What is going on in Pattaya

[Flashermac]

George Bush is also a closet Muslim. The W in his name stands for Wahabi. They're everywhere!

 

 

 

[cavanami]

Muslims dont gamble and drugs are forbidden...surely not a case of hypocrisy at work

Soooo, all the Saudi men in Bahrain for the weekend, sitting at the bars, hammering down the beer and whiskey, booking ladies...I'm sure they just "slipped up".

 

Or, the Malay Muslims that go out to Lankawi Island and hit the bars is just a little "slipped up".

 

[chuckwoww]

So lets see...muslims are forbidden to drink and chase pussy...but if they do drink and chase pussy they are hypocrites. Sounds like they just can't win. The only people who ever tell me not to drink and chase pussy tend to be Christians.

[Gadfly]

The cops don't seem to give a shit about the tourists and farang, and neither does the Thai government except to try to sweep these happenings under the rug as much as is possible. The status quo will remain.

 

I think you can also attribute the government's ability to get away with this in large part to an issue Stickman brought this week in Lies Lies Lies Every culture tolerates and even expects a certain amount of dissembling, but there seems to be a particularly loose connection in Thailand between fact and fiction. Stickman covers the subject well, but it is worth more discussion (perhaps its own thread) because of the other questions it raises.

 

For example, flipping it around, I always wonder about Farangs who buy into the local bullshit. I think we can all understand why a BG would lie to a punter to get sponsorship (makes perfect sense), but I have trouble understanding why a punter would believe his BG is special or different. And yet they do. Thailand seems to induce a bizarre state of denial in Farangs.

 

This is also evident when it comes to discussions about violence in Thailand or murders of Farangs. Thailand is a very violent place; the Royal Thai Police Forceâ??s own statistics (available on the web) demonstrate that the homicide rate in Thailand is substantially higher than it is in the US.

 

Hard to dispute, and yet many Farangs do - with visceral antipathy. You have to ask: why?

 

I have lived here for 13 years, and in those 13 years I have seen horrific acts of violence by Thais against Farangs and Thais against other Thais. But I spent the first 37 years of my life in the US and, to a lesser extent, Europe, and in that time, I never saw a murder or even a fight where someone was severely injured. I have seen many here, and not just in the red light districts or Pattaya.

 

Even on this board, you will begin to see the pattern. Every few weeks a story about a Farang beaten or murdered - sometimes by the police themselves. It's a undeniable feature of the local terrain. But what is it about Thailand that puts Farangs in denial about this feature?

 

[Torneyboy]

Amazing Thailand.

[Hugh_Hoy]

...But what is it about Thailand that puts Farangs in denial about this feature?

 

It might be that there is "something" about the farangs who are in denial, rather than the country. Just a thought.

 

HH

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Gadfly,

 

'I think you can also attribute the government's ability to get away with this in large part to an issue Stickman brought this week in Lies Lies Lies Every culture tolerates and even expects a certain amount of dissembling, but there seems to be a particularly loose connection in Thailand between fact and fiction. Stickman covers the subject well, but it is worth more discussion (perhaps its own thread) because of the other questions it raises.'

 

Start the thread here. I don't read Stick much. I've been here long enough that most of what he writes about is not new or relevent to myself.

 

'For example, flipping it around, I always wonder about Farangs who buy into the local bullshit. I think we can all understand why a BG would lie to a punter to get sponsorship (makes perfect sense), but I have trouble understanding why a punter would believe his BG is special or different. And yet they do. Thailand seems to induce a bizarre state of denial in Farangs.'

 

I think it rather that men get stupid around women when they are getting pussy, rather than just a Thai/Thailand phenomenom. Wouldn't you say? I mean guys go through denial all the time the world over when it comes to women and sex.

 

'This is also evident when it comes to discussions about violence in Thailand or murders of Farangs. Thailand is a very violent place; the Royal Thai Police Forceâ??s own statistics (available on the web) demonstrate that the homicide rate in Thailand is substantially higher than it is in the US.'

