Thai TV, it's not easy
Every Thai is devoted to his TV. Do you see a rickety hut made of corrugated iron on the side of the road where we would not park our bicycle yet, so shabby, there is probably no furniture or a bed in it, but it does have a TV.
Given the popularity of this electronic viewing box, you would expect that the offer on Thai TV is very special. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
A round of zapping produces a standard pattern that is repeated daily. We call:
- The eternal soaps with violence, adultery, lies, ghosts, a few rapes left and right and other predictable scum.
- The joke programs. For this you take a fat guy and put a dress on him. Then you smash an egg on his head and every Thai lies on the floor shaking with laughter.
- Political programs where demagogues are given free rein. Anyone who hears them on TV immediately gets associations with propaganda from a dark history, the consequences of which we commemorate on May 4.
- There is further the news, where you continuously see the consequences of a country with corrupt law enforcement.
- In between, this is completely embellished with, among other things, discriminatory advertising for products that should make your skin whiter. The message is: if you are dark then you are a real one loser.
You might say, if it bothers you, don't turn on the TV. Well I don't either, but my love is a real Thai and that implies that when you wake up in the morning or when you come home you turn on the TV first and then as loud as possible because that is sanuk. And taking away a Thai's TV pleasures is like telling them not to eat or sleep, both of which are also part of the national sport.
But now I stop writing because soon another Thai soap will start and I don't want to miss it...
You're mostly right. The terrible programs you mention, which are the most watched, are on government and military owned channels. Bread and games.
There are a few good television channels. Peace TV and Voice TV are quite politically charged.
The best channel is the independent ThaiPBS (Thai Pubic Broadcasting Service). No soaps and no commercials. Good programs about ordinary Thai life.
Here I've tried to paint a picture of better programs out there:
https://www.thailandblog.nl/leven-thailand/thaise-televisie-korte-ontdekkingstocht/
And then you don't even mention the duration and frequency of the commercial breaks. When we are in Thailand (5 to 6 months a year) we therefore leave the TV off.
So you see that opinions differ, I like to see those soaps.
Also followed several soaps in NL and enjoyed it.
Fortunately with me there are many otherwise the offer would not be so great.
I follow politics and the news via the internet and those shows are fortunately not very popular at our house, but my mother-in-law has a good laugh about them.
And why should we force our Western TV on people, we have already forced so much Western ideas on them and whether that is all such a success, everyone has to judge personally.
1 big advantage compared to the Netherlands.
Many do not understand a word of what is said / screamed / screamed in the soap operas…..
But it remains a daily inconvenience.
And now many Thais have also discovered You Tube, with the same nonsense and noise.
The eternal soap operas, etc. are more extensively covered here than in the Netherlands, but in the Netherlands we can also do something about > GTST, On the way to tomorrow, etc.
The fun programs > ever watched Paul de Leeuw's laughable programs.?
So I totally disagree with your comments. In the Netherlands, too, our political demagogues have free reign. The whole NPO thing is completely left oriented. The ridiculous thing about this is that NPO also receives a subsidy from the Dutch government.
Let the Thai enjoy his soaps and fun programs. Nothing wrong with that.
Not for us, as guests in this country, to criticize that again.
My Thai wife hardly watches TV anymore since the advent of the internet. I hardly watch TV anymore. TV had been the opportunity to improve the world. All TV does now is sell stuff.
Haven't watched TV in 18 years no matter where I am. I don't have a TV anywhere in the world. The nonsense and the commercials got to my ears and often I couldn't remember what I had watched the night before the next day. What did I miss? The light of that thing. Table lamp put down and problem solved.
Yes, no and if you have to come to the Netherlands, that will make you happy.
Help my husband is a looser, they come to pick you up at work with all kinds of pictures of jobs you left behind and a crying spouse in the background;
or yes hello, I was born in the wrong body and now what……
or my children break down the tent and scream my ears off, nanny hoppup please come help …….
or my neighbors drive me crazy with those barking dogs and clucking chickens……….
or G and G laugh vultures roar……..what do you mean nice?
or I'm so completely gay and I'm stuck with it now........
Well, I could go on and on, but it really doesn't make me happy at all.
What I then like is to watch the Thai fellow man watching TV, I can enjoy the pleasure people have about seemingly nothing or the deep sadness at the various soaps, an empathy that surprises you, yes that I like to see it again.
I don't understand it at all, but what the heck.......
There is a lot more to see in the Thai TV landscape than is mentioned in the article. Namely high-level talk shows, about current problems, where for and against each other can express themselves. Something they can learn something from in the Netherlands and Flanders. Programs where people denounce abuses, where the accused party answers. Thai TV also has a Thai version of History Channel. My wife is a big fan of that. Thai travel program about foreign and domestic destinations. Then I forget the DTS channels for distance learning for 2nd chance university education.