If you don't like Thailand go back home

[Aberlour]

If I didn't like Thailand, why wouldn't I go home?

^ Right. As if there were only two options.

You have a point CT but I agree with sabang.

If you don't like the place you are living but can't leave for whatever reason, perhaps financial commitment would be a common one, then you are technically staying against your own will.

It's this that then leads to the frustration and the over whelming desire to slag off Thailand as a release mechanism.

Obviously it defies logic to blame an inanimate country for the financial predicament you find yourself in, so I agree with sabang, if you didn't like somewhere and you were in a position to do what ever you wanted to do, why wouldn't you leave?

Obviously this doesn't apply to everybody. Some people are very happy in Thailand but just love a good moan.

[Aberlour]

If I didn't like Thailand, why wouldn't I go home?

And what if Thailand is "home"?

Then obviously it's the exact same but in reverse.

The same way people left England, USA and Oz to come to Thailand, people who are from Thailand and aren't happy there need to move somewhere else.

If people want to move somewhere else but can't for whatever reason, I would suggest that the vast majority of the time it is the fault of the person in question and not the country, thus making the constant slagging off of the country pointless and illogical.

On the other hand, if it makes people feel better about themselves and their lives, then maybe it has some justification.

Me personally, if I am unhappy about something I tend to try and fix it in the real world and get no pleasure from burdening anonymous members of a forum with my woes.

But as always, it's each to their own.

[Rainfall]

"...Just because a couple bar girls took your money and now you're stuck with an old ugly wife..."

You're communicating with a moron.

[rickschoppers]

It's only human nature to dislike something one is not familiar with. My father always believed there was only one way to do anything and to do it in a different way was wrong. This trait seems to exist within many posters here.

If the Thais act in a way we are not familiar with, or accomplish a task by doing it differently from how we would accomplish it, many here complain or call them idiots. I would agree with the OP that if it bothers you so much to see things done differently, then you need to go back home where everything is done to your personal liking (if there is such a place).

[nigelandjan]

Just because a couple bar girls took your money and now you're stuck with an old ugly wife doesn't give the right to act like a complete bitch.

Smells of Smegness

[helge]

The water was too wet, the Sun too sunny, the sand too sandy.

And Johnny too Dangerous ?

[Camel Toe]

Obviously it defies logic to blame an inanimate country for the financial predicament you find yourself in

I had an income, had a gf, had a decent house (structurally), no problems at work. What bothered me were neighbors mostly. Even in the best of moobans they were trashy, wife beating, park in your driveway, chicken shits. Always trying to scam you, wanting to barrow things they'd never return. All that really isn't a Thai thing as much as a poverty thing. My last stint in my own country was just the opposite. But it was boring. Complaining is a luxury I like to enjoy from time to time.

And Johnny too Dangerous ?

A sus órdenes.

[kingwilly]

I think it's a facetious argument to tell people that if they don't like it they can go most oft used when the person uttering it, be they Kevin, Thai or Mexican have no real argument or reply to the possibly legitimate issues being raised, a childlike means of avoiding answering.

[Yasojack]

go willy you get out the wrong side of bed today

[Camel Toe]

It could be another way of saying you have conquered the society and gone native but the other fool hasn't, he's still a foreigner, so get out of my country.

I got a question or any of you who consider yourselves mainstream Thais ... If the USA or Australia, of GB declared war on Thailand you'd join the Thai military and volunteer to fight on the front lines, right? That's what it would take to make Thailand your country.

[Yasojack]

Will never be Thai, or fight for any country.

[armstrong]

If the USA or Australia, of GB declared war on Thailand you'd join the Thai military and volunteer to fight on the front lines, right? That's what it would take to make Thailand your country

if it meant i got to take a pop at a few septics, yeah

[sabang]

I think it's a facetious argument to tell people that if they don't like it they can go most oft used when the person uttering it, be they Kevin, Thai or Mexican have no real argument or reply to the possibly legitimate issues being raised, a childlike means of avoiding answering.

I think differently, but that isn't to say I don't like a good whinge every now and again.

If you go to live in another nation of your own volition, you are not there to remodel it after your own image of a perfect society- you are there as a guest. That's no different to a muzzie migrating to the west and insisting on sharia, or an orthodox Jew insisting on djooish only suburbs and single sex buses. Go home.

I think it is a perfectly rational response to say 'if you don't like our society, then return to where you came from'. No one made you go and nobody makes you stay. There are certain rules of grace and protocol attached to being a guest.

[Aberlour]

^ Such a good post I was surprised to see it wasn't my name next to it.

[Camel Toe]

If the USA or Australia, of GB declared war on Thailand you'd join the Thai military and volunteer to fight on the front lines, right? That's what it would take to make Thailand your country

if it meant i got to take a pop at a few septics, yeah

You're stealth at 98 pounds, 5'4". Even our best drone couldn't find you. But if you want blood go the the beach and kick some sand on one of those phat sepo tourists. They're easy to distinguish from the Brits .. they wouldn't be in Speedos and their girlfriends don't have horse faces.

[sabang]

Yeh, but like the brits they wear socks with sandals.

