x2

three squared

LaoPo

I like to speak politely and smile nicely.

It lowers their guard and makes it easier to club them with the baseball bat !

Many of us are basically shell-shocked after the airport debacle. This change in visa rules gives the crazies more rotten excuses to rant and rave.

Voltaire's quote may begin with "Sir, I disagree with every word you say, but..."

The arguer loses the argument completely when he uses ad hominems, bangs the table, or raises his voice. Set, game, match.

Many of us are basically shell-shocked after the airport debacle. This change in visa rules gives the crazies more rotten excuses to rant and rave.

Voltaire's quote may begin with "Sir, I disagree with every word you say, but..."

The arguer loses the argument completely when he uses ad hominems, bangs the table, or raises his voice. Set, game, match.

This is probably going to sound like self praise now.... but it isn't.

The last time there was a major upheaval in the visa rules I was going to be affected quite badly, what did I do? ..... I read everything there was to read (don't you just love the English language) armed with that info I went to Immigration in Korat and just said "what do I do?"

That was a few years ago.... and I am still here.

Shouting and table banging doesn't get anyone anywhere, ever, irrespective of different cultures.... it's about time that some contributors to the open forum learned to grow up after they have spat the dummy out.

//edit/spat not spit/don't want the verb tense police on my back

Shouting and table banging doesn't get anyone anywhere, ever, irrespective of different cultures.... it's about time that some contributors to the open forum learned to grow up after they have spat the dummy out.

//edit/spat not spit/don't want the verb tense police on my back

I cannot find my verb tense policeman's badge anyway, but spat the dummy is about as rare as shat the dummy where I come from. I mean, where I had been coming from, if you know where I' coming from.

I did much the same when I found myself on the last ten days of a stamp upon entry, with my B visa cancelled. I read ThaiVisa, and did what lopburi3 told me to do, in another country.

How does one claim the compensation, 2,000 Baht per day for delays due to Swampy occupation.

Betta still, will it be paid.

Sorry I went home too early to enjoy the fun........

Be interesting if someone who received the compensation would post and let us know how they managed.

How does one claim the compensation, 2,000 Baht per day for delays due to Swampy occupation.

Be interesting if someone who received the compensation would post and let us know how they managed.

From what I gleaned from the threads, no compensation was paid to individuals.

Stranded tourists that went to the approved hotels, would have their accommodation expense covered, up to 2,000 baht/day. If it cost you more, or less than that, too bad for you from what I have read.

No "kickbacks" for taking a cheaper room, and no compensation for taking a more expensive room.

Makes sense. They weren't out to pay people for being stranded, but to help make sure they had a place to stay. Not sure if anyone from TV did or not.

In re the topic, one of the problems that the anonymity ogf the 'net brings is that you don't immediately know whether you are dealing with a 'child' or an 'adult'. I am amused by one particular poster who miraculously 'matured' in a six month period. (Initially, I thought he was a prime candidate for Balsa.) The amusing part is that he has latterly taken it upon himself to reprove others for doing precisely the same things he had been doing fairly recently. If, indeed, he has had a miraculous growth spurt, I would have thought he would have had the nous to keep quiet about those others (at least until he attained a modicum of credibility). Of course, some people never...

Im going to stay in Bedlam, where it's safe. It's scary out there

and I was perfectly safe in the footie forum for a long long time, until SBK said I had to venture out into General

but I did get an armour

Maybe a banality, but I see the virulence during the recent crisis as a reflection of the strong tensions in the Thai society, caused by factors discussed elsewhere, including the impending big change that shall not be discussed.

It's as if there were two realities in Thailand: The official one promoted in the last 60 years, and an alternative one which is gaining ground since 2006, after seemingly smaller events like the funeral of the PAD protester in October. The two are incompatible to the point that people who choose one seem unable to simply contemplate the other and start to react aggressively to discussion, like in the flat earth / round earth debate.

