Cod Satrusayang: Sit back and enjoy the apocalypse

If you haven't heard, Pheu Thai won Sunday's election, setting the course for Yingluck Shinawatra to become the first female -- and the second Shinawatra in less than a decade -- to be prime minister of Thailand. 

The struggles between the various factions over the past several years have often sparked violence, and one would be hard-pressed to find anyone in Thailand who has been unaffected in some way or without some story directly related to the political strife.

The political divide has left the country fractured and hurt and without a clear mandate or course for the future. One would be foolish to assume that this election is the end of the divide.

Sarcasm and cynicism won't help things

One would be pessimistic not to hope that it marks the beginning of the country’s "return to normalcy." 

More on CNNGo: Weighing in on the Thai election results

And while the leaders have said the right things so far -- urging acceptance, congratulating victors and perhaps growing up and finally steering us towards reconciliation -- the situation among the electorate is a bit more dire than people would admit.

Just last night after the election, this was posted on a friend’s Facebook page, receiving over 20 likes and comments: "Thailand, you have just shown to the world how unprepared you are for democracy. You have elected a political party that supports terrorist activities in burning down Bangkok.

"You have elected a party in which its leadership changes to suit one man's needs. You have elected a party that puts itself above the law, above the constitution. You have sold yourself to a party that now owns you. Amazing Thailand." 

Such sarcasm, cynicism and smugness shows that the only people who aren’t ready for democracy are the people who can’t accept an election result.

More on CNNGo: Top 10 strange moments of Thailand's 2011 general election

To be fair though, this was one of the more eloquent and tame Facebook statuses that I read. Many among the upper-middle class and high society have reverted to name-calling and ironic chatter about cheats and villains. 

A story only half told

We all know the task the new prime minister inherits is unenviable. Yingluck will soon be fighting off throngs of people clamoring for a piece of the pie, while at the same time trying to bridge a divided country. 

Some have even gone so far as to call this the beginning of the end; the downfall of Thai culture, society and whatever else is romanticized in the annals of our history. Well, if this is going to be the apocalypse, then let us sit back and enjoy it. 

If this election represents the mushroom cloud that towers over the half-rusted pillars of our weather-worn society, then let us rejoice in it because it is going to get worse before it gets better.

I once said that history could not be cheapened or shortened to fit anyone’s agenda, and even though people have tried (drawing parallels between the Red Shirt protest and Martin Luther King or Gandhi, for example) the cyclical nature of history always wins out.

We are living that history of change now, for better or worse, and the story is only halfway done. 

I can think of no fitter ending than a quote from German essayist Kurt Tucholsky: “Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply; those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire.”