Hi Campers !!
We've just had a stunning experience on our blog! Our Camp Thailand Review post of October 2016 has been deleted in the UK. Also some comments on the Camp Thailand post of January 2016 have vanished. The stated reason on the blog post is that it is the result of a "legal request", presumably from Americamp. It seems this only applies to the UK, because elsewhere, including here in Thailand, the post is up and running as normal.
I can only assume that the reason is the mention of the incident in which a Thai worker at Camp Thailand is alleged to have pulled out a gun on some girl trainees for not using Philip Crabb's taxi. I would guess the legal reason would be that the incident is unproven. However, we clearly stated in the original post that we could not verify the incident independently. All journalists and news channels do this kind of thing. Just watch CNN, they're always saying that they are unable independently to confirm something when they rely on external sources. So I am genuinely surprised that a UK court of law has passed this order.
What's really surprising about this is that we've had absolutely no direct communication from anyone. You would have thought Google would have sent us an email explaining what had happened. Or perhaps something from the lawyer involved. And hopefully something from Americamp themselves. But, no, absolutely nothing!
I'm particularly surprised that Americamp have at no stage tried to contact us directly. If you have a problem with someone, surely the first course of action is to speak candidly with that person and try and find a solution. Only if that doesn't work would you embark on the expensive and laborious task of legal action. The fact that Americamp have chosen such a roundabout route indicates to me just how morally bankrupt they are. They are clearly unsure of their position and so are clutching at legal straws to eradicate an inconvenient review. I think they would do much better to deal with the root of the problem, which is clearly the set up at Camp Thailand.
I hope my readers will read all the posts on my blog, which are actually pretty complimentary towards Americamp. It's primarily the TEFL side of the Camp Thailand that we consider suspect, because of its unsatisfactory course standards and trainer behaviour. We feel it is essential that in a democratic society that recognises free speech our comments and opinions be allowed unfettered.
Happy camping!
EFL Greg
