soalbundy

"The law is slow but grinds exceeding fine"

I agree with you that doctors should be dressed neutrally. Actors and comedians, rightly or wrongly, have a greater influence than doctors or politicians, mention Taylor Swift and even Trump has to react with such statements that he is more popular than her while Bill Burr has said nobody should listen to him he (Burr) was never any good at anything in college but when he comes out on stage there is pandemonium like the second coming just happened.

As I mentioned, socioeconomic isn't just to do with money, it's the flavour of your background which gives you a different, hard to specify, status (not always) or a certain eccentricity, your experiences while growing up are alien to theirs. Who pays for a meal if you dine together? normally the status higher will attempt to pay, even if it's only a gesture and everybody pays their own tab, in your presence people would be unsure about this important matter, should they over trump you (an insult) or defer to you but then again perhaps you would ignore this play of etiquette which could make Thais uncomfortable. Of course at a cafe or bar this wouldn't be a problem. Having to speak English with you can also make a Thai uncomfortable, they could lose face in front of other Thais if their English isn't good enough. In Munich I sat in a meeting of 5 German managers and 3 Thais from an import firm in Bangkok so the meeting had to be held in English. The Thais were unsure if the car headlamps could be imported with the light bulbs fitted which would cause higher import tax in Thailand, the Thai managers pronunciation of 'bulb' was so distorted that I as an Englishman didn't understand him so I asked diplomatically the Germans in German what the Thai was talking about as they (the German managers) all seemed to be nodding in agreement, turned out they didn't know either. At that time I didn't speak any Thai so I asked the Thai manager what he meant with 'bowl', he drew a quick sketch, "Oh bulb", "Meine Herren er meint Birne". This turned out to be important, the Germans were blushing but grinning self deprecatingly, but the Thai manager was dying with embarrassment, he was so agitated that the meeting was broken up until the afternoon. Silly things can mean a lot.

I don't think you understand the social economics of your situation. Unless you have access to the middle class your status is too high to have Thai friends. You are a farang and no matter how long you live here you will never be able to assimilate into an Asian society beyond the superficial, it's a world apart. A European would have no trouble assimilating into a different European country than his own because the values and history are basically the same and status isn't so important or worlds apart. If you are a European you have come from a state where corruption is punished, the judiciary is fair, religion doesn't play a great role anymore, you have a sense of fairness and equality and feel no need to humble yourself to those in power and you have a respect for logic and science, these things which are a part of your character sets you apart, makes you almost eccentric. Many years ago when my Thai stepdaughters were children, the oldest asked her mother, "why does he do that", I was reading a book. In the end I had to teach her to read Thai because her poor reading skills made her fall behind at school, today she has a university degree in business. The youngest step daughter also had to endure me as a Thai teacher, tears on her part and patience on mine. My Thai / British son, will be 17 this year and speaks such good English that the English teacher lets him take over the teaching, this was due to the many hours that I spent with him teaching him to read it, the lowest marks he gets in school are for the Thai language. Despite having an Englishman as a father he is Thai but I can see there is a European flavour about him, a first rate student, logical, a disregard for religion or superstition and a preference for speaking English (he spends a lot of time playing online games with Europeans and Americans who live in Thailand, as an eight year old after playing games with Americans where a lot of talking was done he asked me, "Papa what does motherf.....r mean") I have lived here nearly 20 years in a farming community and although I can speak, read and write Thai I have only friendly acquaintances, perhaps the Abbot of our Buddhist temple could be regarded as a friend but I'm 75 now, I feel no need for friendships, I have two dogs and 4 step grandchildren, that's enough.

My point being, is a comedian any less a comedian if he isn't woke? Is a cabinet minister any less of a politician because he commits adultery? Is a doctor any less of a doctor if he chooses to demonstrate? We don't have enough doctors as it is. Private lives are just that, Private and opinions of the individual should be respected and not be subject to judgement and scrutiny by any state organization. Why not hold a bus driver, train driver, pilot irresponsible for demonstrating, they also have peoples lives in their hands.

