News Forum - Thai teacher’s social media post divides opinion: Humour or grossly inappropriate?

[Thaiger]

The social media community is reeling following the discovery of a Thai schoolteacher who posted a photo of a kindergarten student with a teasing caption stating… “Why was my soulmate born so late?” After the post was shared yesterday, the incident sparked a significant online response and raised eyebrows about the type of people allowed … …

The story Thai teacher’s social media post divides opinion: Humour or grossly inappropriate? as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Karolyn]

Harmless I presume? 

[palooka]

Innocent maternal instincts, possibly innocently portrayed and then "maybe" taken totally out of context.

Amazing how the shit aspects of western society arrive here in full force ahead of the good aspects.

I'd use a 4-letter word to describe this sort of behaviour, but the site forbids it.

The word does not start with F and end K, starts with W and ends in E, and this site is subservient.

Whoops. Bye Bye.

[BigHewer]

Ridiculous that this caused a furore and glad there is pushback.

[Pinetree]

  On 7/7/2023 at 8:56 AM, Karolyn said:

Harmless I presume? 

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Maybe, but insensitive and inappropriate, certainly. 

[Pinetree]

  On 7/7/2023 at 1:02 PM, BigHewer said:

Ridiculous that this caused a furore and glad there is pushback.

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The bad reaction was entirely predictable. He must have cloth between his ears not to have predicted that. 

[HolyCowCm]

[Pinetree]

  On 7/7/2023 at 12:33 PM, palooka said:

Amazing how the shit aspects of western society arrive here in full force ahead of the good aspects.

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Watch Thai news for long, or indeed the news in any country, Western or Asian,  regarding instances of child abuse/exploration and you wouldn't write that. 

[Marc26]

  On 7/7/2023 at 12:33 PM, palooka said:

Innocent maternal instincts, possibly innocently portrayed and then "maybe" taken totally out of context.

Amazing how the shit aspects of western society arrive here in full force ahead of the good aspects.

I'd use a 4-letter word to describe this sort of behaviour, but the site forbids it.

The word does not start with F and end K, starts with W and ends in E, and this site is subservient.

Whoops. Bye Bye.

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Shit aspects of Western Society?

Thailand is absolutely rife with child sex abuse

They don't need any help from "Western Society " in that regard 

PS....If you don't think what that teacher said is totally bizarre I don't know what to think, honestly 

[Marc26]

  On 7/8/2023 at 5:31 AM, Pinetree said:

Watch Thai news for long, or indeed the news in any country, Western or Asian,  regarding instances of child abuse/exploration and you wouldn't write that. 

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Exactly what I said

Spend any time in a Thai village and you see multiple instances of it swiped under the rug or shrugged off

My damn wife slept in a box at her mother's work "like a puppy"

Because she said "my Mom said I was too pretty too stay alone"

Yeah.....Thailand doesn't need any Western influences when it comes to this stuff 

[HolyCowCm]

Well. When I was really really young I used to have the hots for Rachael Welch. I this is before I even knew boys could sport wood. And then there was when I was about 8yrs old and there was this college girl working at McDonalds that I was head ove heals big crush on. Why did both of these female soulmates of mine have to be born so early? I can go on and on about how many soulmates I have or had.

[Karolyn]

Thailand isn't neurotic about paedophilia.

Thailand also isn't the culture, where girls too young to have public hairs, are sexualised.

Thailand however is presented as perverted by the culture that does.

Prefer Thai culture IMO

[palooka]

  On 7/8/2023 at 6:16 AM, Marc26 said:

PS....If you don't think what that teacher said is totally bizarre I don't know what to think, honestly 

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Please remember this story has been translated from Thai to English.

Even the best translators (the ones we pay big baht to translate to appease the Thai bureaucracy) get it wrong.  

So maybe the translation of that particular statement deserves the benefit of the doubt.

[palooka]

  On 7/8/2023 at 10:08 AM, Karolyn said:

Thailand isn't neurotic about paedophilia.

Thailand also isn't the culture, where girls too young to have public hairs, are sexualised.

Thailand however is presented as perverted by the culture that does.

Prefer Thai culture IMO

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Had to read twice, you have a valid point.

Africa is home to a Pygmy race that marry and have children at 10 years, the adult life expectancy is 30 years.

So, are they paedos, or normal humans?

We bring many preconceived expectations to Thailand based on our experience of western culture and upbringing in western society and demand it be upheld in Thailand. 

Are we right to do this?

Or do Thais have the right to their own version of culture be what it may?

