P A D -bkk Protesters Aim To ‘re-educate’ Rural Thais

[Bangyai]

For six years upcountry people, who take all their news only from government run TV channels, have been brainwashed into believing that Thaksin is the only man in this country who cares about them, that Democrats have never done anything for the poor, that Bangkokians are enemies of Isanese and so on.

For six years ANY alternative view of Thai politics have been banned from Thai media, so yes, it's time for little re-education.

ASTV has done wonders for opening eyes of the people in its first year, now it's time for mainstream journalism to step up to the plate as well.

NBT is simply pathetic, and it's a government channel that belongs to all Thais and is funded by all taxpayers, unlike Sondhi's owned ASTV.

Sorry lost for words.

ASTV is hardly balanced journalism is it. Mainstream journalism should be balanced and I think you will be surprised that many rural Thais have a very shrewd and realistic view of politics and the power structure here.

Re-education is not needed just sane, balanced journalism.

Sorry, that was funny.

ASTV is an attempt to balance with the government forming the other side of the scale. It is still well-tipped over to the government's side.

Re-education is not needed as education itself needs to occur first. It's not political shrewdness that needs help.

Yes SJ, the rural poor need to be taught by the ' urban elite ' what sanitary knapkins are really for. The uneducated farmers wives have been putting them between their legs when they menstruate !!!! How can you expect them to understand politics when they behave like this !!! :jerk:

[clausewitz]

This is the content that PAD will be educating those ignorant Isan peasants:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/10...on_30087963.php

PAD saves the nation from supernatural attack

ON OCTOBER 29, Sondhi Limthongkul gave a speech from the People's Alliance for Democracy stage, broadcast over ASTV, about a new front in his fight to "save the nation". He said:

"For many years in the past, the powers of many sacred things including the spirit of the City Pillar, the Equestrian Statue of King Rama V, Phra Sayam Thewathirat, and the Emerald Buddha, have been suppressed by evil people using magic. 'Suppress' does not mean destroy, because sacred objects cannot be destroyed, as they have too much power. But 'suppress' means not allowing them to emit their power, by encircling them. This is true. So we have just finished rectifying this in the last two to three weeks. Like at the statue of the Emerald Buddha.

"Behind it there is a stone. Evil-minded people had allied with some in the Royal Household Bureau to allow a Khmer adept to go behind the Emerald Buddha and take the stone away, because that stone is the important thing for emitting power."

A few weeks ago, anti-government agitator Sondhi Limthongkul, whose People’s Alliance for Democracy has occupied key official buildings for four months in an effort to topple a government he considers illegitimate, accused his opponents of employing wizardry to channel the statue’s protective forces their way. And to reverse that alleged sorcery, he deployed his own mystics to encircle the statue with used sanitary napkins (collected from the PAD’s rank-and-file) to form a shield of menstrual blood.

[sriracha john]

ASTV is brainwashing crap

How much ASTV have you watched to come to that conclusion?

Their website has fake pictures of Thaksin behind bars, among other things. Doesn't take an Einstein to figure out they're not a neutral media, doesn't it?

ok.... rainman... ZERO MINUTES... check:

How about you, Brit?

[toybits]

By providing one-sided information?

PLEASE do tell people up-country that they NEED to be Educated - and NOT Re-educated because they are uneducated.

:D Sorry, that was funny. ASTV is an attempt to balance with the government forming the other side of the scale. It is still well-tipped over to the government's side. Re-education is not needed as education itself needs to occur first. It's not political shrewdness that needs help, but if they are shrewd they'll have sorted out the Mr. Education Thaksin had absolutely no desire to raise their true education.

[KireB]

"If they win what they have dubbed their “final battle,” Bangkok-based People’s Alliance for Democracy members say they will start a campaign to tell “the truth” to the country’s rural majority..."

Hmmm. Maybe they should have thought of that BEFORE they went in to the airports, holding the country hostage, and eliminating any chance of support they could have from the rural majority.

They actually tried this and were attacked numerous times by thugs form DAAD and UDD.

This article is about opening the people's eyes, by means of unbiased media.

Nothing wrong with that!

[Plus]

For six years upcountry people, who take all their news only from government run TV channels, have been brainwashed into believing that Thaksin is the only man in this country who cares about them, that Democrats have never done anything for the poor, that Bangkokians are enemies of Isanese and so on.

For six years ANY alternative view of Thai politics have been banned from Thai media, so yes, it's time for little re-education.

ASTV has done wonders for opening eyes of the people in its first year, now it's time for mainstream journalism to step up to the plate as well.

NBT is simply pathetic, and it's a government channel that belongs to all Thais and is funded by all taxpayers, unlike Sondhi's owned ASTV.

:D

Sorry lost for words.

