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Discuss this article (52 Comments)Rod Liddle thinks I'm evil
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Monday, 03 August 2009
Did you read Rod Liddle’s article in the Sunday Times about Dubai? It is fair to say he is not a fan of the city. He came, he went to the Rattlesnake, he talked surprisingly lengthily to a prostitute about Bic lighters, and then he scuttled back to his laptop in London to write about his ordeal for the edification of the million-plus readers of the Sunday Times.
Sample quote: “I take a cab to the beach, Jumeirah beach, and spend three minutes watching sarcomas grow on the semi-naked expats strung out across the sand under flimsy shades, E-numbered Slush Puppies to hand, their eyes-closed against the vicious glare, their bodies porky and immobile.”
You get the idea. And if you don’t, there are roughly 5,495 more words of it.
The vitriol is fairly evenly distributed between expatriates and Emiratis. To Liddle, Dubai is “a slave state” in which various laws are “vindictive” and treatment of labourers is “evil.” The expatriates are all “fervently racist,” he says. In fact, in Liddle’s experience of Dubai, expatriates are a busy bunch, variously spending their time dressing “like infidel whores” and getting howlingly drunk, or “bringing” the credit crunch to the city.
He describes Dubai’s skyline as “a vast architectural experiment conducted by, seemingly, Albert Speer and Victoria Beckham.” By about word 5,000, it is safe to say Liddle not only hates Dubai, but hates you too, if you live in the city. “But that’s what you sign up to [er, all the bad stuff above] when you buy property in Dubai, or go there to work, or stay in one of its bling hotels. You sign up to all of that stuff and you condone it.” The implication, of course, is that you too are evil. Rod Liddle thinks I am evil.
I took this hard. After all, Liddle is one of the best journalists working in the British media today. His writing is typically stellar and spot-on. Johann Hari and Germaine Greer, who recently also deigned to write pieces with the intention of showing Dubai its own beating heart in major British newspapers, probably think I am evil, too. That I can cope with, I don’t care what they think. Who would? But Liddle? Say it ain’t so, Rod.
So I emailed him.
Rod, I said, Rod I love your work. I even met you once. I read you all the time. But now you’ve come to the place I call home, and treated it with all the respect of a career vandal. I asked him if, even though he took objection to the architecture and the “relentless, enervating fornicating” we all do here, he could at least acknowledge that it is better that Dubai exists than that it doesn’t?
I said: what about the good stuff? What about the schools and the hospitals and the financial centres and the infrastructure that Dubai has built? I told him that Dubai has led the Gulf in its drive to modernise, and surely modernising is a good thing? I asked him if standing against that was to stand against modernity? I said sure, Dubai is no Islington, but is only 30-odd years old, and only really started aggressive expansion in the mid-nineties.
I also said that if he objected to the treatment of labourers, had he considered their plight was as much the responsibility of the embassies and consulates – Indian/Pakistani/Filipino/Chinese etc. – who vet recruitment agents and don’t pressurise Gulf countries to make sure workers are well treated as anyone else’s? Not to mention the many, many British companies that employ labourers in Dubai.
Two days later, he replied.
He said that he stood by his comments regarding the “mistrust bordering on derision” he encountered in virtually everyone he met in Dubai towards other nationalities – although he did concede that not everyone who lived in the emirate could be teeth-gnashingly xenophobic.
And then, somewhat surprisingly, he said: “But I am not sure I do think it is a good thing that Dubai is trying to modernise; to be honest, I think I prefer Iran, which has at least kept a vague nod to the redistributive impulse of Islam. Nor is it a philanthropic gesture [in Dubai]; it is pure naked greed.”
Well, what are we to make of that? Most social commentators are agreed that the great British multi-cultural experiment has failed, so did Liddle really need to come all the way to Dubai to see that most nationalities are a bit rude about/mistrustful of one another? And as for preferring Iran to Dubai…. in his article he gave the impression he thought many of the UAE’s laws were a bit rum. In Iran today, they still fairly regularly hang or stone people for crimes like being homosexual. Not much evidence of a “redistributive impulse” after the recent elections, either.
