I know you might not understanding according to your norm or your beliefs why we are so angry over what that ad did to the image of our beloved King. You can make fun of your president or other kings or queens in other countries, if they don’t mind. But please, our king is the greatest king or even people I have ever known in my real life. We respect him and love him like our dad, even sometimes more than our dad. He had been devoted himself to his people, to our country for more than 50 years.

If [St. Jack’s manager Sherry Levin]she just change the ads, I don’t think it will bother you or her a lot. It is not the win or lose situation here. It is about how you treat other.

I know it is a free country. But we have to learn how to live together in this world. Don’t you think that we have enough problems in this world already? Why do you want to create more controversy?

I would be appreciated it if you could reconsider your decision on this matter. It is not win or lose, right or wrong. It is just for the peaceful world. (I don’t talk about war with your big country. Just the peaceful in mind). You can make the difference.

Your lack of sensitivity regarding the offense taken by Thai nationals is overwhelming. Making fun of their King is horrible. The man responsible for this tasteless ad (Eric Weiss) claims “Nothing is sacred” in an article in the Inquirer. And restaurant owner Sherry Levin plans to continue to use this offensive picture. If truly nothing is sacred, how about a picture of starving Jews in a concentration camp with a catchy phrase about the food? Or how about a picture of a blown-up Israeli bus and a line about the explosive good time you can have at her cafe. I am sure the backlash would be monumental.

Some people and some things are sacred and should not be exploited for personal gain. These two classless pricks further perpetuate the concept of the Ugly American.

I do not know if the ad of Saint Jack’s about our King Bhumibol Adulyadej was removed from your newspaper or not. I would like to make a strong request that you stop running this ad in your newspaper.

If Thai citizens have seen this ad, it will hurt them enormously at the level that you cannot imagine. It will also make them extremely angry.

I am not very good in English to express the feeling, but I can tell that every Thai citizen who has seen this ad will extremely angry and extremely hate the person who involves in creating and publishing this ad. It is not considered parody for us at all. We fully respect our King and never even think of making parody out of him.

I believe Levin is a clever person and could understand our respect to our King. I believe Levin is a clever person and could be able to generate a variety of creative ads to promote her business. If Levin already knows how Thai citizens respect our King and she still refuse to stop running this ad. I can only understand that her intention is to hurt Thai citizen not to promote her business.

Please keep in your mind that Thai people is so upset with you and your action. Please know that Thai people love our King and many people would even die for him. If you still continue, millions of Thai people will be praying for your disaster!

Ms. Sherry Levin’s offensive ad for her restaurant/bar has earned her a place in the Ugly American Hall of Shame. She said she had no idea the ad was offensive, which was forgivable. What is puzzling is the fact that after she was told repeatedly and in no uncertain terms that Thais indeed found the ad degrading and insulting, she decided to keep running it, albeit with the disclaimer that “this ad is a parody and that we don’t mean to offend anyone.” Americans are usually quick to say “sorry” for even the slightest offenses. Why does Ms Levin insist on deliberately continuing to give offense?

City Paper seems to think that the Thais are a humorless lot. But much humor is culturally relative. Some things that Americans find funny, Thais may take offense at, and vice versa. For example, I am sure few Americans will find Jim Crow or Holocaust jokes amusing. Different cultures have different sensitivities because of different historical experiences. You cannot presume that any culture based on standards different from yours is inferior and hence deserving of the condescension displayed in your article.

It may be difficult for Americans to understand why the Thais are so worked up over what seems to you to be a harmless parody. Queen Elizabeth, you may say, is the frequent butt of jokes, but no one seems to mind. But King Bhumibol is unlike any other modern-day monarch. Most Thais realize he is not a god, but nonetheless worthy of the utmost respect and reverence, not by virtue of his birthright but by his deeds. Over his long reign, he has never been one to complacently sit back and enjoy his royal privileges. From the moment he ascended the throne, he embarked on a mission to know his country and his subjects as well as anyone. He has visited practically every corner of Thailand, putting himself in harm’s way more than once by traveling to poor villages in remote communist-infested areas during the Cold War. He has applied himself to helping the poor and downtrodden by devising numerous royal projects that make the most of appropriate technologies and local conditions. Whenever the country’s turbulent politics threatened to veer into anarchy, such has been his moral authority that it was always his intervention that restored peace. If our politicians worked half as hard as our King, Thailand would be a much better place.

These are some of the reasons that while Thais may be notorious for their “mai pen rai” (never mind) attitude, when it comes to their King, every Thai would willingly give his life. Surely it should not be too much to ask our American friends to forgo some “fun” and show some respect for Thailand and its most revered institution.

