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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

by nihonde 10y ago

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.

oldmanjay 10y ago
Many of us don't limit ourselves based on how seriously others take things, and we don't really have or need a reason. It's just as fair as considering royalty to be sacred.
- nihonde 10y ago
  I don't have a high regard for monarchies in general. I'll talk all day about what an insulting waste of time and money the U.K. monarchy is. It's not about your freedom to say what you want -- it's about respecting the views of others and acknowledging that your casual opinion might be very hurtful to other people who are free to hold their own views.
AdamN 10y ago
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.
- bruceb 10y ago
  I don't disagree but it must be noted that most HN have high level of English while I doubt all but a few that are not Thai have Thai language skills. There are a ton of US news sources while there is less reporting on Thailand and it is hard to get nuance when you don't speak the language. Even people who are native English speakers but are not from the US don't understand politics in the US.
- rosser 10y ago
  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.
  - oldmanjay 10y ago
    You slaughtered the equivalences no one made but failed to demonstrate your ostensible point entirely.
    - rosser 10y ago
      Please do both of us a favor and never reply to me again. Given every exchange we've ever had, it's clear we see the world from such fundamentally incompatible premises that dialog is not possible. That being the case, any further engagement is clearly meant to antagonize.
- throwanem 10y ago
  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.
  - oldmanjay 10y ago
    Why do the actions of the country in question have anything to do with it? Do we truly need affirmative action for royalty now?
    - throwanem 10y ago
      No. We need to mind our business and not everyone else's. Part of that is not talking nonsense about the system of rule employed by a sovereign nation other than our own - a system of rule with which we have no experience, of which we have no understanding, and against which our national mythos gives us by default to hold a certain degree of prejudice which hampers understanding instead of aiding it.
- nihonde 10y ago
  No one is curtailing your right to say what you want. My original point was to educate people about how deeply Thai people feel about their King. It's not just the threat of prison time at work--it's serious business in that part of the world and if you're not a troll, you may want to play nice with people.
- jburgess777 10y ago
  To frame things in a UK context, which seems more similar to the Thailand situation then the USA. The monarchy is (almost) completely separate from the political system. While many people might debate the pros and cons of the Conservatives versus Labour, UKIP or liberal democrats, very few question the role of Queen Elizabeth II. In the UK, the monarch has the the right to veto legislation passed through the parliament but this right is rarely exercised. This is quite different to the US system where the president is ultimately in charge and has to fight for re-election every few years. It sounds like the monarchy in Thailand has strived to maintain stability for the people in spite of an unstable political environment. This might explain why the people continue to believe in the monarchy in Thailand in a way which seems alien to anyone in the USA.
hx87 10y ago
Not insulting the king while in Thailand or on Thai sites sounds fair enough, but it shouldn't apply to those of us in the rest of the world. Just as US laws and norms shouldn't apply outside of the US, Thai norms and laws should not apply outside of Thailand.
- rodgerd 10y ago
  > but it shouldn't apply to those of us in the rest of the world Well, unless you get pulled off a flight that turns out to connect through Thailand and go to jail.

by nihonde 10y ago

oldmanjay 10y ago

Many of us don't limit ourselves based on how seriously others take things, and we don't really have or need a reason. It's just as fair as considering royalty to be sacred.

nihonde 10y ago
I don't have a high regard for monarchies in general. I'll talk all day about what an insulting waste of time and money the U.K. monarchy is. It's not about your freedom to say what you want -- it's about respecting the views of others and acknowledging that your casual opinion might be very hurtful to other people who are free to hold their own views.

AdamN 10y ago

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.

bruceb 10y ago
I don't disagree but it must be noted that most HN have high level of English while I doubt all but a few that are not Thai have Thai language skills. There are a ton of US news sources while there is less reporting on Thailand and it is hard to get nuance when you don't speak the language. Even people who are native English speakers but are not from the US don't understand politics in the US.
rosser 10y ago
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.
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  You slaughtered the equivalences no one made but failed to demonstrate your ostensible point entirely.
  - rosser 10y ago
    Please do both of us a favor and never reply to me again. Given every exchange we've ever had, it's clear we see the world from such fundamentally incompatible premises that dialog is not possible. That being the case, any further engagement is clearly meant to antagonize.
throwanem 10y ago
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.
- oldmanjay 10y ago
  Why do the actions of the country in question have anything to do with it? Do we truly need affirmative action for royalty now?
  - throwanem 10y ago
    No. We need to mind our business and not everyone else's. Part of that is not talking nonsense about the system of rule employed by a sovereign nation other than our own - a system of rule with which we have no experience, of which we have no understanding, and against which our national mythos gives us by default to hold a certain degree of prejudice which hampers understanding instead of aiding it.
nihonde 10y ago
No one is curtailing your right to say what you want. My original point was to educate people about how deeply Thai people feel about their King. It's not just the threat of prison time at work--it's serious business in that part of the world and if you're not a troll, you may want to play nice with people.
jburgess777 10y ago
To frame things in a UK context, which seems more similar to the Thailand situation then the USA. The monarchy is (almost) completely separate from the political system. While many people might debate the pros and cons of the Conservatives versus Labour, UKIP or liberal democrats, very few question the role of Queen Elizabeth II. In the UK, the monarch has the the right to veto legislation passed through the parliament but this right is rarely exercised. This is quite different to the US system where the president is ultimately in charge and has to fight for re-election every few years. It sounds like the monarchy in Thailand has strived to maintain stability for the people in spite of an unstable political environment. This might explain why the people continue to believe in the monarchy in Thailand in a way which seems alien to anyone in the USA.

hx87 10y ago

Not insulting the king while in Thailand or on Thai sites sounds fair enough, but it shouldn't apply to those of us in the rest of the world. Just as US laws and norms shouldn't apply outside of the US, Thai norms and laws should not apply outside of Thailand.

rodgerd 10y ago
> but it shouldn't apply to those of us in the rest of the world Well, unless you get pulled off a flight that turns out to connect through Thailand and go to jail.