Ummmmmm…
…ok.
Firstly, great scoop by the Fish, he’s one of the best journalists NZ Herald has and getting this story from the family of the two brothers in this weird story is great journalism.
However.
This is such a weird story and their kids and family should be really really really worried that Daddy and Uncle ain’t coming back any time soon because what they are accused of is staggering!
Look, IF these guys were targeted by corrupt police and their actions amount to self defence, let’s hear that side of the story because that’s the only side of the story that would make sense and demand a sympathetic response from us as a people and the Herald coverage gives us no insight to the truth of this story.
Were they targeted by corrupt police and the things we see on camera were them responding to threats and thus amounts to self defence, or are they just arseholes who offered to bribe a cop, beat him up and then took his gun off him?
Cause if it’s the latter, I’m not sure our sympathy is what is required here.
Again, great story from the Fish and a great scoop by the Herald, but the actual issues of how this all went down haven’t been sorted so sad sad story about their kids and family could backfire here.
If their side of the story is that they were targeted by corrupt cops and acted in self defence, then NZ should rally behind the family and demand they get released – IF however they really are just arseholes trying it on, I’m not sure the sympathetic coverage is appropriate.
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Asian countries typically target Asians from poorer countries for discriminatory treatment, whereas Westerners are typically treated well and given a lot of leeway. Its white privilege on steroids. So I’m guessing this possibility ” or are they just arseholes who offered to bribe a cop, beat him up and then took his gun off him?” is likely to be the one closest to the truth.
Martyn – Kiwis running wild in Thailand is not uncommon…The fact that those two are still alive demonstrates great control from the Thai authorities.
“One Night in Bangkok and the Day’s are cloistered….”
But seriously, who manhandles a cop (especially in a foreign jurisdiction) and thinks they can simply walk away – under ANY circumstances?
It is important to realise there is no justice the is no justice in Thailand their side of the story does not matter. If you have the money you can kill a policeman and walk away. ( The Red Bull man) If accused of a crime and are innocent a court will find you guilty to protect a local. ( The burmese boys on Kao Toa). Corruption rules from bottom to the top. (Big Joke and the online gambling bust). Today it is reported that the group that closed down the airport will not face prosecution contrary to eyewitness accounts of reporters on the scene . ( https://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/ ) For whatever the reason or situation they were very silly boys.
All this is set against a background of foreigners behaving badly ( the Swiss man kicking the doctor, and other cases at present of visitors assaulting locals ) Behind the smiles are some quite antagonistic feeling toward foreigners.
That said if you play within the rules you will enjoy the company of some of the friendliest people on earth.
Quite the narrative having the Thai authorities prove their innocence, let’s see how the trope holds up in court
Just very unfortunate. If you’re going to go to Bangla Road to get ripped and watch ping pong shows, take it easy on the speed on your dangerous rental scooter and don’t fight the cops.
What argument has been presented that would support the behaviour of these 2 fools?
The New Zealand state and its media fawn over the Thai dictatorship, speaking of the King as “revered by his people” while failing to mention that the reason behind that “reverence” is that the slightest criticism of the monarch will earn twenty years in a Thai prison. So if there is another side to this story, the New Zealand media would not be publishing it.
Well one guy has the full story. The one holding the camera.
I’ve traveled through central and SE Asia including various parts, towns and cities in Thailand a number of times and yes, the cops are bent as fuck. But we all know that, right? Just carry a few US dollars and pay them off, or rather donate to their cause and be polite about it. Keep your dicks in your pants and be friendly. DO NOT get arrogant and snotty or they will fuck you up. Those two wankers must never go to Cambodia if they ever get out of Thailand’s infamous prison systems or they’ll be disappeared into the long grass where the American MIC land mines are still lying on weight. Yes. You read that right. [On] weight. When the yanks carpet bombed Cambodia with land mines many of them sank into the countryside to lie dormant, until the locals put on a little weight as their economy improved. So then when the mines were stepped on the extra few kg’s triggered the mechanism to detonate and that’s why there are so many legless locals, particularly in outlying villages. Never wander off into the Cambodian jungles or long grass along the road sides to take a piss or you just might have to try and catch your cock as it comes back down to earth. I’m not joking.
Those two had to be chased by the cop, so their goose was already cooked. They should have stopped immediately at the point of escalation. If a gun’s pulled, sit or lie down with your hands on your head and shout please don’t shoot me and learn some basic Thai so you can crack a joke like ” Please! I want my mummy!” The Thai Police have a great sense of humour broadly speaking and that’s possibly why those two dumb fucking mopes are still alive. Perhaps the cop couldn’t just shoot two foreign kids being dicks. And while on that note; if there had been another cop there, as in a partner, they’d almost certainly both be dead for sure.
