Would you visit Dubai ?

pickarooney · 15-03-2010 12:00PM

anbrutog wrote: »

Quick question to the people who are raving about the place and can't wait to go, does it bother you that its built on slavery??

Personally , I couldn't enjoy myself in a place that was built on the back of people's misery.

Would you go to Washington D.C., Cape Town or any of the hundreds of other places built by slave labour?

GavRedKing · 15-03-2010 12:01PM

anbrutog wrote: »

Quick question to the people who are raving about the place and can't wait to go, does it bother you that its built on slavery??

Personally , I couldn't enjoy myself in a place that was built on the back of people's misery.

Wasnt the Pyramids in Egypt built by slaves??? Doesnt stop people going there and turning them into a glorified tourist spot.

ScumLord · 15-03-2010 12:06PM

I can't wait to go, I'm just waiting for the oil to run out so I can kick sand in their faces and watch them cry as their idiotic city in the desert rots around their ears.

ScumLord · 15-03-2010 12:07PM

gavredking wrote: »

Wasnt the Pyramids in Egypt built by slaves??? Doesnt stop people going there and turning them into a glorified tourist spot.

No they where built by conscripts only too happy to build a monument to their god.

WIZE · 15-03-2010 12:08PM

ScumLord wrote: »

I can't wait to go, I'm just waiting for the oil to run out so I can kick sand in their faces and watch them cry as their idiotic city in the desert rots around their ears.

They will just wipe the sand from their eyes then shoot you and then probably let their Camel hump you

Greyfox · 15-03-2010 12:10PM

Dubai is up their with New York as one of the greatest cities in the world and it's sad to see some people have such a misguided impression of what it's like over their, I couldn't recommend the place more

I met loads of Irish over their and the nightlife is much better then over here (nightclubs on the beach etc), you can even go Skiing over their. Like New York you can feel very safe as theirs pretty much zero crime or drugs

Columbia · 15-03-2010 12:11PM

Yes, I'd go to Dubai in a second if I had the time and money. It's a place unlike any other, and therefore is worth experiencing in my book.

Sea Sharp · 15-03-2010 12:12PM

No. What's a holiday if you can't get sh1t-faced without worrying about some crazy mother-fuckers wanting to chop your hands off.

SugarHigh · 15-03-2010 12:13PM

bonerm wrote: »

Even if they eventually became tourist attractions it doesn't change the fact that neither were originally built primarily for that reason.

Vegas has plenty of skyscrapers built for tourists and the 4th tallest building in Dubai is a hotel.

15-03-2010 12:14PM

I have no idea why anyone would want to go there. Even when everyone was raving about it, I never saw the attraction of a load of skyscrapers in the middle of a desert, or flying all that way to walk around fancy shopping malls and buy designer shoes. I have little sympathy for the idiots who went out there acting like they knew it all and are now whining about how awful it is. Isn't one of the golden rules of life that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is?

anbrutog · 15-03-2010 12:16PM

pickarooney wrote: »

Would you go to Washington D.C., Cape Town or any of the hundreds of other places built by slave labour?

I think I'm being slightly misunderstood here.
Dubai is a city thats been and being built wholesale by slavery and exploitation.
Go back to the dim and distant past and yes I'm sure you'll find numerous examples of cities that were built off the misery of others. I'm sure Dublin over the years has had more than its fair share of exploitation.

But we supposedly live in more enlightened times. I'd wager theres nowehere else on earth at this present moment that practices wholesale abuse like Dubai does.
Personally, it wouldn't sit easily with me sleeping in a hotel room that people have died to build, and those that have lived have suffered unimaginable cruelty and hardship.

And yes, I'll re-iterate it for those in the cheap seats. I'm sure worker exploitation goes on elsewhere. Would that in itself stop me from going there?? No , because theres nowhere on earth being built now quite as vulgar as Dubai that has been built on the back of so much suffering. Dubai , quite simply takes the piss.

WIZE · 15-03-2010 12:17PM

GaNjaHaN wrote: »

No. What's a holiday if you can't get sh1t-faced without worrying about some crazy mother-fuckers wanting to chop your hands off.

Do you steal Drinks from Peoples Tables

WindSock · 15-03-2010 12:18PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

change sand to grassland and you have the US

Yeah but I felt there was a bit more character in the US. Saying that though, I've only been to NY & Florida. NY is incomapareable to any city, whereas Florida (Orlando) was a bit like Dubai, in the way that it was just concrete thrown over an area in a short space of time to attract tourists. I don't know, maybe I had not such a great time in Dubai as I was on my own and only there 2 days. Perhaps if I went with a group or with someone who knows where to go it may have been better.

helimachoptor · 15-03-2010 12:18PM

Not a hope, had been thinking of heading over for a few days in the summer with the GF but I wont be.

Sea Sharp · 15-03-2010 12:21PM

Most Haunted wrote: »

Do you steal Drinks from Peoples Tables

No way man. Think of the backwash.

Pepe LeFrits · 15-03-2010 12:30PM

Nope.

Had a day stop off in Abu Dhabi and that was quite enough for me.

An artificial, soulless wart of globalisation run off a base of government-endorsed slavery so that rich, odious, vacuous retards can show off their bling and worry about their tan.

No thanks.

D-Generate · 15-03-2010 12:37PM

As a place it disgusts me for the aforementioned slave labour. Yes the workers chose to go and work there but little did they know that their passports would be taken from them, that they would be put in to nothing more than forced labour camps and their measly wages for working 12 hour days minimum go towards what the employer deems their "upkeep" in these camps.

