DivineMadman

OK. In a lighthearted post that was trying to point out that the word can have quirky little differences in the way we read it, and also provide some helpful information about common gay app profile uses, definitely important to say, "You shouldn't have said connote. You should have said 'means'." I see. Never would have crossed my mind that someone would make that comment. I wish I had never made the post. As do we all, I am sure.

Honestly - because it seemed very odd to take issue with the use of the term "connote." I don't understand the need for the correction. That's why. In part because I don't the correction was actually correct. And in part because I don't think was necessary at all.

I certainly don't understand why the fact that I thought it was fascinating or amusing changes anything. Also, not sure why my particular examples lead anyone to then say no, this is something that must be corrected. The word has several different meanings depending on how it's being used. รับ the phoneme can also mean "take" or "get" (as in go get) and others. Yes the bottom is taking it, as in "take it baby, take it." But I thought I could just say that in that context the sense was the "receiving" sense. Here I thought I was just making a fun lighthearted non-controversial observation. Much less one that was wrong and in need of correction. But so be it.

my point was that in other uses it doesn't mean receive. That was the point.

On a slight linguistic tangent. For some reason I am constantly fascinated and amused by how รับ can be used in Thai. Of course there's the most beloved of all รับ = bottom (has a connotation of accepting or receiving) So there's "I am+" เป็น+รับ (เป็นรับ) OR another way to say it is งาน+รับ (งานรับ), where งาน usually means something in the area of "work" or "job". So work + bottom (งานรับ) means I'm a bottom or my "role" or "position" (hehehe) is bottom รับ. [Already a bit of a joke, because we all know the tops do all the work.] But then if you reverse the two, รับ + งาน (รับงาน), it basically means working or technically more along the lines of "accepting work". So the yummy guy in Hornet who says "รับงาน" is in it for the money. But he may not be a รับ. A top (รุก) working might say รุกรับงาน (or similar variations). The basic lesson is that in Thailand it's much easier if everyone is just verse. By the way, these aren't the only uses of รับ. A massage guy will say รับ + massage (นวด) = รับนวด. But it doesn't mean I'll "accept" a massage. It means I will perform the massage. nothing passive about that.

Thai press briefing today said that 19 of the guys (I think) had COVID-19 in detention and had stayed in detention until they were cured before being deported to Myanmar. Apparently there are WHO guidelines about how to handle deportations that the countries in the region have adopted. They are following through with the gov't of Myanmar on this and the other cases. It could all be bullshit, or it could raise the question of whether Myanmar was reporting that the individuals tested positive for anitbodies. Perhaps we will never know.

Spoon may have found it in another source, but I noticed it was in my feed from National Geographic and the piece is at least in part supported by a Nat Geo COVID-19 storytelling grant.

And my point w/r/t to the literary criticism was that I had actually addressed it, and personally, I don't think there's any doubt that the vast vast vast majority were happy to continue to work, rather than deprive their families of their earnings and go home where food will just get stretched thin. So again, the literary criticism - and let's not forget the ""Why am I not surprised?" - seemed off point to me and actually denies the Cambodian workers' their "agency" - as people say nowadays.

Actually, Somchai reports that the workers say they would rather be there in his first quote. Does anyone really doubt they would rather be working? All of the guys I am contact with or follow on Facebook say they would rather be working.

