Re: 'Watch-scandal polling shenanigans sully decent debate' (Opinion, Feb 15).
It is probably healthy that people vent by voting on online polls, but as Paritta Wangkiat explains, the results either way are not to be taken too seriously.
Unfortunately, people often lie in surveys, a fact known since the 1950s when the residents of Denver reported to surveyors that they had a library card, gave to charity and voted, in percentages that greatly exceeded the actual statistics for each of those socially desirable traits.
Similarly, recent surveys in the US show that 40% of engineers think themselves in the top 5%, that 90% of university professors are sure they do above average work, and that 25% of high school students place themselves in the top 1% at getting along with others. And 2+2=5. For a survey to get honest answers, it needs to be both anonymous and private. At least the online surveys are getting honest answers from their unrepresentative groups of biased voters, and that honesty is worth something.
The one poll that had some, albeit limited, credibility was suppressed because the results were likely to prove inconvenient, since they would likely have suggested that 85% of the nation or even more think that the Deputy PM general should already have made his farewells. Meanwhile, the poll that really would show what the Thai people think is being persistently delayed by the greedy politicians clinging to power as time tick-tocks away under the baleful eyes of the Big Brother watchmen.
Felix Qui
Guns not the answer
Re: "US high school shooting", (BP, Feb 15).
Four months after the mass shootings that killed 58 people in Las Vegas, the same thing happened again. Despite President Donald Trump expressing his condolences, via Twitter, to families of the victims -- saying no child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school -- nothing will change for the better in terms of stricter gun control in the US.
Why so?
Because, previously, President Trump publicly declared that the best way to tackle a "bad guy" with a gun -- is a "good guy" with another gun. That is why there is no hope of stopping the mass killings in the US.
Chavalit Wannawijitr
Choking on a fallacy
Reportedly 2.4 million diesel cars clog Bangkok roads. It is a known fact that the burning of diesel in car combustion engines is a contributing factor towards poor air quality and is known to be the cause of many cancers. For this reason, the United Kingdom is to phase out the production of diesel cars and ban them from the roads in London.
The Thai government hopes to alleviate the current problem of smog levels in Bangkok by introducing better forms of alternative travel for its citizens, which, reportedly, will not be available for at least 11 years. Can the health-conscious citizens of Bangkok wait that long?
Brian Corrigan
Praise where it's due
Eric Bahrt in his Feb 15 letter has expressed the sentiments of the majority of sane people in Thailand, and perhaps worldwide. While Mr Bahrt and I usually do not see eye-to-eye, his letter is one of the best he has ever written.
If it were possible to have a non-Thai as head of the National Plants, Wildlife and Conservation Agency, Mr Bahrt would be perfectly suited to this job. I say this sincerely. And thank you for putting what you said so directly to the point.
Jack Gilead
A taxing matter
A cafe I visited in Pattaya recently advised customers that from Feb 1 they would be adding VAT to one's bill "as required by the Revenue Department". I thought this strange as all bills were inclusive of VAT before that date -- I was right to be suspicious.
I revisited that cafe on Feb 7 and ordered the same dish for which I previously paid 195 baht, inclusive of VAT. The bill this time was for 195 baht plus VAT, 209 baht in total. Shame on this cafe.
John Harper
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