Why Do Thais Have A Mob Mentality?

[freeurmind2]

poor Joe has had to defend the religion thingy. w/c is why I rarely go there.

but there is something to be said about certain religion-related expectations and reality biting you in the arse. I expected to discuss the matter in the "Thai Buddhist way", but these people wouldn't hear of it. so, once more strength in numbers bring about the lying through the teeth. And that makes me self-righteous and arrogant? snort! try way pissed!

then again, if it were only one or two people in the other vehicle, I'm 95% sure this whole incident would have taken a whole different turn for the better.

[waza]

Watch Silom, thats Thai mob mentality in action..

[phetaroi]

In my first year here when I had to take daily public transport, tuk-tuk drivers were alternately friendly, kind, and helpful or potentially thuggish in behavior. And I am in Chiang Mai, the supposed kinder, gentler region of Thailand.

I wish I'd had a video cam for every instance of this 'gang' mentality I've seen as it's hard to explain that certain buzz of tension in the air, the in your face shouting, the 'herding' around the target, etc. Seems there is no convincing the few who doubt my claim.

Also for the lazy, here are some cliff notes: I did notice that this "ganging up" does not or rarely happens among the hi-so or better educated citizens. Correlation 'might' explain causality here, or not.

I don't think there's one answer to the whole concept.

But I have a question. It sounds as if you have an awfully lot of these negative interactions. In a year, I never have. Why do you think that's true?

[bjoe97]

Watched a documentary on Education channel last night, True tv, called "Rampage". It showed mobs/riot around the world over a 10+_ year time span (prison riots to 70,000 civilian mobs). One of the experts in crowd/mob control noted "culture" could be associated to mob mentality/action. What impressed me was the preparedness of the police/military to handle these situations and the various devices utilized. The experts gave some great insight to dealing with mobs and the physiology behind it.

Hope the Thais' watched the program, both sides could learn from it. One, how to handle the situation and the other. what to expect as a consequence to your actions.

they do not have the software to benefit from it quickly

first of all, they must be allowed free thought,and allowed to question everything/everyone

not biased followings designed to keep the corrupt in power

any ideas on how i can see that documentary?

Which police were the most prepared please and why?

We have to give a lecture on this at the FCC, so it would be useful

thank you

[slapout]

bjoe; Have no idea who your statements which reference 'They', refer to. Software is not required to watch true tv the last time I tuned in. " allowed free thought and allowed to question everything/everyone not biased followings designed to keep corrupt in power" My guess is, you are referring to the Thai populace and the acceptance of the BS they are subjected to on a regular basis, as I see no relevance to my post which you quote, I am not really interested.

As to the rest of your questions, it will not take a Dick Tracy to find the pertent info in a tv guide, watch the program and make your own assumptions, which you seem good at. Good luck on WE giving a lecture, will it follow the Martin/Lewis routine?

[carmine]

There is an appalling mob mentality here. I've seen it scores of times. It's a very unpleasant trait of the Thais which i try and forget about. I'd rather focus on the more positive side of things, both of the country and the people. However anyone who has lived here a while and says it does'nt exist sounds simply ridiculous. More prevelent in this country than i've seen anywhere else i can think of.

[bjoe97]

Joe, a little bit of what you wrote is factual and could be called "evidence" (although I didn't realize anyone was on trial). But much of what you wrote was opinion. And there's nothing wrong with you having your opinion and stating it. But please don't call your opinions, facts.

For example, whether India has progressed or gone in reverse could be up for debate. But owning another country and its culture is simply wrong and immoral. It's sort of like some child abuse -- "I'm going to beat you for your own good." Well, it's never good or right.

To answer your question, I do not drink or smoke, or take illegal drugs. Is taking blood pressure and heart medicine so I don't have a stroke or heart attack being a druggy?

i do not see how can in their right mind could think India has improved since the British left.

Two bad things happen to india 1- the britsh came 2- they left.

The place is huge, racial, corrupt , filthy mess. I cannot imagine it being worse under the Brits.

