With all the rage among various parties over the sensitive and potentially explosive issue of the amendment proposal to Article 112 of the Criminal Code, we all need to step back and try to find the voice of reason which may be found within us if we try hard enough.
But to find it we must work to eschew a very dangerous endgame that benefits no one.
The issue is emotionally charged by those who oppose the lese-majeste law and those who support it. Lost along the way is reason, decency and the real issue.
It has turned out to be a complete farce, but for ordinary and rational people, it hurts too much to laugh.
It hurts because the movement and arguments relate to someone they deeply revere and love - His Majesty the King, who for his entire life has done nothing but keep the promise he gave to the Thai people on his coronation day: that he would reign with righteousness for the benefit of his people.
It hurts because in recent years many from all political colours have shamelessly used and exploited His Majesty's good name to do terrible things, for their own gain.
It hurts because His Majesty does not deserve to be the target of all the hate-mongers who use worse than lewd language on the Internet and social network exchanges.
It hurts because while time and energy should have been devoted to ridding the country of crooks and cronies who make corruption an acceptable norm in our society, this time and energy has been expended in barking up the wrong tree. We view the current social and political decadence with an obtuse attitude, while some blindly and willingly blame one man and one institution for all the problems facing our people and our society.
It hurts because the voice of reason has become a casualty of this folly, and it hurts deeply that we all are lost increasingly in the jungle of bias, ignorance, misguided good intention, propaganda, lies, hyperbole, fanaticism, pedantic demagoguery and self-interest.
To take a step back, let's consider where else in the world that lese-majeste laws exist and how they are prosecuted. And to get some perspective, where in the world there does not exist a lese-majeste law or a monarchy, but where people are still being prosecuted for insulting or defaming the leadership.
Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain and Morocco are among the countries with a constitutional monarchy, where their courts have prosecuted defamers of the monarchy. In some countries such as Greece, where there is a president as head of state, the constitution makes it an offence to insult him. In Poland, a Polish man was arrested after passing gas loudly to express his dissatisfaction with the country's leadership. In China, anyone who expresses an "offensive" view of the Communist Party or its leaders, or the country's political system, is treated with harsh measures. In at least one of our own neighbouring countries, opponents of the regime disappear quietly without a trace.
Taking the petition to amend Article 112 literally, some of the demands are reasonable. They are responses to past abuses of the law, not by the monarchy but by people in positions of power, for whatever reasons. However, some people have looked for fine print, or messages between the lines of the petition, and have become incensed.
And there are those who see an opportunity to use the growing divide among the Thai people as a means to justify certain self-gratifying objectives that have nothing to do with protecting the institution they proclaim to be defending.
Let's take more steps back by looking at another dangerous situation of rhetoric and retribution - the conflict between the West and Iran over the latter's nuclear ambitions.
As the US orders more economic sanctions against Iran and the European Union bans Iranian oil exports and freezes the assets of Iran's central bank in the EU, more and more Iranians have trouble paying for food and shelter. The US presidential election in November could even be decided by Iran, or rather a war with that country. The progressively harsh rhetoric from the US, which perceives itself as the keeper of world "peace", is met with threats by Iran to block the Straits of Hormuz, which would disrupt the world's most important oil supply line. Meanwhile, Israel is said to be seriously contemplating a military strike to degrade and delay the Iranian nuclear programme. The conflict is truly a dangerous game of chicken.
Then came the Sultan of Oman, who recently told the Western press that contrary to the conviction of the West that Iran was moronically intransigent, the Iranian leadership does not want to heap more trouble upon its people. In fact, he said, the Iranian leaders know they are mistrusted (by both Iranians and foreigners) and that they must convince the world that their nuclear programme is genuinely innocuous. There are the usual cultural and national divides, as well as historical background, that are obstacles to mutual understanding and agreement, but the Sultan emphatically stated that Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme can and must be resolved peacefully through patient dialogue, not by all sides upping the ante. He also stated categorically that no one would block the Straits of Hormuz.
It is more than refreshing in this day and age to hear such a calm voice of reason, one which even entertains the hope for a peaceful resolution to a conflict as long and poisonous as this one.
Here in Thailand, the issue of the Article 112 amendment is smaller in scope, but no less perilous. We need a voice of impartial reason to which people are willing to listen. It is the only way to resolve this matter peacefully.
There are reasons to think that the Article 112 amendment is just a pawn in a bigger game of chess, where it is expendable but capable of creating pandemonium, giving the chess master an opening to win. As Mao Tse Tung wondered out loud about the Cultural Revolution when neighbours were killing neighbours: "There is great chaos under heaven, and the opportunity is excellent."
It is incumbent upon us Thais to prevent that from being the case here.
