On Media Sensationalism, Busting the Hunger Games Bubble, and Perspectives on Oppression

Everyone is talking about Thailand again. It’s a weird thing to get news from outside of the country before you hear about it inside the country. In my last few posts on the takeover by the military Junta I have tried to shed some perspective on the situation, while still maintaining the point that eventually military rule has to end, and the sooner the better. It actually seemed like things were calming down though. From what I’ve saw and heard and read, all the major protests were isolated to Bangkok, I’ve only had one person tell me that there were protests in Chaing Mai, but the military check points increase as you get close to Bangkok, and are almost a non-factor in the North. Added to this, there seem to have been no protests against the Junta, as large as those that occurred before the Junta took power. So what has brought the attention of the west back to Thailand’s, almost traditional at this point, coup? The Huuuuungeeeeer Games! Sorry but I couldn’t help it.

                Articles from Wired, The Global Post, and Amnesty International, have all followed the same trend. Describe a surreal situation in which a salute from a movie has been re-purposed in a mirrored situation. Or at least this is the headline and the first paragraph: a shallow and plastic comparison of the dystopian government from the hit novel turned movie franchise and the actual real life coup. It does make for a good story, too bad it seems to lack any real attempt to educate. The articles largely glide over the small scale of the protests until the third or so paragraph and even then, they are much more interested in the catchy hand signal than a critical look at the issue. I read an article the other day that remarked that Thailand’s coup was systematic of South East Asia’s regression from democracy. It’s not at all. That’s just a good tag line. Thailand is a unique situation. It isn't indicative of anything but Thailand's own particular story. The military says that they took control because the elected government had become incapable of actually governing. This is not an ideal situation, but considers this: people we’re dying in the streets of Bangkok, and there was a non-military organization that was pushing against the government and questioning the validity of the results and the government’s ability to rule. The military did not hand over power to this group. To stop the fighting they took the current leaders from power which silenced the “people’s coup”, that was opposing the government. And everything has been safer now.

Some may causally throw out that Ben Franklin line “those who would sacrifice security for freedom deserve neither”, but think about this. Most people in Chiyaphom don’t care. Most people in Lampong don’t care. Most people in Thailand don’t care. Now if we were talking about the Royal family that would be a different issue. But most people already know that no matter what government is allowed to exist when the military returns the reigns, nothing will change for them. Their lives will continue along, as good or as bad as it was before. So the protests, which mostly interest a higher social class than most of Thailand only brought them the fear that comes with deaths in the street. This is different from Egypt or Burma. In Burma, if you’re Muslim right now, your life could be in danger if you catch the attention of a high ranking monk. So many uncounted atrocities are happening in that country because of the harsh and repressive social order. In Egypt, an equally powerful, but less favorable military has sided with a regressive government that is in many ways worse than the Mubarak regime. But the junta in Thailand is not randomly attacking any one social group, or siding with anyone in particular unfairly. They have taken some unsettling measures, like calling people into camps and making them promise not to speak out against the military, but it isn’t random people. It’s former government officials and others who have enough sway to restart the violence. They are putting peace over freedom (classical liberal freedom), which doesn’t sound good to Americans in particular (I’m not crazy about it myself), but we don’t always get to dictate to another country what is ok and what isn’t. We also shouldn’t sensationalize a real issue in an actual country because its gives us a better news headline. Thailand isn’t one of your thirteen districts. Sorry. 

On a side note, the only time I saw the Three finger salute was when my orientation leader raised it to get us to be quiet so he could give us direction. We laughed. Hopefully no one thought he was making some grand statement.     
Edit: Just want to be clear, my issue is with the sensationalism of media coverage on Thailand, and not any particular group. I hope that doesn't get lost in the post.