I just finished reading your latest attempts on investigative journalism and it’s pretty clear that you have a problem, a hate problem. I have to say Rod, I agree with some points you mentioned in your article, it kills me to see labourers get paid like that, and get treated like that, it kills me that I’ve lived in Dubai all my life and I have no social security, it bothers that some one could get a jail sentence for flipping some one off, but I do know for fact that each city has its problems and that I’m blessed as an immigrant here. Just like many others.
You are making it seem that if we get rid of Dubai, our problems get solved.
I do not mind you coming to Dubai and “exposing” the city’s faults, but don’t make it seem like Dubai is the centre of evil and materialism and forget the rest of the world. Don’t talk about it with hate and forget the opportunities it offered to the world.
Dubai is a city in the making, it’s 10 years old Rod, only 10 years old. Show me a place in history that was built like that in 10 years. When you do things quickly, you make mistakes, it’s only natural. But in those ten years, every single “immigrant” to Dubai made a better living than where he/she came from. Even those poor labourers with their shameful salaries. India is not silent because it’s scared of a Muslim country, India is silent because Dubai is contributing to employing hundreds of thousands of its people.
You talk about prostitution in Dubai like there are no sluts where you come from. You talk about problems in the Law like you live in paradise. You talk about bad locals like you are the chosen ones. My intention is not to “expose” the west like you “exposed” Dubai because I know that any human being with a basic level of intelligence and logic knows that no city, no government and no culture is perfect.
Rod there are thousands of stories about criminals who ran away because of holes in your laws, this doesn’t give me the right to say that you are bad law makers. I know thousands of stories of people who suffered and still suffer around the world because of the west, this doesn’t make me hate the west.
I don’t hate you or your cities because I know that we live in a globalized world, you need us as much as we need you, we all need each other and this is how we should tackle problems. Governments could be messed up in some cities, but at the end of the day this has been the case always wherever you go.
I liked one of the comments that was made on your article by a British man , he said “the same article can be written about the UK”. I would like to add that the same article can be written about Dublin, Paris, Damascus, New Delhi, Tokyo or even Beverly Hills. Pretty much about any city, any place. Greed is a human trait, it’s not associated with a certain place Rod. Materialism runs in our blood, it’s everywhere. Isn’t western greed what pushed the whole world recently into this financial crisis?
If you are upset about the lack of democracy here, why didn’t you discuss democracy in the whole region or why didn’t you only discuss democracy? If you are upset about Gay rights, you could’ve easily written an international piece. If you are not happy with the way the economy is driven, you could have enlightened us with an article about building and managing big cities in short periods of times. If you were hurt by the “injustice” in UAE Law, you could have analyzed this separately. I really don’t see how insulting a whole city with 2 million people, insulting cultures, playing with facts and just firing like that can serve any purpose.
Taxi drivers not picking up Emiratis? I would have welcomed your thoughts if they were focused and fair. I would have loved to hear your opinion if it was driven by care and consideration rather than apparent hate and obvious racism. You ran an amazing investigation, and simply disconnected your findings from the rest of the world then ruined true observations with preposterous lies.
I see a lot of problems in the world Rod, the whole world, this doesn’t make me hate a city or its people. Your whole article is confusing, Dubai is shit, but what does halted construction and a man looking for a job in a Porsche have to do with it? Emiratis barking? Iliana not shagging Arabs and Blacks? Catholic Bartenders? Puffed up medieval police officials?
Sherlock Holmes, you really need to seek consultation.
