Racism Against Farangs

[mca]

I change my skivvies once a month whether I need to or not.

[StreetCowboy]

I change my skivvies once a month whether I need to or not.

Next thing you'll be saying you wash them as well.

You do realise how much harm detergents do to the environment, don't you?

SC

[h90]

No I wash only once a year to save water lol

Well, there's your answer . . .

Seriously, it's hard to give you insights because it's not an experience I've come up against.

OK let's take another example, one of my student is english-thai, he's 16 and has to do military service for 3 years every weekend during hols.

He gets and I quote here "treated like shit because I'm farang". They call him all sort of names, his superiors make him sit in the sun for 2 hours, and all sort of craps like this, he gets it twice harder as a regular Thai.

There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race and the other race therefore "inferior" to all governmental institutions: army, hospitals, public transports resent foreigners like any other country does.

If you are protected enough either by only going private (taxi/private hospitals ...) or if you have a gf dealing with institutional for you, you don't have to deal with it

If not, tough shit basically

"There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race"

What absolute rubbish!

I don't believe you now. After reading this you are obviously a bitter bitter person with no friends who projects an unwelcome unhappy attitude towards those you meet. Your going to be hated in most places you go. Until you change yourself your never going to fit in anywhere... Simple

Well my wife learned in school, if you see an Indian and a snake, you need to kill the Indian first (because more dangerous). And all the junk about how Cambodian and Myanmar people can never be trusted because it is in their nature to lie and fake.

[mca]

I change my skivvies once a month whether I need to or not.

Next thing you'll be saying you wash them as well.

SC

Now there's no need to go overboard SC mate! I find by it's best to turn them inside out once a fortnight and then by the time you come to turn them again the friction caused by your undercrackers rubbing against your trousers has eroded the skidmarks.

Plus with Songkran coming up I'll wear a different pair every day on my head and get a free wash

[farangme]

I like animals, but find the op's wasting money on soi dogs says it all, IMO. These scrappy nuisances should be fed to the Chinese....or sent to the dog restaurants in Sakhon Nakhon. As for her lifestyle, maybe the Thai poor feel she is mocking them.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[StreetCowboy]

MCA - I have copied your idea into the long-moribund "Top Tips" thread, where I am sure many posters turn for helpful advice

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/421207-top-tips-viz/page__view__findpost__p__4052978

SC

[mca]

[endure]

Well my wife learned in school, if you see an Indian and a snake, you need to kill the Indian first (because more dangerous). And all the junk about how Cambodian and Myanmar people can never be trusted because it is in their nature to lie and fake.

And you think that doesn't happen anywhere else? Just look how much the Brits love and respect the French and the Germans.

[Livinginexile]

No I wash only once a year to save water lol

Well, there's your answer . . .

Seriously, it's hard to give you insights because it's not an experience I've come up against.

OK let's take another example, one of my student is english-thai, he's 16 and has to do military service for 3 years every weekend during hols.

He gets and I quote here "treated like shit because I'm farang". They call him all sort of names, his superiors make him sit in the sun for 2 hours, and all sort of craps like this, he gets it twice harder as a regular Thai.

There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race and the other race therefore "inferior" to all governmental institutions: army, hospitals, public transports resent foreigners like any other country does.

If you are protected enough either by only going private (taxi/private hospitals ...) or if you have a gf dealing with institutional for you, you don't have to deal with it

If not, tough shit basically

This is absolute rubbish!

I have a Thai/English son and I see the exact opposite.

He is overly spoiled at school, the teachers let him get away with blue murder. I see everyday his interactions with Thai people. They treat him differently and they see him as special and that can bring about it's own type of problem but certainly not the type you quote above!

You clearly live in your little poor bubble and see very little of the real world you laughingly call "home".

Pathetic

[HeavyDrinker]

Well my wife learned in school, if you see an Indian and a snake, you need to kill the Indian first (because more dangerous). And all the junk about how Cambodian and Myanmar people can never be trusted because it is in their nature to lie and fake.

