"... and cities grew up around that basic fact. They transform, rebuild after fires and disasters and become richer and sometimes poorer, but they draw their resilience from their rootedness, the fact that people feel they belong there. To say 'I am a New Yorker' or a Londoner or 'I am from Pittsburgh' or Detroit or Rome or Barcelona — that is not just a map. It conveys a deep sense of history, belonging and meaning, a personal identity, not just a transaction. Those identities are messy and unequal, but they are substantial. They are one of the primary ways people answer the basic questions of who they are and where they belong. And they are part of what brings people back to hang on and rebuild, no matter what.... Place, kinship and a shared way of life were the basic materials of human identity...."
Writes Richard Florida, in "Could This Be the End of Dubai? (NYT).
"The war is a reminder that no city, no matter how go-go and glamorous, can buy its way out of the forces of history and geography.... For many, [Dubai is] not a real home. And so when the going gets rough, why would they stick around?"
The man in the video stammers: "Oh my, they's over the beach club. It's fucking mental. Look at that. Literally literally directly above us. That is insane. They were so loud. That is fucking mental. That is that is that is that is oh my god. I have no words. In the safest country — uh, city — in the world. Wow."
AND: What I get from Florida's presentation of the problem is that it's a mistake to want to live in "this new kind of city" like Dubai. It lacks meaning and humanity. It's "not a real home." But some people do relocate to places like this, and then if war spills over into it, they're surprised that something real happens. They thought they were in a disembodied paradise, so the intrusion of reality seemed "fucking mental." But it's the disembodied paradise that's insane. You're a human being. Live somewhere human or be flummoxed when humanity arrives.
Posts
94 comments:
Hes usually wrong about everything
I've been waiting for the stories like this from the local lefties worried a bout the impact of the decay in their crummy blue cities. I won't look but can see from the quotes it's the usual tossed salad of ideas, conflating cause and effect of things related only by geography. Yah yah, Dubai is close to a war zone and a last gasp of a dying leadership that will soon be gone. Dubai was created as a trade port by the people that bring you lots of oil. Lots of euros and non-us use it as a tax haven and trade port, just like the old days of spice roads and stuff. Once the fighting dies down your blue cities will still be shitty while Dubai will return to the young and vibrant place it has become...
Thats a double
...if your YT video has lady butt cheeks in the screenshot freeze it will get more clicks...
look at that literally up I'm looking...
This appears to be a story about people with every desire to enjoy the things they refuse to defend upset that others will then take those unprotected things from them.
...so many of those 'I'm a new Yorker' and 'I'm from LA' people are now 'we're loving Austin' and 'being in Florida is so nice' people now. That deep sense of history demonstrates things get shitty enough at home people move...
"For most of human history, people lived and worked in the same place ... "
Except for those who have moved to and populated Florida and California. And there were those clever Europeans that started the whole immigration thing by coming to the Americas in the first place.
This new kind of city is a soft target. The rise of cheap payload drones near packed arenas, Christmas markets, promenades, and beaches, makes the gun control argument rather quaint.
Beyond explosives, agricultural drones carry and spray the liquid of your choice.
The future of places like Dubai is that many visitors will stay away from iconic buildings that become natural targets. See the recent damage to the Burj al Arab hotel.
They say that about cities, but if you say the exact same thing about your country, they'll say that makes you a Nazi.
Leland said...
This appears to be a story about people with every desire to enjoy the things they refuse to defend upset that others will then take those unprotected things from them.
+++
I believe Richard Florida is generally used as the guide to how people live, or want to live these days. He has theories on urbanism, and of denser urban living as a good, and who should be living there.
I happen to like 'new urbanism', but detest denser, larger, older cities, i.e. Richard Florida's idea of urbanism. That said, people tend to continue to ignore his theories and move into the suburbs and exurbs in greater numbers than ever. I was just in Atlanta and...since I left a decade ago, the city has just kept moving farther and farther out in a circle around the inner core.
Much like every other major metro area that is still growing (as opposed to those losing people).
All that said, Dubai is a relatively new creation and as such, doesn't have a hold on people. Also, it's not a place where families choose to go to raise the kids, spend a life, and continue that hand-off for generations. It's a preposterous thing to even talk about Dubai in the same way you'd talk about Pittsburgh or Detroit.
