OPINION

Castration bull

Re: "Senate backs voluntary castration bill", (BP, July 13).

Our House and Senate have approved the voluntary chemical castration of recidivist and violent sex offenders in return for having prison terms shortened -- even though "there is still no clear evidence that chemical castration effectively deactivates the testes", says an MP who is a medical doctor vetting the bill. A Senate doctor vetting the bill, though, says that many might deeply regret their actions and choose castration to suppress their sexual urges.

I am for punishment that has proven effective at penalising the offender and deterring occurrences of the given crime. As the House doctor points out, this is not the case with chemical castration. This bill seems to mainly be for revenge by society. What's next, hand amputation for theft?

Stepping backwards

Re: "Unmasking the situation may take a while" and "Scout's dishonour", (PostScript, July 3).

I think many readers could not help but identify with Roger Crutchley's highly personal, deeply honest analysis of the last 27 months of our lives or so. However, between that article and a very keen letter from David Brown, I really do hope that Thailand's public can start to see, at least to an extent, just how backwards this country is starting to get (as well as what that's really going to cost the country).

The public still is in what I call "mask-mania", and most of the world does not look fondly upon goose-stepping.

The country is certainly marching to the beat of its own drummer. For example, in the case of mask wearing, most of the world is abandoning that particular virtue signal which was never really effective in changing the reality of our situation in a meaningful way. One wonders why, as the world moves on with the times, Thailand remains out of step.

Veg not vax

Re: "Haven't had Covid yet? Maybe you've just been lucky", (Opinion, July 15).

I'm a 71-year-old vegan who hasn't been sick for decades. I can't say for sure what the reasons are, but in the old days when I was a meat-eating, alcoholic smoker who didn't exercise I was frequently sick.

Still I can't say for sure I never had Covid since I could have been asymptomatic. But what's the big deal about having a virus if it doesn't make you sick?

I'll say it one last time: a healthy lifestyle, not vaccines, is the way to combat most of the major diseases we face today. And the reason people hate me for saying that is because the medical establishment would literally lose billions of dollars if everyone followed my advice.

Consular disservice

The US Consulate General in Chiang Mai has just suspended its visa service indefinitely and abruptly cancelled all visa appointments made there for months ahead without making any provision to reschedule the appointments at the Bangkok embassy.

Those unfortunate enough to have had their appointments cancelled are invited to restart the process of applying for an interview at the Bangkok embassy from scratch, but they will find there are no appointments available until May 2023 and even those are filling up fast. Those with urgent travel needs, for instance to attend a funeral or for medical care and so forth, can try their luck requesting a fast-track appointment at the Bangkok embassy but they will do so with no guarantee of success.

Applicants for visitor visas, such as myself, appear to have little choice other than to cancel their trips and re-schedule for the second half of next year or hope that a cancelled appointment will miraculously pop on the website when they log in.

The software on the UStraveldocs website is extremely buggy, frequently sending applicants back to the beginning to answer the same questions over and over again before you can get to the page where appointments are displayed. The process takes 20 or 30 minutes each time.

Meanwhile, friends tell me that they have paid 10,000-20,000 baht for appointment slots from agents who apparently know how to game the system and avoid the blocks by setting up dummy applications and booking appointments that they hold for clients as place-savers.

Obviously all countries are free to decide their own visa policies and tourism from Thailand may be a very low priority for the US government.

However, what has happened with the Chiang Mai appointments does seem a rather inhumane way to treat citizens of a friendly country who applied for their appointments in good time and just want to go and spend their money in the USA.