disagree

If the only thing in life left is constant criticism of others, woah, I don't want to see the day you discover the mirror

Said by someone who has been avoiding mirrors all his life.

Thank you for creating that special place for me in your heart. I love you, too.

You know what a great comment would be? "What a great sacrifice the Thai people are doing to honor this man. This must have been a great person."

But the majority of comments are about holiday schedules and know-it-all political trivialities.

You know what else would be great? if you would just make your comment without telling everyone else what to post.

Hypocrite much?

Stings?

You know what a great comment would be? "What a great sacrifice the Thai people are doing to honor this man. This must have been a great person."

But the majority of comments are about holiday schedules and know-it-all political trivialities.

The Thai people are not making any sacrifices. This is being forced on them by a government agency. My Thai friends don't really care who died; they just want 'sanook'.

Sacrifice LOL! starry eyed much?

If that's also the only thing you carried away from my post, well good luck to you :-)

Let's bash on each others heads, constantly, and ridicule and criticize everything.

Let's destroy what we came here for, by being cynical and destructive in everything we hear.

Let's just do that. Because back at home people don't do it enough already.

You know what a great comment would be? "What a great sacrifice the Thai people are doing to honor this man. This must have been a great person."

But the majority of comments are about holiday schedules and know-it-all political trivialities.

The Thai people are not making any sacrifices. This is being forced on them by a government agency. My Thai friends don't really care who died; they just want 'sanook'.

Sacrifice LOL! starry eyed much?

Your friends represent the whole country?

Since when has the Tourism Authority been in charge of cultural events and annual festivals? It is a little like the Australian Tourism Commission saying we will postpone the Melbourne Cup or Easter.

Just how much power and what size stick do TAT wield in Thailand, geez they are even setting up their own private court and judicial system in the airport.

So what is the tourism authority going to do for those tourists that booked their holidays 12 months ago specifically to witness Loy Krathong or are tourists not really party of the tourism authorities agenda.

More to the point, perhaps, since when has a foreigner been in a position to condemn a government appointed body for following normal protocol in the event of the death of some one as important to their country as this person was?

Yeah...ahm...it is called "criticism" and performed under "freedom of speech" or "freedom of expression" on an international internet- forum.

Go figure!

If the only thing in life left is constant criticism of others, woah, I don't want to see the day you discover the mirror

To the people of Thailand TAT has announced that the near most important festival you have been planning for the past year has been cancelled. Do you hear cancelled and be told.

My respects for the passing S.P.

to cancel - to postpone

big difference

You know what a great comment would be? "What a great sacrifice the Thai people are doing to honor this man. This must have been a great person."

But the majority of comments are about holiday schedules and know-it-all political trivialities.

The people will honor this humble monk in whatever way they deem fit, You think a sacraficial honor is in order? up to you. If you are not skeptical of the wisdom of tat proclamations by this point, you aren't paying attention.

What I think is in order for the Thais to do, is out of the picture - as it would be based on prejudice, lack of deep insights and in overall terms be insignificant. The same counts for most of us here.

What I think is in order for us to do, is to act more respectfully and to stop nagging about every little news that appears on this forum as if we're some kind of colonial masters that people have to listen to.

You know what a great comment would be? "What a great sacrifice the Thai people are doing to honor this man. This must have been a great person."

But the majority of comments are about holiday schedules and know-it-all political trivialities.

There's no Thai bashing involved.If you want to say someone is a superstar in Thailand,that's fine.But to refer to a superstar without such a qualification implies a global reach.At present no Thai artist has that.I hope one day one will.

'Qualification' like in a diploma, or based on definitions? Do you qualify to make such qualified statements?

'Implies a global reach' based on? Your understanding? Your stomach? Again, you can't use the term 'it is implied' to describe a general consensus, when the general consensus is clearly otherwise.

It seems your understanding is a one-way street - out, but not in.

Stop googling mindlessly.Ask a few people.Get a sense of perspective (given the stunningly unimportant subject).Stop patronising people who disagree with you,a particularly good tip if one's talking nonsense.Sayonara superstar.

