Transcript of the above video: 

So the title of this video might not be overly clear what we're talking about here but there's a poem from a German Lutheran pastor during the lead up to the Second World War and all of the terrible circumstances that sort of led up to the Holocaust and everything, quoting directly and I found this on Wikipedia:

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- 

Because I was not a socialist. 

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- 

Because I was not a trade unionist.     

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me."

People have asked me many times like why you do make these videos against the World Economic Forum, or why do you talk about this stuff? It all started in COVID. Really if you go back and look at the history of this channel, there is sort of pre-COVID, and post-Covid. Pre-COVID, this channel was just purely me talking my book in terms of, a promotional channel regarding the law firm. Then in COVID, it came to a head where it was just like there was so much, it was like no one seemed willing particularly to speak, especially here in Southeast Asia it seemed like, and I just felt like, "hey somebody has to say something about this clear totalitarianism that we are having to deal with." It was what it was, and since that time, when I see something that is just way over the top, it looks like - my constant refrain is the World Economic Forum, but they are an easy "target" if you will because that is what they are talking about. I mean they are talking about "you will own nothing and be happy." I saw some clip just recently, it was I think the Dutch princess, the Princess of the Netherlands talking about getting people into IDs and biometric IDs and all of this stuff; and she was talking at the World Economic Forum, it is not apropos of nothing. I don't like all of this push to try to bag us all and tag us all and then track and trace all of our transactions, have no privacy. I've been thinking a lot lately about the notion of Glasnost which was in the waning days of the Soviet empire the notion of Glasnost was sort of propounded at the same time as Perestroika. Everyone remembers Perestroika because it was the economic side and by introducing “market forces”, it basically undermined the whole system and it all collapsed. That said, it was already under tremendous strain. I think people misinterpret; they view correlation as causation in that situation. Yeah, Perestroika had a hand in it; the system was already imploding of its own weight. It wasn't able to maintain itself. Perestroika was just one of many factors that caused it to fall apart if you read about it. There is a great book called the Oligarchs that talks about the end of the Soviet system and the beginning of the Russian system or as it began in the ‘90s going into the early 2000s. It's worth a read. I come back to it constantly because there are many parallels in my mind right now in many different contexts including the US, and it's interesting stuff. 

In any event, I come back to Glasnost. Glasnost was; people misunderstand it. It has been touted as they said, - oh it's “transparency" - they wanted transparency for sort of the bureaucracy but it's not really what the word meant. It meant publicity and what I would argue it is today is more akin to social media and the dark side of social media if you will. The nanny-state side of social media; the Twitter lynch mob side of social media; the notion that social media can be harnessed against the individual, that it can be used to single that person out and sort of do things like "cancel" them, things of that nature, or it can be used to track and trace them through biometric IDs and things of this nature. These are the things that cause me great concern and here in Thailand, one of the reasons for the thumbnail is it a piece from Sam Adams, excuse me, not Sam Adams, John Adams, the series, which is based on a book and there is a scene where Paul Giamatti who plays John Adams is talking to Benjamin Franklin - I can't remember the actor's name, he is a great actor, he is in tons of movies, a great character actor - but a great actor and he said something to him, he says "if they come for our English liberties" and it's that, and you have to understand the context. This is before the Revolution; this is before the promulgation of the Declaration of Independence, before The Constitution, before the Bill of Rights, there was just a notion of inherent liberty, inherent liberties to, in that case the English, that was how they viewed it. That was what I found so compelling about Thailand. The Thais have their own notion of just inherent liberties that they just have as Thai, and I view these inherent liberties as being under direct threat from this World Economic Forum stuff and this global totalitarian nonsense and that is the reason I make these videos; that's my sort of raison d'être if you will for doing this. 

