Scandal-hit Thai monk seems to be a master of marketing

[khaowong1]

Third world, and always will be!

Not always just the third world my friend.. Look at some of the snake oil salesman we've had in the US.. Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert and the guy and his goofy wife who started the Trinity Broadcast Network, the minister who started the Crystal Cathedreal. We've had our share.

[OzMick]

Third world, and always will be!

Not always just the third world my friend.. Look at some of the snake oil salesman we've had in the US.. Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert and the guy and his goofy wife who started the Trinity Broadcast Network, the minister who started the Crystal Cathedreal. We've had our share.

Let us not forget Tammy Faye Bakker. Just the sight of her made me think "Oh my god!"

[BhaktaJosh]

Oh come on people. Trying to relegate the darker nature of man exclusively to Thailand? Pathetic. The unfortunate or inconvenient truth is that exploiting others has nothing to do exclusively with the third world or Thailand. It is a quality of this material world which is based on A exploiting B and so on. It is simply the law of nature, the weak are exploited by the strong. The nature of this Universe is suffering. This kind of exploitation of innocent people's religious and other sentiments is taking place within every religion, political movement, and social sphere in every country on planet earth. Our exploitation is not limited to mankind only, we also exploit the resources of this earth, its flora and fauna. Lust and greed are the fallibilities of mankind and our true enemy.

[khaowong1]

Third world, and always will be!

Not always just the third world my friend.. Look at some of the snake oil salesman we've had in the US.. Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert and the guy and his goofy wife who started the Trinity Broadcast Network, the minister who started the Crystal Cathedreal. We've had our share.

Let us not forget Tammy Faye Bakker. Just the sight of her made me think "Oh my god!"

Ha ha ha ... yeah, I was trying to think of her name.. and her husband Jim Bakker. How could Thailand even compete with this group. no way..

[hellodolly]

This article is frivolous, disarming and - ultimately - extremely alarming.

The monk is a criminal and yet the writer makes light of this fact.

'How did he manage to command their overwhelming respect and support? The answer might be as simple as a well-crafted marketing plan.'

I doubt that very much.

The next thing we will hear is that this poor, naive but well-intended monk has been a victim of circumstances, manipulated by a well-oiled marketing machine and brainwashed in to believing in his own transcendental divinity.

This guy set out to fleece the people from the beginning, knowing full well their susceptibility to the power and charisma of the personality cult, something which is - sadly - par for the course in Thailand.

The truth? He's a front for other, more powerful and influential people. Simple.

So, the Nation, let's find out who they are.

Eh, relax, or should I say sabai sabai........

There's a touch of Icarus about this guy, he's got too big for his boots and flown too close to the Sun.

At the end he's made far more people sceptical and I know Thais that are disgusted and horrified at his behaviour. Being sceptical is a good thing, it's a trait that should be encouraged in Thailand.

I'm not up for a bun fight, but do you really believe he has acquired all this wealth on the basis of his divine personality alone?

Does the words money laundering cross any one else's mind.

[hellodolly]

I quite frankly dispair over the leach like attachment that most Thai have for this severely corupted form of an otherwise compassionate and pasterol religeon that seeks to serve the World and it's faithfull.

Well two things come to mind

1 It is not a religion

2 You are judging the belief system on the actions of man.

[hellodolly]

Third world, and always will be!

Not always just the third world my friend.. Look at some of the snake oil salesman we've had in the US.. Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert and the guy and his goofy wife who started the Trinity Broadcast Network, the minister who started the Crystal Cathedreal. We've had our share.

Let us not forget Tammy Faye Bakker. Just the sight of her made me think "Oh my god!"

Ha ha ha ... yeah, I was trying to think of her name.. and her husband Jim Bakker. How could Thailand even compete with this group. no way..

I always liked Earnest Anglley he could cure people by knocking them senseles. He had a large man on each side to catch them as they went down.

A girl friend and I went to see one of those smaller time evangelists. He asked for volunteers from the audience to come up and be healed. A couple of them fainted and my girl friend told me what he was doing when he put his hands on the side of their head was putting pressure on the jugular vein. So I went up and sure enough that is what he did. Only I didn't faint.

[milys]

Religion is the opium of the people.. I pity these poor thai people who give a big part of their income to the temple for a splash of water and some tamboon (good luck).

You might think this is the only "dirty monk" out there..?

Almost every monk I have seen when they rise up in the temple hierarchy so does their wallets get fatter.

