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Thailand Bans YouTube
An anonymous reader writes "The new government of Thailand that forced its way into power last year has banned the website YouTube after a 44 second clip was found of someone spray painting on a picture of Thailand's king. When Google refused to remove the 'offending' clip the website was redirected to a different page. This comes days after a Swiss man was jailed 10 years for spray painting on pictures of the king while drunk, and is the same government that earlier this year slammed open source software for being useless and buggy."
They put half of that outrage into their domestic problems with child prostitution and pornography creation/distribution. Why, Thailand might make real progress on an issue that actually has a moral component to it.
That really isn't related to this story, is it? It's just there to agitate the average /.'er into blindly raging against Thailand.
In my day, we called that kind of stuff flamebait.
You know, like how Apple sucks and everyone who owns a Mac is a faggot.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
So, how much respect for other cultures do you have? How much freedom do you grant others - to define their own morality?
I've been to Thailand. It's a great place where the king is held in very high esteem. This isn't a tyranny cracking down on opposition, almost all Thais would be very shocked to see a spray-painted picture of the king. Try a stunt like that and you'll be lucky if the police gets you before the enraged mob does.
Now let's wait for the trolls to swarm in and claim that any culture that doesn't share their own values of "First Amendment" and "Freedom of Expression" must be evil and bad. Newsflash: The "total freedom or none at all" attitude only applies to western culture. Asian cultures have more than a thousand years of experience in moderation and non-binary thinking.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
WHO CARES?
Ok so it's censorship and we should all care as we are "free." However, that wasn't really my point. This is hardly news. What do you expect from countries like this. For a place like Thailand banning YouTube is hardly their worst crime. Let's take an example from a week ago that was in the news. Main Jailed for 10 Years for Insulting King -- ok and we care about them blocking YouTube? I think there's a tons of worse things they do. Blocking YouTube is probably making them more productive if anything. Not saying it's not wrong or outrageous.. but in comparison to other things that go on there.. it most certainly is.
Here in the US, it's hard for most of us to relate to why the Thai government would take this step. Their king is universally beloved by the people. Here in the West, we're used to the skewering of our political leaders and celebreties in print and on TV, but in Thailand you'd be better off insulting a man's wife than the king or queen! Just because we've arrived at the point where we respect no one and find few things worth fighting for doesn't mean that everyone else has to follow our lead.
Should a governmental body have the right to censor material that a large majority of its population finds offensive? Should Germany be allowed to block Nazi hate sites? Should China be allowed to block porn sites? Should any country be able to block material that depicts or encourages actions illegal in that country?
I lived in Thailand for a year and though I have never seen or met the king, I helped teach English at a school he funded and have been on the palace grounds where he lived many times. I can attest that the pride and admiration they have for the king runs deep and this action by the government is the equivalent of punching the guy who called your sister a slut. It may be that the whole episode is forgotten in a few days or it may create a lifelong grudge, but action to defend honor must be taken. And if you don't think defending honor is worth punching someone in the face, you're not going to understand this move by the Thai government.
Not absurd to Thais
I couldn't care less about the feelings of Thailand's citizens on the matter.
Insulting the king is a very serious crime.
No, it isn't and saying otherwise still won't make it true. There is no material harm done when a citizen criticizes/ridicules the leadership of their country. Having laws that create a protected class of rulers that are immune to criticism/ridicule invariably leads to abuse.
Their country, their laws.
"Their country, their laws." arguments do not make laws that create a protected class of leadership that is immune from criticism/ridicule any less absurd or unjust.
Certainly you don't believe that American Law should cover the whole world right?
Where did I argue that US laws should cover the whole world? My opinion of this particular law and how it was applied in this particular case wouldn't change regardless of the originating country.
I suspect the ban is really to prevent people from watching videos protesting the coup--the video showing someone defacing a picture of the king is just a diversion. Protesting the junta was prohibited under martial law, and the media wasn't allowed to report on any protests. If news about the protests were widespread, more people would be emboldened to join in the protests themselves. Restrictions have eased up a bit after martial law was lifted in a few provinces, but the junta isn't happy about it--just a few days ago, the junta leader called for emergency rule to be declared so he can quash the protesters.