jts-khorat

9 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Another case of both sidesism. Which side of the political spectrum Overwhelmingly claims that the 2020 US election was stolen? Which side overwhelmingly  claims that human-caused climate change is a hoax? Which side routinely and overwhelmingly denigrates vaccination? 

I am not American, so I frankly do not care about your sides.

To me as an outside observer it is obvious, that both sides of the political discussion in the USA have left behind any fact-based or target-oriented politics which would be for the benefit for their citizens, in lieu of mud-slinging, whataboutism or demagoguery.

Your post, I am sorry to say it, is another symptom of this dumbing down of the political intercourse. Who cares who has made this or that wrong? This constant finger-pointing is incredibly tiring, and leads nowhere.

Would it not be better, to find solutions to problems? To talk on the merits of fact-based information? To have an informed discussion with an outcome bettering every participant? Be an adult instead of a child?

Many Americans have seemingly lost any interest for that, and favor "bread and games" by now -- it is all just a big show, seeing no consequence in their behavior. But do not wonder, if the rest of the world has only pity for Americans thinking the goal is to "win their argument", whatever their partisan political alignment is.

9 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

You go lefty, you're on fire!

Name-calling is the next typical tool in the box for Americans, after they have seen, that they are unable to discuss an issue on the same intellectual level as their counterpart.

And again, this is true both for "left" and "right" Americans: you simply have lost the ability to have a proper discussion, where both sides might have points that have merit, so you are automatically fleeing into your respective echo chamber.

Actually, I think it is really sad to meet such child people in adult bodies.

7 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

That's what I said. With the left running education, all the graduates know how to do is whine and beg for handouts from the public teat. The more advanced the degree, the more useless these stupid losers are. 

Maybe I need to spell it out: as soon as an American talks about "the left did this", "the right did this", it is already clear that he is moving in an echo chamber devoid of true information, but is arguing on a purely emotional basis. Such an argument is not fact-driven, as if adults would talk, but literally like kindergarden age children talking in the playground.

It amazes me that any participant of such an argument does not have the intellectual horizon to not notice themselves, that just by introducing their argument this way, they have lost all credivility.

There is no "left" and "right", there are facts on which merits adult people discuss solutions for issues... which normally means compromise. Something absolutely missing in American political discourse, another symptom that serious adults long have left the room over there.

4 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

What Europeans? Some leftist chat-board? 

Qed. 

This "left" vs "right" you Americans love to talk about so much as if it makes your partisan side automatically right is kindergarden niveau. Your ignorant comment is the best proof of American delusion and dumbness.

2 minutes ago, Purdey said:

Quite possibly irritated.

Let's see how long it takes Trump to isolate the USA as much as Russia has been isolated by the actions of Putin.

Europeans are discussing openly to put military on Greenland to protect against the Americans; and I am not the only one who thinks that American military presence in Germany is a relict that should be dissolved ASAP. Trump is really feeding the flames here.

3 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

I think deep down Thailand is with Russia and China.  They tolerate the U.S. but otherwise, could careless about them or their expats.

I think deep down, the Thais are with the Thais. They neither care for the American influence leftover from the Vietnam war, nor do they care about the Russians or the Chinese.

And frankly, I have difficulties seeing something wrong with their stance, looking at the imperialist motives of all three countries.

On 1/29/2025 at 2:17 AM, connda said:

Why is the United States the savior for the rest of the world?  It shouldn't be.  Let other countries take care of their domestic populations.

You are right up to a point.

Fair enough, if the USA does not want to involve itself in foreign politics. But then do not come moaning, if the rest of the world also does not want them.

With this foreign aid, the USA buys itself a reserve currency and political influence in the western world. What they spend is peanuts compared to what they get and only the most sghort-sighted do not see it as it is. As the USA is an intolerable bully, as is China, they need to bribe others to get their place and say at the table.

Do not want to be in NATO, let the Europeans fix it themselves? OK, but then move out of Ramstein airport and let the Germans and Poland have their own nukes.

14 minutes ago, SoCal1990 said:

So you're sitting back in your lazy armchair in Germany in the winter cold, you haven't been in Thailand for 30 years, and you're telling me how things really are here in Bangkok now? Is that what's going on?

Yep, you preferred to talk to random people on the internet, so these are the answers you got. You seem to be not happy with mine, a feeling you are free to have.

Where you get that I have not been in Thailand for 30 years is beyond me, but as you do not know me and have no way of verifying, you are also free to interpret anything you like in what I said and build your own version of the truth out of it.

There is no point going further with this, or the point is, that I would have talked to either the ladyboy, or other ladyboys around, if this is unusual or a shift to what they experienced before. You would have gotten a verifiable, detailed answer by an "expert", much more likely to fulfill you desire for information.

I stand by my point, couples having a good time with a ladyboy has never been not an ordinary occurence.

With regard to Katoeys: many of them, if not the biggest majority, are lovely people, and it might widen your horizon to talk to them regardless of your sexual disinterest in them. I have not ever been threatened physically by any of them, but then I am friendly to begin with and at least to try to be open-minded and open to learn something new.

Social openness is an experience I do recommend. Going into a discussion asking questions and then being disappointed if the answer does not fit the pre-conceived notion, I do not.

12 minutes ago, jts-khorat said:

And why, on God's earth, would you not talk to a Katoey, if you have a question of how they spend their time? Would they not be a much better source of information than random people on an online forum?

To my point above, not just directed a SoCal:

If you want to know something, talk to people, preferrable those that likely might have answers to your questions. If you are out at night, it would cost you nothing more than a drink and half an hour of your time to get all the secrets of Thailand explained.

Thais as a general rule are happy to share and talkative to a fault. Dare to interact!

7 minutes ago, SoCal1990 said:

And your point is?

My point is: there is no shift, as this is not special nowadays, nor has it been special in the times before.

I knew several couples in my wild days in Thailand who made exactly this their lifestyle: the winter months in Thailand, having one party after the next. So, no shift.

And why, on God's earth, would you not talk to a Katoey, if you have a question of how they spend their time? Would they not be a much better source of information than random people on an online forum?

I have lived in Thailand since 1998 (now back in Germany). Mind you, even in 1998, with HIV everywhere, the real fun times were already over.

What I find interesting is, that in one of the red light hotspots of the World, a so called sex paradise, it is worth a special mention that a couple would invite a Katoey, going to a hotel supposedly catering to this specific hourly clientele.

It saddens me, that adult people have seen and expoerienced so little.

I could rant on about the lives of so many people in the west, swamped by constant porn, but themselves living a completely sanitized life devoid of any hint of excitement or experimentation, but it is a fact that the nightlife in Thailand has become a mere fake show for tourists to look at. I blame mobile phones, as the gawking masses would rather record instead of partake.

There is no shift.

Maybe talk to the one or other ladyboy how they are making their money, and this would not be anything very special at all.