It’s very easy to be critical about Dubai, to take a stance of superiority. ‘Ooh isn’t it awful what those rich Arabs are doing in Dubai, so unsustainable, such a humanitarian crisis’. However this is nothing new. Most civilisations have created a Dubai in their time of power; a roman forum in Celtic Britain must have seemed pretty wondrous, the pyramids must have seemed equally mystical in 2560BC (incidentally also built by slaves). What’s almost humorously ironic in this case is that the UAE have managed to create a monster mechanism that is not only built by the populations of our old colonies but also sustained by the incomes of those from the ‘enlightened’ nations. I’m not saying that what is happening in Dubai is by any means acceptable on a human level but part of me has a respect for these privileged few, who must be understandably laughing on the other side of their faces.
Can you, hand on heart, honestly say that you have no desire, however guilty, to witness any of the spectacles that can be found there? Are you not at all intrigued by the dinosaurs, the underwater hotel or the theme park of theme parks? The gigantism seems to tap into something primal, a desire to be awed. Herein lies the problem, yet we, the supposedly superior (in terms of economic development ) are in a position of power to stop this through our fuel consumption and tourism habits.
Which will win out?- logic or instinct?
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