Ellen Coyne: The Irish expats airbrushing Dubai’s dark side are laundering its image to clean their own conscience

by 9ONK

14 comments

  1. >Brainwashed expats boast to those of us back home about how “safe” Dubai is, as if the general experience of white Europeans is a reliable metric in a place with such a plain and aggressive class system. Is Dubai “safe” for non-European migrants? Those who are widely reported as being exploited for modern slave labour? For the woman from the Philippines that Tori Towey met in that Dubai police station, who had been held there for 10 years with little chance of ever being released? But the only time Dubai ever seems to err in the eyes of such defenders, when its abhorrent treatment of people finally incites the meekest of objections, is when it makes the “mistake” of mistreating a European with either the sense, the means or the pure good fortune to make a fuss about it.

  3. I think brainwashed is too strong a way of putting it. A lot of folks just don’t pay attention, which in fairness reflects worse on’em.

  5. I don’t understand why anyone would want to move and live there

  6. I find it hard to have sympathy for people who willingly travel over there and then complain about the harsh system when shit goes wrong.

  7. Some people like having people ranked beneath them in society to do their slave labour for them for a pittance while they live it up on high salaries tax free.

    Dubai is an unsustainably desert bankrupt of any morales and attracts the worst people in the world.

    Let them stay there, saves me having to deal with their narcissistic arses.

  8. I’m starting to find this finger wagging at other cultures a bit tiresome. People go to places like Dubai knowing the risks, and I’m frankly surprised we don’t hear more stories about the “horror” of Dubai, which would suggest that the majority of Expats are treated fairly.

    As far as people being used for slave labour, I see it as an issue for international relations to sort out between countries, and definitely not the responsibility of some “journalist” who is just looking to meet her monthly quota for columns.

  9. Been there last May on Holiday to visit friends:

    The fella there described it as “a playground for adults between 20 and 40”.

    My missus on the way back said “its a great place to live if you can forget your morals”.

    The lifestyle is the lure and it is a lure but we couldnt help but feel bad for the essential slave caste that runs the place.

    Also a place where what colour and where you are from really matters.

    They told us some mad stories about Dubai justice as well…..

    EDIT: added last 2 lines.

  10. A sizeable proportion of people are prepared to gloss over their values in return for a few quid 🤷‍♂️

  12. Dubai is for the vapid and the greedy. The people who go there are either interested in the luxury or the tax-free work. And they ignore the human rights abuses and discrimination because their comfort is more important than the abused workers propping up that lifestyle

  13. RTE did a quite good documentary/reality tv show on people who moved out for work, their was one family that stood out for me:

    – she was the junior partner in an event planning business, I got the feeling that if she ever fell out with her partner she could have a lot of problems. She couldn’t ever be majority owner.

    – her mother moved there to help her with the kids, even though she was in her 70’s she had to get a part time job due to visa requirements. Foreigners can not retire there.

    – her brother said she was living in cloud cuckoo land and not the real world. I could see exactly what he meant.

    There was others on the show as well but she seemed exactly the type to do this type of show. All of the people on the show had Nannie’s and maids, which helped them do everything. A lot of people turn a blind eye to the abuses that go on there.

  14. The funny part is they call themselves “expats” but they are actually immigrants. They think they are above being an immigrant so they coined a more palatable term that fits their ego and agenda.

Leave a Reply