Farang Affairs Dumped From The Nation

[bannork]

Thanong Kanthong? Isn't he the guy obsessed with Thai mythology, spirituality and the likes. I can't forget his "ode" to Somtam Lao heavy on glories to pla ra and MSG - the silliest editorial ever. I thought he lost a few marbles on the way from the business department.

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His columns regarding the economy are always worth a read, I think he feels limited by only writing about financial matters, zany could perhaps describe some of his other articles.

To widen the topic, I remember when The Nation changed its format a couple of years ago, introducing new technology with large colour photos and screaming sensational headlines. There was a shift to entertainment with less news coverage, the purpose I was told was to attract yuppie Thai readers, more interested in lifestyles than news.

Now you can read from page 1 to 10 in less than half an hour, for me it's the articles and regular columns on pages 10 and 11 that save it. But how many Thais read The Nation? It's hard to find on many news stands, I reckon most Thais who buy it are businessmen interested in the well laid out financial section.

Nearly all Western tourists read The Bangkok Post, so I wonder how The Nation can survive financially, is it kept alive by its sister Thai language newspapers, Krungthep Turakit and Khom Chad Keuk or by other sectors of The Nation group?

Surely its TV channel can't be of any financial assistance.

[DJ Pat]

Farang affairs was all crap go-go bars stuff that was typical sex tourist stuff.

Apart from the occasional funny story most of what was written was embarresingly cringeworthy from a farangs point of view.

Good riddance to it, it just made Thai readers of The Nation confirm what they already thought of farangs anyway.

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Jealousy becomes you ....

If you don't realize that easily the majority of the satirical pieces concerned politics and doings of government workers from Mr. T down to the local policeman, you obviously haven't read much of it.

Best to stay with your high-brow MK restaurant material.... and leave the comedy to the pros

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All the stuff in that column may as well been lifted off this forum. You're telling me that after being here all these years you still enjoy reading a column about beer bars and Soi Cowboy?

Sad.

[sriracha john]

Farang affairs was all crap go-go bars stuff that was typical sex tourist stuff.

Apart from the occasional funny story most of what was written was embarresingly cringeworthy from a farangs point of view.

Good riddance to it, it just made Thai readers of The Nation confirm what they already thought of farangs anyway.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jealousy becomes you ....

If you don't realize that easily the majority of the satirical pieces concerned politics and doings of government workers from Mr. T down to the local policeman, you obviously haven't read much of it.

Best to stay with your high-brow MK restaurant material.... and leave the comedy to the pros

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All the stuff in that column may as well been lifted off this forum. You're telling me that after being here all these years you still enjoy reading a column about beer bars and Soi Cowboy?

Sad.

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You must have it confused with Stickman's site...

As an example, look at the current issue and see how many "beer bar" and "cowboy" articles there are.

Admittedly, they are touched on from time to time, but certainly not excessively so...

As for being lifted from this forum, I could only hope to see that consistent level of humor here. Certainly, we can all have our moments here and I've come across some extremely funny posts... but it's not done with the regularity he does it, but then I wouldn't expect that either. We're amateurs and he's a paid pro.

[snoophound]

Why not invite him to do a column on Thaivisa!!

Prob a wider readership too!!

Farang affairs was all crap go-go bars stuff that was typical sex tourist stuff.

Apart from the occasional funny story most of what was written was embarresingly cringeworthy from a farangs point of view.

Good riddance to it, it just made Thai readers of The Nation confirm what they already thought of farangs anyway.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jealousy becomes you ....

If you don't realize that easily the majority of the satirical pieces concerned politics and doings of government workers from Mr. T down to the local policeman, you obviously haven't read much of it.

Best to stay with your high-brow MK restaurant material.... and leave the comedy to the pros

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[udon]

Anyone like Phil, who takes the piss out of Thai pollies and corrupt cops, gets my vote.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

[Felix Lynn]

Has anyone received a reply from the Nation on why they dumped the column? I've sent them an email and I have yet to hear from them.

FL

[Andrew Mac]

Forgive my ignorance, because it's rare for me to get to see "The Nation" ... but I did just have a look at what I assume is the corresponding web site <http://www.farangaffairs.com/>.

I've got to admit that if that's the relevant site, then I didn't really see much that was about "Farang Affairs". It seemed to me that the site was almost entirely devoted to making fun of (admittedly selected) aspects of Thai life and culture.

