March 10, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - ATN) - If we looked only online at Thai politics we would assume that the entire nation was writhing under the rule of the current government led by Palang Pracharath and that most Thais yearned for "democracy" as defined by the likes of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and his "Future Forward" party.
Social media alongside prominent Western corporate media platforms produce endless content daily in support of the Thai opposition with online posts flooded with thousands upon thousands of likes and shares. It is overwhelming and produces a feeling of unease among those in Thailand who desire political, economic, and social stability.
Yet when the time came for this tidal wave of online support to spill out into the streets, embarrassingly small mobs - described by these online interests as "mass protests" - fizzled in less than a week.
While underestimating any threat is unwise, unease generated by both this massive online support and the recent smattering of street activity is mostly unwarranted.
Online Support Isn't Real Support...
In the lead up to the 2019 general election in Thailand, Future Forward's online presence and apparent popularity depicted by the Western media was immense. Judging by it alone, many voters assumed it and its "pro-democracy" allies would easily achieve victory.
Yet on the day of the election, Future Forward came in distant third with even its senior partner - Pheu Thai run by fugitive billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra - failing to secure the popular vote.
The current government is headed by Palang Pracharath which - by a large margin - won the popular vote in 2019. Subsequent polls have further strengthened the current government's political leverage - with growing numbers of voters being disillusioned after being drawn in by Future Forward's idealistic but otherwise empty rhetoric and Pheu Thai's single-minded agenda of bringing Thaksin Shinawatra back home and placing him back into power.
So-called "flash mobs" described by some of the above-mentioned online activity as "mass protests" amounted not even to a flash in the pan. Photographs shot at tight angles attempted to conceal just how small these mobs were or the fact that most of the people who showed up weren't young people as claimed by the Western media and their local associates - but rather elderly aunties and "red shirts" previously seen at demonstrations in support of Thaksin.
Indeed, these "mass protests" don't exist and already exhausted themselves in the streets. The massive support online is the product of IOs - or "information operations" - carried out by well-funded marketing activities supported by Future Forward and Pheu Thai's billionaire founders.
Added irony is the fact that the Thai opposition is crying "IOs" to explain why their massive online "support" has failed to materialize in any tangible way either at the polls or in the streets.
A Self-Defeating Strategy
With enough money, anything can be made to appear popular online. With enough money, even limited demonstrations can be put into the streets and spun as "mass protests" by a dishonest and complicit media. But neither constitutes real support - and neither can ever be big or sustainable enough to translate into real support in the future.
Fake online support generated by shameless lobbyists who have for years desperately attempted to move this agenda forward is not real support. Online support - while designed to create a "bandwagon" effect - appears to have done the opposite in Thailand. This persistent agitation has instead only further hardened and entrenched the Thai public against another wave of street mobs and opposition antics.
And the harder these opposition interests push, the more hardened and entrenched the rest of Thailand will become.
What is perhaps great news for Thailand is that the paid lobbyists pushing this self-defeating strategy don't actually care if they succeed or not in changing opinions in favor of their billionaire sponsors' agenda - they just care about being paid. The harder they push, the more they believe they will be paid - yet the more hardened and more entrenched the Thai public will actually become in the face of their constant storm of propaganda and disinformation.
It is telling that some commentators online get thousands of likes yet mobs in the streets often consist of less than 100 people at a time. The largest mobs these interests ever mobilized neared 50,000 and took place in 2010. At the time, the vast majority who showed up came in buses paid for by Thaksin Shinawatra's political machine with demonstrators themselves paid a stipend for coming along.
50,000 people were made by the Western corporate media to look like a massive nationwide uprising - and with the inclusion of some 300 heavily armed terrorists - made to appear like something nearing a "civil war." Yet nothing of the sort ever - even remotely - materialized. That's because there is a huge difference between the illusion of support and actual support - and no matter how large you can make the former appear - it does little to impact the latter.
If the opposition in Thailand wants real support they need to address the real issues impacting the lives of real people. Since the opposition serves the short-sighted self-serving interests of corrupt billionaires like Thaksin and Thanathorn and their circle of likewise short-sighted self-serving sycophants - they are literally incapable of ever doing that - and thus likewise incapable of ever gaining widespread popular support.
One real issue that impacts the lives of most ordinary people is the subject of political, economic, and social stability - something the lives of millions of Thais depend on daily - and something threatened daily by the Thai opposition. This is precisely why most Thais voted for Palang Pracharath in the first place, support the current government now, and will continue doing so into the foreseeable future.
As long as Palang Pracharath and the interests it represents continue addressing the needs of the people - including ensuring political, economic, and social stability - they will continue to enjoy widespread support - support that will require constant effort to maintain, but support the opposition lacks and has no means of ever obtaining no matter how many "likes" and "share" they get online.
