A group of students at Thewphaingarm School in Bangkok chose to dress as Nazison sports day. If you look in the pictures a lot of work went into them.
The sad part is that the planning goes on for weeks or even into the months. Senior students are usually graded on the theme they come up with and the participation of their team on the day in cheering and dancing displays.
The first sports day I witnessed, I thought they were taking the piss. I thought they were all a few cents short of a dollar. But they were real, real serious. This is how these kids would have been.
I am not a Jew. I don’t even think I know a Jew. For the school to allow this to happen is a disgrace. I was offended by it. How could anyone think that the slaughtering of so many innocent people could be mocked and used for a sports day theme?
The school removed a teacher; I think that there are higher people that need to be removed than a single teacher. The school director Kanya Khemanan responded with an apology, saying that the Nazi celebration happened mainly due to a lack ofoversight. So it was a slip, mistake, omission, misunderstanding, error or a lapse.
When the kids were practicing didn’t one well educated teacher think that this could be a touchy subject? Of course not as even Thai professors and doctors have said that Thailand schools don’t teach about past histories as such. Even things that have been important in how Thailand has been shaped have never been taught to them.
There are people who say that the swastika is a Buddhist sign from India or some other Asian country I read somewhere and it maybe so but I have never seen it used this way.
The reason I blogged about this tonight is because I seen a girl wearing a jacket with a swastika brazen on it. It also had the name of a local school on it. I was going to say something to her but left it for the time being until I speak to one of my private students and also to a few of the teachers from the school who go to the same park to run and exercise.
A little while back the Thai government got their knickers in knot and climbed on their high horses when a company bought out G-string underwear and pet clothing and other things with Buddha’s image on them. After enough complaining the American website removed the offending clothing. The funny thing is the same thing, g-strings and dogs clothing with pictures of Jesus and Shiva remained for sale.
They cried about how this was a terrible insult to Thai religion and so forth but taking the piss out of probably the most horrendous war crime to happen ever, is alright. I actually agree that it would be very offensive for Thai Buddhist as they hold this symbol in high regard, only the King of Thailand would be regarded higher, I say.
A Muslim man was bashed to death a while back in Bangkok when he damaged a four faced Buddha image. Thai people turned on him and beat him to death.
The government should have stepped in by now, had the director and other high standing officials at the school sacked or removed, not some poor teacher making just enough to cover his/her ass each month.
I have searched the WWW for pictures of the Buddha clothing that was removed but cannot find a single image. I wouldn’t post it on my blog as it would be shutdown very quick, I’d say but I might have told you a link that you could view the offensive material. This Buddhist site called Comunidade Buddhista Nalanda - Buddha G-strings upset Thais might have had a link on it to offending pictures on the link down the “bottom of the post” if you would really like to see the offending material.
I will keep you updated on the Nazi jackets that surfaced here in Isaan today but I am hoping it is one of very few. After all the controversy of what happened in Bangkok in late October schools should all know better by now.
Oh, I forgot. This is Thailand and anything is possible, believe me!
Brunty.
2 comments:
It is clear that someone should have stopped these students long before they wen't on display.
On the other hand, the Swastika is in fact a very old symbol, unfortunately
stolen by the Nazi's and destroyed as the symbol it once was in Europe.
It's an old sun symbol, and in Norway you can find it on 4000 year old stone carvings strewn about in the landscape. Prior to the second world war it was everywhere. It is a sun and good luck symbol.
In Hinduism it is the second most important symbol. And when the UK tried to ban it, it led to massive protests from the Hindu community there.
It is also widely used in Bhuddism, and you often find it carved on the pedestal of Buddha statues.
In the americas it was used by many native american tribes.
Now my country was occupied by the Germans. And we had our own little Nazi party there to, led by Vidkun Quisling. A familly name no longer existing in Norway. Look it up in the dictionary. You'll find it as a synonym to traitor. Well, we lined him up against a wall and shot the bastard after the war.
Anyway, the Norwegian Nazi part, the NS was very fond of using old norse symbols, ammong them the sun cross. A cross with equal arms inside a circle. This was ammong the symbols they tried to ban as hate symbols in Norway a few years back.
They did not realise that Norwegian churches are full of them. And other religious groups, paganists are using it today. Their stance being that it was originally a symbol of peace. And it's time to take it back from those that stole it from us. And by using it, everywhere, as a peace and good luck symbol, we can indeed take it back from those that misuse them.
Hey Rune. Yes, they should have been stopped a lot earlier by someone.
I actually did some research on the Swastika last night and read about it for a good hour and a half.
It goes way back to Neolithic period or New Stone Age. It dates back to 8500 BC.
It was found on Greek helmets from the battle of Troy.
I actually enjoyed reading about teh origins of it and has opened my eyes up a lot.
I was pretty
Post a Comment