Nothing New Under The Sun

They say that the more things change, the more they stay the same, and they are correct.  Only people who are shamefully unaware of history can assert that we are meeting only issues of first impression in our still fresh 21^st Century.

One of my favorite film directors is John Frankenheimer.  I say, “is,” although he is long dead.  In the familiar manner of art, he will live forever in people’s continuing appreciation of his artistic endeavors.  He had a long career, and he directed many masterpieces.   He directed a lot of workmanlike efforts too, in the service of Hollywood.  I love examples of both.  “Grand Prix” was one of the Hollywood pot-boilers, but it was elevated to the level of great art by his direction.  Somehow, someway, he convinced the money guys to allow him to experiment with split screens, multiple shots within the frame.  That was the Sixties, the days of the so-called Underground Movies, and I guess they figured, sure, see if people like it.  Well I can’t speak for people, but I liked it fine.  Grand Prix is one of my favorite movies. 

Another favorite of mine is one of Frankenheimer’s real masterpieces, “Seven Days in May,” (1964, with Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, and John Houseman in his first movie role, at the age of 62, if you don’t count a credit for appearing in 1938 in the suggestively titled movie, “Too Much Johnson.”)  Seven Days in May is so much in the flow of history that it not only takes its plot points from events from the Thirties and Forties, but also presages the politics of today.  I watched it again the other day.

In the movie, a presumably Democratic president is thought by right-wing opponents to be selling the country down the river and placing the entire American experiment in jeopardy by signing a disarmament treaty with the Russians.  A cabal of military officers, along with some presumably Republican members of congress and some right-wing media propagandists, plot a coup d'etat to depose the “weak sister” and replace him in the White House with a charismatic general.  There are many echoes of things that we are witnessing today. 

A radio agitator warms up a crowd by swooning over the “. . . red, white and blue of our glorious flag!”  Late in the movie, the general himself declares that “patriotism, loyalty and sentiment (are) the U. S. of A.!!!”  It all sounded a lot like the recent Republican debate.  Debate!  How grand a term for it!  Nothing was debated except maybe the fine points of the fascist future that they envision for America.  How much war is enough?  (Lots more of it, if we are to take them at their rabid word.)  How much domestic spying is too much?  (Don’t worry about it; trust us.)  What about the constitution?  (Judicial review is a myth and we’ll do whatever WE say is permitted.) 

It was illuminating to watch, re-watch, this movie in light of President Obama’s recent signing of a treaty with Iran, a treaty that our new right-wing crazies find very similarly disagreeable to the disarmament treaty in the film.  More echoes, like “you can’t trust them,” or “they’ll double cross us,” or “after the deaths of 100 million Americans it will be too late!”  Quotes that are point for point with the movie.  Would it be so surprising if a cabal similar to that in the movie were to attempt a coup of some kind today?  After all, it has happened before, and not just in films.

Take a minute and Google, “fdr military coup.”  That would be Franklin Roosevelt, and it happened in the late Thirties.  It’s all there, easy to find, real as the sunrise and serious as a heart attack.  Or snoop around in the history of the late Forties, the time of the Korean War.  Another Democratic president, Harry Truman, was criticized for being soft on communism.  Why, the fool didn’t want to use the atomic bomb on those slant eyed bastards!  Not like we haven’t done it before.  And it worked too!  It was General MacArthur doing the push-back during the Korean War.  Boy, there was a case worthy of further study by psychiatrists.  Does “egomaniac” begin to describe him?  Add “megalomaniac” and you’re getting closer.  Only when you get to “messianic complex” do you begin to approach the magnitude of MacArthur’s behavior problem.  Even making him the Emperor of Japan after the Second World War didn’t dampen his ambitions.  President, Schmesident!  I’m MacArthur!!!