[Camel Toe]

But the Brits so white they hurt your eyes.

[ralphlsasser]

May I ask, what other countries have you lived in? I've lived in eight. Had Thailand been my first out-of-homeland experience I probably would have had a better impression.

It was okay. I liked Japan better. I liked Costa Rica better. I like Mexico better.

A lot of people complain. To my way of seeing it, there's no foreigner alive who has the right to tell me to go home. It's not your place. Nor is it kool to assume we all married hoz. I arrived as a middle-aged single man with a uni gig. I didn't marry anyone. I didn't go there looking for a wife.

GOOD ONE. The op has 58 posts, so that makes him revelant.

[ralphlsasser]

The place is a shit hole. Which shit hole I choose to live in is none of your fuckin business. Do you have the need to make yourself feel better about living in a shit hole by pretending it isn't? Do those that point out the obvious cracks threaten your fantasy?

Nowhere's perfect. Everybody has there own reasons for being here. They never signed an undertaking not to criticise and to be only harmonious - that word sends chills up my spine.

I second that.

[kingwilly]

I think differently, but that isn't to say I don't like a good whinge every now and again.

If you go to live in another nation of your own volition, you are not there to remodel it after your own image of a perfect society- you are there as a guest. That's no different to a muzzie migrating to the west and insisting on sharia, or an orthodox Jew insisting on djooish only suburbs and single sex buses. Go home.

I think it is a perfectly rational response to say 'if you don't like our society, then return to where you came from'. No one made you go and nobody makes you stay. There are certain rules of grace and protocol attached to being a guest.

True, but that's one extreme, the majority of the time that someone uses the 'if you don't like it go home' argument, it's against someone making a valid observation about (insert country of choice) society. Eg: I wish Thai motorcycle drivers behaved better, in my birth country you have to get a proper licence first.
The criticism that I am 'only a guest in this country and thus have no right to complain' is not a valid one, I pay taxes, (unlike many) I buy local and contribute to the economy, I employ several staff, I contribute to a business that helps many more, I have been here several years and am married to a local. Nor am I unique in regards to this.

Of course, I'm not trying to make a little Brighton by the Sea in Asia, but I am entitled to point out lousy business practises, dangerous behaviour and selfish twats in this society and hope for some small changes for the better. (The same as an educated and legal Asian immigrant to UK or USA would be entitled to point out inadequacies in the society he/she has joined.

[Aberlour]

That anyone contented with their life in Thailand is stupid or delusional to what is going on around them.

Exactly right. "rose tinted glasses" is one of their favourite sayings. It gets right on my tits that phrase.

Gormless cretins.

[sabang]

Maybe it's just a question of degree- we pretty much all enjoy a good whinge (in the UK, it's the national habit). But if you don't like where you are living, and do little but remind people of that fact, well it begs the obvious response..

[9999]

Also if you're a pom the whinging is bound to be incessant regardless of how good or bad the situation is.

[mao say dung]

(The same as an educated and legal Asian immigrant to UK or USA would be entitled to point out inadequacies in the society he/she has joined.

Yeah, like why is everyone such a law-abiding robot pussy eating shit food and whining about things they can't change and don't do anything to try?

Someone would likely say "If you don't like it, why not go home?"

And they would be right.

[Hypatia]

It's as annoying as having folks who don't live here, defend the frustrations of living in Thailand.

I thinks it's fair to say a large portion of us on TD migrated from TV where it was a rule to not criticize, of course now criticism is bursting out all over, whole forums and blogs are now dedicated to it- no way to contain it, it's so obvious. I remember quite clearly on TV a year or so ago how one member became so agitated over my posts, he went rather berserk and began a campaign of libel and private texts that got him banned....as if the truth, (or an opinion of the truth) cannot be exposed, as it then becomes.... truer.

Once banned he began calling my phone incessantly in the middle of the night, and I believe poisoned a few pets of mine a short time later along with vandalizing my car. I also got threatening notes about turning me in for lese majeste. There are a few that believe it is actually illegal to besmirch the Thai in any way, as if they are all Royal. Their conceit is quite shocking.


I remember well the first time I heard Thais called monkeys by a long timer- Gasp ! how racist I thought, he seems so reasonable and fair otherwise.
well a few years later, and in the words of another Monkee, " I'm a believer"
In fact I have interesting conversations with Thais who agree, they are all basically void of a moral compass, by Western standards like honesty and a work ethic. The Thai more of money above all is very much intact.

The criticism, on my part, is not so much as to change things but to offer information to those who are considering a move. It is my duty to warn them, as it is my duty to let visitors know about the appalling safety ethic here a la 1-2 Go crash, etc.

I will continue to maintain; Thais hate foreigners and will do just about anything for money, so plan accordingly.

But of course if you're only here a few weeks out of the year, or have the handy Thai partner to sort it all out for you, you can be forgiven for not knowing what the fuck you're talking about.

That anyone contented with their life in Thailand is stupid or delusional to what is going on around them.

Exactly right. "rose tinted glasses" is one of their favourite sayings. It gets right on my tits that phrase.

Gormless cretins.