The politics of taste in our election seasonListen to this articleMembers of the Klatham Party cheer after announcing 500 constituency and party-list MP candidates, along with the party's prime ministerial candidate, at BITEC Bangna. The recent SEA Games were a good example of the heady mash-up between taste and politics. What was implied was that Mr Thamanat and his underlings had bad taste -- a characteristic bureaucratic unsophistication of Thai rachakarn that has steadfastly yielded uncool, even ugly graphics. By default, taste involves judging others who don't share your taste, subsequently classifying people into strata (yours is often the topmost). Taste is cynical, because it ostracises and simplifies -- those who thought the SEA Games opening was a blast had provincial taste, and they'd surely vote for so-and-so.

Source: Bangkok Post December 25, 2025 23:35 UTC