To What Degree Is Thailand Xenophobic?

[uptou]

It's pretty clear that there are many foreigners who fear living in the LOS. So much so they have to run away to the border every 90 days, not unlike children afraid of the dark. It's okay child, there's no such thing as monsters.

Yes.Whos to know whether a person who calls thailand xenophobic,is actually coming to this conclusion without any little (or major) prejudices (we probably all have them about some things),or bitterness about bad experiences they've had???

Some thais actually veiw farang the same as movie stars.(possibly outside of pattaya).

[thaigene2]

I thinkthe poll was a good attempt. But a better poll might have been to ask to whom do Thais (of no other ehtnic background) feel more comortable living among - people of Western backgrounds or Chinese? Then of course you need to ask Thais who are not thai-chin or thai-farang.

I guess the OP was trying to get an idea of whether Thais don't like Farangs. But IMHO the Thais are usually ok with farangs - but thai-chin more suspicious of us.

[teacup]

It's pretty clear that there are many foreigners who fear living in the LOS. So much so they have to run away to the border every 90 days, not unlike children afraid of the dark. It's okay child, there's no such thing as monsters.

Yes.Whos to know whether a person who calls thailand xenophobic,is actually coming to this conclusion without any little (or major) prejudices (we probably all have them about some things),or bitterness about bad experiences they've had???

Some thais actually veiw farang the same as movie stars.(possibly outside of pattaya).

full of drama, you mean?

[Heng]

But IMHO the Thais are usually ok with farangs - but thai-chin more suspicious of us.

Suspicious that they'll try to skip out on that last month's rent is about it.

[Naam]

Most Aussies hate indians, we tend to tease them all the time.

quite interesting! you have asked most Aussies "do you hate Indians?" hats off! that must have taken quite some time

[TheDon]

Most Aussies hate indians, we tend to tease them all the time.

quite interesting! you have asked most Aussies "do you hate Indians?" hats off! that must have taken quite some time

Just watch the cricket. Or go to a Cricket game at the SCG when Australia and india play.

Plus Ive witness many many Indians get racially abused by Aussie. I see alot of them abuse asians but not more Indians

[elkangorito]

Most Aussies hate indians, we tend to tease them all the time.

quite interesting! you have asked most Aussies "do you hate Indians?" hats off! that must have taken quite some time

Just watch the cricket. Or go to a Cricket game at the SCG when Australia and india play.

Plus Ive witness many many Indians get racially abused by Aussie. I see alot of them abuse asians but not more Indians

You're a great Aussie ambassador Don. Keep up the good work.

How can your observations of cricket matches relate to "Most Aussies hate indians"? Are you one of the "we" that tends to "tease them all the time"? I hope not.

I would like to present another argument...most rednecked sports freak Aussies are ignorant & narrow minded.

About Thais being xenophobic...of course there is a level of that fear here in Thailand. Most of it seems to come from government sources, which is then filtered down to the "people". The good thing is that I believe most Thai people are NOT xenophobic...just the usual ignorant few. On the other hand, the "culture" here seems to promote xenophobia. The good thing is that most Thai people know better than to believe in this rubbish.

And since ignorance is now in play, "education & tolerance" is the answer to such fears.

[Naam]

Most Aussies hate indians, we tend to tease them all the time.

quite interesting! you have asked most Aussies "do you hate Indians?" hats off! that must have taken quite some time

Just watch the cricket. Or go to a Cricket game at the SCG when Australia and india play.

i wouldn't watch a cricket game even i'd get paid for it

[Naam]

Most Aussies hate indians, we tend to tease them all the time.

quite interesting! you have asked most Aussies "do you hate Indians?" hats off! that must have taken quite some time

Just watch the cricket. Or go to a Cricket game at the SCG when Australia and india play.

Plus Ive witness many many Indians get racially abused by Aussie. I see alot of them abuse asians but not more Indians

I would like to present another argument...most rednecked sports freak Aussies are ignorant & narrow minded.

but surely not "TheDon"! his scientific research and precise conclusion on "cricket/aussies/indians/hate" denotes an extremely high IQ and a broad-based general education

[mahtin]

I think people who vote 0 percent don't really understand the meaning of the word.

Meanings of words are always debatable and without reducing this discussion to one of semantics, I am going with the definition that implies fear and hatred of the other (I believe the origins are from a Greek a word that literally means "fear of the market place"). Some folk may have encountered this fear and loathing but as I have not, I am sticking with my zero percent vote at the risk of appearing obtuse or uneducated.

Agoraphobia?

Funny that, agora is Latin and phobia Greek, I think.

Many years ago I had a tgf who called Indians cockroaches - this predated PC culture.

Just a fact.

