Thai teens arrested for battery after slapping elderly foreigner on the head with shoe

[TheNativeSon]

I hope their Dads took a slipper to their heads.

Dream on. That'll never happen. Thanks to the role model set by the spoiled, lazy Buddhist monks, Thai menfolk are a bunch of whiney, foot stomping toddlers to begin with, just in case you've never noticed.

[Tazwa]

Why are the two "Teens" allowed to wear balaclavas for their photo opportunity are they not proud to show their mates how cleaver they were ??

Minors (under 18) would not have their photos published by police/courts in Australia either. If an incident like this happened in Australia, I reckon they'd get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again. As pointed out by other members, these boys were fined an amount that is not insignificant, especially for a student in Thailand. As reported in the original story, there were many Thais that certainly didn't condone what the boys did. I hope the man recovers from this brutal and vicious attack and recovers from his horrifc injuries quickly.

[AryanicAristocrat]

My God! Day by day, thais are starting to start emulating the behaviour of British Holligans! What is becoming of this country and of Asian Values.

[zydeco]

Is that man seriously only 58?

I'm 58 and would knock the slobber out of them if they tried that on me. That guy looks 70.

[soi41]

Why are the two "Teens" allowed to wear balaclavas for their photo opportunity are they not proud to show their mates how cleaver they were ??

. I hope the man recovers from this brutal and vicious attack and recovers from his horrifc injuries quickly.

Are you guys for real??

After reading the posts here, I am left more afraid of the mental state of the expat community, more afraid than I would ever be of a Thai teenager!

[abhaya]

I think a traditional Thai expression of “sincere regret” of having the boys prostrate themselves and kowtow in front of the guy’s feet while saying “I am sorry” and posting it on Youtube would be the appropriate response.

[ginjag]

My God! Day by day, thais are starting to start emulating the behaviour of British Holligans! What is becoming of this country and of Asian Values.

Why British ????? who do you think you are, wash your mouth with soap. I do agree we have hooligans in the U.K..........they did not learn this from Britain, they learned it from not being taught right and wrong from birth.

[Guest]

For crying out loud: This was a prank!!

Not an attack on the son of a holocaust survivor!

Not an attack on the white man!

Not disrespecting the elderly!

Someone dared him. And he was brave/stupid enough to do the stunt. Ofcourse it was more fun/daring with a farang. All while his friends took the video and posted it on u-tube.

Reading the replies here, I wonder if the average age on Thaivisa is 90+

Nope, but the average IQ is over 90, which is on the other hand dampens the funny factor on these kind of 'pranks'.

Moronic and disrespectful thing to do.

[Benmart]

What % of Thais are unconsciously envious of actually doing such a thing.

Does it really matter? It's like asking what percentage of foreigners would want to do the same. Those that would answer to the affirmative are folks that i would steer clear of.

[Benmart]

A 500 baht fine for hitting an old man on the head?

I hope their parents beat the siht out of them.

Resort with violence for using violence? Mixed messages perhaps?

With the young ones, take their cell phones, iPADs and other gadgets away. I've found it has more impact than a caning, the pain of which, goes away soon after. No so when having their "toys" locked up where they can't get at them.

[darrendsd]

Jesus judging by some of the comments on here you would have thought the old guy had been murdered

[davejones]

I thought it was quite amusing. You can see from the clip that it's only a prank. We did worse things as kids.

[Benmart]

this is just more discrimination against foreigners in Thailand. we pay double to tour museum's go to parks, get medical in a hospital, we are not allowed to own a small piece of land to build a house, I spend more then 70,000 bhat every month and I am not allowed to go inside 50% of places in sattahip. And it is embarrassing when all my friends and family tour a old aircraft carrier that England or Australia donated to Thailand but I cannot go with them and have to wait outside.

we foreigners need to hire lawyers to fight this discrimination. Thailand wants our money but they do not want us

"Assigning blame and making excuses keeps us victimized. We dont have to do anything different because its not about us; its about someone or something else. Were simply the recipient.

We may in fact be the recipient of external forces outside our control, but we have the control over our reactions and responses in what we do and how we handle it".

[sadhukar]

Is that man seriously only 58?

Does it make any difference to the report or did you just want to make an ignorant, offensive remark?

Like your comment of how every thai lacks conciousness? Double standards at its finest. Just gtfo.

[dundee48]

It could`ve been worse,he might have got slapped with a fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9SSOWORzw4

[Benmart]

If the shoe were on the other foot, and it was a 16-year old white lad who tapped an elderly Thai on the head, I wonder if the penalty would be the same?

