dbrenn

12 minutes ago, UncleMhee said:

So being born is scary now......

Exactly. So to should be all the bad habits that could kill us.

Keep calm, and carry on.

51 minutes ago, gargamon said:

The latest I've seen says even after you catch it, get sick and recover you can still pass it on to others.

My doctor (who specialised in virology) told me that:

1) Symptoms appear up to 14 days after infection

2) Infected people are shedding the virus (potentially infecting others) for around 3 or 4 days before symptoms appear, and for around 3 or 4 days after symptoms disappear. So, if it's possible to isolate all the infected people, or if an increasing number of people (having had it) are immune to it, then it will vanish quite quickly just like the flu.

So you can pass it on to others after you recover, but only for a few days. People don't carry it long term in the same way as they do for diseases like HIV or hepatitis.

On 2/21/2020 at 3:34 PM, Thaiwrath said:

I think the western females like them, because it doesn't make their ar*e look so big ! ????????????????

Bullseye

Whilst it may be technically possible, I wouldn't do it. Thai bureaucracy is creaky at times, and you might fall into unexpected administrative black holes in the future, where, for example, a new set of officials or a different part of the government refuses to recognise the change. 

On 2/27/2020 at 3:11 PM, ParkerN said:

This is a real worry for passengers, and it doesn't help very much with my somewhat dismal (learned) view of Thais. This country and it's dismal people collectively really are the pits. Useless for anything that matters.

And Thais, no doubt, have a dismal view of you too.

Why on earth do you spend your time on a forum dedicated to Thailand? Are you a masochist, or do you have a chip on your shoulder over some endeavour in Thailand that you've failed at? I've always found Thailand a great place to live and work - try to improve your attitude and you might be successful in Thailand too.

3 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Absolutely wrong. There will be an uprising and big changes. Just wait. 

That's what Thaksin said.

On 2/23/2020 at 10:40 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Really?

I think lots of Thais welcome foreigners.

Obviously there are some who don't like foreigners - just like in many other countries.

 

Who of us has experienced hateful Thais? I remember one guy years ago in a food center who was shouting at every farang he saw. And everybody ignored him. That's the only hateful guy I remember right now. I am sure if there would be many of them I would remember many of them.

Agreed. Thais are in the main tolerant.

On 2/22/2020 at 8:07 PM, CharlieH said:

Some interesting recommendations and thoughts in the "what are you watching now" topic.

That said, Movies like music is very much a personal thing, I didnt like the latest Tarrentino movie , I thought it was boring.

 

Too much budget restraint and CGI, no real locations, decent actors etc, its all manufactured conveyor belt stuff and re-booted story lines from previous incarnations. There are a few out there but few and far between in my book.

I've also enjoyed past Tarantino films, but agree that the latest one was so boring that I switched it off less than half way through. 

Recent Hollywood films are much too long, riddled with scientific inaccuracies and are all so sickeningly politically correct and woke. I've given up on them.

15 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

Kudos to him; I did it after Bush 2 was elected. A letter from the IRS clearing me of taxes and  you are all set! Easy Peasy. The only regret I ever had was no more chocolate frosties at Wendy's!

Agreed. But the main problem with US citizenship is that you are still taxed even though you don't live there. 

Not everyone wants to be a US citizen, hard as it is for some people to understand. 

15 minutes ago, faraday said:

It's your complete agreement with everything the Thai gubmint does, that makes people doubt you.

 

 

Not at all. There's no such thing as a perfect government, and Thailand is no exception. I don't like the level of jingoism, for example, and nor do I like the needless crackdowns on people who are doing no harm whatsoever like retirees and people trying to bring up families. 

Any government is a compromise, but we still should all respect the fact that there was a general election and Prayuth's party won it. Students screaming about democracy want anything but.

14 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Yes, people are too lazy. They get the government they deserve in return for that - an oppressive one. There's a price to be paid for liberty, if you're not willing to pay for it, prepare to be enslaved. 

 

It all starts with education, which again in authoritarian systems will be quickly skewed to support the tyrants. The only way out of it, once fallen into the trap, is bloodshed. The French revolution was quite something. It's results are still well visible:

 

https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new

 

Freedom is not a right. It is the result of vigilance.

I'm always a bit suspicious of these freedom indices. How free are we really?

We have no competing ideologies to choose from at elections. Orwellian political correctness dictates what we can and can't say. Unemployment as a penalty for thought crime has replaced the gulag, but is just as onerous. The state has replaced the family and religion. The police have abandoned us, preferring to patrol Twitter than our streets. Our institutions have been hollowed out. I could go on.

It makes me laugh to see all the people here who believe that they come from a free society, when they quite clearly don't. 

