Are you concerned about opebo's safety?

[Countess Anya of the North Parish]

No, it is not my place to be concerned about his safety.

Really Annie?

well it is not like we are fb friends. I am not saying i wish him ill. but it is not like I think about once I close this window. Generally once i log off of atlas i dont think about atlas.

Would you cry if opebo died, Annie?

No, it would be unfortunate but seeing animals die is my job. so I am use to it.

So opebo is an animal in your mind?

humans are animals. so technically yes.  

[RIP Robert H Bork]

opebo dying would be the single worst thing that could possibly happen to this forum.

Well we know you probably cry every time opebo logs off the forum.

^^^^

[Mr. Morden]

I look forward to phnkrocket's followup poll "do you talk to your parents about your concern over opebo's safety?"

Does your family know about opebo's safety?

[k-onmmunist]

opebo dying would be the single worst thing that could possibly happen to this forum.

Well we know you probably cry every time opebo logs off the forum.

^^^^

[Lief 🗽]

I merely light a candle when opebo leaves the forum, as well as dimming the lights in the room and fasting. But if our good friend BRTD needs to deal with opebo's temporary absences with tears, then we should respect that and give him our support.

[Joe Republic]

opebo dying would be the single worst thing that could possibly happen to this forum.

No, I think Dave dying would be the single worst thing that could possibly happen to this forum.

Of course, and no disrespect intended, but we wouldn't know about it until the whole place went offline permanently about a month or so later.

[Eraserhead]

I look forward to phnkrocket's followup poll "do you talk to your parents about your concern over opebo's safety?"

Does your family know about opebo's safety?

Do you think jsojourner's mom is concerned about opebo's safety?

[Gustaf]

I actually find it a bit amusing how the philosophical contradiction of pretending to be a left-winger supporting the poor toilers while simultaneously choosing to live in a poor authoritarian country with great inequality in order to exploit them suddenly came crashing down.

I think Opebo's side will win though, i.e. the military will probably gun down the workers and all will be safe again for Westerners buying women. 

[opebo]

I actually find it a bit amusing how the philosophical contradiction of pretending to be a left-winger supporting the poor toilers while simultaneously choosing to live in a poor authoritarian country with great inequality in order to exploit them suddenly came crashing down.

I think Opebo's side will win though, i.e. the military will probably gun down the workers and all will be safe again for Westerners buying women. 

Hypocrisy is not dishonest if one admits one is a hypocrit, Gustaf.  Anyway, though I've always expressed understanding of the desire to kill the rich, I've also been much more of a Fabian in practice.  And besides, you are somewhat misrepresenting the situation here -  The Reds here are much closer to fascists than socialists, and they don't really represent reform in the social democratic vein at all.  Much more like hero worship of a horrible dictator (Thaksin).

In any case, thank you all for your concern.  I do not think I am in danger at the moment.  I have confidence in the Ancien Régime.  The man is still there.  Russia did not fall in 1905 - it fell in 1917.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

No

YOU HEARTLESS BASTARD!

[Mr. Morden]

opebo dying would be the single worst thing that could possibly happen to this forum.

No, I think Dave dying would be the single worst thing that could possibly happen to this forum.

Of course, and no disrespect intended, but we wouldn't know about it until the whole place went offline permanently about a month or so later.

That's a good point.  David Leip needs to leave a provision in his will for the continuation of the Atlas in the event of his death, otherwise we're all doomed.  I think he should leave it to me.  I would be honored to own this place.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Of course I am.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I actually find it a bit amusing how the philosophical contradiction of pretending to be a left-winger supporting the poor toilers while simultaneously choosing to live in a poor authoritarian country with great inequality in order to exploit them suddenly came crashing down.

I think Opebo's side will win though, i.e. the military will probably gun down the workers and all will be safe again for Westerners buying women. 

Uh, Thaksin's regime and party had plenty of figures in it from old right wing military regimes responsible for gunning down workers. This is more of a nationalist/fascist movement.

[opebo]

Uh, Thaksin's regime and party had plenty of figures in it from old right wing military regimes responsible for gunning down workers. This is more of a nationalist/fascist movement.

Correct, BRTD, if anything the Thaksin side is more thuggish and violent than the Ancien Régime.

[Gustaf]

I actually find it a bit amusing how the philosophical contradiction of pretending to be a left-winger supporting the poor toilers while simultaneously choosing to live in a poor authoritarian country with great inequality in order to exploit them suddenly came crashing down.

I think Opebo's side will win though, i.e. the military will probably gun down the workers and all will be safe again for Westerners buying women. 

Uh, Thaksin's regime and party had plenty of figures in it from old right wing military regimes responsible for gunning down workers. This is more of a nationalist/fascist movement.

Oh, obviously Thaksin's lot isn't the best people in the world either. It's a bad country, after all. But on the one hand you have a popularly elected prime minister who has done a lot to help the poor and have their support and on the other you have the old elite surrounding the monarchy. While Thaksin does have support from some new-rich people as well and there are some other complications as well, there is no question that a consistent leftist who always supports the left in all conflicts regardless of other moral issues would support Thaksin.

