Today I got schooled in the ways of Hype.
Hype is, at its' very core, influencing others to believe more strongly about something that you want them to. As salesmen of any kind, you will want to master hype. So today, on my first time witnessing the King's birthday here firsthand, I can safely say I've seen new levels of hype that I could not
begin to imagine or understand before. Eddward Bernays would be floored if he only caught a glimpse of this...
With my many years of experience in internet marketing, observing hollywood, partaking in religious debates, and of course being active in politics from different sides, I felt, at least before I woke up this morning, like someone with an advanced degree in the methods and tactics of hype and fandom.
I was mistaken.
Every year in this small country of only 67 million, King Bhumibol has a birthday today (Dec 5th) and this country shuts down and quite literally goes batshit crazy over him. Fewer people cried during all of world war II than they do here each & every December 5th.
For years I've seen yellow shirts worn on mondays in his honor, his picture hanging in just about every home and place of business, and many other traditions that I thought were polite or cute that showed some sort of fandom towards the king. However his birthday was a real eye-opener for me. Think of new years eve at Times square, throw in some US Presidential Inuaguration ceremony, make sure a large percentage of the entire country takes off of work to show up, all wearing the same uniform, and then make it uber-emotional...
All of that to say happy birthday to the same guy each year. Just wow.
I watched it from home, being warned in advance that it's an all-day plus overnight thing to venture anywhere near the palace. Every single channel played it and nothing but it all day long. Here are some highlights of the ceremony today that happened at 10am, when the king got out of the hospital to address his peeps for a minute:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmbh8ZQJ-o]Thai king's birthday vast crowds gather - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoLRKAHgbuU]Thailand King's birthday celebrated in Bangkok - YouTube[/ame]
Then after the ceremony was over and the king checked back into the hosptial, I headed out to the central World for lunch and noticed that pretty much every single Thai was wearing lots of Yellow. Lots of farang (foreigners) wore yellow too... I didn't bring a yellow shirt with me at all during the move, but I felt so out of place when I got to the mall today that I actually felt kinda obligated to buy one!
At night the fireworks started all over the city, and pretty much every famous person who frequents thailand was doing a stage show somewhere in front of some mall in honor of the king... All for free!
Here's the kind of show I'm talking about from 3 years ago: (Nothing posted on YT yet from tonight)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeOnFxoU820]King Bhumibol Adulyadej 82nd Birthday Celebration - Bangkok Thailand - YouTube[/ame]
(Skip to 2nd half to see the show)
I was on the Skywalk down the street a few blocks from one such show tonight when the King's song (kind of the national anthem here) started playing and everything immediately stopped. All of the hundreds of people in the crowd I was walking with, all stopped in their tracks when they heard the song start up, turned to face the direction of the song's source, and stood there humming or singing along to the song.
NO ONE dared move. Not even tourists.
This isn't in the show's audience, mind you, but like 3 blocks away! On another level, and the music was kind of faint... The level of dedication was simply amazing.
Anyway, I felt the need to post this (while proxied in back through kansas
) because I've never witnessed so much hype before and it's all still fresh in my mind. Not on a Hollywood movie, not from a political campaign, and not even at christmastime... No other hype on this planet comes even close to the hype for the king of Thailand, and the man doesn't even wave or smile once during the entire day... He just sits there in his chair looking like he's completely senile and unaware of his surroundings the entire time. It's simply an amazing specticle from an outside perspective.
So is the hype warranted?
I think the King has spent his entire life doing good deeds and creating charities for his people, but still, NOTHING should warrant this kind of hype! Not even the son of god... This is really that insane. Thousands of people burst out in tears today just at the far-distant sight of his van coming down the road... And he didn't even die or anything... It's just his birthday. I can't understand how these people can be so hyped up to do this year after year and never see the hype for what it is... But I guess they were raised like that from babies in this environment... I guess even those that can see still find it comfortable and worthwhile to stay in the delusion.
In fact I believe that the Hype engine is no longer needed, but is very hard to turn off once turned on.
One good thing about Thais is that they don't seem to trust their government much at all. (This is a Constitutional Monarchy.) I worry however, that after this king is gone one day, that someone in government finds a way to take this incredible engine of hype from the royal family to to use for themselves. The crown prince isn't a very well-liked guy, so it could be a real possibility in a decade or two... If that happens Thailand would turn into another america in a heartbeat.
