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Can a few dozen bloggers make a difference in the number of people who take a vacation in Dubai? I say yes. A significant impact. What say you?
Jeri -
Try and post with a little common sense.
One of us has been to 20-30 Muslim countries, has met several Muslim heads of state,and has published writing on many of those countries.
The other has referred to two countries on this thread, and got both of the names incorrect.
Which do you think is more likely to be clueless?
OMG, Saigon. I've been reading through this thread. It's like a slapstick comedy.
Over and over again you try to correct these people and give them simple facts, over and over again they ignore you and bombard the thread with ridiculous, nonsensical falsehoods.
They want to be ignorant. They want to believe the lies that support their version of reality. They do not want to know the truth, don't want to know it to the point they will ignore it even though it seems completely bizarre that they do ignore it.
They know nothing about the ME at all except what they've seen on Faux New or read on rw blogs, and what they choose to believe, all colored with their blind hatred of Islam, and though they have someone right before them who has been there repeatedly, or even lived there, they tell YOU that you are wrong and they are right.
It's bizarre and frustrating and you can't get them to change their so called minds for anything.
This is so clearly manifested in this thread it is laughable: it's like a farcical scene from the theatre. Black comedy.
Can a few dozen bloggers make a difference in the number of people who take a vacation in Dubai? I say yes. A significant impact. What say you?
Perhaps they can. It's hard to know, but potentially yes.
Obviously that isn't likely to work in a country that has as much going for it as UAE, because word of mouth is always likely to be on the positive side. I know lots of people who have been to Dubai and loved it, so a few blogs aren't likely to change that.
The shame is if those blogs are based on the kind of silly lies, mistakes and children's stories we've seen on this thread.
Lebanon used to be a Christian country, predominantly Catholic.
Lebanon was NEVER 90% Christian. Never.
It is now:
Muslim 59.7% (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri), Christian 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Coptic, Protestant), other 1.3%
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.html
It was:
The 1932 census stated that Christians made up 54% of the population. Maronites, largest among the Christian denomination and then largely in control of the state apparatus, accounted for 29% of the total resident population.
Demographics of Lebanon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
So there is a shift there of about 15% - largely cause by Palestinian refugees fleeing the conflict further south.
Right, Esmeralda! Make sure and tell us when you plan on packing your bikini for that Dubai vacation. - Jeri
OMG, Saigon. I've been reading through this thread. It's like a slapstick comedy.
Over and over again you try to correct these people and give them simple facts, over and over again they ignore you and bombard the thread with ridiculous, nonsensical falsehoods.
They want to be ignorant. They want to believe the lies that support their version of reality. They do not want to know the truth, don't want to know it to the point they will ignore it even though it seems completely bizarre that they do ignore it.
They know nothing about the ME at all except what they've seen on Faux New or read on rw blogs, and what they choose to believe, all colored with their blind hatred of Islam, and though they have someone right before them who has been there repeatedly, or even lived there, they tell YOU that you are wrong and they are right.
It's bizarre and frustrating and you can't get them to change their so called minds for anything.
This is so clearly manifested in this thread it is laughable: it's like a farcical scene from the theatre. Black comedy.
It's alternatively hilarious and depressing.
Depressing, in that it really bothers me how tightly people like Jeremiah will cling to myths they have picked up off the internet, e.g. Muslims have taken over the Philippines, a myth repeated even after I explained that the country is 90% Christian.
But my favourite line is this:
The one thing I notice about Dubai advertisements is there is never anyone in a bathing suit on the beach. Not one! Look at most of those photos and they look like ghost cities.
We need another look at these ghost cities:
In a few years we'll be arguing over whether France was ever a Christian country, or England.
In a few years we'll be arguing over whether France was ever a Christian country, or England.
I lived in the UAE for two years, as a single woman. I dressed the same exact way I would living in the West, every single day. There are so many foreign workers living in the UAE, they comprise about 70-80 percent of the populations. Most of those come from India, Pakistan or the Philopines. Some come from Afghanistan and other ME countries, those which are not rich. These are mostly the taxi drivers. The other Asians work in just about every other area. About 15% of the overall population are Westerners. There are public beaches, but most Westerners go to private beaches, either those owned by hotels or private beach clubs. On those beaches you see exactly what you would see in the US, women wearing bikinis. And the beaches are packed. I know, I belonged to a beach club the two years I lived there. One cool thing about the UAE is that you can go to the beach about 10 months or more out of the year, every day, unless it gets too hot. Winter lasts about 2 weeks in late December and early January.
