jagoturner Posted September 24, 2001 Report Share Posted September 24, 2001 This was the precise response from my Bangkok residing sister in law when my wife mentioned her concerns about the possible effects of British involvement in this war. I was just wondering what the general level of awareness of these events was among local Thais. Is my sister-in-law particularly ill informed or is this just about the norm ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2001 Report Share Posted September 25, 2001 In Bangkok a lot of people understand what's going on, but there are also a lot who don't. The other day a taxi driver asked me if Islam was a big country! I'm sure that in the countryside the majority haven't got much of a clue what's going on or who exactly this Osama Bin Laden (Osama Nak-Bin?) is. In general, Thais don't take much interest in foreign affairs which they perceive to have no bearings on their lives. In this case, this perception could be very wrong, of course. Compare this ignorance to the interest among the people in Singapore, where I am right now, and one cannot help but feel that in matters of education and intellectual development Thailand is lagging behind at least three or four decades. And with the perennially inept Thai governments that come and go, there's no chance in the world that they can ever catch up. Pity, but true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phiketpete Posted September 25, 2001 Report Share Posted September 25, 2001 While i do not disagree with the previous poster the tragic events of New york are certainly getting coverage from the local media TV and newspapers. Many stories focus of course upon Thai nationals caught in the disaster. There have eeven been some demonstrations from southern muslims Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2001 Report Share Posted September 25, 2001 "In Bangkok a lot of people understand what's going on, but there are also a lot who don't. The other day a taxi driver asked me if Islam was a big country!". Most Thais that I know, have been questionning me as to the ins and outs of the whole episode and have been extremely interested. Just to add a flip-side to Scum Baggio's comment on the Thai taxi driver. A lady from the UK, who I know to be wise and apparently read, sent me a mail of astonishment the other day. I had posted a jpeg. picture of Bangkok to friends. It vastly differed to the "mud huts and shacks I was expecting". I couldn't help laughing but it was the last thing I expected from her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2001 Report Share Posted September 25, 2001 Most of the Thais I speak to are well informed on the subject. Their attitude is that they are sad that innocent people were killed but seem to feel the US had it coming to them. They are fearful of the coming war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BkkShaggy Posted September 25, 2001 Report Share Posted September 25, 2001 SUPPOSE: >Just to add a flip-side to Scum Baggio's comment on the Thai taxi driver. A lady from the UK, who I know to be wise and apparently read, sent me a mail of astonishment the other day. I had posted a jpeg. picture of Bangkok to friends. It vastly differed to the "mud huts and shacks I was expecting". I couldn't help laughing but it was the last thing I expected from her. Â It was the last thing I expected from my Canadian friends when they saw the pictures of Bangkok as well. They'd thought that Thais still rode elephents and lived in mud huts !! How ignorance !! It's a pity Scum_baggio has a chance to talk to any Thais only when he takes a taxi and has a talk to taxi drivers. That's why his opinion on Thais are mostly from them and maybe some bargirls and sales girls included which hardly represents Thais in a more wider perspective - I would think. [ September 25, 2001: Message edited by: BkkShaggy ] [ September 25, 2001: Message edited by: BkkShaggy ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted September 25, 2001 Report Share Posted September 25, 2001 quote: Originally posted by BkkShaggy: It's a pity Scum_baggio has a chance to talk to any Thais only when he takes a taxi and has a talk to taxi drivers. That's why his opinion on Thais are mostly from them and maybe some bargirls and sales girls included which hardly represents Thais in a more wider perspective - I would think. Scum_baggio's views on Thais and Thailand are about as accurate as I have seen on this board. Our company employs about 800 Thais, none of them poorly educated hookers or taxi drivers. In the past two weeks I have heard a compassionate response to the disaster from ONE of them, the others are too busy giggling about it, sending pictures of the WTC towers collapsing on their mobile phones or making cheap jokes about it. I thought the picture of the Thai market seller at Chatuchak selling Bin Laden T-shirts said a lot about the Thai attitude in general. Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2001 Report Share Posted September 26, 2001 Originally posted by BkkShaggy: "It's a pity Scum_baggio has a chance to talk to any Thais only when he takes a taxi and has a talk to taxi drivers. That's why his opinion on Thais are mostly from them and maybe some bargirls and sales girls included which hardly represents Thais in a more wider perspective - I would think." How many years has the average Thai been to school? Six, seven, eight years? The sales girls that I know certainly haven't studied less than that, rather more. So, they're not dumber than the average Joe or Jane in the street. And the taxi drivers, though mostly hailing from lowly educated Isaan farming families, at least are exposed to Bangkok life and are generally more aware than their brethren who never leave the countryside at all. Face the facts - the average Thai is not a Chula or Thammasat graduate, but a worker/farmer/salesperson with a very mediocre education. Otherwise, Thailand would be a developed and prosperous nation, wouldn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 26, 2001 Report Share Posted September 26, 2001 I've just been doing some research, so to answer my own above question, how many years of schooling the average Thai has had. According to one source, in the year 1985, the average Thai over 25 years had had 5.08 years of education. Given that the figure will have risen somewhat since then, my guesstimate of 6-8 years seems pretty accurate. So, the sales girls that I talk to - and I've met some who left school at the age of 18 - are pretty bright citizens by comparison. Over to you, BkkShaggy! [ September 25, 2001: Message edited by: Scum_Baggio ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BkkShaggy Posted September 27, 2001 Report Share Posted September 27, 2001 Scum, You missed my point. I was just trying to tell you that there have been many reactions from various groups of the Thai population regarding the WTC crash. What you stated was your observation from certain groups of people though it maybe right but there are other groups of people too that you just ignore or couldn't get access to that info. that's why I prefer Snake Head and phiketpete's posts. By the way, being a Chula or Thammasat graduate doesn't guarantee that they are educated !! Sad, but true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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