Does your partner know who Nelson Mandela was?

[AhFarangJa]

never heard of him, even pictures didnt ring any bells. She does not know where South Africa is.

Just below North Africa

(sorry, could not resist it)

[kevvy]

The passing of Paul Walker was also very sad, but who can miss the irony of him dying in a car crash,

Why? What has he done for the world? I did not even know who he was until he first got splattered all over a tree and then all over the press.

Do most young Americans, Brits, Germans, Aussies know who Mandela was? I doubt it.

My daughter rang me to tell me Nelson Mandela was dead . She was so sad .

[Aussieroaming]

yeah I just checked and my wife knows him.

Reminds me though..when John Lennon was shot my dad was horrified and told me one of the beattles was dead. I asked him who the beattles were.

[jdinasia]

I don’t know about you, but I learned most of what I know, after I graduated from university. My wife went through the same system as everyone else but seems to have broader interests than what is being implied here.

Interaction with your partner, friends, travel and reading all play a part in how worldly someone becomes. My wife is 39 and still taking classes at the university. You get the partner you choose to some extent but there is room to nurture their development, if one takes the time.

Right there with you.

My partner knows more about pop-culture (modern) than I do. He has a breadth of knowledge that impresses me daily, When Carter was here for Habitat for Humanity, he read up on him and in enough detail to get the "Jimmy Who?" reference.

[seasia]

No, my Thai partner had not heard of him.

[jdinasia]

The passing of Paul Walker was also very sad, but who can miss the irony of him dying in a car crash,

Also the passing of Family Guy Brian. Also by a car. Ironic.

"Clay is dead, Brian isn't" Kurt Sutter

[MAJIC]

My wife,who is University Educated didn't know who Nelson Mandela was,that was in the morning,by late afternoon she attempted a face saver,with a mention or two,taken from the TV news.

[Gulfsailor]

I just enquired at home 'What do you know about Mandela?' I got the following replies; 'was in prison a long time' (I was getting my hopes up at this point); was nicknamed "red" (??? What??), yeah she was pulling my leg with the Shawshank Redemption! Anyway she did know quite a bit about him. And that he was "anti-appetite", hahaha.

[Jingthing]

I think he might not be a popular subject in the conservative Thai educational system. Considering Thai youth seem to think Hitler is some kind of cool super hero, I would hardly expect one of the greatest forces against racism in history would be high on the local radar. If you think too much about racism, you might have to think about the racism inherent in THAI society.

Thailand did not establish diplomatic relations with S.A. until the end of apartheid; don't you think there was a link to Thai government dislike of apartheid in S.A.?

Mandela was/is a cause celebre in Western media as well as with major (thinking) youth icons such as U2. Unless they are private fee paying schools, I would seriously question that Mandela's political philosophy/ideology is taught or referenced in Western schools and definately not in Thailand. Personally I would not link this to racism/bigotry in Thailand; am I wrong or were you just making a throw away comment?

Not sure what you're on about exactly but yes I do assume it likely that some of the history of apartheid and ending it in South Africa is taught in general schools in the USA anyway, where of course Mandela would at least be mentioned. More would be taught about Martin Luther King of course.

[andyg75]

Of course Brit kids know him,after all he did give the Froggies a good thrashing.

[simple1]

I think he might not be a popular subject in the conservative Thai educational system. Considering Thai youth seem to think Hitler is some kind of cool super hero, I would hardly expect one of the greatest forces against racism in history would be high on the local radar. If you think too much about racism, you might have to think about the racism inherent in THAI society.

Thailand did not establish diplomatic relations with S.A. until the end of apartheid; don't you think there was a link to Thai government dislike of apartheid in S.A.?

Mandela was/is a cause celebre in Western media as well as with major (thinking) youth icons such as U2. Unless they are private fee paying schools, I would seriously question that Mandela's political philosophy/ideology is taught or referenced in Western schools and definately not in Thailand. Personally I would not link this to racism/bigotry in Thailand; am I wrong or were you just making a throw away comment?

Not sure what you're on about exactly but yes I do assume it likely that some of the history of apartheid and ending it in South Africa is taught in general schools in the USA anyway, where of course Mandela would at least be mentioned. More would be taught about Martin Luther King of course.

Nevermind. Sorry to hear of the assault on you.

[pitrevie]

I saw the news before she did but of course she knew who he was and felt sad at his passing. To be fair she was probably more upset at the passing of Paul Walker.

I had never heard of Paul Walker until this week and I still don't know what he was famous for so your wife is ahead of me on that one.

[Neeranam]

The passing of Paul Walker was also very sad, but who can miss the irony of him dying in a car crash,

Who was Paul Walker?

[thaibeachlovers]

I saw the news before she did but of course she knew who he was and felt sad at his passing. To be fair she was probably more upset at the passing of Paul Walker.

When Paul Walker died my wife was upset, but I didn't know who he was, LOL. I just asked her and she doesn't know who Mandela was.

Why should Thais know about Mandela?

When reporters ask Americans in the street about current affairs some of them don't know who the vice president is, and we all know that Americans know very little about other countries. So why should Thais be expected to know about Sth Africa and its politics?