7 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

There's actually a chance to get rid of the worst representatives every few years. Unlike self-appointed senate, f.ex. Direct democracy would be possible already, but it requires career suicide by current politicians. It's never been truly tried in it's purest form: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy

Direct democracy - everything is decided by referenda. It worked in ancient Greece, but nowadays people are too busy to participate in it. Hence parliamentary democracy was favoured in which we choose people to represent us. Ideally, these people should have high moral and ethical standards, quite unlike what we're seeing now, all over the world....

22 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Which is why I would like to see more action to really share the wealth.

The difficulty with that is the only version of socialism available for us to vote for in our 'democracies' is a glossy incarnation of Trotskyism - a globalist form of Marxism that believes in a borderless utopian  world in which everyone can freely move around and share wealth. Add to that the modern socialist doctrine of identity,  rather than class, politics. It's not difficult to understand why the working classes are so downtrodden in our 'democracies' with no party available to them that represents their interests. 

It's a far cry from the Leninist-Stalinist version of Marxism that believed in a strong nation state with a vanguard party representing the proletariat (not that it did in practice of course - greed got in the way). It's also the reason why Trotsky himself was banished from the USSR and eventually assassinated.

Sharing your wealth with the whole world may make you a lot poorer. Is that what you really want?

Thailand has struck the right balance, when you think about it. 

5 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

No, but they are closer to it.

In what way?

1 minute ago, rkidlad said:

It isn't a democracy here, no. But you're confusing me. You said in earlier posts this it's a democracy and Prayut was voted in fairly. Now in later posts you're saying that Thailand doesn't need a democracy; it needs a strong authoritarian leader. Which one is it?

 

Oh, please stop talking about the West and Western values. We are talking about student protesters who want democracy in their country. You keep digressing and strawmanning. 

Thailand has a strong authoritarian government that was elected. The best of both worlds.

I'm not actually a strong believer in democracy as the ideal system of government, because it is unsustainable, breeds dissatisfaction, and falls over into chaos, fads and tyranny. At least in Thailand we have an authoritarian who is relatively benign, and isn't waging war in the way that the west does (in the name of democracy, of course).

And why should I stop talking about the west, when you're always comparing Thailand to a system of government that you believe to be perfect, but is deeply flawed and has been hijacked by vested interests?

8 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

Thailand tells the west what? Who is Thailand in this context - the 1%? Why does it pretend to be a democracy when it can just do away with the facade and just be an autocracy? Why the big dog and pony show? 

 

 

The west says it's a democracy, but is it one really? When we vote, what are the different ideologies that are available to us to choose from? Think about it.

I like the present government in Thailand because it's conservative and maintains peace. That's why I voted for them and that's why they won the last general election. You should support their right to govern, believing in democracy as you claim to do - or do you only believe in it when your side wins elections?

5 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

Thailand needs a strong authoritarian government? Ah, the bigotry of low expectations towards Asians. 

Ah, the bigotry of lecturing westerners who despise any system of government that differs from the one that they (pretend to) have.

Thailand doesn't want to be the next Libya, so rightly tells the preaching west to mind its own dodgy business. 

11 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

I asked you to back up your claims. 

Just read any Australian newspaper for a few days and you'll see what I mean my friend. 

56 minutes ago, Isaanbiker said:

My ex student sent me this photo, taken by her near Thammasat university. The other photo is on the net and it seems there'll be more and more. Great. 

Poor things. They'll be tolerated for a while, then spaded under like so many before them. I do hope that they go home before they get shot.

Keeping things as they are is a much better option than pretending that Thailand can be like the west. It needs a strong and authoritarian government to remain peaceful, as we've seen in recent years.

I'm glad that the Thai government understands this, and ignores preaching from the meddling west - who pretend that they are democracies while giving their electorate nothing to choose from.

2 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Paranoid delusions, right wing garbage. You spout pr nonsense and fail to back it up. 

I'm a right wing conservative, which is my right in a tolerant society. Liberal lefty people like you don't believe people have a right to alternative opinions, and sneer at them.

You're saying that people getting off with light sentences for serious and violent crimes, which is in the news here on a daily basis, is nonsense, right?

Is it fake news?

54 minutes ago, faraday said:

Why then are many people dissatisfied?

 

What in heavens name are you chuntering on about with the 'liberal left'? There are huge difference in Conservative or Labour manifestos.

 

Are you one of these alleged 'paid supporters'?

Tell me the differences in policy between the Conservatives and Labour? Both metropolitan liberal left. 

3 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

Everyone, including the blind and the deaf, knows how;
I don't call it a real vote when 250 people are appointed before this one

That FF guy is an oligarch. Money talks at the voting booths....

34 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

It won't end well for who? The ones asking for democracy or the small % forcing dictatorship on the majority? 

There was a general election. Prayuth won it. Why does the liberal left always try to ignore democracy when their preferred party loses?

At least in Thailand, the parties are different, unlike in the west where most of them are identical liberal left globalist clones. Is that what you call 'democracy'?