Yep, one of the most incompetent moves yet by the Surayud regime. The original video was simply not worthy of a comment, even by the abysmally low standards of YouTube And if no government comment, not to mention action, had been made, the original offensive-to-Thai-mentality video would have quickly disappeared into the YouTube ether, forgotten by one and all. But now, international attention has been brought to an issue long ignored outside Thailand, and even more videos that would be considered blasphemous by most Thais are now available for public consumption.
By the way, wasn’t that Prem’s face superimposed upon HRM on the more recent video?
[…] clip campaign gains considerable energy, and even credibility, from the heavy handed sentencing of Oliver Jufer on lèse majesté charges. There is considerable juvenile mischief in this campaign, but there is […]
Srithanonchai: You have not been depended on your dentist’s ‘imagination’. Your dentist has some elements of ‘fact’ of your teeth, and there is a form of ‘learning by doing’ which comes ‘close’ to a definition of ‘theory’ in the practices of your dentist. Theory is an attempt to explain ‘truth’. Mathematicians now debate whether or not there is such thing as mathematical truth. I don’t have to explain how this finding gives implications to soft sciences and science-wannabe. In fact, people working in these fields should drop the term ‘theory’ entirely. As in history, historians are fully aware of their practice (archive, emplotment, imagination, trope?). They realise how close or far their studies can get to truth. But what truth in history? Personally, I don’t think there is any (and I’m not even a Wittgensteinian or Derridian). To claim of ‘fact’ is very often beyond historian’s means. Go visit the debate on the name of Siam/Thailand and you’ll grin. Far outside the game of politics, better stop here.
The googler engineers must be rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at how incompetent the ICT staffs are:
A democrat ex-MP, found that this is a golden opportunity to pander. He’s demanding that Google help them tracking down to culprit. He’s quite vague about how he will go about doing that though.
To this, I say, Good luck.
Why would he, or anyone in Thailand for that matter, think Google, a company that challenged (successfully) the US Department of Justice’s subpoena: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html (where others like MSN and Yahoo just meekly complied), would yield to a rather obscure country, and one with incompetent IT staffs at that, is beyond me? It’s not like we’re big and powerful like China. The Garuda letterhead isn’t very potent outside of the Kingdom, yo see, much less in Silicon Valley.
So, when all is said and done:
1. an obscure and trivial video clips is catapulted to instant fame, spawning many copycat clips, and thousands of page views.
2. The ICT ministry are humiliated for their incompetence and powerlessness.
3. People the world over now get a hint that all may not be so well behind the gleaming facade.
4. This put Thailand firmly on the map of nation of concern…(it doesn’t help to go up against a highly regarded company with a ‘do no evil’ motto, people inevitably will think you are evil)
Great work, ICT!
With minions like these, who need enemies.
I think it’s actually an insult to a person brilliant as LKY to receive an degree from a substandard uni such as ANU. The only reason why people land in ANU is usually because they can’t make the grade to better metropolitan uni’s such as Sydney, UNSW, Melbourne or Monash.
Bystander: Are you talking about Western Chess, Chinese Chess, or Thai Chess? If you’re talking about Western Chess, then the Queen is the most powerful piece, by far.
Since, in Thai Chess the Queen can only move diagonally one space, I’d say the Boat (rua) is the most powerful piece. If you’re talking about Chinese Chess, then it’s the Chariot.
I don’t know what this all means in terms of political metaphor…I’m just a board game geek. 🙂
[…] 4, 2007 at 6:20 am Filed under Thailand Comment on Thailand s climate of repression by Bangkok Pundit Normally, in Thailand, the foreign prisoner will receive a pardon after a third of their sentence. [ ] – more – […]
[…] Not to do so, will simply wipe out some of the wonderful diversity that Thailand is gifted with. These ethnic minorities will simply become Thais and lose their language and culture or become born-again Christians where they can get … – more – […]
I have been enlightened as to the meaning of ‘pagan’.’ It must refer to P.A.G.A.N.- People Against Goodness And Normalcy – the villains in the Dan Ackroyd movie version of ‘Dragnet.’
That’s makes rather more sense in the context of Thanong’s column, I think.
But how do we deal with modern society if we are to depend on our own experience? As Luhmann said in the first sentence of his book “The Reality of Mass Media”: “Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media.”
In other words, we depend on the “imaginations” of other people. And, by and larged, I am happy to do so. For example, when one of my teeth needs a root canal treatment, I am happy to depend on the professional imaginations of my dentist.
I might have no philosophy of history, but I do have a theory of society.
I, for one, would welcome the change back to Siam. The sound of “Siam” is just so much more romantic than that horrible half-breed neologism “Thailand.”
If you want to see Thais embracing reason don’t come down to Nakhonsithammarat, the home of the Jatukam amulet. People here are getting severe neck pain by wearing 3 or 4. Go anywhere and the topic of conversation is their latest purchase of this hindu deity which every third shop is selling. if anyone on this blog wants one I would be willing to supply at a small fee.
