Breaking: Berlin Philharmonic appoints its first Chinese member

Herr Doktor says:

The first rule of thumb is that when a joke needs to be explained, it wasn’t successful. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t funny – just that most didn’t get it. You included, perhaps.

If you’re familiar with the history of the Kim regime in North Korea over generations, there is an interesting and repeated history in the family of wearing disguises when venturing outside the “hermit kingdom” to partake in life activities which are not available in the North Korean paradise. For example, the brother of Kim Jong-un and his girlfriend wore disguises to partake in Tokyo Disneyland, etc., and Kim Jong-un was reported to wear disguises when he was a student to participate in activities that he would otherwise not have access to.

It is in that vein that I posed the question, are we *positive* that this isn’t Kim Jong-un in disguise? Obviously it is not, although it’s funny to imagine Kim Jong-un wanting to escape his country to play in the Berlin Philharmonic. All that Kim Jong-un and Diyang Mei share in common is that they are both Asian and both overweight. It’s the absurdity of the question itself which is the joke, although the entire concept of North Korea is absurd except for the unfortunate citizens who are forced to live that absurdity. I’m also well aware that Koreans and Chinese look nothing alike. Thus, piling on the level of absurdity of the comment.

Perhaps I made a mistake in assuming that Slippedisc’s readers knew this level of detail about North Korea. Or maybe I’m the only one who sees the humor in it. My apologies for those who were offended for whatever reason. That said, I still think the absurdity of the joke is in fact quite funny.