Now, there may be a lot of truth in what's being reported, but I've got to admit that to me the site comes across as just another rather tedious example of the "Farang clever ... Thai stupid" genre. If my view is not uncommon, then I can really understand why an editor would want to pull the column. It presents nothing useful for farangs (who I assume must be its target audience), and says nothing good about Thais (who in my experience are their usually generous hosts).

Irrespective of the final outcome, I'd really like to suggest that the columnist may well benefit from a short break, during which time they might hopefully get a new (I'm sorry, but I'm tempted to say "better") perspective on what it is that they think they might be achieving with their column. It may well be that a bit more balance in what's being reported is something worth thinking about.

Otherwise, if being "Farang" is about nothing more than making jokes at Thai people and culture, then please count me out. It's not what I want the Thais to associate with the word.

Again, I admit that I may be speaking in ignorance, but that's just the way I see it ...

[darsie]

Has anyone received a reply from the Nation on why they dumped the column? I've sent them an email and I have yet to hear from them.

FL

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Me neither. I sent the editor a couple of e-mails and haven't, to date, had the courtesy of a reply.

No surprises there....didn't expect a reply...just wanted to make a point. Still, I'm pretty sure, somewhere, someone got to read my views.

[darsie]

Forgive my ignorance, because it's rare for me to get to see "The Nation" ... but I did just have a look at what I assume is the corresponding web site <http://www.farangaffairs.com/>.

I've got to admit that if that's the relevant site, then I didn't really see much that was about "Farang Affairs". It seemed to me that the site was almost entirely devoted to making fun of (admittedly selected) aspects of Thai life and culture.

Now, there may be a lot of truth in what's being reported, but I've got to admit that to me the site comes across as just another rather tedious example of the "Farang clever ... Thai stupid" genre. If my view is not uncommon, then I can really understand why an editor would want to pull the column. It presents nothing useful for farangs (who I assume must be its target audience), and says nothing good about Thais (who in my experience are their usually generous hosts).

Irrespective of the final outcome, I'd really like to suggest that the columnist may well benefit from a short break, during which time they might hopefully get a new (I'm sorry, but I'm tempted to say "better") perspective on what it is that they think they might be achieving with their column. It may well be that a bit more balance in what's being reported is something worth thinking about.

Otherwise, if being "Farang" is about nothing more than making jokes at Thai people and culture, then please count me out. It's not what I want the Thais to associate with the word.

Again, I admit that I may be speaking in ignorance, but that's just the way I see it ...

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You have a point....but don't forget that Farang Affairs was (and will be, in the not too distant future - hopefully) a highly satirical column - just as "Not the nine o'clock news", "That was the week that was" and "Have I got news for you" were.

These shows and their satire was all about making fun - indirectly - at the intended subject - in a subtle and not so subtle manner. Sending someone or some institution up, was what it was all about!

What better way!

If Phil McDonald was to write in plain language, without any humour or wit, and expose the shenanigans of this present Thai government and it's "illustrious" leader then I'm quite sure he wouldn't have lasted more than a few weeks.

In my opinion, this was a deplorable decision by the Nation....particularly in view of the present dictatorial climate and the insidious everyday assault on freedom of speech.

[Andrew Mac]

You have a point....but don't forget that Farang Affairs was (and will be, in the not too distant future - hopefully) a highly satirical column - just as "Not the nine o'clock news", "That was the week that was" and "Have I got news for you" were.

These shows and their satire was all about making fun - indirectly - at the intended subject - in a subtle and not so subtle manner. Sending someone or some institution up, was what it was all about!

What better way!

If Phil McDonald was to write in plain language, without any humour or wit, and expose the shenanigans of this present Thai government and it's "illustrious" leader then I'm quite sure he wouldn't have lasted more than a few weeks.

In my opinion, this was a deplorable decision by the Nation....particularly in view of the present dictatorial climate and the insidious everyday assault on freedom of speech.

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Hi Darsie

I'm prepared to concede some of these points to you too ... but ... I guess a big part of my own problem with Farang Affairs is that, personally, I just didn't find any of the content or writing style particularly funny (at least not on the web site I looked through). Maybe I'd see things slightly differently if I did ...

I've also got to admit that I found the tone of the writing to be what I'll call sarcastic rather than satirical -- the distinction I have in mind being (probably incorrectly) that the attempted humour is directed against the people themselves, rather than the situation -- and for me that not only takes the shine off the author's attempts to be funny, but also ends up blunting the political thrust of what he's trying to achieve. It is usually the action that is the real issue, not the agent. Everyone's view of sarcasm and satire will probably differ from mine, of course, as will their tastes in humour ... and again I admit that I can only judge the author's material from the web site, so others with more experience of the printed column might like to correct me on that.

