Good time for foreigners to lay low

[simpathy]

think it thru guys!

not a coincidence violence not in big hi so areas.

the hiso and elite will be really mad then.

[PeaceBlondie]

I live in Amphur Sankamghaeng. Purely red shirts here. Laying low.

[simpathy]

We farangs are not so important that in this struggle, someone says "lets target the farangs too".

But what about the "wannabe targets?"

you get paid to do a job, if you an honorable man , by golly you do it

[mauiguy90]

The time for farang to worry about is if the rule of law totally breaks down and anarchy and civil war develops. (I'm not predicting this will happen, just stating a "What if").

In that situation the politics of envy take over, and the resident ex-pat community will suffer at the hands of those who feel that "Farang have too much money".

Although the police rarely if ever intercede on the behalf of foreigners, at least they give the perception of protection. I suspect they presently are quite busy with other duties right now. Better safe than sorry! Won't hurt to follow Toptuan's advice and keep a low profile for the present time.

Edited April 11, 2010 by mauiguy90

[Chaimai]

We farangs are not so important that in this struggle, someone says "lets target the farangs too".

But what about the "wannabe targets?"

History shows that many people put themselves where they are not needed. Some old guy joining his teerak on a protest march hardly warrants fear-mongering about 'attacks on foreigners'.

This is a Thai vs Thai conflict and there is no place for foreigners on the protest line.

I repeat, your own embassy will have issued guidance - ignore that advice at your peril.

Edited April 11, 2010 by Chaimai

[Insight]

The problems are being taken to the tourist areas, that's for sure. Ratchaprasong and Khao Sarn road are both usually full of tourists this time of year.

Don't think it's anti-foreigner sentiment however, more for maximum impact of any reporting of the events.

[Danger]

I would bet at long odds that if a tourist had been foolish enough to venture into the area where there was fighting going on either one of the redshirts or one of the soldiers would have taken them by the hand and made sure they were safe.

My experience of walking around the area all evening was one of politeness and kindness from the redshirts towards the tourists and disinterest from the soldiers.

I was on a crowded unairconditioned city bus heading to Central Pinklao when news came that the soldiers were attempting to clear the area and that violence had erupted. There was genuine despair among the people on the bus, not anger, but sadness.

[Sheryl]

Thread title has been edited to be more consistent with its content and lesss inflammatory

[wintermute]

Don't worry OP I really doubt some 80 year old sex tourist is high on the Thai political agenda.

[Loz]

I was gonna say that wolfie never wore a red shirt....

But now I check his propaganda material I think I know where his funding came from..

gulp!

Edited April 11, 2010 by Loz

[Shotime]

theres more anti americanism here than anything else.

what has uk introduced to thais to make them a happier people......lol. pensioners willing to marry contry gals nothwithstanding.............

I'm from Canada.

[Shotime]

I haven 't seen nor sensed any of the kind of sentiment querried by the OP... Remember, the Reds were happy to have the Canadian American guy speak on their stage....

That said, it's interesting to consider what kind of policies the Red movement would enact if they were ever to gain/regain control of the Thai govt. Better or not better for farang???

Of course, it's always possible if Thaksin came back, he'd want to restore the famous Thailand Elite program... 5 year visas anyone???

Not a Canadian American guy. Whatever that is.

[ManilaLover]

I'm living in pleasant 'red shirt town' and they are the most friendly people I know and very talkative when I do my shopping. Best Thai friend is a 'red shirt' who without foreigners would have no decent job. In my town I have never seen one picture or text, nor mentioned any discussion that refers to the things happening in Bangkok.

[BigWheelMan]

why would reds target farangs?

farangs are like familiy to them, they marry their moms, sisters, grandmothers, daughters

AND YES GOVTS DID SAY TO STAY AWAY FROM THE ACTION,

My wife has relatives on both sides, Red and Yellow.

And as one common sense poster has already mentioned; don`t get involved and stay away from trouble.

[Jingthing]

I don't know about this either way.

Obviously, if full scale civil war breaks out we will mostly either want to evacuate or get forced to evacuate. History of any country in a big civil war will tell you that.

As far as anti-foreign sentiment from the reds, there was a poster here who said their maid believed these two things --

-- that if the reds win, their supporters would get 100k baht each from Thaksin (previously I had heard a million baht each), there are reports this is widely believed by red supporters

-- that if the reds win, they will be ALL kicked out of the country within 30 days

The latter one, first I heard of such a thing. Have others heard red shirts say this? If so, where did they get the idea? Any speeches from red leaders/propaganda, or not?

Remember, a faction of the red shirts are hard core Maoists who really believe in class war and smashing the elites. To these types, clearly they see foreigners as part of the elites they would like to smash. Also, don't discount pure greed and theft. If they kicked out all the foreigners, they could either buy our property here for 1 baht on the 100 or simply steal it, including condos, real estate, cars, possessions, and bank accounts. The Nazis did this to the Jews as well, stealing Jewish property was a bonanza for them. Are we the Jews of the reds, I don't know. Time will tell, IF they take over.

Edited April 11, 2010 by Jingthing

[Tod Daniels]

I imagine if certain people got hold of some of these posts and translated them and published them, an anti farang sentiment would be expected.

It is useful to choose our words more carefully. Of course freedom of speech dictates that mad dogs are free to rant and hate.

I can't even believe you wrote that;

Listen 'certain people' ( let me spell that one out for you, it means the thais ) don't give two shites about the foreigners living here my oh-so-politically correct posting friend. You believe way too much into your own self importance in the grand scheme of things here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" . .

Add to the fact a person would be hard pressed indeed to find any 'certain person' who'd be interested enough to back-translate the drivel posted on here into cohesive understandable thai. Let alone convey ANY of the cynicism, or sub-text, especially given the plethora of engrish not their first language posters here. Sheesh the mind wobbles.

Although I think this makes you a contender for the stupidest post today on T/V..

This political problem is for thais to figure out themselves, and other than commenting from the side-lines we're not even a blip on their proverbial radar.

Unless you missed it, they're dealing with bigger things today than the rants of a bunch of foreigners in english on an anonymous internet forum.

[Ijustwannateach]

After discussion with administration, I am closing this thread and asking our membership to confine their political opinions to political threads in the News forum unless your new topic is genuinely sharing new and different information or perspectives.