This article is disturbing. Apparently royalist fervor in Thailand has reached such a fever pitch that people are regularly being given prison sentences of up to 20 years for insulting the monarchy.
But what’s really fascinating to me is the Guy Fawkes mask in this photograph. I want to write an essay on the bizarre trajectory that image has made: from 17th century British papist terrorist, to annual jingoistic effigy-burning celebration, to anarchist comic book icon, to anti-Bush/Blair liberal action movie hero, to face of a global anonymous hacker/prankster movement, to more general anti-establishment protest image, and finally… weirdly… to Thai monarchist supporters?
