Dutch Firm Apologises Over Buddha Toilets

[Soutpeel]

What is equally pathetic is the number of posts on this thread reflecting the disrespect that the posters have of the Thai people and their beliefs.

Where is there disrespect....if you said posters were disrespecting the muslim faith, I might agree with you...

OK granted what the cheesehead company did was wrong and they have apologised, but seeing as we talking about disrespecting things....did the School in Chang Mai ever come out and apologise for its students wearing nazi uniforms and goose stepping about the place as one would suspect this was found highly offensive by certain people as well ?

[Misterwhisper]

I am not a religious prson, but even I found this rather insensitive and thoughtless. If you have to plaster an image of a deity or religious leader over toilet cubicles, why not resort to your own Jesus before resorting to someone else's?

[hellodolly]

This one is one of a secular sick brain who has no feeling about religion ....

My very limited understanding of Buddhism the teachings them self is so what Buddha might have helped them paint them.

It would never have been an issue to him.

[hgma]

Anuchit Pomthong and Nok Ja held a press conference today to say how happy they were that their online campaign that was launched and updated during working hours (they work for a western company that pays them far in excess of what a Thai company would). Whilst sporting fake levi jeans, a Swastika t shirt, rip off reeboks, a copy rolex watch and smelling of imitation Guess aftershave, Nok Ja said he was happy that this newsworthy campaign has succeded.

We caught up with the intrepid pair on a beachfront in Phuket. As we watched with a backdrop of Immigration officers loading up Rhohingya refugees onto a bus to be sent back to Burma to face certain death or be sold into human trafficking, Anuchit added "I am so happy that Thais have come together on this very sensitive issue to force the Dutch company to change their design" He added "we Thais are a sensitive bunch when something annoys us. And we are also aware of the sensitivity of other nations" Nok Ja chipped in "Thats why when the Japanese visited our country during world war 2 not only did we welcome them with open arms, we actually helped them torture POWs and swept it under the table when they broke the Geneva Convention" Anuchit (getting excited now by the attention) adds "And dont forget we let the Americans have airbases here during the Vietnam war. We sold our daughters/wives/sisters to them for their sexual amusement. So I challenge anyone to say Thais aren't respectful of other people" He added "okay I admit that we were hoping to get something in return for our efforts, like, say the return of Angkor Wat that really belongs to us"

At this point we have to break from the interview for 1/2 hour as a group of taxi drivers complained we were getting in the way of them beating an innocent tourist to a bloody pulp.

When the interview restarted we asked the pair what was next on their "if its Thai its ours, if its not we will copy it" campaign. Nok Ja replies "Well right now we are starting a petition to overturn the world court and the World heritages decision to give OUR Preah Vihear to the Khmers" he continues, "after all they only got it in the first place because we were to chicken shit to fight them one year so we ceded some Thai land to them. Anuchit interupts, "Do you know Thailand has never been colonised by a foreign country!. We Thais are so proud of that. Apart from letting the Burmese come and go as they wished for hundreds of years and eventually moving our capital to a swamp to facilitate their looting and rampaging oh and of course our brief occupation by the japs we have never been colonised! We have a simple method for that sort of thing. Whenever we are threatened by another country we just give them a huge chunk of our country"

When asked how they would be celebrating this monumentous victory Anuchit replied "well I will be out on the town sinking a few beer Laos tonight! (technically beer Laos is a Thai beer, because years ago the land on which the factory sits was Thai but they gave it away to avoid being invaded) asked if his wife would be joining the celebrations Anuchit replied "NO this victory is so big I will have to take out my Mia Noi"

Nok Ja replied that his celebrations would be a bit quieter: "I will celebrate at home" he replied "I dont have the money to spend on beer as i am saving up for a sex change. Then I will go and work in Pattaya and really rake in the money" he continued "Anuchit always has money because his dads side of the family are all policemen who have a large Tea fund and all of his mums side of the family are hookers who cornered the market in drugging their punters and stealing from them" So No, i will just stay at home and tweet my friends on my Knock off Ipad about this earthshattering result, I may however watch a 100bht pirated movie later"

The Interview ends here as Anuchit has to go home sink a bottle of Lao Kaow and beat his wife for not getting any farang punters to shag her her before he goes out to the snooker hall with his mia noi and Nok Ja has 15 excited schoolgirls waiting for him to teach them cheerleeding!

Being a non biased newspaper, we did contact the Dutch advertising ageny involved. Unfortunately they had no comment AS THEY WERE TOO BUSY GETTING ON WITH THEIR F@#&ING LIVES!!!

your falling(or falled)of your trolly!

Why waisting so much words on a solved case.??

[hellodolly]

The funny thing is, Buddha would not have cared 1 single bit.

This is not the point. The point is respecting Buddha images.

If the Buddha himself saw nothing wrong in them why would any other Buddhist?

Would that not be putting themselves on a ladder above Buddha?

