Keeping mouths shut

re: "'The Great Dictator' blocked on 'democracy day'" (BP, June 24)

Dear editor,
Thai historian Thongchai Winitchakul is correct when he says that "The revolution of 1932 is not yet finished" (quoted in Bangkok Post, "'The Great Dictator' blocked on 'democracy day'", June 24). An obvious reason for this is the antipathy some feel towards the values that found democracy, which antipathy leads them to repeatedly make up excuses, however lame and false, to tramp democratic evolution into the dirt. Also worth remembering, as the quotation from Sulak Sivaraksa reminds us, is that those making up their wrong excuses for opposing the Thai nation's democratic growth "truly believe they are good people."

But the excuses given cannot justify a coup. Sincere belief cannot make that belief true. The Earth did not move to the centre of the universe because popes and bishops sincerely believed it to be there in accord with Biblical teaching. Nor does a coup become necessary or morally right because those committing it truly believe themselves to be doing something morally right or necessary. It remains wrong and an assault against good morals. These basics from elementary critical thinking explain the desperate need to censor, to suppress free and open discussion, which has characterized Thai society and politics for decades, but even more intensely since May 2014.

There is only ever one primary reason for censorship. Censorship is always, without exception, imposed to enforce ignorance, to prevent a sound knowledge and informed understanding of the topic being censored. This is why the devout Christian popes and bishops made it heresy to question the traditional Geo-centric universe. This is why China makes it a criminal offence for Chinese citizens to learn about Tian An Men. This is why North Korea makes it illegal for citizens to access foreign sources. The intent is to protect false myths, perhaps sincerely believed by the censors (perhaps!) from the revealing light that would expose their nakedness, their falsity, their downright silliness.

The truly bizarre result of the censorship imposed on the captive Thai audience is that foreigners can and often do better know and understand Thai affairs than is legally possible for domestic Thais who must rely on the local media, whose stunning silence last week amply proved yet again that Thais are not permitted to know about, let alone understand or discuss, matters of national importance. The only Thais who can reasonably claim to have a sound understanding of their nation, its society, its history and its government are those who have sought out and considered the views of academics and others held in disdain by the censors, if not actually forced into unjust exile or imprisoned, whether to rebut or concur with those criminalized opinions that are censored to protect the subject domestic citizenry from opinions of solid worth on Thai affairs.

Among other reasons, it is because it values truth, truth seeking and honesty that democracy values free speech. Censorship is beloved of those with contrary values.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on June 26, 2017, under the title "Keeping mouths shut" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1275615/keeping-mouths-shut