While such prejudice may well be shown towards the "Traditional Enemies", the truth is that Thais will be taught that they are Thai and their duties lie towards Thailand first and little else is really taught about other nations.

As for the stuff they are taught about the Traditional Enemies (Burma and Cambodia), that can be likened to what we are taught about France, the Vikings, Germany etc in Primary School.

The key difference is that our later education in the West encourages free thinking as well as learning about the wider world.

Here in Thailand it does not, therefore many Thais have an almost ingrained feeling of wariness and suspicion toward foreigners.

That said, in this day and age of modern technology and it's shrinking of the planet especially in a cultural sense, this is very much on the wane.

I seldom encounter the wariness and suspicion I first encountered here 20 or so years ago. Indeed I only tend to really see it nowadays in males over 40 of the "failed security guard type" as they sit getting drunk on cheap whisky jangling their key chains, wishing they were Policemen....

[h90]

Well my wife learned in school, if you see an Indian and a snake, you need to kill the Indian first (because more dangerous). And all the junk about how Cambodian and Myanmar people can never be trusted because it is in their nature to lie and fake.

And you think that doesn't happen anywhere else? Just look how much the Brits love and respect the French and the Germans.

No idea what the Brits learn, but in Austria the Teacher would loose the job on the same day and get some serious problems at court.

[mca]

To be perfectly honest a lot of Thais I meet seem to treat me slightly better and with a bit more deference than they do their fellow countrymen. It's all about how you present yourself I suppose. Whether it's genuine or not is of no consequence to me. It's played that way the world over. The only Thais who have ever been rude or "racist" to me haven't looked as if they were too blessed in the brains department anyhow so it's a bit like water off a duck's back.

[h90]

Well my wife learned in school, if you see an Indian and a snake, you need to kill the Indian first (because more dangerous). And all the junk about how Cambodian and Myanmar people can never be trusted because it is in their nature to lie and fake.

While such prejudice may well be shown towards the "Traditional Enemies", the truth is that Thais will be taught that they are Thai and their duties lie towards Thailand first and little else is really taught about other nations.

As for the stuff they are taught about the Traditional Enemies (Burma and Cambodia), that can be likened to what we are taught about France, the Vikings, Germany etc in Primary School.

The key difference is that our later education in the West encourages free thinking as well as learning about the wider world.

Here in Thailand it does not, therefore many Thais have an almost ingrained feeling of wariness and suspicion toward foreigners.

That said, in this day and age of modern technology and it's shrinking of the planet especially in a cultural sense, this is very much on the wane.

I seldom encounter the wariness and suspicion I first encountered here 20 or so years ago. Indeed I only tend to really see it nowadays in males over 40 of the "failed security guard type" as they sit getting drunk on cheap whisky jangling their key chains, wishing they were Policemen....

Well no problem as white Farang, but as Indian, Pakistani, African it might be worse. But on the other hand that isn't a Thailand only problem

[aneliane]

The OP's story reminds me of a few lefty-hippy-girls in my college at uni... they did everything possible to mark themselves out as different and then moaned that they were not treated the same as everyone else... Thailand is known to be one of the easiest countries for ex-pats to settle in (largely due to the Thai people's tolerance of foreigners) and from the short time I have been here I can see why... if the OP feels uncomfortable here I think she should consider moving to Camden in London where she can meet many like-minded individuals

Oh my god !

I am a 43 years old woman and look very conservative thank you very much

I do not try to be different from anyone I just try to live a quiet life while trying to do my bit toward our planet, that is called being a good citizen

I think you are a very confused person and need help

[aneliane]

No I wash only once a year to save water lol

Well, there's your answer . . .

Seriously, it's hard to give you insights because it's not an experience I've come up against.

OK let's take another example, one of my student is english-thai, he's 16 and has to do military service for 3 years every weekend during hols.

He gets and I quote here "treated like shit because I'm farang". They call him all sort of names, his superiors make him sit in the sun for 2 hours, and all sort of craps like this, he gets it twice harder as a regular Thai.

