Thai Activist Jailed For the Crime of Sharing an Article on Facebook (eff.org) 120
An anonymous reader shares a report: Thai activist Jatuphat "Pai" Boonpattaraksa was sentenced this week to two and a half years in prison -- for the crime of sharing a BBC article on Facebook. The Thai-language article profiled Thailand's new king and, while thousands of users shared it, only Jutaphat was found to violate Thailand's strict lese majeste laws against insulting, defaming, or threatening the monarchy. The sentence comes after Jatuphat has already spent eight months in detention without bail. During this time, Jatuphat has fought additional charges for violating the Thai military junta's ban on political gatherings and for other activism with Dao Din, an anti-coup group. While in trial in military court, Jatuphat also accepted the Gwangzu Prize for Human Rights. When he was arrested last December, Jatuphat was the first person to be charged with lese majeste since the former King Bhumibol passed away and his son Vajiralongkorn took the throne. (He was not, however, the first to receive a sentence -- this past June saw one of the harshest rulings to date, with one man waiting over a year in jail to be sentenced to 35 years for Facebook posts critical of the royal family.) The conviction, which appears to have singled Jatuphat out among thousands of other Facebook users who shared the article, sends a strong message to other activists and netizens: overbroad laws like lese majeste can and will be used to target those who oppose military rule in Thailand.
Meanwhile at Google (Score:3, Informative)
If he were at Google, he might only have been doxxed, fired and blacklisted.
It's cool, he was a Neo-Nazi (Score:1)
Big Media decided to leave that tidbit out.
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Yeah, censorship is in. The Thai government and the totalitarian majority in Silicon Valley have much in common.
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Actually, considering what the Thai government is like, it's more likely him NOT being one is the problem...
No, that was the excuse (Score:3, Insightful)
Another click bait headline. I liked Slashdot better when we had dupes every day, and what Taco did couldn't be described as editing.
He was jailed because he was a pro-domacracy activist, and they used the suppressive laws to silence him.
This is no different to when they used the same law to jail an activist who 'liked' a face book post.
Oppressive government uses oppressive law to suppress dissidents. Hmmm... doesn't make a very clickable headline.
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>He was jailed because he was a pro-domacracy activist, and they used the suppressive laws to silence him.
Which is something I just don't get. If you're going to arbitrarily apply laws in order to lock up dissenters... just lock up the dissenters. Everybody knows what you're doing anyway, the percentage in denial who would rebel if denial was made more difficult is insignificant.
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Because most Thai people do not consider insulting the King to be an OK thing, they might prefer not to have the law but also they hate people who they see doing it. If they only lock him up, people only know that he is bad in the eyes of the military government. If they accuse him of insulting King Rama, they will certainly hate him.
For the most part, central Thais are not going to question it if the King decides you are excessively meddlesome. Most of the dissidents are from other regions, and perhaps do
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Another click bait headline. I liked Slashdot better when we had dupes every day, and what Taco did couldn't be described as editing.
He was jailed because he was a pro-domacracy activist, and they used the suppressive laws to silence him.
Free Taco!
Freedom of Speech (Score:2)
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Spoken like the totalitarian prick that you are.
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Well, that's the neo-Marxist believe, but they are just as wrong about that as about everything else.
Most people understand intuitively what science tells us: that morality and social relations are hardwired into humans. Well, except for psychopaths.
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A natural right is a philosophical construct. It's an ideal to strive for. But pragmatically speaking, a right doesn't matter if it's not protected. If the people want their rights then they have to demand that the government protect those rights. Instead I see the people becoming willing to give up those rights when it's convenient or they're afraid.
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You have the right to speech and thought. Too bad that today far too many that use the former forgo the latter...
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This is true. I'm all in support of free speech. I don't think some of these neo-nazis should have been silenced. That said however, I cannot deny the feeling of schadenfreude that show up when inconveniences happen to bad people.
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I would suggest only that we have a natural born right to freedom of thought the only way to deprive you of that right being to subject you directly to aggressive brainwashing methods or the direct removal of certain parts of the brain, leaving behind someone without any individuality at all.
Certainly the things that you may get exposed to, which can be controlled by external forces or powers, can to a very large degree control exactly what you may think about, but short of such aforementioned aggressiv
Remember when Obama did this? (Score:5, Interesting)
Man Behind Anti-Islam Video Gets Prison Term [nytimes.com]
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It went to the extreme fringe groups. Today, moderation is seen as belonging to "the other side". I've actually been called a bleedin' hard SJW by conservatives and a nazi by liberals, just because I dared to reject either flavor of Kool-Aid.
