What is up with the Thai bashing?
Visitors to LP might have noticed that I am running more than one Lao websites. My other sites include: Helplao.org, Laocuisine.net, Laomedia.net, Laomusic.nu, and Saolao.net. Having a few sites mean getting a great deal of emails, both good and bad.
Both good and bad emails, along with comments in the postings are good indicators of what the visitors are thinking about the content on the sites. Lately, a few people are voicing their frustrations on Thai content at Laomusic.nu. Some of these people feel that with the name of Lao Music, I should not have any Thai content in the Asian Music Videos section.
The main argument is that Thai people are bad. Thai people look down on Lao people and have mistreated them in the past, especially in the refugee camps in Thailand. These Laotian victims can’t stand or hate Thai people. Therefore, Thai content should not be on a Lao music site.
I found that kind of thinking to be somewhat amusing. These people have no problem with Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and other music videos from Asia but yet can’t stand having Thai music videos on the site or Thai artists for that matter.
To top it off, I got an email a few days ago regarding Thai content at my own personal blog site, Saolao.net. This Laotian is urging me to post content that is appropriate to my site, with having the name Sao Lao and all. To protect the individual, only the message is shown below in full text, with no alteration.
I couldn’t get any contact with Sao Lao. If this can get to Sao Lao, please help me get to Sao Lao: Don’t we have enough Thai, about Sai nam sam chee or any Thai.
Thai have no respect Lao, How long are wee gonna let this kind of sit happen. From the time of Chao Anu to now we always been the trash can of Thailand.
Why do we keep doing this sit. Can we just be our own> I am so soory for the Lao people but this is true and it got to be stop.
99.99999 of Cambodiam don’t want to fly Thai airline at all. can we take that model. I very like Laos and this web, but I can’t stand for any Thai. They only blood sucker nothing else. Thank you
After reading this email. My first thought was okay, this is ridiculous. I have a Lao internet police telling me what to do at my personal blog site. Should I reply to this person and give him or her a piece of my mind? Then after a nice cup of tea I asked myself why is there so much animosity toward the Thai people, especially in the US? What has happened to this individual that he/she can’t stand to even look at the Thai content on Saolao.net? Why are so many older Laotians in America preaching the younger Laotians to boycott Thai businesses, like Thai TV for example.
I feel sorry for those out there that think along this line. I don’t agree with this kind of thought and of course many people will come back to tell me that I am too young and don’t understand what they have gone through in the Thai refugee camps. I will tell those people that my family and I were there in the refugee camps and went through a great deal of pains and sufferings. Perhaps we should all compare tales of horrible things the Thai people did to us from the first step we took on Thai soil. Then we can cry and whine about who suffered the most.
If you want to ask me why I don’t hate Thai people in general. The answer is that I got over it and don’t keep on picking the same wounds. As a little kid I learned that people are people, no matter who they are. They can be Lao, Thai, Black, White, or whatever race they are and can be good and bad. I should treat people on individual basis, and not to sum them up as a group of people.
I have found out that Laotians are not any nicer or kinder than Thai people. In fact some of them can be more cruel when it comes to treating newly arrival immigrants. I have been treated less than kind for many years. It was shocking for me to have my own people looking down on me and calling me Tai barn nork and any other names they can think of. These individuals kept distance from me because they thought they were better than me since they have been in the US longer. They only spoke English among themselves because they thought I was too stupid to understand as much English as they do. They even said that I was so backward and don’t even know how to flush the toilet.
Of course these Laotians didn’t know or even care to take the time to find out that my parents are doctor and high school teacher from Laos. They didn’t even know that we lived in a house with flushed toilets and hot running water. While their parents can’t even read or write Lao and were just merchants at the market, they thought they are better than me and in turn are so quick to look down or “doo thook” the newly arrived immigrants in every ways that they can. They didn’t even realize that they were doing the same things to their own people what the Thai people did to them.
If that is not enough, some of these individuals continued to hate anything that is Thai to this very day. Yet, when it comes to grocery shopping they have no problem buying sticky rice, fish sauce, papaya, and any products from Thailand. They can preach all the hate they want and can’t even follow through.
If you really want to be true to yourself with your Thai bashing and hatred, then go all out and do 100% boycott on anything that has to do with Thai and see how long you last before your next papaya salad or kang nor mai. I bet most of you out there are just all talks and no action.
