Saw this at Wat Arun in Bangkok. In very volatile times when there are Muslim-drawing contests and depictions of symbols and images sacred to other cultures are being appropriated in so many contexts, seeing this in Bangkok is so timely. To the casual tourist who equates Bangkok with sex and shopping, it is easy to gloss over the fact that Bangkok is, like the rest of Thailand, is very Buddhist. Buddha souvenirs are snapped-up by tourists everywhere and this banner finally puts it foot down and says, “Enough already. We want your money but we also want your respect for our Buddha.” As people and cultures become more global, we need to be reminded of this often.
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