Farang, go home!

[phycokiller]

she sounds alot like certain Australian politicians

[luckyluke]

I am quite sure that some Thai doesn't like "Farangs", it seems however, according to what happens now in Bangkok, that some Thai doesn't like each other.

[chooka]

What she says is no more important than the last fatal car accident you saw. Why? Nothing will change based on what she said.

She's a teacher, affecting young minds.

Such an open racist would not have a job as a teacher for long in most civilised countries.

Apparently it was a conversation on his facebook page. I don't know if it was on his open page or a private conversation. If it was just a private chat b/w 2 people then I don't see the problem, however if she was posting for all to see then yea a different issue.

I will attempt to stop eating thai rice and breathing Thai air so as not to take from thais.

Edited December 3, 2013 by chooka

[NanLaew]

This David Chisholm chap seems unable to grasp the concept that having a higher education doesn't necessarily preclude ignorance.

The farang diaspora here are such an underwhelming minority, it surprises me that some people get upset at these sort of remarks. Some are concerned that this bigoted senior lecturer may influence the thinking of students and peers. So what? It's their backwater.

[Dublin]

Maybe she has had a few bad experiences and she is tarring all Farang with the same brush or she just broke up with her Farang boy friend,,,,

As for the Rice comment is she not aware Thailand is or was number 1 for rice exports world wide, 6.5 million tones were exported to Farang's last year so my wise old University Lecturer what is the difference....

[JHenry]

She has her right to be xenophobic. I have the right to ignore it. Many farang do not understand the basic part if the equation. You are not Thai and will never be. You are a foreigner living in Thailand. Nothing can change it. Accept it. Accept that there always be some xenophobic people, so what? There is always a reason and they are everywhere. Last week half of this forum wanted the Russian or Chinese tourists out. Today a crazy lady from somewhere wants a farang out. Ignore.

[pacovl46]

you really think that the general Thai populace actually think any different to her? After being here for a long time, it is blatantly obvious that we are not welcome here, we are tolerated because we pay, we are just as unwelcome as foreigners are in our home countries... You will meet individuals that dont fit the mould certainly, but to Thais as a "collective" we are not welcome but our money is, perpetual paying guests, that is all we are and all we will ever be.

The sooner you accept that fact the better.

Must be your demeanor if you were treated like that by Thais. I've been here for just over 10 years and I experienced nothing but welcoming and friendly Thais with a few exceptions, but hey, bad apples in every nation on the planet!!!

[pacovl46]

She's just jealous because we farangs get 4 times as much money for less work than she does and that's why she hates us. In the 10 years I've been here I experienced this only once at one school. All the other Thai colleagues I had were just great!!!

Edited December 3, 2013 by pacovl46

[SOTIRIOS]

...by and large...illusion or delusion aside...Thailand has never been a sovereign state...and it hangs on by a thread...

...even all Thai culture can be connected to neighboring countries.....

...when foreigners went to Canada...(or used to)...they definitely came to Paradise...free education, health care, social services, social security..unemployment insurance...and legal rights...

...when foreigners come to Thailand...they get nothing near that..

.(..the only thing they object against is the injustice...lying, cheating, double-pricing..gold-digging wives or girlfriends..)

...they only ask for basic human rights....they never ask for anything else...

...now why do they stay here...or why did they come here to begin with...the reasons will vary..

...some of us marry..have children...get sent to the cleaners...and hang on the best we can for our children...

...I don't think there is another country so hostile to husbands or parents of nationals...if you know of one...please tell me....

...the wife in many cases holds the children as ransom...for continued payouts...or a big payout in the end....never giving custody to the father...

...so should he abandon his children.....maybe that is the Thai way...I have heard many horror stories.....but then we get back to basic human rights...

...a Buddhist country full or racists.....deep down I guess they hate Buddha too..... (....unless we pretend Buddha was Thai)....

[MESmith]

Apparently it was a conversation on his facebook page. I don't know if it was on his open page or a private conversation. If it was just a private chat b/w 2 people then I don't see the problem, however if she was posting for all to see then yea a different issue.

I will attempt to stop eating thai rice and breathing Thai air so as not to take from thais.

Thai air? You're having a laugh. Once the smog arrives to cover northern Thailand, I hear so much about it blowing in from neighbouring countries....

[shaurene]

I think it is all down to jealousness that they just assume we have plenty of money. I have been with my Thai G/F 6.5yrs and married for 4 I look after her family and her daughter who I love so much calls me Dad, every morning going to school she kisses me on the cheek and comes home from school and kisses me,she goes to bed and says goodnight Dad and kisses me.

