this post was submitted on 17 May 2024

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Anon plays GTA: Dubai (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 6 months ago by Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works

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[–] lessthanluigi@lemmy.world 40 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Dubai of all places? Isn't that place just a rich person's playground? Aren't there women everywhere?

[–] Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works 85 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Turns out this greentext was 3 years before they made it legal for women to drive in 2018

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 36 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Women in UAE have always been allowed to drive. It was made legal in 2018 in Saudi Arabia, which is a different country.

[–] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Are you sure they're different countries?

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You can Google it if you don't trust me.

[–] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 18 points 5 months ago (1 children)

How can i trust google after all they've done

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You don't need to trust Google directly, you can use Google to find a trusted source.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Or use Duckduckgo to find a trusted source. Or Kagi. Or Searx.

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Absolutely, use whichever search engine you prefer. "Google it" was used as a colloquialism to mean "search for it, using a search engine" and was not a direct endorsement of Google.

[–] gazter@aussie.zone 23 points 5 months ago

I don't think that Dubai, or anywhere in the UAE, ever had a ban on women driving.

Are you thinking of Saudi Arabia? Different country.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I still wouldnt go there if you like not being in prison.

[+] abfarid@startrek.website -18 points 5 months ago (2 children)

As a foreigner/tourist you have practically 0 chances of going to prison, unless you do something really stupid.

Source: Been to Dubai many times.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 36 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Thats the dumbest bullshit i have ever read on here. If you havent seen or heard anything fucked up, in or about Dubai, thats because you havent looked.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Dubai

Homosexuality is illegal. The death penalty is one of the punishments for homosexuality. Kissing in some public places is illegal and can result in deportation.

These are just the first two sentences in the "Dubai Law" section, it just keeps going along similar fucked up lines tho.

Sharing a hotel room with the opposite sex is prohibited under Dubai's law unless married or closely related. There is to be no display of public affection.

The "Rape victims" subsection in the "womens rights" section is also just a nightmare.

And this doesnt even start talking about slave labour, human trafficing, censorship, political assassinations, etc.

Seriously, i wouldnt go to Dubai if you paid me for it and neither should anyone that values their own safety and general human rights.

[+] abfarid@startrek.website -24 points 5 months ago (3 children)

As I said, respect the local laws and customs and nothing will happen to you. As proven by about 15 million annual tourists from all over the world.

You obviously don't have to visit if you disagree with the local customs, but to say that going there has any measurable chances of getting arrested is incorrect.

And regarding the law about sharing a room by a (heterosexual) premarital couple, it has been decriminalized in 2020, and rarely applied to foreigners in the first place.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 16 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Why would you want to visit Dubai though. It's literally just where people show off their wealth

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

This is the kinda of person that thinks that Neom is a good and innovative project. Thats just what happens to people who worship money and consumption.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 4 points 5 months ago

Type of thing I only want made so I can look at pictures and maybe watch a 30 minute b1m video on it. Say "that's cool" then get on with my life. Although I'm probably Saudi Arabia's target audience in this case 🤣

I'm not saying I support it, because there's probably a million better reasons why it shouldn't be made that are better than "it's cool"

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 1 points 5 months ago

This is the kind of person that makes assumptions about people out of thin air. Just because I'm stating facts that are contrary to your preconceived notions, doesn't mean that I support or "worship" things.

[–] abfarid@startrek.website -3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Are you asking about my personal opinion or why 15 million people visit it every year?

Personally, I visited many times because my brother studied there for 4 years, and I often transit through Dubai.

But generally, people go there for the numerous tourist attractions and duty free shopping (although, I believe that has been cancelled a couple of years ago).

[–] jaybone@lemmy.world 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

What do you work for their chamber of commerce or something? You’re not convincing anyone here.

[–] abfarid@startrek.website -2 points 5 months ago

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, I'm just stating facts.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Decriminalized in 2020. How progressive.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

There are multiple stories of women being raped and then charged with having premarital sex, as if they had a say in the matter. Here's one example. The fact that's it's happened enough for an organization to be created to deal with it sounds fairly damning from where I stand. I can only assume those 15 million people don't find that to be reason enough to stay away.

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes, crime in Dubai happens. Yes, they have unreasonable and archaic Sharia laws. Yes, awful situations, like women being jailed for being raped happen, according to some sources, possibly even several times a year. But here's the unintuitive thing, it's still statistically safe. Whether you like it or not, that's how statistics work.
Here's an example to help people visualize it better. Every year, on average, 10-20 planes crash, with 100s of deaths, which is terrible. But, every year, on average, there are about 40 million flights, which comes up to about 0.00004% crash rate percentage. Every time you get on a plane there's a chance you're going to die in a crash, cause crashes happen regularly, and yet, it's the safest method of transportation.
Now let's make a rough calculation for the rape cases for tourists. Let's be generous (because UAE definitely underreports these incidents) and assume it happens not just several, but 10 times annually. There are 15 million tourist visits annually. That is roughly... 0.00007% chance. Depending on what numbers you pick, that is about twice as likely as being in a plane crash.

And to drive the final nail into the coffin, let's looks at some official numbers:

Safe Cities Index 2021 Personal Security score: 67 (slightly above New York, San Francisco, to name a few), 35th safest city in the world.
Numbeo Safety Index: 84.00 (Very high) (for comparison, New York has safety index of 50)
Expat Insider Survey: Expats report their personal safety (93% vs. 83% globally) very positively.

In conclusion:

UAE has archaic Sharia laws.
If you are aware of the local laws and customs, and don't disobey them, you have very low probability of having any issues.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

And if I don't go, I'm not lending support to a place with archaic laws and other abusive practices, even if I wouldn't be at risk if I went there. It's as simple as that.

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Exactly! Just as I said in my earlier replies, if you disagree with the laws and customs, just don't go there. But also, don't spread misinformation.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Where did I spread misinformation?

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, the last part wasn't addressed to you specifically, but to those who were saying that it's dangerous to go to Dubai.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago

Fair enough.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Apparently China is the same ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[–] abfarid@startrek.website -1 points 5 months ago

Why wouldn't it be? Any country that wants to attract tourists is going to be lenient with them.

[–] cheesorist@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

that's still not Dubai, which happens to be a city

[–] Sorgan71@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

Dubai is mostly people who live like shit and a few mega rich people

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago

There are foreign women everywhere.

[–] answersplease77@lemmy.world 32 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

GTA: Afganistan

Create female charecter

Step outside

6-Star Wanted level

[–] hondacivic@lem.sabross.xyz 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

GTA: China

Create female character

Error: cannot spawn entity

[–] answersplease77@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

lmao that one is messed up. The truth is that after the 80s, there was an excess of 40 million males to female in china, which made all families afterward to flip and change to rather want girl instead, and it even lead to cases where females would have multiple husbands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex-ratio_imbalance_in_China

The ratio is still messed up to this day there's 32 millions extra lonely males who can never find a wife and have to seek abroad. There's even a town full of lonely aged men who never married anyone. Very sad