Hype is, at its' very core, influencing others to believe more strongly about something that you want them to. As salesmen of any kind, you will want to master hype. So today, on my first time witnessing the King's birthday here firsthand, I can safely say I've seen new levels of hype that I could not
begin to imagine or understand before. Eddward Bernays would be floored if he only caught a glimpse of this...
With my many years of experience in internet marketing, observing hollywood, partaking in religious debates, and of course being active in politics from different sides, I felt, at least before I woke up this morning, like someone with an advanced degree in the methods and tactics of hype and fandom.
I was mistaken.
Every year in this small country of only 67 million, King Bhumibol has a birthday today (Dec 5th) and this country shuts down and quite literally goes batshit crazy over him. Fewer people cried during all of world war II than they do here each & every December 5th.
For years I've seen yellow shirts worn on mondays in his honor, his picture hanging in just about every home and place of business, and many other traditions that I thought were polite or cute that showed some sort of fandom towards the king. However his birthday was a real eye-opener for me. Think of new years eve at Times square, throw in some US Presidential Inuaguration ceremony, make sure a large percentage of the entire country takes off of work to show up, all wearing the same uniform, and then make it uber-emotional...
All of that to say happy birthday to the same guy each year. Just wow.
I watched it from home, being warned in advance that it's an all-day plus overnight thing to venture anywhere near the palace. Every single channel played it and nothing but it all day long. Here are some highlights of the ceremony today that happened at 10am, when the king got out of the hospital to address his peeps for a minute:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmbh8ZQJ-o]Thai king's birthday vast crowds gather - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoLRKAHgbuU]Thailand King's birthday celebrated in Bangkok - YouTube[/ame]
Then after the ceremony was over and the king checked back into the hosptial, I headed out to the central World for lunch and noticed that pretty much every single Thai was wearing lots of Yellow. Lots of farang (foreigners) wore yellow too... I didn't bring a yellow shirt with me at all during the move, but I felt so out of place when I got to the mall today that I actually felt kinda obligated to buy one!
At night the fireworks started all over the city, and pretty much every famous person who frequents thailand was doing a stage show somewhere in front of some mall in honor of the king... All for free!
Here's the kind of show I'm talking about from 3 years ago: (Nothing posted on YT yet from tonight)
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeOnFxoU820]King Bhumibol Adulyadej 82nd Birthday Celebration - Bangkok Thailand - YouTube[/ame]
(Skip to 2nd half to see the show)
I was on the Skywalk down the street a few blocks from one such show tonight when the King's song (kind of the national anthem here) started playing and everything immediately stopped. All of the hundreds of people in the crowd I was walking with, all stopped in their tracks when they heard the song start up, turned to face the direction of the song's source, and stood there humming or singing along to the song.
NO ONE dared move. Not even tourists.
This isn't in the show's audience, mind you, but like 3 blocks away! On another level, and the music was kind of faint... The level of dedication was simply amazing.
Anyway, I felt the need to post this (while proxied in back through kansas
) because I've never witnessed so much hype before and it's all still fresh in my mind. Not on a Hollywood movie, not from a political campaign, and not even at christmastime... No other hype on this planet comes even close to the hype for the king of Thailand, and the man doesn't even wave or smile once during the entire day... He just sits there in his chair looking like he's completely senile and unaware of his surroundings the entire time. It's simply an amazing specticle from an outside perspective.So is the hype warranted?
I think the King has spent his entire life doing good deeds and creating charities for his people, but still, NOTHING should warrant this kind of hype! Not even the son of god... This is really that insane. Thousands of people burst out in tears today just at the far-distant sight of his van coming down the road... And he didn't even die or anything... It's just his birthday. I can't understand how these people can be so hyped up to do this year after year and never see the hype for what it is... But I guess they were raised like that from babies in this environment... I guess even those that can see still find it comfortable and worthwhile to stay in the delusion.
In fact I believe that the Hype engine is no longer needed, but is very hard to turn off once turned on.
One good thing about Thais is that they don't seem to trust their government much at all. (This is a Constitutional Monarchy.) I worry however, that after this king is gone one day, that someone in government finds a way to take this incredible engine of hype from the royal family to to use for themselves. The crown prince isn't a very well-liked guy, so it could be a real possibility in a decade or two... If that happens Thailand would turn into another america in a heartbeat.