Fuck it, people, if you want a civil war, for fuck's sake fight it and get it over with. We in the middle are going to wait for you to duke it out and when you're done acting like little kids, rebuild the country. As we always do.
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As a Canadian, I've always seen both sides of U.S.A. politics as being "right" and "far right". It's a weird state of affairs when the left starts being more insane than your right. Makes me think it's actually the right that's pushing to make the left look like crazies to make the right stronger and weaken the left.
And as a Canadian, let me apologize for your own problems. #sad
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From over here in Europe their parties look like a far right and a "is this legal/possible/who the fuck votes for this?" right.
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Shorter version: "I'm ignorant of some other country's politics and have trouble capturing the totality of political thought there on an ultra-simplistic linear scale."
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That's your American point of view talking. It's not ignorance, you guys are debating the differences between two extremely close shades of grey while we actually have colours in other countries.
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Ok. I'm going to continue to doubt you have a good understanding of any foreign country's internal politics. Consider yourself knowledgeable if you like -- but that seems unwise.
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Says the guy living in a country where "communism" is evil and universal health care is satan.
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You must be rich if you think you're above it. Or perhaps you think you have a specific racial heritage that won't make you a target of the anti-white haters or the pro-white haters? Or the anti-religious haters?
Lots of people don't want a war and would just like the haters off the stage. But that's going to take more people saying no to haters and bullies on all sides, not just one side or the other.
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I'm more besides it. A continent away, to be exact.
Hate all you want, but keep it on your continent. And it seems this time it's our turn to rebuild your continent after the war.
Re: Remember when Obama did this? (Score:2)
Civil war... Though, I prefer Internal War, or similar. There's nothing civil about war.
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If you look back to the situation before WW2, the US wasn't really a military nation either. Most of what the US did concerning the war effort happened in that short period between Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.
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Oh yes, that's true. The centrist and moderates positions are being despised. We're in such a divisive state now that people are only seeing best friends and worst enemies with no one else. Never mind that everyone seems to treat politics as binary, "us" and "them", "left" or "right", "liberal" or "conservative. Nothing is that simple minded. But because it's being treated as one of two choices only, people think that if they know your stance on one issue that they now know your stance on all issues. It a
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Half a century of socialist and communist infiltration and propaganda from Europe and the Soviet Union, plus massive immigration of people with totalitarian and socialist beliefs.
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Some of us want it to be. But evil people keep opposing us.
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Man Behind Anti-Islam Video Gets Prison Term
The problem isn't that he got a prison term. He got that for violating his probation on a different matter. The problem is that Obama made the false claim about the video pertaining to Benghazi in the first place, and that the NYT never challenged Obama's claim, nor corrected their own articles after the fact.
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It's also that he got a prison term. It was politically convenient to put him in prison. There are enough laws to put almost anyone in prison if the government really wants to and spends enough time and money trying to trip a person up.
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Also, Obama gets to tell all the lies he wants. And if you want to complain about it, you're a crazy unhinged person. That's what we learned in 2012. The facts don't matter, especially not to the media.
It was the final shovel of dirt on the grave of truth in US public discourse.
Substitute the facts with your opinion (Score:2, Insightful)
The facts don't matter, especially not to the media.
There are many fact checking websites which provide unbiased data regarding the truthfulness of our political leaders. Let's examine a few. Keep in mind that they are comparing 8 years of Obama's presidency to 100+ days of Trump.
A search of Snopes.com articles concerning Barack Obama (329) [snopes.com] vs Donald Trump (865). [snopes.com]
Politifact.com summary of Barack Obama [politifact.com] vs Donald Trump [politifact.com]. The two graphs are very informative.
FactCheck.org summary of Obama's Whoppers [factcheck.org] vs Trump's Whoppers [factcheck.org].
While none of these sites gave Barack Obam
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They cheerlead for lies and many times reluctantly acknowledge the facts days or weeks or sometimes years later.
And then change the subject (to Trump or WTF-ever), because the agenda comes first, last, and always.
(Trump says dumb stuff. He's also bad. So what? We would have Romney as Predident now if the media wanted someone good. They clearly don't -- agenda first, last, and always.)
At least he is luckier than few... (Score:1)
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I thought it sounds like a brand of rice.
How insecure is a divine king? (Score:3)
If the words of a mere mortal scare him?
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If the words of a mere mortal scare him?
You must be sanook at parties.
The thing is, it isn't the King who locks people up.
