Listen, I've used humor (often dark humor, too) as a load-bearing coping mechanism for almost my entire life. It's an important part of who I am as a person. Likewise, I very much feel that you can make a bad situation more bearable by finding just enough humor in it to pull yourself (and maybe those around you) through to the other side.
Think of it like a psychological winch, of sorts.
I say all this because, through my life experience, I know what it looks like to want to dance a little dance to make someone who's having a bad day feel slightly less bad. I know this because I've done it a lot in my life.
In our increasingly fractured world, I don't know how much news coverage you've personally seen about the historic floods that have impacted Bangkok, Thailand over the past weekend in September 2026. For me, I know that as soon as I heard about them on Saturday, I instantly checked in with my family to make sure everyone's doing okay (and thankfully, they are).
Now, I'm halfway around the globe, so there's not a lot I can do on the ground to help. But I can tell you that if I was there, even though I might definitely look for ways to make someone smile and feel a little less bad during a tough time like this, one thing I definitely wouldn't be doing would be jumping on my standing Kawasaki SX-R 800 jet ski (or any other PWC, for that matter) and doing stunts in the middle of a major Bangkok street (Phetchaburi) because it's so heavily flooded.
According to local news sources including the Bangkok Post and Thai PBS World, both this guy and his cameraman (who had to film the stunts for social media, natch) have since been arrested, and the jet ski has been confiscated. The jet ski rider, Sorn Keadsiri, has received a fine, a suspended prison sentence, and a year's probation for this nonsense.
In the video embedded above, the newscasters mention something else I haven't seen discussed in the written pieces I've seen so far. They say this same guy allegedly hit a motorcycle with a Mercedes-Benz he was hooning around in on Sukhumvit Road in 2025. Real winner, this guy.
The thing I can't get over, however, is that all the news stories about the jet ski incident say that Sorn made some excuse about how he didn't know any better because he didn't receive his education in Thailand. You know what? I didn't receive my education in Thailand, either, but I still know better, and I think he does, too.
Unless you're brand-new to the planet, I think that most of us probably know better. And if you do happen to be brand-new to the planet, you probably don't have standing jet ski riding skills that you want to post on your socials, I'm guessing.
What could this guy possibly have thought he would gain from offering such a flimsy excuse for his selfish behavior? It would've been one thing if he'd been trying to help literally anyone out by using his jet ski. Then he'd probably have a lot more public sympathy.
Maybe if he hadn't been such a jackhole, he and his cameraman buddy might not even have gotten a slap on the wrist from the police. Who knows? I've seen plenty of videos of Grab drivers and others taking little boats and makeshift rafts around to try to transport people, animals, and goods and help those who've been directly impacted by the floods. We're talking about people who are trapped, who need food and water and can't easily get to it, and more.
For many people, it's a rough time right now. Those people braving the flooded streets to help others are the real heroes; the people trying to make the best of a bad situation, and simultaneously finding a little humor and light to keep everyone's moods as buoyant as their floaties.
For those unclear on what happened, close to a foot of rain hammered Bangkok in just 48 hours. This led to the initial round of overwhelmed water-drainage infrastructure and flooded streets, and then the rain simply didn't let up until a short time ago as I write this. Although it is currently monsoon season in Thailand, the combination of intensity and duration of rainfall in such a short time is way outside the norm.
There's no way you get on a standing jet ski, disturb the floodwaters violently and send your wake washing over anyone and everyone with the bad luck to get in your way, and seriously think you're just doing it to make people smile. Maybe if he'd owned up to just wanting to be Internet famous for a few minutes (which it appears he's succeeded at, anyway), he might've gotten a little more sympathy that way, too.
As it is, I hate that I'm even writing about this, although I do simultaneously feel compelled to do so. Like, absolutely don't be this guy if you're faced with a natural disaster in your back yard. And at the same time, in a way, he's clearly also getting what he likely wanted in the first place: A ton of international attention for his silly stuntwork.
So, to assuage my annoyance with writing about this, I'll close by offering the following fervent curse on this dude: May every 7-11 always be out of your favorite flavor of Lays Chips, every single time you're looking for them. (And if you don't know about Thai Lays, dear reader, I hope you get to find out someday soon because they're delicious. Not for this guy, though. And if he does find his favorite flavor, I hope they're soggy with the rainwater washed up from his jet ski.)
