Pawpcorn

Thanks for asking, Submaniac- always glad to have open-minded straight visitors here.

What I see as a common denominator behind what is good about the gay life here is a marked lack of homophobia as it is expressed in most countries with a Christian heritage.  People are not afraid to experience and express emotional and physical affection for people they care about, whatever sex they are.  That doesn't eliminate discrimination, social mobility problems, or personal prejudice- but it does mean that when two guys are walking down the street with arms around each others' shoulders, the first thoughts of the town aren't 'uh-oh, those guys are gay!'  And they probably won't be assaulted.

Gays do experience problems here that straight people won't- that's a constant in any country- but I think their problems are less severe than many other places.

If you're asking if/why this attracts foreigners- well, all other things equal, that's an attraction.  Try pretending to be a very obvious gay in the US or the UK for a few days and see how that changes things.  There are also other reasons foreigners might be attracted to gay Thailand, but these are in the same category as why the straight foreigners might be brought here mostly, I think.

Pawpcorn, on 2012-01-18 18:37:21, said:

Yes this incident is beyond the pale.

And sorry if I veered that way a bit also.

hayden5650, on 2010-10-03 19:05:07, said:

Thanks for your post which reminds us that racism is as widespread amongst Westerners as it is amongst Thais.

I fail to see how this is a problem.

Many bars do not let them in either, because we don't want to drink with them.

I said to a bargirl once, 'Why do you keep the blacks out?' and she said 'Because if Farang see African man, he not come in'.
I said 'Yep, you're right'.

All they do is try and sell me cocaine, and try to 'look after me' on Sukhumvit. It gets quite tiring.

scorecard, on 2010-10-03 19:49:49, said:

jeez! not too hard to work out is it?

onnut, on 2010-10-03 19:20:52, said:

How do you know the young boy is in good hands?

Briggsy, on 2010-10-03 19:57:56, said:

Are you for real?

The good thing about Thailand is the somewhat escape from western Political Correctness.

Come to Thailand, forget feminism, enjoy femininity.

IAMSOBAD, on 2010-09-22 17:46:09, said:

I've been thinking about this all day!

I think the biggest setback is a blind nationalistic pride which is glued to the idea of not being able to bear to lose face.

I keep having this image of a room full of people: 20 or 30 farangs all intimidatingly BIG with a Thai person in the middle, looking like a 10 year-old in comparison. All the farangs are highly qualified - engineers, academics, teachers, diplomats. They are informed on world issues, educated to an extent that can't compare with Thai universities, have the ability to and experience of organising and planning international projects and are hugely better informed, more skilful, and far more efficient and competent than any of their Thai counterparts. The Thai man in the midst of the group knows this and it makes him nervous, insecure and he feels threatened by it/them. It makes him lose face just by being there. He feels inferior. He feels resentment. He cannot bear to admit that he does not have the world-awareness, knowledge or skills of the others in the group, so he tries to save face by bullshi**ing and bluffing and making promises he knows he can't keep.

And when it comes to big engineering projects (the Skytrain springs to mind) then he has to seek help from 'these people'. It makes him angrier and more resentful because he realises at some level that these guys know he can't cope. So he becomes passively aggressive, takes the credit where he can (I remember the big signs that the German (?) and Thai collaboration had all along the Skytrain route - Thai-Gammon) blames any snags on the farangs and lets all his friends know just how brilliantly he has organised everything.

Which paints a really gloomy picture! Because it's only half of the story!

The reason that I'm still here after all this time is the other side of the coin. Hand-in-hand with this amusing behaviour is that Thai people are child-like. On a day-to-day basis nearly everyone I have met (certainly everyone away from the tourist areas!) is light-hearted, fun-loving, warm, generous and open and delightful in a way that I've only ever found in a few communities before. Yes, they can have tantrums and be as selfish and as thoughtless as children, too; it's part of the charm!

The problems seem to develop when these same people rise to a position of power or decision-making. They desperately cling to the comforting notion that this is their country so they know all about it and thus can do their jobs fine, thank you. True. But it's no longer a big world. They try to pretend that if they mess up then it can be somehow glossed-over or blamed on someone else. The fact that the entire world is watching it all live on TV as it is happening, the Internet and YouTube has videos of them floundering, makes them close their eyes in panic and pretend even more that this is Thailand and it's nobody else's business. They pray every day for all those farangs to go away and yet they need their help - from national projects to tourist income - although the best farangs by far are the ones that appear for a week with a wad of dollars and then go away again.

Yes, some Thai people are aware, educated and cosmopolitan - the privileged tiny minority who's family are rich and can pay for them to go abroad. But, even so, as they say, you can take the Thai out of Thailand ..... !!

R

zorm999, on 2010-09-22 07:49:15, said:

Has it been stopped because of corruption, or has it been stopped to stop corruption?   That is, is it the NTC that is corrupt in trying to have the 3G auctions just before they are legislated out of existence, or is it CAT / TOT that is corrupt in trying to stop the auctions going ahead to keep their piece of the pie?

And it isn't actually the government that has stopped it.  It is the courts.  If the government interfered in the courts decisions, you would complain too.

This whole sad affair so accurately depicts one of Thailand's biggest problems. Tulsathit was spot on when he wrote that this is now about "greed, selfishness, jealousy and cheap tricks". For a government who is claiming to clamp down on corruption, it's sad that such a blatent example of it is standing out like this. Thailand deserves so much better than this!

chantorn, on 2010-09-22 21:12:07, said:

A criminal (not an innocent police officer) in denial with as much evidence as necessary to have him incarcerated or executed for his part in the crime gets elevated to a top position in public service?  WTF  - he was 'pardoned' and thus all is forgiven but thankfully the Saudi's refuse to accept the pardon and correctly so.  Great man?    More like Thai sensibilities.

He is a great man indded. An innocent police officer being accused for a crime he did not commit. hence he has to make a great sacrifice on this career, for the better of this nation. If you admire such a hero, who would you rather admire? A criminal (sentence confirmed) like Thaksin?

Any piece of action to extend the SOE? Perhaps? Maybe?

SamritT, on 2010-09-17 09:29:31, said:

Thailand is my home

SamritT, on 2010-09-17 09:29:31, said:

I expected that - Thailand has been subject of worldwide laughter since the coup and if they can't blame Thaksin, blame foreigners ...