The problem with some Laotians abroad is that they like to be the police of the Lao community. They think they have the right to dictate the thinking of others and can just lecture someone like me for example to adopt their way of thinking in the name of justice and care. Just because you love to hate and think that you have the right to tell me to think like you, that doesn’t mean anything. I have my own mind and can think for myself. I like to be happy and not have my mind infested with hate that is oozing out of my soul.
Thank you kindly for your email. I am so happy that I am not trapped in the hate game like you. I’m so grateful that my parents didn’t teach me to hate Thai people as a whole, no matter what a few of them have done to us.
Hi Darly, I think we all have certain expectation when we enter someone’s blog, especially if we’re Laotian, it’s that self pride, I’m also guilty of having that myself. I don’t think I’ve ever posted that I’m part Thai, but back before the division of the land in the early 1900s, Meung Kao used to belong to Thai and many Thai moved there and when the land/town reverted back to Laos my mom side of the family never moved back to Thailand. Since I was born in Laos, I like to think of myself as 100% Laotian and when I saw Ko Viseth did his video in Thai language, I was a bit disappointed, even though I’m guilty of buying mostly Thai music, but it’s that self pride that we all have as Laotian. I’ve asked elders how they feel about his music, they told me that ‘you can’t eat your pride’, which is true. When I was at the Wat (temple) last weekend, I was surprised to learn that there were many Thai, Cambodian and other Asian nationality that also attended the events, which the Wat clearly indicated that it’s Wat Lao Buddhavong. Everyone were so nice and friendly, and the Thai didn’t seem to look down on the Lao people, I’ve carried conversations with many of them during the long bathroom line, I spoke both Lao and Thai with them, which they understood me. I think people can sense the hatred and if you have one, then it’s just projecting back to you. :|
Hi Ginger,
It's not a surprise to me to see how people in the red states think differently than those the blue states. This include Laotians from the red states.
Sabaidee Darly, I echoed your sentiment on this topic. I too notice anti-Thai mentality since I frequent these cyber communities. You know if there 3 people out of 100 hate Thai, their voice will be the loudest, and the rest of 97 people will fade in the background and we usually don’t hear anything. Up until I frequent these cyber space that I was surprise to read about them so often.
In real life, my experience with Lao/Thai people are kinship, my state has two temples, one Lao and one Thai, and they always coordinate their events, like if Lao Temple celebrates Buddhist holidays on Saturday and Wat Thai would do it on Sunday or the following weekend. When I attended Thai temple, there were more than half Lao worshipers there, and we didn’t feel any animosity or unwelcoming from the Monks/committee or the Thai themselves, of courses there were a few Laotians that refused to set foot in the Thai temple….but that’s how it is.
I was told by many elders about the Thais, they had their bad experienced, but at the same time the same elders will warn me against all other races as well. So what do you do when some of your elders are bigots? You must look at them and than yourselves. Do you want to be bitter and unhappy about everything in the world like them?
Honestly, I never see these folks happy about anything. So that’s my conclusion, there always will be negative and unhappy people in the world.BTW…I have many Thai friends.
Come by me again, I didn't understand your terms of blue and red states, I've never heard that before.
Hi Ginger, I was talking about the mentality of some people in the US, like the ones from the blue states that voted against Bush and those from the red states that voted for Bush.
Please see wikipedia for more explanation.
The majority of Laotians I know from the red states favor Republicans. These people are traditional and are moslty anti-Thai, based on their abusive encountered with Thai people in the refugee camps. They see black and white and nothing in between.
As for Laotians from the blue states that I know, they are more open minded. This is based on a limited exposure on my years in the US, so I have more data to collect.
Hi Darly and others,
I'd like to agree that there is a lot of animosity towards Thai people in the
older generation. My dad is a great example of this. I become involved with
Thai Smakom on campus this past year and when my dad found he was not only
surprised but a bit beyond pissed. "Why do you want to do anything with
them? Thai people think they're better than everyone else and they look down on
Lao people and… " He kept going. When I tried to explain that most of
the members were Thai Americans and carried an American mindset, he made no
distinction. "Thais are Thais."
Most of the people in the club
are my good friends and I have met some Lao people through being involved. From
my experience, Thai Americans generally make no distinction between Thai and
Lao and most of their parents didn't even mention Lao people while growing up. Some
say that their parents are disillusioned with "Thai Society" because
of gossiping and doing things all for face. Perhaps this is a product of the
Thai community in America.
People are more accepting of other races.
Thais from Thailand,
however, are a bit different. I have to say though, many of them are rich
enough to go to school overseas and are very ignorant of the world beyond Krung
Thep (Bangkok).
