Free Speech: Natural Fools, Licensed Fools and much ado about sounds we call words

Why does it take a French phrase to suppress free speech in Thailand … lese-majeste.


If a King or Queen is so infinitely wise and powerful why does he or she need to hide behind a foreign language for protection from their people’s words?

What is free speech? Let’s define this dangerous beast that is both air, sound and word…Freedom of Speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Yet the Head of the Thai Army finds it necessary to warn parties against mentioning the Thai Royal Family in their campaigns. Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code concerns offences deemed to defame, insult or threaten the King, the Queen, the Heir, or the Regent. Thailand’s Computer-Related Crimes Act makes it an offense to post online comments that endanger national security or come in conflict with Article 112 of the Criminal Code. Under CCA and various emergency laws, tens of thousands of websites have been blocked in Thailand.

I focus on Thailand only because I know many Thais and Freedom of Speech is not a threat to the monarchy. It’s not a threat to any dictator --- tanks yes, world opinion yes, but in this day and age Freedom of Speech will come from within (if enlightened local government prevails) or from without (if dim local government in the norm). This should be taught day one in the “how to be a Dictator School”

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, much like let’s say England. Yet the British Queen and the kids are ridiculed and praised by the rabble without imprisonment or torture. Why then are monarchs in such places as Arabia, Asia and Africa so dam sensitive? Perhaps is has to do with a fear of being exposed as being as common as the rest of us?

One startling life lesson I had when I was negotiating the performance on a contract -- in a country where the citizens are seriously reconsidering their governing class today – went like this: the counterparty who held a royal title leaned over the table at me and said “Peter what you want is for us to give and not you/your company to ask for.” I politely leaned back over the table and said “the contract says otherwise, you signed it, live by it or we can visit court (in an impartial jurisdiction).” The meeting ended and my company did receive their payment. But of course, we no longer do business nor visit the country.

On a closing note: how could it ever be right that a king/queen could say “you there are useless!” and the party of the royal’s attention could not look back and say “but you are useless on a royal scale?” If those who govern are clever they will know that no truth rests in their court, but outside the palace walls is where the air is clear and the sky is blue. Jester, Joker, Jokester, Fool. One notable trait beyond the eccentricities and need for attention is that of the Fool’s scepter known as a marotte --- is yet another French word…