What you describe is a myth a rather dangerous one which concludes the mundane profane base aspects of this fake cosmic murderous king. Bumipols power was and those using it still was all too this worldly : money expropriated from the people and support of right wing anti communism and anti Muslim massacres. I expect more than this emic dribble from SOAS…
Thailand as a country will be a disappointment to the outside world. There will be corruption and a lot of fighting. I pity the Thais. As people they are so nice.
maybe you have forgotten that he is dead…..
and i´m sorry to have to say that he hadn´t been a good king
– He is responsible for the fact that Thailand could never become a real democracy
– he had been the king who signed the most constitutions worldwide,
– He was the king who had allowed and endorsed so many military coups
-He was the king who allowed the military to govern a “democratic country more than 66% if his reign
– He was the king who was responsible for the thammasat massacre
– He was the king who was responsible for the 4 innocent die for the death of his brother
– Most likely he was also responsible for the death of his brother
– he preached insufficiency and gathered the largest royale asset
etc. etc.etc…..
The narrative is now over. And Isaarn will likely secede to join their republican phi nong cousins in the Lao PDR. I don’t see much mourning for Bumiphol – or the death of his Thai State – in Isaarn, currently.
Better living through autocracy – yes : and I posted on update to this, on another NM thread. I applaud the Thai authorities efforts to contain vigilantism. If it spreads into clan versus clan, family versus family, then especially in Isarn and Lanna, there is the very real danger of it erupting into civil war. We should ALL respect Bumiphol’s wish to avoid this. Indeed His Majesty’s very hard work, over decades, to reconcile such conflict.
Powerful analysis: clear, succinct, incisive. The type of thinking that gets one killed or in jail in Thailand – as the author has already discovered. And not just Thailand: that seems to be becoming the global norm as well.
[…] Yet a controversy has recently erupted about western commentators’ rosy coverage of Bhumibol’s r… This includes support of right-wing royalist death squads that executed student demonstrators in the name of anti-Communism in the 1970s. Indeed, much of Bhumibol’s popularity was the product of a state-enforced cult of personality. This perhaps points to broader problems regarding how western academia and journalism treats authoritarian regimes in Asia. In the case of Thailand, part of western media’s failure to call out Bhumibol’s complicity with military regimes was because it allowed itself to be seduced by Bhumibol’s personality cult and was too unquestioning of the narratives fed to it by the state. […]
Nation-states can reach the end of the historical process without establishing capitalist liberal democracies, which Fukuyama mistakenly thought was necessary. The end of that process arrives when a nation-state integrates its economy effectively into the production and trade networks of global capitalism.
Our two authors are heirs to a distinguished Italian legacy of economic analysis in which Vilfedo Pareto, Piero Sraffa and Franco Modigliani ( the economist, not the painter of long-necked women) were but a few of the outstanding talents, along with statistician Carrado Gini, inventor of the Gini coefficient.
In view of this rich legacy, one might have expected a broader approach. But the authors’ ‘dark side’ in this post has nothing to do with issues such as landlessness, inequalities of wealth, over-urbanisation, environmental damage or pollution, let alone the Gini coefficient. They are silent on the impact that integration into global capitalist networks has had on these fronts in Vietnam. They apparently raise the question of corruption solely because it is an obstacle to closer integration, not because of any doubts about the achievement of some kind of social justice.
Yet millions of Vietnamese died before the communist party could first unite the country and then press on towards its second historic task, global economic integration.
He’s dead. You put all your eggs in one basket, and, inevitably, the bottom has rotted out of it.
The Thai state is founded on folly of monumental scale. That millions of adults should fall for all this guff is an indictment of the Thai education system. It is above all an indictment of the authoritarian state. The behavioral explanation for all this nonsense is that it is a neurotic response that has evolved as an escape from punishment.
Well said that person. There are surely by now umpteen hundred thousand studies from around the globe that show a negative correlation between level of education and belief in anything.
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The return of the divine king
*Occludes not concludes. This moralism and postmodern relativism needs challenging
Mourning and the Thai interregnum
In Thailand, Theravada Buddhism is the main tradition. Bodhisattva is a Mahayana concept. Misplaced reference by the author.
The return of the divine king
An anthropologically Christian imagined reading of events in Thailand.
The return of the divine king
What you describe is a myth a rather dangerous one which concludes the mundane profane base aspects of this fake cosmic murderous king. Bumipols power was and those using it still was all too this worldly : money expropriated from the people and support of right wing anti communism and anti Muslim massacres. I expect more than this emic dribble from SOAS…
Thailand’s law of the mob
Thailand as a country will be a disappointment to the outside world. There will be corruption and a lot of fighting. I pity the Thais. As people they are so nice.
