Quote:
Originally Posted by LivinLOS
Its all part of the way we process differently.. Theres an interesting collection of essays called "can asians think" by the Singaporean ambassador to the UN. He tends to focus on the social implications of how thought processes shape us and our societies.
You can also see things like this in how the Thai schooling system stresses rote learning and not deductive reasoning.. Leads to a poor ability at problem solving (ever seen a Thai invention ?? Any ?? Red bull and recipes dont count). You also see it in social conventions like being part of the group over the individual, dont differentiate yourself, blend in, dont attract attention, dont innovate. I think theres a chinese proverb like the tall poppy gets cut down (also heard the nail that stands proud gets hammered down) and if you look at the more east asians in tour groups it always makes me think of that.. 50 koreans at the beach all with the same coloured towel !!
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I'd noticed that level of uniformality before. Am I alone in thinking the Korean's chicks are the fittest in Phuket? Just something so natural about them.
I didn't know they practised rote learning, but had definitely noticed the lack of innovation. It's the sheer lack of business sense that gets me - pouncing on people checking a menu, chasing people with wares they couldn't possibly want to buy (who goes to the beach to buy a table?), asking you a million times if you want a taxi to take you to the zoo when you've a beach towel tucked under your arm, and last but not least, rubbing those wooden frogs things, which produce the single most irritating noise on the planet. Who's going to buy anything from them?
However, I sense that Thais really like and care for each other - a group of 10 farang mates have competition, conflict and egos. I have many mates I don't really like. That sounds wrong - they are mates, but there's a definite order in farang society that maybe isn't so prevalent in Thai? Not sure. I very rarely hear one Thai badmouth another - they *****, but it is for unpalatable specific actions rather than a general dislike of someone's personality. The only real antagonism I've noticed comes when discussing someone who isn't Thai, a Lao for example.