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"Welcome To Hell" - inside a Thai prison


Stickman

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Yep, me too. That this one no only got past the censors but got published and is being retailed by Asia Books is somewhat surprising. They have erred on the conservative side in the past and this book has some fairly strong words about Thai police, the justice system, the prison system and even Thai people in general?.

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Stick,

 

Well, if they end up stripping the shelves of Asia Books of this gem keep that copy you have for me to read will you? :) Or buy me a copy if you get into Asia Books before I get down there and I'll pay you for it when I come to BKK for Turkey Day. Hey, I'm good for it. Seriously. Just let me know you have the copy and I'll give the cash to KS Friday that week at Gulliver's if I don't see you and we can't meet. No problem. Leave the copy with a manager for me at Gulliver's if you get by there, or just hold onto it and I'll get it eventually from you. I would like to read it.

 

I wonder if it will soon make it onto their radar screen and cause a stir? :: :yikes::censored::dunno:

 

Cent

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I am sorry but..... .... Have you checked the CIA thread ?

Who are you / we to judge ?

I am not the CIA.

 

Are you saying that if the CIA operates secret jails, I cannot comment on the Thai MiB killing, without any due process whatsoever, nearly 3,000 people in a scant 3 months?

 

I am sorry, but your reasoning is seriously and obviously flawed. I have always strongly disagreed with the US administration's practies in this area, but this website, let alone this thread, is not about the CIA. The CIA's practices - or the practices of the Russian, Chinese, Belgian (Leopold) or French or any other country's security forces - do not justify the excesses and abuses of the Thai, or any other, justice system. I would have thought this was obvious.

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Gadfly1 said:

I am sorry but..... .... Have you checked the CIA thread ?

Who are you / we to judge ?

I am not the CIA.

 

Are you saying that if the CIA operates secret jails, I cannot comment on the Thai MiB killing, without any due process whatsoever, nearly 3,000 people in a scant 3 months?

 

I am sorry, but your reasoning is seriously and obviously flawed. I have always strongly disagreed with the US administration's practies in this area, but this website, let alone this thread, is not about the CIA. The CIA's practices - or the practices of the Russian, Chinese, Belgian (Leopold) or French or any other country's security forces - do not justify the excesses and abuses of the Thai, or any other, justice system. I would have thought this was obvious.

Apparantly it is not for you..... You rant about Thailand, but still choose to live there, I only posted "who are you / we to judge".....

And you replied correctly that you as an American, me as a Belgian have no right at all to judge Thailand, as we are absolutely no better than anyone.

So, yes, killing 3000+ drug dealers / addicts was totally wrong, worse shite happens today in Iraq, and 99 % of those are just innocent bystanders.

 

So, who are we to judge, na ?

Relax, or move to another country.

 

BB

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You rant about Thailand, but still choose to live there, I only posted "who are you / we to judge".....

And you replied correctly that you as an American, me as a Belgian have no right at all to judge Thailand, as we are absolutely no better than anyone.

With all due respect, you have lost the plot. I am critical of certain practices and policies here, but that is not ranting. I didn't even start this thread; Stickman did, and the book Stickman describes in the title to this thread ? which, incidentally, is what this thread is all about - certainly contains a more negative assessment of Thailand than anything I have ever said. The book ?Welcome to Hell? describes Bangkok ?as a haven for all sorts of criminals? (pp. 15-16), and that is one of the more positive comments (kidding).

 

Seriously, none of this has anything to do with one group of people being better than any other group. Or some sort of "right" to "judge" Thailand; your exact words: "have no right at all to judge Thailand." To the extent this sort of comment makes any sense - it doesn't, but I'll be generous and pretend that it does - it is simplistic to the point of being dim witted (the comment).

 

I am certainly very critical of many things here and make no apologies about it, but I also see plenty of positives and I am fundamentaly optimistic about Thailand - perhaps naively so. In a recent post I expressed optimism in Thailand?s future based on the fact that the middle class is getting increasingly fed up with corruption and cronyism as it becomes more globalized. And that based on a Thai author's much more pessimistic assessment of matters here in Thailand (and I don?t think that this author is planning on leaving either)

 

Now here is something I haven't quite figured out: members of this site who consistently confuse any critical comments about government policies or local practices with "judging" a country (whatever that means) or people. Is it merely confused thinking, does it bother them to be told that their rose tinted view of Thailand is wrong or are they incapable of comprehending a more nuanced depiction of Thailand. My guess: all of the above.

 

When westerners argue, even implicitly in a dazed and confused manner, that other westerners should not criticize bad policies and practices in Thailand - I think the extrajudicial killlings qualify - they are certainly not doing Thailand any favors.

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We have no right at all to judge Thailand, the USA or Belgium :dunno:
So I am not the only one who thought that comment was ridiculous :: How about Icelanders - can we criticize them? ::
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