Disrespect Beyond My Comprehension

[thaimiller]

If I have a serious accident the only person I want touching me is a paramedic or a surgeon/doctor. I've even seen untrained people remove helmets of people in an accident, it's a stupid thing to do.

Believe it or not, that is exactly one of the reasons I do not wear one! I have seen it many, many times, twisting the neck back and forth....

If you crash without an Helmet then it probably won't be a problem anyway if they move your neck, thats one of the lamest excuses I have heard on this forum for not wearing an helmet.

[geriatrickid]

If I have a serious accident the only person I want touching me is a paramedic or a surgeon/doctor. I've even seen untrained people remove helmets of people in an accident, it's a stupid thing to do.

You are going to have a long wait then. Paramedics do not respond to incidents in Thailand because they just don't exist outside of the military. Trauma surgeons are a rarity outside of major urban areas,

[llso]

I lived in Thailand for 7 years and seen my share of road accidents some very severe and others not. One thing that I am surprised has not been mentioned in this thread so far is that NEVER ASSIST OR GO NEAR ANY ACCIDENT VICTIM unless it is a loved one or family. There are no Good Samaritan laws in Thailand, and as a Farang you would be an easy target. I had heard of a case where a Farang had stopped at the scene of a motorcycle accident and tried to help. The person Thai died and he was arrested nad his family and the Police demanded money because they claimed he contributed to their death. He was unable to pay and was put in jail until he could raise the funds to pay them off.

A friend once told me that they came upona motorcycle accident and the girlfriend who was thrown from the bike was pleading for someone to help the boyfriend. The guy was laying on the road twitching and bleeding and noone did a thing. This is probably why Thais will never help anyone because they know better.

LL

[Latindancer]

If I have a serious accident the only person I want touching me is a paramedic or a surgeon/doctor. I've even seen untrained people remove helmets of people in an accident, it's a stupid thing to do.

Good luck if you have an accident in Thailand. Few accident victims are touched only be paramedics and doctors and it would be difficult to arrange that unless you do something like tattoo instructions on your forehead and even that might not be enough. Those guys going about in pickup trucks picking up accident victims are not paramedics.

I know, that's the worrying thing. Even people with even the most basic training know not to move a badly injured person but they seem clueless out here. They just pick somebody up and throw them in the back of a pick-up truck.

Is it even possible for members of the public to do first aid training in Thailand ? If so, is it encouraged like in the West ?

[MJP]

If I have a serious accident the only person I want touching me is a paramedic or a surgeon/doctor. I've even seen untrained people remove helmets of people in an accident, it's a stupid thing to do.

You are going to have a long wait then. Paramedics do not respond to incidents in Thailand because they just don't exist outside of the military. Trauma surgeons are a rarity outside of major urban areas,

GK do you paramedics or simply ambulances? Because I see plenty of ambulances trying (usually unsuccessfully) to get through traffic in Roi-Et.

[nocturn]

Ignoring all the off topic babble regarding emergency medical response care and the potential ramifications of charging in like the knights in shining armour the majority of the readers here seem to be, I would just like to say that the ongoing civil war in the south of Thailand is a horrifically under reported conflict.

Any and all accurate coverage it receives is to be welcomed, whether the OP is squeamish or not.

Spare us your PC squeals of objection. War is unpleasant. It is not a sterile pursuit. There is no reason the media should portray it as such.

[MJP]

Ignoring all the off topic babble regarding emergency medical response care and the potential ramifications of charging in like the knights in shining armour the majority of the readers here seem to be, I would just like to say that the ongoing civil war in the south of Thailand is a horrifically under reported conflict.

Any and all accurate coverage it receives is to be welcomed, whether the OP is squeamish or not.

Spare us your PC squeals of objection. War is unpleasant. It is not a sterile pursuit. There is no reason the media should portray it as such.

Yes, we don't know the half, do we? It is bad.

Channel 4's (UK) Unreported World I think it was covered the troubles in the South a few years back. It was brutal and it was raging. Atrocities committed against the defenseless were savage. The programme didn't censor much either.

That said, and as I said to friends here sympathetic of the red shirt movement, the UK had a civil war for near 30 years. This came as a great surprise to them as I used it as cautionary tale against escalating violence.

[Moonrakers]

That said, and as I said to friends here sympathetic of the red shirt movement, the UK had a civil war for near 30 years.

Hate to be pedantic, but I think you'll find it was England, not the UK. Although the home countries did have wars against each other before unification.

[MJP]

That said, and as I said to friends here sympathetic of the red shirt movement, the UK had a civil war for near 30 years.

Hate to be pedantic, but I think you'll find it was England, not the UK. Although the home countries did have wars against each other before unification.

I was actually referring to the troubles in Northern Ireland through the 1970's to 1990's.

[JimsKnight]

What else do you expect in this part of the world ? For peace of mind stop comparing.

