open letter no 2

Chicago 2 why Chicago

Chicago 2 ทำไม ผมต้องดัดจริต ฟังวิทยุชิคาโก ด้วย? ๑.    ผมติดนิสัยชอบฟังวิทยุตปท. จากแดนไกลเป็นนิสัยมาแต่มัธยม เพื่อฝึกภาษา ประกอบกับมีผู...

วันจันทร์ที่ 21 ธันวาคม พ.ศ. 2558

ภาษาไทย ไม่สันทัด ปะกิตก็วิบัติ ปาน ๆ กัน ของรศ.สมศักดิ์ เจียมธีรสกุล



“วัดช้างเบื้องบาทรู้  จักสาร”

Link to the BBC video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57WDIGl6J5A



   

วัดช้างเบื้องบาทรู้    จักสาร                             
วัดอุทกชักกมุทมาลย์         แม่นรู้
ดู ครู สดับโวหาร                สอนศิษย์
ดู ตระกูลเผ่าผู้                   เพื่อด้วยเจรจาฯ


Old saying: To measure an elephant, look at its feet. To fathom the water, pull up a lotus stalk. To judge a professor, listen to how he teaches. To recognize his family of origin, observe how he talks.


At video time 50:41, Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul said, “ I suggest that the LOYAL(ลอ ยัล) family is biased against the LED (เลด เชิร์ต) shirt.”

At video time 51:20, he said, “This is one of the LEESON (ลี ซัน)  that this law is so obsolete and should be abolished.”

We do not need to feign ignorance trying to argue that pronouncing royal family as LOYAL family, red shirt as LED shirt, and reason as LEESON is a case of freedom of speech, or more appropriately, a case of liberty of expression. And that such pronunciation represents a particular way of self expression of certain individuals, and the rest of the world must bear with it; toleration of difference is the moral here.

Following the same line of reasoning, Paris can then become PALIS, French fries becomes FLENCH FLIES, and Freedom fries can be FLEEDOM FLIES. But the the liberty of expression, in this case, technically works one-way, for example, Statue of Liberty will remain Statue of Liberty, it cannot be changed to Statue of Riberty

In reality, in France, to purport such an argument Mr.Deputy-Prefessor Somsak Jiamthirasakul will have to fight a losing battle with the French authority, l’Academie française, the old guard of the French language.

An attempt at such argument never crossed my mind, for it is well over my paygrade. However, in a small way, I would like to make a helpful suggestion to Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul, who was granted political asylum status and now lives in France, that even in France he can ameliorate his English. 

The French can effectively teach him the language of Shakespeare. There are good English language schools all over France. Eventually, Mr.Deputy-Professor would be able to tame his tongue so that his usual pronunciation of “My tailor is LICH” will correctly change to “My tailor is rich”.


At video time 51:04 Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul complained that, “Even this quite simple question I’m now in a difficult position to give a straight forward answer.”

That is awesome, sir, but :

          First, I am afraid I disagree. I don’t think the question of the BBC’s journalist is “quite” simple. Doesn’t Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul, here, undermine and underestimate the fundamental of contemporary journalism of the BBC – asking(framing) good questions in an interview?

          Second, I understand that Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak J. always has an easy answer to all hard and well-framed questions, and this one is an excellent evident.

          Third, I wonder whether Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak J. is not being somewhat pretentious, snobbish, insincere, and cleverly calculating. Hadn’t he  rather take the opportunity filling up the political asylum application form on air than making an effort to answer the “quite simple” question of the BBC journalist?

But, whatever, now that you, Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak J., lives in France, enjoying full liberty of expression and freedom of speech to give any straight forward answers about Thai politics and her political régime, you should take this opportunity to the fullest and say what you have to say. It has now been about a year of silence since you arrived in France with political asylum ticket. Your followers, friends and foes, in Thailand and around the world, on Facebook and on the internet, are eagerly waiting to hear from you. Sir, please don’t let us down.

J’accuse la BBC. At video time 51:02, the transcript in Thai on screen of the BBC video says, “ใช่ครับ แม้ว่า...แม้ว่า...แม้ว่ามันจะเป็นเพียงคำถามธรรมดา  ผม..ผมในเวลานี้ก็อยู่ใน สถานะภาพ ที่ยากต่อการให้คำตอบแบบตรงไปตรงมา” , -- bold type by the critic.

BBC’s translators of this video used pen names ดอกจำปา and ไกลปืนเที่ยง. The British global media should have used British taxpayers’ money more wisely and hired a better person for the job, myself for example (sans blaque). 

This banal faute d’orthographe – misspelt สถานะภาพ that the correct spelling is “สถานภาพ” without the vowel sign “อะ” is self-evident. Et pourtant, and in fact the BBC has broadcast in Thai for about half a century, notwithstanding the number of Britishers living in Thailand in the ten of thousands, many are reliable informants.    


      อย่าโทษไทท้าวท่วย    เทวา
อย่าโทษสถานภูผา                  ย่านกว้าง
อย่าโทษหมู่วงศา                    มิตรญาติ
      โทษแต่กรรมเองสร้าง              ส่งให้เป็นเองฯ



Old saying: “Don’t blame the gods. Don’t blame the mountains or the valleys. Don’t blame family and friends. Blame your own karma that you have performed by yourself.” 

What I intend to mean by this quote is that if one’s mouth shuts, it could be because one does not have anything worthy to say. Tu n’as rien à dire. One is empty-headed, or one is a garbage dump full of grosse merde, please excuse my French. One deceived the world that one’s mouth “is shut” while actually “it shuts itself”.

OMG, what straight forward rubbish has come out of my mouth! And how I adore liberty of expression and freedom of speech! Though they could sometimes smell perversely and convulsively rotten to the core like sewage of Bombay, but I like it still. Je suis malade.

At video time 50:31, BBC journalist said, “And for critics of the status quo, it’s not just a question of choosing your words carefully, it’s wondering whether you should open your mouth at all.” Now with political asylum status quo in France, as for Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul the BBC journalist’s purported argument had explicitly been cancelled.


Dan Baile(ปรีชา ทิวะหุต)
Lang Suan district,
Chumphon province,
December 23, 2015



Other posts (links) about Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak Jiamthirasakul,

Critique of Mr.Deputy-Professor Somsak J.’s debate

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