In Texas we have two snakes with red, yellow, and black stripes. They look alike. One is deadly, the other is harmless.

We are taught, as children, to identify the deadly one by remembering the following: "Red and yellow will kill a fellow."

This means that if the red stripe is next to the yellow stripe, it is a deadly coral snake: red, yellow, black.

If the red and yellow stripes are not adjacent to each other (red, black, yellow) it is a harmless snake.

What if, in Thailand, the political red stripe moved closer to the political yellow stripe? Would that be a deadly combination?

I think it would be deadly........it would be deadly to the status quo.

Many of us who study human beings for a living--and that is what I do--know that the power elite (the men and women who stand at the top of the corporate-political-military triangle of power) often retain power by dividing the public into two "false" ideological camps (the do this by controlling the flow of cultural information).

In the USA the two camps are democrat and republican. The masses are taught to believe that there is a great divide between them, but, in reality, there is almost no difference between them and the status quo is maintained no matter which party ascends to power.

In Thailand, the two current camps are "Reds" and "Yellows." And, like in the USA, it matters very little which one ascends to power--the status quo will be maintained.

Questions:

What would happen in Thailand if the Reds and Yellows decided to work together?

Who would win?

Who would lose?

I am too biased here, so I am not going to respond to anything. If you want to talk about this, feel free to do so.

I am interested in reading what you have to say. Thanks.

p.s., By power elite I am not including the one person in Thailand who is the moral authority of the country.......I think he is a good man who truly cares about the country and its people. Please leave him out of the discussion.

Might be time to run up a few of these.

Chance the yellows to unite with the reds is high since Sondhi was shot. We will work together to fight for democracy. But I don't know if Sondhi will agree with "one person one vote".

In the USA the two camps are democrat and republican. The masses are taught to believe that there is a great divide between them, but, in reality, there is almost no difference between them and the status quo is maintained no matter which party ascends to power.

Maybe USA is better that army does not make coups.

Interesting thread. Most current politicians would hate for it to happen IMHO !

Chance the yellows to unite with the reds is high since Sondhi was shot. We will work together to fight for democracy. But I don't know if Sondhi will agree with "one person one vote".

Those who believe in democracy, rather than simply doing as their told by their current leaders, could perhaps end up working together. Unlikely but possible. Stranger things have happened.

This will need a new understanding, that the policies are what they're fighting for, not just any one politician who currently claims, for a few weeks or months while it's convenient, to believe in them.

Both pressure-groups might arguably claim to hold some common policies, while not always agreeing how to achieve them, for example :-

- reduce corruption

- more help & opportunity for the poorer people

- rule of law applies to all, including pu-yais

- get some poorer people as MPs into Parliament

- modify/improve the current Constitution

- more media-freedom

If these policies are seen to be more important, than any one politician or leader, then I could perhaps see former UDD & PAD-members working together at some point in the future. Let's be optimistic about this.

Edited April 30, 200917 yr by Ricardo

For me it doesn’t matter if what color will want to work with what color.

For as long as thais don’t know how to think for the common good for public benefit, it doesn’t make a difference.