'Rob Kuan Duay Kha", "Please proceed" or "Do me a favour" sounds polite enough. When the comment was made to a public post encouraging people to go and slap Future Forward Party spokeswoman and MP Pannika Wanich, however, it exposed how dangerous Thai society is, how much hatred and violence are lurking under the seemingly peaceful facade.
Pop singer Amita "Tata" Young becomes the latest celebrity to provoke political controversy. The singer "liked" an Instagram post that said: "Let's wait to slap E Chor at the arrival lane".
While Chor is Pannika's nickname, the "E" is a rude, derogatory form of honorific. The post also called her "Nak Phaendin", or scum of the land, a dehumanised term used by right-wingers to justify the persecution of left-leaning activists during the polarising 1970s. It carried hashtags that malign her, making fun of her physical appearance.
The singer who earlier called on people to stop cyber bullying after being subject to ridicule about her own weight gain went another step by adding her own "do me a favour" comment to the controversial post.
Her actions provoked a storm of criticism. Thousands of people slammed the singer for the comment seen as active support for political violence. Some said they were fans of the singer, but felt very disappointed by her thoughtless actions. Many vowed to boycott her performances and concerts, one of which is planned for later this year.
The hashtag "tatayoung" trended on Twitter yesterday, along with the question "think differently equals being slapped?"
Singer Amita seems to be following in the footsteps of actor Prama "Punjan" Imanotai who caused an earlier stir with a Facebook post telling regime critics to work for a living and not go drinking and partying every night.
Many saw the comment as showing contempt towards those opposing the junta. The actor later apologised and deleted the controversial post after many fans boycotted his movie Love Battle, which performed poorly at the box office.
The difference is while Punjan, and other celebs who publicly expressed their political views in the past, could be faulted for being outspoken and not careful with their words, Amita crossed the line.
The same is true with other celebs who commented in the same post, some urging would-be slappers to use shoes instead of their bare hands for the proposed assault.
There is no doubt that Amita's "do me a favour" expression drew so much attention because of her celebrity status. The truth, however, is that this latest controversy is only a milder form of the hate speech and violence-promoting content being fed into social media each day.
Since the election has failed to reunite society, a kind of mania seems to be raging on both sides of the political spectrum.
Fear, hatred and an inability to feel compassion towards people who support a different political party have become the norm. Divisive ideas, such as people who believe that those who want to reform the military are not patriotic or those who wish to see the lese majeste law amended are anti-monarchy have become pervasive.
It's worrying that social media comments that blatantly condone violence like "let's slap E Chor" can gain traction soon after anti-junta political activist Sirawith "Ja New" Seritiwat was brutally attacked in broad daylight by unknown suspects.
The after-effect is more terrifying. Some of the celebrities who commented on the "let's slap" post apologised for them. What were their excuses? One said she didn't mean to make a political comment as she only wanted to tease the original poster. Another said he found the post to be "funny" but didn't intend to support any act of violence or cyber bullying.
It's terrifying that many people, including these celebrities, are either not aware that it's their condoning of transgressions -- seen as "funny little things" -- that creates a culture of violence in society, or have become such an integral part of it they no longer care who becomes a victim of the aggressive culture as long as they stay safe.
"Rob Kuan Duay Kha" or "Do me a favour" may appear like an innocuous comment in the grand scheme of hatred and extremism that exist in the world. But the seemingly harmless, tongue-in-cheek expression belies an enormously hateful attitude. It's an attitude that sees no humanity in people who think differently. It's this kind of attitude that can kill.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a columnist, Bangkok Post.