New God-King reigns in Thailand

Eλευθερί
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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 5, 2019 7:00:17 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 5, 2019 7:00:17 GMT

Lots of glossy news reports about the coronation underway in Thailand these days.
After all, how many god-kings are there on Earth? (Another one was just anointed not too far away, to much fanfare as well.)

It surely leaves one to wonder what life must be like to be a godking. Or to be around a godking.

May 2, 2019

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn weds bodyguard in surprise ceremony

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married the deputy head of his personal security detail in a surprise wedding and given her the title Queen Suthida, just days before his official coronation....

In 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit. She was then promoted to full general in the army in December 2016 and has also been made a thanpuying, a royal title meaning lady....

Vajiralongkorn has previously been married and divorced three times and has seven children. He and Suthida are known to spend most of their time living between Thailand and Germany

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/02/thailands-king-maha-vajiralongkorn-weds-bodyguard-in-surprise-ceremony

Last Edit: May 6, 2019 10:18:49 GMT by Eλευθερί: deleted quoted articles

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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 5, 2019 7:04:49 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 5, 2019 7:04:49 GMT

May 4, 2019

BANGKOK, Thailand — There was gilt and gold, and yet more gold.

For the first time in nearly seven decades, the Kingdom of Thailand crowned a new monarch on Saturday, in a coruscant display weighted with centuries of royal pageantry....

Shortly after noon, as he was seated under a nine-tiered umbrella, a heavy crown on his head, the king’s transformation was complete.

He was now considered, in Thai tradition, a deity.

www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/world/asia/thailand-king-maha-vajiralongkorn.html

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geode
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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 5, 2019 8:26:03 GMT

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Post by geode on May 5, 2019 8:26:03 GMT

May 5, 2019 7:04:49 GMT Eλευθερί said:

May 4, 2019

BANGKOK, Thailand — There was gilt and gold, and yet more gold.

For the first time in nearly seven decades, the Kingdom of Thailand crowned a new monarch on Saturday, in a coruscant display weighted with centuries of royal pageantry....

Shortly after noon, as he was seated under a nine-tiered umbrella, a heavy crown on his head, the king’s transformation was complete.

He was now considered, in Thai tradition, a deity.

www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/world/asia/thailand-king-maha-vajiralongkorn.html

Trust me, nobody in Thailand considers the king to be a deity.

Oh Lord, you gave them eyes but they cannot see...

Aj_June
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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 5, 2019 8:32:25 GMT

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Post by Aj_June on May 5, 2019 8:32:25 GMT

May 5, 2019 8:26:03 GMT geode said:

May 5, 2019 7:04:49 GMT Eλευθερί said:

www.nytimes.com/2019/05/04/world/asia/thailand-king-maha-vajiralongkorn.html

Trust me, nobody in Thailand considers the king to be a deity.

Do you still live in Thailand?

geode Junior Member @geode Posts: 2,209 Likes: 824	New God-King reigns in Thailand May 5, 2019 8:57:40 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by geode on May 5, 2019 8:57:40 GMT May 5, 2019 8:32:25 GMT Aj_June said: May 5, 2019 8:26:03 GMT geode said: Trust me, nobody in Thailand considers the king to be a deity. Do you still live in Thailand? Yes.
	Oh Lord, you gave them eyes but they cannot see...

politicidal Exalted Member @politicidal Posts: 82,040 Likes: 57,955	New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 0:30:27 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by politicidal on May 6, 2019 0:30:27 GMT Oh the buffoonish crown-prince?

Eλευθερί Junior Member @eleutheri Posts: 3,710 Likes: 1,670	New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 1:29:23 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 1:29:23 GMT May 6, 2019 0:30:27 GMT politicidal said: Oh the buffoonish crown-prince? Godking now.
	eleutheri

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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 1:35:48 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 1:35:48 GMT

In Thailand, lèse majesté is criminalized by Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. It is illegal to defame, insult, or threaten the king, queen, heir-apparent, or regent. The lèse-majesté law has been on the statute books since 1908. The punishment is three to fifteen years of imprisonment per count and has been described as the "world's harshest lèse majesté law" and "possibly the strictest criminal-defamation law anywhere"....

The Supreme Court decided that the law also applies to any previous monarchs. Criticism of any privy council member also raised the question. Even "attempting" to commit lèse majesté, and making sarcastic comment about the King's pet have been prosecuted for lèse majesté....