Has a few odd quirks, I must admit.

Don't get a haircut on Wednesday. Bad Karma.

No sex on Monk Day - which is guided by the moon quarters.

Spirit belief, we've all seen the spirit houses at individual homes and at the village centre.

Been a witness to supposed spirit possessions of individuals at (I think an annual village ceremony) the gift, feeding and calling on the spirits to come forth. Two did.

Even seen a (???) spirit take over a physical body (female monk) in a temple in front of monks who didn't bat an eyelid.

No physical harm (mental ???) is done to the person who are possessed it seems and they have no recollection of the event afterwards.

My apologises to all that believe that this isn't the Thailand they know.

You live in a city with shopping malls and western ideals and the everyday the real aspects of Thai culture pass you by and you are unaware of the passing. Bit sad.

[ChrisS]

The teacher needs to be monitored very carefully for one of two reasons so far as I can see.

1 The teacher is a nonce and should be nowhere near children

2 The teacher is stupid and therefore should not be 'educating' others. (You would surely need to be REALLY stupid to post something like this along with a picture of one of your students).

It could be of course that the teacher is a combination of both of the above.

[Marc26]

  On 7/8/2023 at 11:52 AM, palooka said:

Please remember this story has been translated from Thai to English.

Even the best translators (the ones we pay big baht to translate to appease the Thai bureaucracy) get it wrong.  

So maybe the translation of that particular statement deserves the benefit of the doubt.

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I was actually thinking that when I wrote that 

That maybe the translation was bad

But the people upset were mostly Thai, no?

So they would have known what was written in Thai???

At least that's how it reads

[Marc26]

  On 7/8/2023 at 10:08 AM, Karolyn said:

Thailand isn't neurotic about paedophilia.

Thailand also isn't the culture, where girls too young to have public hairs, are sexualised.

Thailand however is presented as perverted by the culture that does.

Prefer Thai culture IMO

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Then you aren't looking very hard

[Karolyn]

  On 7/8/2023 at 12:42 PM, palooka said:

Had to read twice, you have a valid point.

Africa is home to a Pygmy race that marry and have children at 10 years, the adult life expectancy is 30 years.

So, are they paedos, or normal humans?

We bring many preconceived expectations to Thailand based on our experience of western culture and upbringing in western society and demand it be upheld in Thailand. 

Are we right to do this?

Or do Thais have the right to their own version of culture be what it may?

Has a few odd quirks, I must admit.

Don't get a haircut on Wednesday. Bad Karma.

No sex on Monk Day - which is guided by the moon quarters.

Spirit belief, we've all seen the spirit houses at individual homes and at the village centre.

Been a witness to supposed spirit possessions of individuals at (I think an annual village ceremony) the gift, feeding and calling on the spirits to come forth. Two did.

Even seen a (???) spirit take over a physical body (female monk) in a temple in front of monks who didn't bat an eyelid.

No physical harm (mental ???) is done to the person who are possessed it seems and they have no recollection of the event afterwards.

My apologises to all that believe that this isn't the Thailand they know.

You live in a city with shopping malls and western ideals and the everyday the real aspects of Thai culture pass you by and you are unaware of the passing. Bit sad.

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This reminds me of my anime fad, and reading books about exoticised Japanese media tropes. Because we're just as quirky to them, and to other Europeans, even. For instance the horse meat taboo, of uncertain origins, it surprises the French - all the more so, because no one is sure why it exists. It looks like a forgotten religious taboo, either a relict of 'pagan survival' sort, or an artist of conversion to Christianity. The latter explanation is commoner now, but the distribution of the taboo in Europe, suggests totemism. Similar taboos against the meat of other animals, such as eels and bears, exist in Europe, and a totemic origin isn't really questioned. But in any case, all cultures seem quirky when they are examined by foreigners.

As regards child nudity, paedophilia, etc. I remember as a young child in England, my nudity even around strangers was fine. Nothing sexual was presumed. It still is the same in Southeast Asia, that kids might come to the door naked when a visitor arrives, or run on the beach naked. For me that was a part of childhood, lost not to paedophiles, but to moral neuroses. We're a lot less innocent in the Anglo world. 

African pygmies are paedomorphic, meaning they stay physically infantile their whole lives, but they don't have kids at 10. The plot marked Baka are prototypical African pygmies, as entered the white, European imagination. Efe are also short statured Africans. Note their women have menarche at age 14-15, and become first time parents, at 3-4 gynaecological years of age. 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Karolyn