OPINION

We're not alone

Re: "Insanity prevails," (PostBag, Jan 16).

Yes, it must be insanity in Thailand but then again it's not alone with its relatively low death rate, yet forcing lockdowns and restrictions. To name a few: Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Taiwan and more. Now the only restrictions to those countries' economic growth are the failed states of Europe, US, and many others who did not lock down, or not early enough, or lacked the requisite precautions. So, I am not sure who is insane.

BTW influenza and pneumonia death rates are way down due to restrictions and precautions. Oh, maybe it's a win-win situation! Yeah Thailand!

Locked-in lunacy

Ajingpom in his Jan 17 letter, "Don't knock the lockdowns", repeats the old myth that lockdowns prevent the spread of Covid-19. Yet India, which had one of the most severe lockdowns in the world, has the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections. In America there is no evidence that states which have had the most severe lockdowns were any more successful in controlling the spread of the virus than states which had limited lockdowns or no lockdown at all. In fact there is evidence to the contrary.

Those who like lockdowns, such as the multi-billionaire hypocrite Bill Gates, have a moral responsibility to compensate the millions of people who have been driven into poverty and starvation because of them.

Trick of the crop

Once again the air in Thailand -- and dare I say, all of Southeast Asia -- is thick with smoke. Most of it is the result of burning off last year's stubble in the fields before replanting for next season. There is a much better and simpler way to accomplish this without burning or using expensive mulching machinery.

Crop rotation will accomplish what we need. When a herd is set on to a field of stubble growth post-harvest, they eat, defecate and urinate, trampling the earth with their feet and preparing the soil for replanting. The herds must be rotated in order to accomplish this.

I highly recommend that you watch a TED Talk by Allan Savory on the desertification of soil. He explains how burning off stubble for one hectare gives off more pollutants than 6,000 cars!

Censory deprivation

Why does TrueVisions censor international news coverage of Thailand? Have they been asked to do this by the government or are they doing this to curry favour? Today, BBC World aired a programme called Thailand's Youth Rebellion and, true to form, we went straight to "Programmes will resume shortly".

I am not the most tech-savvy person but I will watch this programme later and I'm sure I'm not alone. As the students ran circles around the authorities using social media, haven't they heard of VPNs either? What's the point?

No masking an idiot

I live in Pattaya, where the wearing face masks is compulsory and you can be fined for not wearing one. I walk morning and evening and notice many Thais and farang ignoring the law ... and several policemen doing nothing. It really is annoying to see people flouting the law with disregard for others.