US couple arrested for taking naked selfies in Thailand have been released from jail

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Just Weird said:

I agree with you, I was saying that there is nothing wrong with homophobia.

Actually there is. 

Just as there is something wrong with racism. 

But apparently not on this forum where haters are free to spout toxic bigotry night and day. 

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

I doubt that the local inmates have shown them appreciation for what they were in for.

You're probably right. It would make for an awkward conversation of what are you in for. They were likely at more risk for violence than average because of their unusual status, not only as gay but as married, and also the nature of their violation. So it's really good news that they're being released. 

[sjaak327]

37 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

 

And this is what the US gay community who has thrown their support for these two have failed to appreciate.

 

We are responsible for the communities we represent when we travel and these two guys represent the US gay community.

 

Their behavior reflects poorly not only on themselves but on the larger group they represent so a negative backlash against the larger community is an unfortunate unintended consequence.

 

That is why there should have been far fewer rally cries of support and far more admonishments from their followers.

They have been critized often enough, however what people fail to realize, a jail sentence for this offense is not acceptable, and for that they were supported. If people honestly believe a jail sentence is warrented, I for one will question the freedom of religion. 

 

People are free to follow whatever religion they choose, they are not free to cry for people to be jailed the minute someone "offended" the religion or in this case a temple, just by showing their butts with said temple in the background. 

 

Respect comes both ways. If you can't take a harmless joke, you are not going to earn that respect. 

 

the irony of this thread (and the other two handling this case) is that people are screaming respect, and at the same time post one homophobic slur after another. Those people are leagues worse than the two people being discussed here. But I doubt they will have the self reflection to notice. 

 

Needless to say, respect is not earned, only ridicule and disgust. 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by sjaak327

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, The Alster said:

I'm sure they will be well compensated for their ordeal when they land on American soil. They will be on talk shows etc. Maybe even a movie. I'd say in less than a year they will be multi millionaires. I know that may seem a little far fetched but Americans (TV audience) luv this crap!!

 

That is possible if they play it right, but personally I wouldn't bet that will happen. They are not seen as "heroes". They were involved in a newsworthy international incident.  If they're serious about milking this incident for profit (which is their right as free Americans once back home) I think they'll need to hire a really savvy PR person. I don't think it will just happen and even planned, no guarantee that it would work. More likely a five minutes of fame kind of thing, except in their home city, San Diego. 

[Jingthing]

1 hour ago, Donaldo said:

36 and 38 and still behaving like inmature kid's??? And even now, they still think that what they did was right? Not a good publicity for the gay community. They should distance themselves from these idiots and the Thai authorities should issue a life long ban preventing these persons  from entering Thailand ever again.

Again, they do not REPRESENT the gay community. They are well known in their local San Diego gay community and some members of that community along with most reasonable people of any kind that learned of their potential long prison sentence, hoped that such an over the top punishment (relative to the violation) never happened. 

[ClutchClark]

1 minute ago, sjaak327 said:

They have been critized often enough, however what people fail to realize, a jail sentence for this offense is not acceptable, and for that they were supported. If people honestly believe a jail sentence is warrented, I for one will question the freedom of religion. 

 

People are free to follow whatever religion they choose, they are not free to cry for people to be jailed the minute someone "offended" the religion or in this case a temple, just by showing their butts with said temple in the background. 

 

Respect comes both ways. If you can't take a harmless joke, you are not going to earn that respect. 

 

 

 

Hmmm...not with you on this one.

 

When someone traveks to a different country then they accept the laws and punishments of that country they are a guest of.

 

Its the Thai people and the Thai authorities who make the laws and define the punishments just like every other country.

 

I think a jail sentence was in order because it has now provided closure to the Thai people. Their sense of justice has now been served and any hostile emotions have been let go rather than harbored and possibly taken out on some other foreigner.

 

History is replete with cultures where repeated transgressions absent punishments build up until they reach a breaking point. Far better to difuse it at the time and return to harmony.

[sanemax]

7 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

That is possible if they play it right, but personally I wouldn't bet that will happen. They are not seen as "heroes". They were involved in a newsworthy international incident.  If they're serious about milking this incident for profit (which is their right as free Americans once back home) I think they'll need to hire a really savvy PR person. I don't think it will just happen and even planned, no guarantee that it would work. More likely a five minutes of fame kind of thing, except in their home city, San Diego. 

They could make their own porn movie

[Thaidream]

Thank you for posting the article from the LGBT news source. The article is well written and does give a proper perspective on what happened. 

 

[ClutchClark]

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Again, they do not REPRESENT the gay community. They are well known in their local San Diego gay community and some members of that community along with most reasonable people of any kind that learned of their potential long prison sentence, hoped that such an over the top punishment (relative to the violation) never happened. 

 

Your not hearing what people are telling you.

 

They are seen as a married gay couple. 

 

They are representatives of the US gay community just like those 3 basketball players were representatives of collegiate sports.

[sjaak327]

4 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

 

Hmmm...not with you on this one.

