Thailand Bans YouTube 377
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."
Re:Now if only... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:But is the under-age sex still available? (Score:4, Informative)
Lady boys... But mostly perverts who like the child sex slaves.
Why the archived version? (Score:3, Informative)
"When Google refused to remove the 'offending' clip the website was redirected to a different page"
Oh by the way I'm in Thailand right now and YouTube isn't redirecting anywhere - it's just failing. (ISP is TTTMaxnet.)
Thais take this very seriously (Score:5, Informative)
However, there is an exception. In Thailand, you do not insult the King. I repeat, you do not insult the King.
If you do insult the King (yes, spraypainting a mustache on him is insulting), those always-smiling Thais will stop smiling, gouge your eyes out, rip you limb from limb, slit your throat from ear to ear, and rip out all of your internal organs. When the police arrive, they will help the mob, and everyone from the police to the ambulance driver to the attending physician to the coroner to the undertaker will all swear that you died of a sudden heart attack.
I am not kidding about this. Thais take their King very seriously.
Forced it's way into power (Score:4, Informative)
Thailand is a Constitutional Monarchy, but it is ruled by
a Military group. There have been dozens of bloodless coups
over the years.
There IS NO FORCING THEIR WAY TO POWER, the various Military
people take TURNS running the government. Hence the bloodless
coups. Pull your head out of your asses and learn about what
you speak about.
Thailand is always taking the 'conservative' position to help
impress other countries. Such is life in the real world.
They Do Take It Seriously (Score:2, Informative)
If you read the papers there, you will see that they regularly do bust child sex tourists. These folks are spending a long time in Thai jail.
You can go to Thailand and pay to have sex with as many Thai prostitutes who look like they're 12 but are really 25 as you want. However, it is a really bad idea to try to engage in actual child prostitution there. Thai jail is someplace that you really, really do not want to be.
Re:Respect and Freedom? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why the archived version? (Score:4, Informative)
A little perspective from an Ex-Pat (Score:5, Informative)
It's kind of like that a-hole Phelps character with his god-hates-fags rallies at soldier's funerals. Insulting the King in Thailand is that inflammatory. I told my (Thai) wife about this yesterday, and she couldn't sleep that night, and was trying to find this clip on YouTube in a righteous rage. (couldn't find it). It's hard for westerners to grasp the concept of a powerful person who is universally beloved, without cynicism.
I feel absolutely no sympathy with that Swiss idiot who spray-painted the King's picture. He's 50 years old, lived in Thailand for 10 years. He knew what he was doing. He got drunk, and decided to be 16 again. Imagine if a drunk vandal went around spraypainting the grave stone of your Grandfather.
In the end this will be a tempest in a tea-pot, as the king will most assuredly pardon the man, and he'll be kicked out of the country to go to back home. The king has publicly come out and said what a silly law the lesse-majesty law is, and how he is not above criticism, and how he welcomes people to tell him what they think.
However the law stands, because the Thai's they love them some King.
Video appears to be removed. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Good question (Score:4, Informative)
As the American Embassy says to all staff visiting Thailand for the first time: If you find yourself in a bar chatting up a girl who is WAY out of your league, chances are it's a man.
Re:Now if only... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You have to respect Thai culture and Thai laws (Score:1, Informative)
Compare to a decade in prison and banning an entire web site.
Can you see the differences in responses here?
It's fine to get upset at what somebody says. It's not fine to take it to the point of violence or long-term imprisonment or censorship.