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World Cup Daily, Day 25

grantwahl.substack.com

111–120 of 175 posts

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#111
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize in the us there are thousands of worker deaths. Do we hold a memorial each time?

Working conditions in the US have improved dramatically over the last century because politicians and leaders took action to improve them. Your position seems to be that it doesn’t matter what leaders and politicians say if they don’t believe it in their heart. I think that’s less relevant than their actions. (And FWIW, yes, usually when a worker dies on the job in the US the company does sponsor a memorial)

> when a worker dies on the job in the US the company does sponsor a memorial

What? Who?

Amazon docks people productivity points for the time it takes to walk a longer route to avoid a dead body on the warehouse floor.

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#112
Condolences to his family and colleagues (covering this - already controversial - competition must now feel even more senseless for this teammates.)

In case you're worrying about jumping to conclusion and bordering on conspiracy theories (Quatar somehow poisoning him, or not treating him properly, because of his unfavorable coverage, substance abuse, etc...) : don't overthink it - I've already been shared the articles about why "it's (obviously) side-effects of the covid vaccine."

Which I suppose begs interesting questions about filter bubbles, journalism, how much speculation is enough, how much is too much, and how much "admitting we just don't know" is both wise (you avoid all the crazy theory) and foolish (when one of the crazy theory ends up being right in the end, khashogghi-style, you retrospectively looks sheepish.)

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#113
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone knows FIFA is a deeply corrupt organization. There is also not much anyone can do about it. But I don't think "we need to care more" is a good mental model for the issue

Surely there are, say, British, European or American FIFA representatives who can be tried for taking bribes, or for being part of an organisation which takes bribes? Why are those people immune? They're complicit.

For better or worse, it's one country, one vote for a lot of this stuff. You can bribe the entire Caribbean for the cost of bribing France (Qatar did both).

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#114
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize in the us there are thousands of worker deaths. Do we hold a memorial each time?

Maybe no memorial but for sure an OSHA incident report. https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/ There’s plenty of room for improvement. But it used to be that a 10,000 person steel mill could expect 1200 deaths and serious injuries each year. That only changed because people cared enough to fight for better conditions.

OSHA report is the memorial of the bureaucracy. It serves the same purpose.

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#116
post #6

https://grantwahl.substack.com/p/world-cup-daily-day-22 My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you. What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort. I didn’t have Covid (I test regularly here), but I we…

Sounds like a heart attack.

induced by pneumonia or acute bronchitis.

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are 1+ million migrant workers in Qatar. Roughly, the average human mortality rate is about 1% per year. In a given population of 1 million, you could expect about 27 to die, on average each day . (0.01x1000000)/365 = 27 Sure, more elderly people make up the 1%, and if accounting for the workers ages maybe you'll have half that figure. Or a quarter. The point is, in context, one worker dying out of a million on…

You shouldn’t use the entire country, use the number of workers working on the World Cup.

Where is the line? One could equally then argue use the number working on only the one construction site. Eventually a point can be reached where 1 death may "seem" improbable. A wider view reveals a context people seem to have missed.

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#118

Quoted post unavailable.

Facts, also don’t forget about Ukraine too. Or even American lives for that matter, eg astounding number of people dying of fentanyl, or the fact there are more teenagers homeless in LA than homeless people with mental health problems.

Re: World Cup Daily, Day 25

#120

Not surprising at all. mohammed bin salman personally ordered a journalist beheaded in the Istanbul consulate a few years ago. Why not poison a journalist at the World Cup? royal families can commit genocide, and still have no legal financial or personal recourse. To them, he was just a worker and workers are garbage in the Middle East.

To be fair, Mohamed bin Salman is the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, not Qatar. The two countries aren't on the best terms (as a matter of fact Qatar were blockaded by a Saudi-led coalition for years trying to strongarm them), so you can't just apply what one did to the other. They're absolutely similar (autocratic, Arab, traditional, family-based, Muslim, opressive towards anyone who is not a straight male but genuinely hospitable), but not the same.
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