Danny's Weblog

Letters

This section is for my letters to newspapers and magazines which *didn't* get printed. I've often checked a newspaper to see if my wonderful incisive, witty and elegant letter got printed, only to find a mishmash of routine, pedestrian cliches by a parade of oafs. Now you have a chance to see the kind of letters which the newspapers *do not dare to print*! I have decided to predate these letters to the date when I actually sent them, rather than the date when I post them on the site. I am too lazy to post all my letters at once, but eventually there will be letters to the following: Bangkok Post
The Nation (Thailand)
International Herald Tribune
and any others I can't think of right now.

2003 Oct 30 [ Thu ]

the Nation: Prostitution and elephants (2003-10-30, pp 5A, 17A, 18A

To: editor email at nationgroup.com (The Nation) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 11:28:46 -0500 (EST)

Re "sex workers must be allowed..." – I am in agreement with all of the points raised by Rojanaphruk. I would only add that it would be amusing to try to legalize the *customers* of prostitutes instead of the prostitutes themselves. I envisage sex tourists needing to get a special visa and needing to carry an STD test report; and raids on brothels where sex tourists get carted off to jail instead of the prostitutes. Bwahahaha!

However, I was also struck by the article about the new Thai movie "Sanim Soie". I don't know whether the movie and the article about it are valid as history, but it sounds like many of the evils of prostitution today date back to the changes in the law made in that period.

Apparently bigamy had just been made illegal. Bigamy is probably a bad deal for poor men who can't find a mate because rich men have taken up the entire supply, but for women it's a pretty good deal: they continue to have legal rights and a home, not to mention companionship and someone to share the chores. In the absence of bigamy, what do poor women do? At best they can steal a husband from an older woman.

Likewise, it seems most prostitutes until that period welcomed men into their own homes. This allowed them to be independent of pimps and brothel owners, unlike today: now men get a rakeoff from the girls to handle bribery and marketing.

Oddly enough, this connects to your article about the children's book dealing with the plight of elephants in Thailand (p18A, "colorful Elephant Tale"). Now the law prevents elephants from being dragged along Bangkok's dirty, dangerous streets – except, of course, it doesn't.

Here's a proposal: instead of blowing billions of baht on flimsy, tacky Apec celebrations that have no relevance to Thai customs, why not establish a safe area somewhere in Bangkok where elephants *can* be paraded for everyone's enjoyment safely? Elephants are the symbol of Thailand and beloved all over the world. Some money and effort could create a safe pedestrian area – let's call it "Elephant Avenue" – that would allow foreign and Thai tourists to meet a happy, safe elephant as part of an ordinary day. I've heard a Thai say "Chaang, Chaang!" with absolute delight from just a glimpse of an elephant. Why not allow that in Bangkok?

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About How this site is organized and what it's for Weblog start page The start page contains the most recent 15 articles. Home page The main home page of my website, not my weblog. Currently not used. ------------------ Articles by month Click here to get all the articles for a particular month. 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Listing of all articles by date Flavours There's more than one way to view this weblog; these links display the current page in other formats. Index (Story headings) RSS (XML format for aggregators) External links These are a few of my favourite sites. T E S T Slashdot yesterday Copyright © 2003-2007 Alternate Worlds Publishing, Boston MA USA Wenhua dageming de zhongyao jiaoxun shi bixu fandui geren mixin If I have been able to see further, it is because I am surrounded by midgets. Never ascribe to stupidity that which can adequately be explained by malice. "Your argument's repugnant and intriguing." "That's kinda my thing."	Danny's Weblog Letters This section is for my letters to newspapers and magazines which didn't get printed. I've often checked a newspaper to see if my wonderful incisive, witty and elegant letter got printed, only to find a mishmash of routine, pedestrian cliches by a parade of oafs. Now you have a chance to see the kind of letters which the newspapers do not dare to print! I have decided to predate these letters to the date when I actually sent them, rather than the date when I post them on the site. I am too lazy to post all my letters at once, but eventually there will be letters to the following: Bangkok Post The Nation (Thailand) International Herald Tribune and any others I can't think of right now. 2003 Oct 30 [ Thu ] the Nation: Prostitution and elephants (2003-10-30, pp 5A, 17A, 18A To: editor email at nationgroup.com (The Nation) Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 11:28:46 -0500 (EST) Re "sex workers must be allowed..." – I am in agreement with all of the points raised by Rojanaphruk. I would only add that it would be amusing to try to legalize the customers of prostitutes instead of the prostitutes themselves. I envisage sex tourists needing to get a special visa and needing to carry an STD test report; and raids on brothels where sex tourists get carted off to jail instead of the prostitutes. Bwahahaha! However, I was also struck by the article about the new Thai movie "Sanim Soie". I don't know whether the movie and the article about it are valid as history, but it sounds like many of the evils of prostitution today date back to the changes in the law made in that period. Apparently bigamy had just been made illegal. Bigamy is probably a bad deal for poor men who can't find a mate because rich men have taken up the entire supply, but for women it's a pretty good deal: they continue to have legal rights and a home, not to mention companionship and someone to share the chores. In the absence of bigamy, what do poor women do? At best they can steal a husband from an older woman. Likewise, it seems most prostitutes until that period welcomed men into their own homes. This allowed them to be independent of pimps and brothel owners, unlike today: now men get a rakeoff from the girls to handle bribery and marketing. Oddly enough, this connects to your article about the children's book dealing with the plight of elephants in Thailand (p18A, "colorful Elephant Tale"). Now the law prevents elephants from being dragged along Bangkok's dirty, dangerous streets – except, of course, it doesn't. Here's a proposal: instead of blowing billions of baht on flimsy, tacky Apec celebrations that have no relevance to Thai customs, why not establish a safe area somewhere in Bangkok where elephants can be paraded for everyone's enjoyment safely? Elephants are the symbol of Thailand and beloved all over the world. Some money and effort could create a safe pedestrian area – let's call it "Elephant Avenue" – that would allow foreign and Thai tourists to meet a happy, safe elephant as part of an ordinary day. I've heard a Thai say "Chaang, Chaang!" with absolute delight from just a glimpse of an elephant. Why not allow that in Bangkok? [Single-story view] [/Opinions/Letters/Nation] [permanent link] Responses: 0 [View/add responses] I hope this information was useful. There may be a great deal more information on this site that is relevant to what you need. Take a look at the "site map" display at left; you can click on a topic to see many recent items on that topic. This page is available for searching. Debug: hittotal: 15 startban: 0 dancookie: endbandate: 2008-12-03 banned: 0 tempdate: 2008-12-03 tert: jse: jsno jsh: 15