It’s just getting worse

Kudos to Kong Rithdee and his highly perceptive comment, “Taking an axe to ‘Land of Smiles’,” on Feb 23. There is not much more to add except for the personal reflection that I have lived here permanently for more than 36 years, for better or worse, and have witnessed to my ongoing dismay a gradual deterioration in societal values, environmental rape and lip-service to spirituality, especially in the younger generation, and so forth. Moreover this appears to have worsened in the last two years.

Maybe I am a “Colonel Blimp” but the facts speak for themselves and those who view the country through rose-tinted glasses now, however briefly, have no idea how depressing things have now become. Of course there were problems in days gone by, sometimes very serious, but Thailand always recovered for a very obvious reason, and tried to address the issues, successfully or not. Now there seems to be a downward spiral as evidenced by the exasperated public taking personal action as the only recourse to solving problems because law enforcement is highly selective, particularly in the context of those who can opt out of legal summons or arrest because they are wealthy and are otherwise occupied, forsooth.

There are many good people here but they are dwarfed by the magnitude of the other issues cited. It is very sad. ELLIS O’BRIEN