absolutelyBangkok archive · Culture shock
Originally published Jan. 29, 2010
Apologies for joining this dark dowsing rod aka GT200 debate slightly too late, but fact is: the self-prepossession of our leadership-in-green is wasting human lives and even the Thai media are now stunned and in uproar, completely bewildered by the official line of argumentation, ridiculing their leaders. And the men in green and their civil representatives keep on lying despite utter humiliation in not only the eyes of the Thai public, but the world.
Kudos to Bangkok Pundit who already in November 2009 reported The GT200: Do we detect a scam?
After much public pressure our dear army chief at least banned further purchases of the devices. It’s one of those rare occasions a Thai authority caves in to public pressure. Well, the honorable BBC spoke of “shocking (…) shortcomings” of the bomb detectors and even the propaganda-friendly Thai public didn’t believe those assurances from the top any longer that what’s actually considered a hoax in the rest of the world works in Thailand…
Well, you’d think there’s a limit to making a fool of oneself. The Thai leadership certainly crossed that limit umpteen times, blatantly ignoring scientific data and common sense by desperately trying to save their own faces. And they’re still not even apologetic with their head-in-sand policy. Well, even the usually excessively resilient Thai people have had it.
Picture above is part of the aftermath of a bomb attack in Thailand in which the GT200 device used by the Thai police failed to detect any explosives. But that some leaders are trying to cover their own arse is not the real issue here.
The real issue at stake is that the Thai leadership has become that accustomed to blatant lies that they’re not even realizing anymore when they’re stretching the truth — or to put it less diplomatically: when they cover someone’s arse because they’re only there because someone else covers their own arse because there is constant need to cover arses.
Reports
Not The Nation most accurately:
With new estimates ranging as low as US$250 for the actual manufacturing price of the device, which has no actual bomb-detection technology inside its main circuit board according to a BBC investigation, the profit margin on just one GT200 is as high as 1.3 million baht, giving it an unprecedented 99.5% kickback margin.
“It would be comical if it wasn’t life-threatening,” read a related tweet. How Southerners react? Well the GT200 doubts irk, reports the Bangkok Post.
The list of official, blatant government and military lies grows longer and longer, just to mention the Rohingya, the adherence to law and order, the respect of international law, the assurances that protectionist Thailand is an open, if not liberal economy, etc.
Dirty Shame, Mr. Clean, the Bangkok Post titled. Thailand is obviously not only a leader in fake products and pirated goods, but also in the faking of a reality — slowly but surely turning the land of smiles into the land of lies.
When even the cozy
The Nation has enough of the lies you can bet the relevant authorities are technically — but this being Thailand — reduced ad absurdum in the eye of the public. The paper titled:
For the authorities reputation is more important than lives (…) The army chief trying to save face over faulty bomb scanners is typical of the ego-driven selfishness in our public servants.
Accusing the authorities of “absurd answers,” as The Nation concluded, we approach the core of the issue at stake as per the definition of absurd:
Adjective: utterly or obviously senseless, illogical or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false: an absurd explanation.
Noun: the quality or condition of existing in a meaningless and irrational world.
“Absurd arguing” is the logical, direct consequence of a political culture of impunity where you don’t have to fear the consequences of your actions. We were shown again and again that in Thailand not everyone has to fear the consequences of one’s actions. Most have to, disproportionally quickly and severe for that. Many don’t have to.
As the government’s chief-instigator just reassured us: No worries, no need for an investigation, the GT200s work.
The whole world knows they don’t.
Why do they work in Thailand? From the PostBag:
Because in tests where the location of the bomb material is known in advance, our bodies can move involuntarily to make the detector seem to point at the target. This is called the ideomotor effect, and it has been observed in other scams including dowsing rods and Ouija boards.
A mystic approach to bomb detecting? It can only happen in?…
“If they don’t work, why did we buy so many,” government-friendly TAN asks not only rhetorically.
Welcome to Absurdistan.
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