Dubai Is a Parody of the 21st Century

tartoran 2021-08-18 18:45:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I the thing that I was surprised the most to hear was that those skyscrapers sewage is carried by trucks outside Dubai and dumped who knows where. I've heard of slavery stories before and am surprised they still get any new workers recruited, the stories I've heard are horrific. This is a place I will never visit, even if the trip is all paid for by someone else.

zepearl 2021-08-18 19:34:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> I the thing that I was surprised the most to hear was that those skyscrapers sewage is carried by trucks outside Dubai and dumped who knows where.

Mmmhh, does not seem to be 100% correct? At least not in relation to the Burj Khalifa as mentioned by the video... .

https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/52204/is-the-se... => https://web.archive.org/web/20140110091115/http://repository...

A complete soil, waste and vent system from plumbing fixtures, floor drains and mechanical equipment arranged for gravity flow and, ejector discharge to a point of connection with the city municipal sewer is provided. A complete storm drainage system from roofs, decks, terraces and plazas arranged for gravity flow to a point of connection with the city municipal sewer system is provided.*

hypertele-Xii 2021-08-19 05:28:43 +0000 UTC [ - ]

The problem is, the municipal sewer system has inadequate capacity to receive any of the poop, so while the sewers are being upgraded, the poop is hauled away by trucks.

devoutsalsa 2021-08-19 07:52:30 +0000 UTC [ - ]

It'd be hilarious to learn that the bottom N floors are actually a giant holding tank, and that some engineer calculated they'd have 20 years to figure out how to empty it all.

bin_bash 2021-08-18 22:44:36 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I found that incredibly hard to believe and it appears to be false: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/52204/is-the-se...

MisterSandman 2021-08-19 01:45:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Thank you for introducing me to my new favorite StackExchange. It used to be Workplace SE because of all the fun drama I got to read.

m0llusk 2021-08-19 01:01:51 +0000 UTC [ - ]

This happened during a period of peak development. Not entirely sure, but my understanding was there were sewage processing facilities available, just a lack of functioning plumbing connecting everything at that time.

hasmanean 2021-08-18 20:54:25 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> dumped who knows where

Lol, maybe there’s a spot in the desert. A brown spot. Probably visible from space.

cblconfederate 2021-08-18 19:55:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Worth noting that this guy's channel is overly dismissive of everyone, sometimes strawmanning, and a bit nihilist. That said, Dubai turned to an unmitigated disaster of a real estate excess which will disintegrate in the sand from which it came unless its owners do something completely drastic. Covid-19 put the tombstone in the plans to build the Las Vegas of middle east

jhbadger 2021-08-18 22:36:58 +0000 UTC [ - ]

There are things and people he is for -- he isn't dismissive of everyone and everything. For example, he is a fan of traditional rail and subway systems and thinks we should build more of them. What he is dismissive of (and I think with reason) are things like the hyperloop, which he suspects not only are unworkable, but are promoted precisely to avoid investing in proven infrastructure like trains and subways and instead waiting for this miracle technology that will be ready "any day now".

relativ575 2021-08-19 00:11:33 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> this miracle technology that will be ready "any day now".

Which hyperloop projects are promised to be ready any day now? Infrastructure projects are usually announced years in advance, and more often than not run into delay. I'm not aware of a firm date for any public ready hyperloop systems.

kamray23 2021-08-19 09:28:19 +0000 UTC [ - ]

The argument made is more about the infeasibility and uncompetitiveness of hyperloop as a system.

As for the "Any day now", it's been in development for centuries and the deadline moved from late 2010's to early 2020's and now it's once again in the late 2020's.

nix23 2021-08-19 12:37:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Hyperloop is canceled because it's bs, that was already known after 1830 (pneumatic capsule system by engineer William Murdoch).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHjrFKfyZrw

Tarsul 2021-08-18 22:49:52 +0000 UTC [ - ]

whats his opinion on maglev (Transrapid) trains?

tsujp 2021-08-19 04:45:56 +0000 UTC [ - ]

He doesn’t like maglev either because it’s extremely expensive compared to high speed rail and cites the Shanghai airports operating loss as an example. It also has similar infrastructure requirements as a monorail: a more complex platform than traditional rail.

emikulic 2021-08-19 02:59:53 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I know he doesn't like monorails but I don't know about maglevs.

bellyfullofbac 2021-08-19 07:10:42 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I remember reading a reddit retort from an expat who lived in Dubai when someone asked him why he lived in a slave state; he said something along the lines of the West also uses slave labor, who makes your electronics (or mines the minerals for them?), your clothes (probably poorly paid Bangladeshi). The difference is distance, in the Emirate countries the distance to the slave is a lot shorter...

ryanlol 2021-08-19 16:27:06 +0000 UTC [ - ]

People who go on about slavery in Dubai are people who have never visited either Dubai nor the places where it’s labourers come from.

Nobody is forced to go work in the UAE, UAE has very strict and well enforced labour rules.

Everyone talks about UAE employers supposedly taking employees passports, but when I was applying for my visa I was told countless times to never give my passport to my employer and to call ministry of labour should they ask.

kamray23 2021-08-19 09:26:26 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Arrogant immigrants are arrogant, classic whataboutism as well. "Everything I have is built by slaves? Well everything you have is built by slaves too, slavery must not be a bad thing!"

jeegsy 2021-08-19 12:20:05 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Accusing someone of living in a slave state was never going to end well.

bellyfullofbac 2021-08-19 10:14:44 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Why isn't it a legitimate argument? It's true, isn't it? People like to accuse others of bad behavior because they think they're pious (speaking of "arrogant"...), but they themselves are ignorant of theirs.