Night life in the UAE is a big deal. Everyone comes out at night, including the Arabs. It is a culture where much life is lived at night because of the heat, and everything is open, shops, etc., until about 11 pm. Westerners go to hotel restaurants to eat but mainly because the hotels have bars. Most big hotels have two or three bars, sell all the alcoholic beverages we have in the West, and have music and dancing. There are also many fine restaurants, but as far as I'm aware, only the big hotels sell liquor.
For those who live in the UAE, there are supermarkets which sell pork and pork products to non-Muslims. There are liquor stores for non-Muslims. Women dress as they would in the West, as long as it isn't too risque or revealing. I saw plenty of young women in tight skirts and blouses, very high heels, lots of make-up, etc. You can't wear shorts except at the beach, nor skirts that are too short. It's just something to respect because you are in a different culture.
Women drive. Women live alone in their own apartments. Women drive, walk around, and live normally without a male companion. Just like in the West. There are many churches and many Christians going to those churches. No one objects to that or bothers them. You can wear a cross as jewelry, as a necklace, pen, bracelet, earrings, etc. No one cares.
And Saigon is right: a Western tourist is safer visiting Dubai than visiting Miami.
I lived in the UAE for two years, as a single woman. I dressed the same exact way I would living in the West, every single day. There are so many foreign workers living in the UAE, they comprise about 70-80 percent of the populations. Most of those come from India, Pakistan or the Philopines. Some come from Afghanistan and other ME countries, those which are not rich. These are mostly the taxi drivers. The other Asians work in just about every other area. About 15% of the overall population are Westerners. There are public beaches, but most Westerners go to private beaches, either those owned by hotels or private beach clubs. On those beaches you see exactly what you would see in the US, women wearing bikinis. And the beaches are packed. I know, I belonged to a beach club the two years I lived there. One cool thing about the UAE is that you can go to the beach about 10 months or more out of the year, every day, unless it gets too hot. Winter lasts about 2 weeks in late December and early January.
Night life in the UAE is a big deal. Everyone comes out at night, including the Arabs. It is a culture where much life is lived at night because of the heat, and everything is open, shops, etc., until about 11 pm. Westerners go to hotel restaurants to eat but mainly because the hotels have bars. Most big hotels have two or three bars, sell all the alcoholic beverages we have in the West, and have music and dancing. There are also many fine restaurants, but as far as I'm aware, only the big hotels sell liquor.
For those who live in the UAE, there are supermarkets which sell pork and pork products to non-Muslims. There are liquor stores for non-Muslims. Women dress as they would in the West, as long as it isn't too risque or revealing. I saw plenty of young women in tight skirts and blouses, very high heels, lots of make-up, etc. You can't wear shorts except at the beach, nor skirts that are too short. It's just something to respect because you are in a different culture.
Women drive. Women live alone in their own apartments. Women drive, walk around, and live normally without a male companion. Just like in the West. There are many churches and many Christians going to those churches. No one objects to that or bothers them. You can wear a cross as jewelry, as a necklace, pen, bracelet, earrings, etc. No one cares.
And Saigon is right: a Western tourist is safer visiting Dubai than visiting Miami.
I noticed those things in Egypt as well. The banks of the Nile was filled with young families enjoying the night air. The places that had air conditioning weren't really cool. I was not there a long period of time, but if I had been, I would have dressed the same way as well. My friend who was deployed in 2003 wore a burka during her off time. We were asked by our group leaders to dress modestly and I complied with that. One day I was sitting with our guides in a store as I was finished shopoping. They did not hold back on their criticisms of women who came in dressed into the store revealing attire. I felt like that, even though I wasn't dressed as they were, I had won their respect. I wore cotton and linen for coolness, but no sleeveless, and most had at least three quarter length sleeves. I also wore a hat to keep the sun out of my face. When I couldn't get down off a rock at the Great pyramid, the person in Arab dress sitting there said after I had declined help twice because of a streak of cussed independence, but was still having trouble said, 'you are my sister, I will help you.'
...out of respect for my host country, when I went to Egypt, I wore a scarf in the mosques we visited even though they did not require it.