Is their anything that is not corrupted in this "kingdom of corruption" ??

[khaowong1]

Religion is the opium of the people.. I pity these poor thai people who give a big part of their income to the temple for a splash of water and some tamboon (good luck).

You might think this is the only "dirty monk" out there..?

Almost every monk I have seen when they rise up in the temple hierarchy so does their wallets get fatter.

Is their anything that is not corrupted in this "kingdom of corruption" ??

Tamboon means to make merit, not good luck.

[nidieunimaitre]

Third world, and always will be!

Not always just the third world my friend.. Look at some of the snake oil salesman we've had in the US.. Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swaggert and the guy and his goofy wife who started the Trinity Broadcast Network, the minister who started the Crystal Cathedreal. We've had our share.

Let us not forget Tammy Faye Bakker. Just the sight of her made me think "Oh my god!"

Ha ha ha ... yeah, I was trying to think of her name.. and her husband Jim Bakker. How could Thailand even compete with this group. no way..

You ask.....? How could Thailand even compete with this group?

I suggest an ex aequo for all religions.

[hellodolly]

Religion is the opium of the people.. I pity these poor thai people who give a big part of their income to the temple for a splash of water and some tamboon (good luck).

You might think this is the only "dirty monk" out there..?

Almost every monk I have seen when they rise up in the temple hierarchy so does their wallets get fatter.

Is their anything that is not corrupted in this "kingdom of corruption" ??

Tamboon means to make merit, not good luck.

One would think by his statement that he is quite close to many Monks. You have to know a lot of them to watch them getting higher up in the running of a temple.

Or it might be a case of like seeks out like,

[EyesWideOpen]

Given the serious amount of assets this guy has , as a percent of the laundered money, shows there were some serious people involved. So this case will never really come to light. Meaning he will stay in the states for a long time, and this case will gently fade away. There will certainly be no Thai reporters digging into financial records to find out where his money came from, or digging into off shore bank accounts to see who picked the money up.... :-)

[EyesWideOpen]

Given the serious amount of assets this guy has , as a percent of the laundered money, shows there were some serious people involved. So this case will never really come to light. Meaning he will stay in the states for a long time, and this case will gently fade away. There will certainly be no Thai reporters digging into financial records to find out where his money came from, or digging into off shore bank accounts to see who picked the money up.... :-)

[blabla1]

It will be dust in the wind very soon,like many criminal activities, brought to the attention of the public, in Thailand....

[khaowong1]

Religion is the opium of the people.. I pity these poor thai people who give a big part of their income to the temple for a splash of water and some tamboon (good luck).

You might think this is the only "dirty monk" out there..?

Almost every monk I have seen when they rise up in the temple hierarchy so does their wallets get fatter.

Is their anything that is not corrupted in this "kingdom of corruption" ??

Tamboon means to make merit, not good luck.

One would think by his statement that he is quite close to many Monks. You have to know a lot of them to watch them getting higher up in the running of a temple.

Or it might be a case of like seeks out like,

This is getting pretty funny HD.. with just one or two google searches, I found his house in California where he was staying, at least up to a week ago, got his address, zip code and even foto's of his house, him, some other monks with him and some Thai people with them, plus his Mercedes. If I can do it, don't you think that the Thai govt. can do it also? Well maybe not.

[hellodolly]

Religion is the opium of the people.. I pity these poor thai people who give a big part of their income to the temple for a splash of water and some tamboon (good luck).

You might think this is the only "dirty monk" out there..?

Almost every monk I have seen when they rise up in the temple hierarchy so does their wallets get fatter.

Is their anything that is not corrupted in this "kingdom of corruption" ??

Tamboon means to make merit, not good luck.

One would think by his statement that he is quite close to many Monks. You have to know a lot of them to watch them getting higher up in the running of a temple.

Or it might be a case of like seeks out like,

This is getting pretty funny HD.. with just one or two google searches, I found his house in California where he was staying, at least up to a week ago, got his address, zip code and even foto's of his house, him, some other monks with him and some Thai people with them, plus his Mercedes. If I can do it, don't you think that the Thai govt. can do it also? Well maybe not.

Yes it is getting ludicrous.

I see where the DSI is asking the States to cancel his Visa. Doesn't sound like sweeping it under the rug to me.

Given the way the States feels about Thailand and money laundering they might want to keep him and do some investigation of their own on him.

The man is a crook and not a smart one. If he was he would be in a country that would not extradite him. Perhaps the home of an even bigger crook in Dubai.