[hellodolly]

I am not a religious prson, but even I found this rather insensitive and thoughtless. If you have to plaster an image of a deity or religious leader over toilet cubicles, why not resort to your own Jesus before resorting to someone else's?

I don't think he would have minded either. I notice you ignore us pagans. Any particular reason?

[RachaRob]

Maybe they were made for buddha to use and just had his pic there so he knows what ones were his?

[hellodolly]

Almost as sacrilegious as coyote dancing on temple grounds.

...or, a band of roving senior monks haggling over the price of an iPad in Tuk Com. I've witnessed it with my own eyes many times.

iPad in Tuk Com. You make it a habit to hang around there rather than Starbucks or do you work there.

[Suradit69]

I wonder in which sick brain of third zone marketing genius this idea was born

" it was not aware of the negative impact of Buddha toilets"

Truly amazing. Either they've become addled by all the free use of cannabis or they never got through one of Piaget's primary stages of cognitive development, the one that claims :

During this stage, children begin to reason logically, and organize thoughts coherently. However, they can only think about actual physical objects, and cannot handle abstract reasoning. They have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.

This stage is also characterized by a loss of egocentric thinking.

Edited January 24, 2013 by Suradit69

[evanson]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

Edited January 24, 2013 by evanson

[Misterwhisper]

I am not a religious prson, but even I found this rather insensitive and thoughtless. If you have to plaster an image of a deity or religious leader over toilet cubicles, why not resort to your own Jesus before resorting to someone else's?

I don't think he would have minded either. I notice you ignore us pagans. Any particular reason?

No, no particular reason, just a personal, conscious choice. Just as much as it probably is your personal choice to believe in a certain deity... and your unalienable right, too.

[Suradit69]

What is equally pathetic is the number of posts on this thread reflecting the disrespect that the posters have of the Thai people and their beliefs.

Where is there disrespect....if you said posters were disrespecting the muslim faith, I might agree with you...

OK granted what the cheesehead company did was wrong and they have apologised, but seeing as we talking about disrespecting things....did the School in Chang Mai ever come out and apologise for its students wearing nazi uniforms and goose stepping about the place as one would suspect this was found highly offensive by certain people as well ?

"did the School in Chang Mai ever come out and apologise for its students wearing nazi uniforms and goose stepping about the place as one would suspect this was found highly offensive by certain people as well ?"

Maybe they were just following the examples set by members of the British royal family

[unanimosity]

This one is one of a secular sick brain who has no feeling about religion ....

Religion or ritual?

[giddyup]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

Surely you aren't comparing the reaction of Christians to any negative image of Christ to the mob mentality of Muslims following the Dutch cartoons, Salman Rushdies book etc?

[orosee]

As an atheist I'm offended by any toilet not showing a religious motive! Clearly the absence of a deity on a relief station is an affront against the secular mindset!

There are thousands of these around and not a single FB campaign yet!

BTW with respect to icons and images, Islam actually got one thing right.

[unanimosity]

Almost as sacrilegious as coyote dancing on temple grounds.

...or, a band of roving senior monks haggling over the price of an iPad in Tuk Com. I've witnessed it with my own eyes many times.

iPad in Tuk Com. You make it a habit to hang around there rather than Starbucks or do you work there.

Starbucks is in Tukcom.

[robblok]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

I am one of those insensitive Dutch, we just value of speech and if others use violence against it they are wrong not us. Any religion is fair game why not why would religious people have more rights then those who are not.

Anyway, stupid action of putting Buddha images on toilets, but i would not have been offended if they put the queen of Holland on a toilet. Its just an image and a toilet is just a building. But some people take offences of everything.

But the cartoon and the movie.. freedom of speech and if people start bowing to violence then that is gone soon too.

[newermonkey]

They are very wrong to do this. The company should consider using images of Mohammad if they want lots of intense PR instead.

[Baerboxer]

I wonder in which sick brain of third zone marketing genius this idea was born

Indeed - like the clowns who run the Bhudda Bars! Even have one in Dubai. Amazing double standards.

[giddyup]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

I am one of those insensitive Dutch, we just value of speech and if others use violence against it they are wrong not us. Any religion is fair game why not why would religious people have more rights then those who are not.

Anyway, stupid action of putting Buddha images on toilets, but i would not have been offended if they put the queen of Holland on a toilet. Its just an image and a toilet is just a building. But some people take offences of everything.

But the cartoon and the movie.. freedom of speech and if people start bowing to violence then that is gone soon too.

I agree with you. If we start kowtowing to religious fanatics in fear that we may offend them, where does it end?

[Baerboxer]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

I am one of those insensitive Dutch, we just value of speech and if others use violence against it they are wrong not us. Any religion is fair game why not why would religious people have more rights then those who are not.

Anyway, stupid action of putting Buddha images on toilets, but i would not have been offended if they put the queen of Holland on a toilet. Its just an image and a toilet is just a building. But some people take offences of everything.

