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    EldritchStassa Edwards
    5/24/15 1:06pm

    “It was an enormous, enormous triumph,” Steinem told ABC “We feel very celebratory and positive that we have created a voyage across the DMZ in peace and reconciliation that was said to be impossible.”

    YOU. DID. NOTHING. You changed nothing. You did NOTHING. You didn’t help anyone in North Korea. You wandered into the DMZ for no fucking reason except to show you could. It doesn’t help the terrible plight of people in North Korea, it doesn’t help feminism, it doesn’t do ANYTHING except raise your own damn profile and make you feel good in that useless self-congratulatory white feminist way that everyone complains about now. This was as useful as buying a bracelet from Nordstrom that says it gives 10% of it’s price to women in Africa or pajamas made by women in India. This is a useless, nonsense gesture that accomplished absolutely fucking nothing.

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      pepperfoxmoreEldritch
      5/24/15 1:14pm

      I’m not even sure that they crossed a border in any real way and they didn’t get near any actual North Korean women (just soldiers) unless I’m missing something. Tourists can visit Panmunjum and buy a souvenir ticket in Dorasan Station.

      I really don’t want to be flamed, so I just edited what I said about the park as I’m not 100% on the names/locations.

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      LibraryanneagainEldritch
      5/24/15 1:18pm

      A triumph of what- paperwork?

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    Mike Pipper Super GIF EnthusiastStassa Edwards
    5/24/15 1:07pm

    “There’s no peace in North Korea and they go and praise Kim Jong-Un and his family?”

    Wait, that isn’t what they’re doing, is it?

    I’m confused.

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      SweetCaroline12Mike Pipper Super GIF Enthusiast
      5/24/15 1:09pm

      Yeah, I feel like I'm missing something here

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      Mike Pipper Super GIF EnthusiastSweetCaroline12
      5/24/15 1:11pm

      I mean, Eldritch makes some excellent points, as I don’t see how it’s HELPING anyone besides themselves, but it also isn’t in praise of Un, either.

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    all-the-catsStassa Edwards
    5/24/15 1:07pm

    I doubt they don’t know about the awful conditions in North Korea. I think of it as a hostage situation- negotiators try to appeal to the captor’s ego to gain small victories until the opening is big enough to start extracting people. Or maybe I’m just hopeful because I just had my coffee and I’m eating cookies for breakfast.

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      32_Footstepsall-the-cats
      5/24/15 1:50pm

      Fuck, this past week was awful. Pass the cookies and coffee; that’s a good start.

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      somearelakesall-the-cats
      5/24/15 1:59pm

      Cookies for breakfast!! Optimism: justified. (I was just sitting here with my coffee, feeling bummed about what I’m reading and wishing I had breakfast chips; cookies didn’t even occur to me as a thing I could be eating, but now I definitely want chips AND cookies for breakfast.)

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    stasiaStassa Edwards
    5/24/15 1:20pm

    I mean, it’s great that their purpose wasn’t to be political but this is already being spun as propaganda in North Korea.

    The Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Mrs Maguire was “touched” to learn about the “revolutionary life” of Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea.

    The state-run KCNA news agency reported that delegates said “the US is trying to ignite wars in different parts of the world.

    “The power of women is inexhaustible as they love justice and peace and aspire after the bright future of children”, it reported. “But their human rights are being mercilessly trampled down in capitalist countries”.

    Christine Ahn, one of the founding members of the group, was also quoted as saying that the late North Korean leader had committed his life to the freedom and liberation of the North Korean people.

    North Korean authorities don’t care about open dialogue and the people will never hear any other version of events but the one peddled by state-run media. This is an empty publicity stunt that achieves nothing.

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      Tabby GevinsonStassa Edwards
      5/24/15 1:44pm

      Rest assured, people of North Korea, Gloria Steinem is here to grandstand on the shoulders of your suffering.

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        catjuggalarStassa Edwards
        5/24/15 1:46pm

        Who did they help? How does this open a dialog? I’m not seeing it.

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          DontBeSuchaBoobPunchTinaStassa Edwards
          5/24/15 3:38pm

          Filed to: GLORIA STEINMAN

          I’m confused by this. Is the intent to imply that this was somehow a male-thinking thing to do... or... I mean, what?

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            WhatHadHappenedWasStassa Edwards
            5/24/15 1:08pm

            This sounds like an equivalent of the George Bush Mission Accomplished Banner moment tbh.

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              pepperfoxmoreWhatHadHappenedWas
              5/24/15 1:20pm

              There is a hilarious photo of George W. at Dorasan Station “signing” some kind of commemorative banner (I think—it’s been a few years since my tour) but his pen is upside down.

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            32_FootstepsStassa Edwards
            5/24/15 1:13pm

            If it wasn’t political, then why even bother doing it? At least own up to your political aims, even if they’re ridiculous or overly simplistic.

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              stasia32_Footsteps
              5/24/15 1:25pm

              Probably they had to edit themselves to get approval from Pyongyang, so the ‘not political’, ‘open dialogue’ hoops plus the utter lack of mention of the Kim’s human rights abuses were the price to be paid so the spectacle could unfold.

              You’d think that having to do that would’ve tipped them off as to how effective this stunt was going to be for the North Korean people (you know, the ones they claim to want to help) but since this went through, I guess not.

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            wkiernanStassa Edwards
            5/24/15 2:20pm

            All the posters furiously pointing out how negligible the effects of this event were to the people of North Korea should consider that it also may be intended to affect the people and the government of South Korea. Ninety percent of the participants were South Korean women. Is it illegitimate egotistic self-gratification for American women to participate in a protest demonstration intended to influence American voters and politicians? or for notable foreign activists to join the demonstration?

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              Ruth P.wkiernan
              5/25/15 1:50am

              And did having a famous white woman with them, make them safer.

              I don’t know folks, I have been pretty impressed with Gloria Steinem’s writings and speeches. She is not a stupid woman and, at least in the past, she has been a real thinker who has found new ways to work on issues, new ways to SEE and talk about issues. I also imagine that she was invited to participate for some reason that was important to the other participants. Have you read her work? She was a stand up feminist early on. I am in my 60s and I admired her work when I was in my late 20’s.

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