there is an email in circulation going around with an email attachment from an very senior western member of staff regarding the situation in Thailand, but has been switch around... the email attachment is below

Those of us who live in Thailand have always known that the Thais live in their own enclosed world, their own little bubble, with almost no knowledge or interest in the rest of Planet Earth. Things happen in Thailand that just would not happen in any country that considered itself anything other than a banana republic. When people talk of places that are close to the bottom of the pile they usually think of most of Africa, or the chaos and filth that can be found in India. Certainly, the state of the footpaths in Bangkok and the badly maintained buildings everywhere are far closer to India than Singapore. So Thailand is down there. And the governing of a country is another measure of where on the ladder it stands. Guess where Thailand is.

Especially now. Where, except in the worst countries of Africa, would you have a police force that does little more than look on as people riot on the streets, attack each other with golf clubs and machetes or lob hand grenades and use rocket launchers against each other. And where the army, summoned to restore order, do absolutely nothing. But that has always been what the Thais do best - nothing at all. Ignore anything unpleasant, anything at all, and it will go away. It will be invisible.

Now it’s payback time for the head in the sand mentality, because as well as messing up the country for themselves they’ve now taken the suicidal step of involving foreigners, both business people and families on vacation. The sham that existed for years on TV commercials, in newspaper and magazine ads and so on, promoting Thailand as the Land of Smiles, has been blown out of the water for ever with the events of the past few days. Thais often have an inflated opinion of their country’s importance, even its size, and think they know more and are better than anyone else. When in fact the absolute opposite is true. Many are ignorant, although usually well-meaning, the education system is a sick joke, every embassy in the whole world knows you cannot trust a word that a Thai says. And the pretence that Thais are a peaceful race has now been shown up for what it always was.

It’s been okay while they just wanted to take over the government offices and turn the place into a site for an never-ending party. The government, of course, did nothing. Just moved somewhere else, ran away from the problem. The police? One brief confrontation, which they handled badly, surprise surprise. How about the troops restoring order? No. Let the mob rule and control a part of the city. Still, it was okay, a small area and they kept their quarrel to themselves, in-house. Then they started moving outside their little fiefdom, demonstrating in the hubs of the city, on Silom, outside Central World, on Sukhumvit. Visitors were now getting caught up in the bad vibes that were far removed from the smiles on the TAT posters.

And then. And then. If a country can commit suicide, Thailand did it. In any country in the world, taking over an airport would be considered an act of terrorism. I'm pretty sure that the penalty for that in many countries, including Thailand, is execution. Have the PAD leaders considered that, or do they care. And do they care that their actions will almost certainly put hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Thais out of work as foreign companies and tourists go elsewhere. And the police just let them do it, totally outnumbered, out-maneuvered, out-motivated. After all, you get paid the same whatever you do, so do nothing. It’s the Thai way. And, let’s not forget, many might have had their wife or other family members among the mob. The PAD wanted to let the world know of their cause, and that was their way of doing it. You know what? The world doesn’t give a flying <deleted> about Thai politics. Both sides are as bad as each other, only interested in themselves. The world knows that most Asian countries are corrupt, and let them get on with it. That’s it. End of story.

But, because some people believe that Thais are the centre of the world and everyone is interested in their political shenanigans, we had families sheltering their terrified children as men dressed in full riot gear strode through the airport. Imagine what that is like for a young child. They could have nightmares for years. And that was just the beginning. The Thai staff do what Thais do best, and fled the scene leaving thousands of passengers stranded and confused and without any kind of assistance whatsoever as a lawless mob took over the building. The effectiveness of security at the airport has been questioned ever since it opened, and it fully lived down to expectations. The mob was able to take control of the entire complex, including airside, without the slightest resistance from anyone. Thousands of people, who came to Thailand because they believed in the fantasy, were trapped, unable to return to the city because almost all transport disappeared as quickly as the airport staff, and they spent the night and the whole of the next day sleeping anywhere they could. While nobody did anything at all to resolve the situation. Can you imagine that happening anywhere else in the world? Except an African banana republic. Because Thailand is the centre of the world it didn’t matter that people had jobs and family to return to, business meetings to attend in anywhere other than Thailand. Finally, the country was exposed to the entire world for what it really is, underneath the veneer.

Thailand may not recover. With pictures of gunfire on one of the busiest roads in the capital, knives held to citizens throats as they beg for mercy, setting fire to property, hand grenades being thrown around all over the place, and taking over supposedly secure airports while the police look on and the army ignores requests for help, why on earth would anyone at all consider visiting or doing business in a country without any semblance of law and order. Everyone who wants to fly out of the capital has, effectively, been held hostage even days later. I would expect that many airlines will now suspend flights indefinitely, not only because there'll be no passengers but because safety of their staff and property and planes cannot be guaranteed. The FAA and others have lists of airports that are safe and those that are not, and advise airlines accordingly. I guess Bangkok has now joined their blacklist. I've written before that it was only a matter of when, not if, Thailand suffered a terrorist attack. I just never imagined it would come from the Thais themselves.

what is your take on his thoughts, even those the this has now been widly circulated via email under the Title ' xxxxx company Slagging of Thais '

i think there are some valid points? .... also i have posted in Bedlem, as the topic would lose motion in genral.

This might not be my view, but I think that it is worth reading and discusing.

Fairly typical complaint from people who want and expect Thailand to regret the actions of PAD.

