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Why anyone would relocate to a country living in the dark ages with Medieval laws is beyond me. Commit adultry? Go to prison. Eat a poppy-seed bagel in anoth

Why anyone would relocate to a country living in the dark ages with Medieval laws is beyond me. Commit adultry? Go to prison. Eat a poppy-seed bagel in another airport on your way to Dubai and leave a seed on your shirt? Same thing. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7234786.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7234786.stm

ryanwaggoner 17y ago
Fuck Dubai. No flashy tourist attraction is worth that kind of risk.
- zemaj 17y ago
  That's unfair. Thanks to terrorism the US & most western countries now laws that can decimate your privacy & can hold you in prison with little to no evidence. We put up with it because we know that by the numbers there's little chance of it affecting us as individuals. The same goes for Dubai. Even those laws exist, you're unlikely to be affected by them and most of the time the police look the other way even if you do get caught by one of the ridiculous laws.
  - gnosis 17y ago
    The increased paranoia in the US after 9/11 is a good point. But it hasn't had negligible effects. Tourism in the US has suffered because of the hassles and risks of getting in to (and out of) the country. Fewer people are coming to work and study in the US, and Americans in other countries are being treated worse as payback for the shameful treatment their citizens get in the US. The people who have least to worry from the state paranoia are the privileged classes, races, and ethnicities (ie. wealthy whites). But if you're part of the non-white underclass (nevermind Muslim), you can bet the post-9/11 paranoia and increased vigor of the police state is going to be of some concern (sometimes to the degree of fleeing the country if you're able). Something similar is probably the case in Dubai. If you're wealthy enough, and/or have enough connections, you're probably not going to have to worry too much (except maybe about the polluted beaches, if you insist on taking a dip in the sea outside your hotel room) as long as you don't try to interfere in their politics. But the worry of running afoul of their draconian laws and of being exploited by their oppressive system increases and becomes more legitimate the lower on the totem pole you get.
gms 17y ago
Although your comment is extreme, many people moved there to make lots of money and live like kings. Which they did. Edit: Not sure why I'm being downmodded; all I did was answer the parent's question.
- yesimahuman 17y ago
  My comment wasn't extreme. The fact that that kind of stuff happened at all is what's extreme.
- brown9-2 17y ago
  They moved to Dubai to participate (willingly or unwillingly) in a bubble, basically.
  - gms 17y ago
    Is that a bad thing (on a per-person level)? Again, many people made out great.
    - brown9-2 17y ago
      Well I guess that comes down to a moral choice. Would you be okay with "making out great" and becoming rich if it meant that other people had to work in 130 degree heat for 18 hours a day in order to build the buildings you live and work in, and had their wages withheld and passport confiscated by their employer? Would you think that you had made a bad choice?
      - gms 17y ago
        That is exactly the question I am asking. If someone gave you (and I don't mean you in particular) the chance to make all this money with minimal effort on your part, are you so sure you'd turn it down? To answer this question regarding myself, I don't know. For example, I wear clothes and shoes that are obviously made using horrible labour in third-world countries. Also, what are the people who already live there supposed to do? Halt their lives and livelihoods and move out? All I'm calling for with my comments is more restraint when it comes to the 'holier than thou' comments. It's too easy to express casual outrage and condemnation on the internet.
shiranaihito 17y ago
Indeed, and why would Europe want to relocate people from such countries into its midst? People with a Medieval world view, with Medieval morals and conceptions of Right & Wrong that they insist are not only applicable in 2009, but the only true way. We've got lots of them all over Europe, and it's starting to show.
shiranaihito 17y ago
Incidentally, this is what happens when the dark ages come to Europe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nqxP2bpF7I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nqxP2bpF7I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQyXXsBBQ0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQyXXsBBQ0&feature=relat...
Frazzydee 17y ago
Simple: There's money involved, and nobody thinks any of that will happen to them.
chrischen 17y ago
What I can't comprehend is how can any wealthy hard working person who truly worked their way up, from the first-world, can go there, enjoy it, and ignore-it-all. In my opinion all those people that enjoy it and knowingly ignore are just as guilty. They contribute to the slavery and condone the policies. UPDATE: after reading the entire article, I'd have to say this comment sums it up: "All the people who couldn't succeed in their own countries end up here, and suddenly they're rich and promoted way above their abilities and bragging about how great they are. I've never met so many incompetent people in such senior positions anywhere in the world." She adds: "It's absolutely racist. I had Filipino girls working for me doing the same job as a European girl, and she's paid a quarter of the wages. The people who do the real work are paid next to nothing, while these incompetent managers pay themselves £40,000 a month." If this is true, then I'd accuse these people for truly building what we see as Dubai. And the point about globalization makes all of us in first-world countries just as guilty.