Mourning and the Thai interregnum
maybe you have forgotten that he is dead…..
and i´m sorry to have to say that he hadn´t been a good king
– He is responsible for the fact that Thailand could never become a real democracy
– he had been the king who signed the most constitutions worldwide,
– He was the king who had allowed and endorsed so many military coups
-He was the king who allowed the military to govern a “democratic country more than 66% if his reign
– He was the king who was responsible for the thammasat massacre
– He was the king who was responsible for the 4 innocent die for the death of his brother
– Most likely he was also responsible for the death of his brother
– he preached insufficiency and gathered the largest royale asset
etc. etc.etc…..
Thailand’s law of the mob
The powers that be are too afraid of the break-up of, eg.Thailand. But, in today’s globalised world, THIS – and much else, IS happening.
The spectre of succession
There are now SO MANY ways Isaarn CAN SECEDE. Eg. as the Thais fight over their succession, it opens up enormous opportunities to arm Isaarn.
The myth of King Bhumibol
The narrative is now over. And Isaarn will likely secede to join their republican phi nong cousins in the Lao PDR. I don’t see much mourning for Bumiphol – or the death of his Thai State – in Isaarn, currently.
Thailand’s law of the mob
Better living through autocracy – yes : and I posted on update to this, on another NM thread. I applaud the Thai authorities efforts to contain vigilantism. If it spreads into clan versus clan, family versus family, then especially in Isarn and Lanna, there is the very real danger of it erupting into civil war. We should ALL respect Bumiphol’s wish to avoid this. Indeed His Majesty’s very hard work, over decades, to reconcile such conflict.
The cult of a dead king
Powerful analysis: clear, succinct, incisive. The type of thinking that gets one killed or in jail in Thailand – as the author has already discovered. And not just Thailand: that seems to be becoming the global norm as well.
Welcome to Planet Exile.
Thailand’s law of the mob
Narisara Viwatchara’s excellent post on this site, “The cult of a dead king”, lists a mob assault in Chonburi, and another in Bangkok.
The myth of King Bhumibol
[…] Yet a controversy has recently erupted about western commentators’ rosy coverage of Bhumibol’s r… This includes support of right-wing royalist death squads that executed student demonstrators in the name of anti-Communism in the 1970s. Indeed, much of Bhumibol’s popularity was the product of a state-enforced cult of personality. This perhaps points to broader problems regarding how western academia and journalism treats authoritarian regimes in Asia. In the case of Thailand, part of western media’s failure to call out Bhumibol’s complicity with military regimes was because it allowed itself to be seduced by Bhumibol’s personality cult and was too unquestioning of the narratives fed to it by the state. […]
Gains and pain as Vietnam goes global
Francis Fukuyama misconstrued the End of History.
Nation-states can reach the end of the historical process without establishing capitalist liberal democracies, which Fukuyama mistakenly thought was necessary. The end of that process arrives when a nation-state integrates its economy effectively into the production and trade networks of global capitalism.
Our two authors are heirs to a distinguished Italian legacy of economic analysis in which Vilfedo Pareto, Piero Sraffa and Franco Modigliani ( the economist, not the painter of long-necked women) were but a few of the outstanding talents, along with statistician Carrado Gini, inventor of the Gini coefficient.
In view of this rich legacy, one might have expected a broader approach. But the authors’ ‘dark side’ in this post has nothing to do with issues such as landlessness, inequalities of wealth, over-urbanisation, environmental damage or pollution, let alone the Gini coefficient. They are silent on the impact that integration into global capitalist networks has had on these fronts in Vietnam. They apparently raise the question of corruption solely because it is an obstacle to closer integration, not because of any doubts about the achievement of some kind of social justice.
Yet millions of Vietnamese died before the communist party could first unite the country and then press on towards its second historic task, global economic integration.
Mourning and the Thai interregnum
He’s dead. You put all your eggs in one basket, and, inevitably, the bottom has rotted out of it.
The Thai state is founded on folly of monumental scale. That millions of adults should fall for all this guff is an indictment of the Thai education system. It is above all an indictment of the authoritarian state. The behavioral explanation for all this nonsense is that it is a neurotic response that has evolved as an escape from punishment.
Mourning and the Thai interregnum
Brilliant work again, Christine. Thank you.
A crown prince and German affairs
Well said that person. There are surely by now umpteen hundred thousand studies from around the globe that show a negative correlation between level of education and belief in anything.
Mourning and the Thai interregnum
Thank you. We are 30 years behind in actual research.
Mourning and the Thai interregnum
Yes, this is a brilliant piece of writing
The myth of King Bhumibol
“The purpose of myth is to provide a logical model capable of overcoming a contradiction” – Claude Levi-Strauss.