Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai General Chat

Hi every1, I am new in Dubai. I have been born and raised in a western country. Coming here, after meeting many westerns in dubai, i have realised that they all hate arabs!! I dont understand why?!! Specially emaratis, they say they would never b friend with emaratis!

Speaking for myself, the Emerati's I've met have all been pleasant people except for the ones that have tried to run me off the road or the police who arrested my wife and demanded money from us. The problem for expatriates in this country is the legal system. Locals can get away with all kinds of bad behaviour and foreigners can't. Most locals aren't badly behaved, but some of them certainly are.

I don't dislike locals, but I'm comfortable leaving the locals to themselves. Personally I'm not comfortable trying to make friends with someone who doesn't relate to me as an equal. If a local can use his wasta to get me imprisoned at his wish, then its difficult to relate as equals.

They're not unlike Napoleon in Animal Farm when he altered the 7th Commandment;

All animals are equal! (But some are more equal than others)

Yea but u know in every country there are good and bad, we shouldnt b judging some1 before knowing him. Maybe you aren't like that, but i met people like this...

Well MarN21, welcome to Dubai. I don't know where exactly these "westerners" come from that you have met, but I'm from the US and as for me, and most of the people I know from the US who live in Dubai, don't hate Arabs. Why, I'm even married to one!!!! If you make friends with Emiratis you might find that there are some that aren't very fond of westerners, no matter which western country they came from.

good happy to hear that!! I also come from a western country and people are very respectful. I was shocked, i thought the ones here would b even more open minded but from the ones i met, they made me feel the opposite.

What western country do you come from? What western countries do the people who "hate" Arabs come from? "Western" is a very broad term and covers many different countries.

Im a Canadian, I have met canadians and americans that didnt seem to happy here...

I read on another post that you are Muslim.

MarN21 wrote:Hi every1, I am new in Dubai. I have been born and raised in a western country. Coming here, after meeting many westerns in dubai, i have realised that they all hate arabs!! I dont understand why?!! Specially emaratis, they say they would never b friend with emaratis!

I have been in Dubai for many years and to be honest I find your comments rather surprising, I also have not met many people who have expressed such feelings.

MarN21 wrote:Im a Canadian, I have met canadians and americans that didnt seem to happy here...

A true Canadian? You said in another post that you're an Arab. So basically an Arab with a Canadian passport - surprise surprise now the complex and banging on about coming from western countries makes sense.

So where do you actually come from? Bound to be Lebanon or somewhere like that.

Dillon pretty much said it like it is, it's pretty hard to mix with people where many consider themselves superior to everyone else, plus many locals don't actually want to mix with other nationalities and keep themselves to themselves.

MarN21 wrote:Hi every1, I am new in Dubai. I have been born and raised in a western country. Coming here, after meeting many westerns in dubai, i have realised that they all hate arabs!! I dont understand why?!! Specially emaratis, they say they would never b friend with emaratis!

You don't write like a Canadian

Personally I like the locals. They are plenty of people I would choose not to be friends with it's because I don't particularly like them, not because they are from a particular country.
Everyone feels a bit superior in their own country. Why shouldn't they? I don't have a problem with that.

-- Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:06 am --

Chocoholic wrote:So where do you actually come from? Bound to be Lebanon or somewhere like that.

I didn't see the Arab reference but my first guess was Pakistan.

No she stated somewhere she was an Arab living in Canada.

I think the issue is there's a difference in people feeling superior in their own country and those who would deliberately get others into trouble. As someone already stated the legal system here isn't fair by any stretch of the imagination. People using 'wasta' to get off doesn't happen so much elsewhere. This sadly is the main reason why many people will not mix with locals, because many might be nice to your face, but they have a whole different attitude behind your back.

Not everyone, but some.

yes im an arab who was born and raised in canada, and im new here, trying to understand how people are dealing with eachother here... thanks for all of ur replies

MarN21 wrote:yes im an arab who was born and raised in canada, and im new here, trying to understand how people are dealing with eachother here... thanks for all of ur replies

Should have stayed there at least until you could learn the language

Chocoholic wrote:the main reason why many people will not mix with locals, because many might be nice to your face, but they have a whole different attitude behind your back.

MarN21 wrote:Hi every1, I am new in Dubai. I have been born and raised in a western country. Coming here, after meeting many westerns in dubai, i have realised that they all hate arabs!! I dont understand why?!! Specially emaratis, they say they would never b friend with emaratis!

you're hanging with the wrong crowd , humans are the same all over the world , the eat , they defecate , they procreate etc..

lool we'll see abt that.. maybe ur right, it's just the wrong crowd..

Nucleus wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:the main reason why many people will not mix with locals, because many might be nice to your face, but they have a whole different attitude behind your back.

What? You think they're going to stand up for anyone that is not their 'brother'? You have another thing coming. Have seen quite a few people done over by people they thought were 'friends'.

Chocoholic wrote:

Nucleus wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:the main reason why many people will not mix with locals, because many might be nice to your face, but they have a whole different attitude behind your back.

What? You think they're going to stand up for anyone that is not their 'brother'? You have another thing coming. Have seen quite a few people done over by people they thought were 'friends'.

I've heard of and seen it done by different nationalities doing it to their own and to other nationalities. I've even seen locals do it to each other.

Bora Bora wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:What? You think they're going to stand up for anyone that is not their 'brother'? You have another thing coming. Have seen quite a few people done over by people they thought were 'friends'.

I've heard of and seen it done by different nationalities doing it to their own and to other nationalities. I've even seen locals do it to each other.

Yup. Regardless of nationality, if close friend does this it is something else, but I don't have high expectations from others in general.

Nucleus wrote:

Bora Bora wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:What? You think they're going to stand up for anyone that is not their 'brother'? You have another thing coming. Have seen quite a few people done over by people they thought were 'friends'.

I've heard of and seen it done by different nationalities doing it to their own and to other nationalities. I've even seen locals do it to each other.

Yup. Regardless of nationality, if close friend does this it is something else, but I don't have high expectations from others in general.

That's a bit of a sad thing to say, but in some cases I have to agree with you.