Put aside all this nonsense about

"we're proud to be independent"( they are neither), the average poor, uneducated person who makes up most of India would much be lead by a competent caring government.

This is true of most ex-colonys. Ask any burmese.

And they can be far more racist than the British were to them.

Who owns India now?

I hope you do not think its the Indian government in any matters that concern the west and what it wants.

And was does it mean "owning" something really mean? Nothing really, its a term which to me is just plain silly and outdated.

here is one of the problems.We should move ahead from "he is this, he is that.." It should we, us,together, one, brother,sister

Yes, you take drugs, maybe they are legal, that because they are taxed.Most people do. I would say " druggie apply s more to those who take the illegal ones, the far less harmful ones in so many cases

[bjoe97]

bjoe; Have no idea who your statements which reference 'They', refer to. Software is not required to watch true tv the last time I tuned in. " allowed free thought and allowed to question everything/everyone not biased followings designed to keep corrupt in power" My guess is, you are referring to the Thai populace and the acceptance of the BS they are subjected to on a regular basis, as I see no relevance to my post which you quote, I am not really interested.

As to the rest of your questions, it will not take a Dick Tracy to find the pertent info in a tv guide, watch the program and make your own assumptions, which you seem good at. Good luck on WE giving a lecture, will it follow the Martin/Lewis routine?

I see I have touched a nerve- always a good sign

yes, you were right about one thing- not bad.

Its the BS people are fed here.I mean the local people. Software= brain power

You are welcome to attend the lecture and make your decision.

It for journalists only and I know of no martin or Lewis.But I can get you in.We are giving it free of charge a some local journalist are stating to feel in danger.

Thanks your compliment about my accuracy at making assumptions. How did you know I seem rather good a this. You too must have it then.

I think it comes from developing a sensitive awareness,experience in the actual field of what one is talking about, seeing things as they clearly eye without any preconceived notion ,assumptions, prejudices.

[iwad2010]

From your language; you appear to be prejudice in the extreme.

I think you should take a look in the mirror and ask yourself a few questions.

Perhaps it's your attitude that provocs a reaction in people.

I lived in Thailand and met several westerners who dispised Thais, almost to an irrational degree. They were always in heated situations. And, having witnessed a few; it was all down to them.

They invariably did not bother to learn the native laguage or customs.

You strike me as one of them.

Sorry, but I think you need to take a step back and deal with your own anger management problems.

[chantorn]

If you cannot fight alone, fight in groups.

[seahorse]

Thais have a group mentality. Easy to go from group to mob in the right circumstances.

A well trained farang is nothing to be afraid of; it's also important to give him/her plenty of room to run around and feed them regularly.

Ha ha ha. You're just so funny.

What relevance does this have to the topic being discussed?

Troll.

[RakJungTorlae]

Thai, veits, Philippines, Turks, Lebanese. All fight in groups. Just there mental state of mind, if one feels threaten then the brothers helps out.

You guys don’t have any friends.

[wintermute]

Thai, veits, Philippines, Turks, Lebanese. All fight in groups. Just there mental state of mind, if one feels threaten then the brothers helps out.

You guys don't have any friends.

Street fighting is never fair anyways. It's all about how fast you can injure the other person and get away before the cops come.

[RakJungTorlae]

Thai, veits, Philippines, Turks, Lebanese. All fight in groups. Just there mental state of mind, if one feels threaten then the brothers helps out.

You guys don't have any friends.

Street fighting is never fair anyways. It's all about how fast you can injure the other person and get away before the cops come.

What I am curious to know if the Alfa of the group has been out beat and taken down, witch cultures and ethnic groups stay and fight and who run away. This separates the men form the mice or brave form stupidity.

[RJfromUSA]

Thais don't have a mob mentality any more than anybody else; what they do have is a group culture. You must conform, you must belong... just go to a big university and see how their jackets proclaim this, not only jackets for faculties, but jackets for departments, jackets for the provinces they come from, and so on.

Those of us from Britain and the States, and probably other Western countries as well, were brought up to be individuals, and to think for ourselves.