Lèse-majesté complaints can be filed by any person against anyone else, and they must always be formally investigated. Details of the charges are rarely made public.... There are months-long pretrial detentions, and those who are charged are routinely denied bail.... The courts seem not to recognise the principle of granting the benefit of the doubt to defendants. Judges have said that accusers did not have to prove the factuality of the alleged lèse-majesté material, but only to claim it is defaming in any way....

The longest recorded sentence was 60 years imprisonment (reduced to half because the defendant pleaded guilty)....

[E]ven alleged offences committed outside the kingdom can be punished within Thailand.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A8se_majest%C3%A9_in_Thailand

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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 1:38:28 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 1:38:28 GMT

Here are six recent cases that have ended in jail terms....

In January 2014, Mr. Yuthasak, a taxi driver in Bangkok, casually discussed politics with a passenger, who later reported him to the police for speaking disparagingly about the monarchy.

Mr. Yuthasak was detained in June and stood trial in August. The passenger’s secret recording of their conversation was used as evidence.
Mr. Yuthasak, who is in his mid-40s, was sentenced to five years in jail. The sentence was halved because he pleaded guilty.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/09/18/world/asia/thailand-king-lese-majeste.html

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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 7:13:48 GMT Eλευθερί likes this

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Post by geode on May 6, 2019 7:13:48 GMT

The original source is inaccurate. Some statements are not correct:

"But why are these pictures released to the Thai public on the internet?"

They weren't. They came to light through Wikileaks.

"It is hard to guess what goes on in Wachiralongkorn’s depraved mind. He is so alienated that he does not know how to respect anyone. The release of these pictures is not an accident. They have been coming out at regular intervals for years. Maybe he wants to destroy their dignity and show that he is boss. Maybe he wants to show off that he can “pull” beautiful women...."

No, such pictures have not been coming out at regular intervals for years and nobody else thinks the video was intentionally made public. The Thai government got it removed from youtube.

Oh Lord, you gave them eyes but they cannot see...

Eλευθερί
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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 10:09:50 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 10:09:50 GMT

May 6, 2019 7:13:48 GMT geode said:

They came to light through Wikileaks.

Did not know about that.
This is some interesting stuff.

Scottish journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall, who is married to a Thai woman, was forced in 2011 to resign from Reuters after working there for 17 years because, he has said, the news agency refused to publish his reporting on the Thai monarchy based on diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks. He ended up publishing the accounts himself. His book A Kingdom in Crisis was banned in Thailand.

In 2016, the authorities raided their home and detained his wife, interrogating her without permitting her access to a lawyer, apparently out of anger over negative material he allegedly had been posting to social media. And in 2017, the authorities issued a ban on any Thais contacting Marshall or reading or sharing any material of his posted online.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_MacGregor_Marshall

The 'insulting' photos Andrew MacGregor Marshall posted on Facebook on Thursday were published in the German tabloid newspaper Bild and were purportedly of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn at an airport in Germany. The crown prince spends much of his time in Germany.

The images, which Thai police say were doctored, show a man in low-slung jeans and sandals, with a huge sleeve tattoo holding a white fluffy poodle.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3702849/Thai-police-detain-British-writers-wife-royal-photos.html

eleutheri

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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 10:10:03 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 10:10:03 GMT

The point of this discussion being that it's not too hard to see how very privileged people can become "gods" over time, when anyone who dares challenge that assertion risks imprisonment or even death. Not only of themselves but of their loved ones as well. We see this going on today, with much better access to education for the masses of the public than was ever the case in the past, and with all the technological marvels of newspapers, books, photographs, videos, and the Internet. Now, just imagine how things must have been 500—or 1,000—or even 5,000—years ago!

eleutheri

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New God-King reigns in Thailand May 6, 2019 10:16:18 GMT

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Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 10:16:18 GMT

Apparently, there are also some interesting things about how the current line of the monarchy reached the throne.

The late king whose sun was just crowned wasn't originally supposed to become king. His brother, twenty-year-old King Ananda Mahidol died under mysterious circumstances in 1946, supposedly shot to death in the head in his bed.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Mahidol

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_MacGregor_Marshall

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New God-King reigns in Thailand

Post by Eλευθερί on May 5, 2019 7:00:17 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 5, 2019 7:04:49 GMT

Post by geode on May 5, 2019 8:26:03 GMT

Post by Aj_June on May 5, 2019 8:32:25 GMT

Post by geode on May 5, 2019 8:57:40 GMT

Post by politicidal on May 6, 2019 0:30:27 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 1:29:23 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 1:35:48 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 1:38:28 GMT

Post by geode on May 6, 2019 7:13:48 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 10:09:50 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 10:10:03 GMT

Post by Eλευθερί on May 6, 2019 10:16:18 GMT