Ken Dobson's Queer Ruminations from Thailand
Search this site
  • Life in Thailand
  • Queer Issues in Thailand
  • Queer Christian Issues
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Stories

Living Remotely

4/11/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Unlike many people I know, I have the advantage of geography to impress on me that I am living remotely from the massive issues that are impacting the world.  From my vantage point away from the throbbing and deafening frontiers where anxiety is fueled by virtual proximity, I sense I have an inconspicuous benefit.  I am constantly reminded that I am nowhere near centers of power and triggers of crisis.  What’s more, I am all but isolated from reality about such things as what Russia is doing to Ukraine, how COVID is eroding quality of life, where religious supremacists will attack next, and when the impending mass extinction event will actually catch our attention.  What I get is highly filtered news, and then even that is treated by me highly selectively.

Take today, for example.  A crew is working on the electrical power lines somewhere nearby, so we have stored a supply of water and will do without electronic access to the world.  But before the Internet went off I read in The Guardian that there is a divide between the older elite and the younger generation here in Thailand over Russia and Ukraine.  The older generation being interviewed insisted Thailand ought to be neutral because Russia has a long history of cordial relations with Thailand and Russian tourists have been the first to come back in large numbers now that our borders are open again.  The young activists interviewed were quoted in support of Ukraine as the victim and moral example of resistance to authoritarianism.  My reaction was, “What?”  The Guardian’s sample was far too small. Their article was one step away from nonsense.  Nobody around here is saying anything about Russia or Ukraine.  The price of eggs is at an all-time high, and COVID is spreading right into our neighborhood.  The Songkran (Thai New Year) 3-day holiday coming this week needs planning and again the water-throwing will be cut back – so the tourists will not be coming in large numbers after all.  These are matters that matter.  That’s how attention-filters work.  They are diverting attention not only from Europe and China, but even attention that might be paid to the slaughter of ethnic groups in Myanmar next door to Thailand.  “News” producers know better than to emphasize things about which viewers cannot feel an impact.

For me, way out here in the countryside, a lot of the headlines catch me by surprise, but since I know I’m only going to get headlines which are slanted to bait readers, I have sort of lost interest in keeping up.  I do pick a topic now and then to focus on.  It’s a hobby without expected ramifications or extended purpose.

Now, I do not think of this as a disadvantage, this remoteness.  I have noticed that some of my friends seem to have become fixed on alarming news in a way that absorbs them and sucks the joy out of living.  I fear they have not noticed how unnecessary it is to become angry over things over which they have no control.  Nor have they noticed that they have been deceived most of their lives into believing that they can make a difference.  Here’s what I mean.  In several countries elections are coming.  This, we are supposed to believe, is our citizens’ opportunity to influence the way things work in our nations and neighborhoods.  So we really, really should vote.  But the day after the election when “representatives” have been chosen, those “representatives” are no longer speaking to us or listening to us.  Notice how they work.  Pay attention to how much of what they do is what we want or need.  Representative government is no longer operating.  Influence comes from money and in some places from military might or social-cultural pressure (usually conservative, protective of a select group, and against change).
​
But I have the advantage of distance.  Young people in some places really might get something accomplished to bring about sensible gun laws that might reduce mass shootings in schools, and Greta and others might get some carbon emissions reduced.  I am just too far out of town, too old to set off on long marches for justice any more, and cut off from pulpits and classrooms.  I am redundant and that’s OK.  I know that something Biden, Putin, or Xi might do might impact our security and prosperity, but I know they will do it without me.  This gives me peace of mind I probably wouldn’t have if I could get more of the New York Times than headlines, and more news than the Thai Prime Minister’s predictions about opening up for tourists.

I do not regret living remotely. 
0 Comments

Crucifixion

4/9/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
The cross is not a defiant denunciation of death and death’s agents, but a complete immersion into the fullness of its agony.  Before the cross was empty God hung on it displaying the human condition and the consequences of human competition.  Naked on the cross, God is radically exposed as one who is completely and passionately in love with those who suffer, as well as those who inflict suffering and those who are desperate to elude suffering.  Victory is a paradox, after all.  Easter is done, as all death’s conquests are overturned, by one who embraces the grief and enfolds the pain along with victims as they suffer.
0 Comments

    Author

    Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson posts his weekly reflections on this blog. 

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2023 Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson