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Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

bbc.com

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Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#51

Post by rosser »

AdamN wrote: post #24
nihonde wrote: post #4

The reverence that Thai people have for this King is no joking matter. They take their monarch deadly seriously and it seems fair to let them honor the King as they see fit without a lot of outsiders casually weighing in with half-baked opinions.

I'm American and there are people from all over the world casually weighing in about America on HN. That's totally OK. Let's not have a double standard and let's be free to have opinions about other peoples' royals.

False equivalence. The Thai monarchy and lèse-majesté have far less impact on the global scene than most of the things about the US about which people are weighing in. Someone being prosecuted for stepping on Thai currency is small potatoes compared to ... say, a Trump White House. Or, you know, invasions under false pretenses.

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#52

Post by malnourish »

dhimes wrote: post #48
superfluid wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, just like the rest of the commoners - except for vast wealth (King's wealth est. at $30 billion in 2011, by Forbes) - and except for some hilarious and ridiculous lese majeste laws that they love to enforce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9_in_Thai... (also mentioned by ddeck here)

Indeed. I did some sailboat cruising there this past February and it is a fabulous place (at least the coast is). As I met and talked to the locals I was surprised at how much people loved their king. When I would ask if their king was fair or their government responsive, not only would they answer positively but their faces would light up. They seemed to be genuinely happy with their government. Then I found out abo…

My SO spent a decent amount of time studying in Chiang Mai (she was in Bangkok at the start of the most recent coup), but take this with a a healthy amount of skepticism.

She said many of the Thai people she met wouldn't say negative things about the government (and especially the king) out of fear, likely due to lèse majesté laws.

She said she also noticed strong peer pressure to maintain that status quo. You don't want your neighbor thinking you don't love the king do you?

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#53

Post by throwanem »

AdamN wrote: post #24
nihonde wrote: post #4

The reverence that Thai people have for this King is no joking matter. They take their monarch deadly seriously and it seems fair to let them honor the King as they see fit without a lot of outsiders casually weighing in with half-baked opinions.

I'm American and there are people from all over the world casually weighing in about America on HN. That's totally OK. Let's not have a double standard and let's be free to have opinions about other peoples' royals.

I'm not overfond of ill-considered opinions about the US expressed by those who know little of our country. But I also recognize the reality that the actions of the US are a matter of considerable concern for people who live elsewhere, because we tend to act in ways that reverberate across the planet. The same isn't really true of Thailand, so I don't think the concept of "double standard" applies here.

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#54

Post by [deleted] »

johansch wrote: post #13
todd8 wrote: post #11

His daughter dated my roommate in college. I always thought he was just making it up. She was a very attractive, nice, intelligent woman (they met in Physics class at MIT), but I never believed that she was from the ruling family of Thailand. She never mentioned that her father was a king and never acted any different than the rest of us commoners. One summer, I read about their wedding in the paper. He wasn't BSing…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubolratana_Rajakanya ? "While at MIT she first met Peter Ladd Jensen, whom she later married."

[deleted]

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#55

Post by mdturnerphys »

mhurron wrote: post #25
joshontheweb wrote: post #16

I'm in Thailand at the moment and I'm interested to see how this plays out. This guy is super popular. His picture is on the wall in every business and many homes. Not out of compulsion. They just love the king. I'm sure most places will close for mourning. We have been advised to take out lots of cash and get food sorted as we may not have access for a little while. The bigger question is what is going to happen wit…

> This guy is super popular. ... Not out of compulsion. Making it a crime to criticize the royal family with punishments up to 15 years tends to make it look like uncoerced love.

The Crown Prince isn't nearly as popular, despite the same lèse-majesté laws applying to discussion of him.

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#56

Post by mdturnerphys »

ethbro wrote: post #20
ddeck wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsurprisingly there is no byline on that article. For those unaware, it has been illegal to defame or insult the monarchy for the last 100 years or so under the country's Lèse majesté law, widely used to silence critics. Some notable cases from Wikipedia [1]: 2008, Harry Nicolaides from Melbourne, Australia - Wrote an offending passage in his self-published book Verisimilitude. The book, which sold a mere 7 copies,…

Not being Thai, I won't comment on his effectiveness and I mourn anyone's passing. But it would seem like it's a lot easier to be 'widely loved' when you make it illegal to feel or communicate anything negative.

Double-posting a comment from farther down: The Crown Prince isn't nearly as popular, despite the same lèse-majesté laws applying to discussion of him.

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#57

Post by superfluid »

bebop wrote: post #22
todd8 wrote: post #11

His daughter dated my roommate in college. I always thought he was just making it up. She was a very attractive, nice, intelligent woman (they met in Physics class at MIT), but I never believed that she was from the ruling family of Thailand. She never mentioned that her father was a king and never acted any different than the rest of us commoners. One summer, I read about their wedding in the paper. He wasn't BSing…

My wife is friends with her daughter Mia. Really nice people, down to earth for being the direct descendants of a royal family.

It's relatively easy to be considered nice when there are strict laws forbidding anyone from saying anything to the contrary.

Given media control in Thailand, there's no doubt plenty of incentive leading those in the media to go out of their way to praise the royal family (deserved or not).

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#58

Post by superfluid »

dhimes wrote: post #48
superfluid wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, just like the rest of the commoners - except for vast wealth (King's wealth est. at $30 billion in 2011, by Forbes) - and except for some hilarious and ridiculous lese majeste laws that they love to enforce: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9_in_Thai... (also mentioned by ddeck here)

Indeed. I did some sailboat cruising there this past February and it is a fabulous place (at least the coast is). As I met and talked to the locals I was surprised at how much people loved their king. When I would ask if their king was fair or their government responsive, not only would they answer positively but their faces would light up. They seemed to be genuinely happy with their government. Then I found out abo…

I have no doubt that many or most do actually love their former king.

The problem is that it's probably not well-founded, given the laws you mentioned ensure virtually all media coverage of the king & royals is never less than glowing.

(Analogy coming to mind is North Koreans shedding true tears for their former leader.)

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#59

Post by vacri »

kafkaesq wrote: post #7

According to the FT ("King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, 1927-2016"): "Bhumibol Adulyadej ... chose not to condemn the 1976 massacre at Bangkok's Thammasat University of dozens of pro-democracy protesters ..." Time Magazine: "Thailand Bids Farewell to Beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej", regarding said events: In early October of that year, demonstrations convulsed Bangkok in response to the arrest of prominent studen…

> apparently safe enough for the U.S. to consider Thailand among its staunchest asian allies for the past several decades

Maybe the US found a friend, given that its military also killed college students in the same era; students using their democratic right to protest?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

Re: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Dies at 88

#60

Post by clock_tower »

truth_sentinell wrote: post #12

Can't believe there are still monarchs in 2016. Definitely there are millions of people living in 1500. Abolish monarchy!!!

Consider that people instinctively believe that the top of the government -- or at least the head of their tribe -- is more or less blameless. ("The good Tsar" and all that.) With a king or queen with limited powers, that halo lands somewhere where it can't do much harm; the head of state has limited powers, and the head of government (Prime Minister, Chancellor, etc.) can be justly evaluated, and despised if necessary. But if you have a president, dictator, unconstitutional monarch, or the like, the halo attaches to them, and it can do a lot of damage; have you tried talking with a devout Republican about Guantanamo Bay lately?
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