Bikini’s and Ice Cream Are Offensive
May 8th, 2007 by Quan Tranh
You really have to appreciate our friends in the Middle East. There is a big nothing going on about how tourists dress, or don’t dress. It all started when a British woman forgot her bikini top, so she decided to go the beach without it.
Yes, some people were offended, but at least the people in charge are willing to let things slide.
According to the director of Dubai Municipality’s public parks and horticultural department, Ahmad Mohammad Abdul Karim, there are no plans at present to add dress code regulations.
According to the article Karim is well aware Dubai is an international city with many people from many countries and cultures. While cautioning that tourists should be sensitive to that fact, not just be sensitive to local culture.
On the other hand one local resident really shows us how overboard their sensitivity can be.
“I once saw a tourist during Ramadan crossing Jumeirah Beach Road wearing her bikini and eating an ice cream … It definitely is offensive to see such incidents here because it offends the local culture … I blame the tourists who have no consideration to learn about our culture.
So which is it, the bikini, the ice cream, or both? If tourists offend you, then don’t live in an area with tourists. Seems pretty simple to me. Local economies depend on tourism and if you ask any hard working business owner they would rather have a mass of rude French tourists running around spending money than not. This really isn’t a cultural issue or an issue of sensitivity. In my opinion people make such events out to be our culture vs. theirs; however, this is merely urban living vs. rural living. People move to the country to get away from the city and be with like minded individuals. On the other hand people move to the city to find better jobs, which may involve working with or working around people who are different. We as a people need to get over our cultural sensitivities and get back to seeking economic success. Poverty is something that drives ignorance and violence which is something we do not need in the 21st century.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 8:51 pm and is filed under Business, Entertainment/Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 10th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Quan,
I Don’t understand why you hate Islam so much.
Islam is a beautiful culture and you need to take a trip there in order to see that. The US is in a war against Islam and not Terrorism. You only posting what other ignorant people have said about Islam. Open up your mind because I did not like the way you depicted Islam as a religion of suicide bombing in one of your posts. It is possible that Muslims will go after you if they are extremely passionate about Islam. In most cases they are. So please be careful what you are saying about Islam.
May 10th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I don’t hate Islam. I hate seeing women beaten and being hanged for doing things that won’t get you killed in other religions. So called “moderate” Muslims sit by and let the extremists beat up women or let them go to be hanged for adultery. That is my beef with Islam, not how they worship their god, but how they restrict individual freedom. I have just as much of a problem with Christian/Puritan fundamentalists as I do with Muslims. I am just as much against abortion clinic bombings as I am suicide bombings. Islam is all about controlling women and imposing puritanical values on society. Christians are no different, except they’re less vocal about it. Muslims have the freedom to disagree with me if they choose to do so. There’s nothing wrong with being critical, even if for the sake of being critical. If they want to go after me, then fine. That’s their business and their freedom to do so. I have no reason to be afraid or no reason to yield my opinions to them.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Well Quan,
I do understand how you feel about such acts against women. However such acts are decreasing in number in the middle east because of rebellions within the groups of Islam. Most of the Muslim population are Sunnis. I just want to remind you that there are three group of Muslims Sunnis,Kurds, and Shiiets.
Sunnis are the largest group of Islam and they are open minded and treat everyone equally. Shiiets and Kurds however are the ones who are extreme. When you write against Muslims please identify the group before you proceed. Other wise you are grouping the three together and make them look barbarians to everyone who reads the blog. Also, When you write about acts that are going down in number since the crusade you are telling everyone that Muslims( The three groups) are evil.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Good points. I’ll keep that in mind. Though the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden or Sunni. Traditionally Sunnis have been more friendly than Shiites. Saddam Hussein was Sunni and he was a US ally in the 80’s after the Shiite Islamic revolution under the Ayatollah Khomeini. While you are right that there are different groups of Muslims, making the generalization that all Sunnis or Shiites are good/evil is not really possible to do. Just like with Christians, some blow up abortion clinics, play with rattlesnakes, and say homosexuals are all going to hell. You can’t really break it down into this or that sect or even Catholic vs. Protestant. Unfortunately if a few people misbehave it paints the whole group, whether positive or negative. Asians have a positive stereotype (good at math and successful at business) while I would say the two major monotheistic religions, Christianity and Islam, are rapidly gaining a negative stereotype. It’s up to the followers of those two religions to try to change the image, even if it is their sect only. Change starts in many ways, usually small.