 

I agree it can be violent. So can the US. I think it more comes down to the areas though that the farang visit at times, and yes, Thai on Thai violence is there for certain. I can't say though that my experience is worse here in Thailand when it comes to seeing violence. But then, I am not wandering around at night usually goig to bars, using the redlight districts, or even just the bars in my own city of Surin. It's an occasional thing. My times are limited in these areas. And I'd say most tourists are not here long enough to see much of the violence that does/can occur. And most expats are living in areas that, although they CAN be violent, it is not so common really, at least not for them. But yeah, the Thais themselves know how violent their country is and most of them admit this and try to avoid it. The thing is even though I have been coming here for years and living here as well for years, I have seen very little violent episodes, no more so then I have experienced in the states, actually I'd say less here than in the states. And this puzzles me because I have spent a lot of time in the bar areas, and in Pattaya, etc. and really, compared to these same sort of areas that are in the states (in the past more so than now-these areas have been mostly cleaned out and closed down in the states) I am amazed how little violence I have seen. If they had a place like Pattaya in the states it would be a friggin' bloodbath nightly without a seriously large police presence. Not so in Pattaya and Nana and Cowboy and Patpong. I am surprised really at how non-violent these places are for the most part. Shit happens (nightly), but I am surprised it is not much much worse!

 

'Hard to dispute, and yet many Farangs do - with visceral antipathy. You have to ask: why?'

 

I think like me many have never or rarely come across violent behavior here, and many times, if you do, if you see what has caused the violence it many times seems the drunken, ignorant, foreigner was begging for it by acting the fool in his drunken ignorant state. But, the Thais go way overboard once they finaly lose patience with the arrogant fools and drunks. And yeah, some of those Thai boys are dying to kick some farang ass!

 

'I have lived here for 13 years, and in those 13 years I have seen horrific acts of violence by Thais against Farangs and Thais against other Thais. But I spent the first 37 years of my life in the US and, to a lesser extent, Europe, and in that time, I never saw a murder or even a fight where someone was severely injured. I have seen many here, and not just in the red light districts or Pattaya.'

 

Well, I have not seen that much myself, and as I said, I have been coming here and living here for a good while now. But the US really isn't that violent except in certain quarters. Avoid those quarters and your chance of coming across violence is rather low. In Thailand it is basically the same I have seen. Stay away from drunken Thai men and your chance of a violent encounter is fairly rare. Stay away from the nightlife and Thai on farang violence is not that high really. We see it a lot in these web boards because it is a topic that concerns us, but I do think it also is more 'concentrated' in these web groups so it looks worse at times than it is. But really add in the drugs, corruption, lack of a true police force and rule of law, loads of drunken holidayers, all the whores and bars and such, and really, it ain't that bad or as bad as one would expect really, at least not to me in my own experience so far, which is around 15 years now.

 

'Even on this board, you will begin to see the pattern. Every few weeks a story about a Farang beaten or murdered - sometimes by the police themselves. It's a undeniable feature of the local terrain. But what is it about Thailand that puts Farangs in denial about this feature?'

 

Yes, but like you said, 'every few weeks'. It's not that common really, and the worst of the lot is Pattaya, and like I said, I'm surprised really it is not nightly we hear of these deaths and violent encounters!

 

The denial is there because what they are hearing is not usually part of the reality they see. The violence is there, but it is not that common to see it really, even in these violence plagued areas many frequent.

 

JMHO and thoughts.

 

BTW, I have info on the 500 baht Surin cuties. It's true, at least from what a close friend (farang) who lives here told me last night. I'm just not familiar with the area of town he said this was going on in. I'll get more in-depth info on it.

 

Cent

[Old Hippie]

I don't think anyone can dispute that there is violence in Thailand, but the question is what part do the farangs play in their own demise?

[chuckwoww]

I don't think anyone can dispute that there is violence in Thailand, but the question is what part do the farangs play in their own demise?

 

You nailed it OH. Naivety, stupidity,all the usual excuses. They could be handed a list of dos and don'ts to read on the plane....wouldn't make a damn bit of difference to the statistics IMO.

[Elephant Man]

Cent pretty much says all I would say. Good job.

 

Some other decent comments here on this as well.