But the cartoon and the movie.. freedom of speech and if people start bowing to violence then that is gone soon too.

Freedom of speech is not an excuse for insensitive rude behaviour. There is a difference and this company did not think before acting. Justifying every action or remark as excersisng free speech borders on arrogance and anarchy.

[HaleySabai]

If the Buddha himself saw nothing wrong in them why would any other Buddhist?

Would that not be putting themselves on a ladder above Buddha?

......Because One has attained the state of Enlightenment and the other is ignorant.

[robblok]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

I am one of those insensitive Dutch, we just value of speech and if others use violence against it they are wrong not us. Any religion is fair game why not why would religious people have more rights then those who are not.

Anyway, stupid action of putting Buddha images on toilets, but i would not have been offended if they put the queen of Holland on a toilet. Its just an image and a toilet is just a building. But some people take offences of everything.

But the cartoon and the movie.. freedom of speech and if people start bowing to violence then that is gone soon too.

Freedom of speech is not an excuse for insensitive rude behaviour. There is a difference and this company did not think before acting. Justifying every action or remark as excersisng free speech borders on arrogance and anarchy.

Maybe, but someone will take offence of anything you do. But we differ about this but i am not going to beat your brains in or kill you. That is the difference civilized people dont resort to violence they ignore it or turn the tv off or not watch said movie. You are only offended if you let yourself be offended.

Edited January 24, 2013 by robblok

[evanson]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

I am one of those insensitive Dutch, we just value of speech and if others use violence against it they are wrong not us. Any religion is fair game why not why would religious people have more rights then those who are not.

Anyway, stupid action of putting Buddha images on toilets, but i would not have been offended if they put the queen of Holland on a toilet. Its just an image and a toilet is just a building. But some people take offences of everything.

But the cartoon and the movie.. freedom of speech and if people start bowing to violence then that is gone soon too.

Freedom of speech is not an excuse for insensitive rude behaviour. There is a difference and this company did not think before acting. Justifying every action or remark as excersisng free speech borders on arrogance and anarchy.

Agreed. And to Roblok,on an insensitivity scale of 1-10, how would you, as an 'insensitive Dutch' rate this joke - 'How do you make a Dutchman? Get a German and take out all the intelligence and leave in all the arrogance'. I told this to my Dutch friend, and he laughed Are you? By the way, I was told this by an Australian Edited January 24, 2013 by evanson

[robblok]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

I am one of those insensitive Dutch, we just value of speech and if others use violence against it they are wrong not us. Any religion is fair game why not why would religious people have more rights then those who are not.

Anyway, stupid action of putting Buddha images on toilets, but i would not have been offended if they put the queen of Holland on a toilet. Its just an image and a toilet is just a building. But some people take offences of everything.

But the cartoon and the movie.. freedom of speech and if people start bowing to violence then that is gone soon too.

Freedom of speech is not an excuse for insensitive rude behaviour. There is a difference and this company did not think before acting. Justifying every action or remark as excersisng free speech borders on arrogance and anarchy.

Agreed. And to Roblok,on an insensitivity scale of 1-10, how would you, as an 'insensitive Dutch' rate this joke - 'How do you make a Dutchman? Get a German and take out all the intelligence and leave in all the arrogance'. I told this to my Dutch friend, and he laughed Are you? By the way, I was told this by an Australian

Thing is i could not care less about that joke.. that is why i said your only offended if you let yourself be offended. I have something against religious people who claim the truth and claim more rights as others and use violence to get their way.

[Rooo]

Deleted posts & replies about other religions which have nothing to do with this topic,

[chutai]

The rampant Islamophobes on this thread might consider that calliing Buddha Shayamuni the Lord Buddha is as medieaval and antiqauted as they assume the religion of Muslims to be. Respect is the key word that would be better internalised than any comparisons between possible outcomes of insulting anyone's religious sensibilities.

[retell]

dear fellow members of TV

as an regular poster and commenter here im flabbergasted how far our moderators let this discussion go

please hold in mind we are all people

and maybe a look at the RULES will get the tone to a civilized level

" 7) Not to post slurs or degrading comments directed towards any group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

8) Not to post extremely negative views of Thailand or derogatory comments directed towards all Thais."

still nice to visit here doe

[DocN]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

No, those were the Danes!

And by the way: two wrongs don't make a right!

[robblok]

Whilst I found whistleblower's post funny, I do believe the Dutch were being their usual insensitive selves. Weren't they responsible for many deaths following some stupid cartoons and a 'movie' about The Prophet? To those who would cite 'freedom of speech', get on down to the Bible Belt (or almost anywhere in the USA come to that) and try slapping some pics of The Christ on their 'rest rooms' then come back and tell us all how you got on

No, those were the Danes!

And by the way: two wrongs don't make a right!

Cartoon, Danes, Movie.. Dutch.. ah both start with a D

Anyway, the company responded and it was not to violence. But in this world everyone can take offense from something. Just have to see what you accept and not.