Re: "Poisonous billionaires", (PostBag, May 5). If businessmen turned politicians are "a poisonous mixture for any democratic country" (and there are many all over the world) then what can be said about army generals and the incompetence they bring to democratic ideals.
The military system is the complete opposite of democracy with the common soldier having to do as commanded and never show reluctance to obey. It is orders from the top down with no questioning allowed, something observers of Thai politics of the last five years will know only too well.
Men, and its always men, who have lived their whole lives on military barracks have little experience of politics, business or finance. Best they stick to defending their country from outside invasion rather than involve themselves in the messy business of democracy.
Lungstib
Another slant
As an American Jew I'd like to respond to your May 4 editorial about the Nazi Holocaust, "Heard of the Holocaust?"
Growing up not long after it happened I was emotionally affected by it. But as I got older and I would ask my Zionist relatives about the suffering of the Palestinians, my relatives would begin screaming hysterically about the Holocaust. But why were the Palestinians punished for what the Germans did? I began to wonder if my relatives were happy there was a Holocaust because they could use it to "justify" Israel's crimes against humanity.
Why doesn't the world pay the same tributes to the millions of people who were murdered by Joseph Stalin or Pol Pot? Or what about the millions of Native Americans and African Americans who were killed by the white man? And why do we forget the non-Jews who were also killed by Hitler?
When your editorial writer implies that the Jews are the only people in history who really suffered, he/she diminishes the suffering of everyone else. And as a Jew, I find that highly offensive.
Eric Bahrt
Thai insecurity
Thailand is Thailand, and I am the sort of person who just gets on with it wherever I am. Thailand is a wonderful place to live and Thai folks are so easy to get on with too; the rituals and obsequiousness (not really something I understand) are they are and probably ever more will be so.
True, TV screens out most items on BBC World News to do with Thailand, especially if they involve royalty -- "Normal Service will be resumed shortly".
That's fine, that's the way it is, but a question remains hanging in the air: why do the all-powerful in Thailand feel so insecure that they have to demand it?
A recent letter said the royal family is surely strong and resilient enough to be what it is, a loved and respected institution.
Nick Nicholson
Poetic language
Re: "Conjugating coronate", (PostBag, May 4).
The verb "coronate" may be archaic but it is not obsolete. English is not a cold and sterile language that discards words when a shorter, crisper word is available. We keep them all to add tone, variety, nuance and colour to our language.
His Majesty's coronation which we witnessed over the weekend was full of ceremonies, rites and rituals that go back centuries and have been passed down from generation to generation.
So why not use archaic language to describe aspects of it?
I think "coronate" has a poetic resonance and adds to the sense of occasion and the mysteries and majesty of the coronation.
David Brown
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