Stupid Thais? Or Just Stupid People?

[wandrinstar]

Stereo Typings a bit teratorial here.Now theres about 10 Ferangs round me, all meet up, slag Thailand, yet have Bar Girls for wives and very little money. Yet they dont think they are Ferang Bums. The Feckless Village Male, never worked, just pimps his dauughter, the lists endless, its the P. C. wanke_rs who dont like it .Stereotyping only bothers those who can be..

[StreetCowboy]

Oh thats right right....it pandersto you own small mindedminded beliefs

Your moaning, whining, nitpicking and mangled English does nothing to improve the thread.

That's a bit pots and kettles, isn't it?

I often try to make my rude and offensive sniping relevant with a little footnote, as if I had some interest in the topic, rather than just bickering for the sake of it.

SC

I can't say I have ever noticed a difference in the level of stupidity between Thais and other races. However, wherever I have been, the people in whom I have noticed the most stupidity is the local populace - so on a Thai forum, I would expect to see people observing the stupidity of the Thai society with whom they interact, and similarly in a Chinese expat forum or an American expat forum or a Hebridean expat forum, most stupidity would no doubt be ascribed to the locals amongst whom we found ourselves. One thing that those locals all share, which we do not, is their nationality, so to set ourselves apart we link that stupidity to their nationality.

I do not think that any country has a greater pool of stupidity than another - even the Americans, with their great resources, cannot achieve that, although I am sure that they do their best. What may be more interesting may be to look at how that stupidity manifests itself, and link that back to cultural and environmental factors; and race, if we could control those other factors well enough to get meaningful results, though I think that would be difficult.

SC

[onionluke]

What's the betting if there were a Thai folks equivalent of TVF in the west there'd be a myriad of Thai posters generalizing about westerners? " I saw a farang the other day......" " I was in a shop being served and the farang behind the counter....." etc.

Generalizing isn't the exclusive domain of westerners.

Bit off topic .

Neither is, funnily enough , expecting everyone to understand their language and getting irate when answered with a shrug of the shoulders or a pppffff jesture .

Mainland Chinese show many stereotypical behaviours when abroad that were once only given to the Brits/Yanks or masterrace of the moment .

[onionluke]

" All he wanted was a stereo "

"Uncle Joe never had a stereo"

[Tarric]

The problem with Thailand is that problems that would not normally occur in the West occur here because of cultural differences, greed, xenophobia and corruption. For example most foreigners first experience living in Thailand is dealing with one or more branches of the Thai government, that is as we all know a nightmare that makes a lot of us hate the government and the Thai's who do make the sort of corruption and greed in government departments possible.

Personally I am of both worlds, I spent a lot of time in Thailand growing up with my family so i've seen both sides of the coin, Thailand is not the harmonius place it appears to be, there is an ongoing conflict between the rich and poor in the guise of political discourse and in my experience racism is more rife in Thailand than it is back in Australia. The amount of time I have heard or seen a Lao or Burmese person being berated or looked down upon for not being Thai is absolutely appalling especially for a country that paints itself as the harmonius exception to the rule. Even people from Northern Thailand cop so much crap from the Bangkok "Elite" and i'm not just talking about those people who drive around in BMW's but just the people who live in Bangkok and have delusions of grandeur.

My family is reasonably well off and I have always been taught since I was a child to treat all people with the same respect regardless of their class, gender or race, this message however has fallen on deaf ears to many in Thailand. So many Thai's inherently treat foreigners badly because they are foreigners not because they have wronged them in any way.

I am 1/4 Thai, but you can tell of my Thai descent, the stares and the way my Greek girlfriend gets treated by some Thai women is horrible, it seems that she has somehow wronged them by taking away a perfectly good Thai man. Its an interesting double standard that its okay for foreign men to come and take away Thai women, but when a foreign woman takes away a Thai man then its an issue.

Edited August 6, 2011 by Tarric

[Thongkorn]

it depends on how you live , where you live, and who you live with. You can form an opinion depending where you live , if you live in a toilet (Pattaya) you can say every body's the same, but if you live In the real world with real people then your opinion will be different. the same can be said about any where and any race of people if you look for the bad side, but then again this is just my opinion.

[Payboy]

Yet he still wanted to go through town, repeating the mantra that my way was too far.

Guess he just wanted to avoid the usual speed-check shakedown at the final toll-plaza on that road.

