News Forum - Canadian man arrested for stealing traffic barriers in Chiang Mai

[Highlandman]

On 5/21/2022 at 6:57 AM, Fanta said:

I just point back and say “khon Thai, khon Thai” and, of course, smile.

I do that too, to make fun of them.

I also make a habit of greeting people in their language very prominently. One time in Mae Sot, some illegal person was selling cigarettes in no man's land behind the market on the other side of the barrier.

I walked past and yelled out MINGALABA!! and he mumbled something in Burmese in response.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Highlandman

[Highlandman]

3 minutes ago, Fanta said:

Unacceptable to you. Calling a spade a spade makes sense. Thailand has a largely homogenous population so it stands to reason that anything not perceived as typical gets a label to differentiate it. 

Thailand isn't that homogeneous. If we want to call a "spade a spade" then I will point out to Thais that the ethnic Chinese aren't really Thais.

And again, it's racist.

Thais should be teaching their children useful life skills not how to discriminate. Look at how they run away when they see a black person or how they talk about Indians.

[Saltire]

Perhaps they need to review teaching materials? 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by KaptainRob
Refer Forum Guidelines re images

[Soidog]

2 hours ago, Highlandman said:

Australia is overly politically correct, Switzerland less so and Thailand of course not at all.

Yes I agree. Switzerland seems to have the balance. Certainly the U.K. is more like how you describe Australia. I think one of the reasons is that both are multicultural societies and hence see a need to be aware of offending or marginalising minorities. The Thais have no such concerns. f you’re not Thai, they don’t care, even though they rely on 40 million visiting the country each year. They may not see themselves as multicultural, but you would think they may try harder; especially the English media. 

[Cabra]

I don't find it surprising at all that an old timer on a fixed  pension resorts to petty crime to make ends meet. Probably more common than you think (in many countries regardless of nationality). 

[Soidog]

3 hours ago, Fanta said:

Thailand has a largely homogenous population so it stands to reason that anything not perceived as typical gets a label to differentiate it. 

I get where you are coming from, especially in terms of people who are deemed residents of the country. However, Thailand is far from homogeneous in the sense that they are “pure Thai”. Many are from ethnic Chinese backgrounds for example. In addition, Thailand has for years been welcoming millions and millions of foreigners from all over the world. Their daily interactions in Bangkok and many other places should result in a better understanding of the world. In my view it is all to do with a carefully choreographed approach to education. Creating a “Them and Us” culture is another means of control. The leaders can use this narrative to install a sense of  “we are your protectors”.

[Khunmark]

5 hours ago, Highlandman said:

That's true, but in Europe for instance, for example in Switzerland, the nationality of a perpetrator is almost always mentioned. They will say something like "a 35 year old Swiss man was arrested for...." or "a 42 year old Ethiopian man was arrested for..."

In Australia on the other hand, you might have an Asian person who is then described as "a Melbourne woman" because she lives there, but she's actually a Chinese national who is a student in the country.

Australia is overly politically correct, Switzerland less so and Thailand of course not at all.

None of this is correct. You may have certain views on how you feel stories are reported in the news, but to make stuff up to emphasize your point is another thing entirely.

[ThaiFoodGuy]

8 hours ago, Highlandman said:

And again, it's racist.

Can someone please explain to me what's racist about the word "farang"?

My understanding is that, factually, it originates from Germanic traders (Francs), and the difficulty in the Thai lexicon in pronouncing the word in the same manner as its native French speakers, and thus "Farang". Being that the Francs were white Europeans, the term Farang is applied to white people in general.

The Thai word for French language (francais), for example, is "farangset" because phonetically it makes more sense in the Thai lexicon to pronounce it in a similar manner to other Thai words rather than the rolling R and ending the word with an S, which doesn't occur in Thai and therefore doesn't make sense to a Thai speaker. Similarly the word for the country France is "prathet farangset".

So my question isn't rhetorical but I really haven't been convinced to date that the term is actually racist, but the perception of the term, or its use, could be racist. Tim used an example on air once that farang is racist because it's like calling a black person black. Well, black people are black, saying so isn't racist, but using their description in a pejorative way would be racist.

