Fair points all round, I think I know what the OP means though, when you have to hear crap about Thai culture this Thai culture that, as if it's something so special and magical
and everything bad in the Thai culture comes from the big bad foreigners, but every thing good is of course completely Thai and only Thai.
And that when so much is just 'recently' introduced, stuff like chili, cutlery, chairs and tables, long hair, sense of dress code, (used to be very common in the past for woman to walk around topless, talk about slutty dressers, bra's are still a novelty for some Isaan folk) western calendar, even nationalism was introduced by a king who was very fond of the British "the empire where the sun never sets" attitude, and thought Thailand needed some unity (the whole concept of being Thai was completely foreign to most, even the borders of Thailand weren't clearly defined until 'recently', that all happened when the British and French arrived, and as a result there is a bit of a row going on about some temple), school system copied from the west, (
sort of and hopelessly outdated now) school uniforms, even saying "sawadee" isn't Thai they used to greet eachother just with "kin kauw yang?" also introduced by a King in the past who thought it was more civilsed to poperly say "goodday" to people.
and then of course one could add all the inventions made in the west to the list, small stuff like electricity, combustion engine, telephone, TV, radio, mass media. (but of course it's a bit unfair comparing all these inventions from various countries to just one)
but intstead Thai like to say Foreign things bad, Thai things good
also an interesting "old" thread
http://www.ajarnforum.net/vb/the-soa...any-noobs.html (A short history of the Chakri dynasty for any noobs)
But then when can one start calling something as "their" culture? as soon as you take it in to your culture I suppose? isn't that how culture works?, people pick and choose stuff they like and it becomes a culture no?
some comments on the list
1.The King is Amercian
Technicality
2.The national anthem was written by a German
The music to it was composed by a German
3.Thai dancing comes from Cambodia
I'll take yer word for it
4.The religion is Indian
Christianity didn't start in Europe.
5.The Myths and Legends are Indian (The Ramakien)
Many famous myths and legends in Europe are from the Greeks
6.The first Thai money was printed on an English presser (gift from Queen Victoria 1850)
And now it's printed in Australia I believe
7.The Garuda symbol on every government building which means
Un-corruptable is Indonesian
That's funny 
plenty symbols traceble in the west from far or less far away, we used to have J'maintandrai (or something) on the guilders (fekking froggies)
8. The Wai is Indian
The handshake we ALL use in the west comes from????????
9. The Thai alphabet comes form Cambodia
Hmmm the Roman aphabet comes from.......... hmmm o, right the Romans, to which we owe hmmm roads, universities, aquaducts, introducing of christianty and lots lots more that I just can't think of right now
...just for your info.