[GreenSnapper]

Of course bonobo is speaking in generalizations, but he is still not far off. Why nitpick about it?

Because he tries to educate us not to speak in generalizations.

Reminds me of a while ago, when there was a regular here who never hided his disgust about TV members and at the same time tried to educate us "primitivos" in politically correct thinking.

Nevertheless, discussions on that matters make a lot of fun and being offended is certainly a sign that you need a thicker skin.

[Mirth]

It's stupid people, they are everywhere. I was in a country pride for being civilised and advanced once, having my lunch and minding my own business. This couple comes out of a mart with a kid in the trolley. They load the groceries into the car, got into the car and prepare to drive off till passerbys started waving and shouting at them. And no, this couple ain't thai or asian.

[lovelaos]

It's stupid people, they are everywhere. I was in a country pride for being civilised and advanced once, having my lunch and minding my own business. This couple comes out of a mart with a kid in the trolley. They load the groceries into the car, got into the car and prepare to drive off till passerbys started waving and shouting at them. And no, this couple ain't thai or asian.

Just stupid Americans?

[jimbeam1]

If you have been reading TV over the years as most have that replied, you read of a trend in behavior, these are confirmed or not in your own dealings with Thai people on a personal level.

These become the Thai stereotypes; Yabba Truck Drivers, Crazy Gang Banger Youth, Scam Artist Bar-girl, Double Pricing Merchant.... et al. So you are automatically on your guard against these people and would notice them more. 400 truck drivers may pass you a day, but you only notice the ass that cut you off!

As farang here with no rights, we MUST be aware and super diligent, there are no friends here for us (police, government, law), this is not a complaint, its reality here in Thailand. Now before you tell me to go home if I don't like it, I choose to operate within these conditions, which is why I am here.

These stereotypes however ugly they are provide a guideline for our own protection, if you choose to ignore them it is at your own peril. If you choose to apply them exclusively then you will be treated like the hostile, and self fulfill your own prejudices.

Oz

That's 399 of them then. Drove back to Bangkok from Udon Thani yesterday. Although amusing also very scary on occasions.

jb1

jb1

[stardancer]

The problem with Thailand is that problems that would not normally occur in the West occur here because of cultural differences, greed, xenophobia and corruption. For example most foreigners first experience living in Thailand is dealing with one or more branches of the Thai government, that is as we all know a nightmare that makes a lot of us hate the government and the Thai's who do make the sort of corruption and greed in government departments possible.

Personally I am of both worlds, I spent a lot of time in Thailand growing up with my family so i've seen both sides of the coin, Thailand is not the harmonius place it appears to be, there is an ongoing conflict between the rich and poor in the guise of political discourse and in my experience racism is more rife in Thailand than it is back in Australia. The amount of time I have heard or seen a Lao or Burmese person being berated or looked down upon for not being Thai is absolutely appalling especially for a country that paints itself as the harmonius exception to the rule. Even people from Northern Thailand cop so much crap from the Bangkok "Elite" and i'm not just talking about those people who drive around in BMW's but just the people who live in Bangkok and have delusions of grandeur.

My family is reasonably well off and I have always been taught since I was a child to treat all people with the same respect regardless of their class, gender or race, this message however has fallen on deaf ears to many in Thailand. So many Thai's inherently treat foreigners badly because they are foreigners not because they have wronged them in any way.

I am 1/4 Thai, but you can tell of my Thai descent, the stares and the way my Greek girlfriend gets treated by some Thai women is horrible, it seems that she has somehow wronged them by taking away a perfectly good Thai man. Its an interesting double standard that its okay for foreign men to come and take away Thai women, but when a foreign woman takes away a Thai man then its an issue.

Your post was very interesting to read, I have had relitivly little experience with thailand culture compaired to most TV punters but in my short time and 1 1/2 years of being married to a thai I would have to say that they are more racist then any of the 20+ countries I have visited. Australia is portrayed as a racist country but as you would know its not by a long shot.

[happyrobert]

It's stupid people, they are everywhere. I was in a country pride for being civilised and advanced once, having my lunch and minding my own business. This couple comes out of a mart with a kid in the trolley. They load the groceries into the car, got into the car and prepare to drive off till passerbys started waving and shouting at them. And no, this couple ain't thai or asian.

You are assuming they actually forgot the little rugrat.