And that bit about greed. Is capitalism now a crime? Without wanting to sound all Gordon Gekko about it: greed isn’t the worst thing in the world when it comes to motivating progress. In fact, there is a fairly watertight argument to be made that progress everywhere on God’s green earth since the dawn of civilisation has been motivated by greed and greed alone. At least in Dubai, ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is trying to do the best he can to provide for his people by giving them facilities and amenities their forefathers could only have dreamed of.
So Liddle, by his own admission, is against Dubai’s efforts to modernise? Who else stands against modernity these days? It’s the Taliban isn’t it? Liddle and the Taliban, standing shoulder-to-shoulder? It doesn’t look right. Come on, Rod, you’re too good for this. Get real. Come back, spend longer than a week here, do your research somewhere other than the Rattlesnake and your “sleaze bucket of a hotel,” and then stick the boot in, by all means. But at least have a look at the real story. You said in your email your “job was to write about the sleaze.” What happened to travelling with an open mind?
And as for the legions of Dubai-based readers of this website who like to post abusive comments beneath articles that are in any way non-eviscerating about the emirate, do your worst. I live here and I like it, and Liddle still thinks I am evil. If you live here and you hate it, what does that make you? Cretinous and evil? I am sure your mothers love you. Perhaps you might like to move to Iran?
READERS' COMMENTS
Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.
Hook, line and sinker
Posted by Realist, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 14:12 UAE time
Everybody,
It has just occurred to me that Mr. Liddle is laughing all the way to the bank. As a year ago it was someone's job to sing praise to Dubai all over the British press, now it's his and Mr. Hari's job to "unveil" the "sordid face". Hello? Reality check? Two million people in the town and no sordid details? Nobody knew about any of this before? Yeah, right! Come on!
I might be slow to catch on that we all, starting with Mr. Reilly (maybe he gets a cut for advertising Mr. Liddle's piece of writing?) are working to Mr. Liddle's favour. Summertime, no real topics, let's bash Dubai a bit, then someone will say that it is worse in London, California, or New York, and hey presto - there's the fight and the fun!
Life is not about black and white hats, it's about shades of gray. The dazzle of the wonderful Dubai PR has lessened, if not gone altogether, so that now anyone, not only the ones that actually live here and not in their self imposed parallel universes of bubbles and ideas - geographically, the same place, believe it or not! - can also see the shadows.
Not all that lurks in the shadows is nice ... but hey, that's life! Tomorrow is Friday, my one day off. Will enjoy it, and ignore Liddles and such. If you can't see the truth with your own eyes, nobody can tell it to you.
Posted by Realist, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 14:12 UAE time
Everybody,
It has just occurred to me that Mr. Liddle is laughing all the way to the bank. As a year ago it was someone's job to sing praise to Dubai all over the British press, now it's his and Mr. Hari's job to "unveil" the "sordid face". Hello? Reality check? Two million people in the town and no sordid details? Nobody knew about any of this before? Yeah, right! Come on!
I might be slow to catch on that we all, starting with Mr. Reilly (maybe he gets a cut for advertising Mr. Liddle's piece of writing?) are working to Mr. Liddle's favour. Summertime, no real topics, let's bash Dubai a bit, then someone will say that it is worse in London, California, or New York, and hey presto - there's the fight and the fun!
Life is not about black and white hats, it's about shades of gray. The dazzle of the wonderful Dubai PR has lessened, if not gone altogether, so that now anyone, not only the ones that actually live here and not in their self imposed parallel universes of bubbles and ideas - geographically, the same place, believe it or not! - can also see the shadows.
Not all that lurks in the shadows is nice ... but hey, that's life! Tomorrow is Friday, my one day off. Will enjoy it, and ignore Liddles and such. If you can't see the truth with your own eyes, nobody can tell it to you.
no favours
Posted by Dr Paul Goodwill Ambassador to my Auntie Margaret, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 14:11 UAE time
The Liddle piece was biased, overcooked and one-sided of course. I find most races in Dubai get on ok, even though most have stereotypical views of the others. And there are plenty more evil places in the world, for sure.