Here's a transcript of an entirely made up meeting at the Thai government in mid- to late-March: Somchai (Junior Official) "Boss, I have a great idea, I know the Cambodian government is asking us to keep workers here, rather than send them back where they won't have work. And they're worried about sending people back across the borders with COVID-19 now. And the workers say they would rather be here. Boss "Ah, Somchai, of course they would rather be here. Thailand is envy of the world. Somchai "Indeed, Boss. "And, Boss, I know people are worried about shutting down the economy. Boss "And rightly so, Somchai. The Thai economy is the envy of the world. Somchai "Of course, Boss. "So I was thinking about the construction industry and the migrant workers from Cambodia who work in the construction industry. What if we let them stay in Thailand and keep some construction going. Boss "Hmmmm. But Somchai, why can't we say the same thing and keep the malls open? That will make my mistress -- I mean my wife -- very happy. Somchai Oh, but there's a difference, Boss. The construction workers live together, go to work together, stay on the construction site, and go home together. The malls are the opposite. People come from different places, then mix, and then disperse. So that would be very different for the spread of the disease. Boss "Ah yes, Somchai. And after all, our malls are the envy of the world. Somchai "As you say, Boss. Boss "But Somchai, the benevolence of the Thai people is the envy of the world. Won't we seem heartless having our Cambodian cousins working in a global pandemic. What if they get sick? Smooch "But Boss, don't forget, documented migrant workers are eligible for our universal health care system. Even undocumented migrant workers are eligible. Not everyone takes advantage, but we conduct active outreach and try to enroll as many as we can, and the Thai universal health care system is there for them if they need it just like the rest of us. Boss "Of course, Somchai, you are correct. I didn't forget that. I was just testing you. "The way Thailand has expanded universal health coverage to documented and undocumented migrant workers is the envy of the world. Somchai "As you say, Boss." Boss "Well, Somchai, I think I have laid out my brilliant plan to you. You may circulate it among the ministries. "This is the sort of win-win thinking that will only earn respect for our Kingdom! Somchai "Yeah, sure, Boss.

One question then is are there hot spots among the immigrant community that have developed and been unnoticed, noticed and deliberately ignored or have not "bled" out into the general public. Those would just be the questions that would need to be answered. There's a little bit of damned-if-you-do/damned-if-you-don't going on here. At the time when things were closing down there were a lot of people being quite vocal that the worst thing to do to the provinces or the neighboring countries would be to shut down and send people home. The fear at the time being that it would spread the virus to places such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, even less able to deal with it. If you're looking for a non-malicious motive, perhaps that's a potential path forward. As I keep saying, this stuff is complicated.

I think they might say they are not ignoring it. It's just they've adopted the track-and-trace model. I have absolutely no doubt cases are being missed. At a recent Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand discussion a Thai individual on the panel said the problem with Thailand was there were too many elephants in the room, but she was referring to something else, I think. hahaha.

Definitely mass testing would be nice. Remember, these individuals were in a detention center by the Malaysian border. Also note that 4 of them had come from Malaysia - ahem (not pointing finger). I absolutely agree more testing would be nice. The other day Thai press spokesman addressed the general question of mass testing. I forget all of the response, but I think the points he made were (1) they conduct rigorous contract tracing, and that is generally regarded as the more effective method and (2) the 1,000,000 person localized health volunteer brigade that blankets the country is credited with a lot of success of getting people educated and catching cases early before they spread, including the immigrant community. He also addressed the question of significant undiagnosed cases. His answer was that there hasn't been an uptick in otherwise unaccounted for deaths Thailand, unlike other countries where the likely answer is the increase in deaths is likely from COVID-19. I know that some of the NGOs are out there testing, which is great. SWING will test sex workers and is offering that testing as part of its outreach in BKK and Pattaya. Duang Prateep has been actively testing in the Klong Toey slum. But again, mass testing would be nice. I am not disputing that.

Hong Kong currently tests everyone on arrival and you have to wait for the test results. The reports are it takes about 8 to up 12 hours to get the results. There is a mandatory 14 day quarantine. They tell you where you can quarantine based on how they assess your risk (and obvs if the test is positive). Because of the distancing and safety issues in collecting the sample for testing, the number of people who can come in is severely limited. "Tourists" of course can't travel there now anyway, so it really affects returning nationals and special cases. https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/hong-kong/article/3082266/hong-kong-inbound-travellers-restrictions/index.html

If the objective is to get people back to work and keep the economy going, even if that means COVID-19 spreads, there is a clear quantifiable cost in human lives of the workers and their families put at risk and the people they infect and so on. Plus of course the greater potential for another broader shutdown of the economy and all of the costs associated with that. And the people not at risk are the rich owners of the businesses who benefit but are still working from home or safely socially distant in their offices. So the "let's get people back to work" argument is hardly a clear winner, to say the least. Personally, I think these issues aren't lost on the governments that have taken a strong view towards controlling COVID-19, including Australia, New Zealand, the SE Asian countries, etc.