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In principle I would agree with you. But the examples you cite refer to individuals in countries with hugely different conditions from Thailand. And in all, violence played a part. The Imperial system in Russia was a disaster for the vast majority of the people. Gandhi was fighting - peacefully - for independence for his people after centuries of foreign rule, although violence on a massive scale was the result. Castro similarly - granted Castro's Cuba can not have been a particularly pleasant place in large part a result of stringent US sanctions, but then pre-Castro Cuba was basically run by the mob and for again the vast majority it will have been a pretty gruesome existence - Mandela was fighting against a brutal enforced separation of the races, and Walesa was fighting against a politically and socially oppressive government. I realise these were merely examples in your "never say never" position. But present day Thailand illustrates none of the above characteristics. It did some decades ago when there were several student riots, fighting in the streets and deaths. But Thailand now is a very different country. It is also for many of its citizens a wealthier country. Unlike the serfs, the native-born Africans who were forced to get up at 2:00 am in order to make an hours' long journey just to get subsistence work etc., most Thais are relatively speaking much more content with their life. Yes, they would like changes. Yes, they believe the elite and the military still have far too much say over their lives. Change in some form will no doubt come to Thailand, although in my view it probably needs a major reform of the education system to see that become reality. But please remember I was not talking about Thais as a whole. I was talking about a specific section as mentioned by @bkkmfj2648 - barboys. Change has actually already occurred within this group. When I first came to Thailand at the end of the 1970s and throughout the 1980s and 1990s, I came across no non-Thais who worked in the gogo and host bars etc. From reports here Thais are now in a considerable minority. And that's because of two reasons: a birthrate that has declined very substantially in a very short space of time, and work for young under-educated Thai boys now no longer being restricted to toiling in the paddy fields or in the village shop, with the result that bar work has become generally much less  attractive. In the bar trade, for those working in Jomtien, I maintain that life must indeed seem helpless with the arrival of the low season.

I've been to the tower and TRACON room at MCO- Orlando airport....prior to 9/11 when they allowed visitors. 2 of my neighbors worked there.....they shared some interesting stories, I can't fathom what it's like today with so many more flights and working under this administration.

Interesting. On reflection  it was SSSS that was on my boarding pass.