Living in the real world
Dubai is so fake, Dubai is not the real world and Dubai is like Disneyland ! These are some of the comments I've heard people say about Dubai over the years. I have to admit I have never asked them what they mean when they say the "real world" but I think that they are referring to the US and Europe, a world where people pay taxes, commute to work using public transport and have a democracy.
When people say Dubai is not real, I guess they are talking about things like Palm Island, tax free incomes, and a media which never seems to say anything critical of the country's leaders.
Fair enough, these things may make Dubai fake, but why is the US and Europe the "real world?" I think the "real world" should be an expression used to describe how the majority of people on this planet live. If you pick a person at random on earth, there is a greater than 50% chance that the person you pick will be someone who lives on less than US$ 2 a day. I am not exaggerating, more than half the world's population lives below the poverty line of US$ 2 a day. More than half the world's population has never made a phone call (you can confirm these statistics if you do a search on google for "poverty statistics" or something similar).
For a person who has such a life, life in the US or Europe must seem like a Disneyland where people can afford to spend money on going to the cinema and eat out at restaurants, rather than just make enough to survive.
When people say Dubai is not real, I guess they are talking about things like Palm Island, tax free incomes, and a media which never seems to say anything critical of the country's leaders.
Fair enough, these things may make Dubai fake, but why is the US and Europe the "real world?" I think the "real world" should be an expression used to describe how the majority of people on this planet live. If you pick a person at random on earth, there is a greater than 50% chance that the person you pick will be someone who lives on less than US$ 2 a day. I am not exaggerating, more than half the world's population lives below the poverty line of US$ 2 a day. More than half the world's population has never made a phone call (you can confirm these statistics if you do a search on google for "poverty statistics" or something similar).
For a person who has such a life, life in the US or Europe must seem like a Disneyland where people can afford to spend money on going to the cinema and eat out at restaurants, rather than just make enough to survive.
posted by Resto at 12:48 PM
3 Comments:
Dubai is also not real in the sense that even the beggers here are well dressed. Have you ever seen anyone who was wearing torn and tattered clothes? If it wasn't a teenager trying to make some sort of wierd statement, my guess is no.
You dont get too see too many old people here. People over the age of 65 or 70 dont seem to exist in the city of gold.
NO one is crippled in Dubai. How? What happens to the people who are handicapped? What? They dont get to come to Dubai? You dont say....!
But Mira, the Dubai where you don't have to pay taxes is only a temporary thing. Sooner or later,
this city is also going to have to tax its people in order to survive.
Whats a "reel" person?
have you heard anyone refer to Dubai as the Las Vegas without casinos (yet!)? I have. It feels like a temporary environment where all the expats know they have to return home at some point in their lives, that there is no sense of security or permanency about this place. 25 years, and would you call this home? I wouldnt know what to say to that question myself. Its all good tho. The place has its advantages which is what keeps us going (weather for you Haluk, shopping, multiculturalism, east meets west, etc etc etc)
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