There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race and the other race therefore "inferior" to all governmental institutions: army, hospitals, public transports resent foreigners like any other country does.

If you are protected enough either by only going private (taxi/private hospitals ...) or if you have a gf dealing with institutional for you, you don't have to deal with it

If not, tough shit basically

This is absolute rubbish!

I have a Thai/English son and I see the exact opposite.

He is overly spoiled at school, the teachers let him get away with blue murder. I see everyday his interactions with Thai people. They treat him differently and they see him as special and that can bring about it's own type of problem but certainly not the type you quote above!

You clearly live in your little poor bubble and see very little of the real world you laughingly call "home".

Pathetic

I am only reporting what my student say.

I am not sure what the "real world " is or if there is an "unreal" world actually, may be you should stop Internet for a while

[aneliane]

No I wash only once a year to save water lol

Well, there's your answer . . .

Seriously, it's hard to give you insights because it's not an experience I've come up against.

OK let's take another example, one of my student is english-thai, he's 16 and has to do military service for 3 years every weekend during hols.

He gets and I quote here "treated like shit because I'm farang". They call him all sort of names, his superiors make him sit in the sun for 2 hours, and all sort of craps like this, he gets it twice harder as a regular Thai.

There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race and the other race therefore "inferior" to all governmental institutions: army, hospitals, public transports resent foreigners like any other country does.

If you are protected enough either by only going private (taxi/private hospitals ...) or if you have a gf dealing with institutional for you, you don't have to deal with it

If not, tough shit basically

"There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race"

What absolute rubbish!

I don't believe you now. After reading this you are obviously a bitter bitter person with no friends who projects an unwelcome unhappy attitude towards those you meet. Your going to be hated in most places you go. Until you change yourself your never going to fit in anywhere... Simple

Well I came to Thailand thinking Thai people were very kind and smiled a lot.

I just report what I hear from other people and my own experience, sorry to break your bubble

[aneliane]

Please advise us on two issues.

Where do you live? (town, province)

Do you communicate mainly in Thai or English?

After we have the answers to these questions we will all be in a much better position to comment

(If you have alreadyanswered the above, then I apologise).

I live in Onnut Bangkok.

My thai is minimal, but judging of the tone of comments I hear about the "farang" on the bus I prefer not to know more

[metisdead]

A post has been removed as the reply was made within the quoted post. Even though different colored fonts were used, this practice is still unacceptable. Learn to use the Insert quotation feature when replying to certain parts of quoted posts.

[arthurwait]

Please advise us on two issues.

Where do you live? (town, province)

Do you communicate mainly in Thai or English?

After we have the answers to these questions we will all be in a much better position to comment

(If you have alreadyanswered the above, then I apologise).

I live in Onnut Bangkok.

My thai is minimal, but judging of the tone of comments I hear about the "farang" on the bus I prefer not to know more

Can you read Thai ?

[aneliane]

No I wash only once a year to save water lol

Well, there's your answer . . .

Seriously, it's hard to give you insights because it's not an experience I've come up against.

OK let's take another example, one of my student is english-thai, he's 16 and has to do military service for 3 years every weekend during hols.

He gets and I quote here "treated like shit because I'm farang". They call him all sort of names, his superiors make him sit in the sun for 2 hours, and all sort of craps like this, he gets it twice harder as a regular Thai.

There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race and the other race therefore "inferior" to all governmental institutions: army, hospitals, public transports resent foreigners like any other country does.

If you are protected enough either by only going private (taxi/private hospitals ...) or if you have a gf dealing with institutional for you, you don't have to deal with it

If not, tough shit basically

"There is an institutional racism in Thailand : from early school were your are taught Thai are a superior race"

What absolute rubbish!

I don't believe you now. After reading this you are obviously a bitter bitter person with no friends who projects an unwelcome unhappy attitude towards those you meet. Your going to be hated in most places you go. Until you change yourself your never going to fit in anywhere... Simple

Well my wife learned in school, if you see an Indian and a snake, you need to kill the Indian first (because more dangerous). And all the junk about how Cambodian and Myanmar people can never be trusted because it is in their nature to lie and fake.

