***Warning - This Blog Contains a Serious Rant...***

I realise I haven't yet blogged about my awesome birthday weekend, my adventures for the last week or so, or the craziness of this weekend however there are a few things I feel obliged to put out in cyberspace right now, if nothing else, just to get them off my chest. I promise that aforementioned, not so crazy ranting blog is forthcoming! After midterms are over!!

A friend of mine from Green Park purchased an "ipod" from a store at a mall named MBK yesterday. As the price was extraordinarily cheap, it was no secret that said "ipod" was not the real deal. What was unexpected however was that it did not work, at all. It wasn't even recognised by her computer, let alone itunes and resulted in her computer suggesting that the item may corrupt her computer. So we headed back to MBK today to get a refund for what was undoubtedly a dodgy product. When we arrived at the store, we were advised (in a not so polite manner) that she knew the item was not genuine and that no refund would be given. Knowing the Thai people do not like to "lose face" we stayed calm and rang the number the mall itself has posted everywhere for situations such as these. As I stood waiting with my friends computer at the store, I was clearly being discussed in Thai. No problem with that at all. Hell, if I was in the salesgirl's position, I would've done the same. I was then joined by another friend and filled her in on what was going on, only to be called stupid by the salesgirl. Um... What?? I ignored her but when other people came to the same store to purchase an ipod, we told them not to bother as it most likely wouldn't work with itunes etc and were then subjected to a barrage of abuse, not only from the sales people we had been dealing with, but also from the surrounding stores. We were yelled at, told to shut up and were called stupid bitches. I personally am proud of the way we handled ourselves, either ignoring them or suggesting that perhaps it wasn't the best example of customer service to abuse your customers. The abuse continued. The MBK customer service woman was polite and as helpful as she could be, mediating between us and the sales people but the damage was done. I was sooo angry. I've never, ever been abused by sales people before, and hope it never happens again. Suffice to say, I will not be shopping at MBK any time soon. The point of my little story? This is yet another instance which has made me feel like Thai people are simply out to rip me off **see previous posts**.
Foreigners have to pay more for everything, purely because they are perceived as being well-off or rich, I have been stolen from not once, but twice, and it seems that someone is constantly trying to scam us out of our money. I realise that I am a guest in their country and therefore have to play by Thai rules, and that it is only a small minority of Thai people who are this way, but I can't help but let it leave a negative mark on my experience here.

Closer to home, for those of you who are unaware, the last Friday of every October is the date of the annual international rally/march known as either Reclaim The Night or Take Back The Night. It's aim to protest against, and raise awareness of, violence against women around the world. It is an event which is held in many major, and many small, cities world wide and dates back to the 1970's and calls attention to a serious and very real problem in most societies today. Some of my amazing, incredible friends took part in the rally that was held in Adelaide last night (Friday, October 30) only to discover that they had been shown on Adelaide's Channel 7 news and publicly labeled as sex workers. Whilst I personally have nothing against sex workers themselves, for Channel 7 news to so blatantly disregard the notion of research when reporting a story is something I find despicable. To state that these amazing women, who are standing up for the rights of women everywhere (such as your mother, sister, grandmother or friend), who are actually trying to make a positive change in the world, demonstrates a severe lack of research and preparation on behalf of the media. These people are not sex workers. The message of Reclaim The Night has nothing to do with sex, or the sex industry. It is about the violence that permeates the lives of women around the world. Sex workers, mothers, students, the lady that sells you your coffee, that woman that lives next door. To detract from the true message of Reclaim The Night, to make it something it's not, and to denigrate the fantastic people who take part in such an event, those that have the courage to speak out, from a simple lack of research is shameful.

So before you come to think I've turned into a raging feminist (not that there's anything wrong with that. Until you take it too far and lunge across the desk at me in a Justice, Liberty & Democracy class, yes, you know who you are!) I assure you it's not the case. I am angry and saddened by the state of our so-called free media in Australia. It seems that you can do very little, or no research, say what you want to say regardless of the facts and put it out there for the world to see and take as gospel. And, lets face it, we all know a number of people who hear it on the news or read it in the paper and believe it to be the honest truth. So to Channel Seven Adelaide, I say to you, well done on buggering up a great story, defaming my wonderful friends and the other fantastic people involved in the event, burying the truth among your lies, and detracting from an important and worthwhile cause along the way. Nice work.