PAD, Just, Like, Cult

ABC on Samak's comments during his weekly address yesterday:

"Now they say that they won," Samak says. "We ask, won [what]? These group of people, they [rouse] the people, and they are just like a cult, like in America," the 73-year-old says, making a comparison to the David Koresh congregation raided by federal agents in Waco, Texas, in 1993. "Everybody believes without reason."

Absolutely Bangkok blogs on Samak's statement:

He’s not too off the mark, even though any educated PAD adherer fighting for purely secular issues will laugh off the comparison. The PAD consists of a great many commendable thinkers and independent persons. But has already crossed an important threshold.

Sectarian peer pressure, repetitive indoctrination and the PAD’s claim of chosenness combined with the backbone of the movement over at Government House, the Buddhist Santi Asoke sect and the Dharma Army, have given the PAD a para-religious dimension.

Over at Govt House we’ve heard calls for a “martyrdom for democracy” and you have to admire the protesters for their perseverance. Over a hundred days under the sun, never minding the rain and all too familiar speeches. That’s hardly possible without the absolute dependence on leaders (just to mention the human shields) and a certain belief in miracles.

BP: I think you could make the same criticism of UDD/DAAD too.