Of course anyone can name exceptions to both; football hooligans, for example, who are a perfect example of group action without individual thought.

One of the saddest things about the university where I taught was that individual thought was actively discouraged. To get good marks, a student had to parrot his teacher's 'opinions' (which were invariably secondhand anyway). Intelligent people being forced to conform.... Nothing wrong with Thai brains; they're as good as anybody else's.

[MSingh]

Insecurity & complete lack of self confidence.

[Heng]

Thais have a group mentality. Easy to go from group to mob in the right circumstances.

A well trained farang is nothing to be afraid of; it's also important to give him/her plenty of room to run around and feed them regularly.

Ha ha ha. You're just so funny.

What relevance does this have to the topic being discussed?

Troll.

ha ha ha. You're just so sensitive.

[Heng]

Thai, veits, Philippines, Turks, Lebanese. All fight in groups. Just there mental state of mind, if one feels threaten then the brothers helps out.

You guys don't have any friends.

Street fighting is never fair anyways. It's all about how fast you can injure the other person and get away before the cops come.

Nor is anything where any military or police is involved. Or any conflict where the main goal is to still be breathing after and you don't plan on shaking hands/having a drink together/going into business together like in the movies.

[mca]

^^Hit a nerve there Heng.

Remember the TVF golden rule mate. Under achieving low sense of self esteem western non-events are allowed to slag off or ridicule Thais to infinity for the most minutest of unjustifiable things to compensate for their own lack of any worth whatsoever but Thais aren't allowed to do it back.

Edited May 1, 2010 by mca

[billythefish]

The absence of Critical thinking in the Thai curriculum accounts for alot of this IMHO.

If you want to control a population don't promote free thinking creative ideology. Promote "group knows best" thinking. Then you can hurd them up and tell them what to do for a little of the juice thats going around. They will lap it up. This can be seen in many societies of the course of history. Now its the time for Thailand. I can imagine someone banning books before this political mess is over. If you think I am joking ask yourself why they banned internet sites and some tv. they are the "diet" books of our time. Reading is more cerebral than the goggle box but the process is the same.

ok, u can have your soap box back now.

Exactly - best just keep your mouth shut! 30% Rice, 30% Water/fish/ and the rest for your house - don't question it - we know best - peasants!

[billythefish]

Insecurity & complete lack of self confidence.

I would expect you too would have a bit of an insecurity complex and a bit of a lack of self confidence if you came from generations of people who were treated like shit, if you and your family were forced to grovel like dogs for centuries...I guess it takes its toll somewhere!

[Heng]

^^Hit a nerve there Heng.

I minored in 'nerve hitting' back in school, M. My major being 'button pushing.'

[Heng]

Insecurity & complete lack of self confidence.

I would expect you too would have a bit of an insecurity complex and a bit of a lack of self confidence if you came from generations of people who were treated like shit, if you and your family were forced to grovel like dogs for centuries...I guess it takes its toll somewhere!

Agree, it often surfaces when one moves to a tropical country where one has virtually no rights and are often forced to jump through hoops just to continue visiting. It's inevitable that one will start to question one's self worth.

[phetaroi]

i do not see how can in their right mind could think India has improved since the British left.

Two bad things happen to india 1- the britsh came 2- they left.

The place is huge, racial, corrupt , filthy mess. I cannot imagine it being worse under the Brits.

Put aside all this nonsense about

"we're proud to be independent"( they are neither), the average poor, uneducated person who makes up most of India would much be lead by a competent caring government.

This is true of most ex-colonys. Ask any burmese.

And they can be far more racist than the British were to them.

Who owns India now?

I hope you do not think its the Indian government in any matters that concern the west and what it wants.

And was does it mean "owning" something really mean? Nothing really, its a term which to me is just plain silly and outdated.

here is one of the problems.We should move ahead from "he is this, he is that.." It should we, us,together, one, brother,sister

Yes, you take drugs, maybe they are legal, that because they are taxed.Most people do. I would say " druggie apply s more to those who take the illegal ones, the far less harmful ones in so many cases

Having worked for years with thousands of special education students, and being well aware of the many routes in thinking that can lead to, I hesitate to bother to answer you. But, I just can't let a few things go.

