Guest Hedda Posted December 26, 2006 Posted December 26, 2006 Mark Twain once wrote : " Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense." This matter is not about spraying paint or "insulting a whole nation." It's about punishing people for being irreverent to something that some folks think should be worshipped. Those who feel compelled to use the law as a "deterrent," to compel obedience by punishing irreverence, forget that true reverence comes happliy from love and respect - not fear of punishment. If it were my decision, which happily it is not, I'd accept a sincere apology and pardon the offense. Quote
Gaybutton Posted December 26, 2006 Posted December 26, 2006 If it were my decision, which happily it is not, I'd accept a sincere apology and pardon the offense. Wouldn't you also have him pay for the damages? Quote
Guest buaseng Posted December 26, 2006 Posted December 26, 2006 Kick him out of the country and blackball him. I have to agree. He should be deported immediaely and placed on the Immigration blacklist as a minimum. A year in a Thai jail, before deportation, might also help to reinforce the message and concentrate the minds of any more stupid farangs who would even contemplate such action. Drunk or not, as a 'long-term resident of Chiang Mai' he must have been well aware of the crime of lese majeste and how the King is revered by almost all of the population. If it were my decision, which happily it is not, I'd accept a sincere apology and pardon the offense. Why should he be treated more leniently than a Thai. Thai culprits are regularly sentenced to long prison sentences for lese majeste offences. Quote
Bob Posted December 27, 2006 Author Posted December 27, 2006 While I would hardly consider the act of the idiot a capital offense, it's a wee bit more (if one places the act in the context of thai culture) than an act of irreverence. Damn, Hedda, you're quite the liberal - just a "I'm sorry" and "ok, you're free to go"? Measuring the level of stupidity, the age of the idiot (he should have known better), and the offense to the Thai people, Judge Bob decrees 30 days in the slammer (with some protection there to avoid him being torn asunder by local thais) and a 50,000 baht fine. And, once idiot is released, he is escorted to the airport and permanently thrown out of the country. And I'd bet that most Thais would think that the jerk got off easy with that sentence. Quote
Guest Hedda Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 Damn, Hedda, you're quite the liberal - just a "I'm sorry" and "ok, you're free to go"? I'd prefer to think of myself as quite the republican, with a small "r." For me, the mark of great men is their ability to dispense mercy, not justice, when the situation presents itself. I seem to recall a character named George III, whose supporters in America wanted to hang folks for "slandering the crown." That prompted Ben Franklin to say: "Either we hang together now or we shall surely hang separately later." It's also what led those guys in Philadelphia in 1776, some of whom were called fools too, to sign what is probably the most infamous declaration of lese majeste ever published. George III certainly thought so. I prefer to think that Mark Twain got it right: Irreverence still remains the champion of liberty and its only sure defense. Thailand may still think otherwise and that's their prerogative, which any visitor should honor. But I can still think Twain got it right. Quote
Guest buaseng Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 Swiss man jailed for insulting the King (BangkokPost.com from reports) - A Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday for spray-painting graffiti over images of His Majesty the King. It was the first conviction of a foreigner in a lese majeste case in at least a decade. Oliver Jufer, 57, had pleaded guilty to five counts of lese majeste for spraying black paint over five posters of His Majesty in Chiang Mai, where he lived, last Dec 5 - the king's birthday. He was captured by surveillance cameras. http://www.bangkokpost.net/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=117743 Quote
Guest xiandarkthorne Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 Kick him out of the country and blackball him. It was a crime there but lets not go overboard here. Remember that the laws in any particular nation reflect its culture, traditions and values, never mind what foreigners think to be right or wrong. To suggest that Thailand's laws should not apply to this person just because he is a foreigner from a country with different values is to imply that the Thai nation should abrogate its right to have and apply its own laws as well as its status as a sovereign nation because other visitors from other countries regard the same matter differently. Quote
Guest wowpow Posted March 29, 2007 Posted March 29, 2007 10 years jail today BBC World TV 10 years jail today BBC World TV He got 10 years jail. Quote
Guest xiandarkthorne Posted March 30, 2007 Posted March 30, 2007 10 years jail today BBC World TV 10 years jail today BBC World TV He got 10 years jail. is that all? I think he's lucky. It wasn't too long ago when he'd have had his hands chopped off before being despatched to relearn his lessons in a new incarnation. They should bring back the branding irons for spray painters! ! Xian PS I just love Mark Twain! Quote