[PrBkkPr]

Lol! Funny one Mahtin but I am sure that old TGF of yours would be licking the cockroach's d_ _ _ if a wad of notes was waved to her.....lol!

[thaigene2]

But IMHO the Thais are usually ok with farangs - but thai-chin more suspicious of us.

Suspicious that they'll try to skip out on that last month's rent is about it.

Funny, in the country I'm from, they suspect the Chinese tenants will turn the place into a shit-hole (no sense for cleanliness) and do exactly as you say above.

In fact, I once lost my own deposit (stupidly, as a young guy) to a Chinese landlord who tried to tell me I f+cked up a closet door and that was enough to withhold the deposit - in my own country no less. Sure I could have gone to the police. But what I should have done (but didn't) was poke holes in each tire of his car. I'll always remember that little rip off..and will pay someback back 3 fold of they try to screw me again - here or in my own country - be sure of that.

Edited May 18, 2008 by thaigene2

[Heng]

But IMHO the Thais are usually ok with farangs - but thai-chin more suspicious of us.

Suspicious that they'll try to skip out on that last month's rent is about it.

Funny, in the country I'm from, they suspect the Chinese tenants will turn the place into a shit-hole (no sense for cleanliness) and do exactly as you say above.

In fact, I once lost my own deposit (stupidly, as a young guy) to a Chinese landlord who tried to tell me I f+cked up a closet door and that was enough to withhold the deposit - in my own country no less. Sure I could have gone to the police. But what I should have done (but didn't) was poke holes in each tire of his car. I'll always remember that little rip off..and will pay someback back 3 fold of they try to screw me again - here or in my own country - be sure of that.

Yeah, we're all drawing from personal experiences.

As for lost deposits, that's the kind of leverage one loses in this world as a renter. You should've been more careful with the closet door, sport.

I do sympathize though, I'd probably have a bit of chip too towards the establishment if I had been 'condo shopping' in Thailand, Texas, or whever for a decade and have had to deal with living on someone else's property.

Edited May 19, 2008 by Heng

[realmadrid25]

heng between the bourben, dip, and long horns tattoo i am starting to think you are a redneck.

[Heng]

heng between the bourben, dip, and long horns tattoo i am starting to think you are a redneck.

RealMadrid, you think rednecks invented this kind of attitude? Try 5,000 years earlier.

[PeaceBlondie]

I think agoraphobia is composed of two old Greek words, but it is irrelevant.

I like el kangorito's anti-government idea: the Thai govt. may be the source of most of the farang-o-phobia - to deflect blame that belongs on the government - but most Thai people do not believe official govt. announcements much.

[Smithson]

Thais are lovely ppl and often seem to really like farang, but when the won't let someone live here indefinitely, even though they are married with children, I'd have to say the 'fear' outsiders.

[sibeymai]

Not having looked at the poll result yet I'll stick my neck out and say I expect 80%+ to say xenophobic.

[sibeymai]

Bang on.

[mahtin]

I think agoraphobia is composed of two old Greek words, but it is irrelevant.

I like el kangorito's anti-government idea: the Thai govt. may be the source of most of the farang-o-phobia - to deflect blame that belongs on the government - but most Thai people do not believe official govt. announcements much.

Dash it, you're right; should have Googled.

The "forum" was the Latin equivalent of the Greek "agora".

But irrelevant.

[qwertz]

So xeno means farang?

[himachal]

I would suggest that Xenophobia is as prevalent/rare in Thailand as it is anywhere else.

The OP's question might be rephrased: "To what extent do Thais conform to the racial stereotype that they are xenophobic?"

Xenophobia, ironically, knows no borders! One person might be more xenophobic than another, irrespective of race/nationality.

Can't we get beyond statements like "Thais are friendly", "Farang have more money than sense"?

Farangs: Have you ever assumed a Thai was being friendly and were subsequently disappointed/ripped off? (As occasionally happens. I stress that races are interchangeable here - could equally be an African and an Eskimo).

Just how useful are these generalisations?

[OlRedEyes]

May as well debate whether the sun rises in the east.....

[Heng]

No kidding. It's the earth that moves, and not the sun unless you count as a part of the galaxy through the universe, which probably cannot be described as any kind of rising or falling motion anyway. The parallel can be clearly seen in the prevailing attitude by locals that Thailand is the center of the universe and any foreign particles (of whatever origin) are just irrelevant space dust.

sig sawasdee klrab!

[PeaceBlondie]

xeno (pronounced like zeno) may be a Greek word for foreigner, but they called all non-Greeks barbarians, because their languages sounded like mumbling, such as bar-bar.