It's interesting that you're putting this now on my persona. It's nice that you repeat the unimportance of the subject, whereas you involve yourself in the discussion around such. Also I'm not patronizing people who 'disagree with me', but such who patronize others, like whole nations, without proper basis.

You have stated that the definition of 'superstar' assumes something. Definitions don't assume. Go ask around a few people yourself, they'll google it for you.

Your interpretation wouldn't be agreed by most people.I wouldn't however dream of calling your odd position mean and arrogant not least because the subject is so unimportant.

A statement that is baseless and attempts to undermine a researched one as 'odd'. I have provided my sources, where are yours? I have provided my definitions, where is the definition you speak of? I have even provided you the definition of what a definition is.

Not that it matters but the definition of superstar assumes an international following.It does therefore imply international fame.Those artists appearing on American Idol are not superstars because they lack that elevated level of fame.

Googling for definitions doesn't help your case.I have of course no objection to Thais describing a popular national artist as a superstar.It simply doesn't accord with what the rest of the world regards as a superstar.

The example that I have brought up about the wording of a show, implies not that the contestants are such, but that the popular understanding of a 'superstar' does not include international fame - as the winner would only be recognized in that country alone.

Also : a definition doesn't assume, a definition defines. ( definition of definition? A statement of the exact meaning of a word. ) When we speak about definitions, you have to provide such. I have outlined definitions where this is exactly not outlined. If you speak about a definition that proves otherwise, you have to supply such, until then you cannot argue about something being defined, as it's not.

Your argument against googling - due to your different understanding of something clearly defined - is an argument against knowledge and research and a fallacy in your reasoning. It invalidates your argument. It equals to "I don't care what Oxford or other scholars have to say" which equals to "I don't care what the definitions are" which equals to yourself invalidating yourself from telling us what is defined how, as you don't respect definitions in themselves.

It's ok if your understanding of superstar is limited to only such of international fame, but you cannot project that on others by telling us what everybody else thinks - as you can see from this thread alone that there's people who do not share your personal opinion on that matter - hence it can't be everybody or 'the rest of the world'.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/superstar

widely acclaimed

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/superstar

enjoys wide recognition

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superstar

very prominent

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/superstar

extremely famous

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstar

great popular appeal

Please go and try finding 'international' anywhere. Maybe even take a look at the examples which mention superstars in certain countries.

Again, it's arrogant to assume something based on our personal understanding from our culture and use that to talk down on others. It's easy, it's mean and it's wrong.

So you believe that Pitt and Jolie are bigger superstars in Thailand than Janie Tienphosuwan?? You will have to think again!!

Pitt and Jolie may be overrated superstars in The States, but not in all parts of the world!! If you want to read about Pitt and Jolie, read some american gossip magazines and not the Thai gossip news!

Whether Pitt/Jolie are overrated is irrelevant.They are certainly global superstars.There are no Thais in this category or even close.In fact there are no Thais at all with wide global recognition.Of course there are popular stars locally but they are not by definition superstars.Thai entertainers are not even popular in the Asian region compared with the Chinese, Japanese or Koreans.There are a few,a very few because most are cheesy,who have the necessary talent and charisma.Bird is an example.But even Bird,like most Thais, doesn't travel well.

See that's where the confusion comes from. You are comparing global superstars to thai superstars. Just the term 'superstar' does not signalize that he/she is known internationally; nor does the article signalize that she is.

I'm just surprised about the vast arrogance in the comments here and on FB everytime somebody mentions a Thai (whichever)star about how they can't be, because they don't know them. It's very arrogant and rude to look down on a nation like this due to personal ignorance. And when I see the same people complain about the rudeness or other behaviors of Thai people, I'm just thinking, "look who's talking".

There's no confusion simply a misappropriate use of the term.A superstar is by definition global in nature.No Thai currently qualifies.A popular local star is a popular local star, not a superstar.It's not arrogance to point that out.

