Political protests occasionally take strange twists--monks burning themselves alive, the abduction of the pornographic term 'tea-bagging' by conservatives, etc.--but few top the charts like yesterday's protest in Thailand where mostly rural citizens demanded elections after a military coup deposed the popular leader, Thaksin, some years ago. What did the protestors do? Asked for blood donations and then poured it all on the gates of the government house.
All in all, about 75 gallons of the stuff were poured out. The average human body only has 1.5 gallons, so, put another way, about 50 people's worth of blood hit the streets that day, without anyone dying.
But why? Aside from protesting for popular elections, the Red Shirts were conducting a Brahman ritual, a disgusting, gross, cultural "sacrifice for democracy" ritual. But, considering, no one died, the spilling of blood sounds like a much more sanitary way to show one's concern for a cause than say, blowing oneself up, or shooting someone.
That's a really bloody interesting article!
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