Then And Now: Center One Mall, Victory Monument

The area after the protests of last May

We in the country I live in celebrate civil disobedience, as long as the thinking behind it agrees with our own and it doesn't inconvenience us personally. If those sound like foolish parameters to you it's because you're entirely correct.

Before the protests and problems in May of last year the view looking away from the Victory Monument BTS station looked as it did in the photo below:


Then came the stretch of protests, occupations, bombings, random acts of burning and shootings - and the entire area was trashed. The panorama up top was taken 7 months ago, so perhaps there's been more progress there, but I don't know.  You can see that the entire green complex is gone, and although the building's still there the Center One mall remains covered over with tarps.  The damage done near the Sala Daeng station (which you saw much more of in the news) was far more extensive than this.

These photos came to mind as I was talking with a friend about the violence that's happened recently in London, and the bombing throughout Iraq yesterday and today. Many of us do our share of protesting, but I've never been able to go along with the thinking that fuels such chaos and destruction as these three examples.

There's no message here today; just the frustration most of the rational on this planet feel when faced with such senseless acts. Performance artist Laurie Anderson noted once "You know... I think I'd rather see this on TV. Tones it down a bit" and I'm sure with her on that one, but in my heart and mind I still know it's real, and it's not only a shame, it's a senseless waste of life and property.