OPINION

Trash for cash

Re: "Phuket wrestles with rapid growth as tourist hotspot", (BP, Jan 17).

You want more tourists to get more cash. Obviously you are going to get more trash.

Think about it.

No mere mollusc

Re: "Now showing: Memoir of a snail", (Life, Jan 17).

Miseries of a Snail may be a more accurate name for the film now showing at SFCinemas.

Parents beware, this is an animated movie, but it is dark, depressing, and definitely not a comic cartoon fit for your children.

If you take young kids to see it, be prepared for them to be exposed to the topics of bullying, masturbation, pyromania, sleep apnoea, death, and cremation.

Worst of all, prior to the screening of the main feature, at T21 the audience was made to sit through trailers of two very scary and gory horror films.

I saw two small kids, aged 5–6 go running up the aisle in fright, followed out of the theatre by their regretful, head-shaking parents.

I confess, I myself left after watching the movie up to the point in the story when the Family Services Agency separates the two orphaned main characters.

Again, parents are advised to read film reviews before taking youngsters to a showing of this film.

Fact censors

Re: "Citizen censors", (PostBag, Jan 10).

A lawsuit brought in 2021 by journalist John Stossel forced Facebook to admit their factchecks were just "opinions" used to manipulate and censor what Americans read and watch.

Stossel posted two videos that illustrated how better forest management would alleviate fires and that they were not caused by climate change. They were flagged as "false" and "lacking context" by Facebook factcheckers.

When Dennis Fitzgerald suggests that Mark Zuckerberg ending the factchecking contracts at Facebook is "similar to sacking firefighters and letting arsonists decide which fires are serious and what to do about them", clearly he has got things backwards.

The factcheckers were burning the truth along with conjecture; they were guilty of arson, and it was the First Amendment of the United States constitution (which protects freedom of speech, religion, the press, and the right to assemble), which was in the path of the fire.

Carbon reality

Re: "Selective on facts", (PostBag, Jan 14).

Paul Sumner points out important realities regarding climate change and the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Yes, CO2 levels historically have been much higher than at present, but never in the age of human life on the planet.

Crocodiles have thrived on Earth for around 95 million years, through ups and downs of CO2 levels and rising and falling temperatures.

Cockroaches are even more impressive; they have survived on the planet for around 300 million years, largely immune to climatic changes.

But while some people act far too much like crocodiles or cockroaches, for the most part we humans -- who have existed on Earth for only a mere 300,000 years -- are very different.

We humans will have a monumental challenge to survive the climate changes currently underway -- especially the far more drastic changes that are certain to come if we continue to pump record levels of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The Earth has seen it all before, but humans have not.

And, yes, the current spike in CO2 concentrations is indeed attributable to human activity.

Early Asean pointers

Re: "Indonesia leads Asean with Brics entry", (Opinion, Jan 14).

Pete Hegseth, facing a confirmation hearing as Trump's choice for defence secretary, was quizzed by US Congresswoman Tammy Duckworh (who has Thai heritage) on his knowledge of Asean to which his response was a "swim around" to Australia, Japan and South Korea -- but no mention of the Asean member states.

We are left to draw our own conclusions on the incoming Trump's awareness or even interest in Asean.

On the other hand, Kavi's recent analysis on the value/potential of Asean under the leadership of Indonesia's pivoting towards BRICS, foreshadows the fate of Timor Leste's inclusion in Asean.

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