I can’t accept your idea to make joke with our king. I agree with you that you did not break America’s law but your ad was posted on the web which could be accessed all over the world, including by Thai people. Please keep your right to do this thing inside your country and please take more attention when you done it though over the world.

This ad is incredibly stupid and it does reflect the size of the brain of the person who created and displayed this ad. What will Sherry Levin feel if we place her naked picture in front of a prostitute bar in Bangkok?

It would be sensible for Mrs. Levin to stop displaying this ad and to send formal letter to any Thai media to apologize for her thoughtless action.

As an American who spends up to half the year in Thailand, I would like to express my outrage at the owners of Saint Jack’s restaurant and the editors of this paper for running an ad that mocks the Thai people’s most revered monarch, His Majesty the King. If the Thai consulate stops issuing travel visas to Americans over this, it will make my life a lot colder.

The Thai people are a very caring and sensitive people, and they do tend to have a great sense of humor, however, this is the one subject that they don’t consider a joking matter. I think their representatives here have made it clear how seriously they take this matter. How important is it to promote a restaurant if it threatens international relations with one of our oldest and closest allies? Is it going to kill you to show a little respect? I am embarrassed and ashamed on behalf of my fellow countrymen who obviously don’t know enough to feel that way themselves.

The First Amendment gives American citizens freedom of the press, but it does not give us the right to offend someone.

I am not a Thai. However, I believe that the manager of Saint Jack’s restaurant, Sherry Levin, made a very offensive move but placing such a disrespectful ad of The Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in your newspapers. This was not about humor. This was about us, the ignorant Americans, who like to push the envelope of tolerance of others. There is nothing funny of the ad, but I do feel the pain of Thai people that our Americans inflict upon.

Thais are very friendly, peace-loving people. They are surely friends of Americans. They are not the kind of people who would use violence or terrorism to protest this so-called humor. However, we Americans should not allow a small number of ignorant people to bring a bad name to all of us. Therefore, I sincerely ask you to refuse to accept Miss Levin’s ad. This is not how we exercise the First Amendment. In fact, we are abusing our First Amendment right by offending others.

“You may not go to jail or be punished, but you are certainly hated by all Thais who know about this,” wrote Araya Gerabun. “We do not hate you because you published the ad, but because you didn’t try to understand other people’s hearts.”

“Mrs. Sherry Levin and Mr. Howard Altman are totally ignorant,” wrote Wichai Hanittinan. “They are disrespecting the cultures of the others and blind to learn the differences. Freedom with consciousness is enlightenment. Freedom with ignorance is absolutely asshole.”

Tell the ad-creator that the curse of 61 million Thai people will be with him for the rest his life. His mistake? Didn’t do enough homework to understand what he is messing with.

We are one country, one heart. I suggest people who doubt this should study His Majesty’s biography and see for themselves how sacrificing he is for the country. He works harder than any of us Thais in developing our country to what it is now. We’re not talking 9-5, pals, H.M. works almost 24 hours with little sleep. For all of his life. As a country we owe everything to him, and also his revered ancestors. THAILAND IS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT HAS NEVER BEEN COLONIZED OR TAKEN OVER BY FOREIGN COUNTRY. That required a lot of intellect, guts and top-level diplomatic thinking of our Kings that ran our Kingdom for thousands of years.

To sum up, everyone in Thailand, including Thais abroad, can and will die for THIS King. I think the Thai public needs a formal apology of this totally ignorant act.

You wrote in your column about the St. Jack’s ad controversy: “It is absolutely amazing how far a chance encounter over a hamburger can go.”

Good point. This problem seems like much ado about nothing and certainly no one deserves to receive letters that threaten someone’s life, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. How likely would it be that Sherry

Levin would use historical icons such as Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Harriet Tubman or Golda Mayer? Would making them look “ghetto fabulous” be acceptable? The Thai monarchy may not carry a similar historical context or importance to us as these individuals, but should that fact determine how the Thai people feel about their own icons?

Certainly there is no law in the U.S. that can or should stop this kind of advertising, but shouldn’t good taste apply somewhere? We Americans are great for blasting everyone with political correctness, but it is clear from this case that PC only applies when it serves our own sensibilities. The only message I am getting from this controversy is that if we are not aware of other nations’ icons in our own pop culture then they are clearly not important nor do they deserve any respect, especially when it a hamburger needs to be sold. Apparently, a hamburger is more important than a culture.

I am reminded of a time when myself and an Asian exchange student friend of mine, who is Buddhist, went to Steven Starr’s Buddakahn. We walked in and she saw the decor that included a large plaster golden Buddha. She was offended and we walked right out. Why? Well, it was her religion that was being used to sell plates of food. I tell friends this story and they laugh, saying that my friend was being too sensitive. However, I wonder how many editors would defend a restaurant whose decor was that of a Catholic Church, complete with crucifix and faux holy hosts. Or how about the Synagogue-themed eatery with napkins that look like scrolls of the Talmud? I wonder how we Americans would feel about that?