But I don't think Damian Reilly's robust and uncritical defence really does the UAE any favours either.
Most UK and US business publications are full of comment and editorial about how the UK and US governments and economic watchdogs utterly failed in their stewardship of the economy. Day by day we learn more about a total failure to assess risk and the deluded view that growth was real while in reality it was quite clear that it was down to unsustainable credit growth.
The contrast with journalism here is quite evident when one reads the still glowing praise dished out by Damian and his cohorts. One would think Dubai was a victim that had made no mistakes. It is fine to blame other countries for the credit crunch, but the credit crunch was in full swing at least a year before Dubai crashed. Who was not looking out the front window while piling more and more money into absurdly tall towers and even bigger tree-shaped islands?
Sadly AB is bound by the same rules as everyone else, meaning the daily read through AB stories is only marginally more controversial and revealing than the Pyong Yang Morning News.
Posted by Dr Paul Goodwill Ambassador to my Auntie Margaret, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 14:11 UAE time
The Liddle piece was biased, overcooked and one-sided of course. I find most races in Dubai get on ok, even though most have stereotypical views of the others. And there are plenty more evil places in the world, for sure.
But I don't think Damian Reilly's robust and uncritical defence really does the UAE any favours either.
Most UK and US business publications are full of comment and editorial about how the UK and US governments and economic watchdogs utterly failed in their stewardship of the economy. Day by day we learn more about a total failure to assess risk and the deluded view that growth was real while in reality it was quite clear that it was down to unsustainable credit growth.
The contrast with journalism here is quite evident when one reads the still glowing praise dished out by Damian and his cohorts. One would think Dubai was a victim that had made no mistakes. It is fine to blame other countries for the credit crunch, but the credit crunch was in full swing at least a year before Dubai crashed. Who was not looking out the front window while piling more and more money into absurdly tall towers and even bigger tree-shaped islands?
Sadly AB is bound by the same rules as everyone else, meaning the daily read through AB stories is only marginally more controversial and revealing than the Pyong Yang Morning News.
Rod Liddle
Posted by John, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 13:21 UAE time
I don't think anyone can disagree with the basic premise of Rod Liddles article. Dubai runs on individual greed from all nationalities and all ranks in society. Must people who are here are here for what they can take away and Dubai does very little encourage the expat community to stay and put down roots.
Posted by John, Dubai, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 13:21 UAE time
I don't think anyone can disagree with the basic premise of Rod Liddles article. Dubai runs on individual greed from all nationalities and all ranks in society. Must people who are here are here for what they can take away and Dubai does very little encourage the expat community to stay and put down roots.
Omar Omar Omar......
Posted by ThE AnTiOmAr LiBeRaTiOn FrOnT, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 12:38 UAE time
I swear if I started a group (as per my moniker) that I would be inundated with members!
Omar - so you have an American passport, so you work in DIFC as a Senior consultant something or other.......personally I wouldn't consult you on the time of day........
I would like to keep most of my comments to the subject at hand; namely the article above. As many commenters have said, Dubai has its flaws......several years ago the idea of Dubai and the strategy of the rulers was commendable......over the years, however Dubai has become a casualty of its own success. Greed is a common human trait.....plain and simple.....to think that the infidel West or the Communist Far East are any different to the benelovent dictatorships of the Middle East is just plain short sighted. It doesn't matter how left-wing, right-wing, conservative or liberal a country is, its inhabitants are inherently greedy. How many people do you know who go to work and ask not to be paid??? Life revolves around greed. Materialistic greed, financial greed, greed in many forms. The original article simply pointed this out. It said, hey, you know what....that wonderful place we keep hearing about (Dubai) is actually the same as everywhere else. Then this article somehow saw the light of day and here we are turning it into a mass debate (please heed the spelling) about how wonderful Dubai is and how wrong someone can be by only spending a week here......I don't think it even takes a week to see Dubai for what it is.
