Transcript of the above video:

So we have discussed the really tragic situation that has arisen as a result of this documentary that was made pertaining to Pattaya here in Thailand and talking about child exploitation and trafficking, exploitation of folks, sex exploitations, it is just terrible things, and I don't want this video to be misconstrued. Yes it is an absolute tragedy. Any time a child is harmed in any way but especially in this way, especially intentionally and maliciously like this, it is a bad thing, there is no doubt about that. I am not making this video to diminish or belittle what happened in a tragic set of circumstances and as we discussed in other videos, in my opinion they have brought in the big guns if you will; they brought in "Big Joke" to go after this scourge and I am pretty sure he is going to get results, at the end of the day. This is a serious individual. Quite honestly in my mind this is the perfect person to put on this mission because I think come hell or high water he is going to fulfill it.

But the point of this video is more, there is this weird trend, this seems to happen every couple of years. It was kind of something that with COVID it just wasn't happening at all, because quite honestly there weren’t tourists here and you just weren’t seeing it but Western Media always takes these incidents that are usually very singular events that unfortunately occur involving just some bad actor and then it's sort of used to sort of communally blame all of Thailand for a world ills. My first sort of response when I was reading about this whole thing was there is always this kind of implicit message that this is just something happening out here in Thailand. Well I don't know if folks have been following the success of the ‘Sound of Freedom’ movie or the guy behind that particular project who has talked about for years now apparently that no this is always been a pervasive problem.  It is all over the place, this isn't something Thailand-centric okay? On top of that, whatever the case was in the past as we discussed recently, the digitization of Thailand's Immigration system most assuredly has blocked out a lot of these foreigners who would be coming here to perpetrate horrible crimes on the children of Thailand. But law enforcement is now not messing around, so this is done. As I said in another video, no one wants those people here. Quite honestly we have rolled out the kind of Wyatt Earp type to go deal with this and that is what is going to happen. Now that said, let's get back to reminding people that at the end of the day you can't just use one event to sort of tar a whole place and everybody involved with a whole city let alone a country as being somehow complicit. They aren't; none of us are in favour of this. 

Now as I have discussed in other videos, look Thailand has a nightlife industry and it has an entertainment industry and that entertainment industry is an adult entertainment industry but it involves consenting adults and that's what people here in Thailand are angry about. It's about the fact that children have been exploited and that is a no-go. That will be dealt with summarily I am sure but we do have an adult entertainment sector if you will and that just is what it is. I'm not trying to exactly be an apologist for it but I am also kind of tired of all this Western needling about "oh God forbid, men have a bar to go to where they can drink a beer and act like guys and maybe have some hostesses around that smile at them once in a while. God forbid that we have that!” That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that's pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Sex scandal in Pattaya: today's news is tomorrow's history. Quoting directly, and I really like this article because in the article they go into, and we will quote here, but they also go into what happened here and that is tragic, and it is, I agree it is awful but we have put our top cop, I mean there is a National Police Chief but sort of the top enforcer if you will has been put on it. That has me very, I'll say far less concerned than I originally was when I first started reading about this because once I heard "Big Joke" was involved it was like "well okay, there's the solution to that problem." In any event, quoting directly: "In the last 10 years, Pattaya has been more fortunate in its headlines. The diversification of Pattaya into five star hotel facilities and family entertainment, the growth of the MICE (conventions and exhibitions etc.) and the transformation of the city into a concrete jungle all seem to stifle the sexual undertones. Indeed, the most widely reported Pattaya crime story of the last decade was probably the arrest of 30 European bridge players in 2016, even though they were never charged with any offense. The importance of Pattaya in the Eastern Economic Corridor, a mammoth investment project which has (for example) brought major road improvements to the area has been publicized in the quality press but ignored by everybody else in the media." Yeah and that is a good point. The sort of quality press, I don't know what it is. It seems like media outlets especially English language media outlets, media outlets of the West just seem to like to target Pattaya. And again, I have said this in other videos, they also seem to conflate the entire nation of Thailand with Pattaya which as I have said before, that is like looking at the entirety of the United States through only the lens of Las Vegas; it's not an accurate portrayal. Quoting further: "The Prime Minister has made it very clear in recent months that the country needs more and more tourists so extinguishing the bright lights of Sin City is hardly part of that agenda. In coming weeks, we are going to hear much about the benefits of zoning, making the resort safe for families with children," yeah and just as an aside here, good let's do some stuff like that. Let's set aside, okay this is a 'Zone' where you want to go 'pitch a little woo' and have a good old time, go, do that. But again I've always said Thailand has this kind of paradigm of 'conservative tolerance'. The vast majority of Thais are highly, highly conservative but they are very tolerant; I think it's kind of part of their religious paradigm. They are very live and let live up to a point, and children are on the other side of the line. Everybody agrees with that here. That is what I don't like about a lot of this Western reporting is that somehow there is an ambivalence out here about that. There isn't. I said it in the other video. They called down the thunder and now they have got it, they do and the rest of the nation from my observation is right on board with running this crap out of here. I have said it before, “rip it out root and branch, burn it out like a cancer.” Do whatever you have got to do to get rid of it. That is the priority of Thailand right now. Now it is not going to be one that is going to have much of a major headlines following this because that generally speaking isn't really Thailand's law enforcement style, but rest assured this is a priority and it is being dealt with as a priority. 

