OPINION

The right to stand

Re "Home sweet home" (PostBag, Dec 10).

Standing in theatres for the national anthem is compulsory in India and Thailand, and elsewhere. I was in senior high school in Western New York when SCOTUS ruled that students could not be compelled to pledge allegiance.

I was not happy with the ruling but gladly accepted it as it was given by the Supreme Court. That was back in the 1960s. Today Americans can no longer trust their courts which have been undermined by leftist/socialist rationale.

Law enforcement is also being cowed in applying the law for a variety of new "reasons" that give rights to people who then employ even worse repression on others that they themselves have suffered.

In the case of forced nationalism/loyalty displays, making something legal does not make it right. When everyone stands in unison for one thing, it means "We are united, we agree, we follow, we submit". Forcing this kind of mentality is ultimately destructive and sews social ruin.

Re: "Stand up for rights" (PostBag, Dec 10).

The letter makes hard reading since the writer seems unwilling to give specific cases of where the High Representative of the EU has made a difference.

Maybe the writer does not know of any. I have to say this letter is poorly written and at 500-odd words, overly long. George Orwell advised people to write in the concrete!

However, my main complaint is the complete avoidance of what happens on the ground, and in real life. Europe has gone through chaos in dealing with a group of people whom the High Representative completely ignores: migrants.

Maybe the writer does not believe they count even though the EU has ignored EU law about free movement of people, and countries have physically abused people at times, as well as many countries simply denying their part in the migrant solution.

Has the High Representative merely kept silent about these human rights abuses? I feel really cynical about such letters, knowing how badly many migrants have suffered in the EU.

Perhaps the High Representative should start being more cautious in advocating that the EU has much to teach other countries on Human Rights.

Re: "Three hurt as train hits police pickup" (Online, Dec 10).

Tell me it isn't true. How could a policeman who probably investigates train-vehicle collisions be involved in such a disaster himself?

The same, lame reasons are given. The driver was unfamiliar with the train schedule, did not see the train, did not hear the train, therefore did not bother to stop, look or listen, prior to crossing the tracks. Ahhh, conveniently blame it on the SRT … again.

Human stupidity, it seems, suffers no bounds, in uniform or not.

Lord Buddha taught ways to reach peace by avoiding earthly ways of addiction and violence. However, Thai Buddhism seems to do the opposite.

Thai monks smoke, drink, chew betel, beat children, have money (and sex) and use telephones and computers, all of which are against the Buddha's teachings to abstain from worldly ways.

Now, as the case of Wat Dhammakaya temple unfolds, we have the threat of violence from Buddhists?

As my friend has said: "Thailand, the land of upside down and backward".

Oh, the joys of public transport in Thailand. "Missing link service promised by August" (BP, Dec 9) reminds me of when two companies started drilling a tunnel from opposite sides, hoping to link up in the middle. They missed each other by a kilometre.

Thank you prime minister for invoking Section 44 to get this missing link completed.

If not for your intervention, I get the feeling it would have been toyed with for the next 20 years before a decision is taken.