Anutin: "They" may have stopped wearing masks but Thais are still "naa rak" for keeping them on to prevent disease

[Sparktrader]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:28 PM, Dmaxdan said:

It's because people in other places are capable of thinking for themselves.

Got in a lift in KK. No mask. Thai turned away.

 

Up to you. Be a sheep. Im an eagle.

[Neeranam]

4 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

aww... you left out the humdinger...  the dead giveaway that they’ve been hanging around with floozies of questionable virtue...... “Dop-sa-lop-sa-lai” !!!  ????

I don't know that one ???? 

 

I could have said the the bargirl giveaways like 'same same' and 'ba ba baw baw'

[silver sea]

On 9/24/2022 at 10:20 AM, ezzra said:

With daily average of 750-800 COVID infection in this country the right thing to do is still were the masks as i have witnessed my closest friend whom are all vaxxed getting it just the other week...

I live on the edge of Hua Hin, about 10 km from Clock Tower in town centre. I have been living in Thailand full time since September 2019. The Thai and international rules and regulations kept changing and it seemed safer staying here.

 

Each morning when I leave home and walk to the green baht bus terminal,  I am happy to wear the mask; it has become a habit. The area I live in is popular with long term farang, and farang tourists. Most of them these days, including Thai girlfriends, in that area, do not wear masks. No problem for me; their decision which I respect.

 

I use the baht bus every day which is 15 baht each way. It is really for Thais and schoolchildren and 90% or more of them still wear masks. Farang tourists get on and don’t wear masks.

 

I get off the bus in town and walk around the food markets and use the Thai cafes and restaurants (very few farang owned places remain in the centre) 90% + of the Thais in this area wear masks. The last 3 years I have been wearing my mask each day. It is part of my habit of daily living. It is no big deal wearing a mask; it is not like being made to swallow a tablet each day.

 

I have had AZ injections x 2 last year and in January I had a booster. Last year there were no foreign tourists. In January, the foreign tourists started returning to Hua Hin and the baht bus was full all the time, and many of the tourists made a point of not wearing masks. They were on holiday and they wanted to have some fun and enjoy their freedom. 
 

It was in January though that I caught Covid. It was a very unpleasant experience but I did not need hospital or ventilator treatment and so the injections had given me some protection. I am pretty sure I had caught it from somebody on the baht bus.

 

Like everyone else I have read the “literature”, mainly Joseph Mercola, so I am aware of the arguments against wearing masks. I still wear my mask because:

 

1. I am a guest in this country and the vast majority of the Thais who use the bus and live and work in the centre of town still wear masks. I can see sometimes that they are not happy when people don’t wear masks on the public buses. I live here; this is my home and so I am happy to integrate. After wearing it every day for 3 years it is a habit that I no longer think about;

 

2. the mask reminds me that Covid variations are still floating around and I accept that I will probably catch it again. The mask reminds me to be careful by washing my hands and keeping a safe distance from others;

 

3. some days I don’t shave and so the mask covers my unshaven chin. Also although I live in LOS, I can be deep in thought and not be smiling so the mask covers up my unsmiling mouth.

 

The reason for writing this piece is that there are times that I can sense the negative energy of farang who are sharing the bus with me and who are not wearing masks. They seem to feel insulted because they are having to sit next to a Westerner who is wearing a mask. In their minds, of course, I am an ignorant fool (a ‘sheeple’) For the most part they are short term tourists and will soon be gone anyway.; I will never see them again. I am happy in my own life and respect their choices but sometimes feel sad that I can sense their negative energy, including their anger, being directed at me.

[Neeranam]

47 minutes ago, silver sea said:

1. I am a guest in this country and the vast majority of the Thais who use the bus and live and work in the centre of town still wear masks. I can see sometimes that they are not happy when people don’t wear masks on the public buses. I live here; this is my home and so I am happy to integrate. After wearing it every day for 3 years it is a habit that I no longer think about;

I am Thai and respect foreigners who don't wear masks, as it's pointless. Hopefully, their actions will convince Thais to see sense. 

Hard to see if someone is unhappy if they are wearing a mask. 

 

 

[silver sea]

12 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I am Thai and respect foreigners who don't wear masks, as it's pointless. Hopefully, their actions will convince Thais to see sense. 