I would like to know her reasons she says it is the Falanges fault, maybe she had a Falange and he did not bow downtown her enough.

I would go and live in Cambodia or Vietnam if my wife would but she will not leave her family which I understand.

[TradeMark]

So you have a bunch of foreigners entering your country in increasing numbers year on year? The vast majority of which have no respect for your culture, way of life, women, ethics etc? Your country is labeled as a hotbed for sex tourism, a poster child of corruption and bribery in SEA by foreign media? They take your women, disrespect your elders, act like animals possessed on your alcohol, setup illegal rackets and get paid "unfairly" higher wages?

Expats in CM and the less populous tourist areas have it easy by comparison in regard to the expressed "xenophobia" in places such as Phuket, Bangkok, Patts etc.

So do Thais have a reason for this animosity? I think yes.

On the other hand when compared to all the countries I have visited and lived in I have never come across a more "western resistant" people. There is something about the Thais that I still haven't been able to put my finger on. Wealthy & westernized Thais aside the vast majority of Thais have little aspiration and very little desire to expand out of their small little worlds... They think brazil is in Europe and the extent of an adventure of a lifetime for them is a weekends bus ride to Phuket. Now that's normal in a lot of what we could call non-westernized countries but the difference that I have noticed with the Thais is how completely and utterly content they are with this?

My point with all the above is that because of the ways Thais seem to be in their adoption of the western world they are happy (more than some countries) to invite you to the party as long as you stay on the lawn but you are never going to be invited into the house. The damage is too far gone and due to the mistakes of previous Farang and due to the way the Thais in their numbers have decided to handle this situation the most acceptance we can ever hope to get as a foreigner is the occasional Thai smile from inside the house while we play our western games on the lawn outside.

[CMHomeboy78]

I was surprised to learn from the biography The Ideal Man just how bitter Jim Thompson had become about Thailand by the time of his disappearance in 1967, having concluded that he was unwelcome. In fact jealous business rivals are among the leading suspects in that disappearance (aka death). This is brushed out of his contemporary image and the happy house tours.

Jim Thompson's life in Thailand is a fascinating subject; probably best documented by William Warren in his many books, beginning with Jim Thompson the Legendary American of Thailand, first published in 1983.

The Ideal Man, by Joshua Kurlantzick draws on earlier source material and offers nothing new except Kurlantzick's own contentious opinions.

Saying that Thompson "...concluded that he was unwelcome." is patently untrue. At the time of his disappearance he was professionally and socially at the top of his game.

The issue of his art collection and the Thai officials who were trying to confiscate some of it caused him to feel resentment and even rage against them, but his social and business circles were so vocally supportive that he was unlikely ever to have felt "unwelcome" in Thailand.

Thompson's mysterious disappearance has been the subject of endless debate. The SE Asian political context in which it happened - and his deep involvement in it - makes intelligence agencies, domestic and foreign, the prime suspects. Not "...jealous business rivals..." as Kurlantzick would have it.

Jim Thompson sincerely loved Thailand and made it his home. People like that seldom feel unwelcome here.

Edited December 3, 2013 by CMHomeboy78

[Keesters]

University Lecturer Blames ‘Farang’ for Thailand’s Problems

Where in the article does she BLAME Farang for Thailand's PROBLEMS? And to what PROBLEMS (it could be said that Thailand currently has many) is she referring? e.g. Soi Dogs, Political, Currency, Corruption etc etc. (not that all those are necessarily problems, it depends on your point of view.)

Edited December 3, 2013 by Keesters

[Ulysses G.]

University Lecturer Blames Farang for Thailands Problems

Where in the article does she BLAME Farang for Thailand's PROBLEMS?

She says that there is no peace because of us. That we are nosy. That we use up the natural resources. However, I don't think that any of that can be blamed on foreigners in any significant way.

[notbkk]

An idiot with a few degrees. So what? Every country on this globe (and I have been to many of them)have elements of xenophobia. Some more than others. Her mistake was that she blubbered it out, and will surely have to bear some consequences.In my country, South Africa, xenophobia is rife among black South Africans towards Mozambicans and Zimbabweans looking for a better life. They kill them for 'taking their jobs' but the majority of black South Africans are so bloody lazy, they just want hand outs and sit on their fat ar*es all day. The worst are the Nigerians and Kenyans. They have taken parts of Johannesburg over and run drug and mafia gangs.

All I'm saying is that xenophobia is everywhere.

[Emdog]

Pretty convincing argument that edjukashun doesn't require basic intelligence.