See that's where the confusion is coming from. You're making up definitions or implying parts to them, as I've actually pointed out the definition beforehand. It doesn't imply international fame. E.g. 'American Idol' is called in Germany 'Deutschland sucht den Superstar', and I'm sure unless you're German you wouldn't know any participants or judges in it. Each country has their own 'superstars' - and they define them as they like.

Find me a definition that defines superstar as an internationally known celebrity, and that's going to be alright; but until then you're implying more into it than it really is. And that's where the arrogance part comes in.

Until then you'll either have to go with the broad definition of 'Superstar is a term used to refer to a celebrity who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent or successful in some field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, actresses, musicians, athletes, and other media-based professions. Particularly notable superstars now receive the appellation megastar.', and by this definition she is a superstar as you can ask pretty much any Thai if they know her for her work of art - and they do. And if you don't like wiki, feel free to check out Oxford, Merriam Webster or any other valid definition base.

So you believe that Pitt and Jolie are bigger superstars in Thailand than Janie Tienphosuwan?? You will have to think again!!

Pitt and Jolie may be overrated superstars in The States, but not in all parts of the world!! If you want to read about Pitt and Jolie, read some american gossip magazines and not the Thai gossip news!

Whether Pitt/Jolie are overrated is irrelevant.They are certainly global superstars.There are no Thais in this category or even close.In fact there are no Thais at all with wide global recognition.Of course there are popular stars locally but they are not by definition superstars.Thai entertainers are not even popular in the Asian region compared with the Chinese, Japanese or Koreans.There are a few,a very few because most are cheesy,who have the necessary talent and charisma.Bird is an example.But even Bird,like most Thais, doesn't travel well.

See that's where the confusion comes from. You are comparing global superstars to thai superstars. Just the term 'superstar' does not signalize that he/she is known internationally; nor does the article signalize that she is.

I'm just surprised about the vast arrogance in the comments here and on FB everytime somebody mentions a Thai (whichever)star about how they can't be, because they don't know them. It's very arrogant and rude to look down on a nation like this due to personal ignorance. And when I see the same people complain about the rudeness or other behaviors of Thai people, I'm just thinking, "look who's talking".

And then after megastar we have gigastar, terastar, petastar and exastar

Followed by white dwarf and the supernova

Superstar? What like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? I like the way Thais like to refer to complete nobody's as "Superstars".

But they ARE Superstars in their own small minds

Define superstar. Somebody who speaks your language? Who has the small mind here.

How does an actress working in television and unknown outside of Thailand be referred to as a "superstar"?

Superstar? What like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? I like the way Thais like to refer to complete nobody's as "Superstars".

"Superstar is a term used to refer to a celebrity who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent or successful in some field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, actresses, musicians, athletes, and other media-based professions. Particularly notable superstars now receive the appellation megastar."

What's that outrage? Nobody referred to her as megastar

But that series was on all Thai TV screens just a few months ago pretty much everywhere. You had to shout at waitresses a few times more often to get your food done during these hours. She is quite the star here.

"Indian cinema's superstar Rajinikanth is the highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan.[1]"

Remember, superstar does not define an international star. We just assume it is because the ones WE know are English speaking. A little bit of less ignorance and arrogance a day, keeps the doctor away.

On topic : Unless she mingles with the convicted fellow, there's not much to see here. Just another guy in exile enjoying the fruits of his work.

Indian stars are a little better known that Thai stars

That's besides the point. The point being to not bash on the star status of cultures you don't follow ( because if you would just slightly, you would know who this article is talking about )

How does an actress working in television and unknown outside of Thailand be referred to as a "superstar"?

Superstar? What like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? I like the way Thais like to refer to complete nobody's as "Superstars".