And I thought recently of making another video in that vein after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: BMA begins bid to upgrade all public motorbike stands. I love how this stuff is sort of framed - upgrade, we’re getting an upgrade, yay, happy times. Quoting directly: "The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has launched a comprehensive initiative to upgrade all 5,365 registered public motorcycles taxi stands across the city. The project, set to run from August to December, aims to improve safety, enhance service standards, and increase public trust in motorcycle taxi services." Well, where was the lack of public trust in motorcycle taxi services? Everybody knows who those guys are. We know what they do; we know their function. We don't just trust them, they are motorbike guys. Meanwhile "improve safety". Motorbikes are what they are. What magical thing are we going to do to improve safety? "Enhance service standards". What does that even mean? Quoting further: "BMA spokesperson Aekvarunyoo Amrapala said the inspections will be guided by the "Model Stand" criteria..." - who set the criteria? I would love to know; where was this promulgated? Where did this come from? Where did this idea emanate? Is it from places like the World Economic Forum and such? Did it come from some internal discussion within the BMA? Where did it come from? Criteria apropos of what? And who gets to set these standards? What is the standard for a good "Motorbike Taxi stand"? An optimal motorbike taxi stand. Again it's framed as if there is a standard without ever explaining what it is. Quoting further: "...as directed by Bangkok Governor, Chadchart Sittipunt." Oh, you mean the guy that wanted to put lo-jacks on all the vendors here in Thailand, and Bangkok specifically? All the street food people and put them into a system that would track and trace all of their financial transactions at the street level so that they can presumably tax them and whatnot? This is where this is coming from? Quoting further: "Each District Office has been instructed to assess at least 20% of stands in its area every month over a 5-month period." You know, I keep thinking of that scene in Scarface where Al Pacino's character - Scarface if you will - talks about living in Communist Cuba and he says, "do you really want to live in Communist Cuba? A chivano on every corner? I think is the term he used. And what he was saying was there was like an informer on every corner telling on everybody. Is this what we want? A bunch of inspectors? Did motorbike taxis ask for any of this? Did anybody go to them and gain their insight into whether or not they wanted this? To be inspected and whatnot? Over the course of the next few months? Quoting further: "... with the goal of completing inspections at all stands by year-end." Quoting further: "District offices will collect.." - yeah this is just, "District Offices will collect and compile data on driver misconduct using multiple sources." So one, how are you going to do that? You're going to go to the stands themselves and ask them to inform on themselves. What does that mean? And again, it's this nanny state nonsense that "we are going to go around and inspect you." Like I said, I just keep thinking of that from Scarface, a chivano on every corner. And having some informer go around and everybody is telling on the local motorbike stand now? Is that the society we really want to live in? A bunch of informers telling on their; look, these guys do a pretty dangerous job, all things considered.

Of the blue-collar working-class jobs in Bangkok, it actually is at the higher end of the income spectrum which as we will get to, I have to wonder if that might actually be the real motive here. To figure out how much money these guys are making and then try to get a bigger piece of it. Again, these guys are working hard. They are on the street having to make their money every day in the hot sun, driving around in really difficult conditions. Do they need a bunch of inspectors crawling all over them? Over what? Over some criteria set by who? Quoting further or quoting again actually. I am going to reiterate this: "District Offices will collect and compile data on driver misconduct using multiple sources, including AI cameras, public complaints, and official inspections." So now they are going to put up cameras to monitor everybody and then they are going to have little informants running around as nanny-minders tattling on them all, and then official inspections. So they are going to be inundated with people crawling all over them, asking what they are doing, blah, blah, blah. I can't think have a more totalitarian framework here, and again, apropos of what? Based on some "model stand" criteria? Just some slogan, which, what is a model stand? How do you come up with that? What was it? Didn't Lennon say that? “We shall win by slogans. Win by slogans alone”. You know I mean what is a model stand? How does doing this help gain that? How about you just leave these guys alone and let them do their job, which is a job that seemingly you don't want to do, but yet you want to go bother them all the time. Bureaucrats don't seem to want to do their job, but they want to go around and inspect them and tell them how to do their job. What is that? Quoting further: "This information will be used to monitor performance and guide enforcement." Enforcement of what? We have the police; we have traffic police. If there is a problem with motorbike taxi drivers, the traffic police will handle that. I do understand the BMA has a function; the Tessakit has a function with regard to if their stands are lopping over into the streets, causing a problem or something, sure. But I mean exactly what is being enforced here? Is it the traffic laws? Well what is being added by doing all of this stuff for the traffic laws? All it sounds to me like is you are hassling a bunch of people who are just trying to make their living. Quoting further: "Citizens are encouraged to report violations such as riding on pedestrian pavements, failing to display yellow license plates, improper uniforms, or suspected drunk driving, through the Traffy Fondue application, an online platform for submitting complaints and tips." “And tips”! I always like tips. You know what I really love in the comment sections of my videos are "tips" from everybody. I don't mind information where people are trying to add to the dialogue, but where it is "you could do this better." Yeah, thank you.

That said, I do get that some of this stuff is genuinely an issue but BMA's function, where is that at in this? Traffic police should be handling this stuff. Again, riding on sidewalks, pedestrian payments. I do understand that there is an issue and there could be issues but Thailand, the thing I have always, going back to sort of the English liberties - or Thai liberties in this context - Thailand gets on with it. Bangkok, it works the way it works. Folks come here for the first time especially as foreigners and they're fascinated that yeah, “a guy hopped up on the sidewalk real quick to get around to traffic knot and then boom, off he goes”; it does happen. I'm not saying it is in line with the law necessarily, but we get on with it. It just is what it is. If there's a real problem, presumably the traffic police are going to be able to handle that. I don't see where we need AI cameras, and inspections and monitors and nanny-minders to assist with that. These guys know how to do their job. What are you doing? Coming out and telling them how to do their job? If you want to tell them how to do their job, why don't you do their job? Meanwhile, again having this app that's just going to be for like informers or something, I do get on a level that it may provide some use, but if a guy hopped up on the sidewalk real quick just to get by and moved along, what is putting in a complaint really going to do in that situation, because it has already happened, and there is nothing you can do about it. 

Again, I make videos like this from time to time because I think there is a concerted foreign effort of undue influence being brought to bear in Thailand, to change the fundamental nature of this country and to quite frankly attack the fundamental liberties inherent to being Thai.