The remarks expressed in “Cops turn a blind eye,” (PostBag, Jan 14) are correct. I have written letters about traffic police procedures from time to time. Will anything ever change? Will police priorities ever change? I think we all know that nothing will ever change because there is no will to change, no foresight to change, and no real programmes proposed for change.
Most people just accept this conclusion, including traffic police. The status quo will always remain. There is nothing and nobody to bring about change, not even the arrival of Asean.
I suggest we live with it, stop complaining about it, pay our fines and bribes with a smile, and continue to take our chances on getting from A to B safely.
The only alternative is to give up driving, but we all know that isn’t a practical alternative. Live with it folks, because nothing one says or does, whether Westerner or Thai, is ever going to make a difference. One does not say “This is Thailand” for nothing. “This is Thailand” is a catch-all, an excuse for everything and anything.
Jack Gilead
Nothing to prove
I agree with Joan Smith (Opinion, Jan 12) that associating violence with masculinity may very well encourage people to become terrorists.
When I was in high school I had an English teacher who asked: “Why don’t I see more boys going out for football?” “Where are the real men of today?”
The American football he was referring to is a violent sport. My teacher was telling me that because I didn’t want to tackle people and cause them bodily harm, I wasn’t really a man.
We often hear the phrase: “Real men eat meat.” But I never hear anyone say: “Real women eat meat.” My point is that violence towards humans and animals is seen as being manly.
I am not a pacifist. Violence is sometimes necessary for defensive purposes. It’s the glorification of it that I object to. A real man doesn’t have to be violent in order to prove he’s a man.
Eric Bahrt
Attacks hurt Islam
I do not profess to know a lot about Islam, nor do I practise Islam. However, as an international relations student, I am taught that Islam means peace and submission to God.
The Charlie Hebdo attack in France sends an alarming message to the world that there are certain jihadists out there that still take an extremist interpretation of Islam, the likes of which create a misconception about this religion and its tenets as a whole.
Terrorists in France acted in ways that relegate the perception of Islam to that of the post 9/11 attacks, giving Islam and its believers a bad name.
I am afraid the attackers have succeeded in increasing the level of Islamophobia among, not only people of different faiths, but Muslims themselves.
Archai Saluya
Satirising the satirists
I stand with Chaiwat Satha-Anand (Re: “Standing by community, not with Charlie”, Opinion, Jan 14).
There is something highly ironic to me about the “Je Suis Charlie” parade (or charade) in Paris: not many would dare satirise those who were there to defend the satire.
Let’s be serious about satire and get in some photo-ops.
Guy Baker
Censorship’s victims
Are not Edward Snowden (an American exiled in Russia), Julian Assange (an Australian refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in London) and Peter Greste (the Australian Al Jazeera journalist jailed in Egypt) victims of the lack of freedom of information around the world?
Edward B Duhigg
If the shoe fits
Can any Bangkok Post reader help me solve one of life’s little mysteries?
Why is it so hard to find a shoe shop selling anything bigger than a size 44, or a size 45 if you are really lucky?
I never thought that my size 46 feet were particularly large, especially when I see much larger feet on many other expatriates and many strapping Thai youths.
David Brown
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