From the back seat of a red taxi

COMMENTARY

Published: 20 Jan 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Last Tuesday evening, after being rejected by the shaking head and waving hands of one cabbie, a second took me in and I was ever appreciative. From Wat Phra Si Maha That temple in Bang Khen to my home in Lumpini, it was to be a long ride, but an educational one. There was silence at first, but after a few minutes the cabbie, an elderly yet robust man, turned on the radio. We caught the last few minutes of a talk show; the topic of discussion was the Bangkok governor race.

One caller lambasted the Democrat candidate as a corrupt member of the elite who knows nothing and does nothing. Another caller lamented on how her son, and others like him who live and work in Bangkok but are not residents of the capital could not vote - otherwise the Pheu Thai candidate would win for sure.

There were a couple livelier and more passionate callers invoking the need to vote Pheu Thai and win Bangkok for the sake of the people and true democracy. The host, also passionate and lively, wrapped up the show by saying Bangkok needs a good man as governor, a true man of democracy, and that man is the Pheu Thai candidate.

This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here.

Forum

Your comments

brilliant
Post : 1,467
Send message

Discussion 41 : 20 Jan 2013 at 22.3341
Post this to my Facebook
After reading this nonsense, I'd love to read an article taken from interviews in the red village that recently blamed a ghost for several deaths. I'd love to get their perspective on why hey support UDD and Thaksin.
Like dislike 31 people liked / 13 people disliked this comment
felixqui
Post : 645
Send message

Discussion 40 : 20 Jan 2013 at 22.3140
Post this to my Facebook
So many dislikes.
Have I hit on a truth about anti-Reds? That they are every bit as mindless and easily led by propaganda as your average Red taxi driver, having grown up in the same unhealthy, anti-reasoning, suppressive culture of the last few decades that preceded Taksin, under whom many Thai people at last started to engage, however erratically, in a most wholesome and long overdue questioning of the evils of mindless faith in authority that is conspicuously self-serving, as its gaudy wealth attests.

Except of course those members of the elite who always fled overseas to actually get a decent education to better equip them for ...
Like dislike 18 people liked / 41 people disliked this comment
boontong
Post : 525
Send message

Discussion 39 : 20 Jan 2013 at 22.2339
Post this to my Facebook
Responsible, truthful journalism is not one that is simply repeating and using a story - in this case, of a taxi driver and build another story/opinion around it. The journalist should have the gut and courage to reveal at least the 'red station'. Perhaps he was using the stories or creating one to talk about the - THEY and THEM epidemic.
Like dislike 5 people liked / 15 people disliked this comment
djay
Post : 220
Send message

Discussion 38 : 20 Jan 2013 at 21.1538
Post this to my Facebook
"The cabbie laughed and replied that everything is very difficult because this is Thailand. There are things that can't be done, simply because this is Thailand." And there ladies and gentlemen is the crux of the problem. Most common Thai's would say the same thing. There is nothing we can do.
Like dislike 48 people liked / 3 people disliked this comment
felixqui
Post : 645
Send message

Discussion 37 : 20 Jan 2013 at 20.2437
Post this to my Facebook
If indeed many Red shirts are so sadly gullible as this suggests, and I am sure they are, we must why that is so. And the answer to that must necessarily pre-date Taksin.

The answer to why so many can be easily fooled requires decades of sedulous uneducation, stamping out of critical thinking and direct suppression of any rational, reasonable search for knowledge. The predecessors of Taksin are the only possible culprits, and their descendants - the PADster yellow hearts preaching intensified mindlessness and suppression.

That so many are at least no longer mindlessly accepting drivel simply it's from an "authority" is progress.
Like dislike 27 people liked / 51 people disliked this comment
bluebkk
Post : 1,356
Send message

Discussion 36 : 20 Jan 2013 at 20.2036
Post this to my Facebook
Paint a pig red and let the red media "por-nhoom" do its work and the pig will get surely elected....Poor Thailand....straight into the abyss with the consent of the poor majority....
Like dislike 56 people liked / 32 people disliked this comment
kasper
Post : 604
Send message

Discussion 35 : 20 Jan 2013 at 20.2035
Post this to my Facebook
@englishbob, d24.

Unfortunately those who still support the red shirts do not know what QED means, as it was never taught on red radio, so your comment is a little wasted on them - I like it though :-)
Like dislike 33 people liked / 21 people disliked this comment
bluebkk
Post : 1,356
Send message

Discussion 34 : 20 Jan 2013 at 20.1534
Post this to my Facebook
Over 40 "likes" for a Dubai/Amsterdam propaganda agency commentator who pretends to serve us with only facts??? LOL and LOL,,,, to say it the Thai way ;...."somebody whose name starts with an M has been doing tampering with the votes again and as usual...." Childish
Like dislike 28 people liked / 29 people disliked this comment
jamjon01
Post : 104
Send message

Discussion 33 : 20 Jan 2013 at 19.0033
Post this to my Facebook
It's humorous and sad. Thailand thinks it is so unique. Thailand thinks it is so abused. Thailand thinks it is so desperately in the hands of government manipulations. Thailand thinks it is so alone. It's this level of ignorance that makes Thailand just like every other country in the world. When even the 'educated' are ignorant and 'played' by the media and government as dupes to be led around and turned one against the other without discriminational thinking, you shall get exactly what you deserve. This 'media' guy writing this article is same as anyone he demeans. Ignorance seeks hatred or it cannot exist, and vice versa. ie; Islam
Like dislike 13 people liked / 16 people disliked this comment
englishbob
Post : 2,342
Send message

Discussion 32 : 20 Jan 2013 at 18.4132
Post this to my Facebook
""Believe me, por-nhoom, I'm not making this stuff up," said the cabbie. "I learn it all from red radio.""

QED...

And this is grassroots, people's movement towards democracy? Or is it a bunch of gullible fools being lied to and misled? (For those who still support Peua Thai, the answer is the second one.)
Like dislike 45 people liked / 28 people disliked this comment

First Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Last

From the back seat of a red taxi | Bangkok Post: opinion