Last night a banner ad on Facebook caught my attention. It was for a group called, “I am sick of people bashing Dubai” (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=79706383856&ref=mf). Perhaps the title is a bit strong, but I did sign up.
The last couple of weeks I’ve received at least four different articles about Dubai and how terrible the place is.
One of the more scathing and regular is from the Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html entitled The Dark Side of Dubai.
But all the stories follow a basic theme. As a permanent resident of Dubai it’s made interesting reading, mainly to identify all the inaccuracies. While some of the concerns are correct, some of the conclusions are questionable at best.
My eyes have certainly opened to the level of bias in various forms of media. I’ve never been ignorant of it, but just how much the mainstream press sells its news is quite a shock.
I’m glad people have sent the stories on though. Ever since friends and family have learned that we were planning to here, we’ve been getting a steady stream of emails of all things Dubai. Some promote the wonder of Dubai and all the extreme developments, but more and more it’s been the stories of Dubai sinking amidst the financial crisis and suffering from being too ambitious.
All I really know is things aren’t as bad as they seem. I can’t remember if it was Frank Sinatra or Carrie Bradshaw who once said that New York is so big that no matter what you’ve heard about it, it’s probably true. Well, I would suggest no matter how many articles get written about Dubai it’ll never be like New York.
“All I really know is things aren’t as bad as they seem. I can’t remember if it was Frank Sinatra or Carrie Bradshaw who once said that New York is so big that no matter what you’ve heard about it, it’s probably true.”
So true, after all these years in and around aviation – the one thing I know for sure is that news outlets never cover all angles of a story, and personal blogs are so biased they are not worth reading. Thanks for your article, a breath of fresh air.
Cheers Aitch .. to the defence of some of the articles I should have mentioned that they were literally looking at Dubai’s dark side alone.
I guess my point is if people were leaving in the droves that many sources suggest, I would have found a place in a school for my son next semester!
Another story published in the Australian press about the hard times ahead:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25547622-36418,00.html