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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 h

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 with the junta now?

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mhurron 10y ago
> 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.
- abhia 10y ago
  To note: that's not from the royal Thai family, but from the policing structures in Thailand.
  - dmix 10y ago
    And a popular policy for the ruling class at that. I'd imagine it'd be tough for the king to change that law. He spoke out against it previously in 2005 but only to say that "the king can be wrong".. therefore people can say he is wrong in public. It's still being enforced often despite that comment.
  - deleted 10y ago
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- dageshi 10y ago
  Thailand in a sense is a very divided country, the one thing that the majorities on either sides could agree on was their respect for the king. They called him a "stabilising force" for precisely that reason, the huge majority of Thai's genuinely loved and respected the man if for no other reason than he was a public figure who'd been around before most of them were born and whom was mostly above the kind of day to day dirty politics that lead Thailand to be in an endless cycle of elected government followed by coup.
- joshontheweb 10y ago
  This is all just based on my personal experience talking to people. I started asking about him because the pictures were everywhere. Maybe I was fooled but it sure seemed like they liked him and had good things to say. Not that they were fearfully trying to avoid speaking ill of the king. Is there a law requiring them to hang his picture? I don't think I've been in a single thai owned business that didn't have him hanging on the wall.
  - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
    You grow up in a nation where from childbirth you're taught its taboo to criticize the ruler - that's consistent with everybody having good things to say; everybody hanging the picture. It becomes second nature.
  - kimsk112 10y ago
    There is no such law requiring them to hang his picture. Many Thai restaurants in US also have his picture hanged.
  - dhimes 10y ago
    I feel the same way and made the comment up-thread. I was only visiting for ten days though. Coming from the US it's hard to imagine any current ruler being as well liked as this guy.
- mdturnerphys 10y ago
  The Crown Prince isn't nearly as popular, despite the same lèse-majesté laws applying to discussion of him.
rasz_pl 10y ago
Yes, my people also _loved_ Stalin under Russian occupation.

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mhurron 10y ago

> 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.

abhia 10y ago
To note: that's not from the royal Thai family, but from the policing structures in Thailand.
- dmix 10y ago
  And a popular policy for the ruling class at that. I'd imagine it'd be tough for the king to change that law. He spoke out against it previously in 2005 but only to say that "the king can be wrong".. therefore people can say he is wrong in public. It's still being enforced often despite that comment.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
dageshi 10y ago
Thailand in a sense is a very divided country, the one thing that the majorities on either sides could agree on was their respect for the king. They called him a "stabilising force" for precisely that reason, the huge majority of Thai's genuinely loved and respected the man if for no other reason than he was a public figure who'd been around before most of them were born and whom was mostly above the kind of day to day dirty politics that lead Thailand to be in an endless cycle of elected government followed by coup.
joshontheweb 10y ago
This is all just based on my personal experience talking to people. I started asking about him because the pictures were everywhere. Maybe I was fooled but it sure seemed like they liked him and had good things to say. Not that they were fearfully trying to avoid speaking ill of the king. Is there a law requiring them to hang his picture? I don't think I've been in a single thai owned business that didn't have him hanging on the wall.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  You grow up in a nation where from childbirth you're taught its taboo to criticize the ruler - that's consistent with everybody having good things to say; everybody hanging the picture. It becomes second nature.
- kimsk112 10y ago
  There is no such law requiring them to hang his picture. Many Thai restaurants in US also have his picture hanged.
- dhimes 10y ago
  I feel the same way and made the comment up-thread. I was only visiting for ten days though. Coming from the US it's hard to imagine any current ruler being as well liked as this guy.
mdturnerphys 10y ago
The Crown Prince isn't nearly as popular, despite the same lèse-majesté laws applying to discussion of him.

rasz_pl 10y ago

Yes, my people also _loved_ Stalin under Russian occupation.