On a lighter note, the flame warriors fauna: http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/index.htm

Good topic sbk. The threads got positively scary and I almost felt like there should be a warning "Post at your own risk". It's like people were stuck in a belief warp.

I tend to think that people are basically good. I never thought of either side as wishing something bad for the country--only seeing different ways for the country to get where they think it should be and in a timeframe that they found acceptable.

I'd have to agree with SBK, basically. I'm all for sensible levels of freedom of speech but the manner in which certain posters habitually choose to include violence and belittling remarks about others speaks volumes about their character.

I have now reached the point where I have given up on the TV news clipping forum, and shall be looking elsewhere for my news updates.

I mean really, the place is ridiculous. You have threads such as the dead people in Phi-Phi were everybody seems to be an expert in poisons and stuff, yet these people also seem to be political experts in other threads.

It was amusing for a while reading the views of one particular poster on the whole red/yellow thing, amusing because she is clearly so tunnel visioned that she will accept anything that she hears from the side she supports and disregard everything else. Reason simply has no place in her mindset, and now it has become irritating.

It's the same old posters as well, the majority of which you rarely see outside of news clippings. I know that different things interest different people, horses for courses and all that but some of those in news clippings seem obsessed to the point that I wonder if they are sat at home, in a room in which everything is covered in tin foil and wearing a tin foil hat so that the evil reds/yellows can't get to them with their evil red/yellow rays.

There seems to be some strange folk in there.

there is a particularly obsessive anti-thaksin clique that has unfortunately over run the news clipping forum and has done so for some time.

if this group collectively raised the bar, in terms of balancing the issues, objectiveness and fair analysis, instead of just wanting to hunt down their beloved boogy man at any cost, the news clipping forum would improve a lot.

This hits home to me right now.  Ihave been amazed at the nastiness which I have read lately.

On a personal level, I have been called a "fat, disgusting slob" and been told to go kill an elephant, all within a few hours of each other.  yes, that bothers, me, but I really wonder why people want to interject such swipes for no real reason.

I have had some heated exchanges with people here. Heck, UG and I went back and forth on one issue with our diametricaly opposed opinions.  But I don't think either one of us attacked the other personally. This is the way it should be.

I don't understand the vitriol I see raging in TV at times.  Disagree with me, fine. My opinions are so wide ranging that I know just about everyone will find something with which to disagree with me.  I just wish we could do without the perosnal attacks and insults.

and been told to go kill an elephant

It wasn't an instruction, neither was it personal attack, it was a choice I gave you based on your opinions in a different thread ...... and your answer clarified a few things that were not too clear to me from your comments in that thread.

You're an Ok bloke.

and been told to go kill an elephant

It wasn't an instruction, neither was it personal attack, it was a choice I gave you based on your opinions in a different thread ...... and your answer clarified a few things that were not too clear to me from your comments in that thread.

You're an Ok bloke.

OK, I withdraw that part of my post!  

Still stinging about the "fat disgusting slob," though, in another thread.

Well, I've met you bonobo, and you are not a fat disgusting slob

But, I wish you guys would use the report button when people use these kinds of insults, its really not acceptable. It seems many people do not read the rules or have a basic concept of what constitutes good manners when they post.

As for News, well, yes I am fed up with it too, and mc2, your bias is showing. Its been taken over by two groups, not one.

Well, I've met you bonobo, and you are not a fat disgusting slob

But, I wish you guys would use the report button when people use these kinds of insults, its really not acceptable. It seems many people do not read the rules or have a basic concept of what constitutes good manners when they post.

I was actually considering it, but once the comments satertd to be directed at me, I didn't want to seem to be crying and running to mommy/daddy.

However, when the postings initially started veering to being nasty to people who were overweight, I could have reported that instead of making my own opinions known that I didn't think it was appropriate.