ASTV is hardly balanced journalism is it. Mainstream journalism should be balanced and I think you will be surprised that many rural Thais have a very shrewd and realistic view of politics and the power structure here.

Re-education is not needed just sane, balanced journalism.

Sally, re-education is needed to counteract Thaksin propaganda about rural/urban/elite conflicts. They don't exist.

He made that up to create an image of a common enemy to rally his supporters against.

Call it anything else you find more acceptable than re-education, but millions of upcountry folks have fell victim to this brainwashing propaganda.

[Tompa]

"The group has rejected calls for fresh elections and wants a new political system that dilutes votes from poor farmers, who comprise Thaksin's political base."

Says it all, bunch of Nazi thugs!

[snowflake]

I am not sure who I would believe most, The "yellow shirts" on TV that is on 24 hours a day, or the Red shirts that get 15 minutes every week.

Brainwashing is just about telling people what you want them to know over a certain amount of time, no magic! If all they can see are anti Thaksin, it will not take long time before they start to dislike him.

This is beyond comedy hour, it is just stupid now...

The court will rule against PPP now and that is the Coup that will come - PAD will leave the airport till PPP (the new version) will win the next election.

Stupid is as stupid does...

[Chaimai]

Sally, re-education is needed to counteract Thaksin propaganda about rural/urban/elite conflicts. They don't exist.

He made that up to create an image of a common enemy to rally his supporters against.

Call it anything else you find more acceptable than re-education, but millions of upcountry folks have fell victim to this brainwashing propaganda.

Someone needs to come up with a better title than "re-education" or the educated West will simply see it as arrogant fascism on the part of the Bangkok elite. Any attempt to limit the right to vote to specified socio-economic groups will meet with understandable international opposition.

I agree that 'balanced' journalism will be a major educator and, remember, not all northern/north eastern Thais are swayed by Taksin's PR machine. I think his influence is waining and upcoming events may add to his demise. However, the Democrats will need to be more convincing and persuasive if they want to win votes from PPP.

No party can win 100% of the votes in a democracy, it is up to the Democrats to show they are worthy of more than 50%.

[animatic]

I think its unwise to read too much into a quote from someone whose first language is not English. I'm quite sure they don't mean to imply they need to start a campaign of brainwashing etc.

The fact is education is sorely lacking in Thailand, and its especially poor in the provinces, ask anyone who does business here. Thats not to say that there not educated people in the rural population but Im quite certain that you will find a higher standard of education in Bangkok it stands to reason.

A better educated population should be in a position to make better choices.

However, I find it sad that the PAD have chosen this route to accomplish this goal, this shows no respect for the rural community. The PAD have missed an opportunity to apply more pressure on the opposition to make rural needs a priority in the Democrats election campaign and could even have taken the education role on themselves.

Very good post.

Re-education has both good and bad connotations.

But for those victimized by mis-informantion for long periods,

re-education can mean no more than getting accurate information,

and the opportunity to make their own INFORMED choices

with BOTH sides represented.

[cmsally]

You don't exactly have to be Einstein to notice the rural/elite divide do you.

It was the first time a Thai political party had utilised the division to fulfill political goals. If there hadn't been such a reaction on the part of the elites the TRT could have very well frazzled away due to issues of corruption or mismanagement. But as events have unfolded you now have a wider support base and for them and many who are unhappy at some of the inferences coming from PAD. Since the PAD airport fiasco you now have even more that are going to be thrown into the government camp because the economy will be ruined.

PAD has done the job of reeducation already but not exactly how they planned. You now have large groups of normally politically neutral people who would like to reeducate the PAD all the way to a hole in the ground somewhere.

This isn't a good situation or outlook, but it has happened because of the PAD's rhetoric and actions; they are their own worst enemy.

[animatic]

"If they win what they have dubbed their “final battle,” Bangkok-based People’s Alliance for Democracy members say they will start a campaign to tell “the truth” to the country’s rural majority..."

Hmmm. Maybe they should have thought of that BEFORE they went in to the airports, holding the country hostage, and eliminating any chance of support they could have from the rural majority.

They DID try that many times,

but TRT and PPP controled mobs broke up the rally's QUITE violently...

Go read up on it.

Hense they were forced to use other measures.

Not all of which I can agree with.

.

[Bangyai]

Sally, re-education is needed to counteract Thaksin propaganda about rural/urban/elite conflicts. They don't exist.

He made that up to create an image of a common enemy to rally his supporters against.

Call it anything else you find more acceptable than re-education, but millions of upcountry folks have fell victim to this brainwashing propaganda.

O.K.....so you want to ' re educate ' these gullible yokels but who's going to reducate the PAD automatons ????

Thousands of urbanites have fallen victim to the PADs brainwashing and the medical facilities in Bangkok are just not geared up to help readucate these idle loafers.

