Are Thais Xenophobic

[caf]

In the thread about the Chiangmai mayor in the Chiangmai forum, the discussion moved to how democratic her election was and with parallels being drawn with western democracies. A point was raised that the This want to do it their way not the western way, which then raised the Xenophobia issue.

Obviously there is a lot of history regarding colonisation, the obtaining and ceding of territory, relations with Burma, Chinese influence in business and politics, etc etc which gives clues

But, as a generalisation, do Thaivisa posters think Thais are xenophobic

This is not the same of course as nationalism or pride in one's country. And a Thai can be xenophobic by these definitions while not being "personally" xenophobic ( if i can put it like that) to an individual farang.

Webster gives a short simplistic definition: "Xenophobia is defined as a state of being fearful of what is foreign and especially people of foreign origin."

From Brittanica, "For xenophobia there are two main objects of the phobia. The first is a population group present within a society that is not considered part of that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a group which has been present for centuries. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, pogroms, or in the worst case, genocide."

Mods: I posted this in CM forum as the issue was raised first here but maybe it should be linked/ moved to general. Thanks

Edited April 6, 2009 by caf

[eldar1]

I think people as a whole, everywhere in the world are xenophobic, it's not any more or less prevalent here than in the west or else where.

[Mapguy]

In the thread about the Chiangmai mayor in the Chiangmai forum, the discussion moved to how democratic her election was and with parallels being drawn with western democracies. A point was raised that the This want to do it their way not the western way, which then raised the Xenophobia issue.

Obviously there is a lot of history regarding colonisation, the obtaining and ceding of territory, relations with Burma, Chinese influence in business and politics, etc etc which gives clues

But, as a generalisation, do Thaivisa posters think Thais are xenophobic

This is not the same of course as nationalism or pride in one's country. And a Thai can be xenophobic by these definitions while not being "personally" xenophobic ( if i can put it like that) to an individual farang.

Webster gives a short simplistic definition: "Xenophobia is defined as a state of being fearful of what is foreign and especially people of foreign origin."

From Brittanica, "For xenophobia there are two main objects of the phobia. The first is a population group present within a society that is not considered part of that society. Often they are recent immigrants, but xenophobia may be directed against a group which has been present for centuries. This form of xenophobia can elicit or facilitate hostile and violent reactions, such as mass expulsion of immigrants, pogroms, or in the worst case, genocide."

Mods: I posted this in CM forum as the issue was raised first here but maybe it should be linked/ moved to general. Thanks

I think your definition is incomplete and suggest: "intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries." Still simple but includes more than the fear factor.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Mapguy

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

I don't think Thais are xenophobic, but they are brainwashed at school into believing that their culture, including art, literature, music and food, are superior to that of any other country or civilization. Hence, they are generally uninterested in other cultures, aside from idle curiosity. The only things breaking down this barrier are the few movies and western television that creeps into their living rooms.

[Drew Aitch]

I think people as a whole, everywhere in the world are xenophobic, it's not any more or less prevalent here than in the west or else where.

Agreed, it's a natural instict in mankind, but i disagree in that xenophobic is equal in all countries. There are obviously much different degrees of it depending where you're talking about, be they latent obvious. For example, when i was at school way back in the 1970's, it was common for large gangs of schoolboys to go looking for trouble on Friday afternoons once school had closed. These youthful thugs used to call it Paki bashing, but very few knew the difference between Pakistanis, Indians, or the Bangladeshi, nor did they care. Beatings and verbal abuse were commonplace, and i doubt much has changed since. It all fired up again some time later when the Chinese immigrants began arriving in greater numbers.

I don't see any of the above behaviour going on here. There are no gangs of Thais riding around on verbal or physical Farang bashing missions! So on that note i would say that Thais are much less xenophobic and far more easy going and tolerant of others than folks back in the UK, which btw, has got worse now the doors are open to the East Europeans.

I've never really understood where Xenophobia comes from with the Americans though. When all said and done, that nation is made up of immigrants, so who's the beef with? I guess the indigenous peoples could have an axe to grind if anyone.

Aitch

[MiG16]

I think this topic has been discussed several times, and more recently under the How to deal with extreme attitudes thread

(Which I had to close after many unsuccessful attempts to keep on decent level)

for these reasons Im going to already close this one now rather than deal with the same repeated comments and insults hurled at each other again.

you are of course able to search to get other members responses on the issue. Some very valid points have been made. but as said, in the midst of all that, there is also a lot of insults, which Im not willing to deal with again.

cheers