[Tlc] T-response to Patrick Jory

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Please call me Justin. Great response and clarification.

This is exactly the type of intellectual and informed engagement we need on the TLC list.

We are in a strange position. We are a group that has members (again mostly in the Arts and Humanities) in Cambodian, Lao, and Thai Studies (as well as Hmong, Mon, Tai Leu, Khmu, Shan, and related studies). Most of our members neither have the expertise nor the time to participate in detailed debate that one finds on New Mandala, Fa Dio Kan, Prachatai and Bangkok Pundit. We also have no regular staff and no day-to-day working budget (we did receive 1,000 from the SEAC/AAS to establish our website tlc.ucr.edu and annual donations of about 300 dollars for our Ingrid Muan Memorial Traveling Fund).

While many of us would like to learn more about Thai political events, we might use our time participating in discussions on Lao or Cambodian politics or issues in the Fine Arts or Development Studies. However, many members, as I stated, like to remain informed about what is going on in Thai politics simply as people interested in world events or Southeast Asian Studies more broadly. Therefore, your informed comments are exactly what we need. Thank you for pointing out these resources. I occasionally report news that is found on New Mandala (remember most of our members are not readers of Thai, so I try to not burden them with dozens of Thai news stories) or share news reports that are forwarded from members or that I find on news wires. I already forward or send about 20-30 e-mails a week to the members. I think they are burdened enough by the TLC list!

As you said, if they are experts already, they probably read Thai and regularly check these other news resources and listserves/blogs. The TLC is but one part of a much larger knowledge sharing community. We have largely played the role of informing members about new publications, new archives, new conferences, calls for papers, and the like. Occasionally I forward or send updates on major news events (natural disasters, riots, elections, significant policy initiatives, and the like). We all do what we can.

It is not my job to only circulate pro-democracy or pro-royalist or conservative or liberal news. I simply forward stories that are sent to me without adding my own biased introductions or warnings to those stories. Our members are a smart bunch, they can decide for themselves what they want to believe, what they want to investigate further, what they want to ignore. They do not need me to hold their hands and lead them to the "right" position. Many members might support the so-called "royalist" position. Who am I to say that they are misguided whether I agree with them or not? I figure if more people send me stories then there would be a greater variety of opinions presented.  

Please keep sending us updates or links to learn more.

Your comments are extremely helpful.

Thank you,
justin 

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu