The Thai "culture Watchdog"

[Prakanong]

Gotta lover the old dear - pictured in front of a bank of TV screens at "The Centre for Cultural Surveillance" with a scowl on her face.

"Globalisation and progress eroding moral values" says the centre!

I especially like this bit though - She showed the reporter two images from the guidebook, "Bangkok inside out" that was banned in 2005. One was a frowning street vendor in a chapter titled, "The land of smiles" and another was of a poor person sitting by a railway track - this is what she had to say

"They are making fun of the ordinary lives of Thai people, by saying land of smiles and putting a picture of someone not smiling. Second every country has poverty, it is a fact of life. But there is no need to photograph it. We don't want to project this image of Thailand oversea's."

"Maybe it is normal for a liberal society for anyone to criticise anyone - but it is not normal in Thailand where we should respect others.

LOL - any comment would be superfluous.

I doi not know about making fun of the ordinary lives of Thai people but this old dear did give us a laugh today

[steves_the_1]

gees thailands been the biggest comedy show i've had the pleasure of experiencing

makes me smile most days

hahaha

[Prakanong]

gees thailands been the biggest comedy show i've had the pleasure of experiencing

makes me smile most days

hahaha

Sometimes you just have to laugh and say, "TIT".

Old Crutch in his Sunday column has had sme brilliant observational humour down the years.

[Maestro]

...The Centre for Cultural Surveillance...

I thought you were kidding, but it really exists, Thailand's Cultural Surveillance Centre.

Operating under the Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Surveillance Centre's mission is to "protect the nation's culture and values through the process of surveillance," in the words of its director, Ladda Thangsupachai, and to "disseminate cultural information as a means of providing immunity against cultural mutation; and serving as a focal point of culture monitoring network dedicated to safeguarding of Thai cultural identities," in the words inscribed on the cover of its quarterly Journal of Culture Surveillance Center. The periodical is distributed to Thai embassies abroad and foreign embassies in Thailand.

You all can sleep safely tonight. The Cultural Surveillance Centre is watching over you, making sure that there are no cultural mutants out there.

--

Maestro

[Prakanong]

...The Centre for Cultural Surveillance...

I thought you were kidding, but it really exists, Thailand's Cultural Surveillance Centre.

Operating under the Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Surveillance Centre's mission is to "protect the nation's culture and values through the process of surveillance," in the words of its director, Ladda Thangsupachai, and to "disseminate cultural information as a means of providing immunity against cultural mutation; and serving as a focal point of culture monitoring network dedicated to safeguarding of Thai cultural identities," in the words inscribed on the cover of its quarterly Journal of Culture Surveillance Center. The periodical is distributed to Thai embassies abroad and foreign embassies in Thailand.

You all can sleep safely tonight. The Cultural Surveillance Centre is watching over you, making sure that there are no cultural mutants out there.

--

Maestro

I honestly checked the date on the paper to make sure I had not been transported back to April 1st ;-)

The French have something similar do they not

[soundman]

You all can sleep safely tonight. The Cultural Surveillance Centre is watching over you, making sure that there are no cultural mutants out there.

--

Maestro

Yeah, they are the ones who suply all the volunteers for the ABAC polls on any sort of Thai morality figures that are then quoted by nervous politicians or CEO's of centralised banks whenever they need a popularity boost in the eye of public criticism.

Cheers,

Soundman.