13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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fountainhall

Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

Post by fountainhall »

Captain Swing wrote:P.S Have you ever heard of that soccer player? Do you think he's really their favorite or is he just the most prominent player the producers could persuade to be on the show? Here I go again.
He certainly is one of the great players of the last 15 years or so. Born in Sweden, he was with Manchester United before he moved to the LA Galaxy. Before England, among the clubs he played for were Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. You can't get much better than those clubs. He just happens to be the third most decorated player on the planet (after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) and is reckoned to be both one of the best players ever to grace the game and one of its most prolific strikers. Hardly surprising the boys regard him as a hero. Did you see the amazement on their faces when he came on to the set?
Undaunted wrote:Whats next?.......Being part of the Trump circus?
I think that's unlikely, don't you? After all, Trump's circus does not play soccer :lol: :lol:
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Gaybutton
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I don't like the fact they are being exploited. On the other hand they are getting opportunities they never could have dreamed about, including Thai citizenship for the boys who were essentially stateless. I don't see anything negative about those opportunities. The way I see it, the pros vastly outweigh the cons.

Along with it, I also think about all the other children in their home area who are also essentially stateless, but have little or no chance of ever gaining Thai citizenship. The only difference I see between the Wild Boar boys and the rest of the children is the fact they were stuck in the cave and the dramatic rescue.

Of course, being stateless still beats hell out of being one of the 3000 or so children, through no fault of their own, forcibly separated from their parents and still locked up in cages by the Trump administration - not one of whom Trump has bothered to personally visit, speak to, or inspect any of the facilities where they are being imprisoned.
bobsaigon3

Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

Post by bobsaigon3 »

Aside from those 3,000 children, some of whom may never see their parents again, there are now 13,000 illegal immigrant minors detained by the US government.

The Wild Boars are perhaps being exploited in some senses, but I guarantee they are delighted with their citizenship, their trip abroad, and they are young enough to put at least some of that cave experience out of their minds.
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Undaunted
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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After seeing the boys and their coach on the tv show I think they are very poised and frankly adorable and are better ambassadors for Thailand than the country's key officials.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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As well as the accolades from fountainhall for Zlatan Ibrahimović above there is also the fact that he grew up in a ghetto of Malmo the son of Bosnian and Croatian refugees, so I think his story would absolutely resonate with the boys and their stateless plight.

His story shows that with belief anyone can succeed
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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Amazing the things one can learn on this board--I truly had never heard of him. I've heard of Ronaldo (currently fighting rape allegations) and Messi (I saw an adorable video of him being kind to the young son of a player on an opposing team). And Neymar or something. Beyond that I could name David Beckham and Pele and that's about it. My late friend claimed he slept with Pele--could that be true? I don't think he was lying, but it could have been someone who just said he was Pele.
Back on topic, sort of, I'm surprised at how little notice was taken in America of the boys' visit. I saw no promotion of the Ellen appearance and there's been nothing about them on the news, that I've seen at least. I think as far as the American media is concerned they're old news.
Geezer

Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

Post by Geezer »

Those kids are so cute with their perpetual smiles and incessant wais. Their worldwide exposure will surely have a positive effect on tourism to Thailand.
fountainhall

Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

Post by fountainhall »

Captain Swing wrote:I truly had never heard of him
Living in the USA and I assume not having much of an interest in soccer, I find that hardly surprising. But those soccer fans living in Europe are aware that there are some amazing players who are household names. Keep your eye out for 19-year old Kylian Mbappe who plays for Paris Saint Germain. This boy is the new Pele. He played in the World Cup-winning French team and became the youngest player ever to score a goal in the final. Like Ibrahimovic he comes from a poor background in Paris but is an outstanding ambassador for the game. He gave his salary and bonus from winning the World Cup to a children's charity. That amounted to almost $500,000.

Image
photo sroll.in

Since readers are more likely to be interested in Asians, look for Shinji Kagawa who used to be with Manchester United and is now with Borussia Dortmund.

Image
photo: Getty Images

Or the Korean Son Heung Min who is with Tottenham Hotspur in London.

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photo: zombie.com
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Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

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"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
fountainhall

Re: 13 Thais Missing during Caving Expedition

Post by fountainhall »

Circus is hardly a word I would use in connection with the cave rescue and its aftermath. Yesterday evening I flew back from Kuala Lumpur. The IFE video had the one hour documentary of the rescue made by one of the Australian networks. It brought back to me the massive sense of drama we all felt surrounding that rescue. The experts taking part had doubts right up to the last minute prior to the rescue and believed that whilst they were confident in getting all 13 out, the odds of total success were only 60% - 70%. They fully expected several boys to die in the process. The fact is it was a project of such complexity that had never been done before and all 13 and their rescuers came out alive

So of course the world remains interested. Whether we like it or not and with or without official permission, someone is going to make a film of it. We have known even before the rescue that there were producers sniffing around up near the cave. I do not believe you can copyright what happened. All you can do is obtain the rights of those who took part to tell their stories. Without rights, some company will just make it all up. The key for me is that the Committee overseeing the selection of the film company do so with understanding and expert advice on the movie business. As I said in an earlier post, though, I do not believe any movie can live up to the quality of one of the television documentaries already aired.
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