Friends no more
Social media and Thailand's political conflict don't mix well for many people. Relationships and longtime friendships are being broken every day. Here's an example.
Social media and Thailand's political conflict don't mix well for many people. Relationships and longtime friendships are being broken every day. Here's an example.
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An anti-government protester with his smartphone outside Government House. CHANAT KATANYU
Our Sunday magazine Spectrum has a long article today on how social media and Thailand's political conflict can destroy relationships – unless you are careful, of course. Here is one of the many stories from the article. Has anything like this happened to you?
Friends no more
Post Reporters
While the Asia Foundation said Thailand was more tolerant than any nation it had surveyed, not everyone can see beyond the colour barrier of political alliances.
In school 28 years ago, Man and his best friend were inseparable. When they went to university, they were roommates and thick as thieves.
``We were phuen tai [true friends] and we made a promise that we always would be,'' the 43-year-old business owner said. ``We promised nothing could break us apart, not even girls.''
That all changed in the past two months when the political tension flared. Man came to the conclusion the Democrat Party was right for him and began showing his colours online by following and sharing posts from the ``I Support PM Abhisit'' Facebook page.
The friends usually met weekly for dinner and drinks, but lately Man's invitations have been ignored. At first he suspected nothing, but on the phone one day the real reason became clear.
``You are yellow, I am red; we can't get along together any more,'' was the friend's blunt message.
``I can't believe that after 28 years our friendship was destroyed because of politics,'' Man said. ``I don't understand why we can't be friends. Even when we have arguments over football games, because we each support different teams, we could still be friends.
``He told me he had been noticing my movements on Facebook for quite a while and he wasn't happy about it. So he unfriended me in the cyber world and in the real world too.''
You can read the full story here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/387137/when-friends-show-their-true-colours
สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/387152/friends-no-more
