BangkokReady

I think the idea would be that if you meet in the club, then come to an arrangement, it is different to someone approaching another person on the street and asking for/offering services. It's more "organic". (Although we know why the girl is in the club, as well as why the man goes there.)

They know they're safe to do what they want.

So anyone who has been to Thailand, but hasn't been to Phuket or Pattaya, cannot be an idiot?

Does the news always give an accurate description of what a group of people is really like?

This is just silly. Obviously these things are minor. You know this. "Religion has had a powerful effect on the development of our societies and should not be completely written off." "Ahh, but, blah blah blah, pork and crustations!" 🙄 How is progress not a negative thing? Progress can be negative.

Social norms in the West come partly from Christianity, from a book, and Western social norms affected the development of that book.

I mean modern Western culture.

The way things are going does not support this theory.

Created isn't bad. It was created and developed over thousands of years. Our Western culture is intertwined with it and each evolved with the other. It's also full of interesting stories and metaphors that help people know how to live a good life.

I know a lot of people don't like it, but religion was created for a reason, and generally has a lot of decent advice. Many of the problems we have now in society, are due to people being liberal and progressive.

Swap the wheel then get the clamp cut off later.

How do you know?

I'm not sure about the deaths, but the severity of the symptoms are important when deciding if it is something to worry about. If it's no worse than flu, and no more prevalent, it's really nothing to worry about, imo. 🤷‍♂️

Probably because, with a foreigner present, the risk of "bad covid" (the type that a foreigner gets) would just be too high to risk.

I think the reason people have an issue with it is precisely because it isn't a case of common sense. If there isn't any real reason to wear masks (outside of pollution), but people do, it seems kind of daft. Then you've got the issue of some Thais only wearing a mask around foreigners. It's really a case of alarmism/hysteria, with a hint of racism.

Deport and blacklist the lot of 'em!

That depends on what the symptoms are like. How many flu "related" deaths have their been in that time period? Yup. Masks and lockdowns for the rest of time. 🙄

It's quite interesting that her and word-salad Harris both get so much credit due to being Black and female, yet seem to not really be all that great upon close inspection. It kind of makes you wonder what kind of role model these women really are to young Black women.

Obviously we're talking about Thais that are concerned with tourism. You're also missing out the knock-on effects of money coming into the country. Even if you think that most Thais don't have anything to do with tourists, nearly all Thais are affected by money generated by tourism, you just aren't particularly well informed on the topic. (Although this doesn't directly relate to appearances, but you kind of went off track in your whole comment, TBH.) The important thing is that it makes enough of an impact that Thailand would be a lot worse without it, and Thais should be thinking about maintaining a steady stream of tourists, if they want to maintain their lifestyles. I know you probably don't like this, for your own personal reasons, but it is true.

Why would negotiations need to be underway for things to be getting ugly? The OP is saying that things are turning ugly in China, not in any kind of negotiations. Perhaps you should re-read the OP.

Something else she was adding to the blend.

Do what Europe is doing. Import Africans and Arabs to make up the difference.

More work but less time and money? That doesn't sound right.

I think one of the problems is that Thais are always far more concerned with how things look than how they are. So they want to appear to be a place that attracts "high quality tourists" and not backpackers/budget travellers, even when it is really the opposite that is true. They then end up kind of shooting themselves in the foot, rather than simply continuing to do what they do well.

I think the problem is twofold. 1, Thailand doesn't really have enough to attract the "high quality tourists" in great numbers. 2, they seem to have been trying to drive away backpackers for years. That's their choice, of course, but it seems to be one that is somewhat counterproductive.