But nothing is as preposterous as people sunning themselves in Dubai, are amazed that a war in the Middle East is hitting Dubai...in the Middle East.
More wishful thinking from the aid-and-comfort-to-the-enemy crowd. Dubai and the whole region is going to be 100x more attractive once the murderous evil to their north is reformed.
Yup. Tokyo, Warsaw, and Berlin saw a bit of destruction 80 years ago, and that was pretty much the end of them forever.
If you said the same thing about your small town, they'd sneer at you.
The war is won, the war is not won. It’s the end but it’s also the beginning. Regime change would be good but it’s not about regime change. It’s about oil, but it’s not about oil. It’s about the nuclear program that we said we had obliterated last year.
Israel made us do it, no maybe we forced their hand. We’re going to escort ships through the straits even though our naval leaders are quietly telling shipping that we are not going to do that. Maybe someone else can do this instead… what, you’re not eager, now we’re very disappointed with you so let’s make some vague threats about NATO.
Completely confused and incoherent messaging. Why would any nation in it’s right mind want to join in this circus?
Dubious in Dubai.
"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."
Why would any nation in it’s right mind want to join in this circus?
Oil. Prosperity. The mullah navy will be cleaned up in a few days, China will hint at 'supporting' an open Hormuz. It will happen...
Yup. Tokyo, Warsaw, and Berlin saw a bit of destruction 80 years ago, and that was pretty much the end of them forever
I was thinking London...
Dubai sprung up out of the desert in a couple of decades, and most people are not citizens. They will return when the dust settles.
How much worse it is for places that deteriorate and have people with deep roots and the invaders are citizens. Places like Sweden or Portland.
Didnt they go bankrupt the first time dredging up the islands
Munich re has taken a hit
Du-bye bye.
Must be really comforting looking at the plumes of smoke from an explosion at the airport as you come in to land there.
Trump has completely broken its business model, which was based on tourism, the flight hub, finance and real estate (which all require peace and stability).
I am still laughing thinking that emirates gave to Trump a jumbo as personal gift .
UAE has an American Airforce base and US Naval installation. That's why they're getting hit. Being a friend of the USA ends up badly for a lot of countries.
Florida cannot be clever even under pressure
Loved Life in Dubai
But I dont want to die
So, Im leaving Dubai
Such a deep insight that the Anywheres residing in a place can move anywhere else if they chose.
Saying you're from Detroit doesn't convey a deep sense of history, it just conveys you're black.
Most people have left detroit after the default
The atlantic cant find a clue even when it is given to them
UAE has a wealthy class of natives, oil trust fund babies, and a large underclass of foreigners. They were able to turn it into a tourist spot and also attract other rich people. However, the underclass is not particularly happy about being a stooge of the Israel and the USA, or being bombed. The Rulers are on shaky ground.
"The UAE is an authoritarian federal monarchy. The UAE has been described as a "tribal autocracy" where the seven constituent monarchies are led by tribal rulers in an autocratic fashion. There are no democratically elected institutions, and there is no formal commitment to free speech. According to human rights organizations, there are systematic human rights violations, including the torture and forced disappearance of government critics."
But this is OK, because they're our allies. Unlike those nasty, evil, Irainians.
No one lives there anymore, it's too crowded.
The rearing of scorpions is always tricky
We know the uaes whole deck
They hunted with bin laden
Provided sanctuary for the libyan nuclear program
Recognized the Taliban (ons of three) gave cair an allowance
I think the fundamental issue is Iran as a country has more resolve than the US. It’s been planning for this for a long time and has an effective ace with the Strait. Its population had been under significant hardship through wars, authoritarianism and sanctions. I am not sure any Iranian (even those staunchly against the regime) buy the argument that bombing schools and infrastructure will ‘free’ them. I can’t actually think of any example where just air raids lead to a regime change organically in a country (many cases of air raids leading to failed states, which is what Israel wants).
Trump and Netanyahu are incredibly unpopular globally and given Trump’s asking other countries to help two weeks in shows this clearly isn’t going to plan. Trump wants to involve other countries so that he can shift the blame for this ill-judged catastrophe.
