4 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

 Can't see that changing for a long long time.

 

"historians predicting the future......two conclusions to be drawn from study of history......one is that things happen a lot more quickly and dramatically than expected, the other that things happen a lot more slowly and un-dramatically than expected"

 

Paraphrased from "The Pelican History of the World" by J M Roberts, 1980.

 

 

9 hours ago, nikmar said:

...."Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan who has been at the forefront of the reconciliation process. "

 

err......what?????

Saying he is at the forefront of a failed process is just an insult at the end of the day.

 

Prayut meanwhile poaching the cream of the crop from other parties, hardly setting a model for working together is it?

 

Reconciliation could only be further away than it is now if there was a fear of a civil war. 

3 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Agree, I have often asked both my bachelor and masters students 'what's in the news at the moment' etc etc. Response - don't know.

 

I ask 'who has read a print newspaper or looked at an on-line version of a Thai newspaper, or watched an evening news program on TV, this week, this year'?

 

Answer to every question -  nobody!

 

 

 

 

They don't know 

God, that's depressing. Do you think it's apathy or no one wants to be seen to be speaking up? Or a bit of both? Perhaps the younger generation needs to be hit where they actually take notice to motivate them. If Prayuth, after the "election", overplays his hand and really cracks down on something like Facebook content, maybe that will wake them up a bit. I don't really know any Thais of university age to comment, but with the adults I know, most exhibit a sense of resignation over the situation. As though they are just gonna put up with this until someone else does something about it. The one Thai person I do know that gets fired up about the junta was actually initially supportive of the junta. She even went to Suthep's rallies and took me along to one of them. Now she says she feels betrayed.  She works in an office full of westerners and is the only Thai member of staff so she's grown accustomed to not shying away from expressing her opinions bluntly, but she has told me that when in the company of only other Thais she's less inclined to express her views so openly. That's why I'm wondering whether it's total apathy or more Thai social etiquette issue, in that no one wants to be first to put their head above the parapet.

4 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Agree, I have often asked both my bachelor and masters students 'what's in the news at the moment' etc etc. Response - don't know.

 

I ask 'who has read a print newspaper or looked at an on-line version of a Thai newspaper, or watched an evening news program on TV, this week, this year'?

 

Answer to every question -  nobody!

 

 

 

 

They don't know 

 

Its not just students. We have regular meetings with all head office staff, 3 farang and about 100 Thai staff, 95% of them you would categorize as middle or upper class Thai's many of them been to the UK/US/Aus etc for masters and university. A similar question about print newspaper reading in the past period and the only 3 people who raised their hands were the 3 farang. It went a bit deeper and appeared they did not look at the news online either. The knowledge of affairs they did have seemed to purely come down to whether by chance they came across a news story whilst looking up other things on the internet.

 

They just seem completely oblivious to current news and affairs both locally and internationally.

9 minutes ago, smutcakes said:

 

Its not just students. We have regular meetings with all head office staff, 3 farang and about 100 Thai staff, 95% of them you would categorize as middle or upper class Thai's many of them been to the UK/US/Aus etc for masters and university. A similar question about print newspaper reading in the past period and the only 3 people who raised their hands were the 3 farang. It went a bit deeper and appeared they did not look at the news online either. The knowledge of affairs they did have seemed to purely come down to whether by chance they came across a news story whilst looking up other things on the internet.

 

They just seem completely oblivious to current news and affairs both locally and internationally.

This and the other comment on university students was very insightful, even if they do make for depressing reading. If this is a reflection of Thailand by and large, it would make it the perfect place for the old boiling a frog scenario. 

 

"True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.” 

 

Desmond Tutu

 

 

 

 

10 hours ago, Enoon said:

 .... only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. 

 

Desmond Tutu

 

 

 

 

'An honest confrontation with reality' (as per the Desmond Tutu quote above): facing reality, acknowledging the truth is something that the Thais in general (but most of all the fake 'elites') are singularly bad at. They live in a world of lies and deception and self-deception.

 

I don't see Bishop Desmond Tutu's recommendation ever taking hold in this mendacious and truth-averse culture!