OPINION

Festival of death

Re: "Songkran break grows to 5 days", (BP, Feb 28).

Let's hope the road toll does not increase proportionally to the extra time. I have my doubts, having resided here for 10 years. I believe "the extended holiday will boost economic activity and tourism" thinking will occur at the expense of human life.

In a Feb 28 news report, Minister of Social Security and Human Resources Anantaporn Kanjanarat was quoted as saying: "The number of those who have been swindled or otherwise exploited by other family members surged by a similar amount from 2005-2013."

What wasn't mentioned by the minister was that they had also been robbed by unscrupulous employees under his organisation's umbrella. An honest mistake?

Re:"Cobra Gold drills depoliticise Thai-US ties", (Opinion, Feb 27).

Kavi Chongkittavorn takes positive note of the recent strengthening of our bilateral relationship, highlighting the importance the two countries place on our longstanding military cooperation.

One assertion made in the commentary is not, however, accurate. Mr Kavi writes that, "This time, conspicuously absent from Adm Harris' speech and comments" was anything to do with Thailand's domestic political situation."

In fact, in both his private meetings with senior Thai leadership and in public remarks delivered at this year's Cobra Gold closing ceremony, Adm Harris underscored the US desire to see Thailand return to democracy. "The US alliance with Thailand is a deep and enduring commitment. So as a friend and ally of Thailand, I look forward to a speedy return to democracy so it can stay strong, stable and prosperous," the Pacific Commander said in his Feb 23 public remarks during the closing ceremony of Cobra Gold 2018.

His comments echoed what he said at the opening of Cobra Gold 2017 last February: "The US alliance with Thailand is a deep and enduring commitment. We look forward to Thailand's reemergence as a flourishing democracy."

Thailand is a key partner of the US and our most enduring ally in Asia. Our broad cooperation continues on everything from joint medical research to robust trade and investment, and from law enforcement cooperation to people-to-people engagement. Our military cooperation fits squarely in that sturdy bilateral frame. But the welcome warming in our senior-level contacts does not alter our principled support for democracy, civil liberties and elections.

Kudos to David Brown for pointing out in his Feb 28 letter the absurdity of Alan Dawson's Bangkok Post Sunday column being black print on a grey background.

I, too, look forward to and read Dawson's column regularly, and I assume this past Sunday's column reflected the excellence it usually does.

However, I can't be absolutely certain of that, since the effort required to read it was too much of a bother to get beyond the first few sentences. Like David Brown's, my vision is also still good. Give your readers a break.

In the wake of another tragic school shooting I have seen at least two letters to PostBag claiming a link between violent video games and the aforementioned shootings.

As far back as 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled that research found no clear connection between violent video games and aggressive behaviour. Criminologists who study mass shootings specifically refer to those sorts of connections as a "myth".

The US supreme court ruling found no difference between video games and the effects of other media such as cartoons.

Also spikes in violent video game popularity are now known to correspond with decreases in youth violence.

This mythical link is often touted by the NRA, but ignores one glaringly obvious fact.

These games are also available all over the world, where these constant school attacks are not taking place.

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