As you probably know by now I consider Thailand one of my homes, spending as much time as I do there, and taking an avid interest in its food, language and culture, one I now regard as my own. I spent the last 10 days in Thailand, the cities/towns that were the flashpoints of the red mob, and got out just as the Royal Cliff showdown began.
Thailand has been through its fair share of coups since 1932, and most of the ones we remember have been run-of-the-mill, unremarkable, bloodless affairs that happened fairly regularly. But the last two just seem to me far more sinister than usual. I don’t know enough about the intricacies of Thai politics — my intensive study of that subject ended in 1932 with the first coup — but it doesn’t take much for someone who knows and loves Thailand to be able to make out that whatever it is, this is different.
Different, too, is our means of finding out about breaking news like this. Twitter, the service I’ve been addicted to for almost three years, has come of age — by having reached a certain critical mass from all over the world, news updates have been fierce and fast. By just following the #redshirt, #redshirts, #Thailand and #redshit (this one dominated by Thai Twitterers, to express their feelings for the political faction they have little sympathy for) hashtags, news was broken by those on the ground and by those who were watching. We already know Twitter can break news, seen in recent events like the Hudson crash, and many advanced users of Twitter already say they depend on the service to find out the latest news, which we rate as fairer, faster and at times hours and days ahead of even regular news wires, and newspapers. In addition to that I also found Twitter updates of traffic information during the traffic gridlock important — people reported their frustrations that specific roads were shut; e.g. while the TV stations were busy “breaking” news that Victory Monument was blocked by taxis and traffic had almost completely shut down, Twitter told me that HOURS before, and continued to tell me that motorcycle taxi were now the only way to get around the area, now cost 400 baht instead of 40 baht, that that Skytrain stations were swamped and not viable, that new roads were now being shut — news that TV stations and news, even ‘breaking’ online reports by mainstream news outlets, either could not obtain or could not report as quickly.
As of now (5.15pm Singapore time), I am finding out from Twitter that army tanks are rolling down Bangkok streets. I found out about three hours ago about the state of emergency and also enjoyed a blow-by-blow account of armed #redshirts going from room to room of the Ministry of Interior looking for Abhisit and Pravit, about border police arresting Jatuporn and Arissaman and taking them in helicopters, things that I would be surprised if mainstream news ever found out about this. As I’m immersing myself in more #BreakingNews #Thailand #redshirt #redshit #redshirts news, people are sharing TwitPics of reds stealing ammo and smashing up cars, watching videos of the general public booing the reds away. All while the cable news stations are now BEGINNING to follow up on their newstickers with fuller reports on the state of emergency and on the mobbing of the Ministry, while Twitter has already moved on.
I don’t know if this is citizen journalism, but we’re getting close.
Pardon me while I work on trying to be less depressed about all this. *curses in Thai* I don’t care what they stand for. I care that they are tearing this country that I love apart. All in the name of Toxin Shinawatra, who really should go back to owning football clubs. I know he did that badly but at least fewer lives, hearts, economies and countries are poisoned by his selfish and destructive ideas of ‘democracy’ — the democracy he dictates.
possibly related
Creeping /
Walking Into Cambodia And Back Out /
In The City of Angels /
Postcard + Digicam + Slideshow Mashup /
First Night in Taipei /
Red Tide Over Thailand, Twittersphere
As you probably know by now I consider Thailand one of my homes, spending as much time as I do there, and taking an avid interest in its food, language and culture, one I now regard as my own. I spent the last 10 days in Thailand, the cities/towns that were the flashpoints of the red mob, and got out just as the Royal Cliff showdown began.
Thailand has been through its fair share of coups since 1932, and most of the ones we remember have been run-of-the-mill, unremarkable, bloodless affairs that happened fairly regularly. But the last two just seem to me far more sinister than usual. I don’t know enough about the intricacies of Thai politics — my intensive study of that subject ended in 1932 with the first coup — but it doesn’t take much for someone who knows and loves Thailand to be able to make out that whatever it is, this is different.
Different, too, is our means of finding out about breaking news like this. Twitter, the service I’ve been addicted to for almost three years, has come of age — by having reached a certain critical mass from all over the world, news updates have been fierce and fast. By just following the #redshirt, #redshirts, #Thailand and #redshit (this one dominated by Thai Twitterers, to express their feelings for the political faction they have little sympathy for) hashtags, news was broken by those on the ground and by those who were watching. We already know Twitter can break news, seen in recent events like the Hudson crash, and many advanced users of Twitter already say they depend on the service to find out the latest news, which we rate as fairer, faster and at times hours and days ahead of even regular news wires, and newspapers. In addition to that I also found Twitter updates of traffic information during the traffic gridlock important — people reported their frustrations that specific roads were shut; e.g. while the TV stations were busy “breaking” news that Victory Monument was blocked by taxis and traffic had almost completely shut down, Twitter told me that HOURS before, and continued to tell me that motorcycle taxi were now the only way to get around the area, now cost 400 baht instead of 40 baht, that that Skytrain stations were swamped and not viable, that new roads were now being shut — news that TV stations and news, even ‘breaking’ online reports by mainstream news outlets, either could not obtain or could not report as quickly.
As of now (5.15pm Singapore time), I am finding out from Twitter that army tanks are rolling down Bangkok streets. I found out about three hours ago about the state of emergency and also enjoyed a blow-by-blow account of armed #redshirts going from room to room of the Ministry of Interior looking for Abhisit and Pravit, about border police arresting Jatuporn and Arissaman and taking them in helicopters, things that I would be surprised if mainstream news ever found out about this. As I’m immersing myself in more #BreakingNews #Thailand #redshirt #redshit #redshirts news, people are sharing TwitPics of reds stealing ammo and smashing up cars, watching videos of the general public booing the reds away. All while the cable news stations are now BEGINNING to follow up on their newstickers with fuller reports on the state of emergency and on the mobbing of the Ministry, while Twitter has already moved on.
I don’t know if this is citizen journalism, but we’re getting close.
Pardon me while I work on trying to be less depressed about all this. *curses in Thai* I don’t care what they stand for. I care that they are tearing this country that I love apart. All in the name of Toxin Shinawatra, who really should go back to owning football clubs. I know he did that badly but at least fewer lives, hearts, economies and countries are poisoned by his selfish and destructive ideas of ‘democracy’ — the democracy he dictates.
possibly related
Creeping / Walking Into Cambodia And Back Out / In The City of Angels / Postcard + Digicam + Slideshow Mashup / First Night in Taipei /