Indeed, I am getting tired of these whinging idiots who seem to think this place is a paradise and no-wrong happens.

Just read a Thai newspaper and you'll see it's a way of life here. Without the candy-coated and so-called 'civilised west'

If you want it like home, go home!

[Moonrakers]

If you want it like home, go home!

And by the same token, we could say if you don't like what people are saying on Thai visa then don't read it. The "go home" argument is one of the weakest I have seen anywhere. You are essentially telling people to shut up because they are voicing a different opinion to yours.

[JimsKnight]

A different culture than what you are used to.

That is a large part of the reason I am here. Granted there are parts of it I don't like just as there were parts I didn't like back in Canada. And I am quite sure any place I would go that would hold true. Actually if Thailand could learn to driver on the right side of the road in one lane it would be much better.

Thia's seem able to take things in stride far more than westerners. :jap:

They do drive on the right side of the road in one lane, much of the time!..........and on the left.........and in the middle

You must have touched a nerve with the Thai ministry of Transport ,I have just read that thery are to change driving on the left hand side of the Road, to the right hand side, next Month. Cars and motor cycles On the 1st of the Month, Wagons and busses one week later

It's a bit early in the year for April Fool jokes.

[Berkshire]

Unpleasant as this may be, it's reality and reality needs to be faced. Anything else is, at best being economical with the truth. Would it be fair to say the sanitizing of similar events by the Western media is more distasteful?

Well said. Why can't we get this sort of perspective more often, as opposed to the well-worn attitude that "our way back home is the right way....?"

[Berkshire]

If you want it like home, go home!

And by the same token, we could say if you don't like what people are saying on Thai visa then don't read it. The "go home" argument is one of the weakest I have seen anywhere. You are essentially telling people to shut up because they are voicing a different opinion to yours.

So what you're saying is the Mr. JKnight is not entitled to his opinion? There are many who would agree with his opinion. In instances where foreigners refuse to adapt to the local way and have nothing but contempt for the local citizens, the "go home" argument is not only the best response, it's the only response. Especially when they make asinine comments like "disrespect beyond my comprehension."

[Moonrakers]

If you want it like home, go home!

And by the same token, we could say if you don't like what people are saying on Thai visa then don't read it. The "go home" argument is one of the weakest I have seen anywhere. You are essentially telling people to shut up because they are voicing a different opinion to yours.

So what you're saying is the Mr. JKnight is not entitled to his opinion?

Where, exactly, did I say that then?

[Thaifan2]

It was the same in Spain when I first went there in 1988 you would see news with dead people and blood all over the news stands and TV (even porn). Not much better now ether (ok they have taken the hard core porn off the bottom shelves so the kids cant see it, but it is still much the same.

At least they tried to pixel out the head face.

Same in Germany when i lived there ( graphic photos of dead people ) .Its as if the Anglo White race can not face up to death .

[Berkshire]

If you want it like home, go home!

And by the same token, we could say if you don't like what people are saying on Thai visa then don't read it. The "go home" argument is one of the weakest I have seen anywhere. You are essentially telling people to shut up because they are voicing a different opinion to yours.

So what you're saying is the Mr. JKnight is not entitled to his opinion?

Where, exactly, did I say that then?

Rakes, telling someone that their argument is "the weakest I have seen anywhere" is tantamount to telling someone to not use that particular argument, or, "you're entitled to express that opinion, but it sucks and you suck if you do," i.e., "you're entitled to express your opinion, but not really." But getting back on point, if all the whiners were to go back to where they came from, Thailand would be a much better place for the rest of us. And I would imagine the whiners would appreciate being back to utopia, or wherever the hell they came from.

[Ned]

A woman in this village where I've lived for the last eight years stabbed her husband to death at home. Word got out and the place was crawling with onlookers. People arrived from over the river in Lamphun to look at the body with its multiple stab wounds. My partner's son died some years ago and his body was brought and laid out in my living room. More than a hundred people arrived, many unknown by the deceased. Where they came from...who knows. The Thais are just into checking out dead bodies. They find looking at corpses interesting. Disrespectful to publish photos of mangled victims in the paper for all to see? No, just Thai style if you ask me.

[saraburioz]

The Bangkok Post website

has a photograph of a 38 year old teacher shot by separatists in the South. The poor

man is lying dead under his motorbike in a pool of his blood. Its an image that should

sicken anyone who sees it but I can't imagine how his family, friends and students would feel

in seeing it. I've seen many like examples of this attitude in the Thai media but

this one just defies any sense of decency IMHO.

Thai people won't give a toss what you, a foreigner thinks. Keep your own beliefs and culture in you own homeland.

What would you think of a Thai guy in your country complaining about your countrymen blowing their snot in handkerchiefs and putting them in their pockets?