Hard to see if someone is unhappy if they are wearing a mask. 

 

 

 

 

My experience is that there is more to Thais than the smiles behind their masks; their tense body language is very clear. I sit opposite Thais of all ages every day on the small baht buses in Hua Hin. 
 

More Thais are beginning to stop wearing masks. The younger ones, especially those who smoke or sell cannabis, are not wearing masks and good luck to them.

 

I am happy to continue wearing my mask each day and I don’t mind the stares I get from farang who don’t.  

 

A mask is pointless to you I know, but it is useful to me, because it reminds me that it is important to remain careful and to wash my hands; Covid is still lurking in its various sub variants. I have had Covid once, and once was enough, but I accept that I will probably catch it again.

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by onthedarkside
off topic comments re another forum member removed

[Jingthing]

On 9/24/2022 at 9:53 AM, lessismore said:

Does anyone know if there are other countries where people don't want to give up the mask?

Just curious.

CHINA

[Jingthing]

I want to continue to wear masks (I'm high risk healthwise) but I went out the other night and NOBODY was wearing them and I even got yelled out by a drunken f-rang.

I can only see that getting worse and worse. 

So I guess I will cave and strip it off. 

In fact I started to today.

How many people like me who aren't really ready but don't want to stick out so much?

[silver sea]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

I want to continue to wear masks (I'm high risk healthwise) but I went out the other night and NOBODY was wearing them and I even got yelled out by a drunken f-rang.

I can only see that getting worse and worse. 

So I guess I will cave and strip it off. 

In fact I started to today.

How many people like me who aren't really ready but don't want to stick out so much?

I am sad to read about your recent experience. He was a drunken farang though; I’m glad for you that he wasn’t violent too.

 

i have posted two fairly long posts just above yours so I won’t repeat them here, but I want to continue to wear masks too.

 

But you are right, it may get worse. For some reason, farang who don’t wear masks can, sometimes, glare at me in an unfriendly way. So far, nobody has challenged me, but if they do then I will simply repeat the points I made in my earlier posts on this thread.

 

I will avoid getting into a long conversation with them about it. I will keep it short and simple. There is nothing I can say that will change their minds but I will remain polite, I hope ☺️
 

I have wondered about this negative energy that they give off. I am glad you have posted your experience because it shows that I am not imagining their hostile thoughts. 

 

I sense that most of them are tourists and will soon be gone, so, as a long term resident, do you really care what they think? You will never see them again.
 

You say that you have health reasons for wearing a mask. So you should continue to wear your mask. If you are challenged then tell them that you have health reasons; you don’t need to go into great detail about it. Be concise and repeat yourself if necessary. Remember: K.I.S.S., K.I.S.S., K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short and Simple)
 

With drunks, it may be best to just get up and leave if it is safe for you to do so.

 

I appreciate that if you are the only person in the room wearing a mask, you will feel isolated and alone. That is sad and is not a nice experience. Maybe you need to find somewhere else to hang out.

 

Good luck

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by silver sea

[Maha Sarakham]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

How many people like me who aren't really ready but don't want to stick out so much?

My wife and I have noticed we are sometimes the only people that wear them indoors in crowded areas anymore.  I may just stop, you can definitely feel the weight of all the eyes glaring at you wondering what the hell is wrong with you.  I am over it, I just don't like being sick, even with the flu.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Maha Sarakham

[Jingthing]

40 minutes ago, silver sea said:

I am sad to read about your recent experience. He was a drunken farang though; I’m glad for you that he wasn’t violent too.

 

i have posted two fairly long posts just above yours so I won’t repeat them here, but I want to continue to wear masks too.

 

But you are right, it may get worse. For some reason, farang who don’t wear masks can, sometimes, glare at me in an unfriendly way. So far, nobody has challenged me, but if they do then I will simply repeat the points I made in my earlier posts on this thread.

 

I will avoid getting into a long conversation with them about it. I will keep it short and simple. There is nothing I can say that will change their minds but I will remain polite, I hope ☺️
 

I have wondered about this negative energy that they give off. I am glad you have posted your experience because it shows that I am not imagining their hostile thoughts. 

 

I sense that most of them are tourists and will soon be gone, so, as a long term resident, do you really care what they think? You will never see them again.
 