In the long term this action just angers everyone off apart from Israel and a dying breed of boomers in America who believe in the sanctity of Israel.
This kind of action isn’t sustainable as people become more and more anti Israel, in a neighborhood where the average person still believes in the three No's.
They recently paid 20 million to a boko haram cell to ransom a royal
So they will take risks
When they need to
Temujin: "people tend to continue to ignore his theories and move into the suburbs and exurbs in greater numbers than ever."
Some of that is due to natural societal development (car culture, desire for single-fam homes with yards, just liking more green spaces, etc). But some is due to political intervention. Cities become captured by one party, one race, one social class, one immigration policy; and the lines on the map allow people not in those categories to flee and have the life they want. At least some of this phenomenon explains Atlanta and Detroit. Much of the land within our cities' limits allows for suburban-ish life: the outer boroughs of NYC; the broad flat expanses of Chicago, Detroit, OKC; even parts of the actual city of Boston. If those cities didn't gleefully enact Curley-effect policies designed to drive out the productive people, or if the state governments had the fortitude to keep moving the city limits farther out to recapture the fugitives, the hollow cores might not be so hollow. CC, JSM
The barometer of battle success may be read from the increasingly bitter & twisted comments from the opposing chattering class.
Richard Florida first entered public consciousness 20 years ago arguing that encouraging gay neighborhoods drives urban economic development.
Here, he issues an untended warning about unchecked immigration:
"...that is not just a map. It conveys a deep sense of history, belonging and meaning, a personal identity, not just a transaction. Those identities are messy and unequal, but they are substantial. They are one of the primary ways people answer the basic questions of who they are and where they belong. And they are part of what brings people back to hang on and rebuild, no matter what.... Place, kinship and a shared way of life were the basic materials of human identity...."
The Marine Expeditionary Unit is still steaming towards Iran. Expected to arrive in less than 2-weeks. Maybe it's a bluff. NATO and China are making a huge mistake not joining a naval escort mission in Hormuz. If the US ends up using the MEU to control Kharg Island and open the shipping lanes, Trump is going to totally control the flow of oil out of the Middle East.
Little Ex: "I am still laughing thinking that emirates gave to Trump a jumbo as personal gift ."
Oh, so it wasn't a bribe? He's not in thrall to rich Gulf sheikhs? Good to know. Next thing you know, he may act against Russia! CC, JSM
@Little Excursion: Trump and Netanyahu are incredibly unpopular globally
Given the endemic corruption of the UN, EU, IOC, WHO, and NATO, that's seems to be positive rather than a negative.
The future is unclear while the political pendulum stops and reverses.
Howard: "The Marine Expeditionary Unit is still steaming towards Iran. Expected to arrive in less than 2-weeks. Maybe it's a bluff. NATO and China are making a huge mistake not joining a naval escort mission in Hormuz."
Ha! Yes, NATO won't be arsed to defend Hormuz from the mullahs, but they will fight to the last man to protect it from Trump! The man knows how to incentivize people. CC, JSM
Yeah that didnt mean what he thought he did
That was qatar monkey boy
RCO2: You forgot to mention that UAE cannot project military power and poses very little threat to it's neighbors. Quite the opposite. They couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper sack. UAE could easily be taken over by any second or third rate power. This is why they were the first signatory to the Abraham Accords.
Did the Post pick this video because it features the dumbest person they could find?
I have no words. In the safest country — uh, city — in the world. Wow.
Right, because crime and war are basically the same thing.
If they think they're stunned now, wait'll a piece of intercepted rocket hits them in the head.
The very definition of same
"...
".... For many, [Dubai is] not a real home. And so when the going gets rough, why would they stick around?"..."
Thanks, Captain Obvious. Did the proven oil & gas reserves go somewhere else, or are they still in the UAE?
Oh brother Rcocean. The underclass can't do anything about UAE's alliances. If they don't like it, they can go back to India or the Philippines and many will flock to replace them.
I have been to Dubai 5 times, mostly for work. It is an astonishingly overrated city.
