I live in Saudi Arabia. AMA!

[Shmithecat]

I still hear so many daft claims about certain aspects of living in KSA. Happy to confirm or deny what you've been told!

No @Windowsareforcheaters you are convinced that people are desperate to know things you think are shallow and unimportant.

I enjoy learning about how other people live in places I don't. I like understanding people. I find people that are different to me interesting. Yes some small details of everyday lives add to this and give you a better picture and understanding of what life is really like in a place.

I don't however find the need to make the same points over and over again. We get it.

This thread is called AMA not Lecture Me Relentlessly as Though I Have No Clue

No @Shmithecat2 I must have missed it, feel free to PM it if you still have it!

I keep going on about human rights and how they are abused in the KSA because I think they are more important than how hot it gets and how much you pay your maid.

Ok. You've pointed that out in multiple posts. We've read them and acknowledged them and are now asking the OP other questions.

Perhaps you can start your own thread now on human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia?

Windowsareforcheaters
@Windowsareforcheaters As a matter of interest when did being 'judgmental' become an insult? Judging that something is (in your opinion) wrong is not necessarily a bad thing.

You're right, it's not, it's a difference of opinion. Not an insult. They get deleted. Which is why people posting an AMA should don their flame proof knickers as there's bound to be a question they don't like or don't want to think about too closely

Someone has just started an 'I'm a farmer AMA' thread. I'm just going to pop over to derail it by going on and on relentlessly about how she sleeps at night knowing she is part of the meat trade and she is complicit with the murder of farm animals. That's where MY line is you see. So anyone who doesn't agree with that is wrong. They probably just want to know what time she has to get up in the morning or how many land rovers she has.

Not.

@showmethegin done.

@showmethegin

...or how many land rovers she has.

Poor bugger, they'll get a new one turn for admitting that. All the emissions from ghastly 4x4s. Probably no surprise that I have a Land Rover 😂

@Windowsareforcheaters

Your posts smack of cultural imperialism. You wish to impose your very Western standards on other countries. Look at the percentage of Saudis who support their regime vs those that don't.

What you don't get is that societies change from within, and obviously, many Saudis are fine with the way things are.

Someone has just started an 'I'm a farmer AMA' thread. I'm just going to pop over to derail it by going on and on relentlessly about how she sleeps at night knowing she is part of the meat trade and she is complicit with the murder of farm animals. That's where MY line is you see

Do it then. Go and ask. There's nothing wrong with asking questions they don't want to hear or might feel uncomfortable.
(I eat meat and come from a meat eating family but am married to a vegan)
Hearing different viewpoints is good! If you're not flinging insults around as you don't like the questions asked that is.)

Does it make a difference 'who' is being tortured or if they do the torture in a slightly different location?

eh?

yet you said that location was very important? You refuse to discuss HRA in the US because it's a different location, but you don't see it as important in the KSA?

God knows why you post, since your logic is ... well actually it isn't.

It doesn't matter where in the KSA people are being tortured, as long as they're being tortured, but it doesn't matter at all if they're being tortured in USA territory?

Your posts smack of cultural imperialism. You wish to impose your very Western standards on other countries.

I'm not windows obviously, but just want to say that me not wanting to have anything to do with going to SA or what it stands for has nothing to do with me wanting to impose Western values.
They can do what they like. Each to their own, their country, their rules. However abhorrent they may be,
Which is why I would never set foot there. Being a woman who likes freedom and all.

schmith, a lot of your posts describing your actual life in the KSA are really interesting.

Please, don't let yourself get drawn into an argument by this person to the point of getting posts deleted because it's feeding into their agenda.

Take the genuine posts on this thread and ignore the rest. Don't get upset by rabid bullshit ...

It's neither

rabid
Nor
bullshit

It's actually just reality.
FWIW ummm..irony much😂😂😂

Also, if you want to see a thread where genuine good influence on others shines out rather than an internet bullshitter, try this www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/922821-drug-dependant-baby-advice-needed?pg=1

-this- is real care for other humans and a bloody good read

Don't get upset by rabid bullshit ...

What are you classing as rabid bullshit though? I've seen genuine questions asked. OK, people haven't agreed with some points but there's certainly been nothing rabid posted.

a lot of your posts describing your actual life in the KSA are really interesting
I agree, I've enjoyed reading them too as I like learning new things and about different countries and cultures.
People are getting shouted down or insulted if they don't ask fluffy enough questions though.

lime Ive no problem with -genuine- questions. But the thread was started to ask the OP anything. SHe's answered everything, but some posters just don't like those answers and won't accept that she has a right to her own views. They like to restate the same thing over and over and won't engage in any -real- communication over valid points, but push their own agenda.

they don't like the OP's answers so they won't accept them. They can't accept that -someone thinks differently than them- There have been lies, as the OP has highlighted, twisting of answers, etc etc. It's not about fluffy, becuase my god the OP isn't fluffy. It's about some posters not being able to accept that, or acknowlege the complexity of another society.

That is the problem.

"If you could only change one law what would it be?
The end of the sponsorship laws and the availability of permanent residency to those who were born in the KSA to expat parents. To give them more autonomy and control over their own future in the country."

Really??? It's all about you, and expats, and hedgehogs and cats. And MONEY, obviously. No thoughts of changing the laws around LGBT issues, religious/political freedoms and freedom of speech?

I appreciate all the efforts by Mousse et all in this thread, and hope people, if not the OP, will now consider taking a stand against such a regime. You live in a bubble. Lucky you.

There have been lies, as the OP has highlighted,

Yes, from what I can see that she was upset about someone paraphrasing but it was the exact same thing OP was saying. Only a little bit blunter.Therefore maybe a bit harsher to have to hear.

eh, what's hard to hear is not blunt honesty but to observe the hectoring and deep intellectual dishonesty by some posters.

You can deal with real honesty.

There's something very phony about much of this thread.

If anyone is doubt about the credibility of OPs morals credentials, here it is....

If you could only change one law what would it be?
The end of the sponsorship laws and the availability of permanent residency to those who were born in the KSA to expat parents. To give them more autonomy and control over their own future in the country."

Very very shallow, low low ....

Of all the atrocities and gross reality of what's happening there,that ^

Matters the most.

You honestly couldn't make it up.

Yeah, it is goady and phoney.

Sickening really, to try to gloss over.

The end of the sponsorship laws and the availability of permanent residency to those who were born in the KSA to expat parents. To give them more autonomy and control over their own future in the country."

I've just had to google what a sponsorship law is. (Seriously no agenda here, I know bugger all hence the questions lol.)
Taken me down a google worm hole and kafala system.
Yeah, as a Westerner, it's interesting that's the law you'd abolish.

There's something very phony about much of this thread

Like what?

Wow OP thank you for your time on answering all the questions. You have certainly opened my eyes up to SA and it's a very interesting read.

It always makes me chuckle as British expats seem to be sprinkled all over the world and I love it!

I read an artical years ago about northern Iraq and that there are small villages which inhabit British ( I think mainly military family's) and other European nationalities.

I love the middle East but have never been the closest country being turkey. I think they have such beautiful landscapes and history and it's a shame that alot of these countries are worn torn / dangerous to visit /strict tourism. I think in the far future these countries will become more and more westernized though as we are already starting to see small changes.

@LimeKiwi

As is your right. Same reason I won’t visit Cuba, North Korea, China, Vietnam, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Turkey, and many other countries. But I don’t believe my views are the standard by which everyone should live by.