What kind of poison did A.A. Gill have for breakfast that caused him to spew such a disgusting torrent of racist, slanderous vitriol on Dubai and its residents ?
Oh wait. No poison required. Mr. Gill is a well-known racist and bigot with a long history of political incorrectness. He has managed to offend individuals, ethnic communities, and entire nations.
In 1998, he described Welsh people as "loquacious, dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls" in The Sunday Times, and as a result was reported to the Commission for Racial Equality.
Likewise, Gill has called the English "embarrassing," an "ugly race," as well as a "lumpen and louty, coarse, unsubtle, beady-eyed, beefy-bummed herd," and Albanians as "short and ferret-faced."
In 2010, BBC presenter Clare Balding filed a complaint against Gill with the Press Complaints Commission for referring to her as “the dyke on a bike.” The Commission subsequently made a formal judgment against him.
Just last month, In February 2011, Gill described the county of Norfolk as ‘the hernia on the end of England’, causing outrage across the East of England.
In his article on Dubai, he slates the local population… (The rest is here)
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16 comments:
Mean spirited and no doubt rude, but the article contained more than a bit of truth.
Then there is a third category of people: the drones ….. got arrested, and was jailed.
I didn't find anything racist in the para where he talked about the third category, the workers. Did you?
Dubai is far from perfect, and there are truths in the article. But all credibility is lost, at least as far as I'm concerned, by the slurs and slander sprinkled throughout. Just my humble opinion of course...
far from perfect
No one is!
As for slurs & slander, they are what I call, a sales booster.
So reminiscent of the school play-ground.
Having researched the background of AA Gill, did not the author of this blog sense a trend?
Love it or loathe it, Dubai arouses column inches which are priceless, well done for contributing to the inches!
I've been one of those 'mercenaries' for the last five years and I'm in no rush to relocate. However, I can find absolutely nothing in this article that doesn't ring true.
We may feel slighted by the tone, 'mean spiritedness and rudeness' but all in all, it's fair comment that sums up the place very accurately.
Gill's opinions of the Welsh, Norfolk etc. are irrelevant and do not detract from the accuracy of this piece.
A brilliant read.
(Not your post, I mean AA Gill's piece.)
The article is a pack of lies. Everyone in Dubai has it better than where he came from. I think the writer is just jealous that Dubai has the tallest tower, the best hotels, the best horse racetrack and the best airline and the best and nicest cars.
Harshly accurate, IMHO.
@Chris &@therealnick: I can see how you might see it that way, but I don't share you views.
No one is perfect....There have been excesses. But Dubai learns from mistakes. www.timesofuae.com
Gill is often funny and always rude, but less often uninformed. I though it was a crap article filled with the kinds of stupid observations you make when you spend the minimal amount of time somewhere. Shame on vanity fair for buying the name and ignoring the content...
Dubai is not perfect but I think it has/had a plan. Shocking that there's no mention of the strategic lynchpin which is they have no more oil so they needed to construct plan B - which is why much of this glitz exists. It's plan B. And a pretty good one. As for bad climate. 8 months of the year it's lovely, dry, warm, sunny, blue seas. I guess UK weather has improved since I lived there......ha ha
Sorry,but you've got to respect the man, what he said is very true.
True? Anyone who thinks this mans opinions are true are simply people that have not done their own research or are simply by-products of a visit to dubai to see all the new developments that they are complaining about. And whats this jargon about emiratee's being born into retirement? Aren't there rich people in every country that are born off well? I know many locals that work just as hard as the next for the same salary. Did A. A Gill actually talk to any locals or just simply make an observation from his private booth at the race course? Also, his driver is an idiot if he has been driving here for 20 years and still gets lost. Blame the new roads if he wants, but I think his lack of general direction is probably the real cause there.
Spot on AA Gill.
Very accurate comments about an horrible and mercenery part of the world.
Gill's article is actually just plain facts painted with colour. I grew up in Dubai but after I started working, I couldn't digest the discrimination, the complete lack of justice and the guilt of living there anymore. Got the hell out of the place just b4 the collapse!
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