Beauty and brains: Thai social media debates - who is the fairest of them all?

[webfact]

Social media debates - who is the fairest of them all?
Asina Pornwasin
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Comments were flying across social media yesterday on the issue of beauty and brains in relation to female members of Parliament, particularly Pheu Thai MP Khattiya Sawatdiphol and Democrat MP Nattaya Benjasiriwan.

After the House-Senate joint meeting deliberating constitutional amendments on Tuesday, Pheu Thai MP Khattiya was heard saying she was younger and more beautiful than Democrat MP Nattaya.

There was much comparison of the two women's photographs over the years labelled "before" and "after". The posts drew a lot of comments and were published in many mainstream media websites like Tnews, Naewna and ASTV Manager.

There are still a lot of "Shares" and "Likes" on this topic on Facebook and Pantip.com. It seems there are two different tones in the comments flying over social media, too. Messages and comments from people who support the government usually complain about a scream from a woman Democrat MP yesterday, which they said was not good social etiquette, especially in Parliament.

As for social-media users against the government - their tone and mood was quite the reverse. A lot of them complained that Khattiya's behaviour in Parliament yesterday was rude, especially when she said the scream was like the sound of gibbons and made her feel as if she was in a zoo rather than in Parliament.

Still, most of the comments on social media and the online community focused on Khattiya's beauty, with many people agreeing with Nattaya's comment that women should be valued more for their brains than beauty.

Many also said the Democrat MP was much better looking than her Pheu Thai counterpart, digging out old photographs of Khattiya to show how she looked in the past.


-- The Nation 2013-08-22

[MaxLee]

The women in Parliament are just looking up to Yingluck, who sets a perfect example of avoiding responsibility to travel abroad and let other MP's take the blame

[RickBradford]

.... made her feel as if she was in a zoo rather than in Parliament.

Even a blind pig finds an acorn occasionally....

[noitom]

The newspaper should be analyzing their contribution to the public good and the Thai people rather than the superficial issue of their appearance. Thais are preoccupied with appearance and consider achievement a very low benchmark. I thought Khattiya Sawatdiphol was the assasinated leader of the red shirts general Sa Daeng.

[jaltsc]

TIT. It's obvious that it is all about appearances, face and greed. Substance and efficiency don't factor into the running of the nation. The only difference in the west is that they hide it better (at least they did before the Euro debacle) and once in a while actually make progress in the living conditions of their populaces.

[canman]

This story is pointless without pictures

[RickBradford]

In the Red corner, Khattiya (Seh Daeng's daughter)

http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2_%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%9C%E0%B8%A5

Her nickname is 'Dear', though whether that refers to her personality or a high-maintenance lifestyle, is not specified.

and in the blue corner, Nattaya http://mp.parliament.go.th/biographical24/FrontWeb/Human_Resource/PersonDetail_Eng.aspx?Iden=a3Gy/s7rR+SBc0V+DcrGUA==

[canman]

Thanks Rick, going with Khattiya as the best looking. As far as brains go who knows? They are all post turtles anyway.

[Tatsujin]

In the Red corner, Khattiya (Seh Daeng's daughter)

http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%82%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2_%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%9C%E0%B8%A5

Her nickname is 'Dear', though whether that refers to her personality or a high-maintenance lifestyle, is not specified.

and in the blue corner, Nattaya http://mp.parliament.go.th/biographical24/FrontWeb/Human_Resource/PersonDetail_Eng.aspx?Iden=a3Gy/s7rR+SBc0V+DcrGUA==

I'm going with the high-maintenance . . .

[arthurboy]

Utter gibberish.

Make a soap opera about it.

Oops, too late. It's already here as, 'My Self Serving Career: How my connections and unusual wealth got me into Thai politics and a go at the trough.'

Or, as it's known in other circles, 'What an absolute crock of sh*t'.

[canman]

Politicians are mostly post turtles

When you are driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top of it; that’s a post turtle.

You know he didn’t get there by himself

He doesn’t belong up there

He doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there

He is elevated above his ability to function

And you just have to wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with

[NongKhaiKid]

Utter gibberish.

Make a soap opera about it.

Oops, too late. It's already here as, 'My Self Serving Career: How my connections and unusual wealth got me into Thai politics and a go at the trough.'

Or, as it's known in other circles, 'What an absolute crock of sh*t'.

Does this not typify this country and those supposedly running it ? The Hose descends into chaos, the economy is heading down the toilet, the government throws good money after bad and so much more yet all 2 female MPs are concerned about is which one is more attractive.

Than it does a newspaper article.

[trainman34014]

The red is just another egg faced clone. Blue is better but only just, looks more mature and sophisticated; also more intelligent as she knows brains are more important than beauty....a fact which is lost on a lot of men too unfortunately.

Zoo, Circus, Farmyard; describe Thai Parliament how you like.....it's the right environment for the screaming pigs at the trough.

[ratcatcher]

Tough choices indeed.

[canman]

She looks cute here

[A1Str8]

The women in Parliament are just looking up to Yingluck, who sets a perfect example of avoiding responsibility to travel abroad and let other MP's take the blame

Lmfao, yes thats definitely true.

Besides that Ying is a perfect ten as a politican..she does what she is told..epic dummy

[A1Str8]

Politicians are mostly post turtles

When you are driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top of it; that’s a post turtle.

You know he didn’t get there by himself

He doesn’t belong up there

He doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there

He is elevated above his ability to function

And you just have to wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with

Wish i could like this on a daily basis as its so true.

[noitom]

Politicians are mostly post turtles

When you are driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top of it; that’s a post turtle.

You know he didn’t get there by himself

He doesn’t belong up there

He doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there

He is elevated above his ability to function

And you just have to wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with

Excellent!

[arthurboy]

nat.jpegKat.jpgfifi.jpeg

Tough choices indeed.

Big noisy guffaw. Many thanks.

[Soutpeel]

nat.jpegKat.jpgfifi.jpeg

Tough choices indeed.

The blonde gets my vote

[Bagwan]

She looks cute here

A sugar coated pill. What is inside is probably harmful.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Amid everything going on in the country, I'm really glad The Nation is devoting its "journalistic" resources to bring all its readers these kinds of insightful reports.

BTW, I vote for the poodle.

[britinthai]

nat.jpegKat.jpgfifi.jpeg

Tough choices indeed.

And the winner of Thailand's Cruft is ?

[Nooky2]

Does anyone really care? I don't.

[animatic]

More Bread and Circuses

to distract the common Plebs from what the Patricians are up to.

In this case it is more Bread and Puppet Circus.