[opebo]

Oh, obviously Thaksin's lot isn't the best people in the world either. It's a bad country, after all. But on the one hand you have a popularly elected prime minister who has done a lot to help the poor and have their support and on the other you have the old elite surrounding the monarchy. While Thaksin does have support from some new-rich people as well and there are some other complications as well, there is no question that a consistent leftist who always supports the left in all conflicts regardless of other moral issues would support Thaksin.

I'm not a consistent leftist, Gustaf.

Check out these posts of mine from an expats-in-Thailand site:

1.  Of course I prefer Abhisit and the Ancien Régime quite profoundly compared to the alternative. After all, it is the survival in this unusual country of a form of government from a better time which makes it such an appealing place in which to live. Most of us come from democracies - much ballyhooed, but in practice just places of a million little dictators instead of one remote, disinterested potentate. I'll take the latter, if I can get it. Its why I'm here. Or rather, it allows for why I am here - the little dictators wouldn't.

I fear, alas, that the dear old regime may not be durable under the tide of these modern fascists. Like all good things, it is old and passing away. We can only hope we might have a few more troubled years before returning to our sad lands - after all the Tsar fell in 1917, not in 1905, however much the writing was on the wall.

2.  ...there is something unique here, and perhaps an aspect of it might be described as an innocence of the commoners, but the real difference is the survival of an ancient form of government long since passed away in the west.
It is precisely that Ancien Régime which is worth saving, not a few individual serfs.

I'll relate an old Thai proverb as translated by a colleague of mine: 'The poor people spring up out of the ground like mushrooms'. The point being that they are a natural phenomenon, and harvest-time doesn't mean there will never be another stalk of rice.

Perhaps I am heartless, and perhaps I do bang, and, admittedly, as Wendell Philips said "Aristocracy is always cruel". But that doesn't change the fact that the precious artifact here is not the few simple pawns lost in the battle of Bangkok.

[Gustaf]

Oh, obviously Thaksin's lot isn't the best people in the world either. It's a bad country, after all. But on the one hand you have a popularly elected prime minister who has done a lot to help the poor and have their support and on the other you have the old elite surrounding the monarchy. While Thaksin does have support from some new-rich people as well and there are some other complications as well, there is no question that a consistent leftist who always supports the left in all conflicts regardless of other moral issues would support Thaksin.

I'm not a consistent leftist, Gustaf.

Check out these posts of mine from an expats-in-Thailand site:

1.  Of course I prefer Abhisit and the Ancien Régime quite profoundly compared to the alternative. After all, it is the survival in this unusual country of a form of government from a better time which makes it such an appealing place in which to live. Most of us come from democracies - much ballyhooed, but in practice just places of a million little dictators instead of one remote, disinterested potentate. I'll take the latter, if I can get it. Its why I'm here. Or rather, it allows for why I am here - the little dictators wouldn't.

I fear, alas, that the dear old regime may not be durable under the tide of these modern fascists. Like all good things, it is old and passing away. We can only hope we might have a few more troubled years before returning to our sad lands - after all the Tsar fell in 1917, not in 1905, however much the writing was on the wall.

2.  ...there is something unique here, and perhaps an aspect of it might be described as an innocence of the commoners, but the real difference is the survival of an ancient form of government long since passed away in the west.
It is precisely that Ancien Régime which is worth saving, not a few individual serfs.

I'll relate an old Thai proverb as translated by a colleague of mine: 'The poor people spring up out of the ground like mushrooms'. The point being that they are a natural phenomenon, and harvest-time doesn't mean there will never be another stalk of rice.

Perhaps I am heartless, and perhaps I do bang, and, admittedly, as Wendell Philips said "Aristocracy is always cruel". But that doesn't change the fact that the precious artifact here is not the few simple pawns lost in the battle of Bangkok.

I know, that was my point. Then perhaps you shouldn't act so high and mighty towards others for not sharing your left-winged views when you don't even believe in them yourself?

[opebo]

I know, that was my point. Then perhaps you shouldn't act so high and mighty towards others for not sharing your left-winged views when you don't even believe in them yourself?

I've pointed out that working class people should vote left-wing in an American or European political context.  I've also pointed out that the current system is a system of brutal exploitation.  But I haven't advocated that people run out and start a revolution (however much I have mention that this is a natural urge). 

[opebo]

OOh, happy news, boys.  I just read that the curfew has been lifted in the town of Pattaya (the number one sex town).  It is still on for the other parts of that province (Chonburi), but not that city.  It also continues for Bangkok and the other 23 provinces in the curfew zone, but I can tell you that it has been quite quiet the last day or two.

For example right now I am disobeying curfew, though not by sitting in my office all night - I'm at an internet shop (I call it 'gangster internet' as it used to be open all night even under the Thaksin regime, which mandated all such venues close early).  The place is fairly openly in business, and the cops even came by in their cop-truck and tooted their horn, but we just kept to it, and they went on. 

Just tomorrow night remains and then I think we'll be free of this annoyance.

[Eraserhead]

Glad to hear it, dude.

[Nym90]

Opebo's ideology is whatever is good for opebo....nothing more, nothing less.

That being said, I care about him as a fellow human being, and am glad to see that is he is all right.