It has been four days since the Thai people lost their beloved actor Thrisadee "Por" Sahawong to dengue fever. His passing has had the nation frozen in mourning. Considering the fact that we mostly got to know him through his roles in soap operas, the phenomenal scale of public reaction means the actor must have done something very right.
I, by no means, considered myself a fan of his nor could I previously have recalled the titles of the television series he had starred in. But with the media updating the public with news of his condition at every turn -- through all possible channels -- throughout the two months he was hospitalised, the announcement of his death did catch me off guard for an abrupt moment.
From that instance, I could only imagine what would happen next was going to be hectic. The press would relentlessly follow the transportation of the actor's lifeless body back to his hometown in Buriram and the heart-broken fans would squeeze into the temple to attend the funeral. The grieving wife would be given limited room to process her loss and the adorable daughter, who had become a spirit-lifting diversion during her father's hard times, would continue to be treated like a mascot.
However, I thought that since everyone, especially the media, had seen with their own eyes what the actor and his family had gone through, they would at least spare them from certain media extremities and intrusions.
I was gravely wrong.
What actually happened was a series of over-the-top obscenities by the media that unlocked a new low we have never reached before.
Starting from Tuesday, we saw a photo that showed the arrival of the actor's body to the temple crawling with men wielding cameras, his wife and a monk spotted being left high and dry in the bloodthirsty crowd. Another picture showed the actor's younger brother trudging through cameramen who positioned their devices awfully near the incense burner he was holding.
I wish that were all. But we also saw a picture that showed people taking selfies with the wife who was hugging her little girl sitting on the seat reserved for close family members and friends in the temple's service hall. One newspaper managed to call the hospital to ask for the hospital bill and report into how much his treatment had cost in total, while another plastered its front page with a picture that partly revealed the actor's face.
A number of online articles also helped keep the public posted on the well-being of the wife and the daughter day by day, reporting that the wife was still not over her despondence and her daughter still too young to understand what had happened.
I won't ask what these people were thinking, because clearly they didn't think anything. But seriously, wasn't there a part of them that thought something was not right when they were spewing a constellation of dazzling flashes to the bereaved family or snapping selfies of their smiley, shameless faces next to the woman who had just become a widow? Wasn't there a part of them that thought if the daughter was old enough to have a voice, she might want to cry at the top of her lungs saying they all should give her father a break?
Wasn't there a part of them that thought the pictures they were about to take were of the dead man who'd had his leg and lung removed and had been fighting till his last breath? The least they could have done was feel sorry for him, instead of going out of their way to take pictures of his exhausted, colorless face.
At times, I wondered why the family had not done anything to stop them. I was also curious as to when their patience would run out. But I figured that for the amount of love and support the public had been giving them, how could they not be eternally grateful, feeling so indebted to the point that they would not dare to stand up against the media's callous behaviour?
People have been talking about how many members of the Thai media do not have the right media ethics that are responsible for pushing good journalism. That's an error-free statement. But for a case like this, it surely wouldn't even call for a debate of the profession's rights and wrongs in the first place, if those who did it ever tried to look into the eyes of the wife or the daughter. Wouldn't they see a family instead of a news source?
And wouldn't seeing them as a family remind them of the fact that they would never want something this dreadful to ever happen to their own families?
As a fellow in this field, I'm sorry on behalf of the people who let this happen. Please rest easy now, Thrisadee.
Duangphat Sitthipat is a feature writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.