The other thought that occurs to me -- and I'm open to other people's opinions on this, too -- is that in my own experience I've never really found satire or sarcasm to be a big part of the Thai sense of humour, nor something they are particularly comfortable with. Again, it's probably just me, but I've always considered both rather dangerous attitudes to adopt, because of the risk of serious misunderstanding. Basically, I'm not sure that I agree with you that it is in fact the best way to go -- at least in the context of the Thai cultural world in which the column is read. I'm not actually suggesting that the author should therefore write "without any humour or wit", just that it's probably best to be very, very careful about how he does it.

In bringing these considerations up, however, I'm not trying to be an apologist for those who axed the column, nor am I particularly concerned with the matter of whether the author's approach is ultimately of any real value or not ... I just mean to suggest that the tone of the column itself may not be an entirely insignificant part of why it was pulled. If you walk a fine line, you're sure to fall off every now and then!

And the unfortunate reality these days is that if any author wants to draw that line in the direction of a country's political leaders, well ... they're just going to have to be particularly good at what they do, otherwise sooner or later they're also going to get pushed. This isn't something that I agree with, I'm just pointing out that this reaction seems to be getting more and more common all through the world; it's certainly happening over here in Australia too. And it's more or less what you yourself admitted yourself when you said that if he hadn't adopted the style he had, "he wouldn't have lasted more than a few weeks".

So even if you happen to agree with the methods the author chose to use, maybe the simple truth is that the quality of Farang Affairs just wasn't quite good enough to get away with what it was trying to do. So again, a short break and a reassessment of what he's trying to achieve -- and how he might best achieve it -- may well be a really good thing for him and his column.

Of course, none of this means that I think you are wrong to try to get the column back, if in fact it really is something you do truly appreciate ... so good luck to all of you prepared to try! :-)

And finally, as I said at the outset, I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm not actually too familiar with the long-term history of the column, and what I've written may very well be complete and utter rubbish ... so I'm going to leave the discussion now and return it to those of you who know more about the whole affair.

[Plus+]

Phil wasn't the first one who commented on Thai affairs from farangs' perspective and got burned. Surely we all like to read that funny stuff about Chiang Mai Safari or Thai News Agency, but some people have to pay the price for that.

In "Farangs Affairs" case the sensorship doesn't seem to be the issue, though. Then what is?

The new editor doesn't like the style? Which Thai, in his right mind, would? They, Thais, are programmed against it. Will The Nation lose readership because of this? I think readers of Mondays' Smart Life have never opened the Farang's page and vice versa, and NO ONE buys The Nation to read "On the tiles".

If a farang wants to write to other farangs about Thais he shouldn't write in a Thai newspaper. Unfortunately it's the only choice. If people could pay 10 baht once a week to buy the next issue of farang affairs it would be the best business model but I can't see it technically possible.

[GoodHeart]

Bravo! The Nation will be a better paper for having done so: It was nonsense. I'm hopeful one day Thaivisa will also see the light and strip DJ PAT of his ability to generate threads.

Stop TV whinging!

[meadish_sweetball]

Stop whinging about whinging about TV whinging!!

[chuchok]

Stop whinging about whinging about TV whinging!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly.

Well I suppose you can tell the people with a sence of homour the size of a small pea.

[wimster]

Three emails. Nothing. Can not take the newspaper serious anymore.

Has anyone received a reply from the Nation on why they dumped the column? I've sent them an email and I have yet to hear from them.

FL

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[wimster]

Got news for you. They're losing me

Not only because of this, but also their lack of good sports reporting (is the UK the only country where soccer is played...), bad delivery for months, and their recent fascist comments, not to mention their high number of duplicate articles in one paper...

Phil wasn't the first one who commented on Thai affairs from farangs' perspective and got burned. Surely we all like to read that funny stuff about Chiang Mai Safari or Thai News Agency, but some people have to pay the price for that.

In "Farangs Affairs" case the sensorship doesn't seem to be the issue, though. Then what is?

The new editor doesn't like the style? Which Thai, in his right mind, would? They, Thais, are programmed against it. Will The Nation lose readership because of this? I think readers of Mondays' Smart Life have never opened the Farang's page and vice versa, and NO ONE buys The Nation to read "On the tiles". 

If a farang wants to write to other farangs about Thais he shouldn't write in a Thai newspaper. Unfortunately it's the only choice. If people could pay 10 baht once a week to buy the next issue of farang affairs it would be the best business model but I can't see it technically possible.

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