soalbundy

We all start off as idealists, every 2 year old is an non corrupted idealist who believes in wonder, innocence encapsulated in a tiny body; even Hitler was once an adorable child. So what happened? In the words of the old PM Macmillan when asked what could possibly go wrong with his cabinets carefully worked out plans, "Why, events old chap, events". In short, the world happens. Every time your ambitions or desires stand in opposition to someone else's ambitions and desires a sliver of innocence and good will disappears and the monster of 'me' gets stronger. The teenage you in juxtaposition to the two year old you bears no resemblance, similarly the 40 year old you bears no resemblance to the 18 year old you. We all have feet of clay and some even have legs of clay, the corrupting influence of the world affects each to different degrees but it is always there.

Looked like one of Nates hide and seek games.

Yeah right!......

I've lived here since !8 years and have family here. Yes it's true if you ask them about the situation they will say, how sad, not fair,etc. but with a shrug of the shoulders, they know the odds are stacked against them. If Pita is PM what changes would you see that really affects the daily life of a working man? None I expect. Article 112 isn't really a concern of the average person, they have far more pressing problems. 'Move Forwards' is just another slogan, every party has one and they are all pretty meaningless, 'the people's party', 'the citizen's country' and all the rest, a bunch of fat cats wanting their turn at the trough. Only external events affect the people, like Covid shutdowns or inflation in the tourist countries, the rising cost of flight tickets, supply chain breakdowns, etc. The various departments and ministries will continue as normal, ministers tamper with them at their peril. Nothing changes; as in 'Yes Minister', "The purpose of government is to make sure that we are still here tomorrow".

Mine sent with EMS on 06.07 is of 13. 07 still flying towards Germany, so maybe Monday I will learn that it is also sleeping in Frankfurt.

Let us not exaggerate, the Myanmar model is in nobodies interest, certainly not the elites, that would be money destruction. Establishments the world over have had a thousand years of experience in control, in the West they just hide it better. Despite the two big revolutions in France and Russia money is still in control, if you have it you have influence, if not you can vote for the PR of control......a government which follows the lobbyists, corporations and markets who have the steering wheel in hand, only the three afore mentioned decide who is PM.

In your western dreams, what good have past demonstrations done? Nothing will be accomplished with demonstrations because if the establishment ever gave way just once it would be their end. There will no doubt be token demonstrations in BKK organized by students and doomed to fail, meanwhile waterlogged fields have to be drained, school bills paid and the gas stoves fired up by the street vendors in BKK in anticipation of a higher customer density. It's an ill wind that blows no good.

In my village they are too busy with the rice fields after all this rain. Remember you are from the West, your sentiments are not Asian. The police will put up barriers as a precaution because if they didn't and demonstrations happened the boss would be in trouble. This too will pass.

I think hate is too big a word, disliked yes (if they can be bothered to think about it beyond election time) In Bangkok the discussions about politics may be more lively but Bangkok, like say London, is an island to itself, it doesn't represent the country, it's too cosmopolitan. Yes of course the ruling elite has put in unfair safeguards to protect itself but this was a given and surprises nobody. The students and academics may voice anger in the coffee shops but the bus driver will just shrug his shoulders. Yes, they've done a Trump but unlike him they may have succeeded, how does this affect the bus driver? He never had any real sentiments about democracy anyway and he isn't going to storm parliament house because a student, a future elite, tells him it's the right thing to do. Democracy grows organically and takes time, it isn't an Asian concept anyway the idea has been imported from the West which needed hundreds of years to get it to stand up. Things will change politically eventually but I doubt if a farmer will even notice. Why should you as a foreigner get worked up about it?

I think that is pretty obvious, Thailand, beyond the words it has to describe its institutions, has never been remotely democratic but it seems to function for the vast majority. Thailand does remarkably well when compared to its neighbouring countries. Thai people don't leave Thailand in droves to live in other S.E. countries but the opposite does happen. They have a reasonable living standard (even in my rice farming village) and atrocities such as those happening in Mayanmar don't occure here. They have a 'middle way', like their religion, not too much oppression and not too much democracy, they can sleep easy in their beds and leave the country if they so wish. I don't think that the democratic powerhouse India has any advantages for its citizens over Thailand. In fact I can think of many poor working class people in the West who would love to live here under this system. It is as it is, no it isn't democratic but it isn't dreadful either and has a charm of its own and for the most part people are happy. When I told my wife Pita wont be PM she just laughed and said,"No, probably not", she voted MFP.