Social media alongside prominent Western corporate media platforms produce endless content daily in support of the Thai opposition with online posts flooded with thousands upon thousands of likes and shares. It is overwhelming and produces a feeling of unease among those in Thailand who desire political, economic, and social stability.
Yet when the time came for this tidal wave of online support to spill out into the streets, embarrassingly small mobs - described by these online interests as "mass protests" - fizzled in less than a week.
While underestimating any threat is unwise, unease generated by both this massive online support and the recent smattering of street activity is mostly unwarranted.
Online Support Isn't Real Support...
In the lead up to the 2019 general election in Thailand, Future Forward's online presence and apparent popularity depicted by the Western media was immense. Judging by it alone, many voters assumed it and its "pro-democracy" allies would easily achieve victory.
Yet on the day of the election, Future Forward came in distant third with even its senior partner - Pheu Thai run by fugitive billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra - failing to secure the popular vote.
The current government is headed by Palang Pracharath which - by a large margin - won the popular vote in 2019. Subsequent polls have further strengthened the current government's political leverage - with growing numbers of voters being disillusioned after being drawn in by Future Forward's idealistic but otherwise empty rhetoric and Pheu Thai's single-minded agenda of bringing Thaksin Shinawatra back home and placing him back into power.
So-called "flash mobs" described by some of the above-mentioned online activity as "mass protests" amounted not even to a flash in the pan. Photographs shot at tight angles attempted to conceal just how small these mobs were or the fact that most of the people who showed up weren't young people as claimed by the Western media and their local associates - but rather elderly aunties and "red shirts" previously seen at demonstrations in support of Thaksin.
Indeed, these "mass protests" don't exist and already exhausted themselves in the streets. The massive support online is the product of IOs - or "information operations" - carried out by well-funded marketing activities supported by Future Forward and Pheu Thai's billionaire founders.
Added irony is the fact that the Thai opposition is crying "IOs" to explain why their massive online "support" has failed to materialize in any tangible way either at the polls or in the streets.
A Self-Defeating Strategy
With enough money, anything can be made to appear popular online. With enough money, even limited demonstrations can be put into the streets and spun as "mass protests" by a dishonest and complicit media. But neither constitutes real support - and neither can ever be big or sustainable enough to translate into real support in the future.
Fake online support generated by shameless lobbyists who have for years desperately attempted to move this agenda forward is not real support. Online support - while designed to create a "bandwagon" effect - appears to have done the opposite in Thailand. This persistent agitation has instead only further hardened and entrenched the Thai public against another wave of street mobs and opposition antics.
And the harder these opposition interests push, the more hardened and entrenched the rest of Thailand will become.
What is perhaps great news for Thailand is that the paid lobbyists pushing this self-defeating strategy don't actually care if they succeed or not in changing opinions in favor of their billionaire sponsors' agenda - they just care about being paid. The harder they push, the more they believe they will be paid - yet the more hardened and more entrenched the Thai public will actually become in the face of their constant storm of propaganda and disinformation.
It is telling that some commentators online get thousands of likes yet mobs in the streets often consist of less than 100 people at a time. The largest mobs these interests ever mobilized neared 50,000 and took place in 2010. At the time, the vast majority who showed up came in buses paid for by Thaksin Shinawatra's political machine with demonstrators themselves paid a stipend for coming along.
50,000 people were made by the Western corporate media to look like a massive nationwide uprising - and with the inclusion of some 300 heavily armed terrorists - made to appear like something nearing a "civil war." Yet nothing of the sort ever - even remotely - materialized. That's because there is a huge difference between the illusion of support and actual support - and no matter how large you can make the former appear - it does little to impact the latter.
If the opposition in Thailand wants real support they need to address the real issues impacting the lives of real people. Since the opposition serves the short-sighted self-serving interests of corrupt billionaires like Thaksin and Thanathorn and their circle of likewise short-sighted self-serving sycophants - they are literally incapable of ever doing that - and thus likewise incapable of ever gaining widespread popular support.
One real issue that impacts the lives of most ordinary people is the subject of political, economic, and social stability - something the lives of millions of Thais depend on daily - and something threatened daily by the Thai opposition. This is precisely why most Thais voted for Palang Pracharath in the first place, support the current government now, and will continue doing so into the foreseeable future.
As long as Palang Pracharath and the interests it represents continue addressing the needs of the people - including ensuring political, economic, and social stability - they will continue to enjoy widespread support - support that will require constant effort to maintain, but support the opposition lacks and has no means of ever obtaining no matter how many "likes" and "share" they get online.
