Red Shirt Clean Up Poll

[Irene]

The tsunami warnings occurred because people were flying in from all over the world to help out and staying long-term, this was a local cleanup that lasted a day. You'll always hear about some guy who something happened to here on Thai Visa, and the tsunami stories are no exception, but I know a lot of people here and no one has ever been scooped up and sent home for helping Thai people that I'm aware of personally and I frankly doubt that it happens ever, except maybe in some isolated case involving personal vendettas or who knows what. The Burmese and others, on the other hand, were deported at the time, but that's a separate issue.

Anyhow, I was at this weekend's cleanup from 09:00 and received nothing but thank yous, wais, an absurd number of photo requests and questions from journalists. Still, I spent the vast majority of my time ignoring the zoo, talking to the Thai people cleaning with me and smiling and laughing back and forth. No one was bothering anyone about work permits or whatever other persecution complex-inspired fears that are typically bandied about on here. Police, military and even the Bangkok Governor walked right by and either smiled or didn't take note of the various farangs scrubbing, sweeping and picking up trash.

Thai Visa members have a level of paranoia consistent with what you read in articles about the red shirts heading home and worried that at every train station or bus stop they're going to be massacred - and at least they have some grounding for their concerns (though that's a different topic). My general belief, which has proved absolutely correct for years now, is to completely ignore the imagined obsession with persecuting farangs that is the pastime of a disturbing number of expat internet denizens and to actually just go do what feels like the right thing to do. I'd advise during the next cleanup that worrying about being snatched up for not having a work permit should be way the heck down your list, though it does make a great excuse for not helping out if you're just plain lazy or don't give a dam_n

Difficult to argue against your care for others. Also your observation of the paranoia is right on the spot and excellently expressed. I am heartened by the writing unarguably painful for some to read but uplifting for the standard of this forum. Thank you for your sincerity and taking time to write. It is refreshing for Thai Visa.