Retarding the nation

re: "Speech curbs hold back nation" (BP, editorial, July 5, 2020)

Dear editor,

All well said in the Bangkok Post's editorial "Speech curbs hold back nation" (July 5). Because it allows honest mistakes, errors of judgement, misunderstandings and outright falsehoods to flourish by protecting them from honest review, the suppression of free speech has grave real world consequences. But the corruption runs much deeper, touching not only the economy, but also society's moral heart.

When the law protects any privileged belief from critical investigation, it privileges dogma over honesty, myth over truth, and the fake over the real. This in turn puts Thailand's most revered institutions in a precarious legal position because the amazing Thailand claims sometimes made on their behalf are but rarely supported by the solid research necessary to substantiate any factual claim as well-founded, leaving many such claims necessarily suspect of being fake. Thus does it also disrespect the institutions it falsely pretends to protect as unjust law against free speech works to retard the nation socially, politically, morally and economically.

 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 July 7, 2020, under the title "Retarding the nation" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1947004/retarding-the-nation