The just concluded 2024 saw the intensification of the toxicity, and animosity, between supporters of the ruling Pheu Thai Party and those of the main opposition People’s Party.
Propagandists on social media and partisan press on both sides have worked tirelessly to paint the other as black and their side as white. One side seems to be able to do no wrong while the other side can’t just seem to be able to do anything right.
It’s not inaccurate to say that many supporters from both sides, the redshirts for Pheu Thai, and orange for People’s Party, no longer see one another as rivals but as enemies. The recent past when the two joined hands to oppose the military rule of Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha was but a distant memory.
One thing achieved by both parties is that given the level of mutual animosity between the two camps of supporters, it’s now most unlikely that these people will one day switch sides and vote for the other party. That, however, is to the detriment of Thai politics and society as we need mature electorate and citizens who are capable of being selective in supporting, or withdrawing the support, from any political party and not members of political fandom who unreservedly adore their political leaders like pop stars.
The dichotomous mindset is alluring, and lazy, in its simplicity, however. Perhaps it is rooted in the prehistoric instinct of us human beings when we have to decide who is our friend or foe, whether to fight or flee.
It’s also convenient to only see things as either right or wrong. And who wants to be, or believe, they are on the wrong side of politics, not to mention history. Thus many succumbed to the temptations of seeing things as either good or bad, and us against them.
This is the victory of the conservative elites in dividing the red from orange shirts. It’s a classic divide and rule tactic although the power is now shared with the Pheu Thai Party and the Shinawatra clan who rebranded itself as a devout royalist party with no intention to reform either the army, which is a state within a state, or the royal defamation law.
In the process, the opposition People’s Party and its supporters are branded as anti-monarchists, Marxists, and a threat to national security, and the current status quo.
As for foreign affairs, the dichotomous mentality also lured more Thais into choosing either China or the US. This despite the fact that Thailand, as a medium-sized nation, and an aspiring middle power, can ill afford to take sides and be an enemy of either China or the US despite the growing tensions between the two powers. On social media, it’s now common to see some Thai netizens rant against either the US or China. And it’s filled with a simplistic black and white view of these countries, and their relations to the world.
Perhaps many people find it difficult not to take sides. Perhaps they feel the need to belong – as either red or orange, as either anti-China or anti-US. There is that sense of certainty and belonging, and warmth from being part of a larger community. Never mind if that’s ultimately counterproductive to nurturing Thailand to become a politically mature society.
The post Easy to Fully Take Sides, Politically, But at What Price for Thailand? appeared first on Khaosod English.