What's that outrage? Nobody referred to her as megastar

The negative on his usual fee he gains exponentially back in on the increasing amount of customers

Thaksin is the 9/11 of Thai politicians. Easiest way to divert attention

I walked out on to my balcony and shouted down "Oi!" - they both looked up - I stood in the Superman stance (arms folded across the chest) frowning - he got the point and let her go

What a surreal story with the suitcases and such. I like your element of surprise

sounds like politically correct hogwash to me.

hong kong, singapore, malaysia...never been scammed, never felt threatened, never sensed hostility, never encountered racism, never witnessed violence, do read a little of the crime but not on a huge scale, never had a problem with taxi drivers....

cant say any of those things about thailand, although i cant say i frequent the rural areas so maybe there are civilised corners but i stick to my view that thailand is undergoing a kind of cultural degeneration and all through fault of its own

Malaysia being on your list clearly surprises me, I guess you might not travel with Jewish friends. Singapore and Hong Kong being well regulated, well funded ( banks ) and expensive city areas have their other clear downsides, as in terms of overcrowding, price and friendliness. But the thugs do exist in the poorer areas as well.

In my book it's comparing apples with oranges as I would never want to live there, and comparing 5 million people city-states to a 65 million people country; we're still talking about 95% of the population which is about 61.75 million people you put under your umbrella of hate.

I was actually happy to be back in Bangkok based on the friendliness of people I talk to here, the easiness of life and my personal feeling of safety even at 4 in the morning on a dark street. The proximity of vacation areas where I'm left alone, the affordability of pricing, the intelligent people I try to converse with from existing and upcoming tech companies and random friendly strangers I spend drinking evenings with in the outskirts of Thailand. But hey, you go out and judge everybody here based on your own stories, and I'll continue to refuse to judge all the people in one basket based on my limited understanding - we'll see who'll have a better time.

Also a cultural degeneration from what? From when Pattaya was built as American Military Entertainment center? What do you base this 'trend' on? Or do you base it on the fact that more and more news are actually being translated to English? Because even from the longterm ex-pats, all you hear year in year out is 'same old, same old'.

Can you define the term cultural degeneration? Is it based on mixing with other cultures? Or can it be stopped by actually adding new ones? Is it connected with the arts department of the country, or is it based on the attitude of Taxi drivers hanging around in front of popular hotels?

your getting some bad comments from the people that reply to your post. its quite common for anyone posting here to be shot down in flames, most of the people who reply to a post here are ex pats living in thailand and they have lost all principles like the locals, good for you to try to help the girl, the world needs more people like you not cowardly shits that turn a blind eye to everything

It's a bit insulting to be generalized like that seeing that the majority of comments are exactly not about turning a blind eye. It's not helping.

Thailand seems to be degenerating into a lawless place ruled by corruption and packs of psycholpathic thugs. What you saw was in many ways typically Thai. I am afraid I prefer other countries in Asia to Thailand. But when i do visit Thailand this means I tend to be in touristy areas and I keep the locals at arms length, much as I would with street dogs or other animlals. They are dangerous, unpredictable, can attack for no reason with shocking violence, in gangs and using weapons. Even outside Thailand, while I would not tolerate any of their aggression or hostility, I still keep a distance when I come across Thais.

What you assumed was you were in a civilised environment...you weren't and never really are in Thailand and until they find a way to better educate their population then their behaviour will continue to be almost more animal than human. Thailand is a country known for little more than prostitution, violence, scams and spicey food.

I'm sorry, but that is a bunch of hogwash. If you hang out in the red light districts and drug areas, there's not much to expect; in ANY country. I recently watched a documentary on what happens during one(!) night in a German Red Light district.. oh boy, oh boy; it's quite calm here in comparison.

But your prejudice against a nation of people based on the bad apples that make the news is more than inappropriate, and so is your advice; since scammers especially tend to target tourists - no matter which country - even in police state Cuba. Thailand is not degenerating anywhere, it's your perception of it that is; and you keeping your distance is not going to make it any better.

My personal perception of Thailand is that it's safer than pretty much 100% of the countries I have visited so far, and I cannot say that I have been scammed here more than in any other country ( a doubled Taxi fare as beginner maybe; but even that was less expensive than let's say in Bulgaria ). The conversations I have with Thais are quite interesting. But if you only hang out in the abyss ( Pattaya, KSR, Patong, Cowboy, Nana, Patpong, etc. ), and read the news from the abyss, and converse with the scum that frequents the abyss, then please don't judge the 95% of locals who have nothing to do with it.

Mine doesn't. But power goes only off once a year for a few hours.