The American Dream is a taboo in some (most) subcultures in Thailand, and here's why.

(Last Updated 30 Nov 2025, 05:20 UTC+7: Minor typo fixes.)

In this context, I consider the American Dream as the idea that "one can achieve one's dream as long as one tries hard enough". One can become richer as long as one tries hard enough. One can become smarter as long as one tries hard enough. Work for it, and earn it.

This is along the lines of my belief (it's a bit different: I don't believe I can reach every goals I want, but I do believe that if I try hard enough, I'll go far beyond my old self, to the point that a lot of abilities of mine become significantly better). And in a way, this is one of my core beliefs, in the sense that it is one of the few reasons I wake up each day and still be hopeful even when things go dark in my life. I still cling to the hope that one day I could become better at different things, if I put in more efforts.

However, things are different in Thailand, and I've just experienced an incident of social cancellation (of someone else) over a related topic. Ok, the topic was different, but I can conclude one of the mainstream opinions from the internet Thai-speaking $\mathbb{X}$ netizens: speaking out loudly (and proudly) about your own achievements is a taboo and is preferred to be avoided in such subculture.

But why?

Facts

Let us recap what happened. The original poster (@winwanwon) made a post saying something like

"I'm surprised that 60-70k THB/month salary is something unreachable by most of the Thai people."

(Note: as of today (29 Nov 2025), 1 USD equals to approximately 32 THB, and so 60-70k THB/month means around 1875-2188 USD/month)

The fact, according to A summary infographics given by Krungthep Turakij, which collects the data from the Social Security Office of Thailand, is: a lot of people (say, around at least 97% of the Thai society) don't manage to earn that much.

My Observations and Opinions

And so, the message is interpreted as a hostility/mockery towards the poor (and also towards the general public). I've already argued with some of the other $\mathbb{X}$ users that it's a fact that no matter how much you earn (as long as you're not precisely at the top nor precisely at the bottom), there's going to be someone earning higher and someone earning lower, and so I think it's fine to say one's opinion out loud.

This opinion is not generally received positively. The average position (as far as I've seen) is that

If saying something out loud, and that speech is not "creative", then it's better to shut up.
Telling the general public that you are in the top 3% is harmful to them: some people don't even have the chance/privileges to live freely and earn what you can. Saying truth out loud is harsh and is comparable to saying "I'm born richer than you so maybe if you want to become richer go jump off the roof and rebirth again so that in the next life you might become richer".

Most Thai-speaking $\mathbb{X}$ netizens think it's nearly impossible to go from poor to rich, and hence speaking about it, or encouraging the American Dream, is considered cruel, comparable to giving people early false hopes to crush them later.

In the end, my observation is that most people don't really believe in the American Dream, nor want to do anything with it. They believe they're a powerless being in the middle class, with no hope of going above and beyond, and with no power to change the structure and increase the social mobility.

Of course, my personal opinion is not something like this. I believe I can be whoever I wanted to be, and I can do whatever I want to do, as long as it's not directly harmful to others. And I also think the general public opinion is harmful: if you think you cannot change anything, then you'll refuse to change anything, and rot in your current state to the rest of your life. As a Thai person, I believe in the American Dream, and even if it is false in general, one should still hope to establish the American Dream. If the social mobility is bad to the point that the poor cannot become rich, then something is wrong with the economic infrastructure, and should be fixed, not be whined about.

One more important point I wish to make is about free speech. I think the democracy in Thailand fails because people worship people, not the ideas. The average mindset in Thailand is heavily a collectivist one, not an individualist one. People are expected to conform, and they care a lot about being a part of the society (and not being hated by anyone). This is, in my opinion, a very unhealthy mindset. People fear cancellation. And they're afraid to stand on their ground ideology. Not only that, it also leads to the reinforcement of the power structures in Thailand. Democracy nowadays is just "something that's cool and is endorsed by the majority". Most of the people don't even care to take a philosophical challenge to ask "Why democracy?". And in the end their democracy is not the one founded on the basis of liberty and the rights to freedom of thinking and expression, but more like the one founded on the basis of "the rich must give the power to the poor". I argue that this basis will go nowhere: once the rich redistributes, the newer rich will be hated. And they're not going to stop until everyone becomes equal, which is absurd.

The connection to the post was that a lot of people say that even though @winwanwon didn't do anything extreme, but he should be aware with the cost to be paid when speaking sensitive/controversial topic. Of course, I strongly disagree. People should be free to say anything and not be silenced (even if it's hate speech), especially in online platforms where it is impossible to do actual physical damage to life in real time. I argue that it's the public's fault that they can't accept other's opinion, and in this way, they try to silence him by trying to dox his life, criticizing his GitHub, and messing with his workplace. These actions should be unacceptable, and it's a tragedy that the majority thinks these are the costs to be paid when you speak something controversial.

Freedom is the Foundation

When the majority thinks "action A is right" and "action B is wrong", they project their subjective ideas to the point that they think "action A is objectively right" and "action B is objectively wrong" (within all moral frameworks). This leads to the inability to comprehend different opinions, and so they think they're doing something right. Even killing other people (if that person is bad enough) is a good thing.

For example, the question "Should pedophiles be killed or saved?" triggers strong emotional response to the point that their reasoning system stops working and now they completely attack me as a "pedo-supporter". One can replace that question with anything strong, and one can observe the emotional response, as if they don't have the capacity to reason anything anymore.

I don't think I have to say anything else. So here is an iconic photo (by Neal Ulevich, fair use). See here for more information.

As we all can see, my opinion is that freedom is the foundation of a modern libertarian society. One that people can reach the top if they try hard enough. One that people can follow their dreams without being heavily and negatively judged by the society. One that money is nothing more than a trading currency--no difference in dignity between poor people and rich people. One that democracy listens to the minorities, not silences them.