Yellowstone tourist video prompts fierce Thai social media witch-hunt

[LannaGuy]

Pongsuk said: “He admitted feeling angry, and failed to find the proper words to request that the "foreigner" delete the clip.”

 

BS he reacted in the 'Thai Way' and now he's thinking better of it. He thought he could demand, bully and insist and he can't. Sorry son you are not 'special' and can demand nothing. Be respectful of the place you are visiting and keep your big mouth shut.

[asiaexpat]

I could almost accept the excuses given by the each trespasser if it were not for the fact that in Thailand foreigners are expected to follow the the rules even when there is no sign at all. Foreign visitors are punished for even feeding fish, so the news reports. Why should Thais then be exempted from using common sense and following the rules. As to witch-hunting, there is no excuse for online bullying, but expression of opinions should be fair.

[soistalker]

1 minute ago, LannaGuy said:

Pongsuk said: “He admitted feeling angry, and failed to find the proper words to request that the "foreigner" delete the clip.”

 

BS he reacted in the 'Thai Way' and now he's thinking better of it. He thought he could demand, bully and insist and he can't. Sorry son you are not 'special' and can demand nothing. Be respectful of the place you are visiting and keep your big mouth shut.

Probably his first time out of Thailand, and he didn't know that if he got into a fight with the guy filming that probably every other farang in the area wouldn't joyfully rush over to get their punches and kicks in.

[barefootbangkok]

Is it unusual that in a country where people ride motorcycles on the wrong side of the road, where bribes are commonplace, cutting in line is acceptable and basically, rules are made to be broken, that when it's citizens travel abroad that they break the rules of other countries freely? The question is whether the persons persecuting these tourists are law abiding themselves or not???

[tonray]

3 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Amazing how overblown this incident has become. Yes, stupidly dangerous to do what they did. No, they did not kill a baby elephant. 

Good point. Where is the Social Media outrage at the Elephant corral in Ayutthaya (float market) ? Elephants chained with 1/2 meter long chains to an iro post so noisy school kids  can gawk at them in the hot sun all day. How about a campaign to shame them ?

[tonray]

9 minutes ago, barefootbangkok said:

Is it unusual that in a country where people ride motorcycles on the wrong side of the road, where bribes are commonplace, cutting in line is acceptable and basically, rules are made to be broken, that when it's citizens travel abroad that they break the rules of other countries freely? The question is whether the persons persecuting these tourists are law abiding themselves or not???

Are we talking about Americans in Thailand or vice versa ?

[Bluespunk]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

the tourists, who apparently ventured into an off-limits area of the park unknowingly. The original video shows a warning sign saying the area was dangerous, but the sign was small and poorly displayed.

BS. 

 

They knew. 

[Bluespunk]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

According to Nukool, his group had followed a group of Westerners who had already been in the same area.

 

He also said they immediately left the area after a Westerner shouted a warning. 

BS. 

[hobobo]

2 hours ago, yankee99 said:

reminds me of some incident in thailand of a russian arrested for feeding a fish or another almost arrested for taking a photo with a star fish

Ergo, arrest the Thais, fine them $250 each (seems reasonable but fair), deport them...

[Scouse123]

Trying to take a fair balanced view on this minor infraction but hopefully put some common sense into it.

 

I honestly think if it's a national park and world famous tourist attraction then signs need to be more prominent, larger and in a visually expressive version that can easily be understood by most people, multiple cultures from different countries. After all, it is a world tourism site.

 

The lady could easily have been embarrassed by her mistake and was very possibly trying to make the man understand she was from Thailand and didn't actually realize she had made an error. It is well known that Thais and Asian cultures will smile or laugh to shield embarrassment or ' loss of face ' . This sometimes and often gets misinterpreted by Western people as rude, arrogant or non caring when it's quite the opposite.

 

The Thai man had no right to order the deletion of the clip by the man filming it. The man had every right to film what he pleases.

 

Some Thais seem to forget where they are and who they are talking to when they are in a foreign country. They seem to desire and demand the same rules of law and etiquette in the USA, Australia and Europe which they  seek to deny to us, as westerners, in Thailand, with the tired old and worn cliche ' If you don't like it, go back to your country! '

 

A lot of this self importance tends to stem from lack of proper education and omissions of true historical facts during their schooling.

 

In addition, the constant brainwashing in schools and universities that you ' Be proud to be Thai ' and ' Thailand has never been colonized ' attempting to give the false impression that Thailand's mighty military stood on the borders scaring away all foreign powers during the 1800s and 1900s when the rest of us know this to be nonsense. They give the impression they invited the Japanese in as allies, when we all know, the Japanese would have walked in anyway.Had they also not agreed to ridiculous unfair British treaties in the 1800s, so would the British. A very sad but true state of affairs which represented colonialism at that point in time in history.

 

All the above being said, we are talking about some people that inadvertently wandered into an unsafe area where they could easily have placed themselves in danger. Had this been explained to the tourists instead of the over reaction by both the Thai male and the guy making the video, it would have faded away like the ' storm in a teacup' that it was.

[sn1per]

There probably wouldn't have been a problem if the entry fee for foreigners was ten times more than for locals.

[Rimmer]

An off topic troll post has been removerd

[Mrjlh]

All persons in the video who were in the "wrong" will be prostituted if caught not just the Thais.  It also is some what amazing how ignorant people are when it comes to protecting wildlife areas on this planet.  But considering some of the expats comments here it no longer surprises me.

 

[Knocker33]

I follow farang,not my fault. Farang fault

[bananafish]

Soon we'll need to wear masks in the streets to protect our anonymity from online trolls. 

[Thaidream]

This is a perfect example of why not to use such social media as Facebook unless it is restricted to a certain circle of friends. Keeping an open social network access to the whole World is not smart in this day and age.

