To never want to visit Qatar?

[RareLilacFinch]

The incessant full-page ads I’m getting on MN encouraging me to visit Qatar have got me thinking about why I’d never want to go there.

As a woman, there are obvious reasons - not wanting to be under the “guardianship” of my husband, and the forced gynaecological examinations of a plane full of Australian women being the tip of the iceberg - on top of the hideous human rights abuses of migrant workers, and the general suppression of free speech.

So AIBU - am I missing something?

My DH wanted us to go to Dubai on holiday. I told him that he has just to start comitting sins if he wants to go to hell, no way I'd pay for it.

Has anyone worked out how to close ad or get rid of it. And is it only happening on mobile app?

I can’t totally understand your reasoning

you should look into how countries treat the people living there

you are likely to want to add many more to your list but some are often over looked

Went to Dubai many, many years ago it was a surpise booked by my DP at the time. I was bloody terrified. There wasn’t much there at the time, not like it is now.
We were told very stringently what was expected of us as guests.
So we basically spent a week not going near each other in public. I didn’t mind being covered up, I had no problem with that at all. And I have to say the local people we met were lovely - but of course they were staff in hotels and stores.
The bar and restaurant in our hotel was packed full of female Russian sex workers every night. I was a bit scared of them at first but by the end of the week I had spoken to a few. Let’s just say I felt sad at how they were living, even though a lot of money was involved.
The place had no soul, and I could not wait to get home.
I would never go back especially when there are so many places in the world that have far more history and culture.

Slight aside: if you’d like to learn more about this, I suggest that in addition to the history of slavery you read up on the legacy of colonialism and the current impact of neo-colonialism. It might help you understand why much of what you wrote is not accurate.

To OP - Regarding the annoying pop-ups I think there’s a way to filter the sorts of ads that come up. I think the ads you see are in part based on data tracking, so what you search for online and what content you engage with most. When I was making a very niche purchase my feeds were suddenly and annoyingly spammed with stuff related to it. Not sure how to change/disable that except to just not engage with the content.

I’ve no desire to go to there or Dubai, Morocco, China, Japan etc. Plenty of other lovely places where people do have rights.

I don’t know why these places are so popular. I went to Dubai once as my ex was working overseas and it was a convenient place to meet him. I saw some terrible treatment of local staff ‘or service workers’ as the guy who refused to reverse his car called them, and our hotel driver to reverse all the way down the street as this local guy refused. The driver said he was used to that kind of treatment when I said something.

We saw many other examples of poor treatment of the people who wait on all these rich holiday makers, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. So I avoid going anywhere like that, there’s an undercurrent there that is not pleasant and many people don’t even notice it because they are too busy enjoying their holiday.

What's your beef with Japan?

I didn't know about the invasive searches of the Australian women. Right, that's it, I'm never flying with Qatar Airlines.

I don't know why Westerners give their tourist pounds to dodgy regimes anyway. I'll never visit China, for example. A lot of these places would pull their socks up if everyone stopped visiting them. Nothing wrong with Switzerland or the Med.

I won't give my tourist money to China, India, and most Middle Eastern countries. (I'd like to visit Israel, although not at the moment.)

Do you think there are many countries that have never exploited and abused people? Honestly, so naive. All cultures have a history of this, some just happened to be better at it than others. The fact that places like this still do it flagrantly is vile, the only reason these middle Eastern shitscapes get away with it is because they have oil. They'd better develop some sort of civilisation before it runs out, because it won't last forever and the developed world won't be as ignorant of their abuses when ir does..

Stop giving money to countries that commit human-rights violations.

You would have to stop giving money to pretty much every country in the world.

Don't be naive.

Currently in Qatar for a short break - warm, luxurious and hospitality second to none. Agree with some of the comments made on here but always feel that UK has its own issues. Btw it's just myself and my DD here and we feel welcome and respected.

It’s still happening - I can’t get out of the screen.

So frustrating

I forgot that here in the U.K. it rains glitter and roses every day and there’s no embarrassing (fairly recent ) history of colonialism and slavery. It’s great that things like modern day slavery , racism and sexual exploitation, discrimination , abuse of power, poverty and policy issues no longer exist . I hope you’re all also boycotting every single other country with human rights issues - that might not leave you with many places to visit or benefit from , but at least you won’t be a hypocrite

I think the ads are targeted.

Do you remember the name of the doc? Would love to to watch this

The uk isn't perfect but at least i don't need my husbands permission to open a bank account or get medical treatment.

Haven't seen the ads. But I don't like Qatar or Dubai or much of the ME because of the sports washing, the treatment of immigrant labour and the attitudes towards women. I'm single, on my own, so I don't think it's the place for me. Besides, I'm not that much into shopping nor sunbathing, nor do I ever want to have a jeep safari in the dunes. Dubai, in particular, looks so fake and soulless. Not my type of holiday.

Anyone, particulary female, who goes to any of the middle-eastern countries, be they sold as a holiday 'destination' or not (dubai for example), is a hypocrit. Those who beat the drum for equality in the home and workplace, who are on sites such as this, moaning about how they are treated by their OH, how they do all the work, are treated badly at work, who then go to such destinations are worse.
So no, yanbu

Not a country I’d ever visit, even as stopover on a flight, and wouldn’t use their airline either.

Naive? You think that HR violations in somewhere like Canada are on a par with somewhere like China?

This is the culture not the religion.
It is so easy to make this islam bashing.

@DustyLee123 Japan ranks higher than the UK in the human rights index. People in Japan also enjoy a better standard of living than here. Why is Japan problematic for you?