The first is your repeated defense of colonialism. I suppose you also defend slavery. There is no difference between slavery and colonialism, except in terms of scale. One enslaves a nation, the other enslaves a person. The principle is the same -- you (or your country) is less than me (or my country), and therefore I have a right to own you.

The fact that a colonial power made thing efficient is irrelevant to whether or not colonialism is moral. One of the means by which tyrants attempt to develop more broad-based support is by benefiting people. The old saying that Mussolini made the trains run on time -- which actually isn't very true -- justified to some fascism.

The British (as just one example of colonialism) had a moral right to "be British"...in Britain.

The Indians (as just one example of a conquered people in their past) had the same moral right to "be Indian"...in India.

Oh will you cut out the one brother, one sister routine. Next you'll have us all sitting in a circle singing "Kumbaya". I don't want to be your brother. I don't want to meet you. I don't want to associate with you.

And as to drugs the difference between a legal drug and an illegal drug (which by the way, varies greatly from one country to the next) is often based on whether it's medically necessary. If I don't take my heart medication I could have a heart attack. If I don't take my blood pressure medicine I could have a stroke. If some of my special ed students didn't take their meds they started biting and drawing blood.

Everything to you is a government conspiracy. Get over it.

[TheItaliann]

Thai guys are jealous cause farang men get the girls with the coolest and most extensive tattoos.

Edited May 1, 2010 by TheItaliann

[TheItaliann]

Barbarians fight with fists. Gentleman challenge each other to duels.

Edited May 1, 2010 by TheItaliann

[wintermute]

Thai, veits, Philippines, Turks, Lebanese. All fight in groups. Just there mental state of mind, if one feels threaten then the brothers helps out.

You guys don't have any friends.

Street fighting is never fair anyways. It's all about how fast you can injure the other person and get away before the cops come.

Nor is anything where any military or police is involved. Or any conflict where the main goal is to still be breathing after and you don't plan on shaking hands/having a drink together/going into business together like in the movies.

I get a good chuckle when your average westerner gets huffy about this "unfairness" and makes it sound like people in the U.S. or the E.U. nations are having honorable Marquess of Queensberry rules boxing matches in the street to determine proper victors. People seem to forget that murder rate is sky high in major metro U.S. cities because people get shot over petty disputes all the time. Ditto with the U.K. you look at a chav even sideways you'll get bottled upside the head and knifed.

This noble honorable "manly" western dispute resolution fantasy only exists in the minds of expats who haven't been home for awhile.

[bjoe97]

i do not see how can in their right mind could think India has improved since the British left.

Two bad things happen to india 1- the britsh came 2- they left.

The place is huge, racial, corrupt , filthy mess. I cannot imagine it being worse under the Brits.

Put aside all this nonsense about

"we're proud to be independent"( they are neither), the average poor, uneducated person who makes up most of India would much be lead by a competent caring government.

This is true of most ex-colonys. Ask any burmese.

And they can be far more racist than the British were to them.

Who owns India now?

I hope you do not think its the Indian government in any matters that concern the west and what it wants.

And was does it mean "owning" something really mean? Nothing really, its a term which to me is just plain silly and outdated.

here is one of the problems.We should move ahead from "he is this, he is that.." It should we, us,together, one, brother,sister

Yes, you take drugs, maybe they are legal, that because they are taxed.Most people do. I would say " druggie apply s more to those who take the illegal ones, the far less harmful ones in so many cases

Having worked for years with thousands of special education students, and being well aware of the many routes in thinking that can lead to, I hesitate to bother to answer you. But, I just can't let a few things go.

The first is your repeated defense of colonialism. I suppose you also defend slavery. There is no difference between slavery and colonialism, except in terms of scale. One enslaves a nation, the other enslaves a person. The principle is the same -- you (or your country) is less than me (or my country), and therefore I have a right to own you.

