A famous French philosopher once said: “I think, therefore I am!” To keep it a bit philosophical: the use of the word 'so' implies that his/existence results from thinking.
That philosopher based his discovery on knowledge gathered from and long before the era, and gradually Western man learned to consider the surrounding world and himself on the basis of thinking. The same thing happened with Eastern people: types like Buddha and Confucius taught that you live constructively when you contemplate life in a right way.
But in the past few weeks I thought I had to conclude that the intentions of all those former sages and their thoughts have passed Thailand by. In the Netherlands and regions you often see a movement that resembles rational thinking: not only based on logic, but especially on what that thinking produces. In Thailand, the opposite seems to be the case. First and foremost: do it! Don't pay attention to possible consequences: no, just do it. Impulsive: Acting on a whim, a figment of the brain, some emotional sub-assertive stimulus. Whether the newly appointed prime minister takes an incomplete oath when presenting his new job, or whether 38 new aircraft suddenly have to be purchased, or Phuket converted into a naval hub: do it. And only think about what has been suggested if a commotion arises. At least you get publicity with it.
They are examples of what is going on at the top of Thai society, on the opposite side people can also do something about it. About 10 days ago, a 25-year-old daughter confessed to ordering two of her partner's friends to kill her mother because she needed money to buy that partner out of detention. It involved ฿100K life insurance and ฿10M worth of land. The assassination attempt failed because mother was only injured and she immediately pointed to her daughter as the instigator. Daughter had promised the two friends ฿200K.
In the middle of last week, a woman walks into a karaoke bar with a bottle of petrol, pours the petrol over her husband, who is there with friends, and sets it on fire. The woman thought that her husband was too often in that bar and had a crush on one of the bar employees.
Because a 7-year-old student had difficulty with a math problem and its outcome, the teacher hit the girl in the middle of the head with a wooden stick last Thursday. The child complained to mother about headaches in the evening and had enormous swelling in her face the next morning. She was hurriedly rushed to hospital.
There is no disturbance at all for road safety: near Lampang, a bus full of Italian tourists slides off the road, a minivan drives into the back of a truck at much too high a speed, and in Wang Sombun a minivan crashes head-on into an 18-wheel lorry . This action has become so commonplace that only twice a year there is a general government reflection on the exodus of Songkran and the turn of the year.
How come it seems that (not all) Thai people just do it, and only stop when they are confronted with the consequences of their actions? Why not think first and look for a more effective solution read: behavioral alternative?
It seems that in this country you can be there, if you can demonstrate your existence in a drastic way: “I bring about, therefore I exist!”
Submitted by RuudB
You rightly cite a number of concrete examples that are very characteristic...Explanation?...Any person with common sense can wonder about this...but remain unable to provide an answer. Unless one decides through rational thinking that, in the aforementioned and many other cases, it is due to a lack of intellectual capacity, a total absence of proactive thinking and an absolute absence of a sense of responsibility... Or did I see it wrong?
Planning and thinking ahead is indeed not in the Thai nature. There is no rain so we don't have to do anything about waterways, but only when it rains and things flood.
In traffic it is often “Jos Verstappen's” and Remies (only in the world).
Maintenance of houses, cars, etc. is also not done. Only when something no longer works is something done. So too late.
Then you also have those types with a short fuse! They don't get their way and so stabbing/shooting. They don't realize there are cameras everywhere.
Could it have something to do with education?
Hi Ruud, the question is easier asked than answered.
We Dutch people can be surprised about the fact that hardly a Thai can do a simple calculation from memory. If it costs 40 and you give 100, it turns out a calculator is needed to calculate that. The difference is that we have learned that at school with endless repetitions and the Thai have not. Suppose I ask you how much that 7 x 9 is, you immediately say 63. People think, you too, that you calculated that quickly, but the truth is that you once memorized it. Many things are a matter of learning at a young age. We learn that as you teach a dog a trick. Reward with a cookie. Conditioning is a better word. We sought the recognition of parents or teachers, precisely at the age of primary school, when affirmation and recognition were most important for human development.
Ask someone aged 70 about North East Groningen and they will answer immediately; Straw cardboard. The children used to learn this by heart. Other things later. Younger people now do not know what straw cardboard was. But they think it's stupid that young people don't learn that anymore.
It just seems like thinking. The same goes for anticipation. That when you are going to do something, that you also have an idea of the consequences. you sketch examples of Thai who do not anticipate the consequences.
Several immigrant groups live in my neighborhood in the Netherlands. Two of those groups park their cars everywhere, while there are parking spaces. Running into an acquaintance in the evening can be a reason to get out of your car and start a conversation, even though that empty car, engine running, radio loud and open door is in the middle of an intersection. When someone cannot pass 3 minutes later, people are very surprised and even annoyed, because they are talking. Only when you know where they come from, a place where people hardly know any streets or cars, do you understand it better.
