As a Thai person : the thought that we overall fear the king is nuts, even if it's something we expect from foreigners because of how the much vaunted lese majeste laws are presented.

I'm pretty sure that some people do, but the vast, vast, vast majority of us genuinely love him and we're feeling genuinely lost right now. I could hear sobbings from houses in my street and there's no reason to cry in private if you don't feel it. (I also cried.)

As for the lese majeste laws....as long as you don't say anything 'on the record' or make a scene in public frequently, people don't really mind. Everyone's pretty open about what we feel about the crown prince and the rest of the royal family.....just not on the record. And preferably not about King Bhumibol, because....look, it sucks to see someone you genuinely love and admire get shitted on by people who look like they're griefers. It's that phenomenon on a nationwide scale. And we......uh, tend to have poor response control sometimes.

(And as far as 'on/off the record' goes, it's more 'we don't want to' than 'we're afraid to', as far as that goes. YMMV, sure, but that goes for nearly everyone I've met.)