I still find the cultural ignorance displayed by the owner of the Thai restaurant there in your city totally and completely appalling. Are we Americans such idiots that we fail to understand that other cultures are not carbon copies of our culture here in the West? I cannot go into a Thai restaurant here in my home town of Fayetteville, N.C. without seeing a portrait of the King of Thailand displayed prominently. They do not do this for decoration! Of course here the restaurants are owned and operated by native Thais.

Unfortunately our culture has absolutely no concept for the most part of the concept of respect. In Asia, I can assure you the opposite is true. We who live here are blind to how the rest of the world sees us -- we would be shocked and ashamed if we truly comprehended how arrogant and disrespectful we seem to the rest of the world.

I love this country, and there is much to be proud of here in the USA. But our hubris will be our downfall on the world stage if things do not change.

Well, Mr. Altman, after reading all the letters, I have to concur: You obviously have never looked in front of the coconut shell. Get on that, will you?

I’m writing this letter to thank you that you have agreed to withdraw the controversial restaurant advertisement featuring the king of Thailand

I don’t know how to explain to you how much I love the king. He is the most respectable man I have ever known in my entire life. I’m asking you if you have ever felt highly respect to anyone that you could die for him. That’s the way Thai people feel about his Majesty. If he told me to die for him, I would. That’s why we cannot accept any joke on him.

I’m not asking you to love him like I love and I’m not asking you to pay respect to him more than a U.S. citizen should to any nation’s king. But I’m asking you to understand that we consider this as a serious issue and will never feel all right without an apology.

If you unintentionally stepped on anybody’s foot, you would apologize, wouldn’t you? Now you have trampled on every Thai person’s heart. Even though you did not intend to hurt us, don’t you feel like apologizing?

I know you are having a hard time and you have received many impolite e-mails from thousands of angry people. I don’t want to make it worse.

I believe that such a responsible one like you will understand what we need from you. Just a simple heartfelt apology.

We have been following the dilemma concerning the ad featuring the King of Thailand. Although you have every right to run it, I would remind you that there are thousands of ex-pats living in Thailand who stand to lose their homes, their businesses and even their retirement savings if we are suddenly declared persona non-grata here. I imagine that would result in a slew of lawsuits directed at the paper over something that can be easily avoided.

Personally, I am so glad that Ms. Levin decided not to publish the picture of the King again. I know that many of Thai people would like to show their appreciation regarding the decision. By the way, I would like to say “Sorry” for all of the harsh letters that you received. Thai people love, worship, and respect our king so much that all of us can literally die for him.

I don’t know how would you or Ms. Levin feel about Thai people or Thailand at the moment but believe me, you will no longer receive harsh letters from Thai people anymore. You might even receive more of this sort of “Thank you” letter in the future. The whole point is you didn’t understand the matter so you made a mistake, however, you found out what is what later and you decided to fix it right. We don’t know what is behind such action but anyway, thank you, thank you very much, Ms. Levin. If I ever have a chance to visit Philadelphia (my childhood hero Rocky’s town) I will go to St. Jack and City Paper to bring both of you something to show my appreciation.

Ms. Levin should be informed that my dog food company will be using a picture of her head on a female dog body in a few months time. We’re waiting to perfect the design to make sure it has no flaw. There is nothing she can do about it. We also have our freedom of speech and we’re also practicing our rights as it’ll be circulating only here in Thailand. I wonder if Ms. Levin will laugh once she sees the can since she seems to be fond of jokes.

Thailand, Saint Jack’s ad has been a hot issue, but no one dares to put the picture which is the cause of the problem in the media. Most Thais are curious to see the ad. Lucky you! If all Thais happen to see it, there will be a flood of tears and CP people will face a flood of anger.

I got a forwarded e-mail linked to your web site this morning, and frankly speaking I couldn’t help crying when I saw the ad.

I would like to point out that outside the Internet shop in Bang Kok, Thailand, where I am writing from there is a shoe stall decorated with a large Nazi-swastika flag, and the owner also sells Bin Laden T-shirts. Often I have seen motorcycle riders wearing WWII German combat helmets with either swastikas or even SS-insignia on them. T-shirts with similar motifs are also seen.

Judging from the way Jewish groups go ape shit over anti-Semitism, they should sit down with their Thai neighbors in good old USA and have a heart to heart.

Sabeidee from the land of smiles and a million (that’s six zeros) prostitutes.