Thread: Thai Xenophobia and the Imagination of Some

Right, so rich thai pay double too, do they ?

Xenophobia means having or showing a deep antipathy to foreigners. Banning them from national parks might show that but charging them more does not.

If you experience the life of a Burmese refugee or a Laotian migrant worker or some of the hill tribes, then claiming that the Thai state is xenophobic might have a bit of weight. But dealing with the trivial inconveniences which face the average fuckwit who complains on forums like this about Thai racism/xenophobia? Hardly.

Originally Posted by Zooheekock

If you experience the life of a Burmese refugee or a Laotian migrant worker or some of the hill tribes, then claiming that the Thai state is xenophobic might have a bit of weight. But dealing with the trivial inconveniences which face the average fuckwit who complains on forums like this about Thai racism/xenophobia? Hardly.

I'm not moaning, I never paid double. But the question was asked about state sanctioned policies that were biased towards another race, that is but one example.

the question was asked about state sanctioned policies that were biased towards another race, that is but one example.

No it wasn't. It was about xenophobia and dual pricing does not show that (which, in any case, is not based on race but on nationality). It seems more like an example of market segmentation - something which all the capitalist groupies would surely normally be getting a woody over but unfortunately this time, they're the ones getting segmented.

I'm not moaning,

Of course you're not.

Vanilla, that's the color of xenophobia. It exists, but its difficult to color with facts.

Originally Posted by Zooheekock

which, in any case, is not based on race but on nationality

No, it's based on skin colour.

Getting all picky about the question of whether something "in the Thai mindset" involves race or nationality or skin color ignores the simple fact that Thais think differently about these things. As do most Asian people. Distinguishing between "race" and "nation" for example is something many Asian people don't do. Somewhat like the Nazis and other 19th century-based European notions of race and nationality.

Originally Posted by TonyBKK

I assume that unintelligible drivel was banged out while drunk?

555 yup either that or a bit too deep for me

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Originally Posted by Zooheekock

which, in any case, is not based on race but on nationality

No, it's based on skin colour.

Stupid ignorant sh*t head.

Originally Posted by benbaaa

Sweeping generalisations are usually off target, so I'll confine myself to an individual, privileged Thai graduate of one of the better Bangkok universities I was talking to not long ago in class. The topic was pollution and attitudes to things like litter. She said simply that before western tourists arrived in Thailand there was no litter or pollution. It's all our fault, apparently.

I had a 4th year English major at a top Bkk gvt uni telling me that the child prostitution at Sanam Luang, controlled by the local police (where the motorbike lads sell their 14 year old gfs for 300 baht to Thai businessmen for an hour or so in their cars...), was the fault of Westerners. This isn't xenophobia, but your comment just rang a bell...

You got it in one mate.
I had to paint a portrait of a Khun Tan , a high ranking Thai lady and the painting was originally rejected because her skin was not white!!!!

Took me ages to get a white skin right on her, ( I'm a fine artist of European old master tradition) and it really was so disturbing to have to paint a sur-real white face in an otherwise natural and realistic genre, without approaching the subject from the point of the sr-real!

Fekin status conscious xenophobic, black-hating Sino-Thais make me feel really uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

Strange that the 1st/2nd/3rd/4th generation sino-Thais appear to be the most xenophobic

I think it is protectionism at its heart - it is easier to compete if you rig the game

^ yes, that's a large part of it. But, I believe (form experience and talks) that they really hate the Thai masses too.

^^ there was a great picture at the National Gallery a couple of years ago; it had an apocalyptic landscape with dead and decaying elephants lying everywhere and pandas playing on the rotting corpses. One elephant was alive in the middle of the picture, it had a palace on its back with pandas fornicating. Not sure how the painting got by the censors, but I spent a lot of time discussing it with the students I was taking around. Most of them were sino-Thais and claimed not to see any symbolic meaning in the painting!

555 I like that story!

It never ceases to amaze me how people have selective vision/cognisance when confronted by aspects of their own culture!
A kind of inner idealism takes over, a belief system.

Hey, if I could ever create a prayer, it would go like this;

" May all being let me know and let my belief fail me"

The OP was pretty much unintelligible. If is about Thai xenophobia, get over it! That's been a fact of life here for centuries and is currently being taught in schools right now!
Keep your head down amigo unless you want it shot off.
There are certain facts of life here you accept. One of them is institutionalized Thai xenophobia.