The fact that a colonial power made thing efficient is irrelevant to whether or not colonialism is moral. One of the means by which tyrants attempt to develop more broad-based support is by benefiting people. The old saying that Mussolini made the trains run on time -- which actually isn't very true -- justified to some fascism.

The British (as just one example of colonialism) had a moral right to "be British"...in Britain.

The Indians (as just one example of a conquered people in their past) had the same moral right to "be Indian"...in India.

Oh will you cut out the one brother, one sister routine. Next you'll have us all sitting in a circle singing "Kumbaya". I don't want to be your brother. I don't want to meet you. I don't want to associate with you.

And as to drugs the difference between a legal drug and an illegal drug (which by the way, varies greatly from one country to the next) is often based on whether it's medically necessary. If I don't take my heart medication I could have a heart attack. If I don't take my blood pressure medicine I could have a stroke. If some of my special ed students didn't take their meds they started biting and drawing blood.

Everything to you is a government conspiracy. Get over it.

first of all- you do make us laugh

you contribute yourself, a sure sign of someone who understands their own weaknesses

you say

"I want nothing to do with you..."

Then you answered my post, this associating with me... right/wrong?

I will have nothing to do with you, hold on, but I will send you a mail....!!!! oh , how I love it sometimes

you willingly make a total contradiction......and I am guessing english language is your first

my mother worked with special needs children too, me sometimes too, more orphanages

ones who would be totally neglected in such messed up places like India- if was their karma to be that way

ask one of the 3 a day ladys in india who gets burt alive if she rather be under her proud progressive nation than the Brits

i wonder who they would rather have looking after them- I know it, you ,you know

I do not approve of colonialism, but see it, with some reluctance as being much better than what was left behind.

Drugs is often based upon.... wrong again in some circumstances

Bumiggrad toild me I needed to have an op

another doctor said this was nonsense- you take drugs, legally here 'yes".They are still drugs. You are a drug taker. Does that upset you? Is because it legal make yuo feel okay.

You have total complete in the law makers do you? many of your special needs students may be that way because of badly prescribed medicine given either to them or their parents when there was a profits first policy.

Or many due to lack of proper nutrition due to a lacking government welfare system, like, eeerrr....in india

Someone has decided to let them be legal.So, what is this point?

And many drugs are not taken for medical necessity, but for pleasure improvement of health- but you did say often.

Moral rights- what is moral?

To me we all know the answer and yet we do so little to make any progress

what is kumbaya,? and like it or not, we are related-and actually, on the same side

[minburi2]

Well there are explanations for both of the 'gang' experiences.

In the shop/store/office.. The staff are bored and usually outnumber the customers 5 to 1. They have little to do and the chance to observe a farang up close is too good to miss. The interaction will provide a respite from an otherwise boring day.

The other situation when a group of Thai guys gangs up together is as has already been said pure insecurity.

There are a lot of very insecure and fragile ego'd males in Thailand..( not just the poor and disafected ) They have been asailed with images and stories about 'wealthy farangs' 'well endowed farangs' 'clever farangs' etc etc from an early age. They have often also been the center of attention in their family and have little experience of the World outside so can feel lost and resentful. Worse they seem to suffer from the dreadful 'Small man's disease'.. They are easily offended and have no concept of 'consequence' So ganging together empowers them and the situation can soon get out of hand especially if they have been drinking.

Luckily there are well adjusted Thai guys but they don't seem to be the majority. My experience of working with all types of Asian guys over the last 20 years has shown me the way to get the best out of them.. But you have to tread a careful path if you want their co-operation.. Thais, Chinamen and Filipinos seem to be the hardest to deal with...

I agree with you on most of the points you bring on, but why is it then that they are worldwide known for Thai-boxing?? but when you get in a fight with them the only thing they can do is or team up or pick up a bottle or knife??and am a foreigner and am only 170 so nowadays there a lot of Thais who stand way taller then me!!

[minburi2]

Barbarians fight with fists. Gentleman challenge each other to duels.

And most Thais show up with a bottle to hit you with.