Getting both sides, reliable witnesses (Thai?), you really think that is going to make a difference? All that is going to matter is that they assaulted a representative of the state who was shown on the ground in a degrading manner after refusing to stop driving when being told to. The RTP have lost face big time and it may be that the only witnesses will be Thai policemen. It would appear that a situation escalated due to their unreasonable behaviour of not obeying the lawful order to stop, anything they can bring up in their defense will be superfluous, rich boys banged up abroad.

No, neither does Ricky Gervais but they are both controversial public figures.

It's possible but I don't think money will wipe away the insult to their pride in this case, more likely is money and jail time.

It doesn't matter what they are wearing or if they are lord and lady Muck, they have a right to protest, the only exception would be wearing a police or army uniform because they represent state power. I find it degrading that these days public figures have to suppress personal opinions and if not, offer up grovelling apologies, because their opinions weren't pc or woke enough. Comedians like Ricky Gervais or Bill Burr are courageous enough not to give a $hit about such nonsense.

Around 130,000 Baht cash is no small amount, especially for a Thai taxi driver, he would have to show an id to exchange the dollars which could be dangerous if suspicions were aroused.

As a Thai he would find it difficult to exchange large amounts of dollars for Baht.

Powerful people don't need excuses. The Queen's mantra was ' never explain, never complain'

He already is, he never stopped influencing politics.

That's the fault of the system / government, not the doctors. Everybody has the right of peaceful protest regardless of their profession although I don't regard the 'just stop oil' movement as peaceful but regardless of that their private lives shouldn't affect their professional lives, why for instance should a politician resign because he commits adultery, why should a film star be cancelled because he isn't PC, this is MacCarthyism.

Getting both sides of the story is irrelevant, the police represent the state and have power, they are foreigners and have none. If they are hoping for an unbiased trial western style they are in for a big disappointment, what they did was foolish in the extreme. Refusing to stop was arrogant and things escalated from there, the RTP can't let this go, the loss of face alone was enormous, they are bound to be locked up for years.

Whose that man with a loaded gun Whose that man riding in the sun Killed his wife but he loved his son Psycho dad, psycho dad, psycho dad.

Kids on holiday, rocking each other higher. disrespectful yes certainly, not only to the guard but also towards the UK's traditions but hardly criminal. These guards are trained to withstand such bad manners and experience such rudeness on a daily basis, not just from Americans but from UK citizens as well, some times jovial other times less so, the situation shouldn't be exaggerated, they had their childish fun and got a ticking off, end of story.

The 1% rule in every country, if you control the markets you control decisions made by government, a generals power pales into insignificance against a falling stock market. People only rebel when their comfort zone is threatened.

Indeed, that is what the transgenders say, they were born that way. I doubt that this man chose to be this way, nobody chooses their sexuality, presumably that would also include pedophiles, their fault is carrying out actions to satisfy their desires.

I'm sure he could have picked a better looking one but it was dark at the time.

No chance, nothing better than getting honest adoration when returning home, both competing for my attention by showing me how fantastic I am, they should make women like that.

My dogs started doing that to my car, at first I was baffled but it turned out I had a mouse family under the carpets underneath the rear seat. I live in Isaan and the car was parked next to my rice barn. Once I got rid of the mice the attacks stopped.

and Charly is English, you could germanize it with Tscharly but really it would be Karl

Normal dogs don't attack a human being, yes they will bark and maybe chase a bike but that is all. when I first started walking around the lake here all the dogs from the adjacent houses would bark at me and sometimes follow me barking, I remained calm, after 4 or 5 visits they realized I wasn't a danger and ignored me. once while sitting on the ground looking over the lake one of them came over and unceremoniously dumped itself on my lap wagging its tail.

I have two run of the mill Thai mongrel dogs from the temple, they kill any cat unlucky enough to stray into my garden but lick my wife's grand kids (toddlers) until they fall over giggling. They don't like strangers coming into my house and will bark until I show them they are welcome, that's pretty normal behaviour.