Thai people turn out to be very good at certain things, compared to 'us' and much less good at other things. This is partly due to what people learn in primary school in terms of facts, skills, but certainly also in terms of behaviour.
Look how skilled almost every Thai is with packaging materials. How they get things done with a piece of wood and string. Very well developed fine motor skills. They don't understand how we Farang are so clumsy at that.
In addition, many Thai people have the learned calmness, the cool face, or a skillful smile on the one hand. but on the other hand, they are just people. Some hide a lot of temperament under that civilization. Hidden temperament, an aggressive nature that some peoples still have because until recently they were simply warriors. That can also be built-up aggression or jealousy. Jalousie in Thailand is sometimes really shocking how far that goes. Even if you have ever caused someone to lose face. it is a land of elephants, but in some cases the people there also have an elephant memory. Sometimes it also involves passion. I had a Thai girlfriend for a while who was the superlative of neat, timid and in control. All with the sweetest smile and maximum patience. Me 1.96 and she 1.42. A kiss on the cheek, I couldn't have done more for a few weeks. Although her eyes told me that she was definitely not into my money, but into my heart. She could look at me very longingly. But the first time we were together in a bedroom, everything dark and the door locked, the windows closed, no chance of neighbors listening in, she turned out to be a real volcano. At one point I was really afraid that she would bite pieces out of my body. Had two bleeding bites afterwards. Once close to orgasm she growled like a predator. I was stunned. On one side we had also fallen through the bed. I had literally seen every corner of the room.
The next morning I had recovered enough to try to get closer again, but no. could not. It was already light outside??? The passion hidden behind a cultured smile.
And then there is also the fact that many Thai people are quite strong in life by the day due to Buddhism.
Ce serra serra, to say it in good Dutch. Who then lives, who then cares. I gave a young single mother with baby, from my village because of a small emergency, some money because she had to pay the rent. She just didn't have enough. Her landlord was no longer satisfied with a delay, eviction threatened. I gave her the 180 bath she needed and added another 300 for the next month. I was about to go back to the Netherlands. She understood the idea of the 300 perfectly, but within an hour she had already spent the extra 300. Among other things, she had bought me some of it, sweet and stupid. They often do not anticipate or save. Where we Dutch prefer to insure ourselves for everything.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts on your question. People do strange things and the warmer the climate, the higher the temperament I think. Fascinating and sometimes inexplicable or even threatening. An unpredictable life keeps us vital.
Greeting!
Frank
@I was afraid at one point really afraid that she would bite pieces out of my body. Had two bleeding bites afterwards. Once close to orgasm she growled like a predator. I was stunned. On one side we had also fallen through the bed. I had literally seen every corner of the room.
Frank, What a wonderful story, but you have a few readers, and at least 1 (I will not name names) shock, because according to them women in Thailand are always the victims of men like you and cannot and should not have orgasms to get! 🙂 ha ha, I always say if you don't understand the game don't explain the rules to me, we already have the Pope for that. I've also fallen through a bed with scratches and bruises, everyone should experience that once in their life, that doesn't make the world any worse.
You learn to think with education.
However, if you are trained by people who have not learned to think either, it will not work.
A large part of the Thai population has an agricultural background.
Life is very simple there.
If it rains, you have food, and if it stays dry, you're hungry.
In the past there was little to plan for.
Often today too.
Everyone can think, some more and some less. You don't need any training for that. I often suspect that Thai schools actually forbid thinking.
And if you think agricultural life is simple, you are mistaken. Farming also requires thinking, planning and preparation. And sometimes something goes wrong there. Too little water, too much water. What to do?
Come on, start a farm. Thirty rai and you have 60.000 baht per year, 150 euros per month. Easy. You can then cancel your benefit from the Netherlands.
“In the past there was little to plan for.
Often today too.”
I refer to the background of many Thai.
30-35 years ago there was no electricity in the village, and the primary school in the village started as a project of someone who passed away a few years ago.
Compulsory education did not exist at that time.
Before that time there was no primary school, let alone anything with higher education.
And in most villages there will not have been anyone who founded a school, and therefore no education will have been given there, at most in someone's home.
That situation would have existed in large parts of Thailand, certainly, if there was no large city nearby.
And farming life wasn't that complicated.
You had a buffalo and a piece of land, and you grew rice on it.
When it rained, you had a harvest, and when it stayed dry, you didn't.
And that was the same every year.
You looked for other edible things, like mushrooms, in the woods, and of course you had some chickens.
There was little planning involved.
When I first came to the village there was no paved road, there were no mobile phones and only a few fixed telephone lines, which the whole village used.
If someone from outside the village called, he had to call again after 15 minutes, because then they would pick up the person in question first.
And that was all not so long ago.
Where were you 30 years ago in Thailand? Then there were universities everywhere and my ex studied in one of these universities and her siblings had already graduated. There were roads everywhere and as a tourist you could sometimes go into the "inland" and everywhere you went there was electricity. It surprised me in 1990 that many had a refrigerator and every house had a TV, while the fairy tale went that people had nothing. Since my early days in Thailand, 30 years ago, I know better because I have traveled around Thailand a lot. And in the 20s, the mobile phone was also introduced in the Netherlands and you then wore a “box” with a cable connected to a telephone in the car. Idem only then began the internet age for the common people, especially XNUMX years ago.