ryanwaggoner 17y ago

Fuck Dubai. No flashy tourist attraction is worth that kind of risk.

zemaj 17y ago
That's unfair. Thanks to terrorism the US & most western countries now laws that can decimate your privacy & can hold you in prison with little to no evidence. We put up with it because we know that by the numbers there's little chance of it affecting us as individuals. The same goes for Dubai. Even those laws exist, you're unlikely to be affected by them and most of the time the police look the other way even if you do get caught by one of the ridiculous laws.
- gnosis 17y ago
  The increased paranoia in the US after 9/11 is a good point. But it hasn't had negligible effects. Tourism in the US has suffered because of the hassles and risks of getting in to (and out of) the country. Fewer people are coming to work and study in the US, and Americans in other countries are being treated worse as payback for the shameful treatment their citizens get in the US. The people who have least to worry from the state paranoia are the privileged classes, races, and ethnicities (ie. wealthy whites). But if you're part of the non-white underclass (nevermind Muslim), you can bet the post-9/11 paranoia and increased vigor of the police state is going to be of some concern (sometimes to the degree of fleeing the country if you're able). Something similar is probably the case in Dubai. If you're wealthy enough, and/or have enough connections, you're probably not going to have to worry too much (except maybe about the polluted beaches, if you insist on taking a dip in the sea outside your hotel room) as long as you don't try to interfere in their politics. But the worry of running afoul of their draconian laws and of being exploited by their oppressive system increases and becomes more legitimate the lower on the totem pole you get.

gms 17y ago

Although your comment is extreme, many people moved there to make lots of money and live like kings. Which they did. Edit: Not sure why I'm being downmodded; all I did was answer the parent's question.

yesimahuman 17y ago
My comment wasn't extreme. The fact that that kind of stuff happened at all is what's extreme.
brown9-2 17y ago
They moved to Dubai to participate (willingly or unwillingly) in a bubble, basically.
- gms 17y ago
  Is that a bad thing (on a per-person level)? Again, many people made out great.
  - brown9-2 17y ago
    Well I guess that comes down to a moral choice. Would you be okay with "making out great" and becoming rich if it meant that other people had to work in 130 degree heat for 18 hours a day in order to build the buildings you live and work in, and had their wages withheld and passport confiscated by their employer? Would you think that you had made a bad choice?
    - gms 17y ago
      That is exactly the question I am asking. If someone gave you (and I don't mean you in particular) the chance to make all this money with minimal effort on your part, are you so sure you'd turn it down? To answer this question regarding myself, I don't know. For example, I wear clothes and shoes that are obviously made using horrible labour in third-world countries. Also, what are the people who already live there supposed to do? Halt their lives and livelihoods and move out? All I'm calling for with my comments is more restraint when it comes to the 'holier than thou' comments. It's too easy to express casual outrage and condemnation on the internet.

shiranaihito 17y ago

Indeed, and why would Europe want to relocate people from such countries into its midst? People with a Medieval world view, with Medieval morals and conceptions of Right & Wrong that they insist are not only applicable in 2009, but the only true way. We've got lots of them all over Europe, and it's starting to show.

shiranaihito 17y ago

Incidentally, this is what happens when the dark ages come to Europe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nqxP2bpF7I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nqxP2bpF7I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQyXXsBBQ0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iQyXXsBBQ0&feature=relat...

Frazzydee 17y ago

Simple: There's money involved, and nobody thinks any of that will happen to them.

chrischen 17y ago

What I can't comprehend is how can any wealthy hard working person who truly worked their way up, from the first-world, can go there, enjoy it, and ignore-it-all. In my opinion all those people that enjoy it and knowingly ignore are just as guilty. They contribute to the slavery and condone the policies. UPDATE: after reading the entire article, I'd have to say this comment sums it up: "All the people who couldn't succeed in their own countries end up here, and suddenly they're rich and promoted way above their abilities and bragging about how great they are. I've never met so many incompetent people in such senior positions anywhere in the world." She adds: "It's absolutely racist. I had Filipino girls working for me doing the same job as a European girl, and she's paid a quarter of the wages. The people who do the real work are paid next to nothing, while these incompetent managers pay themselves £40,000 a month." If this is true, then I'd accuse these people for truly building what we see as Dubai. And the point about globalization makes all of us in first-world countries just as guilty.