There’s a 240-year-old story about Frederick the Great riding through Berlin, and coming across a crowd gawking at a highly unflattering cartoon poster of the King which had been placed high up on a building. He ordered a young officer to climb up and bring it down to a lower level so that the crowd could get a better look, and they cheered him.
Srithanonchai: I’m glad that there’s no philosopher of history within you (as I really dislike long wordings).
Bystander: Which piece can you bring the game to ‘check mate’? The chess remains a ‘definite’ game, and it will have to end eventually. Although fragmented in their views, the ‘Saturday People’ are cool. They really know how to ‘play politics’. Political pundits have to learn from them. However, things are not looking so good…
For example, if the king didn’t like the lese majeste law he could ask that it be removed.
HM the King hit the nail on the head on that one when the last PM was suing everyone who criticised him, Thaksin. HM the King said that the inability of anyone to criticize him, HM the King, robbed him of his humanity, and he didn’t like it.
I definitely view HM the King as another victim of the people “In Control”.
I do think that if he raised his voice on the issue of lese majeste, in the middle of the present constitutional convention, that it would have to be written out of the next constitution. I have no adequate theory to explain his inaction. I wish he’d name his successor as well. HM the King may yet do both of those things.
Republican :
Do you want to rethink your characterization of the internet as “reason”?
Since when can you find reason on the internet? All right, there is some reason here and there, but there also is an incredible amount of trash. The clips certainly were not a sign of reason. But decency has a hard time on the web, and web boards are littered with nonsense.
I liked the comment on Fa DIo Kan: when it comes down to it Thais will have to make a choice: between the king and the internet (ie. between faith and reason).
To me, pagan is the term Christians used to refer to old Roman polytheistic religions. Classics scholars use it all the time. I guess these days it would also colloguially mean people outside of judeo-christian monotheistic faiths, e.g. Jews, Christians, and Muslims are not pagan (though they will call one another infidels, but that’s another category).
So, I would think Buddhism and Hinduism and most other religious tradition would already be considered pagan. So, Thanong’s use of the term sounds kinda weird.
Historicus: it’s not meant to be a statement about the monarch himself. I’m not clear about what you want to be explained, since that is not what I think I said.
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The regime’s royal ridicule
Yep, one of the most incompetent moves yet by the Surayud regime. The original video was simply not worthy of a comment, even by the abysmally low standards of YouTube And if no government comment, not to mention action, had been made, the original offensive-to-Thai-mentality video would have quickly disappeared into the YouTube ether, forgotten by one and all. But now, international attention has been brought to an issue long ignored outside Thailand, and even more videos that would be considered blasphemous by most Thais are now available for public consumption.
By the way, wasn’t that Prem’s face superimposed upon HRM on the more recent video?
Oliver Jufer, royal graffiti and global news
[…] clip campaign gains considerable energy, and even credibility, from the heavy handed sentencing of Oliver Jufer on lèse majesté charges. There is considerable juvenile mischief in this campaign, but there is […]
A royal petition
Srithanonchai: You have not been depended on your dentist’s ‘imagination’. Your dentist has some elements of ‘fact’ of your teeth, and there is a form of ‘learning by doing’ which comes ‘close’ to a definition of ‘theory’ in the practices of your dentist. Theory is an attempt to explain ‘truth’. Mathematicians now debate whether or not there is such thing as mathematical truth. I don’t have to explain how this finding gives implications to soft sciences and science-wannabe. In fact, people working in these fields should drop the term ‘theory’ entirely. As in history, historians are fully aware of their practice (archive, emplotment, imagination, trope?). They realise how close or far their studies can get to truth. But what truth in history? Personally, I don’t think there is any (and I’m not even a Wittgensteinian or Derridian). To claim of ‘fact’ is very often beyond historian’s means. Go visit the debate on the name of Siam/Thailand and you’ll grin. Far outside the game of politics, better stop here.
Blocked tube
Here’s the latest on the ‘tube saga:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/04/08/headlines/headlines_30031395.php
The googler engineers must be rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at how incompetent the ICT staffs are:
A democrat ex-MP, found that this is a golden opportunity to pander. He’s demanding that Google help them tracking down to culprit. He’s quite vague about how he will go about doing that though.
To this, I say, Good luck.
Why would he, or anyone in Thailand for that matter, think Google, a company that challenged (successfully) the US Department of Justice’s subpoena:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/response-to-doj-motion.html (where others like MSN and Yahoo just meekly complied), would yield to a rather obscure country, and one with incompetent IT staffs at that, is beyond me? It’s not like we’re big and powerful like China. The Garuda letterhead isn’t very potent outside of the Kingdom, yo see, much less in Silicon Valley.
So, when all is said and done:
1. an obscure and trivial video clips is catapulted to instant fame, spawning many copycat clips, and thousands of page views.
2. The ICT ministry are humiliated for their incompetence and powerlessness.
3. People the world over now get a hint that all may not be so well behind the gleaming facade.
4. This put Thailand firmly on the map of nation of concern…(it doesn’t help to go up against a highly regarded company with a ‘do no evil’ motto, people inevitably will think you are evil)
Great work, ICT!