For that matter, the sun "rises" in the southeast in far northern latitudes in the winter, slowly, and in the northeast in far southern latitudes. It is all a matter of perspective. Any language other than Thai may seem gibberish.

[varun]

All said and done, it takes two to tango.

Thai's CAN be xenophobic to a point, but a large part of that stems from unawareness.

The initial reaction of most Thai's upon meeting a foreigner for the first time would be to judge a book by it's cover.

Once they actually get to know you, this gradually fades away.

A vast majority of the Thai's have little to no exposure to expats and often stay out of the expat areas altogether.

Their conclusions about foreigners are drawn based upon opinions of their peers (equally unaware as them), in essence, stereotypical views.

The more educated Thai's that have lived / studied abroad for extended periods, are not at all xenophobic, for the most part.

Before anyone jumps in and says, this is a negligible percentage of the population, I would think not, esp. considering Bangkok.

I have to say that, being Indian myself, Thai's are nowhere as racist as the Indians.

Trust me on this.

In my 8 years here, have I been racially stereotyped? Yes, on various occasions (most of which were in jest)

Experienced xenophobia? No.

Btw, I disregard xenophobia expressed by any Thai that could be categorized as having little to no education (taxi drivers, upcountry workers and the like)

I take this w/ a grain of salt.

Edited May 20, 2008 by varun

[samran]

Most Aussies hate indians, we tend to tease them all the time.

quite interesting! you have asked most Aussies "do you hate Indians?" hats off! that must have taken quite some time

Just watch the cricket. Or go to a Cricket game at the SCG when Australia and india play.

Plus Ive witness many many Indians get racially abused by Aussie. I see alot of them abuse asians but not more Indians

I would like to present another argument...most rednecked sports freak Aussies are ignorant & narrow minded.

but surely not "TheDon"! his scientific research and precise conclusion on "cricket/aussies/indians/hate" denotes an extremely high IQ and a broad-based general education

While the Don may not be Australia's most representative representative, I can assure you that we do tolerate the odd German, especially if they look like Claudia Scheffer or Heidi Klum

Frenchies though, forgettaboutit!!! Everone hates the frenchies....

[thailand_tom]

a neighbor down the street had her sister come up from pattaya..i asked her if it was nice there..she told me it was beautiful ..except for all the foreigners..this is coming from a women who gets her money from foreigners..i was speaking with a Thai guy who said to me..why guys can't find girls in there own country..why do they have to keep coming here and taking our women..there is a hatred or dislike of foreigners in Thailand..most who do not see it..probably have foreign friends or Thai bar girls as girlfriends in Thailand..and really do not socialize with the average thai..and as far as owning land in thailand..that it would raise prices..hel_l..these prices are already way overvalued..1.5 million a rai and up..thats 46,000usd i can buy an acre in the usa..which is 2 times larger..around any small city..for that or less..quick story..my wife and i were looking for a little bit of land about 5km outside the city of surin..northeast..middle of nowhere..we stopped to eat and the lady told us there was some land for sale..2 rai..we asked how much..5 million baht..i got a good laugh out of it..and now at 32baht to the dollar..i'll say in the usa.

[elkangorito]

a neighbor down the street had her sister come up from pattaya..i asked her if it was nice there..she told me it was beautiful ..except for all the foreigners..this is coming from a women who gets her money from foreigners..i was speaking with a Thai guy who said to me..why guys can't find girls in there own country..why do they have to keep coming here and taking our women..there is a hatred or dislike of foreigners in Thailand..most who do not see it..probably have foreign friends or Thai bar girls as girlfriends in Thailand..and really do not socialize with the average thai..and as far as owning land in thailand..that it would raise prices..hel_l..these prices are already way overvalued..1.5 million a rai and up..thats 46,000usd i can buy an acre in the usa..which is 2 times larger..around any small city..for that or less..quick story..my wife and i were looking for a little bit of land about 5km outside the city of surin..northeast..middle of nowhere..we stopped to eat and the lady told us there was some land for sale..2 rai..we asked how much..5 million baht..i got a good laugh out of it..and now at 32baht to the dollar..i'll say in the usa.

After spending 10 minutes deciphering your post...I think I now understand it...I expect at any time that there will be a picket line in front of the Nivea factory...obviously all that stuff that makes your skin white will make Thais look like foreigners...this is obviously bad...wow did I really write this shockingly punctuated post...geez if you can understand this...you are doing better than me...I can hardly understand my post.

[uptou]

Thais are not even human.They are actually reptiles.They may appear human when out in the public eye,but when behind closed doors they will peel off the artificial skin to reveal their lizard like form.

Have you never wondered why they all like to eat bugs so much?

It's a conspiracy,& some of us farang are onto it.We farang must be vigilant.