Respect For The Death In Thailand ?

[Zendesigner]

A question to all Thais and expats here.

Do the Thai people have respect for the death in an accident?

I just drove by a motorcycle accident to see the victim lying on the floor with his head cracked open and his brain splattered over the street.

I'm sorry if it's sound gross but it was.

I would say the least respect you can show in a accident is to cover the body with a sheet or something, so that not everybody has to witness to horrifying result.

NO here apparently it is the custom to keep everything open, have like 50 spectators around, 3 tv crews and show the details again on the 7 oclock news for everybody.

I Find this a truly disrespect for the victims.

May i say that this is really nice for all the tourists here in pattaya.

Let's not stand in the way of " loosing our o so nice rep here in thailand"

Disgusting sense of morality.

Any comments ?

B

PS: 50 meters further a woman on a bike was vomiting after she saw the scene.

It was that disqusting.

[Nam Kao]

I think its good that they do this.

Its a great educational tool, mess around and this is what happens to you.

Do they still show the executions on TV?

[Nam Kao]

>>>>I would say the least respect you can show in a accident is to cover the body with a sheet or something

A sheet! I cant even get a decent napkin in a restuarant

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Zendesigner Why didn't YOU cover the body ?

[taxexile]

i was on a day train from bkk to chiang mai a couple of years ago,it was a slow train stopping everywhere. just after leaving a small station it hit and killed two young kids riding honda 50's across the tracks. two policemen came from the village and stood for ten minutes with the train driver having a smoke until a pick up truck arrived , the bodies were unceremoniously loaded up and the train was on its way again. total delay about 10 minutes.

the passengers were noticeably unaffected by it all, most hardly stopped munching on their snacks and chatting as if nothing had happened.

thats the way it is.

i dont think it's a lack of respect. its just the way it is. they are only dead bodies.

gone to another place or another life. their suffering has ended.

nothing to be afraid of,it will come to us all.

in the west we are shielded and protected from all reality regarding death, suffering, and mutilated body parts. yet we produce so much in the way of gory films but dare not show actual violence or death for fear of upsetting someones kids.

[TizMe]

It seems that we in the west are the odd ones out. We sanitise our news reports and hide gross things and just pretend that they don't really look like they do.

Just have a look at news paper coverage of blood and guts anywhere in the world.

Remember when Al-Jazera was said to be disrespectful for showing dead U.S soldiers a number of months ago. They weren't doing anything unusual, that's just the way the press shows things in these countries. Just as it is.

[KevinN]

I have seen the same thing,I have been to drivers edu. classes a number of times in different places in the world to obtain a drivers license,first time was in the service in the states and they always show extreme amounts of gore and guts,makes you think.

and I have noticed it here in papers and on TV as well,I think that they should show vidios when you get your drivers license here as well,but it seems that nothing will make a Thai think when he is in or on a motor vehicle.

Maybe if they just left them for a few days,smeared all over the road,that might get the attn. of a few Thai drivers..

But I really doubt it,seems like they all want to be KAMAKAZI pilots. Here must have been where the Japs got em from..

[huski]

i saw a guy right after he drowned in my apartment's pool this morning. the maids on my floor told me the japanese guy ate a whole watermelon and then went swimming while his wife was laying out by the pool.

there isn't a lifeguard, just a lazy thai guy that collects 40 baht for swimming and sits at his computer all day. when his wife realized something was wrong it was too late.

they left his body by the pool for two hours as i guess the emergency crew had to wait for a doctor to pronounce him dead and somone from his embassy to arrive also. it was creepy seeing that dead body laying there so long, they did cover him with a sheet but the wind blew it off. sad scene

[plachon]

Don't expect it was the watermelon per se, that killed him, but the shit they spray on those things. Every nasty chemical known to man sees the outside of those juicy babies we all love to lap up. And the fruit's not much better either.