You say that you have health reasons for wearing a mask. So you should continue to wear your mask. If you are challenged then tell them that you have health reasons; you don’t need to go into great detail about it. Be concise and repeat yourself if necessary. Remember: K.I.S.S., K.I.S.S., K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short and Simple)
 

With drunks, it may be best to just get up and leave if it is safe for you to do so.

 

I appreciate that if you are the only person in the room wearing a mask, you will feel isolated and alone. That is sad and is not a nice experience. Maybe you need to find somewhere else to hang out.

 

Good luck

 

 

 

 

I am not so sure the drunken f-rang was a tourist, but maybe.

I forget to share my reaction to him which was a surprise to me and probably to him as well. It's not something I thought about before the incident. I acknowledged him and gave him an absurdly large back and forth (I suppose sarcastic) WAVE! As if he had greeted me in a friendly manner and I was waving back enthusiastically, except for the obvious snarkiness. He really looked taken about by that response, so perhaps it was unintentionally brilliant. What did he expect? An argument I suppose.  What would be the point? I already know what he would say.

 

The pandemic is over.

You're a sheeple.

The masks aren't about health but about being controlled.

Masks don't work at all. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Jingthing

[Rhys]

The future ... scary.

[jak2002003]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I want to continue to wear masks (I'm high risk healthwise) but I went out the other night and NOBODY was wearing them and I even got yelled out by a drunken f-rang.

I can only see that getting worse and worse. 

So I guess I will cave and strip it off. 

In fact I started to today.

How many people like me who aren't really ready but don't want to stick out so much?

When will you be ready? 

[silver sea]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I am not so sure the drunken f-rang was a tourist, but maybe.

I forget to share my reaction to him which was a surprise to me and probably to him as well. It's not something I thought about before the incident. I acknowledged him and gave him an absurdly large back and forth (I suppose sarcastic) WAVE! As if he had greeted me in a friendly manner and I was waving back enthusiastically, except for the obvious snarkiness. He really looked taken about by that response, so perhaps it was unintentionally brilliant. What did he expect? An argument I suppose.  What would be the point? I already know what he would say.

 

The pandemic is over.

You're a sheeple.

The masks aren't about health but about being controlled.

Masks don't work at all. 

You did well with the drunk. Well done.

 

In my reply to your earlier post, I was going to include a paragraph which tried to make sense of their hostile feelings but I deleted it because my post was getting too long. I had included words like yours: sheeple and being controlled. 
 

Also I would have included one of Lenin’s favourite phrases: “useful idiots”. Wearing the masks, we are helping the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates and Anthony Faucci to destroy the economic systems with a “reset” where we own nothing etc etc.

 

These farang maybe in their home country had to stay in their homes in a Lockdown, wear masks and to have injections and boosters. Maybe they spent a lot of their time on the internet discussing the various Covid conspiracy theories.
 

Now finally, after 2 or 3 years they are having a holiday and they are not wearing masks and they feel free again to have some fun. They look at me and I’m wearing a mask and so their instinctive reaction is that I am a threat to their freedom as a useful idiot and a sheeple for invisible members of the Deep State conspiracy.

 

So I can sort of understand where they are coming from, but I don’t care anymore.. I have spent most of the last 10 years of my life in Thailand and for the last three years as a full time resident. This is my home now. Of course, I still feel ties and affection for my home country but I am glad that I wasn’t there for Lockdown.

 

There is a Thai coffee shop I go to on a fairly regular basis which is run by a young Thai couple with two young boys. The wife’s mom and pop are next door as opticians; and on the other side is her elder sister with a husband who is an artist. Three families together and none of them wears a mask although the young assistant, who helps out in the cafe wears a mask, maybe for legal reasons as they sell ice cream too.
 

The young man and his various cousins use the coffee shop to sell cannabis products. Plenty of Thai and farang customers come in and none wears the mask.

 

Sometimes I meet the young man in the street but he is always friendly and polite to me even though I am wearing a mask. We respect each other’s viewpoint.

 

So basically I no longer care about the farang negative energy. I refuse to react to it. Initially, I did, because I didn’t understand what the problem was. In Hua Hin, farang tourists only started appearing in large numbers last January, which is when I caught Covid.
 

