"And yet there were all these Indian, Bangladeshi, and African workers toiling away on every imaginable type of outdoor labor. Nary a native Bahraini to be seen."
The whole gulf is very much beholden to migrant labor. They have swallowed America's methods of capitalistic growth hook line and sinker. Reminds me uncannily of this country 100-150 years ago when these types of projects (transcontinental railroad, panama canal) were built on the backs of millions of underpaid, overworked and abused immigrants. Seeing a native in such a situation would remind me of the Panama Canal digging. Tens of thousands of West Indian workers, effectively slaves, dead or permanently disabled and along comes our revered and esteemed POTUS Teddy Roosevelt in his white suit and white hat to tour it all and sit inside a steam shovel and look every part the dominant white king of the downtrodden and unwashed brown.
Then later, in bombastic acts of cognitive dissonance, we chisel that same guy (and a couple other guys from Virginia who used ACTUAL slave labor for their personal profit) into big rock in some ------ state out west to honor freedom and the will of single men. I'm awaiting the day when Saudi Arabia finally does that for MBS. It will represent a truly American moment.
On the flipside- Healthy 38 year old friend gets the vaccine back in March. A day later develops partial hearing loss and screeching tinnitus in both ears as a side effect. Despite steroids and numerous tests and Drs appts both still haven't abated. He's a shell of his former self and now on antidepressants and anxiety medication. Every day he wishes he never took the vaccine and it looks like he's gonna wake up to that regret each morning for the remainder of his life.
Who's to say he's wrong for wishing he was a bit more cautious?