KFC to sue Hitler in Thailand.

[Malthus]

Yul Brynner in "The King and I" allegedly annoys the Thais - the movie is banned there. A tee shirt with his image as a singing, dancing Thai monarch ought to sutably annoy them. 

I know the term "Siamese twins" offends them.  Make a T-shirt with Yul Brynner and Adolf Hitler as Siamese twins! 

Almost worth doing.

[Siege]

Kmer Rouge.

[Siege]

[Ed Anger]

 

[Admiral Yi]

 

[derspiess]

That is awesome.

[Malthus]

 

It's probably fake, but still funny.

True story: my brother's wife was googling one of the other parents in their little girl's class to get the other little girl's mom's phone number, to set up a play-date, when she discovered that the woman advertised her sevices as a high-priced escort on the internet - complete with "sample" pictures leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.

This caused a traumatic episode. My brother would not send me the link. 

[fhdz]

It's probably fake

Indeed. Her mommy is, almost assuredly, a stripper.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Beats working at Home Depot.

[Savonarola]

Meanwhile in Indonesia:

Nazi-themed cafe draws fire in Indonesia
Officials call for explanation of 'Soldatenkaffee' in Badung as owner says he is not a politician, just a businessman.





A Facebook picture of Indonesians in Nazi-era uniform outside the Soldatenkaffe, Indonesia [Facebook]


Indonesian authorities are to ask a restaurant owner to explain his reasons for opening a Nazi-themed cafe that has sparked controversy among locals and tourists.

Soldatenkaffee includes a red wall of Nazi-related memorabilia, including a large flag with the swastika and a giant picture of Adolf Hitler.

Its wait staff dresses in SS and Nazi-era military uniforms, and can be seen posing in front of the cafe on its Facebook page. The menu carries an Indonsian dish rechristened "Nazi goreng".

The cafe, located in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung, one of Indonesia's tourist destination cities, has been open since April 2011. But a recent article in a local English-language newspaper prompted angry responses from some foreigners and Indonesians on social networking sites.

Ayi Vivananda, the deputy mayor of Bandung, said a letter was sent on Thursday summoning cafe owner Henry Mulyana to meet with officials to discuss his motives for opening the cafe and whether his objective was to incite racial hatred.

"Those symbols are internationally recognised to represent violence and racism," Vivananda said.

The Facebook page of Soldatenkaffe contains pictures of Indonesians dressed in German World War Two battle fatigues and carrying German replica weapons.

Mulyana says his objective was not to breed hatred. Instead, he said he wanted to decorate his restaurant with Nazi symbols to attract customers, both local and foreigners.

He told the Irrawady newspaper: "Controversy will always exist, depending on from what side we're looking. The way I see it, the Nazis didn't commit slaughter. War is crime, so there will always be acts of murder in a war."

"I'm not personally familiar with the [Nazi] ideology, but even if I was, I don't think I'd find it completely disagreeable. For example, communism in Indonesia was prohibited, but it's flourishing in China. Maybe it's just a matter of politics."

He also denied being pro-Nazi or supporting Hitler. "I'm just a businessman, not a politician," Mulyana said. "I have a right to design my restaurant with anything that attracts people to come. I'm sure that I'm not violating any laws."

He said the recent controversy has forced him to temporarily close his restaurant. He declined to say whether he would consider changing the Nazi theme if authorities requested him to do so.

"Let's wait and see,'' he said. "I don't want the workers here to lose their jobs."

[derspiess]

Wow, the uniforms actually seem to be pretty well-done.  There's that, at least.

[Savonarola]

Thai educators grapple with Nazi imagery
Some malls sell Hitler regalia and a prominent university displayed a mural lionising Hitler, leading to complaints.



Bangkok, Thailand - After a deluge of incidents, Thailand is currently in discussions to re-work its national curriculum to include Holocaust education.

Thailand has recently witnessed a shop in a mall in Bangkok selling Nazi clothes and accessories, parading students in Chiang Mai performing the "Sieg Heil" Nazi salutes wearing SS uniforms, the discovery of a fried chicken restaurant called "Hitler" and a mural apparently lionising Hitler displayed on the campus of one of Thailand's oldest and most respected schools, Chulalongkorn University (CU).

Thailand's association with Nazi imagery is not new. Chetana Nagavajara, a professor of German literature at Silapakorn University, said the Hitler mural at CU "could have happened at any institution".

Decades ago, a "Nazi bar" was set up in a popular Bangkok entertainment district, with waiters dressed up as SS officers and saluting customers. Former Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj lashed out at the practice in Siam Rath, a tabloid newspaper, and the bar was shut down soon after.

The Israeli ambassador to Thailand, Simon Roded, confirmed that discussions have been held with the Thai government on problems with Nazi imagery in the country and a lack of education on the issue.

"We were surprised to learn of the minimal attention devoted to teaching World War II history, including the Holocaust, in the Thai education system. Frankly, it is a concern for us," he said. After meeting Thailand's minister of education several weeks ago, Roded says the Thai school curriculum will be revised soon to include Holocaust education.

Where does it come from?

Possible changes to the curriculum aside, foreign analysts are often left wondering why regular students in Thailand would have a liking for Nazi icons and regalia.

"I think they just don't know any better. World history and geography instruction are woefully inadequate in Thai schools," said Jason Alavi, the principal of an American English-language school in Bangkok. "The vast majority of Thais I have known have very little real, useful knowledge of the details of the rest of the world. It's just not a strong point in the Thai curriculum."

Patra Jirawisan, a Thai who lives in the US, agrees. "I certainly understand the hurt feelings, but these Thai youngsters really do not have bad intentions. They are simply ignorant."

Phil Williams, owner of ajarn.com, a popular education website in Thailand, said, "Youngsters will always dress to 'shock' or to be different. Call it a rebellious streak or whatever. Look at the punk era, with fashion followers wearing safety pins and ripped bin liners."

Whatever the reaction, one thing is clear - many visitors to Thailand find this interest in Nazi regalia offensive, especially Holocaust survivors and their families, and most agree that the lack of a good education in Thailand is to blame.

After criticising the Hitler mural at CU, Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York said: "I find the Thai people to be wonderful people, and every effort in the shrinking world we live in today should be made to provide your children with the broadest possible education. As a nation that relies on tourism, you cannot afford to have such ignorance. Truth and education are the best disinfectants against bigotry and lies."

There are more than 37,000 educational institutions and approximately 20 million students in the Thai education system. Eight core subjects form the national curriculum: Thai language; mathematics; science; social studies; religion and culture; health and physical education; arts, careers and technology; and foreign languages.

"The study of history in the Thai school system revolves primarily around the history of Thailand and its long line of kings. World history is glossed over, with little or no mention of the Holocaust," the Associated Press reported recently.

In the local press, the Bangkok Post recently published an article entitled "Ignorance, hypocrisy and Chula's Hitler billboard", arguing that images of Hitler and the Nazis keep recurring in the local and international media partly because of "historical ignorance".

"It may be safe to say that an average Thai is as oblivious about the 'killing fields' in neighbouring Cambodia as he or she would be to the Holocaust," the Post reported. "If we want our values to be taken seriously by the international community, Thai society - beginning with the academe - has to set itself straight and strive to be more socially literate about the world and our history."

And the mural referenced above:

[Neil]

Man, the Israelis are so fucking weak.