I have a lot of Thai friends and relatives living in Bangkok and have been following the political situation there for a few years have been getting some pretty intense on the ground reality updates. The interim prime minister has left the country. The ruling party was very corrupt. Are you familiar with the factions involved? The urban educated yellow shirts and the rural red shirts and the violence abetted by the police against the urban yellow shirts? I’m sure, if the military, which supports the yellow shirts tries to suppress social media, it is a temporary measure. The Thai people are addicted to social media and have adapted it to their social structure. Before you condemn the military junta outright, you have to realize that many people wanted it to happen a long time ago and they have shown restraint in getting involved up until now. The Shinawatra clan have controlled Thailand for too long and bled it dry. Thaksin Shinawatra was still ruling the country after leaving to avoid prosecution through his sister, Yingluck. She was accused of corruption a few weeks ago and appointed an interim ruler until they could force new elections. Thaksin was a media mogul with a personality cult like Berlusconi. They cultivated the support of the rural poor with subsidies and projects that were not really more than grandstanding. They recruited a private army of thugs that has been wreaking violence on the Yellow shirt protestors. Up to now, even at it’s most violent, the Thai political struggle has been fairly non violent. I say patience for the time being. In Bangkok, today, life is pretty normal and calm in spite of the coup.
Not to belittle this horrible situation, but, assuming that’s a picture of the new military rulers in Thailand, why is it that despots always seem to be using cameras from the 1970s?
Instagram filter.
Again? That trick never works.
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