B by Tom

But Amnesty stresses that it is not only the Maldives where our consciences should be disturbed: the records of several other favourite holiday destinations for Britons, such as Turkey, Jamaica and Thailand, are full of claims of state- sponsored brutality, the use of the death penalty and corrupt law enforcement. [emphasis added]

Funny, I never saw your conscience being disturbed in the slightest by those "human shields" having their holiday in Iraq [scroll down a bit for #124]. No, you glorified those charades, just as you did every effort to prop up that sadistic, genocidal, torturous, raping, mutilating regime. Iraq wasn't full of claims, but realities. And to you, those realities are preferable to America's flexing its muscles. How very conscionable! Now that the war is over and the reconstruction is taking shape, you're wishing for everything to go wrong just so you can salvage your ego. Indeed, how's your conscience doing?

Of course, I wasn't talking to you -- my gentle, freedom-loving, Iraq-supporting readers. I know your conscience is as intact as it's ever been. I was talking to you -- The Independent and your lamentable Robert Fisk, the wayward Amnesty International and like-minded cultists.

Sure, my country has its problems and the messenger should be thanked, not killed. You, however, are not a messenger, but a defamer. "State-sponsored brutality" is a SERIOUS accusation, okay? That's an apparatus Saddam used to amass and keep his power. If you're going to paint Thailand with that brush then it's only a matter of ethics to provide some hard evidence. And no, this kind of report by the Bunkum Post (AI's most often cited source) isn't it:

Now two months into the Thai government's 2003 war on drugs, over two thousand people have been killed, approximately thirty people a day.

(Why this is bad evidence I'll explain a later post. For now, suffice it to say that the use of the passive voice should set off the alarm for anyone with half a brain.)

As for the other two charges, Goodness Gracious, they're true! And you know what's more, we Thais don't think it's a big deal! Yeah, we're barbaric like that. The death penalty in particular is so utterly well loved it's not even up for debate. Personally I happen to be a sissy on this one and opposes it. But who am I? Certainly not one of those European elitist policymakers who can dream up stuff irrespective of their peoples' opinions.

Now corruption, in principle, is less popular. Yet everyone does it in Thailand. Not just the law enforcement officers, but everybody right down to the janitor who steals toilet paper. So whatcha gonna do about it?

Only "eyes open"? I say more. Throw in pouted lips, wrinkled nose, disgusted face and wagging finger. Now that would really help improve the situation. Thank you for your support.

Indeed I wish I could return the favor.

Even the UK, they point out, has not escaped criticism - ethical tourists from overseas may choose to avoid Britain because of its overcrowded jails, treatment of asylum-seekers or the war on Iraq.

But I can't, because I'm very unethical. Next time I visit the UK again (hopefully soon), I'll seek out Tony Blair (who surely will still be at Number 10) and personally express my appreciation for his vital role on the Iraq war. With luck, a big placard will do. (I won't strip to get attention, though; that's only for idiots.) Then I'll walk down to the Cabinet WAR Room to honor, once again, the memories of the great man Winston Churchill.

And then I'll spare a thought for you -- smug, hypocritical, libelous, one-sided, self-righteous, civilization-hating, terror-rationalizing wretched prisoners in the overcrowded jail of your own depraved ideology. The dark side will beckon. Robert Fisk showed remarkable empathy for the afghans who roughed him up; certainly he would extend that to another third-worlder like me, right?

But no, really. Despite being a war hawk, I'm not at all a violent type. You see, with Saddam, he and his wicked breed would be there forever unless someone removed them by force. But with you, there's no need. The stuff you're made of, decomposes. So I'll simply be watching. Eyes open wide.
23:43

Come one, come all

Some news is good news.

A group of 10 North Koreans sought refuge in the Japanese embassy in Bangkok yesterday, in what appeared to be the latest in a wave of asylum bids by defectors from the communist country.

Can you imagine? A whole new world awaits them. A free world. And full stomachs to boot.

This sort of embassy rush happened quite frequently when I was in China. Every time I celebrated and every time the authorities grumbled. At no request of the embassies (who were willing to help the refugees), the Chinese beefed up "security" around the compounds -- more wujing's ("armed police" a cross between policemen and soldiers), more barbed wire and more jittery.

Needless to say, the Thai authorities are much, much more enlightened than that. Right, Mr. Thaksin?
23:11

Who's her editor?
I blogged earlier about the alcohol ad ban. But let's forget that for a second and read this as it is:

The government notched up a few more points with parents/voters this week by endorsing the ban on the day-time advertising of alcohol and pep drinks.

Despite the grumblings of health advocacy groups that the ban excluded professional sports, this was a big step forward in protecting our kids from believing that drinking is chic. And the ban on pep drink advertising was a bonus for us parents since it was not originally slated on the ad ban agenda.

[And we skip to the last three paragraphs]

The Chana villagers who don't want the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline are asking this very question.

Ours is an increasingly urban, rootless society with widening disparities. Can we maintain peace if we see ourselves solely as individual consumers with no empathy for those on the margins?

The poor cannot offer bargains. But they can offer us a chance to prove we still have a heart. Will we let this chance pass us by?

Get it? Me, neither. Indeed, that's an awful lot of dots to connect between the introduction and the ending.

And the author didn't connect them. If you read the whole article, you'll find that her words barely cling together, much less sentences, much less paragraphs. Her confused sentimentalism makes sense only on a different plane of thought, where alcohol, pep drink, advertisement, gas pipeline, urbanity, the media and the Thaksin administration are but one and the same vice.

But isn't the administration banning the ad? Aren't his paternalistic ways a natural match for her maternal instincts ("...childrearing has become not just high art, but risky journey...")? Well, I guess we're blinded by rationality.

