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Southeast Asia is a really interesting case study for me when it comes to political ideals vs. optimizing for life situations. There's a growing creep of author
by EternalData 9y ago
Southeast Asia is a really interesting case study for me when it comes to political ideals vs. optimizing for life situations. There's a growing creep of authoritarianism in different nations -- given what we know of the military regime in Thailand and their propensity to arrest people for expression, it would be somewhat ironic to preach for the "open Internet" while living there. The tradeoff, of course, is much lower costs, higher security as others have pointed out. But I do wonder about the greater costs involved -- those perhaps not weighed on foreign workers, of accepting that this is the way things happen to be there.
- kawera 9y agoRelated: http://thediplomat.com/2017/08/beware-the-war-against-aseans-atheists/ http://thediplomat.com/2017/08/beware-the-war-against-aseans...
- drawnwren 9y agoThis is certainly a very real part of living in Thailand. There are certain subjects (i.e. the monarchy and Buddhism) that you can not be negative about. It's possible that you could be arrested if you are overheard speaking negatively about these things. Practically, this isn't an issue. You are as likely to talk about the Thai Monarchy and Buddhism as you are here in America. That said, it is certainly surreal when a conversation veers that direction and it the group collectively realizes they need to stop talking about that for fear of imprisonment.
- dmix 9y ago> There's a growing creep of authoritarianism in different nations This seems to be a phenomenon in the vast majority of modern states... the only solace is finding the one's where they are so dysfunctional that in practice they aren't as all consuming to as their mandate allows. Which seems to be more the case in China/SE Asia than most western states.