Why stop there with fantasy? "What if the 16 year old, white kid, dropout, wearing braces, with one broken shoelace and whose dad had just gotten a pay raise and was cheating on his wife, hit a 58 year old Thai man whose family was originally fom China, but he never learned Chinese but always wanted to, who looked much younger than his 58 years because he never drank or smoked, although he did like to gamble on the weekend, and he owned a 5 year old car which looked brand new...".

The "what if" really means nothing, is open to speculation, and one can arrive at many conclusions depending on how many factors. What happened, happened. Not what didn't happen?

Enough of this...heading to bed to count slippers jumping over an old mans head in my dreams (Who looks older than he really is).

[darrendsd]

this is just more discrimination against foreigners in Thailand. we pay double to tour museum's go to parks, get medical in a hospital, we are not allowed to own a small piece of land to build a house, I spend more then 70,000 bhat every month and I am not allowed to go inside 50% of places in sattahip. And it is embarrassing when all my friends and family tour a old aircraft carrier that England or Australia donated to Thailand but I cannot go with them and have to wait outside.

we foreigners need to hire lawyers to fight this discrimination. Thailand wants our money but they do not want us

"Assigning blame and making excuses keeps us victimized. We dont have to do anything different because its not about us; its about someone or something else. Were simply the recipient.

We may in fact be the recipient of external forces outside our control, but we have the control over our reactions and responses in what we do and how we handle it".

"Need to hire Lawyers to fight this discrimination"

That's the funniest thing I have ever read on Thai Visa

[yoshiwara]

I thought it was quite amusing. You can see from the clip that it's only a prank. We did worse things as kids.

It is the thinking that leads to such an action being considered an acceptable 'prank' that is at issue here.

[dangman]

A right couple of morons. 500 baht fine for assault though is ridiculous.

it's about 2 days wages..

a hefty whack

[moe666]

A right couple of morons. 500 baht fine for assault though is ridiculous.

Its Thailand that's 2 days wages for some people.

[marcusd]

Is that man seriously only 58?

Thats his PROFILE age hahaha But hitting and beating? Seriosuly didnt look to beat up to me. It looked like what it was ... a prank.. not condoning it here, but dont get beat up on a small incident and didnt YOU do stuff as kids?

Thais at 16 are more like farrang at 12

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post has been removed.

[Thai at Heart]

Maybe these boys had a bad experience with another foreigner and wanted to take out their frustrations on someone they thought was more helpless.

Of course here, with the well known fact that you can't touch a Thai person's head, let alone with a shoe...Here, that is considered the lowest of the low, most disrespectful acts you could commit towards a Thai person. The fact that they did this to a foreigner shows that they have no respect for foreigners nor elderly foreigners.

This also makes me think that young Thais, maybe more than we think, are starting to rebel against the strict customs and laws in this country. Which I think is healthy in a way. However the way that they displayed their disagreement is completely disgusting and they should be given a good talking to as well as being put in jail for the weekend...or community service....for an elderly foreigner

When I was a kid I used to crank call strangers from the phone book with my friend. What is this world coming to???

Well if they want to rebel, I suggest they try out their rebelliousness in their family first.

Maybe go and tap grandma on the head with a flip flop and see how well they get on. In fact this is an extremely ignorant act because they probably assume that foreigners assign the same meaning to shoes on head as Thais.

At the end of the day, this is the utmost insult possible in Thailand. Someone should march them round to the guys house to apologise prostrate.

[Thai at Heart]

I thought it was quite amusing. You can see from the clip that it's only a prank. We did worse things as kids.

It is the thinking that leads to such an action being considered an acceptable 'prank' that is at issue here.

I am trying to imagine what offense one could cause in the west equivalent to this?

[Emdog]

For crying out loud: This was a prank!!

Not an attack on the son of a holocaust survivor!

Not an attack on the white man!

Not disrespecting the elderly!

Someone dared him. And he was brave/stupid enough to do the stunt. Ofcourse it was more fun/daring with a farang. All while his friends took the video and posted it on u-tube.

Reading the replies here, I wonder if the average age on Thaivisa is 90+

This is definition of prank: "a trick that is done to someone usually as a joke". There was no joke element there, it was intimidation. Got it? In spite of bold type, yes it was attack on a white man. I don't think they asked if he were a son of a holocaust survivor. Correct me if I am in error. I dare you to do this to head monk at Wat, then say "it was just a prank" if you happen to still be able to speak. My Thai gf wondered about death penalty, and when I told of 500 baht fine, I got this: . May I suggest you get someone to make a sign in Thai that reads "kick me" so you can join in the mirth? And age of posters has nothing to do with if post makes sense or not.

