OPINION

Laugh riot

You ought to hold a contest among your readers to select the most appealing character in your comics section. This is the worst comics section I have ever seen. The only bright light is the strip devoted to my personal role model, Andy Capp. But "Blondie," "Garfield," and "Peanuts" are sometimes not bad.

My nomination for the worst strip of the lot is "Insanity Streak." I can hardly ever understand it, probably because I was born in 1938, when humour still existed.

My nomination for the most appealing character is Henry, the dragon who appears all too infrequently in "The Wizard of Id."

Re: "Uncouth Westerners", (PostBag, May 25).

In the letter, T Tucker calls people not wearing face masks "morons". What if they are not vaccinated, he fears?

Scientific literature proves T Tucker incorrect for multiple reasons. The most recent paper shows that masks not only fail to stop the transmission of respiratory viruses but they are harmful to our health. The inexpensive surgical face masks release micro and nano plastics with each inhalation, which then travel to the lungs where they will remain for a lifetime -- likely resulting in a future epidemic of plastic lung disease. Those who mindlessly believe and obey government decrees and paid media propaganda could be called much worse things than sheep.

But a sheep's wool is like a person's freedom: it may be quickly shorn, but takes a long time to grow back. It is those who don't realise this truth who are the morons.

Re: "Cop suspended for stomping on teens", (BP, May 25).

So the teens who stopped the cops for help were charged with illegal possession of a weapon. No mention of riding three on a motorcycle, without helmets and in the wrong direction. The fact alone that the teens didn't hesitate to stop for the cops while breaking three traffic laws at once says everything you need to know about law enforcement in this country.

Re: "Thai Pass to be axed for locals", (BP, May 21).

At first, I thought it must be good news for Thailand's long-suffering tourism sector. What better way to lure back visitors?

Alas, my optimism had the better of me.

Only returning Thai nationals will benefit from the demise of the Thai Pass.

The rest of the human race will remain subject to a bureaucratic obstacle race, with the addition of hefty insurance premiums and the threat of quarantine. It is nothing less than a form of racial discrimination.

But the virus never discriminates. It is blissfully ignorant of nationality and culture. It is wholly unimpressed by ethnicity, skin colour and the shape of facial features. Passports and ID cards mean nothing to Covid-19.

It attacks whoever it pleases, wherever they were born.

Beneath the flimsy "Land of Smiles" veneer, double standards are at play, and deeply rooted.

The superiority to "foreigners" that too many Thais harbour must be drummed into them from a very early age.

The next step will be the removal of face masks, but the first step will be for Thai citizens only. "Welcome to Thailand!" Will those words ever ring true again?