The dangers of cultural and historical ignorance

A few years ago, a beer bar on Sukhumvit Road thought it would be cute, or a good marketing ploy, to have its staff dress up in Nazi uniforms and give “Sieg Heil” salutes to people passing by.
It didn’t take long for the operators to realise that it was a bad idea. The looks from the faces of passers by – and the fact that the gimmick didn’t attract many customers – was enough to seal the fate of that asinine marketing stunt.
The intersection where the bar was located was frequented by
foreign men on a night out. An encounter with a prostitute may have been on the list of activities for some of the visitors, but drunk or sober, all had enough sense to realise what constitutes common decency in the case of this bar’s ridiculous ploy. It was the customers’ shunning the bar’s bad taste that got the owners to react.
A couple of years ago, there was uproar after a Thai wax museum in Pattaya put up highway billboards using the image of a saluting Adolf Hitler. The billboards quickly came down after the incident drew a fierce response from the Israeli and German embassies.
The museum management was quick to go into damage control mode, apologising for any offence it had caused and maintaining that they weren’t celebrating the fascist dictator but pointing out that he is an important historic figure.
A few weeks ago in Chiang Mai, teenage girls from the Sacred Heart High School dressed up in full Nazi and SS Guard uniforms to celebrate their annual sports day. There isn’t much actual sport held on that day; it’s more of a fun-and-games activity, an opportunity to express oneself. Nevertheless, quite what they thought the Nazis have to do with fun and games is anyone’s guess.
Of course they knew who Hitler was and knew what his regime did to six million Jews and minority peoples just decades ago. The questions here, therefore, are: What were the girls thinking? What had they learned at school? Does the school think it was all right?
The school said it wasn’t aware of the plan because the students, in line with tradition, kept it to themselves until the parade day. Maybe so. We will never know the truth, although it is doubtful that none of the teachers or administrators knew.
Also, is it right to pass the buck to the students? Perhaps it is our education system, our entire society, or just our complete ignorance and indifference to the pain and suffering in the history in the other parts of the world. That may best explain why some Thai people are indifferent to atrocities and the pains that are suffered elswhere.
Our education system has been accused by some of fostering ultra-nationalist sentiment suggesting that the Thai race, whatever that means, is superior to others. True or not, many people in neighbouring countries despise us for our attitude toward them.
We don’t even have to look as far as Germany and what happened there over half a century ago. Thailand’s deep South serves as a reminder of how bad things can get if the issue of cultural and historical differences turn nasty. We must also be aware of the lack of empathy displayed in our attitude to migrant workers, as well as stateless highlanders.
Ignorance and indifference are something that exist not only in Thailand. Mistreatment of minorities occurs even in the most liberal societies. That, however, doesn’t mean we have to adopt the attitude, which can eat into the national soul slowly but very surely. And given Thailand’s political circumstances, the danger may be twice as high.