A post over at Connecting the Dots makes a case that Thaksin’s resounding rebuke by the United States is causing him to shift tactics. Red Shirt supporters might not like CtD’s tone about Thaksin but he seems to have the same harsh criticism across all Thai political parties. Mainly I think it comes down to what he says here about Thaksin:
Thaksin is no doubt finding out that the rest of the world is not as gullible and easily lead astray as his lesser educated Thai supporters. Hearing him try to explain things away to educated people from other countries using the same words and reasoning as he does with his Thai supporters is sadly amusing. For the most part he can not even produce the illusion of telling the truth never mind seeding doubt in the actions of the people he sees as his enemies.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that this is pretty much the state of politics in Thailand in general. Sure, we have our politicians who lie, cheat, and steal too but at least they usually go to the trouble to provide a believable alibi. In Thailand it seems that from police officers to politicians there isn’t even a need to offer a semi-convincing cover story.
Actually, it’s very much an experience one sees even in their day to day life in Thailand. I love the Thai people but they’re horrible, horrible liars. By that I mean that because of many of the social taboos in Thai culture people aren’t used to being called out on a lie so they don’t put much effort into it. Conversely, in most Western cultures it’s not only acceptable to point out flaws in someone’s story but in many cases you have an duty to do so. That means we develop airtight stories before we tell a lie. We think through all the possible angles, questions we might be asked, and so on.
That is why for many Westerners reading the daily Thai paper requires the same sort of suspension of disbelief as does watching a cartoon. Reporters just report. They don’t seem to ask hard hitting questions or probe too much. If some MP explains tells reporters that he got a sunburn from walking on the beach at night they report that. Nobody questions it. The truly gullible start covering up at night for fear they’ll get dark skin from the moon.
And as CtD points out, Thaksin is finding out the hard way that many of his arguments don’t hold up to Western scrutiny.
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