[trettegeani]

Stacker, I understand your viewpoint about the influence of Kmer culture in Thai history. However, I think when we try to understand what happened several hundred years ago, applying a geographical view of history is too one-dimensional. An added dimension of linguistics shows a much more complex picture. I hope this link: "What is Linguistics?" might interest you. Scroll down the page a bit and you will find a classification of language groups and you will discover that Mon-Kmer is classified in a different linguistic group from Tai-Kadai. Looking at the visual of a written script can be deceiving. It makes one think that certain languages are similar because they have the same look. Does Vietnamese which use Romanized script have any relation with Roman languages? Clearly not!

The other thing that bothers me about history and nationstate is that it is a western, and modern invention. It's inception served a purpose, part of which was to claim mental as well as geographical domination of the territories. I question everything I read, its sources, its method, its intentions, I even question why I chose the things I chose to read. Hehe, I'm not paranoic, just very, very curious.

About what's in a name, Siam or Thailand? I find it interesting that questions about identity are being raised. It reveals the radical change we are going through as a society... What was the English term, "rattling the bones in the closet"? I am happy that there is a discussion about identity going on because identity needs to be redefined and expanded with changing times if we want to survive. And sometimes when identity changes, names might have to be changed. And since it could be the name used by so many different groups of people, the more that discuss it the merrier! BTW, do you know the origin of the name "America"?