One person didn't know Isaan people are ethnically Lao. Another grad student
(about 28 years) didn't know that Lao and Thai language and culture are very,
very similar. This really shocked me. And so while many Laotian elders may see
this as "looking down," I see it as plain ignorance. But I do feel
that I have been discriminated against a couple times. If you didn't know, the
word for "fob" in Thai is "Lao." I’ve heard this used several
time while I was around. Another time some person asked another person how
Isaan was and subsequently asked, "Is it because it's next to Lao?"
Judging by the context of the conversation, it wasn't a good connotation.
This is strictly from my
experience with young Thais. It could be different from the older generation. What
I’m trying to get across is that there is definitely some kind of prejudice
going around but it all depends on what kind of environment you’re raised in. Also,
the stereotypical “Thai” is probably someone affluent, in which case this type
of prejudice happens in every race. I’m sure the Thais living in poverty
(because there is poverty in Thailand)
aren’t going to say, “Look at those poor Lao.”
If continue to hate, we show how low
class we really are.
Thanks Darly for explaining, that's a whole new topic worth posting.
Sometimes you’d have thought that education would allow people to see things better and soften their way of thinking but I’ve also noticed the attitude of ‘I’m better’, and looking down on others, not just in some Thai, but also in many Laotian as well. Our value has changed; the morality and way of thinking aren’t progressing as fast as our growth and advanced in technology.
What’s holding some of us back is a question that we might never have an answer for because the answer is to be decided by those individuals, and they obviously don’t see that their way of thinking is hurting others, but then again it might be their intention. It’s a sad world that we’re living in, but look on the bright side, we have many open minded individuals that are seeing people as people, looking beyond that physical appearance, Lao, Thai, or others, we are all human.
Sabuydee everyone. My experience with Laos and Thai throuth out my path it's evry true that most of Thai pp are taking advanted of the situations against Laos pp since long long ago when Issan became Thai and it's bitter for Laos history, till now I still see and hear bad thing about Thai pp treating Loas pp don't know how many young Laos are traping in the slaverly private company in Thailand rigth now, steal stuff from your bagage when traveling thru airport, the list goes on for ever… but I admit not all Thai are bad I have lots of Thai friend I think they start to change a bit most of Thai pp don't know much about Laos pp now some Thai pp traveling in Laos and experience it by them self about knidness of Laos pp. hopefully we all can live in peace, in the end Laos and Thai can nerver be supperated it cause long long ago we was a BROTHER.
I can see where people are up in arms about it since you do say in your Lao music site that your aim is to promote Lao music.
Yes, I did say that. At the heart of the site is to promote Lao music. Later on I decided to expan the site since Laos is part of Asean and part of Asia. Even Lao TV in Laos has international music playing too. They even have world news to add on to their local news.
It’s not about having non Lao content at all, it’s about having Thai content there. No one is bitching about having Japanse music there or Chinese music or other non-Lao content.
These whiners are not happy and will just find anything to whine about. They will even whine that there are people who are not Lao singing Lao music, like white people or Thai people singing Lao songs. There will also be people that are saying that Lao people should be only singing in Lao language. If not, then you are not real Lao.
Rather than whine, they should do something about it, like go make their own site, with 100% Lao anything. Make sure all the instruments and equipment are Lao made too, or else it is not real Lao if you really want to be pure Lao made Lao use and all.
I don’t mind about the whining at Laomusic.nu. But for my personal blog site, it’s a bit silly to tell me what to post. It is my online journal and I can do whatever I want. Whining will get you no where. In the end, these are all my sites. I do whatever I want.
I think when it rains, it pours where you are Darly.
Yes. It is just like Laos almost at the moment, with heavy thunder and lighting. I am still waiting for a nice sunny day so I can go to the beach or a park.
Just remember that the sun always shine after the rain, if not then move somewhere that's nice and sunny.
[...] 16th, 2007 by Sim This is a response to Darly’s “What is up with the Thai bashing.” The main argument is that Thai people are [...]
Darly said, "In the end, these are all my sites. I do whatever I want." Yay for Darly! Do we ever thank you enough for putting up with all this stuff. It'a a labor of love and you deserve many thanks. And keep up the good job!
As for all the Thai bashing. The world is much bigger then just us, it's gone global, and many peope will have to learn to live with one another - whether they like it or not.
Martin Luther King, JR. "I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin, but by the content of their character."
[...] Sim’s blog: What is up with the Thai bashing? [...]