[animatic]

ASTV is brainwashing crap

How much ASTV have you watched to come to that conclusion?

Their website has fake pictures of Thaksin behind bars, among other things. Doesn't take an Einstein to figure out they're not a neutral media, doesn't it?

Of course those pictures LOOK faked.

It's like a cartoon.

Who disputes ASTV's bias?

Who can accurately dispute NBT's bias either?

[sriracha john]

:D Sorry, that was funny. ASTV is an attempt to balance with the government forming the other side of the scale. It is still well-tipped over to the government's side. Re-education is not needed as education itself needs to occur first. It's not political shrewdness that needs help, but if they are shrewd they'll have sorted out the Mr. Education Thaksin had absolutely no desire to raise their true education.

By providing one-sided information?

PLEASE do tell people up-country that they NEED to be Educated - and NOT Re-educated because they are uneducated.

Media wise, it's no different than world style. The truly informed are those that consume all sides of media inputs with each of all their own various inherent biases and then sort it out internally. It's no different than watching Fox and CNN and then processing it into a third view.

Don't get hung up on the verbiage from a solitary translated article. For all we all, they are talking about education and not re-education.

Edited December 1, 2008 by sriracha john

[cmsally]

Talking about media/viewer bias, just one question - who actually can understand enough Thai to understand everything that is said on all of the Thai TV channels. Should be a prerequisite if you are going to argue your corner for how bias it is. And having your girlfriend translate doesn't count!

[pumpuiman]

For six years upcountry people, who take all their news only from government run TV channels, have been brainwashed into believing that Thaksin is the only man in this country who cares about them, that Democrats have never done anything for the poor, that Bangkokians are enemies of Isanese and so on.

For six years ANY alternative view of Thai politics have been banned from Thai media, so yes, it's time for little re-education.

ASTV has done wonders for opening eyes of the people in its first year, now it's time for mainstream journalism to step up to the plate as well.

NBT is simply pathetic, and it's a government channel that belongs to all Thais and is funded by all taxpayers, unlike Sondhi's owned ASTV.

My wife and family are from Isaan. They are intelligent free thinking people, unlike yourself.

Your pathetic attempts at glossing over this absolute racist bunch of elitists are ridiculous.

<snip>

Edited December 1, 2008 by soundman
Removed aggresive comment.

[sriracha john]

Brainwashing is just about telling people what you want them to know over a certain amount of time

An interesting experiment for the Thaivisa News Clippings Forum would be for all news posting for 24 hours to be limited to

Source: National News Bureau of Thailand

Edited December 1, 2008 by sriracha john

[toybits]

Please tell that to the PAD. They should understand the mean of DULY ELECTED. How educated are they REALLY now....?

Media wise, it's no different than world style. The truly informed are those that consume all sides of media inputs with each of all their own various inherent biases and then sort it out internally. It's no different than watching Fox and CNN and then processing it into a third view.

Don't get hung up on the verbiage from a solitary translated article. For all we all, they are talking about education and not re-education.

[sriracha john]

Media wise, it's no different than world style. The truly informed are those that consume all sides of media inputs with each of all their own various inherent biases and then sort it out internally. It's no different than watching Fox and CNN and then processing it into a third view.

Don't get hung up on the verbiage from a solitary translated article. For all we all, they are talking about education and not re-education.

Please tell that to the PAD. They should understand the mean of DULY ELECTED. How educated are they REALLY now....?

If the DULY ELECTED are removed tomorrow, it would seem that foresight is a part of education.

[toybits]

Thanks for this cmsally. I don't need the wife to translate Thai News for me. I can almost keep up with the marquee in Thai text.

Talking about media/viewer bias, just one question - who actually can understand enough Thai to understand everything that is said on all of the Thai TV channels. Should be a prerequisite if you are going to argue your corner for how bias it is. And having your girlfriend translate doesn't count!

[pete_r]

ASTV is brainwashing crap (propganda from Sondhi) He is a thug with his own selfish agenda and should be tossed in jail along with the rest of the PAD.

bitmaveric.........

Get a life...anyone that has 17,000 post on this board has no time to really get away from the keyboard and explore what is outside your door....

Talking about going out more often, some members of my family spend 12 hours a day glued to ASTV listening to angry people working up their crowd, and when they're not watching, they're at the protests. That's brainwashing all right.

[toybits]

If they were duly elected, the the PAD is committing an act of treason.

If the DULY ELECTED are removed tomorrow, it would seem that foresight is a part of education.

[KhaoNiaw]

This is exactlywhere I see consequences well beyond what either the yellow and red shirters or their various puppet masters intend.

Like many TV members I live in a poor, rural area.

