Racial reversal
Re: "Repugnant racism", (PostBag, Nov 2).
Some people appear to have a very strange stance when it comes to what makes people angry and intolerant. They are also very confused about racism as it was practised in the past. Fifty years ago the recent white immigrants to the USA were in full control of politics, the media and social norms. It wasn't that coloured people were not angry at the racial bigotry they suffered; it was that the white population was so segregated from them that they never heard or knew it existed. Only when coloureds became more numerous in politics and on TV were we made aware of the offence we were causing them. There is nothing humorous about not being allowed in a certain bar, not getting a drink from a water fountain or being told to give up a seat. Even, or maybe especially, MAGA supporters would find nothing to laugh at when told to stand and move to the back of the bus. I note with interest that with the number of new, non-white immigrants arriving in the USA and threatening to become a majority of the population, Trump and his Republican party stalwarts are finding nothing funny about it at all.
Monitor misery
Re: "Minister to allow farming of water monitors, bird nests", (Online, Nov 5).
Last year, my species was regarded as an unwanted pest that predated upon your extraordinarily pampered (stupid) pets, among other things, in your newspaper, which noted my distress regarding misinformation. But I digress. Now you are proposing to farm us for the murderous leather market in terms of our apparently attractive skin, akin to the long-term persecution of our unfortunate crocodilian, avian, and herpetological cousins, although lip service is now paid by your law in this respect.
As I have noted before, we monitors existed for ages before you lot appeared on the scene by tediously evolving from mephitic swamps or being part of extraterrestrial breeding programmes, or so we have heard. Satisfied with your progress and alpha status, you then wreaked havoc on the global environment, fauna, and flora over a short period of time. So, for shame. I am interested to know how the above proposal is going to be implemented as my race is not amenable to capture in large numbers or existence in captivity. Through my organisation, Komodo, resistance is being prepared, so be prepared.
Board games
Re: "Snags hamper bid to select BoT chair", (Business, Nov 5).
The ongoing process of selecting a board chairman of our central bank has reached a stage of ludicrousness in having officials dancing around a simple and fundamental question of whether non-political bias is necessary. If the answer is positive, then we know who should be selected or not selected. But if the qualification is as a guru on monetary matters rather than as an independent mind, then neither two of the proposed candidates by the Bank of Thailand is suitable.
One can draw on the experience of the current president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, who was previously CEO of the IMF and French finance minister and yet graduated in law. She was the first woman to be chair of the leading international law firm, Baker & McKenzie, in her early days. Her independence has never been doubted.
Do we have such a candidate among the three? Or, perhaps, can we call on former governors of the Bank of Thailand to volunteer for this hot seat to calm down all the havoc of government versus the respected institution of our central bank?