If the people complaining are ethical consumers, then...

nix23 2021-08-19 10:41:21 +0000 UTC [ - ]

So you support having Slaves in your own country too? You cannot immediately force ANOTHER country to stop with that, but you can stop it in your own, that's the difference, and you should not support a country who openly use humans like that.

But yes you have a point, for example the FIFA (HQ in Switzerland) knew how bad the working conditions for the WM in Qatar where and gave a shi* about it (~6500 death)

bellyfullofbac 2021-08-19 12:28:57 +0000 UTC [ - ]

> you can stop it in your own

The dude on reddit was a Westerner living in Dubai, if he had made noise about the slaves he would've been sent home.

TBH I have Chinese-made electronics with conflict minerals and I don't pay attention where my clothes are made, I'm aware they're probably made by poorly paid labor ("slaves"), but ok if I read your comment right, it's fine if they live in foreign countries? So, how are your electronics and clothes?

nix23 2021-08-19 12:39:04 +0000 UTC [ - ]

>if he had made noise about the slaves he would've been sent home

A world we want to live in right? At least he can safe taxes.

>but ok if I read your comment right, it's fine if they live in foreign countries?

Not you don't read it right...read again.

bellyfullofbac 2021-08-19 13:29:23 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Man, you are reddit-level obnoxious. Part of me wants you to explain it to me, but part of me thinks you're just an ass. Again, I ask you Mr. Righteous if your consumption is slave-free, or if you think that doesn't matter since there's a national border between you and the slaves.

nix23 2021-08-19 13:47:40 +0000 UTC [ - ]

That's what i wrote:

>>You cannot immediately force ANOTHER country to stop with that, but you can stop it in your own, that's the difference, and you should not support a country who openly use humans like that.

How on earth do's that make you believe it's ok for me to have slave labor at all?

And remember if you work in that Country you support that Country.

>Again, I ask you Mr. Righteous if your consumption is slave-free

No but i don't live i China, and tell everyone that Concentration Camps are ok, because Nord Korea have them too, and the West even profits from them (China), thats pure Whataboutism.

bellyfullofbac 2021-08-19 14:34:48 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Ha, are you for real?

"i[s] your consumption slave-free"

"No, but...".

So, just like me and the redditor in Dubai, you know this slavery is going on, but you're not that bothered with it. The excuse of "there's a border between the slave and me" is not valid. If you want to berate others for being shitty, you can't excuse your own behavior by making up your own rules like this border.

I mentioned the redditor to make people reflect on their own abusive behavior towards other humans, IMO some people like to berate others to make themselves feel superior ("I don't do that evil stuff, so I'm a better person."), but hey, look in the mirror, maybe they should realize they're enjoying the fruits of slave labor as well, and they need to change themselves too.

nix23 2021-08-19 08:06:03 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Having slaves IN your country IS something you can change, having slaves in other country's is not (or just very slow ATM). That expat has a disgusting mindset if you ask me.

But having said that, Spain/Italy and the USA has their Modern-Slaves too, you don't have to go as far as bangladesh.

anm89 2021-08-19 12:04:20 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I love the point about how much smarter it would have been to invert the palm island by bringing the water inward as opposed to the land outward.

I never thought of that. I'm not an engineer but that sounds about 100 times easier and more cost efficient.

Barrin92 2021-08-18 22:54:47 +0000 UTC [ - ]

the gulf states are a weird place to be. For the most part it really does have a complete fakeness to it. Being there feels exactly like what it is, a bunch of autocratic new money building itself status symbols. However I would call it more 20th century than 21st century, because all the aesthetics are like someone watched to many Western sci-fi movies of the 60s, 70s and 80s like Blade Runner and then decided to build exactly that because it looked cool, weirdly retro-futuristic.

It's also often weird in a way that it tries to blend local and traditional culture with its material excess, but in a way you would expect from someone at the other end of the world who doesn't actually know anything about it.

freemint 2021-08-18 18:57:25 +0000 UTC [ - ]

I watcher this video a few days before. For everyone interested in the overarching why and if you can stand a lot of rambling there is this [1] episode of problem of "Well There is your problem".

[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=PW6lg-7L7yk

okareaman 2021-08-18 18:56:41 +0000 UTC [ - ]

It seems like the time start was unintentionally shared with the link. It is much better to watch all 12 minutes, not just the end.

tartoran 2021-08-18 19:08:52 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Yes, I accidentally do that and can't edit the link.

@dang Is it possible that you remove the time (t) tag in this link? Thanks

nix23 2021-08-18 19:44:41 +0000 UTC [ - ]

And Qatar is not better in that regard.

>Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/r...

Thank you FIFA for knowing it beforehand and give a shi* about it...once more.

junon 2021-08-19 00:00:32 +0000 UTC [ - ]

This video is so, so good. The sewage trucks had me feeling several emotions all at once.

stefantalpalaru 2021-08-18 18:03:14 +0000 UTC [ - ]

Then there's the "Dubai Porta Potty" phenomenon: https://travellingjezebel.com/dubai-porta-potty/