Contrary to sterotype, not all the folk here were or are Taksin supporters. At least among those I know well enough to talk politics with, plenty who recognized that they were being played. These people may not be well educated, but that doesn't mean they aren't shrewd.

BUT...they are, justifiably, angry and fed up with inequitable wealth distribution and the attitude and behavior of the elite. They were that way before the PAD started its antics; since then it has increased exponentially.

And these sort of comments have hardly gone unnoticed. The anger is deepening and hardening every day.

This will have long-term consequences well after the immediate "crisis" subsides.

I think this is a really good post. There were many rural people who didn't vote for Thaksin. But the simplistic myth of the monolithic rural masses has been used by both sides in this dispute to the point where it's almost become self-fulfilling.

[sriracha john]

If the DULY ELECTED are removed tomorrow, it would seem that foresight is a part of education.

If they were duly elected, the the PAD is committing an act of treason.

The earlier dismissed charges of treason says otherwise.

But still, tomorrow's dissolution of Somchai et al will certainly change the current situation.

[hammered]

You don't exactly have to be Einstein to notice the rural/elite divide do you.

It was the first time a Thai political party had utilised the division to fulfill political goals. If there hadn't been such a reaction on the part of the elites the TRT could have very well frazzled away due to issues of corruption or mismanagement. But as events have unfolded you now have a wider support base and for them and many who are unhappy at some of the inferences coming from PAD. Since the PAD airport fiasco you now have even more that are going to be thrown into the government camp because the economy will be ruined.

PAD has done the job of reeducation already but not exactly how they planned. You now have large groups of normally politically neutral people who would like to reeducate the PAD all the way to a hole in the ground somewhere.

This isn't a good situation or outlook, but it has happened because of the PAD's rhetoric and actions; they are their own worst enemy.

Im not so sure of that. We should never forget the unseen and ultra powerful group that has created a nice center for itself between government and PAD. I think that is where a lot of people are heading right now. Nice plan. While politicians and street demonstrators get ever increasingly discredited, insitutions of stability - bureacracy etc - see their star rise again.

[jayjayjayjay]

I have a better idea, I will get a group of well educated farangs together and we will volunteer to reeducate the Bangkok elite.

Totally agreed. Cheers

Please start with the Damapong and remaining Shinawatra elite there.

It's a lost cause SJ, give it up, why dont you pack up your belongings and fly home..................... oh what, you can't fly, foolish of me!

[phupaman]

Hi All.

One of the first things any interim Gov must do is make sure that all political parties have equal access to all Gov Television Channels , NBT has been used exclusivly to turn out sh-t propaganda by Jakropob and his lying pals on programmes such as 'The Truth Today' for far to long, What is needed is some true professional journalist to give out the news Truthfully for all parties, and all the old people in Issan are capable of making up their own minds, But I am afraid there are far to many like my mother in law who smile sweetly and take the money and place their fingerprint on the form.I think this is what is refered to when people talk of re-education.

phupaman

[Danton]

This is the content that PAD will be educating those ignorant Isan peasants:

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/10...on_30087963.php

PAD saves the nation from supernatural attack

ON OCTOBER 29, Sondhi Limthongkul gave a speech from the People's Alliance for Democracy stage, broadcast over ASTV, about a new front in his fight to "save the nation". He said:

"For many years in the past, the powers of many sacred things including the spirit of the City Pillar, the Equestrian Statue of King Rama V, Phra Sayam Thewathirat, and the Emerald Buddha, have been suppressed by evil people using magic. 'Suppress' does not mean destroy, because sacred objects cannot be destroyed, as they have too much power. But 'suppress' means not allowing them to emit their power, by encircling them. This is true. So we have just finished rectifying this in the last two to three weeks. Like at the statue of the Emerald Buddha.

"Behind it there is a stone. Evil-minded people had allied with some in the Royal Household Bureau to allow a Khmer adept to go behind the Emerald Buddha and take the stone away, because that stone is the important thing for emitting power."

A few weeks ago, anti-government agitator Sondhi Limthongkul, whose People's Alliance for Democracy has occupied key official buildings for four months in an effort to topple a government he considers illegitimate, accused his opponents of employing wizardry to channel the statue's protective forces their way. And to reverse that alleged sorcery, he deployed his own mystics to encircle the statue with used sanitary napkins (collected from the PAD's rank-and-file) to form a shield of menstrual blood.

Obviously the guy is a complete nutcase.

He belongs in a straightjacket.

With such ridiculous beliefs, how could Thailand possibly progress ?

[Jupiter99]

Democracy usually is a representation of the people of a nation. Now how would a nation be represented when only people with some money in the bank and a diploma of some kind truly represent the people? The 'Democracy' part of PAD seems to stand for their personal definition of it. The elite need a re-education of the EGO! Kind of an allusion to DICTATORSHIP?