So the Thai's are kind of racist....

(So I'm still a sucker for Disney movies. This is why I'm happy that I never grew up. That being said, the song is pseudo-relevant to the post. I was trying to think of songs that involved racism, but all that came to my head was Public Enemy and N.W.A. Seeing as I'm trying to diversify my musical choices, I instead opted for "Colors of the Wind.")

I've alluded to this before, but the Thai's are really racist. No, seriously, they're really racist. To summarize:

Ethnicity's that the Thai's like: White Americans and Europeans, Thai's, Bob Marley, Che Guevara

Ethnicity's that the Thai's don't like: Everyone else

Granted, Thai's are friendly and non-confrontational, so they (probably) won't treat these other groups any differently, but they don't like them. However, they especially hate the Burmese, any Muslims, Japanese, Chinese, Indians, and black people.

Their hatred for the Burmese is simple enough: they are their natural enemies, much like the English-French, French-Germans, and Israeli-Everyone else in the Middle East. In fact, the Burmese sacked and burned down the old capital Ayutthaya (where I live) no less than 8 times. So yeah, I kind of understand that one. The Muslims (technically Islamics, but I'm American and therefore they are interchangeable) are responsible for the violence in the South. Additionally, the Thai's tend to be wary of any kind of fanaticism (one of their great character strengths in my opinion). Their dislike of the others is much more shrouded in mystery. Fortunately, one of my Thai acquaintances was kind enough to explain why the Thai's don't like these people.

According to Thai's, the Japanese are rude, the Chinese are rude and stupid, and the Indians are dirty. However, no one is able to tell me why Thai's don't like black people. I have a few theories, but nothing has been substantiated. In terms of skin color, Thai's love white skin. Whereas in the States, we go out of our way to get tans (or fake tans), they go out of their way to become whiter. In every 7/11, there are multiple bottles of skin whitening cream. In one of the nicer department stores I even saw a cream that was supposed to make your nipples pinker. One of the big trends right now are the contacts that make your eyes massive and blue. They think it makes them look really beautiful, but I have trouble shaking images of The Shining out of my head. Considering all the trouble Thai's go through to appear whiter, it kind of makes sense that they wouldn't like black people. Another of my theories is that they associate blacks with Islam, furthering their dislike, but I can't confirm this. It might not be an exaggeration to say that Thailand is one of the few nations that would have preferred John McCain to Barack Obama.

(I'm sorry buddy. Just give them 15 years, they'll come around.)

I think the racism makes itself very evident in Thai food. Thai's are notoriously picky; they pretty much only like Thai food. I love Thai food, but this is rather unfortunate for me because I had hoped to enjoy good Middle Eastern food, good Indian food, and good Chinese food while I was over here. I've been told that it is to be had in Bangkok, which features large neighborhoods of all three, but in Ayutthaya, I'm definitely lacking for variety. Ironically enough, after Thai food, you're most likely to find Western food, which they do like. McDonald's and KFC have pissed all over Thailand (just like the rest of the world, I supposed) and they can be found here. As ex-pats, we have a general policy: Thai food during the week, Western food on the weekends. If you're traveling to Thailand, you have to eat Thai food the entire time you're here. But we live here, so different rules apply to us.