Thai Society's Short Memory After Nonthaburi School Shooting
A 14-year-old gunman killed eight people including his grandparents and six school staff at Debsirin Nonthaburi School before taking his own life, but journalists and analysts warn Thai society's short news cycle of three to seven days risk
If we are honest with ourselves, Thai society is one where trending news topics, based on my observation as a journalist over the years, have an average lifespan of about three days, or at most about seven days, and rarely exceed a week. Then the news cycle moves on.
The role of mainstream mass media as gatekeepers—the sole entities deciding what is or is not news and which angle to take on an issue—has significantly declined over the past decade. This is due to the fact that every ordinary person can now express various opinions on social media, and a considerable number of social media influencers now hold power in sparking social debate.
In this state of extreme chaos, expecting the public to simply shut up, remain passive, and wait for the police or the courts to explain the factors that led to last Friday's tragedy is inadequate. The fourteen-year-old gunman first shot his two grandparents to death, went to school, killed six more people—mostly teachers at Debsirin Nonthaburi School—and then shot himself. Waiting is too slow for a society with such a short attention span.
After a week passes, the number of people still interested in the issue will drop drastically, to the point where almost no one not directly involved will still care or talk about it. Do you still remember the beer house fire in Lat Phrao? Yesterday, another person died from injuries sustained in the fire, bringing the death toll to thirty-eight. Is anyone still trying to debate and learn so society can prevent similar incidents? What about the train collision with a bus at Makkasan intersection, which now seems a distant memory despite having occurred just a few months ago?
In a society with a very short attention span, the first three to seven days are crucial for collective social learning.
Please keep an open mind and avoid rushing to a single, simplistic conclusion. Some want the tragedy to have a touching ending and are fixated on the father of a twelve-year-old victim, who forgave the perpetrator—despite the fact that the partner of another victim, a mathematics teacher, sobbed and said he could not come to terms with it. Meanwhile, a male student from the school released a video clip defending his school and teachers while condemning the shooter, even as some expressed sympathy for the adolescent gunman and blamed certain teachers for allegedly treating him unfairly. But how do we explain the fact that the young gunman killed his own grandparents who had effectively acted as the de facto parents when his biological parents reportedly saw him only on weekends?
Some saw the fourteen-year-old gunman as a monster; others saw him as a victim. I think I see both, but I will continue to keep my mind open beyond the seven-day mark, which falls tomorrow.
Keep an open mind, because a flawed society with a limited attention span usually only has three to seven days to learn and debate before moving on.
Within that short window of public attention, the government also wants to appear resolute, sometimes making knee-jerk decisions.
