Stickman Readers' Submissions October 14th, 2010

PC Refugees


Define PC

Those who live in Thailand

He Clinic Bangkok

Those who prefer Thai women

I have been patiently reading many posts recently in which the writer rants about political correctness, or PC, and uses it as a reason for where they live, who they are, or who they date. The latest from our friend Dr. Harry Soidog put me over the edge
of patience and I can no longer be restrained from my keyboard. Besides taking swipes at Korski and BKKSW and then not have the balls to publish his email; his article has us believe that he lives in constant fear of the PC police such that he
has to speak Thai to avoid exposure and prefers to date Laos women because they are unassuming and not very interesting. His thinking is similar to other posters who have even left their country rather than live under the suppression of a PC society.
Although I sympathize to a much lesser degree which them, to use PC as a reason to do something as extreme and possible against their better nature, seems to me a bit nonsensical.

Let’s take a closer look at what PC really is. Wikipedia defines it (without challenges) as “a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender,
racial, cultural, sexual orientation, disability, and age-related contexts.” Certainly, in conservative circles, they consider PC a pejorative term as it curtails their freedom of speech. Unless you consider yelling “fire”
in a theatre a funny practical joke, in its purest form it seems more like being sensible and polite. Yet I know this simple definition has been expanded to laws and policy where some races have been hired or promoted over others because of past
discrimination. I am uncomfortable with this concept but when I see that racial discrimination against minorities is alive and well even today, I think that maybe the pluses and minuses equal out in the end. Then there are the rules at work and
school where just making someone “uncomfortable” is verboten. This, however, is normally only enforced after repeated violations and the aggressor has been asked to stop. Don’t you think that Dr. Harry’s heifers,
instead of listening at his door for words of PC violations were instead in his office, piggy legs on his desk, and making sexual passes at him, that he wouldn’t scream “I feel very uncomfortable” at the nearest supervisor?
Sure, the PC environment can be pretty silly at times but is it worth turning your life upside-down for?

CBD bangkok

But for those who cannot live under such repression and move to Thailand for relief I say: Are you out of your minds? Those folks have gone from the frying pan to the fire. It doesn’t take too much perusal of Stick’s reader submissions to
find a number of true stories detailing the scams and inequities that await every foreigner who visits the land of smiles (scams); everything from simple double-pricing to random shakedowns from police to the very dangerous false accusation of
a major crime. The lesser scams happen so often that longtime residents just consider them part of the price of living in Thailand. And if you think just because there is no PC in Thailand that you are now free to express yourself anyway you desire,
try talking loudly in a crowded Thai restaurant about how much you hate red shirts. You will have about ten seconds to live once you step outside. Again, long-timers are smart enough to curb their speech to enjoy a long, healthy life in Thailand.
Yet, PC-haters will give up due process of law and the requirement to be a little polite for this? Sure, there are many good reasons to live in Thailand, as I plan to do one day; but freedom from the PC western world is just about the laugh-out-loudest
excuse I have ever heard of.

But what about guys like our Dr. Harry who don’t live in Asia but go there to date and screw non-PC women?

If you do a little research on PC and the PC-bashers, you will see that both sides have a political agenda. Most of us are familiar with the politics of PC but the more recent PC-bashers are really doing the work of right-wingers who are using this issue
to attack the liberal establishment. For those who are obsessed by PC, you must not have received the email that this is politics and not to be taken very seriously. Which is probably the best advice when we encounter either a PC heifer or someone
like Dr. Harry.

Stickman's thoughts:

Political correctness has arrived in Thailand and those who claim they are running away from it are in for a shock!

To me, politeness, decency and manners are important to all of us, but that does not mean that one should be silenced and unable to speak the truth by the constraints of the stifling version of political correctness that is so omnipresent in the West.

nana plaza