Define 'Thainess'

[David48]

Define 'Thainess' ... people talk about ... almost to ad nauseam.

I've never understood what's meant by that.

Can you help me?

.

[sipi]

Isn't the way someone with a speech impediment addresses the Queen?

"Your woyal thianess"

[sipi]

double post. sorry slow connection

Edited December 2, 2014 by sipi

[Costas2008]

I believe it's something similar with Ausiness, Greekness etc. etc.

Every country has it's own culture, way of thinking and living.

Some parts of their "ness" is unique, some are not.

Now it depends to every individual what he likes and what he doesn't about each country's "ness"

[tingtongtourist]

If you listen to the old whingebob geezers on here thainess is everything they can find that is bad about Thailand.

To me the mai pen rai attitude is pretty much the meaning of Thainess.

Same as eat drink and be merry with a smile and "dont think to mutt"

Spent years in my own country with people who obsess over every stupid thing and perpetuate stupid traditions through the generations. Now they shove Political correctness down everyones throat and put guilt trips on all and sundry.

thais are not perfect but at least you dont hear everyone obsessing over the latest bad news on tv

[rgs2001uk]

Farang Thainess or Thai Thainess?

How Thai are you, are you at one with your Thainess?

When you got married did you wear a Thai style suit to improve your Thainess?

[mrtoad]

This is becoming like any thread discussing "Farang"

[ezzra]

In my humble opinion, Thai-ness is undefinable even by the Thai people themselves, I often wonder

how come this country doesn't implodes onto itself, as not much in this country make sense to

us foreigners... to me, this country is a big enigma...

[StreetCowboy]

 

I believe it's something similar with Ausiness, Greekness etc. etc.

Every country has it's own culture, way of thinking and living.

Some parts of their "ness" is unique, some are not.

Now it depends to every individual what he likes and what he doesn't about each country's "ness"

 

We have our own Loch Ness, but i think that's different

SC

[Berkshire]

I believe it's something similar with Ausiness, Greekness etc. etc.

Every country has it's own culture, way of thinking and living.

Some parts of their "ness" is unique, some are not.

Now it depends to every individual what he likes and what he doesn't about each country's "ness"

Exactly. "Thainess" is exactly the same as "Americaness," except it's unique to Thailand.

[HooHaa]

its a catch-all for everything that miserable gits dont like or understand about thailand

[In Search of Space]

Everything & Nothing is what it means

[NoshowJones]

If you listen to the old whingebob geezers on here thainess is everything they can find that is bad about Thailand.

To me the mai pen rai attitude is pretty much the meaning of Thainess.

Same as eat drink and be merry with a smile and "dont think to mutt"

Spent years in my own country with people who obsess over every stupid thing and perpetuate stupid traditions through the generations. Now they shove Political correctness down everyones throat and put guilt trips on all and sundry.

thais are not perfect but at least you dont hear everyone obsessing over the latest bad news on tv

What's Britishness? Still living in the eighteenth century, with lawyers prancing about courtrooms wearing silly looking wigs, they look more feminine than the Greeks wearing mini skirts. Is that a compliment Mr Costas. Sorry for being off topic a little bit.

[NoshowJones]

 

I believe it's something similar with Ausiness, Greekness etc. etc.

Every country has it's own culture, way of thinking and living.

Some parts of their "ness" is unique, some are not.

Now it depends to every individual what he likes and what he doesn't about each country's "ness"

 

We have our own Loch Ness, but i think that's different

SC

What about the monster?

[lungbing]

I can define "Thainess" in three simple words :- "me" , "me", "me".

[neverdie]

Too many douchebags on this forum. They want to Thai bash and invent little 'in' words to appease each other. They have little rub sessions and bask in bitching about something they imagine. None of them even have enough brains to remove themselves from the perceived problem. They're douchebags.

Edited December 2, 2014 by neverdie

[neverdie]

This is becoming like any thread discussing "Farang"

Another little rub session.