Is that the case with the word Farang? "That dirty farang" arguably has racist intent.

[Benroon]

On 5/21/2022 at 12:15 AM, HolyCowCm said:

In this case the mother is lucky that she did not engage me. When p i ss ed off, I can really make a Thai person walkaway feeling they now have two rearend holes to defecate from.

Keep going - soon enough you won't be around long enough to feel anything.

[Benroon]

18 minutes ago, ThaiFoodGuy said:

Can someone please explain to me what's racist about the word "farang"?

 

It isn't racist or discriminatory, and anyone getting upset at a small child using it needs a reality check, however it does provide the haters another avenue to vent their misguided spleen.

[HolyCowCm]

6 hours ago, Benroon said:

Keep going - soon enough you won't be around long enough to feel anything.

Please explain your comment for what your thoughts are.

 

[HolyCowCm]

6 hours ago, Benroon said:

It isn't racist or discriminatory, and anyone getting upset at a small child using it needs a reality check, however it does provide the haters another avenue to vent their misguided spleen.

Sorry I fully disagree with you. Can you speak Thai? Can you understand how it is said with any inflections?

I hav e been arounbd the bush for several decades here and can catch any which way spoke. And this includes from parents kids.

Matter of fact just had one little about 6 year old kid use my way speaking it out loud as I ws about to enter the street for my home after my run. The little kid purposely out load said it twice with his mothe just about 6 feet away. 

He was trying to say it and have his mom hear what he said. 

So I :

1. FI stopped myu bike.

2. Looked at him and his mother who was smiling

3. Stare glanced directly at the kid with my sunglasses still on for a couple of seconds and then at the mom

4. At ths point it was not funny for the Thai mom any more because she realised in this instance it was not or became a bad a good thing becasue it was fully inapropriate for her little darling to say it like this. She then got a sort of red faced nervouse demeanor as I looked at her again trying to crack a phoney Thai smile. 

5. Then I just faced the bike forward direction made a left and down to my house.

It can and is used in many ways of not so nice and respectful cutting. Other times it is used totally fine.

[astro]

16 hours ago, Highlandman said:

Thailand isn't that homogeneous. If we want to call a "spade a spade" then I will point out to Thais that the ethnic Chinese aren't really Thais.

And again, it's racist.

What's racist about it?

[Benroon]

23 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Please explain your comment for what your thoughts are.

ie keep playing Rambo in Thailand and your life expectancy will be lets say, curtailed.

[Benroon]

23 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Sorry I fully disagree with you. Can you speak Thai? Can you understand how it is said with any inflections?

I hav e been arounbd the bush for several decades here and can catch any which way spoke. And this includes from parents kids.

Matter of fact just had one little about 6 year old kid use my way speaking it out loud as I ws about to enter the street for my home after my run. The little kid purposely out load said it twice with his mothe just about 6 feet away. 

He was trying to say it and have his mom hear what he said. 

So I :

1. FI stopped myu bike.

2. Looked at him and his mother who was smiling

3. Stare glanced directly at the kid with my sunglasses still on for a couple of seconds and then at the mom

4. At ths point it was not funny for the Thai mom any more because she realised in this instance it was not or became a bad a good thing becasue it was fully inapropriate for her little darling to say it like this. She then got a sort of red faced nervouse demeanor as I looked at her again trying to crack a phoney Thai smile. 

5. Then I just faced the bike forward direction made a left and down to my house.

It can and is used in many ways of not so nice and respectful cutting. Other times it is used totally fine.

So you had a face off with a 6 year old ?

lol ok dude

[HolyCowCm]

6 hours ago, Benroon said:

So you had a face off with a 6 year old ?

lol ok dude

No. It was a look to the kid and mom with a raised eye brow. Dude!

[HolyCowCm]

6 hours ago, Benroon said:

ie keep playing Rambo in Thailand and your life expectancy will be lets say, curtailed.

Fat chance. Stick to watching your own attitude I would think. I will be fine as have been for over 30 years here thank you. And please don’t comment on anything I post as we don’t t want to have a run around again. Thank you!

