Time ripe to nip mob mentality of Thais in bud

What do we see in the “hotheaded bespectacled man” video clips that went viral last week? First, we see a case of road rage case that turned into a general insult against Thais — in particular poor, working-class Thais.

As the incident unfolded, however, we get to see why some Thais deserve to be insulted.

Ultimately, what we can see from the clips, is our own fear. We should start to feel concerned about the growing witch-hunt mentality and the tendency for our people to take justice into their own hands.

The road rage clips were the talk of the town last week, and understandably so.

The clips show a bespectacled man who went on a tirade after his newly bought Honda Civic was involved in an accident with a pickup truck on Utthayan Road near Phutthamonthon.

From the clips, it appeared that the Civic driver had “lost it”. He looked extremely angry and refused to move his car out of the way and call his insurance agent. Instead, he went on and on about how Thais are bad, how pickup drivers are lousy road users and how none of them could afford to buy a car like his, which he said cost more than a million baht.

“You’re garbage,” the Civic driver said. He also yelled out that he never cared about Thais and that he looked down on them.

The Civic driver also allegedly made negative remarks about the monarchy.

The clips quickly went viral online because it’s not “normal” for someone to lose it in such a spectacular manner as the way the Civic driver did. What the hot-tempered driver said — his contempt for fellow Thais and his unashamed boasting about his so-called success and wealth — are not something people would speak about publicly, even though some may entertain the same ideas in private.

His take on the “quality” of Thais and the wealth gap definitely hits on several sore points in a society known for being one of the most unequal in the world, yet prides itself as being one of the morally righteous.

Some people who watched the clips may have wondered, what could have driven the Civic driver to that point of delirium? Was it the stress of navigating Bangkok’s notorious roads? Was it having to put up with bad people in a dysfunctional system for too long? Was he mentally unstable?

Many people, however, did not hesitate to jump on their moral high horses and condemn the “hot-headed bespectacled man” for his extreme behaviour. The criticism was so heavy that Kasa Development — the man’s employer — promptly made a public announcement that he had immediately been dismissed for his inappropriate outburst.

The Civic driver was then taken to Phutthamonthon police station last Wednesday night to be questioned for a defamation charge, a petty crime.

Here, the bizarre road rage case ended only for a more menacing sequence to follow.

At the police station, a crowd started to gather and swell. Why? It seemed that people wanted to catch a glimpse of the angry man with their own eyes.

By the early hours of Thursday, the number had grown to about 500. Some of them reportedly hurled abuse and insults at the Civic driver’s mother and wife as they left the police station. Why? It seems these people believe they can form a court of public opinion and punish “bad” people as they see fit.

The Civic driver himself had to go under police protection for fear of being mobbed by the angry onlookers.

Harassment was just as intense online. Friends and relatives of the Civic driver had to beg popular webpages to caution people not to send abusive messages to their social media accounts.

Apparently, netizens were keen enough to look for people who are related to the controversial driver and go after them.

Police later released a video clip showing the Civic driver and his mother apologising to the public. The man’s parents also said that their son suffers from depression. They said he spent most of his time overseas and that he lacked understanding of Thai culture.

The witch-hunt, however, went on and became so bad that the Thai embassy in Helsinki at one point had to release a statement, refuting a claim that the driver is a son of a diplomat stationed there.

Sure, the “hot-headed bespectacled man” clips will lose their viral status as it will soon be replaced by another scandal.

The incident, however, has revealed a chilling truth about many Thais.

It shows how the witch-hunt culture and mob mentality have become ingrained among some Thais. It shows just how many of us are ready to take justice into our own hands and judge among ourselves how “bad people” should be punished.

This is the real danger which lurks around the corner that we should see in the road rage videos.