[mrtoad]

A right couple of morons. 500 baht fine for assault though is ridiculous.

it's about 2 days wages..

a hefty whack

Less than 10 per cent of a minimum wage earner. Sorry, I think it is not a lot.

[TheNativeSon]

This is all due to lack of Education

Lack of Education? After 3,500+ years of human developmental history? A history that predates both the Greek and Roman Empires! I don't believe a lack of education has anything to do with it. Thais are no longer lacking in education, or exposure, for the past 2,557 years. There is a much deeper issue @ play, when a people are socialized to have no sense of accountability, or a willingness to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. There are "universal rules" of behavior, regardless of cultural roots or values. The Five Vedics of Theravada Buddhism adamantly teaches those rules. Again, Thai people are definitely NOT lacking in education.

Hopefully, this reply will not be percieved (by the monitor) as "overly" derogatory, :-)

[mrtoad]

I thought it was quite amusing. You can see from the clip that it's only a prank. We did worse things as kids.

Well, I certainly didn't go around hitting older people.

[thatswhatuthought]

I just asked my wife what she thinks would happen if I did this to a Thai? Her response. " You would probably be dead within 24 hours. If not you would be severely beaten."

[Konstantine]

****Previously deleted post edited out****

Easy Tiger

This story is nothing to do with a Farang doing this to a Thai so why bring it up?

If these Schoolkids really were "racist idiots" do you think they would have just gave this man a gentle tap on the head with a Flip Flop?

I am not a Thai apologist, I just see this incident as it really is, a harmless schoolboy prank which even the old guy didn't bother to report until he saw the clip on Youtube

Get over yourself

Yes I have been here a longtime, I could tell you how long but what's the point?

If you are being shown hatred and contempt by Thais then maybe you need to question yourself and your attitude towards them?

"This story is nothing to do with a Farang doing this to a Thai so why bring it up?"

Why bring it up? Because it involves a Farang and a Thai(2), and the desire to see justice. As foreigners here we are constantly told (ordered) to show respect for the Thais and their customs (failure to do so could see you dead or in jail), and yet the Thais seem not to want to reciprocate, as is illustrated by this case. Everyone one has a right not be harassed or attacked in such a way, and regardless of the specific scenario (Thai on Farang/Farang on Thai) each should bare equal treatment under the law. Sadly this is most often not the case here for foreigners (but this is a happy exception). You have use the "other side of the coin" arguement i.e "what if it had been the other way around" in order to show this inequality and how differently we are treated.

"a gentle tap on the head with a flip-flop".

It doesn't matter whether it was a "gentle tap" or not. The fact is he touched the man's head with an item of footwear, which is seen as a gross insult here. Racist attacks can be carried out in many ways, from non-physical verbal abuse/name-calling (doesn't have to be loud or aggressive), to murder. The pair may have also said a few choice words during the assault (admittedly I don't know yet as I haven't watched the actual video). In the UK (and probably the rest of Europe and the US/Canada) you only have to be "overheard" by a passer-by using the "N" word in a locker room or in the street for someone to make a police complaint against you for racism (even if you were whispering and were not directing it at anyone in particular).

"Yes I have been here a longtime, I could tell you how long but what's the point?"

So why mention it then?

Oh, and just how and why should I get over myself? I'm happy as I am....a TIGER!

Give your head a wobble

Who exactly is ordering you to respect Thai Culture? I don't see any signs anywhere? I have never been ordered to off the Police or Immigration so who exactly is ordering you?

We are not ordered at all, we simply show respect for other peoples country as we would do in any country

We know the rules here and respect them again as we would do in our own or any other country

We are not in the UK or the rest of Europe so why bring that up? It has nothing to do with Thailand

It was a simple prank and nothing more have seen it happen elsewhere in Thailand

No words were used, you haven't actually watched the video have you so how can you determine it was Racist? At least watch it before you make silly comments

When you have finished wobbling your head maybe you can get off your PC soapbox, all this "it"s racist" <deleted> you are spouting is exactly that, total <deleted>

Seems to me like you're the one with the wobbly head....that's just about to explode.

OK we get it: you don't like criticism of your beloved Thailand. And nobody is allowed to say anything that contradicts your view of the country, otherwise they are Thai haters?

So, no words were spoken. That's good. But actions speak louder than words in cases like these. As I explained to you earlier, racist incidents can be either physical or verbal, or both. And the vast majority of people commenting on here view this incident as racist and wrong. So it's you who is making the silly comments on your "I love Thailand and Thailand loves me" soap-box (or should that be soap <deleted>?)