But brains on roads, is like runny scrambled eggs, and really puts one off one's dinner, so I can sympathise with Zen following a similar experience a few years back. And everyone does stare and want to get a better look (and often cause a further accident) and the cops are v. accommodating to onlookers (after all they're the ones that flog the grossest crime scene piccies to the gore mags). It's funny what turns people on here - I once saw a monk on a bus reading one of those mags. (But then again, once met a monk who claimed to be Jack the Ripper also). It's all part of Unseen and Amazing Thailand. But don't bring the kids, honey. On second thoughts, they've seen it all on the picture radio since they were in nappies and so no wonder, they come out scrambled............................

[pnustedt]

the japanese guy ate a whole watermelon

Wow! How did he swallow it?

[stumonster]

it is not the western media..and they are dead..I don t reckon they give a ....

our sanitised version in the west is probably not to pamper to our tender sensibilities, they are just worried you will miss the ads if you are spewing up your dinner

reality trumps fantasy every time

[tuky]

I found the respect came at the funeral, my first one was an eye opener. We all stayed at the Wat for 3 days. It was funny to see my wife's entire family scared to sleep for the next few weeks, what's the name of that 100ft tall ghost that everyone is afraid of? Blait? hehe I love the Thais.

[Indo-Siam]

No one has thus far mentioned it, so I will chime in - what this is about is the Bhudhist concept of fate or destiny. Bhudhists seem to accept the idea that if you "buy the farm", then it was your time to go - and there is nothing very regrettable about it (unless it was you breadwinner). They admire lottery winners for having won great favor from fate - and then - considering the pickup truck full of schoolkids that flips and kills a score of them - just shake their heads and wonder which family didn't please Bhuddha well enough.

There seems to me to be little recognition of the concept of personal responsibility for good or bad outcomes - it is always "a matter beyond our control." As such, the locals do not see it as disrespectful to gawk at a fatal accident - as it was not directly the fault of the "victim" - it was - instead - indirect shortfall - in making merit to Bhuddha.

I'm not claiming infallibility here - the above is just my personal take on the local practices.

Cheers!

Indo-Siam

[KevinN]

INDO-Great eyeopener,Now I understand a little better,there was a guy going like a bat outa ###### up where our road goes onto the hyway , well this guy in a fast pick up ran over a motorbike with 3 people on it that was in his way and killed the ###### outta them,and no one seemed to blame him,you know he was speeding cause it took 200 M for him to stop after he ran over them,and when I asked my wife how long the guy would be in jail,she said "what for he be in jail",,for killing the people,"O he won't be in jail,he just pay the family for them ,and his insurance will pay,so no problem"..So I guess thats the way it works.

[Zendesigner]

hi guys ,

thanks for the reply's. i was just grossed out at the time .

i agree that it maybe common practice here not to hide blood and gore but i still feel it's disrespectfull.

Indo, As i'm a buddhist my self i understand their standpoint on fate, karma ect but it stil doesnt mean you suddenly treat a dead person as meat after two minutes.

As a buddhist you should in fact respect all forms of life, death and nature.

Anyway not many people in thailand even though they are buddhists show respect for life in the form of people , let alone animals. Like every religion you have many who are only thought the actions rather then the spirit of the religion. They will way buddha when they enter a place every day, but with the same ease will kill you for a stupid reason. It's just unfortunatley like that.

tuky , i would hope the famillie would show the respect, but members of the police services could give that basic thing also.

Dr patpong, if you are called forward by police you don't have the time to stop and pull out your own sheet. In europe i would never be able to cross the scene with my car anyway. there's really no reason to allow 50 onlookers and everybody driving by to witness this other then an urgue for sensation.

I dont agree with the "makes you think argument" in fact it just desensitizes people to think about it.

What actually happened was apparently:

Two motorcycle's collided headon which made one of them fall. Unfortunatley in the path of an oncoming bus which ran over him and proceeded on it's way ofcourse like nothing happened.

The pair standing vomitting hundred meter later was the other driver that was in the collision.

Saw it again with the gory details on the news next day.

B.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I confess that I am glad that I didn't see it . It sounds a terrifying experience.

[johng]

what's the name of that 100ft tall ghost that everyone is afraid of? Blait? hehe I love the Thais.

It's called Pee Braid

[ThaiAdventure]

I would pee blood if I saw a 100ft ghost