[StreetCowboy]

 

 

I believe it's something similar with Ausiness, Greekness etc. etc.

Every country has it's own culture, way of thinking and living.

Some parts of their "ness" is unique, some are not.

Now it depends to every individual what he likes and what he doesn't about each country's "ness"

 

We have our own Loch Ness, but i think that's different

SC

What about the monster?

 

It's different. You wouldn't understand. Not unless you're a cheuchter.

[RolandRat]

So what other topics can people think of to allow people to vent their spleen about Thais and Thailand.

I really hate to use the phrase "just leave" but it really does fit the job.

If its all too much, stop moaning and just leave, take your miserable bleeding sob stories and sour puss jibes and and do something about it, LEAVE, stop moaning. Your pool might be sour and full of acidic diatribe because you made poor choices or decisions, but a lot of us didnt but that doesnt mean you have to piss in everyone else's pool.

Go On *** off !

Edited December 2, 2014 by RolandRat

[neverdie]

So what other topics can people think of to allow people to vent their spleen about Thais and Thailand.

I really hate to use the phrase "just leave" but it really does fit the job.

If its all too much, stop moaning and just leave, take your miserable bleeding sob stories and sour puss jibes and and do something about it, LEAVE, stop moaning. Your pool might be sour and full of acidic diatribe because you made poor choices or decisions, but a lot of us didnt but that doesnt mean you have to piss in everyone else's pool.

Go On *** off !

That's it Roland, these drips can't deal with their miserable positions in life and would rather slag off an entire nation of people than to face up and realise they are complete failures, dribble dikk morons.

Sad morons.

[bheard]

Some brilliant points put by Caps Lock. The following two take the cake for me - real Thainess!

7. Thainess is a direct result of Thailand’s feudal system were citizens are afforded a certain value, worth, duty and place in society, with the expectations and indoctrination’, rather than education. One of the particular aspects of this feudal system that has carried over to modern times is the low bowing and prostrating in front of persons or noble rank. Such practices would not have been possible in contemporary society unless decades of enforced indoctrination were engineered, and this is what has occurred in Thailand – with the express intent of preserving elitist control of the state and society.

And

9. I think a serious basic flaw of Thai culture is the “losing face” obsession, which is weaved and indoctrinated into the very fabric of Thai life and culture….from birth to death… top to bottom. Nobody ever talks about it. The avoidance of uncomfortable facts is often encompassed and entwined as being part of the Thainess explanation.

Great stuff. As farang posters we can recognise these things as different from our own situations/values, and they can definitely be described as 'Thainess'. This is not Thai bashing.

[Jimbolai]

The one that takes the cake is the Falang trying to be thaier than thai. They babble Thai at every opportunity. and pretend they speak thai without an accent. When another Falang utters a word in thai the thaier than thai immediately takes the floor and start correcting while pleadingly looking around for approval.

[wabothai]

Clash of cultures brings Thainess and farangness.

[rjcampbe]

Thainess, is portrayed in different quarters as a concept beyond the realm of any foreigner’s understanding , the idea of thinking of the Thai race as being inexplicably different from others is seductive to the Thais, it supports stoking fantasies and supports a shield of mysticism and defence, it is a pipedream and an unparalleled ego trip.

The argument “You don’t understand “Thainess” is often expressed as if it has mythical, complex properties beyond the realm of any Farang to grasp.

Often one hears the old accusation “ A farang cannot know what Thainess is ! ”

The term Thainess when used as a mystifying, incomprehensible thing and as being beyond the ability of a foreigner to understand is frankly a ridiculous response.

Claiming Thainess as a response is a strategy used to try and avoid any further discussion, it is attempted as a game stopper, and it is but BS on a grand scale.

E.G. If in all societies, even the bullshit of religions has been translated and explained into all languages for the masses, then surely Thainess should have also been translated and documented by now.

The true essence of Thainess is off course distillable, it has several components.