 

IMHO too much is being made of the incident- they were tourists to the US and spoke little English just as most tourists cannot speak Thai.  Yes, they should not have entered the area they did and they were called out for it by the local 'guide'. They made a mistake. Many tourists come to Thailand and show a lack of respect for Thai sensitivities. Most do it out of ignorance.

 

Live and let live. More important things in life to be upset about .

[gummy]

49 minutes ago, barefootbangkok said:

Is it unusual that in a country where people ride motorcycles on the wrong side of the road, where bribes are commonplace, cutting in line is acceptable and basically, rules are made to be broken, that when it's citizens travel abroad that they break the rules of other countries freely? The question is whether the persons persecuting these tourists are law abiding themselves or not???

The question has nothing to do with the persons  who shall be prosecuting.  It is a about Thais, as witnessed,  in this case breaking the laws.  However expecting Thais to be law abiding citizens is a big stretch of the imagination

Edited August 17, 2017 by gummy

[gandalf12]

48 minutes ago, barefootbangkok said:

Is it unusual that in a country where people ride motorcycles on the wrong side of the road, where bribes are commonplace, cutting in line is acceptable and basically, rules are made to be broken, that when it's citizens travel abroad that they break the rules of other countries freely? The question is whether the persons persecuting these tourists are law abiding themselves or not???

If you break the rules and get told about it dont complain. It is irrelevant if the person videoing it breaks the rules or not. At the time he was obeying the rules

[Dustdevil]

2 hours ago, gr8fldanielle said:

what about if it was really dangerous it would have had a larger sign?

Are they changing their story? We followed some farang so it's OK, right?

It's not OK.

There was a larger sign elsewhere nearby, perhaps at then park entrance.

[Thaidream]

I have to believe if someone would have been able to explain to the Thai tourists that the area was restricted and was a danger to them that they would have left the area. The sign itself was not user friendly- it was way too small and should have had a large disclaimer indicating death was a possibility if entering the area.  While the Thais were wrong and it would have been better if they simply said- Sorry- the 'guide' spoke to them in an impudent way without any explanation of why the area was off limits.

[barefootbangkok]

26 minutes ago, gandalf12 said:

If you break the rules and get told about it dont complain. It is irrelevant if the person videoing it breaks the rules or not. At the time he was obeying the rules

Sorry the article and my comments are about Thai netizens persecuting Thai tourists breaking park safety rules. This is not a comment about the videographer.

[Aquanaut]

32 minutes ago, Mrjlh said:

All persons in the video who were in the "wrong" will be prostituted if caught not just the Thais.  It also is some what amazing how ignorant people are when it comes to protecting wildlife areas on this planet.  But considering some of the expats comments here it no longer surprises me.

 

We knew what you meant, MrJLH :) 
Still.... LOL

[Maestro]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

...the tourists, who apparently ventured into an off-limits area of the park unknowingly...

 

If I understand the news article correctly, Nukool Moolchot is the man who confronted Jim, the man who took the video. Here is the scene in the video where Nukool said he knew his group of people was not supposed to have gone there, to the off-limits area:

https://youtu.be/0GYelaPH0Hg?t=163

 

Jim: "You're not supposed to be out there"

Nokool: "Yes, I know"

 

Quote

[Nukool] also said they immediately left the area after a Westerner shouted a warning

 

I watched the video once more. At 0:46 Jim calls out his warning "Hey, get out of there!"

After that, four people of his group continue to walk about in the off-limits area and set up a photo shoot. At 2:07, Jim repeats his warning: "Get out of there" and the woman who took the photos replies "I know". At 2:36, the last person of the group leaves the forbidden area.

[Rimmer]

TWO troll posts have been removed, one a yawn comment and one a slow news day comment:

 

From the forum rules:

Comments such as "slow news day" or "clickbait headline" are neither respectful nor welcome on the forum, and will be considered as troll comments and removed and the offending poster warned and/or suspended accordingly.

[zydeco]

18 minutes ago, Maestro said:

 

If I understand the news article correctly, Nukool Moolchot is the man who confronted Jim, the man who took the video. Here is the scene in the video where Nukool said he knew his group of people was not supposed to have gone there, to the off-limits area:

https://youtu.be/0GYelaPH0Hg?t=163

 

Jim: "You're not supposed to be out there"

Nokool: "Yes, I know"

 

 

I watched the video once more. At 0:46 Jim calls out his warning "Hey, get out of there!"

After that, four people of his group continue to walk about in the off-limits area and set up a photo shoot. At 2:07, Jim repeats his warning: "Get out of there" and the woman who took the photos replies "I know". At 2:36, the last person of the group leaves the forbidden area.

It would have been so much better if Jim had simply said: "It's dangerous, get out of there."

[Lucky mike]

Time to forgive and forget?

[CanuckThai]

The childish Thai "witch hunt" threat reminds me of the pack mentality of the sword/machete carrying teenagers,  the head stomping 7 to 1 ratio gang beatings, or maybe the all too frequent jealous husband/boyfriend beating/murdering the wife/girlfriend scenarios.  

[timber]

CanuckThai  the U.S. has a different role model these days.  Used call it overkill a while back.  I would think a service organization would indicate the problem and ensure proper procedures were followed.  If they weren't then follow procedures.  

 

Edited August 17, 2017 by timber

[Morakot]

Quote

Yellowstone tourist video prompts fierce Thai social media witch-hunt

 

What's this all about?

 

Could we please have a proper journalistic summary, rather than relaying some undigested social media nonsense.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Morakot

[Puccini]

22 minutes ago, zydeco said:

It would have been so much better if Jim had simply said: "It's dangerous, get out of there."

 

It would have been even better if Jim had spoken Thai. The three persons heard speaking English in the video did not give the impression that they would have understood English well.