[dao16]

Mine didn't know, but had heard about apartheid in SA and that they had a black president. So....

I did make sure to include him in a class here in Thailand about foreign countries when we talked about South Africa. As for people saying that people in English-speaking countries outside of SA don't know about him.....I don't know anyone who fits that profile and doesn't know about Mandela. He was a great man, especially for how he dealt with his time after incarceration. Honestly, I think I would have come out of jail wanting blood...I am not as good a person as he was. Just make a quick comparison with SA and Zimbabwe and see what could have happened.

[mariner16]

Okay just done the test and yes she knows as much as the average person about Nelson Mandela as I thought she would. Because for somebody that was taken from school at 14 to work on the family farm she is surprisingly well read and has educated herself at night school.

However just for the record neither of us had any idea who Paul Walker was until two days ago.

[rgs2001uk]

Yes my mrs has heard of him, thats it.

Thankfully she hasnt been subjected to western PC brainwashing.

[bkkgriz]

I teach a very intelligent high school student and she really knew nothing about him or what he did. World history or world current events are just not taught in school here.

[Mario2008]

Several posts removed, be respectful of the man or do not reply. We are not going to discuss apartheid and terrorism here.

[Soutpeel]

Yes she does and even seen his jail cell on robben island

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[HeavyDrinker]

I just got asked :Who was the 'chocolate man;' who died? these past two days mainly from cabbies.

[Opl]

To someone who knew nothing about N. Mandela , his death is also an opportunity to explain the concept of political consciousness.. this would be his legacy.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Opl

[DrTuner]

Wife knew he was an old man from Africa. Positively surprised. Stepdaughter knows who he was and what Apartheid meant, apparently international school does pay off.

[Paangjang]

Not exactly relevent but the girl serving me in central yesterday asked me where i was from. Her next question was "Is the UK in America?" Her geography teacher needs a lesson or two himself.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Paangjang

[thailiketoo]

Not exactly relevent but the girl serving me in central yesterday asked me where i was from. Her next question was "Is the UK in America?" Her geography teacher needs a lesson or two himself.

Did you tell her you were from the UK or Bratet Angret?

[rgs2001uk]

Not exactly relevent but the girl serving me in central yesterday asked me where i was from. Her next question was "Is the UK in America?" Her geography teacher needs a lesson or two himself.

Her geography teacher needs a lesson or two himself.

Wasnt one of those Fillipino teachers being discussed on another thread was it?

Gawd forbid, not another KSR dreadlocked hippy type.

[A1Str8]

This is caused by two things.

First, the Thai education system sucks so hard that few things can compete with its lameness. Students are not taught anything regarding to what is going on in the world. A prime example of that is when Chula Uni students had no idea who Hitler was otherwise they would have not presented him as a fuc_ing hero. But that's just one example, the list is endless.

Second, their behavior. Their usual approach to things. The famous Thai ignorance. Though I like Thais, and have nothing against them if there is one thing that keeps them away from making any progress is this attitude. Like a horse that cannot see anything only what's right in front of him.

But that is actually changing as the entire nation is becoming more and more westernized.

[Mario2008]

1 post removed, see earlier warning.

[rgs2001uk]

This is caused by two things.

First, the Thai education system sucks so hard that few things can compete with its lameness. Students are not taught anything regarding to what is going on in the world. A prime example of that is when Chula Uni students had no idea who Hitler was otherwise they would have not presented him as a fuc_ing hero. But that's just one example, the list is endless.

Second, their behavior. Their usual approach to things. The famous Thai ignorance. Though I like Thais, and have nothing against them if there is one thing that keeps them away from making any progress is this attitude. Like a horse that cannot see anything only what's right in front of him.

But that is actually changing as the entire nation is becoming more and more westernized.

Sorry, cant agree with you there.

This is Asia, for some reason or another Asians like strong leaders, maybe tied into nationalism or patriotism, I dont know.

Some of the people my mrs respects, George Bush, he didnt take shit, Saddam Hussein, he stood up to the west, OBL she thinks of him as a patriot.

She asked me, wasnt NM a commie?

Whether I agree or not with her way of thinking is irrelevant, its an insight into the way of thinking over here.

[TheSpade]

I doubt if you asked many young Westerners who he was they would know. They might be able at best to tell you "he was some black guy" but I doubt they'd know what he did or what his story was.

I don't recall ever being taught about Mandela at school. Some people just learn about this sort of thing through their own doing and others never do.

I can think of countless historical figures that I could mention and half my mates or family wouldn't know who they were or what I was on about - Chairman Mao, Che Guevara, Pol Pot, Ghandi, Ho Chi Minh etc etc etc.

Not exactly relevent but the girl serving me in central yesterday asked me where i was from. Her next question was "Is the UK in America?" Her geography teacher needs a lesson or two himself.

I told a Thai girl we were going out for Mexican food and asked if she'd tried it before. She told me "just KFC and McDonalds", I said "but they are American fast food not Mexican" she replied "America is part of Mexico isn't it?".

I loved that!

Edited December 7, 2013 by TheSpade