OPINION

Moment of truth

Re: "Lese majeste stance could sink Dems' PM vote", (BP, May 18).

Now is the moment of truth for the Democrat Party: it alone has a long history in Thailand of adhering to the core principle of democracy: "rule by the people".

Thais have spoken: they want the MFP and its leader Pita Limjaroenrat above other choices. The MFP and Pita have never been coy that they want to modify the way our lese majeste law has been administered. The junta-appointed Senate stands in the way of MFP achieving this goal. The Democrats should show that they believe that "vox populi, vox Dei" ("the voice of the people is the voice of God") and back Pita for PM.

Re: "Gay cowboys and glorious flesh", (Life, May 19).

I never thought that I would witness the BP devoting an almost half-page photo spread of the mostly nude Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren youthfully disporting themselves in the dreadful biopic Caligula on the back page of Life today. What are you doing? Gravitating to the soft porn industry?

Surely the worthy ex-Kong Rithdee could have supplied a few more paragraphs to make such graphic imagery unnecessary and avoid embarrassment to the two actors, who must now likely shudder at this reminder of their exploitation in this bomb. I saw the uncensored version in Amsterdam shortly after release and exited the cinema in a shocked daze.

Magnificent actors like O'Toole and Gielgud, for crying out loud, in hugely expensive cinematic trash, although most of their scenes were shot without knowledge of the indulgences that were filmed later. Same can't be said for Caligula and his bedmates.

Apparently, this version is a reimagining. Why bother? Our memories don't need to be jogged.

Re: "No surprises there", (Postbag, May 22).

Right under Ray Ban's letter falsely accusing me of being a climate change denier is my letter where I warn about the dangers of climate change and how it's being enhanced by the meat industry.

I keep making a point that although I'm liberal on most issues, I'm not a knee-jerk liberal. I agree with liberals that climate change is real. And I agree with the conservatives who say Covid was a hoax. To quote leftist actress Jane Fonda: "Covid is God's gift to the left". If that sounds like all this Covid hysteria was about money and politics, not health, that's because it was.

Re: "On the rise of MFP", (PostBag, May 19).

Vint Chavala views some foreigners as not qualified to offer comments as they're not well-versed in Thai to truly grasp the situation. He says they should be able to listen and read Thai very well to understand what's going on here politically. His contribution was a real eye-opener.

He's privileged to be well versed in English and Thai to understand those foreigners and Thais alike. It begs to hear his take on why the majority of Thais (63%) chose, despite being well-versed in Thai, for a sea of change in the political landscape.