Ok, Sharjah is many things, boring, dry, dusty, a big manufacturer of PVC pipes, a fundamentalist Islamic state it is not.
I’m also interested to understand the Islamic idea of why it’s OK to have a Vegas-style western hedonism city in the Middle East.
Just because it brings in tons of cash?
Well, Dubai’s not Vegas. Gambling’s illegal, alcohol is only legal for non-Muslims, and so on. Besides, Islam, while it’s not hedonistic, isn’t ascetic either. There’s nothing wrong in Islam with enjoying luxury, so long as you’ve achieved that honestly.
I understand. I have never been to Dubai, so I can only read about it and read others descriptions of their experiences there.
The comparison to Vegas wasn’t about gambling, but more about glitz and excess, of which there seems to be plenty of in Dubai.
I don’t really have much of a problem with that per se, it was some of what amounts to the human rights abuses that apparently occur that I was a bit dismayed to learn.
I guess my question re: Islam was more wondering aloud how Islamic states like the Saudi regime view what goes on there and what justification they would have for it’s existence within the context of their religion, if any such justification exists or is needed.
Yeah, everyone knows aliens built the pyramids.
The type of class system they have set up there and the abuse of immigrant laborers is very standard for the region from what I’ve heard. Westerners are embraced as private contractors but very isolated from local society. A friend who worked in Bahrain described things very similarly to this Dubai article.
For me the notable part is the degree to which that system has been applied to comically extreme excess. For many people the quasi-slave system, while bad, becomes much more horrible in the way it’s been used to create such a over-the-top living situation for the citizens and tourists.
No no, it was alien slaves!
And from the article, that very same comically extreme excess seems to be what many expats enjoy about it…especially if they have a maid they can order about and a classless, invisible sect of workers that do all the dirty work and stay out of sight.
It gives the Saudis a place to go and party when they don’t feel like travelling all the way to Paris or Monte Carlo to do it.
In fairness to sailor, though, the title really doesn’t make much sense. “Whither Dubai?” would have worked better. But I’m only saying that to be a penis.
What? I agree that using “Wherefore” is unnecessarily obfuscating but “Whither” wouldn’t make ANY sense.
Wherefore = “Why Dubai?” — nice rhyme.
Whither = “Where Dubai?” — um, open a map?
“Whither” doesn’t mean “where,” it means, roughly, “to where.” “Whither <place>?” is a fairly standard construction, which means, “What’s going to happen to this place?” Here’s some examples.
I’ve learned that in GD, semantics are a bitch.
And also make it real painful to read an otherwise interesting thread.
Any other Brits feel mortally ashamed by that article? Even when surrounded by effectively slave owners, we still manage to look pathetic…
How about “Dubai, Whither Tending?” ?
I can smell blood in the water, the sharks are circling this thread…over the title!
Wherefore means “to find out the reason(s)” or simply “why”, as in “Why ya gotta be like that, Dubai?”
Speaking as a Brit, yes. But it’s hardly the first time Brits abroad have behaved badly. It also seems like the journalist went out of his way to find the worst excrescences of the British Isles in all of Dubai.
Dubai-bashing seems to be the sport-du-jour
I suppose bashing anything that reeks of excess is fair game these days.