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320 Soraj Hongladarom

the traditional Western culture, putting them on a par with Chris-
tianity, the Gothic cathedrals, Bach’s chorales, Michelangelo’s paint-
ings, Franz Kafka’s stories—in short with the aspects that give
Western civilization its uniqueness? Or do they belong to secular,
cosmopolitan culture, the culture arising out of the need of people
from various cultures to get in touch with one another? To answer
this question deeply enough and satisfactorily enough would itself
require at least another paper. But at least a glimpse of the way to-
ward an answer can be given here. We have seen from the examina-
tion above of what happens in SCT that it is certainly possible for
Thais to fight for democracy and human rights while retaining their
distinct cultural identities. The invectives against the government
are just some indications of the concerns of the Thai people for their
government and their own country; behind an invective lies a vision
of how the country should be governed, a vision that does not include
the current political leaders. On the other hand, the debate on the
language to be used in the newsgroup shows that Thais are con-
scious of their identities and the need to form their own smaller com-
munities within the globalized cyberspace. That the threads happen
together in the same newsgroup shows that Thais do not view the
struggle for more openness, more efficient government, more partic-
ipatory democracy and so on as something separated or incompatible
from the desire to assert their cultural identity. There is no neces-
sary conflict between these two spheres of culture, in the same way
as there is no necessary conflict between Bach’s chorales and the
Gothic buildings on the one hand, and the democratic, libertarian,
and egalitarian ideals on the other.

Conclusion

Thai attitudes toward CMC technologies, especially the Internet,
seem to show that the technologies only serve as a means to make
communication possible, communication that would take place any-
way in some other form if not on the Internet. Most Thais welcome
the new technologies, thinking that they enable them to surge for-
ward with the world. However, this is a far cry from claiming that
the Internet brings about a culturally monolithic world where every-
body shares the same “thick” backgrounds and values. In the SCT
newsgroup, Thai people and non-Thais talk about matters that are
interesting to them, be they politics, culture, etc. Here the news-
groups act more like the traditional Thai coffeehouse where public