http://cptv.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ypmwebcontent/Commodore%20Skahill/Colin%20McEnroe%20Show%2012-23-2011.mp3
Everything contains its own opposite said the philosopher Heraclitus. From Freud and Erikson we came to understand this in terms of forbidden impulses. In his 2011 book "Boomerang," Michael Lewis dwells on the notion that Germans -- despite or because of -- their cultural obsession with order and cleanliness are also drenched -- through their sayings, idioms, folktales and riddles -- in the imagery of feces.
I wonder if that explains the current American fascination with North Korea. The death of Kim Jong-il has touched off waves of exploration -- some of it humorous -- among people who ordinarily wouldn't give a ... whoop about a totalitarian regime halfway around the world.
But North Korea is the opposite of our open, confessional society, where you can become a celebrity simply by having no boundaries. The Kim family are the anti-Kardashians. They have interesting secrets they're not willing to share with anyone.
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