Originally Posted by saudiflares (Post 10970153)

'Agent Orange' used by the Yanks in the 70s - result 400,000 Vietnamese killed or maimed;
'Agent Orange Juice' used by Iraqis in the 90s - result posh bird with a wet arse;

Blair was right to be concerned about Saddam's WMDs

Originally Posted by shiva (Post 10970099)

..........
It goes way beyond straight racism. There is a fundamental belief that views others as non human and somewhat akin to insects or machines and this it isn't mistreatment at all.

Originally Posted by redShark (Post 10969704)

I actually came across a similar story but less evil than your friend’s. An Iraqi friend of mine once narrated it to me, it was back in the nineties after the first Gulf war. He said, he was once on a flight from Heathrow to Dubai, and next to him there sat a young British couple. The way they were talking to the air hosts who were Indians and the way they carried themselves were sheer snobbishness. He said I decided to chat them up and find out what they were made of, so I introduced myself as a Turkish expat working in Dubai. He said I then started talking about how terrible life in the Middle East is and all the rest of it. Soon enough they opened up and started complaining about the awfulness of the locals, etc. I was really annoyed he said. An hour before arriving the woman wanted to go to the toilet so she excused me to let her pass through as I was sitting on the aisle seat. When she left I looked at her partner and saw him looking away through the windows so I decided to be evil, I had a cup full of orange juice in my hand, I simply poured it all on her seat. She came back and sank straight into her seat. As soon as she started feeling her butt and realizing something was not right I turned my face away and kept fighting off a giggle.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter (Post 10970193)

:hysterical:

The wet arse was more of a threat than the WMD though:D


So it is the cultural norm that only being a Muslim is worthy of being human?

If this is the cultural norm - how do the people who move from Saudi to the western world change their thinking if it is so ingrained?

If this is the case, Saudi's must be amused that they are able to get westerners to sell their souls and bring in their skills to build their country and it's infrastructure and bringing in the poor folk of the world to do their manual labour jobs. In a kind of reverse / perverse/ skewed way they may see this enables them to rise above everyone else as it is everyone else that they are able to *buy* and (in their minds at least) it is these people who (through working for them) disregard their own ethics:confused:

In other words - maybe we perpetuate their thinking by our actions:confused::blink:

Originally Posted by Alexa (Post 10970294)

That is stupid, boring and nasty. No wit, no style....:thumbdown:

Originally Posted by Alexa (Post 10970301)

Oh we do perpetuate it. No question about it. We perpetuate, enable, foster it. BUT we also show another side of life.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter (Post 10970354)

Do you think they really care what we westerners show them Alexa? From what I'm reading it's a cultural thing and it's endemic and no amount of western infidel foreigners telling them they are wrong to act this way makes any difference, especially coming from a non Muslim who's working in their country who is prepared to compromise their ethics for money. This is how it's coming across from what I've read - I think:confused:

Hey I'm not having a go Alexa - hell I've sold my soul in a couple of jobs for money before now - I'm just trying to understand the big picture and likelihood of change and from what folks are saying, it aint looking good:thumbdown:

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter (Post 10970354)

compromise their ethics for money.

Originally Posted by Alexa (Post 10970375)

Well, it may not be obvious. But every little thing helps.And we must also remember, "Westerners"/ western culture are far from perfect. I think it is not what "we" show them, but what happens when many cultures live together. Right now the impact looks horrible, as we can see all over the world, never the less, things change all the time and time will tell what the outcome will be.
Looking at Qatar, what do you expect when a culture is thrown into "speed developing" ? That can't go well. Things need time to be adapted to, to develop properly. This time has not been given to people.
I am not excusing some people's behaviour, far from it, I just try to look at it in a way that, for me, is realistic.

Originally Posted by the_red_sheep (Post 10970420)

This, strangely enough, is one of the few things that both sides have in common and are readily prepared to do.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter (Post 10970431)

In what way? What I am seeing is westerners go to Saudi, earn the bucks and put up with the cultural difference. Not sure where the compromise is? :confused:

Originally Posted by the_red_sheep (Post 10970436)

To differing degrees the Saudis/Omani/Emirates etc allow or turn a blind eye to alcohol, pork, living together out of wedlock, dressing immodestly and such like in order to benefit from western expats and tourists.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter (Post 10970445)

Ahh I see - yes.

Not sure it's a compromise, more a tolerance on their part.

Originally Posted by sonlymewalter (Post 10970428)

Agree western culture is far from perfect, however the western culture does not condone this kind of behaviour and it is not the cultural norm to behave this way - comparing the two is like comparing apples with pears.

Not sure what you mean re many cultures living together? Western culture is being ignored and is deemed unimportant from what I am seeing here?:confused:

Originally Posted by the_red_sheep (Post 10970456)

They compromise some of their fundamental religious beliefs in allowing these things to happen in their countries, and to their profit. Of, course many of the locals take part in lots of these activities as well.