Thread: British teacher fighting for his life in Thailand after being 'savagely attacked'

Originally Posted by nidhogg

^^^ thegent - you really need to get off your bar stool more often and out into normal society. Bargirls and pimps maybe your chosen milieu, but there really is much more to thailand than that.

What normal society would that happen to be?

The one in which moves the Thai army colonel who ran down the doctor in his car because she complained about his parking technique?

The circles in which my chums take turns to import whichever Mercedes takes their fancy through the Customs fast track route perhaps?

Or maybe my civil service cadre who take turns to show who has the biggest bag of money that day after a hard day at work?

Or maybe my property developing chums who buy and rent in any number of names so that they might not pay tax?

Or perhaps my university prof chums who seem to enjoy the fruits of academia much more round about graduation time than they do at others?

Or perhaps you mean my police chums who......well, let's not dwell too much on that, shall we?

Or perhaps my doctor chums who do quite well out of the sale of medicines and the subsequent defraying of costs by claiming perhaps too much from the government or my friends in private practice who regulalry stiff the insurance companies and who are more than happy to pull the plug on any patient without " the flexible friend"?

Or perhaps my industrialist chums who quite happily off any environmentalist or inquisitive auditor threatening their rice bowl?

Or perhasps you mean the loan sharking chaps who proliferate in every tambon as they cuddle up to all their mafia and political chums?

Or perhaps I should aim higher and rub shoulders with all the hiso chaps who buy their 18 year old sons a Porsche for their birthday and indemnify them from any responsibility for the mayhem they may cause by the judicious use of gifts?

Yes Nignog, perhaps I should get out a bit more and meet the " real " Thai. That's the trouble with you chaps who swallow the Thai cultural pill of self delusion, you can't help but spout rubbish in those dreadful Lonely Planeteer cliches.

Thai society is essentially childlike. If folk don't behave according to the playground pecking order they get a drubbing. We more civilised folk have the sense to see the truth of the matter but so many farang here are simply just children themselves and have merely got older, not wiser.

Originally Posted by thegent

but so many farang here are simply just children themselves and have merely got older, not wiser.

You mean the Welsh ones right?

^^ yes, thegent. You are the only adult in Thailand - no! wait! the whole world.

You are not only a racist, but an arrogant one as well.

You seem to be quite at home in the company you keep. My world is largely surrounded by fairly decent, relatively hardworking people. One or two crooks, but the vast majority are as straight as can be expected.

Still, as they say "birds of a feather" eh, thegent?

Originally Posted by nidhogg

This is simply wrong. The whole of Thai society is based AGAINST confrontation, violent or otherwise. Normal working environments are, appearances to the contrary, extremely consensus orientated. The Thais are deeply indoctrinated against confrontation in any form.

From a sociological perspective, it is ironic that on the RARE occassions that the strictures against showing anger/emotions etc break down, they break down completely into extreme rage. It has been said many times before that much of the problem with Thais is that their social conditioning gives then no "half way house" to show anger. This is the point at which confrontations between Thais and farangs go badly amiss. We show anger - they don't. We get more and more mad at their apparent indifference or even amusement at the situation and keep pushing. When they do snap, they go from smiling to homicidal in a flash, often to the surprise and detriment of the foreigner.

But make no mistake at all. Violent resolution of disagreement is NOT the norm, it is the exception, and those saying that the norm of violence here leads to farangs becoming violent as a result of the environment here are talking out of their arse. My (own personal, for what its worth blah blah) opinion is that long term farangs tend to be a bit more contemplative, reflective and tolerant than short term ones.

Now, the above is based on "normal" Thai society - and rules in and around bar trash (Thai or farang) are almost certainly a bit different. But we are talking "norms".

Originally Posted by thegent

The notion that the Thai are non confrontational is a ridiculous charade every bit as absurd as the posturing nonsense peddled by TAT their country is an amazing or miraculous paradise waiting to be found.

The culture is one of endemic hypocrisy where relationships are nothing more than a battleground of unresolved seething resentment, envy and lust for materialism. The carapace of manners is simply a subterfuge to save face in situations where conflict may resolve to an infereriority they cannot bear. The cloak of consensus simply allows them to buy time whereby they can calculate a means to an end not assured if they were to give way to honesty.

Their prediliction for violent confrontation when manners fail is all too apparent in the statistics which unfailingly show an addiction to homicide and grievous assaults.

Thai are not confrontational? Of course they bloody are, it's just that their chronic inability to employ coherent reasoning and a discipline of cogent argument prevents them from acting in a manner other than their default mechanism of gormless grinning vacuity as they work out where to stick the knife.

