Loud music is one of the unpoliced problems of modern Thailand

The ear and brain damaging boom to which Chris Kay refers is not peculiar to Thailand. The same brain dead, mindless ‘entertainment’ occurs in the UK too.

However, the only difference is, in the UK, it is stamped on, outlawed. A call to a hotline, which is open 24/7, results in a visit by officials to the perpetrators and the offensive nonsense ceases very quickly.

We suffer here in Thailand with the same brain destroying madness. Inside a vehicle or inside a house with doors and windows closed, the booming attacks one’s brain even when it is sourced hundreds of metres away. I would suggest that only a drugged, intoxicated mind could tolerate it only centimetres away, enclosed in a vehicle or building.

So many foreigners celebrate the lack of regulations in Thailand, and the unpoliced freedom from regulations, but they forget they are not ‘free’ from crass, unrestricted human behaviour. Regulations are only necessary because of anti-social behaviour. The greater the human stupidity, the greater the need for regulations. In Thailand even were there are regulations, they would not be enforced.

The paradox is that freedom of expression must be restricted.

JC Wilcox