Over the last 9 months, I have given it a lot of thought and I feel that I have a clearer idea of why they react as they do towards me. Now that I understand, it is not such a problem. Slowly I am reaching the point where I can ignore them.
 

My positive experience with the young Thais who don’t wear masks is a useful lesson on how to behave towards others with a different viewpoint. For me, that’s the way to go in the future.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by silver sea

[RandolphGB]

17 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Speak for yourself buddy.

Don't follow Thai news up there in Isan? 

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, RandolphGB said:

Don't follow Thai news up there in Isan? 

Maybe he just doesn't keep reading the same news form TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO!  That was when Anutin made his comment that you guys keep reliving over and over again.  March 2020.  Don't you think it's time to move on?

[JimmyJ]

10 hours ago, silver sea said:

 

Also I would have included one of Lenin’s favourite phrases: “useful idiots”. Wearing the masks, we are helping the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab, Bill Gates and Anthony Faucci to destroy the economic systems with a “reset” where we own nothing etc etc.

 

These farang maybe in their home country had to stay in their homes in a Lockdown, wear masks and to have injections and boosters. Maybe they spent a lot of their time on the internet discussing the various Covid conspiracy theories.
 

Now finally, after 2 or 3 years they are having a holiday and they are not wearing masks and they feel free again to have some fun. They look at me and I’m wearing a mask and so their instinctive reaction is that I am a threat to their freedom as a useful idiot and a sheeple for invisible members of the Deep State conspiracy.

 

So I can sort of understand where they are coming from, but I don’t care anymore.. I have spent most of the last 10 years of my life in Thailand and for the last three years as a full time resident. This is my home now. Of course, I still feel ties and affection for my home country but I am glad that I wasn’t there for Lockdown.

 

There is a Thai coffee shop I go to on a fairly regular basis which is run by a young Thai couple with two young boys. The wife’s mom and pop are next door as opticians; and on the other side is her elder sister with a husband who is an artist. Three families together and none of them wears a mask although the young assistant, who helps out in the cafe wears a mask, maybe for legal reasons as they sell ice cream too.
 

The young man and his various cousins use the coffee shop to sell cannabis products. Plenty of Thai and farang customers come in and none wears the mask.

 

Sometimes I meet the young man in the street but he is always friendly and polite to me even though I am wearing a mask. We respect each other’s viewpoint.

 

So basically I no longer care about the farang negative energy. I refuse to react to it. Initially, I did, because I didn’t understand what the problem was. In Hua Hin, farang tourists only started appearing in large numbers last January, which is when I caught Covid.
 

Over the last 9 months, I have given it a lot of thought and I feel that I have a clearer idea of why they react as they do towards me. Now that I understand, it is not such a problem. Slowly I am reaching the point where I can ignore them.
 

My positive experience with the young Thais who don’t wear masks is a useful lesson on how to behave towards others with a different viewpoint. For me, that’s the way to go in the future.

 

 

"Also I would have included one of Lenin’s favourite phrases: “useful idiots”.

 

No evidence that Lenin ever used that expression [nor Stalin, who gets lots of false attributions], therefore could not have been one of his favorites.

 

Lenin did once call his political adverseries "simpletons".

 

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/08/22/useful-idiot/

 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by JimmyJ

[JimmyJ]

I continue to mask - could not care less if that disturbs people.

 

I would not be at a location where the majority are unmasked.

[Neeranam]

2 hours ago, RandolphGB said:

Don't follow Thai news up there in Isan? 

It was propaganda by the English press, and mistranslated for clicks. 

[brewsterbudgen]

37 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

I continue to mask - could not care less if that disturbs people.

 

I would not be at a location where the majority are unmasked.

Why not?  What will make you more confident about this or do you think you'll be feeling this way indefinitely?

[VBF]

2 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

I continue to mask - could not care less if that disturbs people.

 

I would not be at a location where the majority are unmasked.

Precisely - your choice, as it should be.

Thank you for creating space for me in some location where the majority are unmasked, for that would be MY choice. ????

[anrcaccount]

2 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

I continue to mask - could not care less if that disturbs people.

 

I would not be at a location where the majority are unmasked.

So you'll never leave Thailand again?

 

Everywhere else in the world outside China, you're going to have a problem.

 

Even China is likely to ditch the masks when they drop zero Covid.