Dubai/UAE - where did you think you were?

[WhyamIinahandcartandwherearewegoing]

I’ll preface this by saying I wish the best for anyone out there, working or holidaying. I hope you are and remain safe.

but do people go there with next to no concern for where in the world it’s located? Do they pay no attention to news or the general geopolitical situation, it’s hnot exactly a secret.

are we really that dense that most people don’t look past the bling, the weather, the tax perks, the bloody influencers?

It might help them a lot if you tipped them well.

If you reject Dubai because of its problems, logically you have to also reject a LOT of places on moral grounds. And then you end up with a much narrower experience of the world and a narrower mind than you would otherwise have. And I don't think that withholding your tourist pounds helps the locals at all.

How so. How would me tipping a waitress or a barman in a Dubai complex help the regime they currently live under. I always tip btw wherever I'm abroad and at home as well but how would me going to Dubai and tipping someone help their life?

I have friends caught up in due to the transit flight they were to leave on was cancelled. They were flying from Australia but as they landed, the airport closed…

I don't have a narrow mind. I just have the choice as to where I go on holiday. I spent a year visiting asylum seekers in Dungavel in Scotland around 18 years ago. I have heard and seen and read the back stories from people who had to get out of oppression.

That's right. You do need to reject a lot of places - places where local people aren't treated well - but there's enough people who do go to make up for the likes of me not going

Yes, of course there are many places to go such as Europe, but that's the same culture as ours. I think real education happens when you go to places that are totally different from our culture.

True re. safety.

The thing is, if I rejected Dubai because of its issues, I'd logically have to reject huge swathes of the world. In turn, that would mean much of the world would be closed to me, and it would really limit how much of the world I could see, which is depressing to me. I don't think going to see a regime in person means that you agree with it.

If you were in Dubai and tipped in US dollars, instead of dirhams, what is not very much to you would be a LOT to them. They could convert it into dirhams and it might help pay for a flight home, for example. Or buy groceries for a couple of weeks. If many Western visitors did that, it could help a lot.

You are supporting the economy with your money that oppresses women

Do you heat your home? do you fuel your car?

if yes, then significant proportion of your bill payment goes straight to Sheikh Mohamed bank accounts. And it's way much more than you'd spend there on holiday, whilst also tipping there and providing income to oppressed people directly.

Your ‘need’ to travel doesn’t really outweigh another persons need to not be treated as a slave or be tortured or raped. And yes, if you’re giving these countries your money then you’re paying for their regime.

You don’t need to travel, you want to. Stop acting as though you going there is some how beneficial to anyone but you. I haven’t traveled to the moon but I can admire and respect it without doing so. This argument you keep trying to push is stuoid and baseless. If you want to travel, then off you go, but stop trying to come up with excuses as to why it’s acceptable, just own your choices.

That still wouldn't change the culture that women live under in the UAE.

I don't have a car and my heating is on as little as possible as I don't have lots of spare cash. I think the last time it was on was November (would you like to laugh at that too the same as the way you laughed at my previous post).

I would go there if it opened up, and then when I got back, I would tell everyone what I had seen. Some of the most affecting and educational stories I've heard are from people who visited certain places in certain eras, and I've repeated them to people. There really is nothing like being somewhere in person, imo.

I think choosing not to visit a dodgy place is a good protest; what I object to is all the mudslinging at people who want to experience all different parts of the world.

Yes, as we've agreed, you have to discount huge swathes of the world if you take this approach. Maybe staying at home is the new going on holiday?? 🤪

Well no, of course not. But depriving locals of their income from tourism certainly doesn't help them.

Right, but that wasn't the pp you were replying to..

I wasn't replying to anyone in that conversation, I just stepped in there as I had just read the quote.

Hmm...I see what you mean re culture but Western countries can still be pretty different. Italy, Spain, Serbia, Poland, Holland, Greece etc are all pretty culturally diverse when you put then together.

Arguably also Dubai is not that different culturally in that 90% of the population are not Emirati but expats and migrant workers, a large percentage of whom are Western.

Ah I see, sorry.

I am owning my choices. I think travel is a great way to broaden the mind and gain new perspectives, and tourism income helps local people. Not sure why you think I'm not being genuine. I don't sit and sip cocktails on holiday; I go to museums and talk to local people and buy their wares and tour their architecture and art, and visit their historical monuments. And often I come away with stereotypes well and truly busted.

Sarah Rainsford must be concerned about her job with you around. Honestly, just say you want to travel without feeling guilty and stop spouting all this utter bollocks.

Lots of us talk to locals and visit museums, it doesn’t make us Phillis Phogg. You like to go one holiday, that’s your prerogative, but stop acting like it’s vital for anyone else but you.

It's been a recurring theme on here all day - people making excuses for going to places like Dubai - and that's fine. If people want to - they can do. But I don't think there should be this level of justification. And trying to "gotcha" other people.

Folk trying to catch others out because they once went to Majorca for example.

When did it get so fucking bad that folk need to remind people that women in the UK haven't always been treated well. That was a lived experience for me as a child. I have also been sexually assaulted

Does that mean I'm not supposed to care about human rights elsewhere in the world because the UK is a shit place to live at times?

And I'm narrow minded too because I don't go to Dubai. I need the life experience of sitting in a complex with a pool like the love island lot or I'm not really living?

I wouldn't have gone to South Africa during apartheid either

I think you need to look up the AED:USD exchange rate

It’s so embarrassing, just own your choices and say you couldn’t give a fuck instead of all this bollocks about tipping locals.

Yes, your mind must not be broad because you haven’t been to an air-conditioned shopping complex in Abu Dhabi. Your life is meaningless!

No, not at all. I don't laugh at people's circumstances. I do laugh at their attitudes.

If you have some challenging circumstances, e.g. disability, caring for elderly or disabled, or doing your best to work and improve your position but for some reasons you can't, then my respect and sympathy to you. I'm very sincere with this.

However, you seem to be going on and on about your great moral choices and judging those who make different ones, whilst in reality you might be just limited with what you can do. In this case if would be more honest to say "I don't buy new cloths because I can't afford to" rather than "I don't buy new cloths because I care about environment" assuming those who do don't care.

You going or not going to Dubai won't make a jot of difference to oppression there. As PP said above, it might actually improve life for those poorer people working there.

But the entire world buying their oil makes Saudis invincible.

Actually, if everyone stopped going to Dubai collectively then yes some things would change. Because they want your money, that’s all and without it they would make changes to attract you there. That’s how you affect change. But going there doesn’t change the rules. Tipping a local doesn’t stop him from going home and raping his wife and getting away with the because legally it’s fine.