Thailand has a new popular sensation - Hitler

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed.

[darren84310]

Let this be a lesson to the world, about the true mentality and the lack of respect many Thais have for foreigners, countries and cultures. However, this is an excellent opportunity for business investment as one can see, simple minds can easily be manipulated.

Lack of education... but do they have the same sympathy if a foreigner arrives here and is disrespectful to Thai culture or the king?

[metisdead]

A post spewing conspiracy nonsense has been removed.

[denby45]

Of course the average Thai doesn't know any of this. They just see a guy with a funny moustache sticking his arm up.

Maybe they think it's Charlie Chaplin

[mickyboy]

just another fad in the lifes of teenagers like being thought of as some thing clever mind you my wife neice thought bin laden was a good man killing americans proberly dont realise how much the usa put into the thai economy and yes she only 16 and 16 year old thai girl has the brain of a 8year old compared to western civilization not all but most remeber the second world war and hitler didnt get to the thai population as they where a sheltered country ignorant to the world outside

[Spalpeen]

Of course the average Thai doesn't know any of this. They just see a guy with a funny moustache sticking his arm up.

Maybe they think it's Charlie Chaplin

Maybe so. The Fuhrer was well known for his Al Jolson impersonation, although it probably wouldn't have been wise to laugh at him.

[venturalaw]

I remember when I witnessed school children dressed in Nazi garb participating in a Christian based school sponsored march down one of the main streets in Chiang Mai. I can understand (not approve, but understand) teenagers on their own dallying in anti-social crap, but a school sponsored event? That floored me.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2042097/Student-Nazi-dress-day-causes-outrage-Thailand.html

[monkfish]

There are very many Nazis in the world including in the UK and USA but their stupid stunts are not rewatded with air space.

This story isn't even by the Nation! if i publish a Nazi article will TV also publish it for me??

What is the TV facination with Nazis?

[WhingeingMoaners]

The locals do not even need to try to wind you people up. It is just another day on Thai Visa where foreigners will always find an excuse to be offended and bitch about Thai people.

Sieg Miaow!

[atsiii]

The Thai Cultural elite are "bemused?"

"The complaints elicited bemused responses from Thailand’s cultural elite, who brushed it off as misplaced humor, stemming from kids who aren’t taught about the history of the Holocaust in school."

So Hitler is okay in Thailand; but foreigners getting a Buddhist tattoo is completely unacceptable!! It is insensitive and insulting to the most Buddhist nation on earth, and must be stopped immediately!!

"One blogger said they thought the world had lost its sense of humor."

Murdering 12 million Jews (or suspected Jews) is okay; but then Thailand is severely insulted if SNL makes a parody video about learning Thai in order to pick up hookers in Bangkok!!

No, I think the world does have a sense of humor, and Thailand is very fast making itself the joke!!

[Slavq]

that's true.. no education.. but let's see what's going on.... as Germany keeps trying to blur responsibility.... in world press you can read about polish concentration camps Auschwitz ( in fact german's).... in many places they talk about mysterious nazis.. ( no germans)...... On recent occasions you could see how big noise germans do if they catch non-german nazi ( for exampkle ukrainian complicity)... but for many years they have enabled to excape their own war criminals. They do a lot.. to show that mysterious nazis commited crimes.. not germans. Nowadays a lot of people have no clue about history

[Jingthing]

It's not about blaming modern German people. Part of the lesson of Hitler is that such horrors can happen even in the most "civilized" and "advanced" countries in the world, which Germany was at that time (and is now as well). It's not about Hitler being insane or the German people of the time being insane. It's about the capacity for total evil that is in all humans at all times in all countries.

Edited July 14, 2013 by Jingthing

[vincentc]

This journalist criticises the ignorance of Thais yet he himself reveals his own ignorance of history. Where does this "12 million people during the Holocaust" come from? The Holocaust is a reference to the Jewish victims of WW2. Everyone knows the true number as its repeated ad nauseam in the western media. The forgotten victims of Hitler include 20-30 million Russians, 13,684,692 civilian losses according to Wikipedia. How can he be so careless with the facts and then criticise others for ignorance?

The article was published in "Christian Science", that should give you a clue as to the ignorance of the author. How can one put Science and Christian so close to each other and keep a straight face these days? Guess these days they add up natural deaths over the decades to add up to 12 million, anything to beef up the numbers.

The author goes ignorantly on saying Thailand was "largely unaffected by WWII". Yeah, right.

Thailand has learned to move on from bad events in the past, something 'offended' people here can't do for some reason. This stuff happened 70 years ago, the Jerries are the good guys now, move on please...

