The Sound of Fake Generosity

For some reason I’ve always heard that Thai people are known for their smiles and generosity in helping other people.

And for many reasons I’ve always felt that it was tourist propaganda just to get people to visit Thailand more.

I don’t believe that Thai people smile more than other countries. If anything, they just smile because they don’t know what else to do. Ever heard of this? The best way to deal with any difficult or uncomfortable situation is to smile. I actually think that this is a skill worth having, especially if you want to be deceiving and fake. As for generosity? Well, they’re just waiting to take advantage of you.

The reason I’m talking about this is because I came across a really popular blog by Matt. I’m sure some of you may have heard of him. He’s the guy that goes to different countries and takes videos of himself dancing. The blog is call, “Where The Hell Is Matt?” I like his blog because he’s just really straightforward and opinionated. It’s a great way to learn about a country from his first-hand experiences albeit we keep in mind that it is just his opinion.

He’s been in Thailand before a few times and he hates it here.

He said:

“Right now you may be aching to inform me that Bangkok is a great city, you just have to know where to look. I reject that notion. Every city is a great city if you know where to look. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia has some great nightclubs. I can point you toward a fantastic Indian restaurant in Kigali, Rwanda. A great city is one that astounds your senses without any guidance or direction. New York is a great city. Bangkok is unchecked urban squalor.” February 12, 2008

In his other posts, he goes on to describe his difficulties with getting people to help him. If anything, they just ignore his existence altogether.

“Last time I was in this country, I complained that people ignore you when you have a problem. I've read up on that a bit, and apparently it's a cultural thing here. They have incredible powers of denial. When someone asks an awkward question or behaves in a way that attracts attention, that person simply no longer exists.” June 7, 2003

Sad to say, I actually agree with him more, rather than feel offended.

I read some of the comments he got, and he definitely received a lot of bashing for writing this from expats who live here or the nationalistic people bursting with Thai Pride who only suddenly gave a crap about Thailand because a farang's trashing it.

My point is this. I think there are way too many people in Thailand who, for many reasons, always turn a blind eye to the issues that are wrecking the country. People here are inconsiderate, materialistic, dirty, narrow-minded, unorganized and lazy. They will do anything in their interest to find the easiest way out. They accept things too easily. There is something wrong with Thailand and people just don't want to see it. As long as it doesn't affect them, it's OK.

The gap between the lower, middle and upper classes are huge. More money should be invested in rural and educational projects. People don't care about who runs the country as long as their own personal interests are met.

There is, however, this thing call Chaos Theory, or more popular known as The Butterfly Effect by Edward Lorenz, which states that "small effects lead to big changes." Sure, we may not see the consequences of our individual and unrelated actions right now, but any ignition will cause a chain reaction in the future. I love Chaos Theory, but will talk about it more in another blog entry.

People have told Matt to give Thailand a chance, even to get out of Bangkok to see the beauty of the country, it's hidden charms. But I’m sure he’s seen more of Thailand than just Bangkok.

For me, Thailand has very minimal charm but lives on the hyped up illusion of a tropical country. I believe that people choose to live here only because it’s cheap, have an Asian fetish, is hiding from something/someone, or moved here because of their job. On the scale of things, Bangkok itself is a horrible city infested with cockroaches. Although there may be places in Thailand that's like paradise on the surface, Bangkok is rotten to the core.

I had a great talk with one of my friends from Penn State the other day who commented that the problem with Thailand is that most Thai people are great followers, and nothing more.

Here's the link to Matt's posts about Thailand.