Dubai Exploitation - Fri ABC 20/20 9pm est
 

Hoss, you're right on the money with your comments. The rich get richer and the poor get prison. I'm interested to see if this changes some peoples' opinion about the Shieks.

There is room for improvement but the workers come there voluntarily because they get paid more than elsewhere.

People love to criticize Dubai, but slave labor and child labor happened in this country for centuries, and it still does today in certain areas, especially among poor immigrants in places like LA and NYC, so we can have cheap designer clothing.

We buy all our goods real cheap from slave labor in China, and nobody cares. They just look the other way and save a few dollars.

Hypocrisy runs rampant in America. Do we take the cheap oil from these countries to save a dollar? Do we take their money at the horse sales? Of course. We love to criticize them and take their money and cheap oil.

Where is ABC's story on how the pharmaceutical companies in america rip off everyone. Oh, they take the money for the viagra commercials and all the other drug commericals, so they look the other way. That is what america has become.

so, if we were all to subscribe to that line of reasoning revolution, nothing would ever improve. why bother? if it can't all be perfect, don't try to change anything? and yes, we HAD slave labor, we HAD no child labor laws. thankfully that has all changed.

since we can't save all racehorses, since some are still sent to slaughter, should we just throw our hands in the air and admit defeat? we should never try to improve anything? we should never point a finger and say something is wrong if it is, since there will still be wrong? that's ridiculous.

The question becomes--do we (USA) try to step in and make things better? If we do, how will that look....if we don't how will that look. This is the problem with being in the position we (USA) is in. If we try to do something then people will conplain and say we are trying to tell people how to run their country...if we don't then people will say that we should and we are not doing our job as a super power. Now, there are organizations in place throughout the world that address the issues of slave labor, sex trade etc etc.

My question to everyone on this board is WHAT WOULD YOU DO. Instead of complaining about what they are doing, how about coming up with a solution and posting it on this board.

Cause the BC and Belmont are both just a blip on the ratings radar for ABC and controversy creates cash. There are two good reasons to turn on a sporting event, to cheer for a team you like and to cheer against a team you hate. If the horses retire too quickly for them to promote then find someone that the viewers can root against. The Sheikhs make the perfect villian for them to build up.

It is not our job to improve other countries. Didn't you listen to the real George W, George Washington? Or do you subscribe to the philosophy of the idiot George W that is in the White House. You can't fix other countries. It does not work.

People in those countries must fix their own countries. You can't take their cheap oil, so that Americans can have more money, and then tell them how bad they are. When Americans are willing to pay higher prices for oil or stop taking their money for our real estate, horses, banks, etc., then America can tell them what to do.

American news organizations ignore tons of problems with our own country and run ridiculous shows like this. If the media is going to concentrate on other countries, atleast concentrate on problems like Darfur. This is a conscience piece. It makes somebody feel good about running it, and then nothing will happen. Are you prepared to start paying more in gas or to stop taking their billions they invest in our country? Doubt it. And please spare me the fake answer of how you are. How about your computer? Throw it away. You know it is made by slave labor. If you want, save your money and have an american company make you one for 10x what you paid for yours.

check out the backside of any track in the usa...

One thing for sure not to do is pass a law or make a rule for or against anything. This just opens the doors for lawyers and politicans to circumvent. We all should have control of at least on thing and that ourselves. Just try to treat everyone fair and be right. Too many people justify there actions by pointing out something that they think is worse. Think about the line Jack Nicholsons line to helen Hunt, "You just make me want to be a better man". Try that and quit looking for things to fret about.

Amen Brother.

Sounds like a good business plan from the sheiks to me.

Why feel bad for workers in the UAE when we have wokers here who cant even support a family. People working 70hrs a week barely getting by. I dont feel bad for any workers outside of the United States. If their conditions were that bad they wouldnt be paying people to find them jobs in the UAE. How many people in the United States are paying a guy in Mexico, or Canada to find them a job?

