Quote: “They’re so clearly against us, so how can we still go to McDonald’s? Think about it … Are you actually Thai?”

What kind of rhetoric is that? So if one is Thai, it also means one should be ok with ills like slavery? What misplaced nationalism/Thainess.

When I try to discuss the slavery on Thai fishing vessels with my Thai inlaws and even my wife's 'educated' circle of friends, I receive a lot of frowns.

Most Thais have no clue of what's going on. When foreign nations are complaining about Thai industries and practices, its easy to understand why nationalist emotions come up. Its part of the strong feeling of insecurity that is prevalent in this society.

Spot on about the insecurity bit. What breeds insecurity is lack of knowledge and with the general population's general reluctance to bury their faces into anything more complicated than Facebook updates or Line stickers, or their fixation on getting more 'Likes', as opposed to garnering more general knowledge, they'll just bury their heads deeper into the sand. Garnish that with a generous layer of save-face-at-all-costs and there's your Thai societal fabric. The combination of these traits, if I could call it that, is in my opinion what gives rise to the standard, automatic responses whenever there is even a hint of a suggestion that anything is wrong with Thais or Thailand. Answers can range from frowns from friends and in-laws to the more steadfast "Noooooo!!! No Thais can do/are capable of doing this/that." Or something along this line. Ok, the observation might be somewhat harsh, but not too far from the truth, I'd venture.

Is there really fish in the fishburger?

..possibly but it goes in a bun with:

Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Yeast, Soybean Oil and/or Canola Oil, Contains 2% or Less: Salt, Wheat Gluten, Calcium Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammonium Chloride, Dough Conditioners (May Contain One or More of: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, DATEM, Ascorbic Acid, Azodicarbonamide, Mono and Diglycerides, Ethoxylated Monoglycerides, Monocalcium Phosphate, Enzymes, Guar Gum, Calcium Peroxide), Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Calcium Propionate and/or Sodium Propionate (Preservatives), Soy Lecithin.

blimey, I make my own bread,, it contains bread flour, water, olive oil, yeast, little salt and sugar and some elbow grease.

This looks like a Science project.

I have a backing machine....so I removed the elbow grease

I should buy one, will make it easier. After all we don't want to complicate something as simple as bread,, we should have a word with those idiots at Macdonlads and show them how its done properly,,