Who The Fuck Is Adolf Hitler?

Two recent articles on Stick's pages referred to a teeruk not knowing who Adolf Hitler was. The original story mentioned the farang being appalled, the second article tried to put it a bit in perspective, by referring to the Thai girl's age.
Let me add a bit in defence of Thai, no Asian women. Make that Asians period!

To start with, not knowing anything about specific facts of history is not typical for Thai girls. About 10 years ago I was dating a 20 year old English girl, educated and all, and apparently WWII was an unknown fact to her. When probed a
bit she said: "Wasn't that in the 18th century?" I am sure if I asked further, she probably would have no clue of when the 18 century exactly was.

Secondly: Adolf Hitler is western History. What Asian, bargirl or not, gives a hoot about Western History. Actually, what Englishman gives a hoot about anything else but his own history (which, admitted, often ties in with other countries
histories). Ok you probably all know when the Battle of Stamford Bridge was (three weeks before the battle of Hastings) and you know what king fought at Agincourt, but when was the battle of Newport (1600) and who were the major figures in the
80 year war?. I can guarantee you that the latter two, happening just across the channel are of major importance to the Dutch. Too long ago? OK when exactly was the civil war in Spain? (1936-39). Do you have all the facts ready on Queen Pomare,
if you know who she was? I can bet all you Tahitians know.

Your Thai teeruk probably knows exactly who Kunpan was whereas the average farang will never have heard of him.

Presuming that everyone should know who Adolf Hitler was, is just presuming that your western focused view of the world is the only good one.

Considering Adolf Hitler is actually quite interesting for Asia go-ers. Even if Asians know the man, the impact of his name is probably very minimal. Years ago, a Taiwanese businessman thought it was a good idea to start the Adolf Hitler
bar, completely dressed up with Nazi paraphernalia. He just did not understand the fuss that western countries made about that. In the Philippines, one often sees jeepneys adorned with swastika's, Luftwaffe kreuz or the stylised 3rd Reich
Eagle. Probably just because they like the symbols. If approached about this they will probably also don't understand anybody's problem with it. Apparently somewhere in Luzon there is a man who is called Adolf Hitler. He planned to call
his children "Mussolini", "Goebbels", and "Hess" (obviously he had done some checking). Why did he want to do that? Because his extraordinary name had always ensured him of female attention. He wanted to bestow the
same luck on his sons.

Something that westerners probably are not sensitive to when dealing with Asians is the sensitivity to Japan's WWII past. I have seen western companies raise the Japanese flag when Chinese visitors were received. A shameful mistake to
begin with, but it sort of has the same impact as raising the swastika flag when the Israeli ambassador is visiting.

So next time your Asian GF (BG or non-BG) does not know who Adolf Hitler, or Queen Elizabeth or Lord Nelson is, just accept that you probably don't know a thing on important Khmer or Thai warriors. I bet you though that she mai know
Homer Simpson. Even in America, Homer Simpson is known by more Americans than George W Bush.

Stickman’s thoughts:

I did a test – and most of my grade 9 students knew who Hitler was but of course, the detail was lost on them.