I guess the David Carradine story is going to keep Thailand in the international headlines for a while longer because now there are photos published of his autopsy. I saw it mentioned in the comments at AbsolutelyBangkok.com where they had a link to a post at BangkokBugle. Nobody mentions what newspaper but it must be Thai Rath again since they always publish the grisly stuff like that. I usually see that paper when I go out to eat but I did not go out today so I can’t be sure. I checked for details on the story at one of the Hollywood gossip sites called TheInquistr.com and sure enough they have the story and a photo. It’s not grisly photo but I guess if you know what kind of tattoos David Carradine had you would recognize that it is his body.
This story has a lot of interest in Thailand not because David was a big star here but because this subject of AEA is so strange to Thai people. Two days ago one of the talk shows had a historian come on and talk about AEA in history. It goes back at least a few hundred years in Europe. He showed a drawing that was more than 100 years old of a man hanging in the same way as David was found with two ladies staring in shock. I believe the drawing was from a story published about some famous person long ago who was found that way by his wife and her friend.
Another place I read that the FBI reports there are almost 1,000 deaths each year in America from AEA accidents. Doesn’t that seem like an awful lot?
I think this kind of story is very bad for the image of farang in Thailand. I have mentioned a number of times before that many Thai people only see farang in tourist areas doing bad stuff or in villages married to bar girls or in the news in strange stories like this one. They never see farang in normal life situations. So what can they think, that all farang are like what they see. I give up already when people ask me because I always say “they aren’t all like that” and I have to say that so many times. The truth is when I lived in America I never saw any farang like I see in Thailand.
Tags: David Carradine
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June 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Maybe you could tell them to read the business pages of their newspaper and not only the people pages, to see what Farang can also accomplish in Thailand?
By the way, what is AEA???
June 10th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
You might find this link interesting; I tried to find some statistics on AEA, and this seems like a fairly reliable source, although somewhat restricted to AEA amongst young males.
http://www.aahperd.org/iejhe/archive/00_A_Jenkins.pdf
Yes, it is bad for foreigners’ image, but in another sense, it is just reporting the facts. At least here in the US, the news media seems to focus on those stories that draw the most public interest. Perhaps it says something about humans, that we find such stories so interesting.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
I have not seen this autopsy photo before, I thought you were talking about the photo of (supposed to be) his body hanging in the hotel room, which was clearly fake.
In that photoIt’s not a 5-star hotel room and it’s clearly not Carradine. Someone checked it out closely and found much had been doen to alter the picture to try to make it look like Carradine, and it doesn’t even look like him. It wasn’t a photo of his corpse but the one you have linked to here just may be.
I’m sorry, though, farang don’t have a monopoly on strange sex practices. Ever hear of klatoey? Thais don’t bat an eye at ladyboys as it’s normal, but in most places in the U.S. getting a sex change or even just cross dressing is not accepted and considered very strange. Oh, and by the way, AEA is not considered “normal” in the U.S., either, so I don’t care if the normal Thai thinks all farang are like that because a lot of farang think all Thais are either whores or gender confused ladyboys. And those Thais and farang with brains realize it’s stupid to generalize whole ethnicities because of one news story.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:30 am
AEA is acronym for autoerotic asphyxiation. Good idea to read the business pages, except there isn’t much about farang accomplishments in there. You know that foreigner businesses must have Thai partners to have a business in Thailand so the news will normally be about the great success of the Thai owners.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:01 am
I read a few places that some people think the hanging photo is fake. I don’t know but there is plenty of debate.
Some people are saying it’s not David because his hair is gray, not black -> According to some reports he was wearing a wig (and womens lingerie).
Some people say a five star hotels room doesn’t look like that. Other people say they have stayed at that hotel and not all the rooms are large and fancy, many are like regular three star rooms like in the photo.
More stuff coming out about his activities with ex-wives. In New York Daily News he was experienced at tying himself up, according to an ex-wife.
Well, I think the story is going to go quiet soon in Thailand. It was on the front page of Thai Rath several times this week but nothing new after the autopsy photos so hopefully that’s it.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Let the guy rest in peace. We all done things in private that we don’t want no one to know. And thats his business. Now people want to make money off his death. That is worst than what he has done. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. No one is perfect. I feel sorry for the ones that are seeking fame or money over this. They are no better as far as talking about other people lives,and how would they feel if it was someone in their family who went thro the same thing as David’s family is going thro. Stopped and think … god bless David family as they go thro all of this .
June 11th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
You know, I was going to reply to this yesterday but for some reason this post bothered me. So now the Thai people with think that the foreigners are strange because of this but they keep sending their daughters to Pattaya to be prostitutes, and this is perfectly normal, as it gives them a bigger house? Do they ever stop to think that the only reason there are so many foreigners in their county is because there are so many cheap prostitutes for them to have? Are Thai people really that stupid? I hope not, because I’ve been there several times, and although there didn’t appear to be lots of rocket scientists around they did seem to be pleasantly lazy.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:02 am
The word from L.A. this morning is, that a family hired Doctor says, it was not suicide, but he’s not ruling out accidental death.. He’s waiting on more evidence from the Thai authorities… good luck with that… The Thai authorities are saying that the FBI can observe, but not be active in their investigation.. A little money passed around would help there as we all that live here know…
June 12th, 2009 at 1:03 am
That gets to the point of the issue. Most Thai people don’t send their daughters to Pattaya. Only the lowest of the lowest, and that’s what most farang in Thailand like.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I am an American guy who has an intelligent, lovely, sweet and kind wife from Philippines. I was shocked to hear of the generally bad reputation of Americans in Thailand. Yes many foreigners especially Americans have a bad reputation in the Philippines also. Far too many are there for sex holidays, bar girls, or taking sexual advantage of the local women and nothing more. Well its a sad state of affairs. As for David Carradine , I think he was not into chasing the local ladies but more into his own thing, although possibly a lady was there helping things along and left when things went wrong….
November 18th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
[…] and sick. A U.S. site has one of the photos – and I’ll give you the link (courtesy of Asian Sweetheart) but I’ll warn you what it is first. The face cannot be seen – the image is just waist […]