I was born in the Middle East, I am of Western and Persian descent originally. I have spent half my life in the Middle East and half in the West. I neither class myself as a Westerner or as a Middle Eastener. I class myself as a human being, trying to get on in life (grappling with my own personal greed), trying to get on with fellow human beings (except with moron posters) and someone who is happy to say that after two years in this glorified Disney funpark called Dubai, that the biggest, longest, highest and most expensive of almost everything is; as people are beginning to realise, a facade to a city that is trying to be like the Londons, New Yorks and Hong Kongs of this world........and that invariably includes the darker side.
So, in summary ladies and gentlemen.....lament not on the bad points of Dubai......you simply need to come to terms with the fact that Dubai is on catch up with these cities and that given the short time it has taken so far, it is neither perfect nor as desperate as some would wish to make you believe.
Omar - before you decide to post again.......please take some time to sit back on your Senior Executive uber adjustable office chair in DIFC, surrounded by all those highly intelligent management consultants and just think........what if they find out that you're a deluded moron and you got made redundant???? Your beloved UAE would treat you just as it treats all its well thought of and well looked after expats.......give you 30 days to get your affairs in order and then bid you a bon farewell back to Pakistan.......trust me.......you're tenancy in lala land would be over!
Posted by ThE AnTiOmAr LiBeRaTiOn FrOnT, UAE on Thursday 6 August 2009 at 12:38 UAE time
I swear if I started a group (as per my moniker) that I would be inundated with members!
Omar - so you have an American passport, so you work in DIFC as a Senior consultant something or other.......personally I wouldn't consult you on the time of day........
I would like to keep most of my comments to the subject at hand; namely the article above. As many commenters have said, Dubai has its flaws......several years ago the idea of Dubai and the strategy of the rulers was commendable......over the years, however Dubai has become a casualty of its own success. Greed is a common human trait.....plain and simple.....to think that the infidel West or the Communist Far East are any different to the benelovent dictatorships of the Middle East is just plain short sighted. It doesn't matter how left-wing, right-wing, conservative or liberal a country is, its inhabitants are inherently greedy. How many people do you know who go to work and ask not to be paid??? Life revolves around greed. Materialistic greed, financial greed, greed in many forms. The original article simply pointed this out. It said, hey, you know what....that wonderful place we keep hearing about (Dubai) is actually the same as everywhere else. Then this article somehow saw the light of day and here we are turning it into a mass debate (please heed the spelling) about how wonderful Dubai is and how wrong someone can be by only spending a week here......I don't think it even takes a week to see Dubai for what it is.
I was born in the Middle East, I am of Western and Persian descent originally. I have spent half my life in the Middle East and half in the West. I neither class myself as a Westerner or as a Middle Eastener. I class myself as a human being, trying to get on in life (grappling with my own personal greed), trying to get on with fellow human beings (except with moron posters) and someone who is happy to say that after two years in this glorified Disney funpark called Dubai, that the biggest, longest, highest and most expensive of almost everything is; as people are beginning to realise, a facade to a city that is trying to be like the Londons, New Yorks and Hong Kongs of this world........and that invariably includes the darker side.
So, in summary ladies and gentlemen.....lament not on the bad points of Dubai......you simply need to come to terms with the fact that Dubai is on catch up with these cities and that given the short time it has taken so far, it is neither perfect nor as desperate as some would wish to make you believe.
Omar - before you decide to post again.......please take some time to sit back on your Senior Executive uber adjustable office chair in DIFC, surrounded by all those highly intelligent management consultants and just think........what if they find out that you're a deluded moron and you got made redundant???? Your beloved UAE would treat you just as it treats all its well thought of and well looked after expats.......give you 30 days to get your affairs in order and then bid you a bon farewell back to Pakistan.......trust me.......you're tenancy in lala land would be over!
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