Apparently, its legal and morally ok to be a bigot in some places as long as a "no offence meant" and a reason is given..
Here is the original context, from wiki.
Sorry, I don’t have the time to read the whole wiki article, can you quote the part where it says it’s ok?
Perhaps that anti-Arab sign is supposed to be just as silly as the “Danger!! Mines!!” sign hanging right above it. My impression is that this is Thailand’s version of T.G.I. Friday’s with crazy crap on the walls.
Looks like its not only a bar in Thialand which find nothing wrong with it.
So does it say somewhere that this is ok? Cause if not, then you’ve got a discriminatory sign proving that there is discrimination in the world, congratulations.
Edit:
Well, yeah that’s right. Not everywhere is as enlightened as the western world likes to think it is. Personally I think the cronulla riots were much worse than this sign is but if you ant to be upset about the sign, go ahead.
I assume he means the guy who posted the sign thinks it’s OK – 'cause it says right there at the bottom, “we respect your belief in Islam”!
The kicker, of course, is that Moslems aren’t supposed to drink alcohol or accost women; I guess the owner has a real problem with apostasy?
Yeah and Hiroshima was worse than the attack on Belfast!:rolleyes:
The amusing thing is that the owner is trying to be racist and polite at the same time and giving a reason.
I think that may be the point - it’s not that the owner hates Muslims, it’s that he’s barring them for their own good. It is entirely possible that the original owner himself was an Arab/Muslim who didn’t want to be responsible (or be seen to be responsible) for leading his fellow worshippers astray.
Leading the infidels astray is perfectly okay, however.
Read it again, its in Thailand! A bar in Thailand.
So? Are there no Muslims in Thailand?
There are no Arabs in Thailand.
I didn’t know that. Are they banned from the country or is it just not their kind of place?
Are they on the same wiki page as each other as well? I just thought from your OP that there’d be more to this, like government sanctioning of said sign, that sort of thing.
The sign is currently in Thailand. Was it made by the owner? Or did he get a job lot of signs from somewhere for decoration purposes?
Lord knows there are lots of bars and restaurants around here that cover their walls in random signage.
Well, there ARE Arabs in Thailand. Plane loads of them arrive every day. Along with other types of Muslim tourists. Many come here for medical treatment, others for shopping, but in Bangkok, a certain area around lower Sukhumvit Road caters to them.
You can see those signs in some bars in Bangkok, too. Lucky Luke’s in Nana Plaza comes immediately to mind. Bar staff have assured me in the past that they do NOT respect Islam, that that particular wording is just for show and that they hate Muslims. My personal experience is that most Thais really do hate Muslims. Thais are generally very prejudiced and do not see anything morally wrong with prejudice. Many bars will prevent anyone with dark skin – Muslims, Hindus and even black Americans – from entering. The reasoning is you have dark skin in this life because you were bad in your previous life, and this is a punishment, and in all likelihood you’re STILL a bad person, so git.
In the aforementioned Muslim neighborhoods, there are quite a few bars catering to the Muslim tourists. A lot of Muslims like to let themselves go here. I recall one incident in 1989 in which someone bombed a Muslim beer bar in some sort of business dispute. I actually heard the explosion, being not too far away. This was in the days before terrorism, and it was never assumed to be anything other than a business dispute, which it turned out to be. As I recall, a Middle East gentleman freshly arrived had the misfortune of sitting there at the time as a customer, nursing a beer, and ended up in pieces.
Missed the Edit window. Lest there be some confusion, the Muslim beer bar that was bombed was Muslim-owned and catered to Muslims. The bomber was a fellow Muslim acting not out of religious outrage, but because the bar owner had been cutting in on his turf, taking customers away from his own bar. And a woman may have been involved, too.
Many Thais generally do not understand that “Muslim” is not a synonym for “Arab.” The Grace Hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 3 is a very popular place for Muslim tourists to stay. Many tales are told about that place among the local intelligence community, including some sort of plot by certain guests there to blow up the US Embassy at the time of the First Persian Gulf War. The story goes that the police unceremoniously kicked them out of the country. As I recall, they cut off relations with Iraq at that time and kicked the embassy staff out, too. Supposedly, the embassy was involved in the plot. They say that’s probably THE safest place to be, as they’re not going to blow their own hotel up.
The basement of the Grace Hotel has a “coffee shop” and a disco, both of which serve as an after-hours pickup joint for Muslims looking for freelance prostitutes. The girls there tend to be a little plumper, that seeming to be more to the taste of that clientele. For a spell in the late 1990s and early this decade, it was a popular after-hours spot with non-Muslims, too, and I’ve whiled away a few hours there. Nowadays, it’s rather dreary, and few go there exept for the guests.
A very short walk away are the red-light bar areas of Nana Plaza and Sukhumvit Sois 7 and 7/1. These cater to Westerners and generally do not like Muslim customers.
My experience is that Muslim Thais are just fine with Muslims! 
Of course you mean Buddhist Thais or northern Thais here, but I am pointing out to others that there is of course a small but significant Muslim minority in southern Thailand. Who have their own span of degrees of observance regarding alcohol, though I’ve not seen much of the woman-hassling behaviour.
Yes, Thai Muslims are just fine with Muslims. But even they feel a tad persecuted by the Buddhist majority, which helps explain the present lengthy separatist insurrection in our deep South here. It tends to pop up once every generation or so.
But yes, Thai Muslims are not the one trying to frequent the Bangkok and Pattaya bars. Those are largely West Asian Muslims in town for a holiday or what have you.
Siam Sam, I really don’t see why they would want such a sign. Arabs usually have a lot of moolah (the ones who go on Holiday at least) and with the credit crunch they are pretty much the only ones left with cash. Such prejudice is going to be bad for business since even non Arabs and non-muslims would be less than impressed by such a place. I am Pakistani, I won’t go to a place which says “No Indians”, the owners are harldy the sough who I would like to patronise.
Or is it kosher because its Arabs who are being targeted?
That’s the way I read it too.