Four talking points as the Korat shootings unfold

On Saturday, a disaffected soldier shot his commanding officer at an army camp before going on a shooting rampage in the Korat city centre. At least ten people are confirmed to have been killed with dozens more wounded.

Here are four talking points as the situation unfolds:

Social media

Social media has become a double edge sword in situations like these. Not only is the news unfiltered and unverified, allowing for the possible dissemination of false information but oftentimes it is insensitive and intrusive on victims and their families who are already going through an ordeal.

That the shooter chose to glorify his crimes on social media for so long on Facebook before his posts were taken down points to a growing situation in an increasingly social media-saturated world.

Failure of Thai terrestrial media

Thailand’s two most popular channels 3 and 7 showed soap operas even as the situation was unfolding and lives could have been saved by cutting to live and reporting on no-go situations and what people in those dangerous areas should do.

There were also problems with those media outlets that did cut to live. Some shared unverified photos from social media while others shot live footage of security officials conducting operations jeopardizing not only the operation but their lives as well.

Politicizing a tragedy

Because the shooter is an army officer, Thailand’s deeply polarized political divide somehow seeped through into a national tragedy. Many took the opportunity to criticize the army and the army-backed government. In reality, the first victims of the mass shooter were soldiers and situations like these call for more unity than disparity.

Mental health

In the upcoming days, many outlets and media organizations will talk about gun control, conscription, and other topics as they try to make sense of what has happened in Korat. One aspect that should not be neglected, as it often is in this region of the world, is mental health. Long a taboo in Thai society, mental health issues and their treatment should be a priority for the government to focus on as we being the long process of recovery.

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