Horsetrainers are notorious for underpaying help, its one of the most disgraceful things Ive seen in my entire life. Watching a trainer roll around in a luxury car, while his best grooms are living in a tack room. Please, it makes me want to vomit.

dell computers are made by slaves?? since when?

i find people often project their character traits onto others. honest people expect everyone to be so....i must assume this is where you are coming from with this remark....

when does it run?

this is true for all cultres, all nations, all rich and all poor and not just Shieks !!!

could not agree more !!! good job

I remember posting here after the Beyer article that Beyer was too hard on the Maktoums. Ironically, my distorted view was based on a TV news piece that showed the upside of Dubai. This country is just like all but one of the others in the region: They are not democracies. Perhaps it is just the way it is. Maybe we cannot save the world; we cannot even stop horse slaughter here. :(

I don't see what this has to the with the Sheikhs -- other than that they rule Dubai.

This story makes them no different than many parts of the United States, so I'm not sure what all the talk about people "changing how they see the Sheikhs" is all about.

Let's play a game. I'll describe a place, and you guess where it is.

- Those are the top are insanely rich, while those at the bottom don't make enough money to take care of their family. Those at the top are rich because of their willingness to exploit those at the bottom.

Bet it's a tricky question to answer. Answer: Every country on Earth.

So when we can't even take care of our own, why are we so damn concerned with how they can't take care of theirs? Once we figure out how to make sure that we are paying our workers appropriate wages, and making sure that our people at the top are being held accountable for how they are treating those at the bottom -- then let's go ahead and worry about how we view the Sheikhs.

It's nonsense.

So if you personally know about these places in America where the slave and child labor is taking place, why dont you contact the authorities instead of just talking about it on an internet chat board?
Or maybe you just heard about it and have no idea if any of these stories are actually true. You know if you contact 20/20 with details about slave labor and exploited children in LA and NY they will probably do a feature on that.
However I'm not holding my breath...

Since when is oil cheap? You think we get a special price from OPEC? Bulk discount? Or 10% off for cash.

dont you know ..if we buy a car wash..with each fill up...

Dude, they do stories like this because they will get ratings, not as social commentary.

You mean they really don't care and just wanna sell advertising!!!???
And all this time, sniff sniff, I thought they actually cared.
Those folks over there don't have a mother****ing thing on us Cannon, we worked for Crime. No ****ing way could anybody have tougher work conditions than that. And if they think holding back one months wages is bad, they oughta try 3 or 4. "Checks in the mail" " my daugher done screwed up the address the first time, I give you ma word, it will be there tomorrow" " I kaint be bothered with this now", etc.

Revolution may be Jill R.....

I understand why the network does stories like that.

What I don't get is why certain people get all up in arms over it as if it's not happening here in America -- why some people are going to use a program like this to try to go all Beyer on the Sheikhs, as it relates to their involvement in racing.

Fact remains, that work in Dubai represents an opportunity for those who go. They are mistreated and underpaid and taken advantage of. That sounds an awful lot like what's happening right under our noses in America.

Funny that we're all so interested in throwing stones at them for it though, when we've become one of the world's largest enablers and practitioners of such behavior. Ho hum.

revolution isn't nearly vicious enough to be Jill R. rev would have to get far worse than that for me to believe that.

First it is rich arabs that are doing this. Americans dont like arabs, especially rich ones. I have a hard time with people that talk about how bad things are in this country, especially ones that have no experience in any other. The Shieks are not democratically elected officials, they are dictators. Pretty good as dictators go but still dictators. If there are evil things going on there they not only know about it but condone it. Thats one big difference between here and there.

Yeah you are right but they seem to have the same mental capacity.....

You got on me that one, but revolution would have to become mean enough to watch people starving or having their lives ruined because he won't pay them money owed to them for work. I don't think Revolution is quite that mean.

don't get me wrong, i don't think living in america is a bad thing. i'd certainly rather not live anywhere else, so i'm not trying to say that things are so bad here -- I just think that treating underpaid labor like **** is something that we're good at here. It's not railing on America, it's just calling a spade a spade. It's easier to point fingers are Arabs halfway around the globe though I suppose.

i really think mistreatment is the exception here, but maybe more of the rule there. i don't think i have my head in the sand on this. no pun intended there.