Comments on: Welcome To Absurdistan

By: crocodilexp

crocodilexp — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:46:33 +0000

How dare you bring this up? Obviously, the device works, because the phu yai say so. They certainly find GT200 useful (for obvious reasons), and so should everyone else.

Just sit back and enjoy the show. Trying to change things is futile and dangerous.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:16:33 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by BangkokDan: (BLOG) Welcome To Absurdistan http://bit.ly/aIzqJn...

By: Chunkton

Chunkton — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:51:59 +0000

Look the military have installed their puppet government, so they know there will be no major investigation here. So SOP applies, just keep smiling and denying, eventually it will go away. With luck another panda story will push it off the news once and for all.

Aside from all that the army have all the guns, end of story. Or maybe there will be a new budget for an even more profitable unit, that new S class does look nice.

By: David

David — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:15:49 +0000

I think pretty much everyone, Thai and farang alike, was already aware that many purchases made by the Thai military have often included the precentage/commission/kickback factor.

But what seems really unusually apparent here, even to the most patriotic Thais, even to royalists, PADistas, ASTV clones and TAN followers, probably even to the younger levels of the Thai officer corps, god knows, even to that ultimate defender of the Thai status quuo StanG, is the incredible level of blind ignorance, especially in continuing to insist these plastic boxes with blinking lights and a pretend antenna actually “work” in any other way than as a morale booster for the poor foot soldier who’s been told to walk ahead of everyone else.

By: Hobby

Hobby — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:35:49 +0000

Good points by Jaded too – might need to also be posted over at Bangkok Pundit’s site.

By: Hobby

Hobby — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:32:00 +0000

Please don’t go Rich – I for one value your comments.

btw, I don’t think Suthep is an idiot, and actually feel he’s quite shrewd (in the thai context:)

One of the following might best describe him:

arrant, base, casuistic, conscienceless, corrupt, crafty, crooked, deceitful, degraded, degrading, disgraceful, dishonest, dishonorable, exploitative, illegal, improper, low-down, mercenary, perfidious, petty, questionable, recreant, ruthless, scandalous, scheming, self-seeking, selfish, shady, shameless, shifty, sinister, slippery, sly, two-faced, unconscientious, unconscionable, underhand, underhanded, unethical, unfair, unprincipled, unworthy, venal, wicked, wrongful

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:00:15 +0000

“(BD: Last time, I told you already not to use words such as “idiot” on this site. And Suthep, stupid?)”

Not really Dan, what you said (as I recall) was “we don’t call each other idiots here”, which is not the same as “the word idiot is banned on this site”. I am not calling anyone else in here an idiot, as indeed I wasn’t the last time either as it happens. A fine point perhaps but no matter, lets not get bogged down with unnecessary accuracy. This is Thailand after all, we should all try to get in the spirit, even if it is absurd.

Personally, given your own analysis, I don’t think ‘idiot’ is too strong a word. Let’s see the definition from my trusty dictionary:

“idiot
noun informal
- a stupid person
- in archaic medicine a mentally handicapped person”

Or from my trusty thesaurus:

“idiot
noun
informal
- “that idiot was driving way too fast”: also fool, ass, halfwit, dunce, dolt, ignoramus, cretin, moron, imbecile, simpleton; informal dope, ninny, nincompoop, chump, dimwit, dumbo, dummy, dum-dum, loon, dork, sap, jackass, blockhead, jughead, bonehead, knucklehead, fathead, numbskull, numbnuts, dumb-ass, doofus, clod, dunderhead, ditz, lummox, dipstick, thickhead, meathead, meatball, woodenhead, airhead, pinhead, lamebrain, peabrain, birdbrain, jerk, nerd, donkey, nitwit, twit, boob, twerp, schmuck, bozo, turkey, chowderhead, dingbat

antonyms
genius”

Perhaps “pinhead”? No, I don’t think so. Would “dingbat” be OK?

Also, “village idiot” is a time-honoured expression to suggest someone who behaves stupidly. Or indeed, absurdly.

Suthep not stupid? Perhaps not. Perhaps he’s a genius, though you hardy suggest he is on a par with Albert Einstein. Perhaps he just does a good job of concealing his true status as an intellectual giant. Still, I wonder if there is a better word … “absurd” seems pretty harsh too, but that’s just my interpretation, perhaps my connotations are different.

Just re-reading your own commentary once more, the word “idiot” seems appropriate Dan, but for my general guidance, are there any other arbitrary words you don’t allow on this site? Fool? Lying? Arse? Absurd? Just that it might be better for everyone to know so they don’t inadvertently tread upon toes.

Perhaps you will feel more at ease if I don’t bother posting again, I, like you, have a distaste for absurdity. Yes, that’s probably it. That’s the best thing.

By: Jaded

Jaded — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:16:48 +0000

I think that what many commentators should be focusing on is the effect this is likely to have on both sides of the conflict in the south. If this low intensity conflict was beginning to look more manageable then the realization that a device considered critical to security is ineffective will certainly have an impact on heavily used tactical initiatives like mobile road blocks, security cordons and countryside sweeps. IEDs will be seen to have a much higher chance of success that had been previously thought and this may undermine the confidence of the troops and conversely, encourage the insurgents to take greater risks when deploying explosive devices. The seemingly non sensical statements being made by military men may reflect their generals’ realization of the potential impact to morale when soldiers can no longer believe in their magic electronic wand. I recall an earlier incident where a southern commander distributed magical amulets to his troops. Equally ineffective from a scientific point of view, many commentators missed the point which was the effect this gesture had on morale.

By: ChrisO

ChrisO — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:46:01 +0000

I’ve written an overview of the GT200 scandal at Wikipedia – see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:07:03 +0000

With Suthep, an IQ detector would be a real useful thing to have. Abhisit is progressively being unmasked as a liar but Suthep is just a fool.

Somewhere in Songkhla, a village must be missing its idiot.

(BD: Last time, I told you already not to use words such as “idiot” on this site. And Suthep, stupid?)