The Lost Boy

Knee-jerk reaction creates needless drama

Andrew Walker over at New Mandala has written an article criticizing the Surayud regime. I think he hits a few home truths here. The fact is, the knee-jerk response of blocking Youtube has created such publicity because the website is so high profile.

At the moment, the media is reporting that Youtube has offered to “teach” the MICT how to block singular videos, which most of us have said would have made more sense than blocking the entire website. Think about how many similar cases to this there have been reported. When was the last time MICT censorship of websites critical of the Thai monarchy, of which there are many, received such media attention? I can’t think of a single case. The MICT has revealed its incompetence at not understanding how Youtube works, but the whole Surayud regime has really shown itself up by just not thinking. How could it not have envisioned such an escalating situation if one of the world’s most popular websites, owned by the biggest player of them all (Google), was blocked entirely?

Andrew Walker has suggested that the Surayud regime has inadvertently subjected the Thai monarchy to international ridicule.

There is no doubting the offensiveness of these clips to many Thais. But even the briefest survey of YouTube’s offerings will uncover even more offensive clips about, for example, Queen Elizabeth and Pope Benedict. By and large these clips are ignored by British royalists and international Catholics. They slip into internet oblivion, perhaps causing the occasional giggle and, no doubt, a little outrage along the way. By contrast the Thai government has ensured that the provocative juxtaposition of profanity with the king’s portrait may be the most memorable international images of Bhumipol’s 80th year.

He hits the nail on the head here: Most of us would probably have never even seen the clip if the government hadn’t done its utmost to let us know that it still doesn’t understand the way the internet works. If it was a matter of honor, as some people are arguing, then surely the most honorable thing to do would have been to ignore the clip, let it fade away, and not draw attention to it, just as has happened with other websites that are critical of the monarchy and of Thailand – other websites that we are not seeing heated debates about on the internet. There is no honor in what is happening now.

I’m hearing a lot of “You are not Thai, you cannot understand this” responses to the issues at hand in the ongoing debate. This frustrates me. Thailand is, as Andrew points out, a country that claims to be internationally minded, evolving, progressing – but at this time many Thais are conveniently trying to suggest that Thailand is not evolving and that it is still a long way behind the rest of the world and so us foreigners simply “don’t get it”.

When Thailand wants to promote itself as a travel hub for Southeast Asia, as a center for global fashion, or key player in the world markets, it falls under the “internationally-minded” bracket, but when the rest of the world has something to say the Thais don’t like, Thailand is all of a sudden still in the dark ages and we shouldn’t argue because that’s just the way it is. “If you don’t like, go home”, or words similar to that effect, seem to be cropping up frequently.

Techno' tags: MICT, Internet censorship, Bangkok, Thailand, Youtube blocked