Regarding Mr. Obama’s treaty with Iran, should anyone be worried?  Do they have any reason to be worried in the least?  The very question becomes irrelevant when you consider that reason has nothing to do with the fears and ambitions that lead to these kinds of coup conspiracies.  And the treaties themselves aren’t that important either.  Recall that conservative darling, second rate actor and faux-Republican imitation conservative Ronald Reagan himself signed a disarmament treat with the Soviets, and a major one too.  And what happened?  A big nothing, that’s what.  No one was killed, there was no sneak attack, America went on like nothing had happened.  That’s what’ll happen this time too.  The Iranians, ne Persians, have been around for a long time, three thousand years anyway, and they are among the least stupid people in the world, diplomatically and politically.  They can be trusted to be reasonable within the steady awareness of their best interests, which is all you can say for anybody in the diplomatic world.  They are certainly more trustworthy than the Soviets were, and even the Soviets were careful not to violate their own best interests.  Let the treaty stand; we’ll be fine.

The main difference between us and the Iranians is that they know where their best interests lie, and we don’t seem to have a clue about our best interests at all. 

It’s amazing, and very discouraging, that we can still have the same kinds of blockheaded disputes over political softballs that have been occurring in a very similar manner and form almost forever.  It is beyond discouraging that these disputes can still lead to dangerous political posturing and/or violence.  It is actively frightening that low-information voters are so swayed by the political posturing of a bunch of self-centered dilatants, politicians of convenience who so obviously have only their own selfish interests at heart.  Shouldn’t we grow up?  Or at least try to grow up?  From the evidence of that debate the other day, it doesn’t look like many of us are even trying.  

Misunderstood Thailand

Americans are not famous for their clear understanding of foreign countries.  Their knowledge of other places is generally restricted to travel poster images and anecdotal information.  France becomes the Eiffel Tower and snooty waiters.  Germany becomes castles and Oktoberfest.  Italy becomes ruins and pickpockets.  Some enlightened Americans recall that there are famous museums in these places, but most do not care.  Asian countries are even less well understood. 

I wish that I could claim to be much better informed, but that would not be true.  I have wider interests than most people, and I am more experienced of books, newspapers and films than the average person, but I have never had what could be called an compelling academic interest in anything at all. 

Before coming to Thailand with the Peace Corps, at the age of fifty-five, my knowledge of Thailand was very thin.  I knew that there had been a financial disruption in 1997, but I didn’t know the details.  Was Thailand one of the “Asian Tigers” back then?  One of the decade’s new economic successes?  I’d have to look that up.  Mostly, I knew that Thai food was delicious, and from meeting the owners and the wait staff of many Thai restaurants I had the impression that Thai people were very friendly. 

The travel poster/anecdote version of Thailand is one of beautiful beaches and prostitutes.  These things exist, but they are a very small, insignificant and misleading part of the real picture. 

In reality, Thai women are, overwhelmingly, a very modest bunch, and usually quite religious.  There are some very nice beaches, but finding one that is not overrun with rude foreigners is becoming difficult. 

The Real Thailand

Thailand is a big place, fully as large and as populous as France.  The real charm of Thailand is found far off the beaten tourist path. 

The food is uniformly excellent, everywhere in Thailand.  You might guess that.  What comes as a surprise to many visitors is that you can confidently eat the food without worrying about ruining your stomach and your vacation.  Thai people are very proud, they don’t want you to get sick on food that they sold to you.  They’re careful about what they cook.  (Just don’t eat fish on the beach when the vendor has been walking around with the tray for two hours already.  I mean, use your head.) 

And Thai people more than live up to their reputation for charm and hospitality.  No surprise there either.  There are many other wonderful things about Thailand and Thai people that are less well known. 

Education in Thailand

My university is the Ramkhamhaeng University, and it’s a big one.  We have 850,000 students, attending classes at the main campus in Bangkok, a subsidiary campus nearby, and forty-four remote campuses out in the provinces.  The students get a very good education, and they have to work very hard for it, but getting in, and paying for it, are easy.  Ramkhamhaeng is the biggest “open” university, there are no particular entrance requirements and no entrance test.  Tuition is so low that it’s almost invisible without instruments.  These are wonderful things that we no longer have in America.

High school students in Thailand have choices that are not available to most American students.  High school here is from grade seven through twelve, and it is divided into two parts.  Grades seven, eight and nine are mandatory, and free, it’s all free up to that point.  Students can then choose to attend grades ten, eleven and twelve for a nominal fee, or go to a technical college for four years in lieu of the rest of high school, also at a nominal fee.  The technical colleges provide high quality vocational training in many fields. 