 

When someone traveks to a different country then they accept the laws and punishments of that country they are a guest of.

 

Its the Thai people and the Thai authorities who make the laws and define the punishments just like every other country.

 

I think a jail sentence was in order because it has now provided closure to the Thai people. Their sense of justice has now been served and any hostile emotions have been let go rather than harbored and possibly taken out on some other foreigner.

 

History is replete with cultures where repeated transgressions absent punishments build up until they reach a breaking point. Far better to difuse it at the time and return to harmony.

Fair enough, I disagree on your point. How many tourists to Thailand know beforehand about the computer crimes act you think ? Precious little would be the correct answer. 

 

A law that is quite clearly draconian and it is being used by the current Junta to silence their most vocal opponents. A law that should be abandoned as soon as possible. 

 

Luckily they realized, applying this law to two foreign tourists would probably not be the best idea. The backlash would have been huge, regardless of the disrespect show by the two in question.

[AGareth2]

5 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

How many tourists to Thailand know beforehand about the computer crimes act you think ? Precious little would be the correct answer. 

the CCA carried 3 years

but Sacrilege carried 7 years

agree about the CCA but not about desecration of a religious site

and they were not mooning

they were butt naked up against the temple structure

with their genitals possibly rubbing against the Wat

[sjaak327]

the CCA carried 3 years
but Sacrilege carried 7 years
agree about the CCA but not about desecration of a religious site
and they were not mooning
they were butt naked up against the temple structure
with their genitals possibly rubbing against the Wat

The horror! 7 years jailsentence, ludicrous...

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[ClutchClark]

20 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

Fair enough, I disagree on your point. How many tourists to Thailand know beforehand about the computer crimes act you think ? Precious little would be the correct answer. 

 

A law that is quite clearly draconian and it is being used by the current Junta to silence their most vocal opponents. A law that should be abandoned as soon as possible. 

 

Luckily they realized, applying this law to two foreign tourists would probably not be the best idea. The backlash would have been huge, regardless of the disrespect show by the two in question.

 

I did not know about the CC Act.

 

However, I do know that my own culture has laws against exposing myself in public and I am smart enough to atleast hazard a guess that most other countries frown on it as well.

 

To be honest, had these guys been my brothers or friends and they told me what the theme of their travels were going to be I would have hit them upside the head for not using any sense. 

 

I still find it hard to believe even now their 1,000’s of fans  are saying, “Wow, never saw that coming”.

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by ClutchClark

[AGareth2]

2 minutes ago, sjaak327 said:

The horror! 7 years jailsentence, ludicrous...

more severe in many other countries

but the law of the land is the law

[sjaak327]

more severe in many other countries
but the law of the land is the law

Hmm right, ask Prayuth about that one!

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[AGareth2]

1 minute ago, sjaak327 said:

Hmm right, ask Prayuth about that one!

Sent from my SM-J730GM using Tapatalk
 

so because there was a coup we should have no laws?

[JemJem]

I think the fact that they are gay caused the uproar to be much much nastier.

 

Bigotry is very much alive (and sadly on the increase, I think; one can realise it from the politics in the Islamic world as well as in the West).

 

Having said that, it is very distasteful and disappointing that these two guys have still not deleted those photos (as of at the time the article was written anyway).

[sjaak327]

so because there was a coup we should have no laws?

Why are foreigners expected to respect the law, when the Thai themselves break it with impunity?



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[Jingthing]

12 minutes ago, JemJem said:

I think the fact that they are gay caused the uproar to be much much nastier.

 

Bigotry is very much alive (and sadly on the increase, I think; one can realise it from the politics in the Islamic world as well as in the West).

 

Having said that, it is very distasteful and disappointing that these two guys have still not deleted those photos (as of at the time the article was written anyway).

I don't know the details about their instagram account but before you go overboard with premature condemnation consider these things --

 

Once pictures are out there (or anything) on the net other people are free to copy them and propagate them. 

 

Are there fake / copy accounts? I don't know.

 

Also, aren't they still in processing in Thailand? Wouldn't that mean they wouldn't have any access to their accounts?

 

On the gay thing, it's complicated. 

Obviously Thailand has little experience with married gay couples. 

Photos of butts that are not in themselves pornographic have been seen by some as pornographic only because of their identity. 

Many people have seen photos of gay freedom day parades where some people do show bare butts and made idiotic assumptions that such displays are typical and accepted by all gays in all settings. Totally false of course. 

Like in the case of the sisters nudity violation at a Cambodian ancient temple, that aspect of reaction wasn't there. 

 

Edited December 10, 2017 by Jingthing

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Someone should head butt them

[Jingthing]

2 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

Someone should head butt them

What they do in the privacy of their bedroom is their own business!

Edited December 10, 2017 by Jingthing

[ClutchClark]

15 minutes ago, JemJem said:

I think the fact that they are gay caused the uproar to be much much nastier.

 

Bigotry is very much alive (and sadly on the increase, I think; one can realise it from the politics in the Islamic world as well as in the West).

