At least 323 Egyptian and 60 Jordanian pilgrims died during the Hajj pilgrimage in western Saudi Arabia, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, diplomats told AFP on Tuesday.
they do a good job cooling the place, the floors are cooled and there's a lot of water sprayed everywhere and lots of fans and stuff, with the number of people going there there needs to be ample preparation.
When a skydiver died skydiving, do you really blame the pilot of the airplane that got him up there? These are adults who choose to believe in fairytales
I read somewhere that people who fork over money for a special visa to Saudis Arabia have access to air conditioned stations along the way. Most likely the Egyptians are doing it unofficially, which is likely easier to get away being in the general region already.
I don't see any references or sources at all in the page, and I couldn't find other news sites with comparable numbers, I call bullshit.
it was reported that there was 41 jordanians who died trying to get to mecca without permits and they slept outside in the sun so that part was true but inflated number, the Egyptians thing is just a lie.
They should build a giant enclosure over the Kaaba so it can be air conditioned. Or at the very least put in those mister-fan combos all over the place that are in amusement parks.
Such senseless loss of life in the name of religion. Many hundreds or thousands of people die each year doing the pilgrimage, often times from crowd crushes, literally getting squished to death because there are so many people, or just exhaustion.
There are only a few short video clips on YouTube of the massive crowds and it is sort of unnerving seeing that many people in a moving crowd. Super weird what religion makes people do.
There is also this weird video which talks about how they plan to revolutionize the hajj to make it safer and accessible to more people - using technology in a weird blend of old world meets new.
I do hope they find a way to make it safer because people will never stop doing it, but the whole concept just seems absurd to me.
Such senseless loss of life in the name of religion.
If they'd died in the Saudi heat to a secular activity - at an F1 race event or inside a poorly A/C'd movie theater or trapped on an overheated bus - would that have been better?
There is also this weird video which talks about how they plan to revolutionize the hajj to make it safer and accessible to more people - using technology in a weird blend of old world meets new.
So much of the modern Saudi state sees the Hajj as little more than a massive tourist attraction. They're heavily invested in Disney-fying the experience, such that the maximal number of high-paying visitors can slide through the building frictionlessly.
Which is a shame, because the Hajj as a cultural event was originally intended as this class-agnostic unifying practice social event. You aren't supposed to visit these holy sites encapsulated into these exclusive expensive little bubbles. You're intended to mingle with people from the rest of the world and revel in a certain shared experience common to the faith the world over.
What we're seeing isn't some toxic religious ideology that Saudi administrators need to cleanse for mass consumption. Instead, we're seeing a commercialization and stratification of ideology, by which elites get a bespoke Hajj experience and Saudi officials get to operate as gatekeepers of tradition at some astronomical markup.
Such senseless loss of life in the name of religion.
If they'd died in the Saudi heat to a secular activity - at an F1 race event or inside a poorly A/C'd movie theater or trapped on an overheated bus - would that have been better?
Well I think religion is one of the few things you can get enough uneducated/dedicated people to die in the hundreds from heat stroke without people being like"I should probably leave"
All the examples you gave, of course except being trapped on a bus, people would realize there is a serious issue and start leaving once the first handful of people died.
"I'm not leaving the theater till I see the end of Iron man 2, I don't care that half the theaters dead and I'm next!"
EDIT
the Hajj as a cultural event was originally intended as this class-agnostic unifying practice social event.
lol, weren't women not allowed to go alone until recently or still?
If they'd died in the Saudi heat to a secular activity - at an F1 race event or inside a poorly A/C'd movie theater or trapped on an overheated bus - would that have been better?
What a ridiculous statement. No it wouldn’t be better, but when was the last time you heard of nearly a thousand people dying at an F1 race event, or inside a movie theatre due to lack of AC? If that were happening multiple times per year we would shut down F1 /movie theaters in a heartbeat.
Fact is that the Hajj claims thousands of lives every year, all in the name of religion.
Which is a shame, because the Hajj as a cultural event was originally intended as this class-agnostic unifying practice social event. You aren't supposed to visit these holy sites encapsulated into these exclusive expensive little bubbles. You're intended to mingle with people from the rest of the world and revel in a certain shared experience common to the faith the world over.
Yea as long as you aren’t a woman.
Don’t be surprised that people are using religion to grift the gullible and exploit the poor - that’s what religion is best at.
The Saudi government has an ethical responsibility to mitigate the risks. It’s not like this was some freak accident. This was entirely predictable and this will defiantly continue to happen until protections are put into place.