No, the market can get rid off them, nobody cares what uncle Fred or aunt Hilda thinks.

Same here, the wife's first seeding drowned, it's been that way since mankind gave up being hunter gatherers. Farming is a mugs game and with climate change it will only get worse.

So what difference is it going to make to us, pray tell. The problems that Thailand faces at the moment are mostly caused by external events, problems that every country suffers from. China, Russia/Ukraine, inflation, supply chain disruption, internal debt, lack of discretionary money etc. Don't be so naive as to think that corruption will suddenly cease in Thailand if Pita takes the reigns or that the establishment will lose its power and sunny uplands will bloom, it could even get worse, money is as shy as a deer on an open plain and Thailands fat cats could send their money and head quarters elsewhere as has happened in the West. Democracy is a flowery word, like love, or equality and they all fall prey to pragmatism. In America government policies are made by big company lobbyists not the people, in the UK it is similar with the added civil service and wealthy establishment, in mainland Europe it is no different, a government is there to give a face that people can blame without harming the roots of true power.

Well that has finished the miss universe contest, seems that the organizers haven't learnt from the Bud Light fiasco.

Errrrrrmmmmmm, these businesses pay their wages. People don't rule anywhere, the establishment rules and the system is always rigged but not in your favour, you aren't in the club.

Anything that makes the Thai Baht lose value is welcome, apart from that I couldn't care less, politics is theater without entertainment value, no politician cares about their voters who have a very short memory.

Then hold a beauty contest between trans-women only, they have them in Thailand.

I would say only closet gays go knowingly with trans-women.

Trans-woman is not a real woman, also fact.

I saw a program on BBC that placed trans people on the autistic spectrum. Not all autism results in being transgender but the majority of transgender people were to some degree or other autistic. This has nothing to do with gay or lesbian people, here hormone and chemical imbalances occurred in the womb. What was interesting was that gay and lesbian people gave an evolutionary advantage to families and small communities in the past but isn't advantageous in today's societies (not having young of their own they were a welcome help in raising and protecting the young of their own families or communities when say the mother died but the father had to be absent for hunting etc.) It is now thought that some forms of autism were also advantageous, I think here of savants, the wonderful skillful cave paintings from prehistoric people in France and other places weren't the work of crude hunters hands but the work of autistic savants. One must also think of the important role played by the shamans, here I would think autism was a prerequisite.

No

She'll be losing a lot of weight soon.

That wasn't the main theme of my post.

No, it depends on how they (just as hetero people) conduct themselves, my cousin is gay and has been living with his partner for 30 years, I wouldn't call him depraved. I was referring to the extremes in ancient Greece and Rome (and in some modern day scenarios) as examples. Inclusiveness doesn't exist, people walk around the subject on egg shells in fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of hypocritical finder pointing, that is repression by the vociferous minority and the cowed majority goes along with it. Fear of expressing an opinion is apparent on many subjects in everyday life......'I'm not racist but....' 'I'm not homophobic but....' 'I think we should / shouldn't help refugees but......' 'I didn't agree with sending troops to Iraq but.....' 'Muslims aren't a danger in our society but......' for gods sake if you are going to express an opinion stand up and be counted or keep quiet, this fear of cancel culture is sickening. "You can't say that!", "Yes I can, I just said it"

In America some have called it the harbinger of our civilizations downfall, it is neither that nor progress, depravity was always present in every civilization. I presume the word 'progress' was used because there is an assumption of inclusiveness in society, there is no such thing, just hypocrisy. A mother in a newspaper article saying they are proud of their daughter (who is really their son) is covering up despair. In my village there is a family with twin teenage boys (their only children) who are extreme gay, they simp about the village wearing lipstick and rouge, their mother has turned to alcohol and the father has given up his job and now works in a different province, the mother told my wife that she is relieved they aren't wearing dresses and hopes they will leave and go to Pattaya or Bangkok and join a drag show.