timbothaivisa

ThomasBird67, on 2012-02-27 12:02:12, said:

Sorry to disappoint you on this, My grandmother was a Flemish Jewess, the East End of London was a predominantly Jewish area, From Brick Lane all the way down Mile End road.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuts

Furthermore:"Due to the lack of anti-Jewish violence in Britain in the 19th century, it acquired a reputation for religious tolerance and attracted significant immigration from Eastern Europe. In the 1930s and 1940s, some European Jews fled to England to escape the Nazis."
http://en.wikipedia....Jews_in_England

On a further note I was saddened to discover a few years back that my childhood family home has been converted into a street mosque. It seems that Islam has succeeded where Hitler failed.

Doesn't anyone find the t-shirts just a teensy weensy bit funny? I certainly do.

People bang on and on about what happened so long ago. Move on, get irreverent and take the piss. Much more enjoyable and better for your mental health.

Please don't force your views on other people. Just because the west has been socially conditioned and bombarded weekly with Holocaust guilt, it doesn't give you the god given right to force it on other like some religious mantra.

Look at the names of the top hedge fund money makers last year. Very few angle saxon names in there. Nat did well!
Most people would agree the banking sector runs the western world. I happen to believe they do so with the help of Reuters and Associated Press. I don't think its right to demand people read western His-Story or watch western Tell-Lie-Vision. Don't force your views on Thailand please. I moved here to escape the hypocrisy.

Lets not forget that Chairman Mao ruled around the same period in China and was responsible for 60 million deaths. Looking at the Soviet Union we same a similar story.

Asia just doesn't a have Jewish media & hollywood constantly ramming it down their throats.

Leave Thai's alone.

travelinasia, on 2012-02-27 11:42:22, said:

Why should the Thais be expected to know about WW2 in Europe (let alone WW1) ?  What do Westerners know about what happened to Asiatic countries in WW2?  Perhaps not an awful lot, apart from Bridge-over-the-River-Kwai kind of history. And the Japanese  da da da....And Americans (but Brits too) always conveniently erase  the contribution of "commies" like Ho Chi Min to resisting Japanese aggression.

Well, I think its ignorant to blame the possible Thai youthful fascination with Hitler on ignorance.
Its a known fact that England and France conspired against Thailand to divide it in two, GB from Burma and Malaysia and France from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos... and that when Nazi Germany (not Hitler) invades Poland in 1939, the allied forces has to mobilize differently and therefore abandon the Siam scene. Naval as well as ground battles took place on both sides before Thailand was faced with nothing more than a relatively friendly "non"-occupation (touchy subject since Thai's are proud never to have been occupied).

Thai people dont fancy communists or jews for that matter. Some time ago I was sitting next to Gen. Sayut during lunch, he was supreme commander of the thai armed forces when they defeated the last communist enclave in Khao Yai in the late 1960's, what he told me about what they found in Khao Yai its no suprise the Thais have no problem with killing communists.

And on a philosphical note, its only ignorance if somebody should have known something and they dont, I think the Thais are in their full rights to not know what happened inside the gates of Europe almost 70 years ago. Do you for example know what was going on in Thailand at that time in details, or do you seriously think they were just uninformed rice farmers and fishermen ?

Much more can be said on this topic, but im on my phone and typing is a menace, and actually have other things to do than to quarrel who is ignorant and who may not be...

denishuahin, on 2012-02-27 11:48:34, said:

But that is YOUR issue. If you cannot rationalize that the swastika on the dome has nothing to do with Hitler then you are displaying just as much intellectual processing as your girl friend.

In the context of this discussion it might be worth pointing out that Thailand was actually an ally of the Axis powers during World War 2, a fact that has been largely forgotten with the help of a little convenient historical revisionism. There was a short war fought between Thailand and the Vichy French administrators of French Indochina in the early 40's which the Japanese had to come in and mediate, since they were supposed to be on the same side.

These T-shirts are more evidence of utter stupidity and ignorance than any malice. There were Osama Bin Laden T-shirts for sale on Sukhumvit Road within weeks of 9/11, and I have on more than one occasion seen very mild-mannered middle aged Thai women wearing T-shirts with slogans like "F&*K you, you f*%#ing F*&k" (without the special characters) apparently with no idea what the words actually meant.

If tourists from specific countries are riled by these T-shirts now, just wait a minute. By reporting from the media, this will have an opposite effect from getting rid of the offensive T-shirts to making them more popular.

The printers must be rubbing their hands together. Publicity, adverse or not, is still publicity.

As a Jew that part of my family were murdered by the Nazi bustards I can tell you that the whole thing is ridicules and those T-shirts should offend the Neo Nazis not the Jews   or others who suffered from the Nazis .Anyway there are new Hitlers   in the world that should be dealt with .

ratcatcher, on 2012-02-27 11:08:42, said:

I am interested that you believe that the Japanese understand history. If you mean by wiping history out of the classroom they understand it, then yes, you are correct. No Japanese children are taught anything of WW2 that bears any resemblance to actual events, nor are they told of the rape of Nanking and other atrocities that were inflicted on the Chinese by the Japanese.

I find the whole Thai thing with the shirts a bit funny and ironic. I am amazed (but shouldn't be) at the amount of TV members that have jumped on the outrage bus, that in itself is pathetic. The only comments worthy of merit or relevance are the ones by Geriatrickid concerning copyright issues.

Maybe the youth see Hitler as someone they can relate to as in the not too distant future Thailand may have its own Hitler in the form of Thaksin. Very similar backgrounds really, risen to power from nothing, both holding lowly positions as Corporal, one in the army one in the police, and very skilled manipulators of public opinion and crowd behaviour.

For those it applies to, please stop going on about use of the swastika on helmets and stuff in Thailand. LONG before Hitler got hold of the symbol it had been in use already for a couple of thousand years in the esoteric religions of Asia. It is an important Hindu symbol and means eternity and Buddhism in China.

I don't understand why these westerners are complaining. These kids are not running around threatening foreigners on the streets or promoting political hatred. The images are actually making fun of Hitler. You Jews did that too remember. Mel Brooks....And if it still offends you then why don't you start complaining about Italians and their glorification of ancient Roman Gladiators. Those guys did a lot of killing of Jew's and other people also. Or did you forget your history?

Most of the Thai's are quite ignorant about the subject of Nazism. I'd say only the most highly educated understand who hitler was and what he did. Thai's see the swastika and only think of their religion. Buddists did have the symbol thousands of years before hitler decided to shame it. I doubt even if they did know what a swastika represented in the western world it would change anything. This is Thailand. Don't take it too seriously.

Seems it's OK for Che to be cool but not Adolf. Che was a despot too.

As for Hitler chic, it's just another round of the elder generation being upset with those crazy kids. The younger generation always pushed the boundaries and long may that continue.

Your grandparents probably shook their heads about rock n' roll the same way you are shaking your heads about this.

Storm in a teacup.

The whole Hitler thing is OUR (mental) problem not theirs.

It used to be amusing to us too before PC'ism took over.

Do you think Basil Fawlty would get away with his Hitler walk today? How about Hogan's Heroes, that's going back about 30 years now, hilarious stuff "I know nutting!". Nah, Nazis, how dare they use Nazis as a vehicle for comedy, that's insensitive to blah blah blah.

sparebox2, on 2012-02-27 11:00:59, said:

What about the 20 million + russians that died in that war ? Five times more than Jewish people that died at the hands of the Nazis. Do we hear Russians bleating like lost lambs every time something like this comes up? NO !! No we don't.  Get over it!!!