OPINION

Insults are 'fair game'

Re: "School bullying problem worsening", (BP, Jan 10).

The recent survey concerning bullying is a waste of time and is geared towards fostering a "victim mentality" over non-issues. This is a psychosis that is happening in all cultures and extends beyond children to adults.

You cannot "control" the actions of others -- the only thing you have direct control over is your response to them.

If someone calls you a name or makes "fun" of you, there automatically are four responses; ignore them, agree with them, argue with them, or feel hurt.

The first two responses empower you and leave you in control of your feelings. The last two falsely empower another by your abdicating your responsibility for your feelings or emotions.

Nobody can "make" you happy or sad! You choose to respond with happiness or sadness to the situation. Big difference. This is what emotional intelligence and responsibility for thoughts and feelings rests on.

One would figure in a Buddhist culture, that this would be embodied inherently.

The other delusion associated with this effort is the notion of creating a "safe" environment. Reality and nature do not condone or support safe spaces.

The universe started with a "Big Bang" and our planet will be destroyed by the sun going super nova or the Milky Way being consumed by the black hole in the centre.

Nature itself locally is based on something taking from another for survival, so any effort that does not focus itself in this reality is doomed for failure.

Name slinging is fair game on all levels, physical violence though is a transgression of normal civil behaviour and should be considered a "crime".

Our societal problem collectively is reflected in the fact that there are a plethora of victim-less crimes. If someone is not deprived of life, liberty, or property then there are no transgressions that rise to the level of criminal behaviour.

If the Network of Legal Advocates for Children and Youth (which conducted the survey) truly wants to alleviate the amount of bullying, teach responsibility for thought and feeling and hold people accountable for physical violence.

I don't know about now, but in the past buses have been responsible for a lot of the dirty air in Bangkok. I would like to suggest that the government send out teams of people to the garages where buses are kept at night to check all the buses in the garages even if it means going there after regular hours, so as to check all the buses that are either privately owned or owned by the BMA.

They could do this for taxis, tuk tuks and trucks too. In my opinion, air pollution is life threatening to us and countering it should be given the highest priority. It cannot be good for tourism either if potential tourists come across an article that says Bangkok, as one did last week, has the third worst air in the world.

Re: "Hard to change ways," (PostBag, Jan 11). Dystopia2 enlightens us that students throw candy wrappers in the street because they are not taught about this in school.

Presumably, we could also have lessons to abolish teenage drunken driving while street crime would be a thing of the past. Sexually transmitted diseases and cruelty to animals would similarly be unknown. Welcome to paradise!