No need to copy an inferior culture
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Re: "Democratic ideals don't need to written", Letters, July 11.
Vint Chavala asked: “Why don't we copy the United Kingdom?” It is a curious question, since Vint seems to be an intelligent, informed individual and yet not aware of one basic fact: no country can successfully copy another country. So perhaps Vint is pulling our collective leg and baiting us with a non sequitur.
It is common for Americans who first travel outside the US to ask that same type of question, naively thinking that all others have to do is to simply copy the US and thereby solve all their problems.
After a few years of observation, however, it becomes obvious that countries like Thailand have developed cultures of the unwritten types alluded to by Vint, which are light-years ahead of those of the US, UK and other countries that are supposedly “advanced”.
Long-time foreigners in Thailand are constantly trying to get Thais to see the true superiority of Thailand and Thai culture because we have been around the block a few times and can speak from experience. So I would ask, why not let the UK (or US) copy Thailand? Please believe me, the great Thai culture is far ahead of the rest of the world.
Foreigners like me choose Thailand over all the other places that we could easily reside because of magnificent Thais who, ironically, think so little of themselves sometimes. Humility, like all else, has its limitations.
Guy Baker
Bangkok
