Man Arrested After Fatal Beating in Trat

On 7/2/2026 at 4:03 PM, Sir Dude said:

Yeah, likely a positive drugs test there along with breath-taking face issues and entitlement mixed with the usual superiourity complex and hair-trigger mentality. Hope he gets taken out of society for a long time. Also bad that no-one helped the victim and could only be bothered to film it.

The adjective that best describes the prevalent characteristic of the Thai male personality is "mercurial". How often I witnessed a seemingly inconsequential social setting turn murderous in a flash - often without knowing what had been said or done and was considered "insulting".

One small example: evening gathering in a hotel room in Prachuab Khirikhan. Half a dozen visitors sitting around, smoking and drinking. One fellow goes out onto a balcony and takes a pee into the darkness. When I commented - out of caution - that someone down below might not appreciate being pissed on, the mood immediately shifted from genial to hostile / fearful, the actor in question angry at being shamed (although that was not my purpose). It was astonishing indeed to witness the "hair-trigger mentality" in action, exacerbated by hard drink.

At a large intersection near STOU Open University (where I had been employed) a late-night eatery saw two gentlemen in nice cars shoot one another to death - and no one could explain why. They appeared not to know each other. Competition for a parking space? Fender-bender? Hard look?

My first time in Bangkok, visiting from Tokyo, I was impressed by a familiar feeling of caution, watchfulness, discretion in public - then I realized that any "in-your-face" attitude could have alarming consequences. It was at that moment I recognized it was just like home, back in Texas. You assumed the other party might well be packing a pistol, in a confrontational mood, and you thus acted accordingly.

Edited Monday at 09:58 PM1 day by Fishfish Snakesnake
typo