photo from www.nationmultimedia.com May 19, 2010
Did you see the picture of the baby on top of the barricade?
Indeed, a Thai newspaper printed the picture that took up half its front page. There is a baby (eyes blanked out) sitting on top of the tires forming the Red Shirt barricades. In the background is "no man's land" the strip of asphalt that separates the protesters from the soldiers. Was it a taunt to the snipers or a dare to the armed soldiers? Sensible people are appalled. It's further proof, they say, that the Red Shirts are ignorant and easily manipulated. I think back to six weeks ago when the Red Shirts held their mobile rally. It was peaceful. What has changed to make death a thing to challenge?
Death is also on show. Do you want to see something? One of the Thai teachers whipped out her cell phone to show me a bird's eye view photograph of four bodies in the street. Somebody sent it to her, she explained. Three of the bodies show no signs of violence but the fourth body, a woman, her blood stains the street in a long dark red ribbon. No one can lose so much blood and still be alive. I turn my head away but I can't forget the image. This isn't mere sensationalism; the Thai press routinely offers graphic pictures for mass consumption. Viewing carnage is normal to the Thai. When is it too much?
To end the protests, the government should shoot all the protesters, this teacher said flatly, a quiet anger in her voice. Her visceral reaction shocked me. But her feeling isn't unique to the Thai; she actually paraphrased my father. He once declared to a group of Americans that anyone caught committing a crime with a gun should be put to death. Like me, the Americans didn't understand the context of a speech act and looked away, embarrassed. They didn't know the reason my father spoke like that was his anger at the powerlessness of the Jamaican police to put a stop to the country's murderous crime rampage. That was back in the 1970s and nothing much has changed since. Last year an average of five people were murdered every day in Jamaica.
What will stop the Thai from killing the Thai?
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