I don't think it can last as it is that much longer. The region is broke with no natural resources of their own. They hoped to become a tourist destination and a financial centre in the middle east but whilst succeeding in the former they have failed in the latter. Banks that have rushed there have not seen the returns and the Dubai Merc is certainly no opposition to the NY or the Chicago Merc even after investing so much in to it. The only investment bankers that I know that go there now are the ones who just weren't cutting it in London.

Good riddance Dubai!

FLCP · 15-03-2010 12:38PM

anbrutog wrote: »

I think I'm being slightly misunderstood here.
Dubai is a city thats been and being built wholesale by slavery and exploitation.

The 'slaves' of the UAE send US$10 billion a year back to their home countries - 10% of all overseas Philippines national workers are in the UAE and sent US$584 million home in 2008. Economic migration is a fact, and the unsavory results of it are nothing new too.

I'm not saying the place is perfect, and i know that abuses are more common than they should be, and that Amnesty et al do great work highlighting the abuse, but "illiterate Keralite farmer's son keeps family fed and watered by sweeping streets in the Gulf" is never going to make it onto the front page of the Daily Mail.

Coriolanus · 15-03-2010 12:44PM

I don't think I would. There's nothing to the place that's unique. I mean, shopping I can do anywhere (and if I was going on a "shopping holiday" New York or Tokyo would be more interesting).
If I want desert, I'll go to Egypt and get in some history etc etc

bonerm · 15-03-2010 12:44PM

You could have a gawk at this when you're over
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=651041

Coriolanus · 15-03-2010 12:46PM

bonerm wrote: »

You could have a gawk at this when you're over
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=651041

Holy fuck it's a jenga game people can live in!

anbrutog · 15-03-2010 12:51PM

FLCP wrote: »

The 'slaves' of the UAE send US$10 billion a year back to their home countries - 10% of all overseas Philippines national workers are in the UAE and sent US$584 million home in 2008. Economic migration is a fact, and the unsavory results of it are nothing new too.

I'm not saying the place is perfect, and i know that abuses are more common than they should be, and that Amnesty et al do great work highlighting the abuse, but "illiterate Keralite farmer's son keeps family fed and watered by sweeping streets in the Gulf" is never going to make it onto the front page of the Daily Mail.

I certainly wouldn't doubt for a second that there are numerous numbers of workers who wouldn't match the literal definition of slaves. I wouldn't doubt for a second that your figures are correct. But lets be honest , even the ones who are paid , are paid so little and are treated so appallingly that they are for all intents and purposes slaves. The Filipino maid that sends home all of her wages to contribute to the $584million has probably around 10 minutes off in an average working week.

The headline you mentioned wouldn't happen because he probably had to work a 120 hour week in 50 degree heat to achieve it.

And I think its worth saying again because I'm not sure people quite understand. Does exploitation go on elsewhere ??? Yep. Does slavery go on elsewhere as well? But of course..

But no where does it like Dubai.

ejmaztec · 15-03-2010 12:53PM

gavredking wrote: »

Wasnt the Pyramids in Egypt built by slaves??? Doesnt stop people going there and turning them into a glorified tourist spot.

Everybody knows that they were built by bored space-travellers on a package tour.

Cookie_Monster · 15-03-2010 12:59PM

Pepe LeFrits wrote: »

Nope.

Had a day stop off in Abu Dhabi and that was quite enough for me.

An artificial, soulless wart of globalisation run off a base of government-endorsed slavery so that rich, odious, vacuous retards can show off their bling and worry about their tan.

No thanks.

you sure that wasn't Hong Kong or New York you stopped at?

Coriolanus · 15-03-2010 01:08PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

you sure that wasn't Hong Kong or New York you stopped at?

My point there would be that Hong Kong and New York have other things going for them.

wes · 15-03-2010 01:13PM

No, wouldn't go. The whole slave labour thing being the main reason.

15-03-2010 01:18PM

I feel a bit sick after reading that article. So many ex-pats going on about how it was great to have servants to do everything, with the knowledge that they were being exploited. This is particularly vile:

My patience frayed by all this excess, I find myself snapping: doesn't the omnipresent slave class bother you? I hope they misunderstood me, because the woman replied: "That's what we come for! It's great, you can't do anything for yourself!" Her husband chimes in: "When you go to the toilet, they open the door, they turn on the tap – the only thing they don't do is take it out for you when you have a piss!" And they both fall about laughing.

That article served to strengthen my opinion that the type of people who like Dubai are shallow, entitled, stupid muppets whose simple little minds are satisfied with a life of shopping, champagne brunches and going to the beach, who don't consider for one moment that paying peanuts to a servant whose passport you've seized is a problem in any way. I've yet to meet one sound person who went there and liked it.

anbrutog · 15-03-2010 01:21PM

[quote=[Deleted User];64917255]I feel a bit sick after reading that article. So many ex-pats going on about how it was great to have servants to do everything, with the knowledge that they were being exploited. This is particularly vile:

That article served to strengthen my opinion that the type of people who like Dubai are shallow, entitled, stupid muppets whose simple little minds are satisfied with a life of shopping, champagne brunches and going to the beach, who don't consider for one moment that paying peanuts to a servant whose passport you've seized is a problem in any way. I've yet to meet one sound person who went there and liked it.[/QUOTE]

Pretty much sums it up for me as well. I've met a good few people who've been there , and by and large the people who enjoyed the place would have fitted the above description.

SV · 15-03-2010 01:22PM

No, I don't want to be surrounded by muslims.

MaybeLogic · 15-03-2010 01:26PM

SV wrote: »

No, I don't want to be surrounded by muslims.

Why not?
What's wrong with Muslims?

Would you visit Dubai ?

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