 

Having said that, it is very distasteful and disappointing that these two guys have still not deleted those photos (as of at the time the article was written anyway).

 

I think idiots are most always treated similarly regardless their sexual preference.

 

And TVF is not the place to go if you want niceties.  ;-)

[ClutchClark]

Here is atleast one significant difference between the two sisters at the Cambodian Temple and this pair in Thailand:

 

“"The two sisters admitted that they really made a mistake by taking nude photos," the Apsara Authority, a government agency which oversees the site, said in a statement”

 

And a second big difference is they were not traveling the world taking nude photos to publish on public websites.

 

So come on guys and stop playing the gay victim card.

Edited December 10, 2017 by ClutchClark

[tropo]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

 

When posters refer to the homos and the queers and the butt buddies, that's not about lack of remorse.  It's something else.

 

Thank God they didn't have the interweb when I was a kid.  We hung moons all over the place- often in groups of 2-50 people- sometimes mixed gender, and we occasionally streaked through inappropriate places.  But none of us carried a camera, and there was no place to post the photos if the polaroids came out clear enough to recognize the faces.  And, to my knowledge, only a tiny percentage of us were gay (and they didn't know it for sure at the time)

 

But the key word in your prior activities is KID. You were a kid. The next question is, would you have "mooned" if you knew people were taking photos or video?

Edited December 10, 2017 by tropo

[mogandave]

 
You are mistaken.  Have I tried to have anyone arrested for anything they've said to me?  I have even let several personal attacks and insults remain unreported so that everyone can plainly see the so-called debating skills some posters have here.
 
You are not required to respect anything I say.

Although that has nothing to with what you or I said.

You have no beliefs worthy of respect?

[tropo]

39 minutes ago, JemJem said:

I think the fact that they are gay caused the uproar to be much much nastier.

 

Bigotry is very much alive (and sadly on the increase, I think; one can realise it from the politics in the Islamic world as well as in the West).

 

Having said that, it is very distasteful and disappointing that these two guys have still not deleted those photos (as of at the time the article was written anyway).

Had they just received a fine and asked to take them down to avoid jail time, they may have. 2 weeks in jail had the opposite effect because they would have been angry over the way they were treated. I think this is more about a common arrogant attitude of Americans who are allowed to make fun of anything they like in their own country, in the guise of "free speech". Personally, I believe they are a couple of ignoramuses. It's hard to fix stupid. They are getting far more attention than they deserve.

Edited December 10, 2017 by tropo

[sjaak327]

14 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

Here is atleast one significant difference between the two sisters at the Cambodian Temple and this pair in Thailand:

 

“"The two sisters admitted that they really made a mistake by taking nude photos," the Apsara Authority, a government agency which oversees the site, said in a statement”

 

And a second big difference is they were not traveling the world taking nude photos to publish on public websites.

 

So come on guys and stop playing the gay victim card.

No-one is playing the gay victim card. Locking people up for taking a butt selfie makes one automatically a victim, gay, straight or transgender. The Thai authorities are thin skinned and are making a mountain out of a mole. 

 

Maybe forget that they are gay, and concentrate on the unjust idiotic and out of proportion punishment they have received. 

 

And NO in none of the other countries where they did the same, would they have been jailed. Because over there people do have a sense of humour. 

[sjaak327]

5 minutes ago, tropo said:

Had they just received a fine and asked to take them down to avoid jail time, they may have. 2 weeks in jail had the opposite effect because they would have been angry over the way they were treated. I think this is more about a common arrogant attitude of Americans who are allowed to make fun of anything they like in their own country, in the guise of "free speech". Personally, I believe they are a couple of ignoramuses. It's hard to fix stupid. They are getting far more attention than they deserve.

Common trait of the Junta, they focus on people they should just ignore, and hence those people are getting more attention than they deserve. You can't fix stupid. 

[tropo]

1 minute ago, sjaak327 said:

No-one is playing the gay victim card. Locking people up for taking a butt selfie makes one automatically a victim, gay, straight or transgender. The Thai authorities are thin skinned and are making a mountain out of a mole. 

 

Maybe forget that they are gay, and concentrate on the unjust idiotic and out of proportion punishment they have received. 

 

And NO in none of the other countries where they did the same, would they have been jailed. Because over there people do have a sense of humour. 

1

I must be one of those people without a sense of humour then. Even if this was allowed back at home, I see nothing funny about it. If I happened to be walking into this temple with my family at the time they were taking their butt selfies I would have been very angry. I most definitely would have said something (at the very least).

[sjaak327]

4 minutes ago, tropo said:

I must be one of those people without a sense of humour then. Even if this was allowed back at home, I see nothing funny about it. If I happened to be walking into this temple with my family at the time they were taking their butt selfies I would have been very angry. I most definitely would have said something (at the very least).

Apparently. I would not even be shocked, but then again, I hardly ever go to a temple. I am not religious. And I certainly don't like religious people screaming bloody murder and asking for lenghty jail sentences for what can only be described by reasonable people as a harmless prank.

 

Again, you want respect, this is not the way to achieve it.