OPINION

Party-pooping haze

Re: "PM2.5 tipped to worsen until Monday", (BP, Jan 10).

I am a Thai citizen. I feel sorry for visitors who experience pollution problems in our country. I feel like losing face as a host.

Actually, pollution puts us off from outings, and we have missed out on lots of events we'd like to attend.

Our household is now zero waste. It took us five years. It's really hard to achieve because there are no recycling facilities here, a lack of awareness, and no support from the council or the community about waste management.

I hope our authorities read your paper and do something tangible soon.

Rum conundrum

Re: "US-Cuba rum row enters new phase", (World, Jan 10).

I used to love the PostBag, and still do, but the entire Bangkok Post offers so much to learn. When I lived in the Dominican Republic, I saw many huge trucks filled with sugar cane, and I was told they were taking it to rum factories. One was near my home.

In the Jan 10 edition, there was a story about US-Cuban rum. It made me think again. Should Thailand have a rum industry, too? We surely have lots of sugar cane.

What is the best-known rum in all of Asia? Could it be a Thai rum? Is rum even made in Thailand?

Climate clowns

Re: "Is it climate or cash?", (PostBag, Jan 9).

How terribly ironic that Mr Setter, that self-proclaimed purveyor of all things conspiratorial, declares to PostBag that "There is no climate crisis".

This on the day that it was announced that 2024 was the hottest year on record, that global sea temperatures are the hottest on record and -- wait for it -- atmospheric CO2 levels are the highest ever recorded.

For readers who rely on Mr Setter for their climate information, atmospheric CO2 levels and global temperature are inextricably linked, and the more CO2 we pump into the atmosphere, the hotter it is going to get.

This is the climate crisis that Mr Setter seems unable to comprehend, and it is already leading to rising sea levels and weather extremes -- exactly as proper scientists, not amateurs like Mr Setter, have been telling us for decades.

While this may be a slight bump in the road due to the lingering effects of El Nino, the trend continues upwards while Mr Setter, like the proverbial frog in the saucepan, continues to convince himself that nothing is happening.

Who's to blame?

Re: "Is it climate or cash?", (PostBag, Jan 9) and "Hollywood ablaze as fires rage around LA", (World, Jan 10).

Reading Michael Setter's letter right in front of CNN's news report on Los Angeles's current fire havoc scorching 15,000+ acres of the seaside area between Malibu and Santa Monica and destroyed 1,000 + structures gave some doubts as to his statement that "There is no climate crisis". Those affected by the devastation in Los Angeles and recent floods in the North and South of Thailand presumably should blame bad luck arising from nature and not it being man-made.

Animal lives matter

Re: "Vegan vow", (PostBag, Jan 5).

In a relatively measured letter, Eric Bahrt presents solid points explaining his conversion to veganism. Whilst his personal decision is to be respected, his points are, nonetheless, not convicting.

Pointing out the unjustly partial treatment, the double standard, that the law too often metes out to dogs compared to pigs merely on the grounds of group membership, pure prejudice, in other words, is his strongest argument.

Many humans like to make dogs pets, but as Mr Bahrt notes, that is not a sufficient reason for the law to treat those species differently when it comes to enjoying their tasty flesh.

Albeit less often, pigs are also kept as pets, as are cattle, chickens, and pretty much every other animal whose tasty flesh our own species has evolved to enjoy eating.

Pigs and dogs should either be on the menu or both off it according to the law. This is also true for cows, sheep and most of the other animals we humans like to eat.

Mr Bahrt's following points are arguments not for veganism or even vegetarianism but for decent treatment of the animals we want to eat. Causing needless suffering is immoral.

The ship's captain in Eric's childhood anecdote was unethical in his gratuitous cruelty to the captured shark. Nor do his cruel acts become moral merely because they were socially accepted at the time.

Similarly immoral is factory farming, which produces cheap chicken and pork. Those businesses and their owners, including shareholders, behave immorally when they cruelly inflict suffering on their products at the behest of paying customers, whose every purchase is ethically equivalent to ordering a paid hireling to torture.

No respectable Buddhist would commit such ugly acts, let alone repeat them on a daily basis.

Legalistic twisting of the words of Buddhism's First Precept to excuse such abuse merely adds dishonesty to the rejection of compassion for other sentient beings and makes a mockery of the claim to follow the Buddha's teachings.

That is the sort of legalistic machination that characterises the likes of coup makers, their inherently unethical constitutions, and those intent on profiting from such moral corruption executed in strict accord with ugly law.

But for those of us who are not Buddhists, painlessly killing an animal bred under decent conditions to be eaten is not wrong.

Unlike your typical human past 12 months of age, cows, pigs, dogs, sheep, sharks, chickens, ducks, and so on lack any morally relevant ability that could create a right to life. They are not self-aware. They do not make plans. They do not entertain moral intuitions like you and I and Mr Bahrt.

That lack of any characteristic that could create a right to life is also why abortion should be legal up to birth: no unborn human baby has any ability that could create a right to life any more than do the animals we kill to eat.

Mr Bahrt's decision is respectable, which is more than can be said of those who profess a commitment to Buddhism that is blatantly contradicted by their often grossly excessive indulgence in tasty meat.

However, whilst the case for stronger laws to protect animals from abuse too often, typical of factory farming, is solid, the case against killing to produce meat is not.

Meat-ing adjourned

Re: "Vegan vow", (PostBag, Jan 5).

We are so glad that Eric Bahrt finally, and quite specifically, gave us a meaty explanation of why you don't eat meat. All of your hundreds of letters before didn't quite explain it.

Writing one more letter, in gory detail, gives us your ultimate explanation. Now, your definitive say on the subject means you will not, ever again, have to tell us why you don't eat meat. Thank you in advance.

All for martial law

Re: "South Korean President declares martial law", (Online, Dec 3).

Any country in the world may learn from South Korea's handling after announcing martial law and army mobilisation.

Indeed, such a temporary issuance of martial law can be a boon even to a civilian-elected government in handling a serious situation. A ruling gap for some period may bring a better position and situation in an unhealthy political environment.

For some countries in Asia, martial law has not been imposed till now, therefore economic development has not been achieved.

That is why martial law for a limited period can gear up economic development in the country. Army mobilisation rather than martial law may improve the situation.

Unfinished Thailand

Re: "Bangkok jumps in global city ranking", (Business, Jan 7).

I was motivated to share an insight I gained after my first eight months of living in Thailand. I've really enjoyed meeting interesting locals and expats every week.

If I were to just focus on the expats, there emerges a common theme -- "it's finished."

Last month I met a guy from the UK who told me frustratingly that "the UK is finished".

Similarly, I've crossed paths with expats from Australia, Germany, and Canada who asserted their home countries were "finished". It's not hard to find an American here who vows never to return to the US because, it too, "is finished".

I decided to write this letter after another encounter this morning, crossing paths with a guy from Hong Kong who informed me matter-of-factly, "Hong Kong is finished".

Being "finished" elicits both a positive and negative connotation. One might go to a "finishing" workshop to become more refined in their manners or perhaps experience the satisfaction of having endured the rigours of a challenging management project as part of a team that has now got everything "finished".

However, the expats I've met, overwhelmingly, are exasperated with some clogged, inefficient, troubling aspect of their home countries; be it health care, inflation, safety, politics, or any other quality of life issue.

On the other hand, have you ever heard a person complain about Thailand being "finished" in that negative sense?

I haven't yet, and I doubt I'll ever hear this. I'm truly enjoying the wonderful magnetism of Thailand and thankful that it remains . . . "unfinished".

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