Thinking of foreigners, am I wrong in reading somewhere long ago that the ethnic group "Thai" moved down from China, took over etc? Which also may explain the love of white skin and prejudice against the darker original local inhabitants. So if she is Thai, maybe it would be in order for her and her group to return to China.....

[NoshowJones]

She only feels the same way that I do about all the foreigners that live in the UK.

Maybe she is just being unusually "honest"?

Good post Dave, but I don't think any expats here in Thailand expect Thailand to change it's customs, rules, laws etc. to suit them the way a certain race whom I had better not mention does in the UK.

[Irishrogue]

Perhaps this lecturer should look outside the education field and apply her PHD to research on business foreigners bring to Thailand. I should imagine that about 10% of GDP can be attributed to foreigners. I know that personally I have brought millions of USD business to Thailand over the past 12 years and I am sure that foreigners are also among the higher tax payers if not the highest.

[skorchio]

While I don't disagree with much of her sentiment (I have a tendency to dislike Imports in my own home country, especially welfare mongers) I do think her rant is rather childish. Reading between the lines I think she is just jealous, and shoot me for saying this, but I would bet money on it that she aint no hottie.

[marioc]

racism....hatred....resentment.... must ALWAYS be condemned!

[NoshowJones]

you really think that the general Thai populace actually think any different to her? After being here for a long time, it is blatantly obvious that we are not welcome here, we are tolerated because we pay, we are just as unwelcome as foreigners are in our home countries... You will meet individuals that dont fit the mould certainly, but to Thais as a "collective" we are not welcome but our money is, perpetual paying guests, that is all we are and all we will ever be.

The sooner you accept that fact the better.

I am living in the same place for more than 12 years now and always had good contacts with my neighbors.

Many times my neighbor his "pickup" refused to start in the morning and the first thing he knew was "ask the fahrang (free) help".

He has start cables and all equipment to fix anything.

Last year, like every weekend, I was having a drink with the neighbors.

I asked him very polite if he would agree to go to Thetsabaan with me for me Yellow housebook.

His answer was: "I will do that never for a fahrang".

That was the end of the "good" fahrang".

A few days later his "pickup" refused to start again.

He called at my door and I gave him the phone number from the car dealer.

Thais are the worst racists I have seen and anybody who says otherwise will have a good ride when he wakes up.

You cannot judge all Thais on one person, I don't believe people in Thailand are any more racist than in any other country. What I do believe though is Thailand is a very ageist country.

[Fullstop]

“These comments were not made by an uneducated person,” said Chisholm, “They are from a very well-educated person who works in a university,

Having a Thai Uni Degree does not necessarily equate to being "Educated", I'm afraid.

[NoshowJones]

I was surprised to learn from the biography The Ideal Man just how bitter Jim Thompson had become about Thailand by the time of his disappearance in 1967, having concluded that he was unwelcome. In fact jealous business rivals are among the leading suspects in that disappearance (aka death). This is brushed out of his contemporary image and the happy house tours.

I think every foreigner becomes bitter after spending too much time in TH. It is not a place for us to stay. Sooner or later, our being foreign turns against us. Their sick nationalism and xenophobia, indoctrinated since birth makes it impossible to stay here for long.

What a load of rubbish.

[IDL]

you really think that the general Thai populace actually think any different to her? After being here for a long time, it is blatantly obvious that we are not welcome here, we are tolerated because we pay, we are just as unwelcome as foreigners are in our home countries... You will meet individuals that dont fit the mould certainly, but to Thais as a "collective" we are not welcome but our money is, perpetual paying guests, that is all we are and all we will ever be.

The sooner you accept that fact the better.

I agree with you to a point, although Thai prejudice against farangs is not in the epic proportions as you are trying to suggest.

Strange actually because the most blatant in your face prejudice I have experienced in Thailand has come from the more educated prominent Thais, mostly middle aged women in fact, but thankfully these incidents have been very few and far between.

Even some of my neighbors whom I have known for years, still regard me being rich and believe I should pay more in Thailand than the poor so-called downtrodden hard working Thais and I should be entitled to nothing. There is no convincing them otherwise, although I have tried. It`s just a stigma that has stuck and refuses to fade away.

We never know what some people are really thinking about us, even those who appear nice and are always polite with us face to face. If all the ex-pats were one day given their marching orders to leave the country, I doubt that the average Thai Joe public would give a toss.

Obviously the prejudice is there in some of the people, this is the down side to living as a foreigner in a foreign land. It makes us realise how foreigners, especially those of other races and cultures, must feel in our own countries, to be part of the communities, but to never be really excepted into them.

BLIMEY!!! She sounds like a keeper!