Thank you it is nice not to feel the only one to experience this

[HeavyDrinker]

Aneliane,

Have you possibly done something - albeit inadvertently - which may have upset the locals?

I find the whole situation odder now as you live in On Nut which while not exactly a Westerner "hotbed", certainly isn't bereft of them.

[mauGR1]

Please advise us on two issues.

Where do you live? (town, province)

Do you communicate mainly in Thai or English?

After we have the answers to these questions we will all be in a much better position to comment

(If you have alreadyanswered the above, then I apologise).

I live in Onnut Bangkok.

My thai is minimal, but judging of the tone of comments I hear about the "farang" on the bus I prefer not to know more

Don't give too much weight to the comments you hear..Normally the Thais like to joke a lot, and probably they don't see many foreigners on the public buses

I also gave up learning Thai a bit, but for different reasons...Although i like many traits of "Thainess ", i find in general their cultural level appalling..

Once i was talking to a rich businessman, whose English was fine, about the solar system..He didn't have a clue about things a 10 yrs old in Europe can discuss at lenght.

[msg362]

This is the system, get use to it or.....

Exactly. Back in the US a Thai once asked me how to get somewhere on the public transport. My response was "if you were rich enough to get here from thailand, then you are rich enough to take a taxi." I then pointed to the cab stand, smiled and walked away.

I hope he met more friendly natives later

[wana]

Please advise us on two issues.

Where do you live? (town, province)

Do you communicate mainly in Thai or English?

After we have the answers to these questions we will all be in a much better position to comment

(If you have alreadyanswered the above, then I apologise).

I live in Onnut Bangkok.

My thai is minimal, but judging of the tone of comments I hear about the "farang" on the bus I prefer not to know more

Once i was talking to a rich businessman, whose English was fine, about the solar system..He didn't have a clue about things a 10 yrs old in Europe can discuss at lenght.

you dont have to be intelligent to be wealthy and powerful in thailand ,you just have to have be in the right family or able to pay a bribe to get a tasty job and after that its just networking

skill and abiliities and qualifications dont seem to come into it

[JSixpack]

I just try to live a quiet life while trying to do my bit toward our planet, that is called being a good citizen

But it seems that what you call being a good citizen isn't what most Thais call being a good citizen. It's their country, and they define it here, however unpalatable you may find their definition. Thais would never, ever spend B20,000 helping stray dogs, for example. Donate that B20,000 to a Royal project or a Buddhist temple or even an orphanage and THEN you're a good citizen.

You wanna take up social causes in Thailand, you just can't go wrong w/ loving and supporting the King and Buddha. There are no global causes. Get in synch!

[HeavyDrinker]

Donate that B20,000 to a Royal project or a Buddhist temple or even an orphanage and THEN you're a good citizen.

...and make a big show of it all of course, just so every one knows...

[GentlemanJim]

Aneliane

It is good to think of others and the planet, that is for sure, but maybe you are not using your own personal resources as well as you could.

Firstly, I see you use the internet, so get researching and stop making choices that make life a little more difficult because you consider those choices you make have a positive effect on the environment. CO2 is NOT responsible for anything concerning current global warming trends!!! Our atmosphere contains 0.039% Carbon Dioxide (yes you heard me right...0.039%), even if the CO2 went up by 100% in our atmosphere unchecked, it would still only be 0.078%. Tell me that is causing global warming and I have to ask you to get your head checked. Global warming is happening because of that really big yellow hot thing in the sky. Bus/taxi, it doesn't matter a dam_n. I believe whole-heartedly in stopping the unnecessary pollution of the planet, but forget completely your impact on saving the planet in terms of global warming. The truth is, non of us make a difference.

