So, is Thailand any better, you’re likely wondering.
Yes.
Thailand, and many developing nations across the world, while perhaps under-developed, corrupt, and lacking resources, are better.
We are better because 1. We don’t put on airs about being the best on earth, we merely participate in the ongoings of earth and feel happy to be alive, 2. Our prime minister is also sworn in as King, removing the cries from the citizenry to object when he behaves as such, and 3. The qualifications to be prime minister are the same as the qualifications for membership in the house of representatives.
I think #3 above is my favorite right now. We don’t elect prime ministers because their dad was prime minister or because they inherited fifteen million dollars at birth and bought the position, or because they had a really bomb peanut farm.
There are, of course, issues with the Thai government and I don’t mean to minimize them. But you don’t see Thailand declaring itself the “GREATEST NATION ON EARTH” quite as often.
If you need an example: do you remember how people reacted after 9/11? They bought flags. Flags for their cars, for their houses, for their bikes, for their clothing, etc. They didn’t soul-search and examine how their abject participation in democracy may have led us to be so hated globally. They demanded that we are still the best. And in doing so, proved that we were not.