Beware of human-rights preachers in ivory towers
Re: “On human rights, many letter writers are colour blind,” Letters, September 13.
I did slurp my cornflakes on reading Eric Bahrt’s latest claim that he doesn’t take sides in human-rights disputes. Eric might generalise blandly from time to time that he is against all injustice – even the awful Donald Trump does that – but the overwhelming preponderance of his historical correspondence on this subject has an indictment of Israeli imperialism and a heavy dislike of Thai military governments. I can’t find one example of a letter where Eric specifically criticised Yingluck Shinawatra, who, in all fairness, sat atop an administration not exactly lily-white.
One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter, while democracy can be saintly or merely mob rule according to your standpoint.
Eric, when I look in the mirror in the mornings I see a rather distinguished-looking man who has recently benefited from eye-bag surgery. But my family sees a wizened 75-year-old, well past his sell-by date.
The point is that self-perception from an ivory tower is a poor guide to how others see us in the real world.
Barry Kenyon