The King of Thailand hasn't wielded any real political power since 1932, he's a figurehead much like the royalty of Europe. Thailand has been by large, a ill-functioning democracy interrupted by bouts of military dictatorship. Right now is one of those bouts. The Thai military staged a coup in 2014 when elections just didn't go the way they wanted. Politicians have always used the Leste Majesty laws for political and per
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The king has no real power, that is true. ;) Everyone who waives nirvana and reincarnates as a human (like the Dalai Lhama) is considered a god. But perhaps that is just a playing with words.
However Thailand is formed by the will of King Rama the 9th.
If not for him, the country would be a poor third world country drowned in corruption an a vassal to the USA, like the Philippines e.g.
Buddhism has gods, I suggest to reread a bit
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You may not have noticed the news in Thailand the past year, but the current King is Rama X.
Buddhism does not have Gods, though Gautama Buddha certainly believed in Gods. He made clear though that it wasn't part of the teaching, and worrying about it brings suffering.
The Dalai Lama is a Tibetan Buddhist. That's in a whole different branch of Buddhism than Thailand. Thai Buddhism is from the Theravada branch, so the only other place with similar religion is Sri Lanka. In Theravada Buddhism even they generall
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Erm, yes the current king is Rama X, hence I explicitly wrote Rama IX ... no idea what the misunderstanding is.
A good overview about gods in Buddhism you can find here: https://www.thoughtco.com/gods... [thoughtco.com]
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I just explained that Buddhism doesn't have gods, but that most Buddhists including Gautama Buddha believe in Gods, but explicitly told followers not to seek those answers.
There is no need to then provide a link to try to correct my understanding. If you don't understand, you could ask questions. If you think you do understand, you could express that understanding. But why link? No need for a link, I'm right here and I can explain it to you. If you don't understand it, how would you possibly convince me?
I d
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Rama IX formed modern Thailand by giving advice and the population/governments followed his advice.
I'm not particular interested in your interpretation of Buddhism, though. And you seem not to know much about "Buddhistic gods", hence I gave you a link.
Well, if you are not interested in the link, fine :D
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In that sort of existential argument, it passed to Rama X and now he's giving advice.
You're not interesting in Thai Buddhism, that's fine don't credit me with the beliefs though! The link you gave says that "no," Buddhists don't have Gods. But it also says that in Buddhism you can define words very very broadly so you can also make the answer to be "yes." But it is clear that for the meaning of "God" used by all the major religions, the answer is no.
The real problem with the link is that it is about a diffe
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Thai Buddhism has no gods.
Basically all Buddhists have no gods.
They simply accept that there are gods, but they don't pray to them. Then comes the complex stuff with avatars and reborn gods on earth ...
I dont get what your Rama IX/X thing is about. Thailand today is formed by Rama IX. Rama X did nothing os far, but lets see.
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Thai Buddhism has no gods.
Basically all Buddhists have no gods.
They simply accept that there are gods, but they don't pray to them.
Closer, but still off.
Buddhism has no Gods. Buddhists often do have Gods. Buddhism asserts plainly that it does not address issues relating to Gods other than to teach you that if you have attachment to Gods, you will likely suffer for it. Metaphysical belief in Gods is seen as neutral and subjective; it is the attachment, the idea that belief in Gods is important which they reject.
You make no point about Rama IX having formed Thailand. His rule started a decade after the modern Thai state is considered to
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Then he is unfit for the title of king, for a king that cannot or isn't willing to unite and lead his people out of a tyranny imposed by external or (worse) internal enemies of the people is no king.
I expect from a king that he is more than a puppet. If that's all he is, replace him with some stuffed animal. It's cheaper and has the same function.
I'm not generally pro-repression (Score:2)
But I could get behind the idea of jailing people for posting to Facebook.
Sounds reasonable. (Score:1)
I'd apply this to all people who post on Facebook.
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Sieg Heil , my good man!
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA BECAUSE ALL RIGHT WINGERS ARE NAZIS HAHAHAHAHAHA.
You know with rapier whit like that you should write for the Daily Show. The quality of shrill leftist cries from that show really have been sub par about 2010.
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There is too much politics on Facebook. But it's on the left and the right. I haven't been on long, but I can't imagine that it's always been this bad or it would never have become popular.
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In Russia, he would have simply been killed.
The thing with narcissistic ego-driven despots is they do this kind of horrible shit if they're allowed to. Considering his kind words for Putin and Duarte, how long before Trump calls the king of Thailand "a tremendous guy"?