Most violent and confrontational people I know and that bloody smile is as significant as a baby's burp.

The Thai murder statistics and violent crime statistics together with the huge uncertainty and many unreported cases leaves Thai society very high on the list of bad places on that score.

IMHO - I fully agree with Nidhogg that Thai society and behavior is based very much on non confrontation hence the averted gaze and fake smiles as a small part of that, but I agree with the Gent that the reason for this "NORM" is not a trait of genuine peaceful demeanor in Thais, but because everyone knows unbridled violence is only a hairsbreadth beneath the surface, and that the consequences of unmanaged conflict is nearly always very serious in Thailand.

Thai on Thai violent conflicts are much more prevalent and very common unfortunately, than Thai on Farang due to cultural differences/misunderstandings even in the seedy, predominantly no brain guest, tourist places, also when adjusted for probability due to numbers, but obviously we tend to focus more on events involving a Farang.

I'll give this one a 1 equal and a green to both.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

You are not only a racist, but an arrogant one as well.

Orangeman = arrogant = bigot.....hardly news is it?

Somewhat sweeping there Blodwyn. Wouldn't catch me making such silly generalisations.

Originally Posted by thegent

Or perhaps my university prof chums who seem to enjoy the fruits of academia much more round about graduation time than they do at others?

The forbidden fruits!
God forbid.

Seems the guy made bail and is out and about although I expect he is keeping that short profile a bit lower than a Swansea jockstrap.

Any comments?

Oh well, perhaps later on when the bars shut.

Originally Posted by thegent

Seems the guy made bail and is out and about although I expect he is keeping that short profile a bit lower than a Swansea jockstrap.

Any comments?

Totally normal in Thailand to be granted bail whatever you have been charged with if you can stump up the readies.

Originally Posted by Bobcock

Originally Posted by nidhogg

You are not only a racist, but an arrogant one as well.

Orangeman = arrogant = bigot.....hardly news is it?

You forgot 'ignorant'.

Friends of victim angry as 'attacker' is bailed by Thai authorities
Marc Meneaud
Monday 23rd July 2012

Friends of a Keighley teacher who is in a coma after being attacked in Thailand have described as “a complete disgrace” a decision to release his alleged attacker on bail.

Sean Henry Tinsley, 43, who has been charged with attempting to murder former Bradford Grammar School pupil Adam Pickles, has been released by the Thai authorities until a future trial, Mr Pickles’ friends said.

He had been remanded in custody for allegedly attacking Mr Pickles with a wheelbrace after an incident in which a car was scraped.

Mr Pickles’ friend, Neil Clappison said he feared the decision may drag out their “living nightmare” to see the 40-year-old recover from his injuries and his alleged attacker brought to justice.

He said: “We are angry and upset that this man has been granted bail to walk the streets as he pleases given the alleged chain of events leading to his arrest.

“This is nothing short of a complete disgrace and we are beginning to lose faith in the Thai authorities.”

The decision to release Tinsley, of Wolverhampton, was announced a week after Mr Pickles’ mum Adele made an emotional plea to keep him behind bars.

At the time, Mrs Pickles, 61, said: “We hope and pray that this man is now kept off the streets until the official trial takes place.

"We do not want any other family to go through the hell we are experiencing.”

Mr Clappison said yesterday: “Our main focus has and always will be Adam’s recovery but we are deeply concerned that any steps towards justice for him are not hindered in any way. It is vital that needless barriers do not arise towards a court of law hearing the facts about this horrific crime that nearly took him from us.

“We will continue to support Adam in any way we can and hope and pray that nobody else has to go through this living nightmare.”

Mr Pickles’ fight to wake up from his nine week coma has been hampered by a serious infection.

However, the father-of-one, who grew up in Riddlesden , continues to battle through set-backs - even attempting to remove some of his treatment tubes, a possible sign his awareness is improving, his friends said.

He remains in hospital at Leeds General Infirmary.

Meanwhile campaigners are pressing ahead with fundraising efforts to cover his care costs, which have reached £123,000 and are expected to rise with legal and rehabilitation bills. The current fundraising total stands at £78,500.

thetelegraphandargus.co.uk

There is a thread going on about carrying a gun here (that's right the baldy bespectacled doctor getting aggi about his parking space and waving a gun about).

Interesting thing about it was he was done, as a foreigner cannot carry a weapon... ("unless it's needed or in an emergency")

Unless it's needed in an emergency??

Wild wild east here -

I have to wonder about motive and opportunity.
You hear about this so often -- foreigner attacked on some lonely road out in the sticks on his way home. Perhaps the motive was secondary here as the opportunity was just too much to pass up.