1. Thainess is…a belief that supposed Thai ancestry (race) warrants a unique set of admirable values that only those of the same race can understand and which other non-Thais can benefit by but never understand. This is a racist concept.

2. Thainess is…a set of values, some of which are measurable and some not, that those who are real Thais will hold near and dear and propagate as in any other doctrine or cult.

3. Thainess is…a set of beliefs taught and inculcated from childhood through to adulthood that prescribes what a good Thai is from what is not. The education system in Thailand is indoctrination based.

4. Thainess is…defined that a loyal ethnic Thai must hold the nation’s three pillars – the nation, Buddhism and the monarchy – sacred eternal components of Thai society.

5. Thainess is…the collective values of a national society so respecting the three pillars and taking whatever steps are needed to uphold them over and above contemporary thought or democratic pressures.

6. Thainess is…used in collective shunning of individuals or groups that are seen as advocating a different path in life.

7. Thainess is a direct result of Thailand’s feudal system were citizens are afforded a certain value, worth, duty and place in society, with the expectations and indoctrination’, rather than education. One of the particular aspects of this feudal system that has carried over to modern times is the low bowing and prostrating in front of persons or noble rank. Such practices would not have been possible in contemporary society unless decades of enforced indoctrination were engineered, and this is what has occurred in Thailand – with the express intent of preserving elitist control of the state and society.

8. Thainess is like an ‘ism’, like communism, extremist, and atheism and like other ‘ism’s it does pre program people into self-delusion.

9. I think a serious basic flaw of Thai culture is the “losing face” obsession, which is weaved and indoctrinated into the very fabric of Thai life and culture….from birth to death… top to bottom. Nobody ever talks about it. The avoidance of uncomfortable facts is often encompassed and entwined as being part of the Thainess explanation.

10. Beliefs in: spirits, ghosts, magical tattoos, charms to deter evil forces, amulets to guard against any attack, incantations, exorcisms and a nation wide deployment of spirit houses explains that Thai’s expect they can change the laws of the universe.

Thai society has become severely fractured, we have had red and yellow factions, both factions tried to discredit the others as being disloyal Thais and frantically waving flags as proof of their adherence to their version of Thainess. Evidently not all Thais interpret Thainess identically.

Talk about scholarship with an agenda. How does someone become so fanatically hostile and angry towards another culture? That's what I want to know. Heartbreaking, really.

Gecko,

I can't speak for the poster's intent, but in my reading of this I do not see anything hostile.

Every country and culture has some kind of myth that they teach to the next generation. That indoctrination affects how that next generation sees themselves and the world around them. If we are honest about our own countries, we can acknowledge that our own cultures do similar things, sometimes the effects are positive and sometimes they are negative. Just like Thailand.

To me, one of the most interesting things about living in another culture is the opportunity to observe it, and try to understand the forces at work. Not being caught up in the whirlwind of it gives a bit of perspective which enables us to see how the culture and the "-ness" are used to preserve the status quo, as Caps Lock said. Interestingly, to me anyway, is that not living in my home country also provides a level of objectivity that was hard to accomplish when I lived there. I, for one, could easily replace the word Thai with "American" in almost every instance and the statements would still be essentially correct.

I say "almost" all because:

1) I don't think there is a parallel sentiment for Caps Lock's first component.

4) change it to the Constitution, Roe v, Wade, and the Right to Bear Arms and you are there.

5) so many examples... patriot act, NSA, the invasive body scan radar when travelling through a US airport

7 & 8) add Capital-ISM to the list. In the end, regardless of the mechanism, it's all about preserving "elitist control of the state and society".

10) American's believe in various mythical beings who they think will solve their problems, cure their ills, and save them from evil... How's it any different?

[Yarinda]

kreng jai

[metisdead]

Define Thainess? Just another excuse to post slurs and degrading comments about Thais and other nationalities in comparisons:

11) You will not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, specific locations, Thai institutions such as the judicial or law enforcement system, Thai culture, Thai people or any other group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

Define Thainess v.3279 now closed.