decline in connection with the ongoing capitalist crisis as evident in Detroit. Or how about the right to work and its criticism? Or a brief history of unionism?

[Slavic]

Why wouldn't you pick a more relevant topic, in relation to the more immediate problems your class might be familiar with?

I gather you're from the US. There's plenty of stuff to choose. For instance, the urban decline in connection with the ongoing capitalist crisis as evident in Detroit. Or how about the right to work and its criticism? Or a brief history of unionism?

I am assuming that this is a High School English class, there is no need to go crazy in depth.

As long as you have an Intro, Body, Conclusion. One opinion per paragraph with three supporting statements each, then its an easy A. English classes are there to teach you how to write a paper, not challenge your research ability.

Like others have stated, go more narrow.

Contrast quality of living between the people of DPRK and the Kims
Foreign relationship between DPRK and US in past 10 years
Ballistic missile program

[PhoenixAsh]

You could post your eventual paper in articles.

This would be interesting. Especially if it could serve as a discussion piece on the site.

[Dagoth Ur]

Yes we need another "communist" joining in the imperial chorus against North Korea. The nation so horrible it feeds it's people better than India, and literally harms none of it's neighbors. Yes you should focus on what the American media already hates.

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

250 words on how Marx saw communist society (bringing in other theorists would be too much).

500 words describing N Korea.

250 words summing up the mismatch between the first and second parts.

Expand or contract in proportion to the size of your essay.

That's how I'd approach it.

Oh wow, thank you! That's a pretty good idea, I like that.

Why wouldn't you pick a more relevant topic, in relation to the more immediate problems your class might be familiar with?

I gather you're from the US. There's plenty of stuff to choose. For instance, the urban decline in connection with the ongoing capitalist crisis as evident in Detroit. Or how about the right to work and its criticism? Or a brief history of unionism?

Well honestly, my classmates aren't going to be reading it, just the teacher. And I used to be obsessed with learning about North Korea so that's what I have the most knowledge about. I have to fill like 10 pages and I just can't talk about unions and Detroit and such for that long, plus it's not interesting for me to write about, really.

You could post your eventual paper in articles.

This would be interesting. Especially if it could serve as a discussion piece on the site.

I'll think about it but I'm too paranoid

[Dagoth Ur]

I have to ask, have you ever read any of the Kims' works?

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

I have to ask, have you ever read any of the Kims' works?

I have not. I have read excerpts from their works though. Why do you ask?

[Dagoth Ur]

Because you can hardly proclaim them right-wing when you haven't even given the horse's mouth a fair shake.
http://www.korea-dpr.com/lib/

That's a good resource.

Also to be clear I think most of these writings are dumb as shit but they certainly are not right-wing. Barracks Communism is confusing because of it's appearance but it isn't right-wing.

[Psycho P and the Freight Train]

Because you can hardly proclaim them right-wing when you haven't even given the horse's mouth a fair shake.
http://www.korea-dpr.com/lib/

That's a good resource.

Also to be clear I think most of these writings are dumb as shit but they certainly are not right-wing. Barracks Communism is confusing because of it's appearance but it isn't right-wing.

Fair enough, I'll take a look at it.

What's your stance on DPRK? I know this wasn't the original intention of my thread but now I'm curious and don't mind derailing it into a North Korea debate

[Thirsty Crow]

Well honestly, my classmates aren't going to be reading it, just the teacher. And I used to be obsessed with learning about North Korea so that's what I have the most knowledge about. I have to fill like 10 pages and I just can't talk about unions and Detroit and such for that long, plus it's not interesting for me to write about, really.

Eh, then disregard what I wrote and fire away, and there's also some decent advice on how to structure your essay here.