With minions like these, who need enemies.
ANU honours Lee Kuan Yew. Why?
I think it’s actually an insult to a person brilliant as LKY to receive an degree from a substandard uni such as ANU. The only reason why people land in ANU is usually because they can’t make the grade to better metropolitan uni’s such as Sydney, UNSW, Melbourne or Monash.
Offending the mainstream
A Coup for the Rich
A royal petition
Bystander: Are you talking about Western Chess, Chinese Chess, or Thai Chess? If you’re talking about Western Chess, then the Queen is the most powerful piece, by far.
Since, in Thai Chess the Queen can only move diagonally one space, I’d say the Boat (rua) is the most powerful piece. If you’re talking about Chinese Chess, then it’s the Chariot.
I don’t know what this all means in terms of political metaphor…I’m just a board game geek. 🙂
Thailand’s climate of repression
[…] 4, 2007 at 6:20 am Filed under Thailand Comment on Thailand s climate of repression by Bangkok Pundit Normally, in Thailand, the foreign prisoner will receive a pardon after a third of their sentence. [ ] – more – […]
Thailand? Siam? Who cares?
[…] Not to do so, will simply wipe out some of the wonderful diversity that Thailand is gifted with. These ethnic minorities will simply become Thais and lose their language and culture or become born-again Christians where they can get … – more – […]
Blocked tube
I have been enlightened as to the meaning of ‘pagan’.’ It must refer to P.A.G.A.N.- People Against Goodness And Normalcy – the villains in the Dan Ackroyd movie version of ‘Dragnet.’
That’s makes rather more sense in the context of Thanong’s column, I think.
A royal petition
Sawarin:
But how do we deal with modern society if we are to depend on our own experience? As Luhmann said in the first sentence of his book “The Reality of Mass Media”: “Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media.”
In other words, we depend on the “imaginations” of other people. And, by and larged, I am happy to do so. For example, when one of my teeth needs a root canal treatment, I am happy to depend on the professional imaginations of my dentist.
I might have no philosophy of history, but I do have a theory of society.
Apologies for the “debate.”
Thailand? Siam? Who cares?
I, for one, would welcome the change back to Siam. The sound of “Siam” is just so much more romantic than that horrible half-breed neologism “Thailand.”
Blocked tube
If you want to see Thais embracing reason don’t come down to Nakhonsithammarat, the home of the Jatukam amulet. People here are getting severe neck pain by wearing 3 or 4. Go anywhere and the topic of conversation is their latest purchase of this hindu deity which every third shop is selling. if anyone on this blog wants one I would be willing to supply at a small fee.
Blocked tube
There’s a 240-year-old story about Frederick the Great riding through Berlin, and coming across a crowd gawking at a highly unflattering cartoon poster of the King which had been placed high up on a building. He ordered a young officer to climb up and bring it down to a lower level so that the crowd could get a better look, and they cheered him.
A royal petition
Srithanonchai: I’m glad that there’s no philosopher of history within you (as I really dislike long wordings).
Bystander: Which piece can you bring the game to ‘check mate’? The chess remains a ‘definite’ game, and it will have to end eventually. Although fragmented in their views, the ‘Saturday People’ are cool. They really know how to ‘play politics’. Political pundits have to learn from them. However, things are not looking so good…
Blocked tube
historicus :
For example, if the king didn’t like the lese majeste law he could ask that it be removed.
HM the King hit the nail on the head on that one when the last PM was suing everyone who criticised him, Thaksin. HM the King said that the inability of anyone to criticize him, HM the King, robbed him of his humanity, and he didn’t like it.
I definitely view HM the King as another victim of the people “In Control”.
I do think that if he raised his voice on the issue of lese majeste, in the middle of the present constitutional convention, that it would have to be written out of the next constitution. I have no adequate theory to explain his inaction. I wish he’d name his successor as well. HM the King may yet do both of those things.
Republican :
Do you want to rethink your characterization of the internet as “reason”?
Blocked tube
Since when can you find reason on the internet? All right, there is some reason here and there, but there also is an incredible amount of trash. The clips certainly were not a sign of reason. But decency has a hard time on the web, and web boards are littered with nonsense.
A royal petition
Sawarin: No debate on non-debateable statements! 🙂
Blocked tube
I liked the comment on Fa DIo Kan: when it comes down to it Thais will have to make a choice: between the king and the internet (ie. between faith and reason).
Blocked tube
To me, pagan is the term Christians used to refer to old Roman polytheistic religions. Classics scholars use it all the time. I guess these days it would also colloguially mean people outside of judeo-christian monotheistic faiths, e.g. Jews, Christians, and Muslims are not pagan (though they will call one another infidels, but that’s another category).
So, I would think Buddhism and Hinduism and most other religious tradition would already be considered pagan. So, Thanong’s use of the term sounds kinda weird.
Historicus: it’s not meant to be a statement about the monarch himself. I’m not clear about what you want to be explained, since that is not what I think I said.