@ Neeranam As much as I'd love to entangle myself in a deep discussion about your contradictions, from experience neither side profits. But, just for a tease, no to the first question.

A quote would be nice.

If it's the post I'm thinking of, that means yes to the last question about mind-altering substances.

Never known anyone who loves to entangle themselves.

Why would a responsibly father take their 2 year old son on a bike adventure in the first place? Especially in a country that has such a high road fatality rate.

If he was successful he might have made the Guinness book of records, but one can be assured he will never win the father of the year award.

RIP to him however and I hope his wife and child make a full recovery. Poor kid...

[...]

And the driver will go to temple to thanks Buddha that nothing happened to him !!

In case you didn't know - nearly all Thais have an unshakable belief in Karma, as do half the world's population. If you don't know what it is check this link. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=karma

Once you understand this, you might understand why Thailand has a different culture than yours. Not better nor worse but different.

Someone is killed - they believe this is neither good nor bad but just the way it is.

What utter utter BS. And was never in the teachings of Buddha. Interpreted as such possibly by the small minded. How can it possibly be true that you have no control over your life's events but are ruled by the actions of someone now dead but who you have no awareness of. The best you can hope for is that your own actions may benefit some future being. There's a contradiction in there straight away. Most religions are undoubtedly based on fantasy, but what you are teaching Neerabam takes it to a whole new level. Wow! So that's Thainess is it?

You do have control over your life. Your every day thoughts and actions make it into what it is now. The control issue is probably comparable to how things work after you have committed a major crime, let's say a murder, to pick an easy (and extreme) example. You still have total control over your decisions while not caught yet but you have created a causal chain of events that has the likelihood of majorly influencing your future.

The alternative explanations "everything is random" or "there is some guy with a beard in the sky who has a sick sense of humor" just don't make much sense, no?

We cannot see our past life's and actions, of course, so it's near impossible to see the direct connection and how Karma works. I believe that certain actions determine if we die later or earlier in life and if it's through an accident/crime/illness or peacefully. For me, that works and I would not want to know what I did in the past and what my exact future will be.

Many countries have Buddhist thinking as an integral part of their culture and they aren't all like Thailand, so that isn't the full explanation.

Edited March 24, 201511 yr by mrdome

There's only one safe way to use the roads in Thailand ... that's in a tank. This is not the first time a cycling tourist has been killed and because the Thais don't care it won't be the last.

Looks like Americans don't care either. http://road.cc/content/news/134142-more-cyclists-being-killed-us-roads-%E2%80%93-changes-correlate-increase-cycle-commuters

And the Brits. http://www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/pedal-cyclists/facts-figures/

And the Dutch. http://www.iamexpat.nl/read-and-discuss/expat-page/news/cyclist-deaths-not-falling-netherlands

Why can't these dammed Thais be more like us ?