Alexa

Quick question....which country would that be?

MacScot

Yay

littlejimmy

Yowzer.

Alexa

Littlejimmy!!! Long time no see ! How are you? Are you still in doha? If so, will I see you tomorrow night?

spart

You are some sort of spectacular di*khead. No really. If you think NZ is pithily summed up by a cheap shot about child abuse, then you really are scraping the depths of your own stupidity.

I would really like you to try quote me in a genuine racist context.

Or was that meant to be a comment that was supposed to stop me in my tracks.
Blowhard.

seven seas

My posts with offensive and aggressive name-calling are designed to show what a useless waste of time that tactic is, and to show how childish it is for someone to accept casual sexism and racism as long as it's not directed at oneself.

I may have missed it- have you had much success- apart from Mata Hari- with getting a civilised response ? Coz I tried debate and nobody was interested. The old Jim Davidson jokebook came out...

seven seas

Thanks for the input. Really.

So, how did you feel when the response to the "Emirati women pilots..." story was a bunch of racist sexist bollocks?

seven seas

Want to address the point I made, or just tell me again what a wanker I am? I did spell it out in detail, just in case.

seven seas

Is THAT really what this topic is about? Why don't you start from the top and tell us how you feel about sexism and racism?

Alexa

No, it is not about the topic, it is about your response to one of the posts.
Why don't you answer my question about your post?


And no, I do not want to "debate" with you about racism or sexism.

Ronnie Biggs

The producers of "You Bet!" have been on the phone. Your challenge will be to see if you can bore the whole audience shitless in less than 30 seconds.

We're all rooting for you and know you can do it. Go for it!

YOU BET!

seven seas

I've already explained how I've been trying to show the hyppocrisy of condoning racist remarks and objecting only when you are the target of such racism.

If you don't want to debate that, then feel free to run away.

Ronnie Biggs, if your intellect can't cope with the debate, you can run away too.

As a start, the non-toipc of 'Spoilers' is one you could handle without too much trouble.

shiva

just a smal point but by definition none of the remarks made have been racist as they have not been directed at any race at all but rather a subset of a particular nationality, pedantic perhaps but certainly true.

Whilst the remarks could be construed as sexist i'd beg to differ on that one as none of us have made remarks based on social stereotypes but rather on personal experience and first hand knowledge of the role played by the majority of emirati women in society.

I'd also point out that stereotypes themselves evolve due to a stereotypical behaviour of a group and whilst some may find it unpleasant its a fact of life that these arise as a direct result of patterns of behaviour which tend to accurately reflect the behaviour of a majority.

In short we have not typecast anyone into a role based on either race or sex but have made remarks based on the observation of the roles these people themselves play in our society.

Also, I would still like to see an answer to the asked question of the background of some of the posters in this thread, those of us who seem to be at the recieving end either are emirati or have spent many many years in this country and our detractors seem somewhat reluctant to explain their first hand experience. The provision of this information would allow us to judge whether these are informed opinions based on experience or purely the mad ramblings of a few idiots who are stuck on the pc bus?

seven seas

Shiva- thanks for joining in.

You're right, nobody has said "Every single Emirati, without exception, is ....".
So why can I not get away with saying "Kiwis are ...."? Because we can recognise what's OK and what isn't. We aren't lawyers arguing in court.

Stereotypes/ racism: this is a standard defence of racist beliefs. "I know it coz I've been there", "they all do it", and "in my experience". Yes, there is a tendency to not take work seriously enough, and at present there is a low level of technical skills in the UAE. This is changing, too slowly for most people, including the government which is trying to raise skills to the point where they won't need us any more.

When a new fact (ie: pilots graduate) emerges, it should challenge existing stereotyes, rather than get challenged itself because it does not fit with these colonial stereotypes. BIG difference.

Having said that, the normal way (I think) to respond to the news in question might be "Wow, well done. I wish them the best.".

It would NOT include unfunny references to burqas, yapping on mobiles, or family connections.

As for backgrounds, I think it is still irrelevant because no amount of personal experience justifies making silly comments like that. Although I claim that I've been here for thirty years, that does not change the fact that the government is imlpementing a for-profit model on state-run services like healthcare and education in a drive for efficiency. Likewise for the fact that getting a state-sector job (eg in the ADNOC group) is harder than it ever was for Emiratis and will continue to become harder. Prerequisites for graduating from local institutions are starting to include external and/or international verification and audits, making them more academically rigorous.

These are verifiable facts. Not opinion.

And PC is merely good manners, the mark of an educated sohisticated person. The Sun has tricked many people into thinking that the way we refer to bin bags and blackboards is somehow related.

Alexa

No, I am not running away....other than that....all that Shiva said...exactly right, I could not have put it half as nice and polite as Shiva did.
I have lived in the ME 10 years now, and if what Shiva said is incorrect (it is 100% correct IMHO), then I want to ask you....why are Expats here???? Because the locals can't do what what Expats do because they are so small in numbers? Come on man.......

Sure, there are locals who do an excellent job,but how many are there who are employed because of their nationality and everybody is relieved they only come in to drink coffee and talk on the phone, as they otherwise would do more harm then good???

How may times have we gone to meetings, have waited for god knows how long for people to show up , to then leave and ask ourselves why we had to waste precious time to listen to small talk???

How many times have we sat on planes to wait for the elect few who were busy chatting and having coffee ,to then witness the fight over plane seats?

I could go on and on....as I am sure most of us could.

All that would not be that big of a deal , if there wasn't this ,IMHO, completely irrational claim of supremacy.

I wish the lady flying a plane all the best, and hope she will be an example to those lacking all that she hopefully has.