I don't like Dubai. I admit that I have never been to Dubai and I don't think that I have ever met anyone from Dubai. I don't even think that I have met anybody who has been to Dubai. I certainly don't understand Dubai. So, as irrational prejudges go, my not liking Dubai is first class.
I do, however, love the desert and Dubai seems like an incredibly expensive way to wreck what must have been a charming, desert, fishing village. Now it is the most unreal landscape in the world with a surging population already over million people.
In my imagination, there are three groups of people in Dubai:
indentured third world laborers; first world assholes who are trading
money,or bad loans, or some form of credit default swap (CDS), or some other form of ponzi-ed security; and Arab oil trash who are bilking the first two groups.Oh- and I guess – a couple of ski instructors to teach at the inside ski area.
For a while, it seemed as if this whole fiasco was going to come apart. But now, apparently, Dubai will be rescued by it neighbor Abu Dhabi. I really have no idea if Dubai is too big to fail, or if, – in fact – it does serve some useful purpose for mankind, or if – in 50 years – Dubai will revert back to sand. But I do know, that for me, Dubai is emblematic of a culture in which making money is the highest virtue.
Of course much could be said of this culture right here at home. I guess the only thing separating us from Dubai is that some folks here see the value in sublime and are willing to do what it takes to protect landscapes that evoke passion: http://randomwalk.typepad.com/field_notes_on_a_random_w/2009/10/arastradero-preserve-1.html