[Tenchu]

Polar,

I'm not expecting anyone to conform, I'm asking for a little bit of tolerence towards my way of life.

Actually, I don't really understand how tattoos are offensive, anyway? Can someone actually explain why I should even be asking for tolerence here?

This strikes me as something like burning books, or destroying artwork that is not your taste. It's just wrong. There is no way a tattoo can hurt a person, so banning them is as far from democracy as angels can fly.

MMM,

That's not a very good assesment. And what does not speaking Thai have to do with it? I'm learning it, and getting pretty good. It does not change how I feel about some things.

Anyway, I'd challenge you to give some examples of this about me that would hold any water. I only have a few issues about Thailand, and they're pretty solid; nationalism here and unconditional respect for their King is enforced through what constitutes to brainwashing. Adherance to these traditions is coerced in methods similar to those used by the CIA to interogate terrorist suspects into compliance.

Other things, such as my disrespect for criminals and rip off merchants, they're pretty straight forward, but still put me apart from many Thais; such as my objection to prostitution as a solution to poverty.

Don't be forgetting, you know my wife was pregnant, and I'm intending on raising children in this country. She miscarriaged the last mongrel, but she isn't on the pills right now, so I'm expecting something.

Someone telling me I have no right to sift the bullshit out of this country when this'll be the play pen for my young, that's pretty arrogant.

Before the kid's even born, I'm fighting with my wife because of this; I refuse to send any offspring to a Thai school here. Reason being the brainwashing they use to tame people.

As if there's a point to Thai school... my wife's sister is a teacher; she has no idea what Roman numerals are. I'd have to be 10 times smarter than her; I can home school.

Point is, this stuff effects me and my family, and more in the future. There's no way I can throw away everything intelligent I ever learned that our ancestor have spent building through civilization after civilization for thousands of years just because I move to a foreign land. I have the responsibility to put faith in them, and pass this on to my children, and especially adhere to it myself.

TalnSG,

Well, read my other paragraphs in this post first.

I'll just add for you; I don't consider myself as a visitor. Firstly because I'm never going to leave. Secondly, I've not really anywhere I consider to be visiting from. This sounds odd, but I'm an Earthling, not a national.

I say this because my parents are New Zealanders, but I was born and raised in Australia. The law changed when I was young, and New Zealanders born abroad were not automatically entitled to citizenship. I was not Australian either. I was at risk of being a citizen of no country, but ended up a New Zealander (complimentry). Yet I've only ever been to New Zealand for one month of my life, and don't identify with that country.

I don't really identify with Australian culture, either... one bit... but that's for personal reasons. But it isn't like I call that place home.

At the same time, my people are Anglo-Saxons; Europeans.

I can trace my citizenship accross 2 countries, and my ancestory accross 10. Having grown up in a multicultural country and having such a diverse and complex background, I'm not going to listen to someone who tries to tell me to shut up because this isn't my "home"...