P.S. What must be remembered is that Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are not the same as here. Those countries are not the same as anywhere else on earth. Be respectful. Don’t swear. Don’t make a scene. If you must have an argument with your partner do it in the privacy of your hotel , etc. Wear long pants and long sleeved shirts when you go out of an evening to dinner , etc. Be kind and respectful to hotel and restaurant staff because their family members will be watching and word gets around quick and learn some basic greetings and respectful responses and replies.
South East Asia is a remarkable experience. I’ve had some of the most extraordinary experiences of my life there. The people, generally speaking, are beautiful, kind souls and yet we flat footed Westerners take our arrogance and dismissals there to treat them like shit. Ugly Australians for example go to Kuta in Bali and swear, fuck and fight in public. They wear their caps on backwards with their wrap-arounds wrapped around their thick skulls and have their hairy armpits in their wife-beater T shirts on proud display.
People act up on holidays especially when they have company to egg each other on. Lot of police in holiday destinations are lenient too with foreigners, especially in asia/Pacific.
Arseholes have families too unfortunately. Hope they have learnt their lesson and get released soon.
Good job. Should have gone to the Gold Coast instead.
In fairness, they probably would have gotten shot if they’d tried to steal a cop’s gun there. They definitely would have gotten shot if they’d tried it in NZ (but probably not intentionally on the part of the cop).
For an example of a story reported by media which is at least confusing, and I think actually overfull coverage of behaviour that is disgraceful yet somehow is sentimentalised or glorified, I don’t think you can beat this story that our great NZ Herald chose to print from AP Mar.30/24, 18 mins to read. (I challenge you. Note: any police that view this please do not regard it as a show-and-tell on what NZ/AO should adopt from our once exemplar USA which now must be judged by its frequent reprehensible behaviour, not as the paragon it presents itself as.)
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/tennessee-mum-thought-her-son-austin-hunter-turner-died-of-an-overdose-police-video-changed-all-that/SZB5TA52DNHAJMGBZNXYLC6F7M/
It is a gross example of the insolent attitude newspapers can take to their readers’ intelligence, scruples and malleability/plasticity. They chose to deliver this rambling from a disordered family, but then were they trying to reflect back to us the image of our lost, fractured society? Could be, in this mother’s victim report made up of remembered wisps of scenes from tv or the screen, as appropriate responses to this tragedy of wasted life.
It’s about losing face – the public airing of the video is humiliating to the officer whether or not there was corrupt behavior beforehand.
If there WAS corrupt police behavior beforehand , a sensible lawyer would recommend not also publicizing it all over the internet as it’s likely to bring a harsher punishment.
In time, the truth will out.
Out their, ston fuck, who them to us. Finding now.
Out their, ston fuck, who them to us. Finding now.
EGITS IN A PLACE, KNOWING
NZ Herald story pushing wealthy family’s take on this reminds me of the PR campaign in NZ print on behalf of Bethlehem College in Tauranga about a decade ago.
In that case, teenage college missionaries in Kenya were at the wheel of a vehicle that crashed and caused the death of at least one person.
The good christian driver and his elders subsequently lied to Kenyan authorities, said the dead black Kenyan had driven the vehicle and caused the crash and fled the country back to NZ, where they then launched a boo-hoo victimhood campaign supported by NZ media, claiming that they sensibly escaped a flawed judicial system in Kenya.
The whole episode was utterly disgusting.
Reverse the setting to New Zealand and the perps to two migrant Asian workers strangling a New Zealand policeman in broad daylight and captured on camera.
Just imagine how their story would be treated by the NZ authorities and the NZ Herald.
That sounds like a CEE CEE PEE plot Patrick.
What fascinating comments snark – perhaps mixed words that have to be rearranged to find one’s own meaning, and not enforcing yours on us. Clever. Or even to reform each word to fit a supposed context. Or read them from right to left instead of that old-fashioned boring way that we have done since ever.
Of course other cultures read from right to left and now we are global and changing everything because others do it different; ie who knows what month it is on google without having an instruction sheet by one’s keyboard. Life is for learning aye, and it will occupy our minds while our world crumbles about us as we try to comprehend the latest brainfart and if mixed metaphor pronouncements is what MMP means.
Foreign tourists get a fair amount of leeway in Thailand, because they do spend a fair bit of money. It’s possible that the police were corrupt. Well, I know they are. But whether they were being corrupt in this case who knows? One thing I have learned in many years of travel overseas is never break the law in a foreign country, where you don’t know anything about the legal system and all your support systems are miles away. So that’s what they actually did, they are stupider than they look.