Special of the Day...Intolerance

[polonious]

Literally, intolerance was on the first page of the menu at Pla Dib tonight. Most menus begin with the restaurant's name, possibly accentuated with an enticing minimalist insignia of some sorts. At Pla Dib, however, the first thing you see is a blue circle encompassing a red square, with a diagonal blue line cutting diagonally across the square--basically the 'prohibited' sign you see applied to handguns and cigarettes in airport security lines. Below this suggestive geometry is one line: "Give back my Bangkok." The implication being, the redshirts have taken Bangkok away from...from who? Well, the elite hi-so clientele that frequents both Pla Dib and Paragon, of course--not the several MILLION bangkokians who could never afford such indulgences, and who would probably sympathize with the red shirts. Pla Dib's message was clear: red shirt sympathizers are banned; yellow shirts and indifferent profligates only (in fact, one man wearing red was accosted for his choice of attire).

In the end, what kind of message is this sending? Communication is discouraged? Be intolerant? We cannot accept money from people who freely express their ideas? Extend the implications of this form of intolerance to other groups, and ask yourself 'would I patronize a restaurant that said 'whites only,' 'liberals only,' 'buddhists only"? Of course not, that would be bigotry. But if it is bigotry you want, go to Pla Dib, it is the first thing on the menu.

[Ponyboy]

That's is bad. But when you are in the circle or the group thinking you don't see that. If you live and work in Bangkok, your thinking had better be yellow or leaning yellow. If your view is different, you can't say that openly at your office or school.
Your very post on this forum, for example, might disappear. It's everywhere. You might as well see that red banned symbol on here and other media outlets.

Here's my diagnosis of Bangkok people: Whatever Taksin did or did not do or have been accused of doing, that viral information has been spread pretty good throughout Bangkok. Bangkok people are in trauma. It's a group trauma. The state of trauma right now is ANGER. Bangkok people felt abandoned by Taksin. He helped the farmers and Bangkok people don't know why he did that. If Taksin would have gave the same attention to the city people, if Taksin would have spread his wealth among the city people, things would not be as bad. Taksin would have had more City people on his side. But Taksin didn't do that. He kept the money around his family.

See the old form of corruption is you split the money among your peers and this is how you keep your mouth shut.
For example, let say, a German company is willing to pay 100 million baht in "additional fee" to get a certain project.
And there are 3 top ministers involve. These Ministers would form a pack, split the money evenly. Splitting the money evenly assured fairness, and that none will rat out the other.

However, if transparency is shown too much in these government transaction, no one gets the dough. And sometimes it's only the top guy that gets it. Bad, bad, bad. Someone's gonna get it later.