[Jingthing]

Thailand WAS largely unaffected by WW2. There were a very small number of THAI casualties. Compare to a country like POLAND and you'll appreciate this better.

[Thaddeus]

This journalist criticises the ignorance of Thais yet he himself reveals his own ignorance of history. Where does this "12 million people during the Holocaust" come from? The Holocaust is a reference to the Jewish victims of WW2. Everyone knows the true number as its repeated ad nauseam in the western media. The forgotten victims of Hitler include 20-30 million Russians, 13,684,692 civilian losses according to Wikipedia. How can he be so careless with the facts and then criticise others for ignorance?

The article was published in "Christian Science", that should give you a clue as to the ignorance of the author.

You do of course realise that it is quite possible to be a Christian, a Buddhist and a scientist...... all at the same time.

[Beetlejuice]

Thailand WAS largely unaffected by WW2. There were a very small number of THAI casualties. Compare to a country like POLAND and you'll appreciate this better.

From wikipedia:

At the start of World War II, Thailand was ruled by an authoritarian government dominated by a group of civil servants and military officers. Its prime minister was Plaek Phibunsongkhram, an army officer who shared many of his countrymen's admiration of fascism and the rapid pace of national development it seemed to afford^. Consequently, Phibun cultivated and intensified militarism and nationalism while simultaneously building up a cult of personality using modern propaganda techniques.

The regime also revived irredentist claims, stirring up anti-French sentiment and supporting restoration of former Thai territories in Cambodia and Laos. Seeking support against France, Phibun cultivated closer relations with Japan. Faced with American opposition and British hesitancy, Thailand looked to Japan for help in the confrontation with French Indochina. Although the Thai were united in their demand for the return of the lost provinces, Phibun's enthusiasm for the Japanese was markedly greater than that of Pridi Phanomyong, and many old conservatives as well viewed the course of the prime minister's foreign policy with misgivings.

Sporadic fighting between Thai and French forces broke out along Thailand's eastern frontier in October 1940, and culminated in an invasion of Laos and Cambodia in January 1941. Although French forces suffered badly on land, their navy managed to inflict a crushing defeat on the Thai main fleet at Koh Chang, prompting the Japanese to intervene to mediate the conflict.

Japan used its influence with the Vichy regime in France to obtain concessions for Thailand. As a result, France agreed in March 1941 to cede 54,000 square kilometers of Laotian territory west of the Mekong and most of the Cambodian province of Battambang to Thailand, which changed its name to Phra Tabong Province. The recovery of this lost territory and the regime's apparent victory over a European colonial power greatly enhanced Phibun's reputation.

But because Japan wanted to maintain both her working relationship with Vichy and the status quo, the Thais were forced to accept only a quarter of the territory that they had demanded, in addition to having to pay six million piastres as a concession to the French. Relations between Japan and Thailand subsequently cooled as a disappointed Phibun switched to courting the British and Americans in the hopes of warding off what he saw as an imminent Japanese invasion.

Thailand was effectively occupied by Japan during World War II from the 1941 invasion until Japan's defeat in 1945. At the start of the Pacific War, the Japanese Empire leaned on the Thais to allow passage of Japanese troops on their way to invade British-held Malaya and Burma. This was not popular with much of the population, but the Thai government under Plaek Phibunsongkhram (known simply as Phibun) thought it preferable to outright Japanese conquest. After Thailand agreed to let Japanese troops pass through the country, the Japanese then occupied Thailand and later Thailand declared war on the Allies.

Although under Japanese occupation, Thailand was still in control of its armed forces and internal affairs, and the Japanese desired a bilateral relationship substantially similar to that existing with the puppet state of Manchukuo, which meant that bilateral relations between the two countries were rarely mutually beneficial. Ultimately, the primary aim was to ensure the resolution of Thailand's sovereignty and establish an independent nation that would be regarded as an equal by the Allies^.

A well-organized resistance movement numbered around 90,000 Thai guerrillas, supported by many government officials allied to the regent Pridi Phanomyong, was active from 1942 on to fight the Japanese. The partisans provided invaluable espionage services for the Allies, as well as performing some sabotage, and in 1944 helped engineer Phibun's downfall. After the war, however, Thailand still received little punishment for its wartime role under Phibun.

More:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand_in_World_War_II

Edited July 14, 2013 by Beetlejuice

[toenail]

The minister of education (who doesn't seem to have a vison for thaiand's youth) should be embarassed and take note how the educational system is making Thais "stupid' compared to their

Asian neighbors. I have a couple Thai buddies from up North and it is a pity how they are clueless about geography, history, and world affairs (worse than Americans)

[hawker9000]

This topic was milked dry last week….. I think one may find thread fatigue on this one…. nice try Lite Beer….

