Thai social media becomes tool for rival viewpoints

[webfact]

POLITICS
Social media becomes tool for rival viewpoints
ASINA PORNWASIN
THE NATION

Shutdown campaign hot topic with each side pushing their opinions

Da Dee Da (Facebook name) said she was not against the PDRC Shutdown campaign but she might not join the march.

Phongsak Kowatcharakul would go to work as usual then join the march after work.

Nook Nick, Vorapa Tkul, and Anna Nattaya are preparing things before the day of the Bangkok Shutdown, because they plan to join the march with necessary items such as whistle, cap, shoes, mask and glasses.

Sutee Tuvirat said the beauty of this situation was that it would test the readiness of the country's national disaster plan, as well as the national critical infrastructure protection programme. "We will know exactly that we don't have a realistic plan if an unrealistic plan is only written on paper. We lie to ourselves that we have business continuity planning," Sutee said.

He said the effects of closing roads might not occur in inner areas of Bangkok. But people living in these areas might face trouble with food because 7-Eleven branches and other convenience stores would not get supplies if the traffic was closed.

"Food shops and hospitals in these areas might keep larger stocks than usual," Sutee said.

Taveeracht Tangchantrongkul said that he would live as usual and wait to go to vote in the election.

"If you think you are the majority and would like to express your power, please choose the right way to show your power.

Ask yourself, who will be in trouble and suffer from this campaign and who will really win," Taveeracht said.

Putchong Uthayopas will also go to work as usual. As a state official, he said he needed to keep working, as it was his duty and responsibility.


-- The Nation 2014-01-06

[EricBerg]

Social media like Facebook enabled to a large extent the Arabian spring. A totalitarian state can no longer control massmedia. And that is a good thing. The various opinions and experiences like pics of the protests will only help the democratic process. When a state controlled tv station says there are 500 protesters outside and pictures of thousands at the same spot can be seen in Instagram, Facebook and others. Communication eventually does good work.

[Yunla]

Re; Arab spring etc. it often brought in new dictators and feudal warlords which were far worse than previous leaders which the "spring" removed. Also many involvements of external non-spring corporate agencies pushing the springs forward, so that it would be easier to asset strip the nations after they collapse.

Also, corrupt bodies in the global Intel Community use google/FB/twitter etc. and some would say they have a high position within those companies too. If you can assume that the darker aspects of deep-state Intel are active in the military and politics (which history has proven continuously) then you would be a fool to assume the same forces are not at work in the media too.

Social media, which can be used as a tool, is also a huge distraction. You could write a long and world-changing novel, instead of updating your FB/tweets every day for a few years. The novel might be absolutely incredible. But it remains unwritten if you are busy multimedia-ing.

Also the real power of political decisionmaking will never be made in tweets and FB, it will always be at State-Level. So reforms must be made by responsible people at that level. Until those people exist, you can tweet all you want and it won't do anything.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Yunla