Do you wish the best for Thailand?

[Alexx]

Sky high murder rate.  Ridiculous!!!

 

Not quite. "We won't even talk about Arab countries" - believe it or not, their murder rates are typically very low.

 

Thailand's is more than 60% higher than the average for Asia, so I'd say for a "Buddhist country" that IS very high. The predominantly Muslim South-East Asian countries Indonesia and Malaysia both have murder rates that are far below Thailand's.

 

As for "gun happy USA", and how Thailand compares (not all this is murder, obviously):

 

NPR ran the data from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation after the recent mass shootings in California, and found Thailand had 7.48 violent gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2013.

 

That’s over twice the gun death rate in the US, which had 3.55 deaths per 100,000 people in the same year.

 

Thailand also has the highest gun death rate in Asia, the data shows.

 

It had 50% more deaths than the Philippines, which also beat the US gun death rate with 4.64 deaths per 100,000 people.

 

(from http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2015/12/11/thailand-gun-death-rate-twice-high-us)

[witty]

Another Buddhist country, Myanmar, next door is equally violent as Thailand and xenophobic towards their minorities.

[Guest naughtybutnice]

 

What I don't see is people reduced to sleeping under bridges in makeshift cardboard shelters, getting their only meals at homeless shelters or scavenging dumpsters and carrying "will work for food" signs.  But I sure see plenty of that where I come from in the USA.

You don't see many on the streets but have you ever visited the slums?

There you will find people living under cardboard, in shacks you would not be allowed to keep a dog in, in conditions that in any western country would be declared uninhabitable and people who are so badly disabled that they have to rely on neighbours or charities to survive.

 

Do a Facebook search for both Kate's Project and Kids in Pattaya, both are public pages so you do not need a Facebook account to view the pages. When I am in Pattaya I visit both projects as our office sponsors some of the kids for their education and even after visiting slums for 3-4 years I am still horried that the government still permit this extreme poverty to go unsupported with government funds.

[firecat69]

Alexx,

 

Try looking at this chart and you'll have to change your tune?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

 

Laos, Cambodia , Myrnmar, Philipines, almost all of South America, most of the Caribbean, all of Africa etc etc etc. all higher and many much higher then Thailand.

[Guest Hutchison]

Try looking at this chart and you might change part of your tune - 

 

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5

​

[Alexx]

Try looking at this chart and you'll have to change your tune?

Not at all. You plucked a single sentence from my post, took it out of context and said it's ridiculous. That neither makes much sense nor is it good form. Many of your posts wouldn't pass muster applying the same standard either, one recent example being your suggestion that murder rates in Arab countries are high.

 

I didn't make any comparison to other countries initially; in fact I contrasted Thailand's real world problems (one of which is violent crime) with the fairy tale depiction of a Buddhist utopia, the latter being "what makes me cringe" whenever I encounter it. Thailand doesn't stand out as particularly non-violent; it's the cultural norm of conflict avoidance that often gets confused with an absence of violence.

 

What triggered having a jab at the "Buddhist country" slogan is that I had talked to a female Swiss tourist a few weeks ago. She was impressed by how peaceful, enduring and smiling the people here are thanks to adhering to their Buddhist teachings, while according to her, now that Switzerland has admitted "way too many foreigners" since many years, murder is on the front pages every single day. She was profoundly puzzled when I told her that Thailand's murder rate is more than three times that of Switzerland. Looking at your chart, I actually should have said, more than eight times that of Switzerland. That's the fairy tale impression quite some people have that I had in mind. I never said that Thailand is a dangerous place for people to visit due to violent crime, I'd be more concerned about the sky-high traffic-related death rate (if anything).

[firecat69]

Fair Enough.  

[firecat69]

Try looking at this chart and you might change part of your tune - 

 

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5

​

Pitiful and useless chart. Data completely missing for some countries and too old for any use at others.  And just to pick one Arab Country of Egypt, no relevant info and:  Do you really think I would believe any statistics from a country where the government controls thoughts etc.

 

Oh and by the way when I talked about Arab countries I meant Iraq , Libya , Syria, Sudan, Algeria, N. Africa and many more. If we added up the population of Arab countries that shower their citizens with oil money so they don't revolt, the total would represent a minuscule % of the Total Arab Population.

[Guest Hutchison]

figures can lie and liars can figure​.

 

That's why I sent an alternative chart, it is pitiful and useless as yours.

If I have to explain it to you, anyone can take any stat or chart from the internet (including Wikipedia) to push any line that's supports their point of view. These figures are as good as useless.

 

And you say the government controls thoughts, that's an interesting one...

 

Pitiful and useless chart. Data completely missing for some countries and too old for any use at others.  And just to pick one Arab Country of Egypt, no relevant info and:  Do you really think I would believe any statistics from a country where the government controls thoughts etc.

 

Oh and by the way when I talked about Arab countries I meant Iraq , Libya , Syria, Sudan, Algeria, N. Africa and many more. If we added up the population of Arab countries that shower their citizens with oil money so they don't revolt, the total would represent a minuscule % of the Total Arab Population.

[Guest Hutchison]

For a laugh.

[firecat69]

That's right. When a government restricts information or controls all information funneled to the population then they are restricting thoughts.

[Guest Hutchison]

Have you heard of the internet?

[firecat69]

What planet are you on?  Many countries block the internet or restrict access to certain sites .  Free exchange of ideas and thoughts does not exist in many countries and believe it or not there are many countries where the majority of the population could not afford it even if permissible .

[Guest abang1961]

Hi this is Roland from urban Singapore.. yes, porn sites are banned.. no Playguy type for me ... 

Otherwise, wi-fi is available on subway platforms and many other places.. free charging of your phones inside the station too..much like Taipei

[Guest ronnie4you]

Gosh, I only hope for the best for Thailand! If we lose out on guys available for rent, so be it. More power to them if they can improve their lives.