An Open Letter To The Red Shirts

[hyperdimension]

Why not put the leaders in jail for years and make them listen to their own hateful speeches from early morning till late at night, the way they did with their followers and everyone else in that district?

I strongly and seriously agree with this, however instead of hateful speeches, make them listen to peaceful speeches and lessons on ethics and morality (possibly including Buddhist teachings). After some time they may come out with more positive ways of thinking that they could then trickle down to their supporters. I have suggested this kind of reprogramming / mental rehabilitation in other threads.

[yoshiwara]

Why not put the leaders in jail for years and make them listen to their own hateful speeches from early morning till late at night, the way they did with their followers and everyone else in that district?

I strongly and seriously agree with this, however instead of hateful speeches, make them listen to peaceful speeches and lessons on ethics and morality (possibly including Buddhist teachings). After some time they may come out with more positive ways of thinking that they could then trickle down to their supporters. I have suggested this kind of reprogramming / mental rehabilitation in other threads.

Forced listening to Barry Manilow records might do it.

[EarthAlien]

Putting tinsel on a pig's head and calling it attractive.

Certainly a well considered and well written piece.

Speaking fairly it does offer some perspective for the reds (as well as others) to consider.

But there's one major flaw with it in that is doesn't address the fact that the red-shirt's noble intentions of pursuing democracy were hijacked by Thaksin and other nefarious black forces that saw opportunity to profit from mayhem, anarchy and violence that many (if not most) genuine red shirt enthusiasts had nothing to do with and did not support.

From the outset when Thaksin decided to fire-up (enthuse) the reds into marching on BKK and venting their anger and dissatisfaction over the pursuit of what they believed to be the pursuit of true democracy, I believe that he (Thaksin) also had a plan B, plan C, plan D, plan E, in place and that he felt that no matter what eventuated and whether or not blood was shed by reds yellows greens or purples that he would be a winner regardless.

Bloodshed was clearly part of his agenda and that has been mooted on this very forum. I can't recall the thread but it was words to the effect of "you don;t know what I know,... lives (at least 100 or 200) need to be lost in the protest"

With blood being shed and lives lost it just gave more impetus to the attempts at discrediting the government as being valid or reasonable by allowing a demonstration that would not be met with force (as was afforded the yellow's airport hijack).

To be clear,... I'm not saying that the reds were innocent in the terrible events, bloodshed and carnage that occurred,... just that they cannot be blamed by and large for the whole dang thing. They (the red movement) were set up and used and will continue to be used unless an influential sector of the red movement wakes up to the fact that they were used as expendable pawns in a dirty game of greed and politics for the benefit of a handful of greedy men headed by one totally unconscionable and evil narcissist.

At least one positive thing has come to light because of this and that is that the Thai police "force" (read "unenforce") is an absolute disgrace and need to be given a complete shakedown. I truly hope that once the military have gone back to barracks that we don't need a law enforcement force to protect us from terrorism and militia rule and armed gang uprisings as is the case in places like Russia, Georgia (EU) and Philippines (one of Thaksin's contingency plans in the post red "protest"?).

[hyperdimension]

the red-shirt's noble intentions of pursuing democracy were hijacked by Thaksin and other nefarious black forces that saw opportunity to profit from mayhem, anarchy and violence that many (if not most) genuine red shirt enthusiasts had nothing to do with and did not support.

But the Red Shirt movement was all about Thaksin from inception, wasn't it?

[eggomaniac]

Except for a few minor errors and one CRUCIAL one, it is a pretty good article.

It is good, I would like to read the same author write;;;

An Open Letter to the Yellows

<< That letter could Use Copy and Paste for much of it, from this letter!

If Somtow doesn't, within a few days, I will give it a go, right here.

Don't forget to mention the Joseph Solution.

Why bother?

[whybother]

Except for a few minor errors and one CRUCIAL one, it is a pretty good article.

It is good, I would like to read the same author write;;;

An Open Letter to the Yellows

<< That letter could Use Copy and Paste for much of it, from this letter!

If Somtow doesn't, within a few days, I will give it a go, right here.

Don't forget to mention the Joseph Solution.

Why bother?

I wonder why you do.

[SomTumTiger]

I have the SomTumTiger solution - It involves sending Chuck Norris after all the terrorists.

[eggomaniac]

- The Abhisit government has already, many months ago introduced overriding policy directives aimed at gaining a better sharing of the wealth, ensuring much better quality of education, a long-term plan to made Thailand a welfare society. Somehow very few of the so called journalists have even bothered to bring these facts back into the discussions.

The disparity in wealth is only part of the problem, but to the degree to which it is, there's an awkward fact for some that the efforts being made by the Dems referred to above would not have even been on the agenda without the impact of Thaksin.

