The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Orion's picture

    Mr. Rodman Goes To Pyongyang

    By Orion on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 3:37am |

    In the chaos surrounding the possible Syria strike, mass shootings, George Zimmerman and all sorts of other things, you might have missed out on a really strange story - Dennis Rodman's apparent new job as ambassador to North Korea.

    As noted in this segment from the Young Turks, basketball legend Dennis Rodman may actually be the closest we have to an ambassador to North Korea. I mentioned to a very well informed friend told me that former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has actually gone a few times and he even wrote an editorial for Salon.com saying that Rodman's trip was "healthy."

    It's hard to really make heads or tails of it - there is an American citizen being held in North Korea named Kenneth Bae. This is what Rodman said about that:

    "It is not my job to talk about Kenneth Bae," he told reporters gathered at the Beijing airport.

    Sporting a silver, shiny cap and a long scarf, the 6-foot-7 inch (2.01 meter) former basketball star broke through the crowd and continued talking.

    "Ask Obama about that, ask Hillary Clinton about that," Rodman said. "Ask those ---holes."

    blush

    When he was there last, Rodman actually said that he is Kim Jong Un's "friend for life" and seemed to genuinely be enjoying himself. The whole thing actually started off as a documentary being developed by Vice magazine, a magazine that started off as a niche pop culture journal but has since become something powerful unto itself. 

    Comments

    Richardson is a diplomat at heart and probably wants to be invited back to North Korea, so what else could he say about Rodman's visit?  On the other hand, you have to wonder about a leader of a country who seeks advice about the U.S from an off-the-wall former basketball player. 

    It could be that Kim Jong Un rather enjoys the fact that Rodman is announcing to the world that Clinton and Obama are a-holes.  It's the kind of thing that, say, the Tea Party might see as the diplomacy of the future.


    by Ramona on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 10:11am

    Rodman is off the wall and stuff but he is a very successful b-ball player. He was perfectly up there with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. It was Vice Magazine though and it probably seems significantly wackier to have Rodman, what with his dyed hair, piercing and dressing in drag, take a trip than the more conservative Jordan or Johnson.


    by Orion on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 6:54pm

    If that's the criterion for becoming an ambassador its not saying much. Even you could probably go to Syria and hang out with Assad if you were willing to ignore his gas attacks and call Obama an asshole. It wouldn't make you an American ambassador.

    I'll never understand why people seem to think someone's political views have some special and news worthy value just because they are famous sports, movie, or rock stars. I don't care any more about what Rodman thinks about North Korea than I care about Miley Cyrus's view on the gas attacks in Syria


    by ocean-kat on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 4:08pm

    Exactly.  But the press loves this sort of thing and has never been known to let something like this lie.


    by Ramona on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 4:35pm

    Yes, the press loves it because too many people love it. I wouldn't mind if it was just in the entertainment pages for those who like to follow the daily activities of their favorite famous person. You know, Rodman goes to Disneyworld, Rodman watches Annie in New York, pictures of Rodman on the beaches of Hawaii, Rodman visits North Korea.

    I just hate when it gets political coverage. The only reason it might have some marginal  political significance is because political pundits write about it.


    by ocean-kat on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 5:48pm

    This was actually part of a big special by Vice Magazine about entertainers as diplomats. Vice Magazine is a pretty serious magazine - they have done coverage of the Mexican drug wars and had their coverage redistributed through CNN. They are antagonists and this, along with alot of things they do, was likely driven by the full knowledge that it would piss some people off. smiley

    Entertainers are the forefront of our mind because they entertain - one of them even became President. 


    by Orion on Sat, 09/07/2013 - 7:01pm

    If you want an illustration of wacky North Korean ambassadors, here's one.  Former North Korean ambassador, Christopher Hill, is now the Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.  In about three hours, he is presenting George W. Bush an award at a dinner in Bush's honor at the Denver Hyatt Regency.  The award is named in "Honor of Improving the Global Human Condition".

    Who's wacky now?  Rodman is looking pretty good.

     


    by TimDanahey on Mon, 09/09/2013 - 7:06pm