JJsushi Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 Says flyonzewall: >>>In Thailand, that slot is filled by the people of Issan<<< nops, that slot is filled by the hilltribes, especially the ones without thai ID. I believe he is referring to lfe in Bangkok as he mentioned Issan people being unable to find a decent job in BKK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 >thais have this incredible ability to let things they don't want to notice just drop off. somehow, many people have their opinion on us (which is often not very favourable thanx to people like those skytrain casanovas), but it ranks rather low on their need-to-think-about list. There we are: when Thais see the above situations, they don't think "Thanks God there are hill tribes, they are worse than this". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJsushi Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 Says Kangaloo: I would think colour is higher on the list of reasons for degrading upcountry people. I think you are spot on. The color thing is the most easily identifiable and probably the most subconcious factor in Thai society. Which makes discrimination all the more easier. You only have to look around you to see the great color divide in Thailand. You can't escape it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
think_too_mut Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 >I think you are spot on. The color thing is the most easily identifiable and probably the most subconcious factor in Thai society. Which makes discrimination all the more easier. You only have to look around you to see the great color divide in Thailand. You can't escape it. This is how it can work in the opposite way: after months of surfing, I was as dark as people who have their skin like that by birth. Only parts that are not covered by the wet suit, but that's what's visible under normal attire. "Why you kaack? See, you darker than me! Are you falang?" Yes, my darkish Isaan girl has accepted the imposed norm. She kind of knows where her place is in Thai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 "every social group has its share of criminals, people of isaarn may be poor (the north is by the way as poor) but there is no indication that they have any higher tendency towards 'antisocial and criminal behavior'." ................................................................... Its interesting to see the reference to the North. I have found that some people from isaan look down upon people from the North, saying that they sell their daughters etc.. Anyway, not all in isaan are poor farmers. The Uni in Khon Kaen is a huge one, Mahasarakham ditto. Its several developed cities in the region. Maybe the real discrimination is between city people and countryside ones? Independent of region? I think a person who lives in lets say Khon Kaen and is of middle class status has more in common with the middle class in BKK than with a poor farmer from Isaan. Just some thoughts, not a reply to you in particular except for the North reference. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 >>>Maybe the real discrimination is between city people and countryside ones? Independent of region? I think a person who lives in lets say Khon Kaen and is of middle class status has more in common with the middle class in BKK than with a poor farmer from Isaan.<<< that i think is exactly the point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 >>>The color thing is the most easily identifiable and probably the most subconcious factor in Thai society. <<< color is only one thing, and i believe it is more a question of beauty than of real discrimination. more important is the level of education, the family background (class), the command of central thai etc. for example thai aristocracy is not as lightskinned as the here often cited thai-chinese but much further up the social hirarchy. again my missus - she is rather light skinned as all members of her minority, but it is her accent and her whole upcountry background which makes live difficult for her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 "...>>>Dark skinned, rough mannered, tending to antisocial and criminal behavior <<<..." "...every social group has its share of criminals, people of isaarn may be poor (the north is by the way as poor) but there is no indication that they have any higher tendency towards 'antisocial and criminal behavior'..." If poverty, dark skin and rough manners had anything to do with crime and anti social behavior, then how could the original poster explain all the light skinned cultured farangs and their/our bad behavior...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkokbutcher Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 Hey fly, I was glad to see you started on this one before me (actualy i ran out of time this morning before departing for work). But now I see that there have been a few board members with a similar view to both you and me. Now I am not going to discuss the slanderous views of a number of upper/middle class thais upon their issarn neighbours. But what I would like to ask is WHY they have this view. Now I understand their reasoning to the point of being poor could ultimately lead issarn people to a life of crime, IMO I 'think' that this would be the main issue. But I also feel that if it wasn't for the poor north east, then the country's back bone wouldn't exist. Farming must be Thailand's largest part of their economy. Without the rice, tomato, tobacco and whatever else farming industries that are so prominent in the Issarn region, where would the country's economy be with regards to exports and products sold locally throughout the country. Now I am not saying that these products are not grown elsewhere in los, but it does seem to me as though this is the main area of the country with the land available to do so. Another issue is that I feel that a large number of fair size companies would not be able to operate without the 'cheap'(ish) labour being offered by the Issarn people. To me, Issarn is an extremely important part of Thailand, without which the country could not survive without (IMHO). After all, if it wasn't for Issarn I would never have met my lovely wife.. I just wish the upper/middle class thais would also realise this. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2003 Report Share Posted June 17, 2003 isaarn AND the north! >>>But what I would like to ask is WHY they have this view.<<< that now is the huge question. i have no fucking idea. just a few thoughts - one thing is the huge gap between the classes combined with a near complete social immobility. many people have not much idea on how the other classes live, think and feel. i was particularly gobsmacked during the heyday of the asian crises - when many people of the urban middle classes actually were convinced that they suffered most during the crises as the thought that the villagers who lost their jobs could simply go back to the country side and live from their land without a problem while they had all the moratges to pay and schoolfees etc... than you have a combination of fear and hate by the lower classes towards the middle and upper middle classes. you have had the boom years under which the middle classes benefitted unproportionally while the rural poor lost somehow the base of their existence - their land, and the gap widened... you had years of civil war from the early sixties until '86 which decimated the socially more engaged students. the lifestyle of the classes is completely different - while the urban middle classes are very globalised, computer literate etc., villagers are in a completely different century alltogether. the gap could not be much higher. it's like thailand is not just one country, but two or three or more different countries alltogether which do rarely touch each other in more than very superficial ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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