A debate recently raged over whether a music producer's display of affection to his pre-teen daughter was appropriate.
A beauty queen won her crown on a campaign of "real size beauty".
Another rally was held to demand an amendment to the controversial Section 112 of the criminal code, or lese majeste law.
A royalist Facebook page posted a message urging people to pay respect to the royal anthem in the theatre "even though you may be the only one standing".
Facebook, meanwhile, has rebranded itself as Meta ostensibly to brave the new frontier of the metaverse, a fully immersive online experience where people can enjoy multiple avatars while interacting with one another.
The Squid Game cryptocurrency inspired by the popular series of the same name gained more than 86,000% a week after launch.
On the surface, these events may appear like random news stories, unconnected with nothing in common. Look deeper, however, and there may be some dots that connect these seemingly irregular happenings.
Through things that are occurring now, signs could be detected. It is not just that of a rapidly changing world but a clash of new and old values, beliefs and practices that are happening as people from different generations struggle to find their place in the conflicting present and where possible look for their relevancy in the future.
If realised, the metaverse, augmented reality and digital personas will bring with them dilemmas not unlike the problem of psychological manipulation that social media and its AI personalisation technology are being accused of at the moment.
With multiple avatars, which identity will be considered the real you? Which experience the real one?
For us here, however, the meta-philosophical issue may still lie beyond the horizon. We can't even sort out such basic problems as online banking scams.
What is of more concern is that while the landscape of the future is still forming, with only glimpses of what is to come available to us, how do we keep things together amid everything that is bound to clash? And some things -- beliefs, traditions, institutions -- must come down for the future to materialise.
The scandal involving the music producer and his daughter could well illustrate the tectonic shift between past and present Thailand.
Netizens went into uproar after a video clip featuring the producer teaching his pre-teen daughter to play the piano went online.
In the clip taken by his wife, the musician was seen putting his hand inside the girl's pants and apparently touching her bottom.
While thousands of users slammed the act as "creepy", definitely not a normal, father-daughter show of affection, many defended the musician saying there is nothing wrong with family members touching one another.
Some of the comments -- an insistence that it is okay for family members to touch one another's private parts -- left those who would rather draw the line between familial affection and the right over one's body horror-struck.
The question immediately followed of how far the rights of people, especially children, over their bodies should be protected.
This is an awkward question for Thai society accustomed to being an expanded, close-knit family structure.
For many families, it is indeed common for young children to be told to let this or that relative give them a hug or peck on the cheek.
But should this practice continue in this age when a new conscience is growing about an individual's rights? Judging from the heated debate, the question remains unsettled.
The same is true with body shaming. It may be ironic that a call to cherish diversity in the human body and not to fall for stereotypes of "ideal beauty" came from a beauty pageant, traditionally the cradle of the beauty myth.
But the newly crowned Miss Universe Thailand Anchilee Scott-Kemmis successfully challenged traditional beauty standards -- being thin or fair-skinned for example -- with her campaign urging people to embrace their individuality and uniqueness.
That the Thai-Australian model won the crown on arguably the most conservative, gender-biased stage says a lot about how much Thai society has changed.
People who grew up with cash and the belief that banks are probably the most secure financial institutions are seeing the end of cash as banks head into a bleak future being disrupted by fintech and digital lifestyles.
If one thing can be drawn from the chaotic changes marking this transition, it's that no single group can hold hegemonic control for long. People who prefer to stand up during the royal anthem may be allowed to do so. But those who would rather not, who would also like to amend Section 112 or push for monarchy reform, do not deserve to be prosecuted.
The future is diversified. That is the new normal.
Atiya Achakulwisut is a Bangkok Post columnist.