I was reading the latest Anand piece. It seems clear now that every party and side accepts that inequalities in wealth distribution, educational and business opportunity must be addressed. That side of things is now consensus albeit missed by many people. How to remove it from bitter personalised hate filled power struggles remains a bit tricky however especially considering there are some pretty big financial and business rewards potentially available for those who come out on top

*

Ed, Your Post is a Gem. In a few sentences you have,*mostly, hit on where the hope for Thailand lies. *There is also conscencus on the need for fair elections. If 95% of Thais would love to see an end to the power robbers running the Kingdom, why not examine 'Made in Thailand' architecture which would engineer these outcomes? The Vishnu Solution!

There will always be Elite, rich and poor, but customary, overly prevalent, corruption builds discontent. Poor people LOVE rich people, movie stars, sports greats, Royalty, business leaders; they hate CROOKS, red crooks, yellow crooks, mysterious black crooks.

Whether it's MidEast oil, Afghan poppy fields, or 'valuable' seats of corruption in Thailand, the Nabobs can always convince pawns, red AND yellow, it is their patriotic duty to put their lives on the line to keep private jets fuelled. [Did anybody NOT read CIA in the last sentence?]

1. 95% of Thais are good, well intentioned, hard working souls who want to love life.

2. a broken, pitch patch Western inebriation of a dysfunctional pile of garbage, inspired by Marx to Mussolni, is trying to steer, potentially, the greatest Nation in Asia.

Peace within weeks, stability within months, G30 prosperity within a few years; I'm promising it!

NOT allowed to discuss the details here, NOT allowed.You see, a small, but significant, part of the structure HAS to detail how ALL 'interested' parties would work together. Thais don't mind conversations about this Important element, but I don't want to suffer another suspension.

It is absolutely true that several Thais, including 2 reds, became positively emotional when I described these Remedies. Don't flame this, people are dying, Thailand

is falling apart!

[scorecard]

- The Abhisit government has already, many months ago introduced overriding policy directives aimed at gaining a better sharing of the wealth, ensuring much better quality of education, a long-term plan to made Thailand a welfare society. Somehow very few of the so called journalists have even bothered to bring these facts back into the discussions.

The disparity in wealth is only part of the problem, but to the degree to which it is, there's an awkward fact for some that the efforts being made by the Dems referred to above would not have even been on the agenda without the impact of Thaksin.

I was reading the latest Anand piece. It seems clear now that every party and side accepts that inequalities in wealth distribution, educational and business opportunity must be addressed. That side of things is now consensus albeit missed by many people. How to remove it from bitter personalised hate filled power struggles remains a bit tricky however especially considering there are some pretty big financial and business rewards potentially available for those who come out on top

*

Ed, Your Post is a Gem. In a few sentences you have,*mostly, hit on where the hope for Thailand lies. *There is also conscencus on the need for fair elections. If 95% of Thais would love to see an end to the power robbers running the Kingdom, why not examine 'Made in Thailand' architecture which would engineer these outcomes? The Vishnu Solution!

There will always be Elite, rich and poor, but customary, overly prevalent, corruption builds discontent. Poor people LOVE rich people, movie stars, sports greats, Royalty, business leaders; they hate CROOKS, red crooks, yellow crooks, mysterious black crooks.

Whether it's MidEast oil, Afghan poppy fields, or 'valuable' seats of corruption in Thailand, the Nabobs can always convince pawns, red AND yellow, it is their patriotic duty to put their lives on the line to keep private jets fuelled. [Did anybody NOT read CIA in the last sentence?]

1. 95% of Thais are good, well intentioned, hard working souls who want to love life.

2. a broken, pitch patch Western inebriation of a dysfunctional pile of garbage, inspired by Marx to Mussolni, is trying to steer, potentially, the greatest Nation in Asia.

Peace within weeks, stability within months, G30 prosperity within a few years; I'm promising it!

NOT allowed to discuss the details here, NOT allowed.You see, a small, but significant, part of the structure HAS to detail how ALL 'interested' parties would work together. Thais don't mind conversations about this Important element, but I don't want to suffer another suspension.

It is absolutely true that several Thais, including 2 reds, became positively emotional when I described these Remedies. Don't flame this, people are dying, Thailand

is falling apart!

Yes, people want elections but that doesn't necessarily mean they want elections now.

In fact I suggest to you that a very large percentage of Thais (as sen by recent very large gatherings) absolutely don't want elections right now, because:

1. They fear that vote buying will return Thailand to something like:

- Thaksin or Chalerm as PM

- Jatuporn as Foreign Affairs minister

- and etc.

2. Because they want PM Abhisit to have more time to further consolidate a changed, and highly desirable new direction for Thailand, including a reduction in the gap, more sharing of the wealth, a movement towards a real welfare society etc etc.

[DeeYai]

Probably well over the heads of many, even if they read the Nation which is most unlikely.

DeeYai

Not sure why you mention the Nation.

Because that is where the letter was published.