He can thrash around cursing and biting himself in rage as long as he likes but the truth of the matter is, the vast majority of Thais don't care about the results of the airport occupation.

The results of the recent by-elections show this very plainly.

I suggest he looks for the airport that is the subject of his email.

Dam_n, mis-read the thread title, thought it said 'Shagging Of Thais' a subject close to my heart

With an attitude like that, showing such little understanding of the way things actually work in Thailand, I am very surprised the author of that article can even get a job in Thailand, let alone a senior position.

Moved to out of box.

Pardon me, but I did not make it halfway through the one-sided, lop-sided rant. Yes, almost all Thais have mastered the art of "What Me worry?" and that attitude has its advantages. Yes, education is almost completely a sick joke, but it has improved in recent decades.

I am settling in here. Mexico was not completely first world (neither was Brownsville, Texas). Not being able to understand the language or eat the food also has its advantages. For better and worse, I intend to stay.

All countries and their populations have strengths and weaknesses, which must be generalisations because there is nothing you can say that fits every person from one country. A Thai friend asked me what I thought of Thai people, and I told him that, overall, they were very socially gifted, but sometimes a little short in the logical thinking area; this didn't seem to surprise him.

As someone who lives and works in Thailand, for Thai people and generally only depending on Thais, I am doing pretty well and am pretty happy- and really, from the dysfunction I find in many foreign visitors here, I am glad that there will be fewer of them. I would suspect that the letter from the OP reflects the opinion of someone whose livelihood is linked more to the foreign presence here and sees its reduction as a problem. Not everyone sees it that way.

OP reflects the opinion of someone whose livelihood is linked more to the foreign presence here and sees its reduction as a problem. Not everyone sees it that way.

hi is in fact part of a major hotel chain ( which has seen a huge decrease in bookings )

You could almost figure out which TV member this may have been written by. The only thing missing was a vitriolic rant that every problem in Thailand right now is PAD's fault (though they did get mention).

The fact that the other side (i.e. the "Reds") aren't directly mentioned, or the reasons why this all happened in the first place, are reminiscent of certain posters in various threads during that period of unrest.

Oh yes, the "Thailand may not recover" phrase was used as well in one form or another, as some of those "experts", who apparently can't tell the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground, predicted the damage to Thailand was "irreparable" and "irrevocable". I hardly notice a lot of them posting any more now that things have quieted down. Almost odd, isn't it ?

Apparently a lot of people find it easy to sit back in their glass houses, look down their noses at those they consider "beneath" them, and cast criticism from the safety of anonymous internet forums and emails. "Waaaa, boohooo. I was inconvenienced and I want everyone to feel sorry for me."

Most of them are pathetic losers. At best, arrogant @ssholes.

I wonder what it's like to live on a high and mighty throne, looking down on all the lessor folk bowing down to your superiority, ignorant to the fact that your perceived "superiority" has more to do cultural differences and attitudes than any significant difference in the advancement of "your" race or nationality ?

Using your "superiority" to gloss over the fact that various Asian cultures existed at a much more advanced stage thousands of years before your own culture even existed. In your view, those people are little more than nicely dressed savages, how could they possibly have any kind of culture ? Surely any group that doesn't think, act, and look like you can't be considered to be "cultured", can they ?

I've got to take a break before I descend into an incoherent rant.

Thaksin's legacy I'm afraid. Love him or hate him he was the root cause of much of the divisiveness now found in Thai society. Sure much of it was there before but he picked the scab and let the blood run and now you are either red or yellow, for him (us) or against him (us). The middle ground has been swept away and with it much of what we loved about Thailand.

Rants like this are just another symptom of the malaise that, whilst still gripping the country, has faded a little in the past few weeks. He may well have some valid points but it is the one sided slant he puts on his tirade that destroys it's credibility. Yes the PAD was wrong to take over the airport but just as wrong, if not more so, was the scare tactics by the reds with their bombs and grenades.

For all the valid points he might have made he just comes over as another sad old failed businessman desperately looking for someone else to blame.

Thaksin's legacy I'm afraid. Love him or hate him he was the root cause of much of the divisiveness now found in Thai society.

Or he was the last drop.

In some ways, akin to watching a cricket umpire comment on a game of takraw.

In the rant in the article, there seems to be a glimmer (indicated late in the article) of the author's understanding that there are entrenched socio-political issues at the root, but he/she has felt the need to vent nonetheless. If the author does have an appreciation of the background, he/she will also realise that the rant will achieve absolutely nothing, but I suppose that frustration can get the better of many people. In the minds of those at the centre of all this (and to a significant proportion of Thais in general) the issues involved are of such moment as to dwarf the significant collateral consequences. As to Thaksin, I think adjan is far closer to the mark (in current terms) with his 'last drop' comment. The history is lengthy and reaches inside doors that cannot be opened here.

Of course, it is somewhat (shakily) resolved for the moment, but the next major fork in the road is not all that far away, with one direction undoubtedly leading to some dreadful consequences.

With an attitude like that, showing such little understanding of the way things actually work in Thailand, I am very surprised the author of that article can even get a job in Thailand, let alone a senior position.

Moved to out of box.

Quite a common character trait of Western-Euro types worldwide. And we still can't figure out the real problems of the world.

Did anyone see my rose colored glasses?

I've been accused more than once for wearing them.

^Wow, been awhile!

^Wow, been awhile!

Me or this thread? I guess both.