The Coalition of the Swilling

All that religious zeal, I guess.

They're headlining it as a 'tragedy'. I'm sorry, it's not a tragedy. Tragedy is when the mine collapses on your head or the plane crashes or the drunk hits the honor student. That's tragedy. But when you willingly set foot in a place that kills hundreds of people EVERY year and organizers make no effort to change a single THING to ensure worshippers' safety, that's 'asking for it', NOT 'tragedy'. Just like running the bulls in Pamplona. No one calls that a tragedy, since everyone knows you stand a decent chance of getting gored.

getting gored.

Worked real well for Dean in the last election cycle...

And that wasn't tragedy either.

THS, actually, the lack of concern for the Mecca tragedies is symptomatic of Middle Eastern culture in general.

First, safety is not an issue there; I've seen construction workers do things that would get companies major fines in the States.

Second, the Middle East in general (and Saudi Arabia in particular) is exceptionally conservative in nature. By "conservative", I mean "If it's broke, don't worry it about until someone higher on the food chain complains." If something goes wrong (be it a car accident, or a slipped construction schedule), the general response is likely "Insha Allah", or, "As God wills it". In many ways, Arab culture is fatalistic.

So this ain't gonna change. The folks running Mecca simply don't care.

But, yeah, I get your drift.

They even have their own Tragedy Graphic for God's sake.