Adult literacy is somewhere around 98%.  The Thai education system is not perfect, but it is accessible, universal and affordable.

Public Welfare

 I was born in the 1940’s, and many of my Thai friends who were also born at that time lived in homes with no electricity and perhaps no hook up to a municipal water supply.  That has all changed. 

By a concerted national effort, virtually every home in Thailand now has both conveniences.  I have visited with families that live way outside of town in the rice fields, in homes that have no windows or doors, but those homes have a hook up to clean water, and they all have electricity.  The rates are heavily subsidized for families of limited means.  

More recently the government has instituted a couple of programs to improve the dental health of students from families too poor to provide it themselves.   Ten years ago I began teaching at a small school in a very small, poor town.  Many of the children in the fourth, fifth and sixth grade had terrible teeth, mostly missing, some black.  It was around then that a program was launched to arrange for dentists to visit all children in this situation at school on a regular basis.  Another program delivered milk for all of the students as school was letting out.  Within six years virtually all of the sixth grade students at this school displayed very good teeth. 

Health care is not universal, but there is a program to make it much more affordable. 

Thailand makes a considerable effort to take care of its own, within its budgetary and economic constraints. 

The Economy

Thailand literally means, “the land of the free.”  There is near total economic freedom, vastly more than we experience in the United States.  For example, some of my teacher friends up north made extra money by cooking after school.  They would prepare a big pot of something popular, decant it into plastic bags closed with rubber bands, and simply display the bags on a table outside the house.  Usually a teenage child would man the table.  People would stop on motorcycles on their way home after work and buy the food.  No licenses, no official interference and no taxes.  This is what total freedom looks like.  (It is possible . . . but that’s another story.) 

Similarly, anywhere you go in Thailand there are ways to get around.  Usually there is an organized system of vans, tuk-tuks, pickup trucks, or motorcycle taxis, but not always.  In some places it may just be guys with cars who serve as taxis for flat rates.  Almost anyone that you may ask, “how can I get there?” will be able to help you, even if he has to call a friend. 

The unemployment rate in Thailand is something like 0.9%.  Thais work too hard, and for too little money, but they’re all working. 

Thai Politics

Thai politics can seem mysterious to outsiders, and it can often seem chaotic.  But there is a mystery and a majesty to it, a certain political genius that I believe arises from what I call the “Spirit of the Rice Field.” 

Thai culture is based on concepts like group wellbeing and group happiness.  This can be very useful when it comes to avoiding problems, or minimizing them, or massaging them away without too much trouble.  Witness the success of Thai kings like Rama IV, and the great Rama V, King Chulalongkorn, who is justifiably revered as the Father of Modern Thailand.  Those men kept Thailand free and independent while every other country in South East Asia was colonized by Europeans.

Consider the Thai experience of World War II.  There was no alternative but to cooperate with the Japanese, but the Thai government had no enthusiasm for a war against America and England.  They were coerced into declaring war against the Allies, but they immediately contacted American intelligence sources and offered to help.  Many of the bombing raids launched by America against Japan were assisted by targeting information provided by Thai consular officials in Tokyo and elsewhere. 

Proof of this can be found in the fact that after the war, America insisted that there be no penalties imposed on Thailand for having declared war on the Allies.  That was a smooth move right there.

So now, if Thai politics goes in directions that I do not fully understand, I tend to trust them to be working some of this old Thai magic.  Like the recent coup.  Like previous coups, and there have been many, the Thai army will almost certainly protect the economy like a loving mother hen and take steps to bring the country closer to being a working democracy, and as soon as possible too. 

Thailand is not a perfect place, but almost nowhere is.  Maybe absolutely nowhere is perfect, but I’m not the expert.  Maybe Denmark.  Someone else could write 1,500 different words about what a terrible place Thailand is.  I have obviously chosen the positive side of that debate. 

Thailand is, on balance, a wonderful country, full of beautiful scenery and wildlife, with the best food in the world, and friendly, talented people who tolerate foreigners very well.  It all works out okay for me, because it now appears that, with their continued indulgence, I’ll be here for the duration.