In a trip not exactly endorsed by U.S. government, former Chicago Bulls player Dennis Rodman, nose rings and all, traveled to communist North Korea to meet dictator Kim Jong Un and watch a basketball game with him.
“Maybe I’ll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I’m here”
Rodman posted online, likely not even fully aware of where he was going.
North Korea, if you are not aware, is a closed communist
country that has declared the United States its mortal enemy, a place whose
unauthorized nuclear tests have the entire United Nations worried. A third of
the children in the country suffer malnutrition, and in the 1990s over a
million citizens died from famine. The country regularly threatens war and forces
many of its citizens to spend their lives in death camps similar to those used
in the Holocaust. The man at the helm of all this is Kim Jong Un.
When Rodman, known for his flashy dressing style,
multicolored hair and overall reckless behavior returned to the States he
called North Korea’s dictator a “dear leader.”
“I love him. The guy is awesome. He is so honest,” Rodman
claimed. The former NBA player called him “a friend for life.”
Rodman dismissed the prison camps and mass murder of North
Korean citizens as “just politics.”
There are multiple perspectives regarding Rodman’s trip.
People have praised him for doing more than any diplomat has been able to
accomplish. He likely knows more about the dictator than anyone else in the
United States, and returned from North Korea with the message that all Kim
wants is a call from President Barack Obama (an offer that will not be
granted).
But of course, one has to question Rodman’s moral judgment
(something not usually associated with him) in simply dismissing the civil
rights claims. ABC’s George Stephanopoulos interviewed the former NBA player, and
was right to hand him a copy of the Human Rights Watch report on North Korea
when Rodman stated his intentions to return.
Rodman’s trip was blatantly irresponsible: North Korea has
no free press, and therefore his visit will be used to portray Kim as a
respected leader. It saps the citizens’ hope that the outside world understands
what their government is making them suffer through, and leads to loss of hope.
Rodman accomplishes this all while glorifying himself.
By visiting North Korea, having a beer with Kim and later
going back to his mansion for a party, Rodman missed the big picture. He didn’t
seem to win the United States much North Korean support, as they continue to
discuss ways to strike Washington with nuclear missiles.
Maybe NBA players should simply stay away from political
affairs.