I don't consider it as running to mommy (or daddy if its a male mod ) but rather that there are quite literally people who either don't read the rules or seem unaware that good manners is required on the internet as well. I wish you would report it, perhaps they will learn that its necessary to be civil and change their ways.

or, they will end up being an unrelenting asshol_e and get banned eventually. Either way, at least then they are aware that their behavior is unacceptable.

there is a particularly obsessive anti-thaksin clique that has unfortunately over run the news clipping forum and has done so for some time.

if this group collectively raised the bar, in terms of balancing the issues, objectiveness and fair analysis, instead of just wanting to hunt down their beloved boogy man at any cost, the news clipping forum would improve a lot.

There is also a particularly obsessive pro-thaksin clique mc2. Some posters on both sides of the equation appear to be so fanatically partisan that it renders discussion pointless. Nowadays to actually read some news in the news clippings section, it can mean skimming through 3-4 pages of rhetoric to find an actual article.

I don't consider it as running to mommy (or daddy if its a male mod ) but rather that there are quite literally people who either don't read the rules or seem unaware that good manners is required on the internet as well. I wish you would report it, perhaps they will learn that its necessary to be civil and change their ways.

or, they will end up being an unrelenting asshol_e and get banned eventually. Either way, at least then they are aware that their behavior is unacceptable.

Point taken.  

I take things too personally sometimes, hence my mommy/daddy comment, even though I know that is not a valid statement. I welcome true discourse and disagreement, but when it gets pointedly nasty, I can get defensive.

there is a particularly obsessive anti-thaksin clique that has unfortunately over run the news clipping forum and has done so for some time.

if this group collectively raised the bar, in terms of balancing the issues, objectiveness and fair analysis, instead of just wanting to hunt down their beloved boogy man at any cost, the news clipping forum would improve a lot.

There is also a particularly obsessive pro-thaksin clique mc2. Some posters on both sides of the equation appear to be so fanatically partisan that it renders discussion pointless. Nowadays to actually read some news in the news clippings section, it can mean skimming through 3-4 pages of rhetoric to find an actual article.

yes i mostly agree. arguments go round and round.

i wouldnt call myself pro-thaksin but moreso i try to be balanced, which means looking at all sides. Whenever i mention the good sides, you get pounced upon by the clique and their canned responses. you cant reason with them, its an exercise in futility.

im interested in thai politics but discussion on tv is not intellectually rewarding with the exception of a very small handful of posters.

I think that in general, the Thaksin haters are much more closed minded than the posters who are more sympathetic to the red point of view (no farang on either side seems to LOVE Thaksin). They act like Thaksin is a criminal on par with Adolph Hitler or Pol Pot and don't give him credit for anything that he did right.

I just don't see it.

mc2, dear. I hate to point this out to you, but its rather hard to believe this statement:

i wouldnt call myself pro-thaksin but moreso i try to be balanced

when your avatar is who it is.

As for both sides, they are exactly the same. Neither one is willing to budge an inch and if it were up to me I would delete all of the posts from both sides. But then, there would be nothing left in News.

As for both sides, they are exactly the same. Neither one is willing to budge an inch and if it were up to me I would delete all of the posts from both sides. But then, there would be nothing left in News.

Except for the news perhaps?

My delete finger isn't that fast moonrakers

mc2, dear. I hate to point this out to you, but its rather hard to believe this statement:

i wouldnt call myself pro-thaksin but moreso i try to be balanced

when your avatar is who it is.

its a joke avatar not a sign of allegiance

but i definitely sympathise with parts of the red movement

As for both sides, they are exactly the same.

There are certain people on both sides with very strong and closed minded views, yes.

However, I'd have to agree with UG, on the whole, those sympathetic with the reds seem to be more flexible and open minded than the anti-thasin side, who, having fallen into the trap of hate, distortion and unbalance, are quite closed minded. (IMO)

Oh no they aren't.

And so bedlam teeters on falling victim to a 'news clippings' style thread..............................