Anyway, there's a point in my wasting your time with all this. Sanitsuda Ekachai -- the author in question -- is a Bangkok Post editor! She edits! And she's not just any junior editor, but in charge of "Outlook", the art and leisure section.

Read the whole piece and you'll understand my dismay.
23:42

Puritans at the gate
I love those Heineken commercials, the latest of which features Jennifer Aniston at her very best (she doesn't talk). Indeed they are the most intellectually stimulating thing you can watch on Thailand's primetime TV. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Ban on liquor ads endorsed
Cabinet has approved a ban on broadcasting of advertisements for alcoholic beverages between 5am and 10pm, and in a surprise move included energy drinks in the ban.

So, what's next? Ban on chewing gum? Then chastity for men and prohibition for all?
22:48

Not exactly gung ho
The Bangkok Post reports the planned deployment of Thai troops in Iraq.

Headline:

...886 Thai soldiers to be deployed in Iraq from September will not come under attack.

...the engineering battalion of 886 technicians, medical staff and military police officers were unlikely to be target of attacks.

The pro-Saddam elements who attacked US soldiers were unlikely to turn on other foreign troops...

Jeez. What hell would break lose if a soldier so much as stubbed his toe? Iraq will be no walk in the park and the troops might indeed be attacked. And yet we're willing to take the risk for so worthy a cause. To deny the danger (and downplay the whole thing) is to trivialize our boys' sacrifice.
13:34

Your pariah, our partner

Two headlines from today's Bangkok Post:

Perfect timing. We don't expect any less from our politicians, really. And IT skills, of all things!

"...a broadband internet connection will need to be established between the two countries in order to reduce traffic through the United States."

Woo-hoo. That means next time we, say, bid for SLORC memorabilia on eJunta, it'll be fast and direct! No detour to the States! Isn't that just grand!

Meanwhile, what's-her-name and her friends can languish in prison. Tough luck.

update I do feel sheepish about being so tongue-in-cheek. I didn't mean to belittle Aung San Suu Kyi and her people's suffering.
22:38

B is for... BRAHIMI (Which is most beautiful, her face, her biography, her accent or her name?)

update Yes, that's a bad photo of her. This is better.
16:36

Dodgy Dowd
Funny, the Bangkok Post publishes a lot of Maureen Dowd's op-eds, too. And yet you'll never hear its editors make this sort of complaint. [via Sully]

While that's mostly due to their abject inability to recognize such an error (they make a lot themselves), their blind infatuation with Dowd must also be explained by their none-too-subtle bias. She sings a tune they like to hear, so they swallow her up (as they do Krugman and Kristof -- two other darlings).

The Thai reader will find an unfamiliar term in the linked article -- "correction". What's a correction? No, it's not the boxed apology that the Thai newspaper (including the Post) publishes in order to settle a libel suit. These are corrections. The New York Times may not be perfect, but at least it's a real newspaper.

But, hey, this's supposed to be about "Dodgy Dowd", not the "Bunkum Post"!
14:47

Loonier than thou
Wow, that's almost impressive. I mean, even the wackos that dominate the Thai press and academia can't beat that. Uh, knock on wood.
11:15

What a difference two years makes
Some BusinessWeek articles relating to the Thaksin administration, in chronological order:

Dateline Bunkum
Liberal slant? Vast right-wing conspiracy? Bangkok’s risible media will make you grateful for your newsmongers.

"... ลัทธิ Zionism ซึ่งสนับสนุนให้ชาวยิวอพยพไปอยู่ในป่า"

"… Zionism, a doctrine that encourages the Jews to migrate to the woods." [my translation from Thai]

Multilingual test
ไทย français 中文
update Test successful!
18:50

B is for... BRAVO! (Bonne CONTINUATION, Lance!)

update Read this and appreciate his victory even more. [via LGF]
23:21

How B began...
I wanted to make my first post rather special. The idea was to present a little story of how this blog came about, starting from the time when it seemed least probable. But this little story took on a life of its own and turned into a long and so far unending story. So I decide to serialize it. Below is the first installment in the series of four, perhaps five.

It was a complete break from history. I was ignorant of the world, too ignorant to know it, and much too ignorant to care. Everything began and ended within my immediate surrounding that was my cocoon that was my universe. I sought no information from outside this cocoon -- not from newspapers, nor magazines, nor radio nor even TV. I was a college student, you see.

Of course not all students were like that. There were always read copies the New York Times and the USA Today lying around in the campus center. I just had no idea what kind of people bought them.

There were times, actually, when I got rather curious. I would grab one of those discarded papers, but only to turn straight to the art and leisure section for movie blurbs. When my pizza was finished, so was my "reading".

And that's when I was curious. When I wasn't, my attitude could turn downright disdainful toward those who . So, say, when I saw one of those I-banker types immersing himself in the Wall Street Journal, I thought: Who the devil does this guy think he is? Sherman McCoy? Gordon Gekko?

Another instance, it was my junior year abroad and I was studying architecture in Paris. A classmate of mine, Lorraine I think, was reading the International Herald Tribune in the studio and that drew a quick frown from me. What a slacker, I thought, procrastinating like that. And how typical of Americans to always be clinging on to their culture. What's the point of their going abroad?

What she was reading, I never thought to ask. Looking back, it probably had something to do with the war that was raging just some thousand kilometers away in the Balkan. The war her countrymen were fighting, yet again, to protect the defenseless. The war to stop a genocidal tyrant and his thugs. The war I was unconscious of.

Not knowing, not caring, I congratulated myself for knowing better. I wasn't reading any newspapers, no, but if I'd wanted to do, it would certainly have been a local paper -- Le Monde, perhaps. How smart of me to be able to read French. Sophistication, c'est moi.
23:16