Working in Dubai 01
All about Fragmentation in the Expatriate Community. Here's a letter published in Friday's edition of 7 Days in Dubai (10 March) and my response to the writer (below)
If what R Debrett-Smythe expressed is true, then 7 Days should start consulting housemaids on matters of the economy because (as the writer proudly asserts) they are the new sources of dependable information. I am neither Australian nor South African but I have my own mind to be offended by such blatant ignorance. I have been hearing about the pathetic state of inter-nationalistic animosity within the expatriate community before I arrived in Dubai. Now I am seeing for myself how fragmented the expat "community" really is.
In this day and age where trade and technology has allowed us to carve our own niche, explore new options for work and build a home in any part of the world, it is shocking to find that the very people we've respected as fore runners of our modern world hopelessly devolving and degenerating into name-calling, racism and blinding stupidity. Fortunately, us thinking folks would rather express our deepest pity for the deluded ones still reeling from post-colonial hangover. Let's face it: the only place of significance for colonialists everywhere is the History Channel and while many (like the writer) still cling desperately to a petty monarchy and its tourist-brochure heritage, the rest of us have, quite laughingly, moved on.
Yes you do get what you pay for, but I suspect it's because you haven't been getting any in the first place.
If what R Debrett-Smythe expressed is true, then 7 Days should start consulting housemaids on matters of the economy because (as the writer proudly asserts) they are the new sources of dependable information. I am neither Australian nor South African but I have my own mind to be offended by such blatant ignorance. I have been hearing about the pathetic state of inter-nationalistic animosity within the expatriate community before I arrived in Dubai. Now I am seeing for myself how fragmented the expat "community" really is.
In this day and age where trade and technology has allowed us to carve our own niche, explore new options for work and build a home in any part of the world, it is shocking to find that the very people we've respected as fore runners of our modern world hopelessly devolving and degenerating into name-calling, racism and blinding stupidity. Fortunately, us thinking folks would rather express our deepest pity for the deluded ones still reeling from post-colonial hangover. Let's face it: the only place of significance for colonialists everywhere is the History Channel and while many (like the writer) still cling desperately to a petty monarchy and its tourist-brochure heritage, the rest of us have, quite laughingly, moved on.
Yes you do get what you pay for, but I suspect it's because you haven't been getting any in the first place.
posted by Jef + Stef at 1:11 am
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