I think I got my head around it.
Respectable folks don't talk politics because either they don't want to expose their own devotion or rile the farang in case he/she has a devotion. Safer to play it all off as nonsense.
But I think I finally got a toehold into the political situation.
It's red v yellow, Thaksin v Democrat.
Thaksin is the former PM exiled in a military coup. His platform was enfranchisement.
Imagine if, in America, every person who said "y'all" was recognized and accepted as part of a section of society that did not receive education or representation or enfranchisement or taxation or cultural obligation. If every American who said, "y'all" maintained allegiance to the family patriarch, even as the family holdings dwindled fourfold every generation, embraced a pre-industrial agrarian lifestyle, this is the swath of society Thaksin embraced.
His basic message was, "If y'all vote for me, I'll make sure to give you a vote. Got that? A VOTE! Vote for me and I'll give y'all a vote!"
The yellow shirt, opposition, democratic party looked at Thaksin's career and went, "Huh?" Here's a guy who rose to power on corrupt, good-ol-boy politics and was convicted of accepting bribes. Maybe he represents the underrepresented, but is bringing representation to a group previously uninterested in any part of government really worth enshrining someone so greedy and corrupt he gets caught in this system?
It'll be interesting to see what pans out.
Respectable folks don't talk politics because either they don't want to expose their own devotion or rile the farang in case he/she has a devotion. Safer to play it all off as nonsense.
But I think I finally got a toehold into the political situation.
It's red v yellow, Thaksin v Democrat.
Thaksin is the former PM exiled in a military coup. His platform was enfranchisement.
Imagine if, in America, every person who said "y'all" was recognized and accepted as part of a section of society that did not receive education or representation or enfranchisement or taxation or cultural obligation. If every American who said, "y'all" maintained allegiance to the family patriarch, even as the family holdings dwindled fourfold every generation, embraced a pre-industrial agrarian lifestyle, this is the swath of society Thaksin embraced.
His basic message was, "If y'all vote for me, I'll make sure to give you a vote. Got that? A VOTE! Vote for me and I'll give y'all a vote!"
The yellow shirt, opposition, democratic party looked at Thaksin's career and went, "Huh?" Here's a guy who rose to power on corrupt, good-ol-boy politics and was convicted of accepting bribes. Maybe he represents the underrepresented, but is bringing representation to a group previously uninterested in any part of government really worth enshrining someone so greedy and corrupt he gets caught in this system?
It'll be interesting to see what pans out.
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