Bangkok

I've been keeping up with the Red Shirt protesters situation in Bangkok for a while. It is sad to say this, but putting it into context of many south east Asian countries (Central and South American ones too), this just seems so normal. This kind of shit always fucking happens: military coups, political unrest, corruption, blahblahblah. Not once did I have any hope for the protesters. I mean I wanted for everything to work out for them. And it was uplifting to hear about what they were trying to do. They were just trying to bring to light the shadiness and bullshit of the government. That's what everyone should be doing! But then all these things started happening, like watching a jenga tower fall in slow motion. It started out peacefully and now 80+ people are dead. I don't know, man. They just don't give a fuck. Maybe I'm still too naive, but it makes me so angry when these things happen the EXACT SAME way that a protest was fricking 50 years ago! Like I learn about the student protesters who died at Kent State in Ohio in the early 70's or revolutionaries in Nicaragua getting slaughtered by U.S. sponsored death squads in the 80's and you like to think that some progress was made. But then this shit happens and it's all the same. And it'll always be like that. If it's not happening here, it's happening somewhere else. IF anything, this only cements my opinion that . . . whatever, it is a negative opinion. I haven't done any ranting for a while. 'Scuse me.

I've started to use Youtube as more of a news source, mainly focusing on the homemade videos rather than the ones with accompanying commentary. I don't need them to tell me what to think!

I usually get my fill of news pictures from the Boston Globe's Big Picture.

Unrest in Thailand - April 9, The first series of the protests. No one has died yet.

Protests Turn Deadly in Thailand - May 17, Thai army fed up with protesters and set up live-fire zones even though they were already using live ammo, not rubber bullets, beforehand.

Crackdown in Bangkok - May 19, Thai Arny decides to break down the barricades and enter the Red Shirts camp. They're using live ammo against slingshots.