Oh, I don't know. 10 pgs in less than a day (and counting...). The topic obviously touches a nerve somewhere.

[hawker9000]

“Why is this different from the West’s obsession with Che Guevara?”

I don't think 'obsession' can be used for the West -- especially when I see Che Guervara's face plastered on every car and truck in Thailand. Besides, he wasn't responsible for tens of millions of deaths. To conflate the two is in itself a gross display of ignorance.

You mean like rewarding a lack of ability.

That Hitler was responsible for twelve million deaths, in pursuit of his ends, because the power he achieved enabled him to be, and that Che was only responsible for some thousands in the pursuit of his, because that's all he had the power to, doesn't really define a gross difference in butchery IMO. Laughably. Che's defenders love to point out that he didn't actually perpetrate, or "personally order", more than a few out of all those executions. Well, Hitler didn't either! (I don't think Hitler ever even set foot in one of the death camps, but he certainly authorized them. And, unlike Che, there's no record of him actually ever pulling the trigger on anyone.) That Thais seem to have obsessions with both of these characters is disturbing, and I tend to agree that it is simply more a matter of lack of respect for foreign sensitivities, or even some weird compulsion to pique them, than it is total ignorance.

[starcatcher]

I just don't get it. Do Thai's not know he was a very extreme white supremest. He would not think of Thai's a human.

(Educated) Thais know very well, who he was. But what he did is far away from them. Same like for us the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia or what American bomber pilots made with bombs in Cambodia, they could not bring back from their attacks over Vietnam to their air bases in Thailand.

Same like we know very well, what Che did, while his photo since decades is trendy. But with distance you see things different and sometimes even glorified.

On the other hand you have a nationalistic, right thinking in Thailand (Thai rak Thai). And when I see, how many foreigners (not all!) act in Thailand (for sure not like guests, but looking down to Asians) I can understand.

So it is also in our responsibility, to let things like with Hitler not happen enymore. Additionally I think, many people misuse Hitler just for their marketing strategies to catch attention. And well, I looks for me it works, as people talk about it

[Jingthing]

There is no equivalency between Che and Hitler.

[noitom]

Thailand's use of Hitler and Nazi imagery is a travesty on global scale.

[rametindallas]

“Hitler Chic,”

I think I've met her.

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1373766254.499871.jpg

That's Hitler 'chick'. The story is about Hitler 'chik' pronounced 'sheek'.

Nothing to be done about this fad except wait for the next fad to replace it.

Keep remembering TiT (This is Thailand) and they just don't do things they way they do where you come from.

Are the girls still wearing fake orthodontics?

[mogoso]

It isn't just Thailand that elevates murderers. In the US "Che" shirts have been in vouge for many years and you'll see the face of Mao and occasionally Uncle Joe Stalin. The left elevates their hero's no matter how many people they killed

[PoodMaiDai]

Murdering 12 million Jews (or suspected Jews) is okay; but then Thailand is severely insulted if SNL makes a parody video about learning Thai in order to pick up hookers in Bangkok!!

I'd like to see them parade through Cambodia praising Pol Pot. Whatever happened to them would be well deserved.

[noitom]

Isn't it cute how the press sensationalizes this Thai use of Hitler and Nazi imagery without taking a firm editorial opinion on the matter?

[Unkomonsense]

The locals do not even need to try to wind you people up. It is just another day on Thai Visa where foreigners will always find an excuse to be offended and bitch about Thai people.

Sieg Miaow!

Which is why you spend your time accordingly. Amazing how many flies will crowd around a corpse.

[captspectre]

“Hitler Chic,”

I think I've met her.

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1373766254.499871.jpg

I think that she works at the nana plaza!

[Payboy]

“Hitler Chic,”

I think I've met her.

ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect Thailand1373766254.499871.jpg

That's Hitler 'chick'. The story is about Hitler 'chik' pronounced 'sheek'.

Nothing to be done about this fad except wait for the next fad to replace it.

Keep remembering TiT (This is Thailand) and they just don't do things they way they do where you come from.

Are the girls still wearing fake orthodontics?

So, they've given up on chicken and selling sheek kebabs now!

[bkkgriz]

Is there a world outside of Thailand for Thais?

Ever meet a Jew in Thailand?

Yes, I have. There are plenty that travel and spend money here on holiday. Don't be simple.