Edited January 17, 2011 by saraburioz

[geriatrickid]

[

GK do you paramedics or simply ambulances? Because I see plenty of ambulances trying (usually unsuccessfully) to get through traffic in Roi-Et.

Ambulances are available, but that doesn't mean the staff are trained in CPR or trauma response. There is a reason why the ambulances are called body snatchers. The major hospital ambulances will usually have a nurse and/or a physician when dispatched. Unfortunately,they often arrive too late to help a person having a stroke or heart attack. The physician is most likely an inexperienced resident or junior doctor with limited training in trauma. No offense to the physicians, but I'd rather an EMS or fireman from Bath or Des Moines that arrives within minutes take care of me than one of those Thai doctors that arrives 15 to 30 minutes later. In fairness to the Thai approach of scoop and run is more effective than attempting to stabilize and then transport, since the ability to stabilize is limited.

There was an interesting article that appeared on CNN about the subject some time ago. Follow the Marko Cunningham's link and you will see some interesting details about the need for first aid training and paramedics. He's an electrician that became a lifesaver. I wish there were more foreigners like him around.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/05/27/thailand.ambulance.driver.volunteer.holiday/index.html

[jdinasia]

I wonder what L&J (the OP) would think about the practice of some meditation monks of meditating on human remains is the various stages of decomp?

Thailand just isn't the West and applying cultural rules of "decency" or "propriety" from the West just does not work in Asia.

[KeyserSoze01]

The Bangkok Post website

has a photograph of a 38 year old teacher shot by separatists in the South. The poor

man is lying dead under his motorbike in a pool of his blood. Its an image that should

sicken anyone who sees it but I can't imagine how his family, friends and students would feel

in seeing it. I've seen many like examples of this attitude in the Thai media but

this one just defies any sense of decency IMHO.

Should be happy there weren't any photos of lit cigarettes or they would have to be blurred out of the money shot.

Were there any pictures of the BiB pointing at the corpse?

I will never understand the Thai's morbid fascination with someone being killed in a gruesome way.

[MJP]

The Bangkok Post website

has a photograph of a 38 year old teacher shot by separatists in the South. The poor

man is lying dead under his motorbike in a pool of his blood. Its an image that should

sicken anyone who sees it but I can't imagine how his family, friends and students would feel

in seeing it. I've seen many like examples of this attitude in the Thai media but

this one just defies any sense of decency IMHO.

Should be happy there weren't any photos of lit cigarettes or they would have to be blurred out of the money shot.

Were there any pictures of the BiB pointing at the corpse?

I will never understand the Thai's morbid fascination with someone being killed in a gruesome way.

[jdinasia]

Death is death ... gruesome or not. It is the end of this cycle and the signal for the next to begin. Trying to hide death is just like trying to hide cigarettes ... in the end it is just stupid to try and soften the blow of either.

[mstribling]

Thai's just accept it. It's only death.

However they do love a morbid scene more than anyone I have encountered. A walk through any market and you find VCD's of the Boxer day tsunami recovery and all the blackened, bloated bodies.

My wife and kids bought a VCD of the Santika fire. Gruesome stuff. They love it!

Folk's are just different, who would of thunk it?

[MJP]

Thai's just accept it. It's only death.

However they do love a morbid scene more than anyone I have encountered. A walk through any market and you find VCD's of the Boxer day tsunami recovery and all the blackened, bloated bodies.

My wife and kids bought a VCD of the Santika fire. Gruesome stuff. They love it!

Folk's are just different, who would of thunk it?

Do whaaat?

[powderpuff]

In many other countries there are quite a few civilians that have a basic first aid training. In accident scenes in the west it is not unusual to see people caring for the injured in a proper fashion until the pros arrived. I have done so myself in the past.

The point is that here there is no attempt at educating people about very basic measures to do or not to do when you find yourself at an accident scene. Stop the bleeding, keep talking to them, keep them from getting up, don't move them unless their life is in danger from being where they are, try to clear the air way if there seems to be a blockage, etc...

Thai motorists do not pull over for a fire engine or an ambulance.

Reflects a complete lack of training. If you are tall enough to look over the DL counter you are issued a license.

Not to mention the road hog attitude of most drivers. (here).

The gawking (especially at the scene of a fatality) is absolutely ghoulish.

Edited January 18, 2011 by powderpuff

[powderpuff]

Dead bodies lying in a pool of blood is fine but you must not show a nipple.

I'll wager $1000 a male penis will never be shown in a magazine in my lifetime. O the horror!!!!!

[Moonrakers]

I'll wager $1000 a male penis will never be shown in a magazine in my lifetime. O the horror!!!!!

As opposed to a female penis?

[jdinasia]

Dead bodies lying in a pool of blood is fine but you must not show a nipple.

I'll wager $1000 a male penis will never be shown in a magazine in my lifetime. O the horror!!!!!

We haven't seen some of the same magazines in Thailand apparently I'll take that wager