I'm talking about Isan.
I have experienced the unpaved road and the few fixed telephone lines.
Also the time – that was on Puket – when the children paid a few Baht to watch TV, with someone who had a TV.
I was told about the electricity and the school by the villagers.
According to this site https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/access-to-electricity-percent-of-population-wb-data.html, in 2004 less than 88% of the population had an electricity connection.
That will have been mainly in the big cities, so less on farmland.
30 years ago it would have been even less.
It is inextricably a matter of insufficient education and an urge to do things. The average Thai is a doer and certainly not lazy. My wife has a market stall and I see many hard-working people trying to make a living. Often 7 days a week and also at an older age. Only a few can do mental arithmetic, not even my wife, always the calculator and that's a good thing for her. Not much is earned and if you also disadvantage yourself, you work for virtually nothing. In traffic you often see from the driving behavior that there is insufficient anticipation. Education is generally not received. One has educated oneself from an early age. Changing direction at the last minute, often without signaling, braking too late, etc., is the order of the day. They are masters in finding creative solutions for all kinds of traffic problems. The emergency lane as an extra lane user in traffic jams. Using an extra lane when turning and thus blocking part of the road for following traffic. People don't like stopping for the red traffic light, so a quick pinch of gas on it and then blocking the intersections. Always in a hurry, there is also many in the genes.
Today we drove past a place where there used to be a market. Completely gone. My wife is surprised, but I had already predicted it to her. No one is doing any research to see whether enough people live in the area and what the situation is with the competition in the area. There is no quota so rampant market stalls come and go. A lot of money is lost to this. Then build something else somewhere else, but there too much of the same is going on. Also the fact that the 7's shops are just throwing a new branch out of the ground. A lot is sold and used and the small self-employed lose a lot from this. It is a world apart in Thailand and it sometimes makes you despondent. So much ignorance, but advice is not served. Still persist in being right, despite all the examples where things are not going well.
Maybe those who write here weren't there if it had to be different! By that I mean what attracts us to this disorganized existence, just stopping the stress and living with the mind at zero I think!
I think this is a correct conclusion, this is the charm of Thailand, but sometimes it can quickly become too much and too annoying for some people, finding balance is the solution, and that is not always easy.
But indeed if the Thai behaved exactly like us Dutch people, then there would be nothing left, then you can also stay at home. However, there is 1 problem and that is that Thailand is becoming much too Western, and in the long term that in that authentic Thai thinking will also disappear, but that will take a while because it is deeply ingrained.
So mind at zero people ha ha !!
Western or Eastern, what exactly is that? The world is becoming much more international, differences are being lost. But, for example, the culture of 24/7 with the smartphone cannot be called Western or Eastern. Some things, such as a KFC and a Starbucks everywhere, are an expression of 'Americanization' (you can't call that Western, after all, it's not something Dutch or European). Or not? With the advancement of wok and sushi restaurants, we are not talking about the 'Roasting of the Netherlands' or that the Netherlands is no longer the Netherlands and is losing its charm with advancing American, Japanese and Chinese practices.
You can hardly forbid Thailand to go along with the progress (or 'progress' or regression) of its peoples. That reminds me of an excerpt from a book by Sjon Hauser where an American was angry that the mountain people were no longer authentic now that they also use refrigerators, TVs, telephones, etc., which she thought was unacceptable! 5555
Let me sneak an example of that horrible Americanization of the world as a bouncer, America is wunderbar, we are all living in America. Ramstein: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8ljRgcJNM
What are you trying to say?
The entry is about the incomprehensible in the eyes of a Westerner to which I would add the Westerner who sees everything from a distance. Dear helmsmen stand ashore is such an expression.
That it is a bit premature and simplistic to talk about a 'Western mentality' and an 'Eastern mentality'. You have to take many things into account, including that the world is getting smaller, that 'the West' is also a large collection of all kinds of different stones (a stereotypical American does something different than a stereotypical Dutch person, but both are Western, what is the Western way?).
Not to mention economic and social circumstances, such as the reactions 'Thai don't do maintenance' or insufficient safety measures (helmet). Not crazy if you don't have a penny to make. The country is now an upper middle income country, so there will also be a difference there.
I'm talking about Isan.
I have experienced the unpaved road and the few fixed telephone lines.
Also the time – that was on Puket – when the children paid a few Baht to watch TV, with someone who had a TV.
I was told about the electricity and the school by the villagers.
According to this site https://tradingeconomics.com/thailand/access-to-electricity-percent-of-population-wb-data.html, in 2004 less than 88% of the population had an electricity connection.
That will have been mainly in the big cities, so less on farmland.
30 years ago it would have been even less.