Debt by far the greatest concern
Re: "Patriotism is in the eye of the beholder", Letters, July 28.
Responding to a letter from JC Wilcox, Robin Grant wrote that “patriotism isn’t a matter of facts, or what you claim to be facts, but of widely disparate opinions”. Who cares one way or the other?
If we could survey Thai public opinion about the level of concern over 1) freedom of speech or lack of it, 2) patriotism or lack of it, or 3) household debt, it’s easy to guess which one would rank highest.
When people become desperate about debt, then “freedom of speech” and “patriotism” take on new dimensions.
Look at Greece, where people have twisted “freedom of speech” and “patriotism” around 180 degrees to justify a total disconnect with reality.
Unwieldy debt leads to domestic abuse, alcoholism, murder and suicide among the working class.
Messrs Grant and Wilcox, respectfully, are talking about essential ideas in the rational sense, but debt makes people irrational, and that is why debt must be addressed first – to provide rationality.
Guy Baker