Left's favorite & unfavorite dictators (Score:2, Troll)
While you have tinpot dictators like Rouhani in Iran and Maduro in Venezuela actually persecuting people at large who're not opposing the regimes but just going about their daily lives, and in Iran's case, doing it on the basis of religion, who the Left actually lionizes, you have the same Left getting into the Right for attitudes on Putin, Duterte, potentially Maha Vajiralongkorn, who only go after either their critics, or criminals like drug dealers or terrorists.
I think I've figured how the Left picks
Re:Left's favorite & unfavorite dictators (Score:4, Insightful)
Thereby allowing the dictatorship to get away with anything it wants. The older political term for this was Endlösung
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Thereby allowing the dictatorship to get away with anything it wants. The older political term for this was Endlösung
This is complete and utter bullshit. Firearms or no firearms, the Gestapo (or any) had the means to coerce German Jews into their death. No sane civilian would use a firearm unless under immediate threat. You would have a point if German Jews had received a letter from the Gestapo "we'll come to your home on that date and shoot you/ put you on death row". This was not the case, they were being "relocated" after being stripped of all their civil rights one by one.
Anyway, except under immediate threat of viol
Re:Left's favorite & unfavorite dictators (Score:4, Informative)
Venezuela has done one thing right. Their gun violence has dropped by four orders of magnitude when they instituted their complete civilan gun ownership ban.
Do you have a citation for this? Because this article [crimeresearch.org] says the homocide rate has continued to increase. Your claimed 10000 fold drop in gun violence seems wildly implausible, since it is unlikely that most criminals would have surrendered their weapons.
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While you have tinpot dictators like Rouhani in Iran and Maduro in Venezuela actually persecuting people at large who're not opposing the regimes but just going about their daily lives, and in Iran's case, doing it on the basis of religion, who the Left actually lionizes, you have the same Left getting into the Right for attitudes on Putin, Duterte, potentially Maha Vajiralongkorn, who only go after either their critics, or criminals like drug dealers or terrorists.
I think I've figured how the Left picks its hated dictators. If those dictators are opposed by Muslims anywhere, like in Chechnya, Mindanao or Yala (in these 3 examples), the Left hates them. If these dictators are supported by Muslims or Muslim countries, like in cases of Iran or Venezuela, they love them. Exceptions being cases where the dictators are pro-US, like al Sisi or King Salman, where their being Muslim gets trumped. It explains why the Left was fine w/ Morsi doing a power grab in Egypt, but are furious at al Sisi keeping the Muslim Brotherhood reigned in.
Erm, you have that backwards.
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Firstly, theocracy is a far-right ideology. Theocracies are about centralising power and wealth, not distributing benefits.
Secondly, countries don't pick dictators. At best, they're deceived into voting for them and they take power for themselves. My money is still on the military removing Duerte because the military is controlled by the major political houses of the Philippines (Roxas, Quesons, Aroyos)
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No, theocracies are about making countries safe-spaces for an entire religion. Like Saudi Arabia and most Muslim countries are for Islam. It has nothing to do w/ distribution of benefits or wealth: oil-rich countries in the GCC do it, whereas poor theocracies, such as Sudan, don't.
Also, I never mentioned countries picking their own dictators. I was talking about how leftist pick which dictators they like and which ones they loathe.
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In Russia, he would have simply been killed.
The thing with narcissistic ego-driven despots is they do this kind of horrible shit if they're allowed to. Considering his kind words for Putin and Duarte, how long before Trump calls the king of Thailand "a tremendous guy"?
The thing is, it's not the King driving this. Its the military Junta who drives this. The King of Thailand has no real political power.
The lest majesty laws have always been used for political gain, not protecting the royalty. The previous king constantly pardoned anyone convicted of leste majesty and several times asked parliament to remove the leste majesty laws, the Thai parliament refused because they were so convenient.
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It is absolutely not clear what power the King of Thailand has right now.
He just recently retook direct control of all royal property, which previously had been held in a sort of trust similar to the English system. A whole bunch of changes have been made over the past 6 months to give him increased power. If he actually wants to wield that power and be stuck living in Thailand instead of Germany is a whole different question, though.
From the military perspective, a stronger king would give them a lot more
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It might be hard to comprehend the Thai situation from the west.
They have never had any sort of enlightened democracy, they never fought for political freedoms or had political freedom as a core part of their culture. Their elected governments have been almost uniformly corrupt and sleazy.
Furthermore, their versions of monarchy and dictatorship have been rather mild. They don't have freedom of speech, being a dissident is not safe, but the general population do not experience significant oppression or other