[Wanderer]

On 6/14/2022 at 10:48 AM, Fanta said:

Unacceptable to you. Calling a spade a spade makes sense. Thailand has a largely homogenous population so it stands to reason that anything not perceived as typical gets a label to differentiate it. 

Good point, I grew up in the fifties in a very homogenous city in England. There were small communities of West Africans, Chinese and Jews, but basically if you were not white and lived round the corner you were an oddity. 

[Benroon]

13 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Fat chance. Stick to watching your own attitude I would think. I will be fine as have been for over 30 years here thank you. And please don’t comment on anything I post as we don’t t want to have a run around again. Thank you!

Big chance! 

(sadly you don’t get to choose who comments on what and when) 

[TheDirtyDurian]

On 5/21/2022 at 1:58 AM, HolyCowCm said:

I was rding my bike almost to the street entrance to my housing home area 2 days ago and a little girl not more than 5 yrs riding her push bicyle with her mom walking beside her saw me and started saying farang, farang, - - farang. I kind of hit the brakes and chirped to a quick stop and cocked my head looking back right at her with my mask and sunglasses still on. Looked straight at the mom and then direct at the little girl but did not say a thing. Allatteh same time the mother out loud tried to release a hahaha in a very very nervous voice to try to mask it over as was a funny  ok. She really stuttered that hahaha out, but then she instantly knew she had taught her duaghter wrong,l well at least with a person like me that is. Then after 3-4 seconds I cocked my head forward and then turned left to go in and down to my house. The thing weird for me that I have noticed over the years is the Thai people for some reason look at me and think I speak Thai  by how I look and carry myself. Happens everywhere all the time for me,and they are correct. And so the woman quickly knew she made a mistake with her daughter spouting off farang=farang-farang. Daughter did not have a clue.. But I kept my cool, did not say anything to the little (rude) unknowing girl only looking at her, which made my point and then left. 

Thai are pretty hip on character judgment on some foreingers for how we carry ourlselves here.

So what I am getting at is I fully agree with you on most cases when it is said.

Amazing what you can know in 3 seconds. 

Amazing Thailand indeed ..

[TheDirtyDurian]

On 6/14/2022 at 10:45 PM, HolyCowCm said:

Sorry I fully disagree with you. Can you speak Thai? Can you understand how it is said with any inflections?

I hav e been arounbd the bush for several decades here and can catch any which way spoke. And this includes from parents kids.

Matter of fact just had one little about 6 year old kid use my way speaking it out loud as I ws about to enter the street for my home after my run. The little kid purposely out load said it twice with his mothe just about 6 feet away. 

He was trying to say it and have his mom hear what he said. 

So I :

1. FI stopped myu bike.

2. Looked at him and his mother who was smiling

3. Stare glanced directly at the kid with my sunglasses still on for a couple of seconds and then at the mom

4. At ths point it was not funny for the Thai mom any more because she realised in this instance it was not or became a bad a good thing becasue it was fully inapropriate for her little darling to say it like this. She then got a sort of red faced nervouse demeanor as I looked at her again trying to crack a phoney Thai smile. 

5. Then I just faced the bike forward direction made a left and down to my house.

It can and is used in many ways of not so nice and respectful cutting. Other times it is used totally fine.

You really showed them . 

[TheDirtyDurian]

21 hours ago, Benroon said:

ie keep playing Rambo in Thailand and your life expectancy will be lets say, curtailed.

Don't mess. He's on a pushbike!

[Benroon]

19 hours ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

Don't mess. He's on a pushbike!

Thanks for the heads up 

[Benroon]

19 hours ago, TheDirtyDurian said:

You really showed them . 

Reminds me of that joke where Paddy is in court for beating up his 45kg wife and the judge asks him, Paddy your wife is sat there with broken ribs, 2 black eyes and a limp - why do you keep beating her ? 

Paddy replies I think it's my weight and height advantage !

[Marc26]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:50 AM, Fanta said:

In Thailand everyone is a foreigner except a Thai. Following the current trend of generic “norms” means Canadian man —> Foreign Man —> Foreigner —-> Man —-> IAM (Identifies As Male)

Calling a spade a spade, not a shoveling tool that identifies as a spade, is easier

Actually that is not true

 

You never here Thais refer to other Asians as "farang"