Given her [vehement] dislike of non-thais, I can only assume she 1-walks to work, 2-lives by candlelight, 3-cooks on open fire, 4-doesn't watch/listen to tv/radio, or use a computer...oops, that one is blatantly wrong!

I too have been here an age, and have experienced some similar "honesty" (tho amount could be counted on one hand). Further, those few occasions have also been from 'so-called' educated [female] Thais. An important note to make tho, is in my experience these women had hit a few branches on the ugly tree as they descended from the top, leaving me to believe they were actually more pissed with themselves (and their luck), rather than have an informed and genuine POV.

Another point that jumps out to me, am I the only one that instantly couldn't believe that such an 'educated' person would be idiotic enough to post such hatred on a social network? - This chap's Facebook, earlier mentioned.

The mind boggles !"£$%^&?

[davehowden]

racism....hatred....resentment.... must ALWAYS be condemned!

Why should they be condemned, they are natural human traits.

[hellodolly]

"Sabai Sabai" ?! Really?! That seems to contradict your unhappiness! When are you leaving?

2 and 1/2 months ago after 18 years.

You must have been a real pain in the ass I see 5 others liked it that you are gone.

By the way why are you still on the board are you trying to hang on to the good memories.

In 18 years you probably have a truck load of them. I am assuming you are not and was not a masochist.

[hellodolly]

So you have a bunch of foreigners entering your country in increasing numbers year on year? The vast majority of which have no respect for your culture, way of life, women, ethics etc? Your country is labeled as a hotbed for sex tourism, a poster child of corruption and bribery in SEA by foreign media? They take your women, disrespect your elders, act like animals possessed on your alcohol, setup illegal rackets and get paid "unfairly" higher wages?

Expats in CM and the less populous tourist areas have it easy by comparison in regard to the expressed "xenophobia" in places such as Phuket, Bangkok, Patts etc.

So do Thais have a reason for this animosity? I think yes.

On the other hand when compared to all the countries I have visited and lived in I have never come across a more "western resistant" people. There is something about the Thais that I still haven't been able to put my finger on. Wealthy & westernized Thais aside the vast majority of Thais have little aspiration and very little desire to expand out of their small little worlds... They think brazil is in Europe and the extent of an adventure of a lifetime for them is a weekends bus ride to Phuket. Now that's normal in a lot of what we could call non-westernized countries but the difference that I have noticed with the Thais is how completely and utterly content they are with this?

My point with all the above is that because of the ways Thais seem to be in their adoption of the western world they are happy (more than some countries) to invite you to the party as long as you stay on the lawn but you are never going to be invited into the house. The damage is too far gone and due to the mistakes of previous Farang and due to the way the Thais in their numbers have decided to handle this situation the most acceptance we can ever hope to get as a foreigner is the occasional Thai smile from inside the house while we play our western games on the lawn outside.

I think part of it is brought on by foreigners. We come here find them perfectly happy and content with their culture and slow growth. the first thing we do is tell them they are wrong to be happy they have to change this and that. We try to teach them that keeping up with the Jones is important and to do that they must change this and that. We completely ignore the fact that they were happy with out all the stuff we bring with us and tell them they need or they are less than.

We then proceed to use there ability to live cheaper than us to make things cheap for us. Things we could not afford if made in are native country at the prevailing wages there.

I operate and halve for 7 happy years that they are not right or wrong just different. It suits me very well It allows me to have a happy life here. Occasionally I will say some thing to the wife but not very often.

Like the Borg said resistance is futile.

[bigdod]

I have to admit to being on the receiving end of this kind of behaviour a bit more regularly lately all the same...

[IDL]

Just an excerpt taken from one of my [humble] replies in recent days. It might just have a few people scratching their head and re-thinking what is what out here. That's not to say all is bad, just let's keep it real.

:Speaking for myself, it is nigh-on impossible to 'respect' and 'adapt' to a culture, that clearly doesn't know its arse from its elbow.

Be it their tolerance of taxis (with light on) choosing which fare would suit them best, lottery-law enforcement (being highly contemptuous of the BIBs, whilst enjoying the 'tea-money' alternative), opting not to use crash helmets (all the while knowing the dangers), whinging that they are hard-done by (never getting opportunity (which we know simply isn't true) to improve themselves), praying meaningfully just before/after committing a sin, or having their car blessed just so they can go n drive like Mad-Max.

[As a westerner] It's blinking confusing to get-to-grips with a culture, when there blatantly appears to be only one pattern.............. The only consistency in the country/culture is the inconsistency. I applaud any 'visitor' that has cracked it!