'Saving' the soi dogs is nice but to be honest, in terms of buddihsm, you are prolonging a life which the host soul is longing to skip. You would be much better living comfortably as you say, and that would put you in a position where you could help people/children. I don't know why people are not acknowledging you or being rude, but living in a small shack with 5 dogs can really lead to hygiene problems that someone in that position would be completely unaware of. You would be amazed how bad doggie people can smell, same with smokers etc unless you have a really strict and frequent hygiene routine and that includes clothes. I have no idea, I am trying to offer objective advice for you to help solve your issues, but there is a possibility that those in shops and hospitals ignore you because you stink to high heaven of soi dogs.

Take the dogs to a temple, they will be fine, take care of yourself first, and that is in every respect. Enjoy your organic lifestyle in an environment where you are comfortable and can then best give help to others if that is your goal. Stop worrying about your CO2 impact on the environment, it was a scam concocted by conmen who are now making literally billions a year in the sale of Carbon Credits, this is a market that was simply created to make them money, and boy has it. Spend some of the money you save on the expense of the soi dogs to pay a good local teacher to get you speaking and reading Thai quickly. You will then find that you can contribute much more to the local area and you will also receive back so much more. Try it you'll like it, and sincerely I wish you the best of luck in pursuit of happiness.

Edited March 28, 2012 by GentlemanJim

[StreetCowboy]

Please advise us on two issues.

Where do you live? (town, province)

Do you communicate mainly in Thai or English?

After we have the answers to these questions we will all be in a much better position to comment

(If you have alreadyanswered the above, then I apologise).

I live in Onnut Bangkok.

My thai is minimal, but judging of the tone of comments I hear about the "farang" on the bus I prefer not to know more

Once i was talking to a rich businessman, whose English was fine, about the solar system..He didn't have a clue about things a 10 yrs old in Europe can discuss at lenght.

you dont have to be intelligent to be wealthy and powerful in thailand ,you just have to have be in the right family or able to pay a bribe to get a tasty job and after that its just networking

skill and abiliities and qualifications dont seem to come into it

If you reckon that educational standards in Thailand are some decades behind those of the West, then today's businessmen would have the same standard of education as my grandfathers. I doubt they could have rabbited on about the solar system the same way my wee boy does...

As I have mentioned before, last time I got my hair cut at one of the local salons, I was almost as fed up with the lady wittering on about 'farang this... farang that'; and that might have been enough to stop me going back, had that decision not been already made because it was the roughest, roughest open-blade shave I've ever had...

When I went to one of the slightly smarter local eateries (one with wooden furniture, and menus and everything), they struggled good-naturedly to sort out something we could both understand... I think I went elsewhere, because the struggle failed (you hear that Smokie - I gave up the struggle) Anyway, I can see that if I was actually trying to live like that, I might lose my enthusiasm after a while...

On Nut is suburban enough that people will not make a lot of money off farang, and won't have learnt how to deal with them, but there are enough around that they will not be a welcome novelty and diversion.

SC

[aneliane]

Aneliane,

Have you possibly done something - albeit inadvertently - which may have upset the locals?

I find the whole situation odder now as you live in On Nut which while not exactly a Westerner "hotbed", certainly isn't bereft of them.

I give you one example :

At a food counter in a food court:

The lady and older one, is going back and forth behind the counter.

I stand there ignored trying to make eye contact and smile

I try a "Sawadika"

No answer

After 5 minutes of being ignored the guy from the next counter, a friendly younger guy I just bought something a few minutes before, comes to my rescue and say : " I will serve you instead of her"

And he apologized about her behaviour, and take my order. she still did not look at me, it was as if I was transparent.

I said "maipenrai, I get it all the time" and thanked him profusely for his nice gesture.

I know she was being racist, I have never seen her before and nor did she.

The other friendly guy knew it too, that's why he was embarrassed about the situation, gesturing to me that her attitude was not right.

But that's the way it goes here.

I say the guy being extra nice balance out the horrible old lady, and makes it alright, but not always ... I mean sometimes there is no nicer person to come to my rescue ...

Edited March 28, 2012 by aneliane

[metisdead]

A nonsense troll post has been removed.