Meanwhile, the Thailand of the future, the Pattaya of the future is probably going to be a city with a lot of different sort of zones and there are certain places where certain activities are permitted and there's certain places where certain activities are not permitted. This is a country where you see small children, not unlike Japan for example where they have what is that show "My First Errand" or whatever, where little kids by themselves even though there's hidden cameras watch him go on their first errand on their own because in Japan it is that safe. That is what Thailand is striving for and by the way, in virtually all the situations I have ever found myself in, that is the case. Children walk the street in this country freely and securely and without need to worry quite honestly because there are people like "Big Joke" out there guarding the door so to speak, keeping this stuff dealt with. So again, this has been a bad situation, it is a tragedy but it has happened now and we are dealing with the aftermath and there is two parts to that. Enhancement of Law Enforcement which I think is already underway and also stepping back and looking at the situation for what it is and saying "hey this is not a systemic problem, this was an individual situation but what part of it might be systemic if there's others out there". Guess what? They are going to be rooted out and they are going to be found and they are going to be dealt with, let's put it that way. 

In any event, quoting further: "In coming weeks, we are going to hear much about the benefits of zoning, making the resort safe for families with children, ending police corruption and introducing wastewater treatment systems. Still, as Night Owl columnist Bernard Trink once observed, "Pattaya listens to everybody but doesn't always hear." Well I think Pattaya heard this one; Thailand heard this one as well, loud and clear. Long story short, there are rules here. No children is one of the big ones, and we're going to see that. 

Now quoting from another article, Thai Examiner, that is thaiexaminer.com, the article is titled: Big Joke probes Pattaya sex scandal with high stakes not only for 'Sin City' but Thailand itself. Quoting directly: The President of the Pattaya Night Business Operators Association, Mrs. Lisa Hamilton, voiced her concerns, asserting that foreign media had sensationalized the news." I think that's well put and it is worth noting that while yes, this was a tragedy, no one is looking to diminish that, no one is looking to belittle that, no one is looking to shove that under the rug, this has happened. Thailand is taking steps that are the furthest thing from shoving something under the rug. They are exposing it to the cold light of “Big Joke's” probe and I am pretty sure no stone will go unturned in the search to deal with this. But that said, I think Mrs. Hamilton makes a good point which is, this is being sensationalized and recognize that because Pattaya and Thailand generally are making good strides toward a future where we have tourism that while accommodating certain aspects of The Nightlife, adult entertainment whatever, is also going to be family-friendly as well and I think that that can be achieved and it is going to happen probably sooner rather than later. I think it is good that we have law enforcement involved in this now and it is being greatly investigated, or heavily investigated; I have used the term ‘strict scrutiny’. I kind of like that in this context. There is going to be a lot of strict scrutiny on this issue here moving forward and the thing to take away from this is it should not diminish one's perception of Thailand as a perfectly safe place and a perfectly safe place to vacation with one's family.