How to wean yourself off the drug of partisan politics: Thai politics

[webfact]

BURNING ISSUE
How to wean yourself off the drug of partisan politics
Pravit Rojanaphruk

Dear readers, are you suffering from any of the following symptoms?

l You find it impossible to resist consuming partisan political news many times, every day.

l You are anxious about what Suthep Thaugsuban, leader of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), will say this evening on a rally stage, or what caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her older brother, ousted and fugitive former premier Thaksin, will say or do today.

l You hate people who are in the opposite political camp and primarily identify yourself on social media through your political allegiance or hatred - and "unfriend" others on Facebook for political reasons.

l You feel you share more in common with fellow protesters or political movement members than your old friends from school, siblings or even parents.

l You spend more time following politics than updating yourself on what is happening to your friends and family members.

l You glorify one of these people: Thaksin, Yingluck, Suthep and his patrons, and can't bear anyone criticising your political idol.

l The mere uttering of names like Suthep, Thaksin or Yingluck makes you feel very upset and emotional.

l You enjoy using expletives, and misogynistic or homophobic expressions, to attack your political opponents on social media sites.

If you have many or all of the above symptoms, you might well be suffering from political-conflict addiction.

Many Thais have become addicted to politics over the past eight years or more to the point where politics has become the most important aspect of their lives. Many from both camps literally sleep rough on the streets for months and are bamboozled by one-sided information, aka propaganda.

This is unhealthy and can't be good for them or for Thailand. What they need is to detox themselves from such addiction.

People should not be consumed by adversarial politics to the point where their lives revolve primarily around political conflict. There's more to life than political conflict and political hate speech and becoming a pawn in part of what increasingly seems like a political reality show, where leaders from both sides enjoy dramatising the conflict at the expense of the country.

In a way, it's like those people are suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction. And Thai politics is a nasty type of addiction full of vendettas and "my way or the highway" attitudes.

What we need is for these people to be weaned off such addiction. For a start, they could try to not consume any political news on Sundays. Some may suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, developing insomnia or even depression - but this would be good for them and Thailand because they'd start to see things from a more detached perspective and hopefully start questioning their addiction and "political substance abuse".

Next, they could try to build their "tolerance" for differing opinions or even embrace them by earnestly reading or listening to criticism of their political idols and their respective movements.

If successful, people would become more open-minded and begin to see that all is not a black-and-white struggle. Each side needs introspection and that we need not burn down Thai society in order to bring about political change.

This addiction may not have a proper psychological name yet, but let us not waste time. Let's earnestly detox ourselves before Thailand ends up a nation of political junkies.

Or is it already too late and too hopeless?


-- The Nation 2014-02-19

[timewilltell]

Simple just use your brain and open your eyes. It is a pity the Members of Parliament of the last session didn't use their brains other than for their own selfish ends. That includes all of them!

[chainarong]

Red neck true believers are a pain in the arse in any country, with politician's I have found that all are mostly there for one reason, some like the lime light, some do what they said they where going to do, most run into a type of brick walls and don't do anything, some reap the rewards after politics, what I am saying , they are not worth the effort, they will let you down , case in point in Thailand the rice payments , I remember back in the sixties "the times are a changing" the only change was Bob Dylan's bank account.

[Thai at Heart]

Realise that all thai politicians are bent and all the media is partisan.

Trust no one....

[focus27]

Dear Mr Pravit, I sincerely hope you don't mind being patronized, as you seem to enjoy dishing it out.

The word is "politicomania" - please buy yourself a dictionary or... you know, there's an interesting site called Google.

Have a nice day.

[coma]

Stop watching the various Thai News TV stations would be a good place to start weaning one's self of Thai politics.

[Donnie Brasco]

Here's an observation.

Thais show more interest in Thai politics than most foreigners show in Western politics.

Thais of all classes appear more engaged with the problems their own country faces than Western people do.

The idiot diversions of televised sport, the entertainment television franchises and celebrity gossip do not affect this engagement to the extent that political engagement is obfuscated, misdirected and diluted in the Old Country.

This might be worth some consideration.

And in regards to the degree of corruption in play in our respective jurisdiction . . . . . hey . . . . fuggedabowdit.

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

Edited February 19, 2014 by Donnie Brasco

[ChrisY1]

Stupid article in my opinion...immature journalism!

[noitom]

Thais should try reading a book in their lives. Something about Thai history so they at least know something about themselves.

[tomyummer]

Dear Mr Pravit, I sincerely hope you don't mind being patronized, as you seem to enjoy dishing it out.

The word is "politicomania" - please buy yourself a dictionary or... you know, there's an interesting site called Google.

Have a nice day.

But please don't use Google Translate!

[noitom]

Thais should try understanding the facts and hold the Thai press up to higher standards first.

[Rob8891]

Ha...the irony of the responses. ?

If the author were a fisherman, he'd be chuffed with so many bites..Time to pick up the toys round your prams, folks...and if you can't wean yourselves off squabbling, learn to use the OFF button. ?