Ashley Rindsberg on X: "You have to ask what's really going on when a former NYT/WaPo technology reporter is promoting wartime propaganda of a US enemy. https://t.co/bTemZKGItg" / X https://share.google/7kL7eiFlPG3mUdmaA
“If they think they're stunned now, wait'll a piece of intercepted rocket hits them in the head.”
With that guy, you couldn’t tell the difference.
Do not search for "Dubai Porta-Potty."
Don't.
Ill take your word for it
Actually, the real "basic fact" is that for ALL of human history people moved from the places they were living once they became shitty, and then their kids or grandkids moved again for lots of reasons. That's why (1) there aren't 9 billion people living in the Olduvai Gorge, and (2) there is no such thing as "indigenous people" unless you're from the Olduvai Gorge.
British bank boy bummed by booms at beach bar.
Stupid people always think they are 'safe'.... there is no safe folks... always has been that way. Same goes for government 'protecting' you.... you are own your own... plan accordingly.
If he's thinking about London during the Blitz there was a strong local patriotism about the city but it was a part of a more general British patriotism or nationalism. How long urban patriotism, loyalty to the city, can survive without loyalty to country is something worth considering. The Emirates don't have much patriotism or nationalism, so it's easier for people, especially those who don't even come from there originally, to ship out when things get bad.
Ten, fifteen years ago, there was talk about cities cutting themselves off from the backwards countryside and going it on their own. Talk was that retirees would be downsizing and moving back to the cities and inner suburbs and revitalizing them. None of that happened. There was COVID and crime and riots and the homeless and higher taxes. Urban elites turned out to be exceptionally incompetent and perverse. Now add war to the other things driving people away from urban centers.
@planetgeo:
If you are anything other than sub-Saharan African, your native homeland is a mashup of Olduvai, North Africa / Mediterranean, and ancient Neanderthals/Denisovians of the Eurasian landmass. My guess is that many really interesting early human locations are now deep under the Mediterranean -- and likely blasted away as the sea refilled at the end of the most recent ice age.
Well Bob, those weren't the boom booms the bank boy was looking for.
I'll bet Beach Club boy is convinced he's lived through exactly what the Israeli's have experienced from Iran and their evil minions for decades. Oh the cocktail tales to be told.
From Homo Erectus to Homo Erectile Disfunction, the average human calorie demand is 2,500 kCal/day. For a tribe of 50, that requires 100-pounds of starchy roots and three medium antelope every single day. This is why Hunter Gatherers were nomadic. Once Sapians killed off the megafauna, they were forced into farming and animal husbandry to meet this calorie demand. Also, the arable land shrunk significantly when the sea levels rose by 400- meters.
"I think the fundamental issue is Iran as a country has more resolve than the US. "
You gave up before the first shot, and then joined the other team. Very impressive.
Florida overlooks the fact that 200 years ago, places like Pittsburgh and Detroit had less than 5,000 people,making it them large villages. Neither city became a place until the second industrial revolution after the Civil War
Let's take a closer look at those breasts, Dubai guy.
The mullahs must see it as the fleshpot next door, and they're not wrong.
My step daughter-in-law is a famous Dubaian. You may have seen her on TV. My wife has been there a number of times, primarily to see her grandson. The city is a marvel but also little more than a rich class perched upon a large number of helots who could, and are, deported at the whim of the government. I wouldn’t go there on a bet.
You have to ask what's really going on when a former NYT/WaPo technology reporter is promoting wartime propaganda of a US enemy
No, we know what's really going on...
I didn't read the article, but I'd much rather live in Dubai than Tehran......At the time of the Shah's ouster, Iran had the world's 18th largest economy. Before this current bombing campaign, it stood at 50......There are some risks as well as perks to being associated with America. On the other hand, being America's avowed and inveterate enemy has a lot of risks and very few perks........The higher power in many of these Gulf states is not Allah but Moolah. Here's the plus side of money: People may be willing to kill for it, but, with the exception of Jack Benny, they're not willing to die for it. The pursuit of money involves a certain amount of pragmatism. The pursuit of God involves the abandonment of pragmatism or even self interest.....The roulette wheel is still spinning in Iran. Trump is criticized for not having an exit plan. Maybe so, but what's the IRGC plan and how does it in any way help the Iranian people?
"Let's take a closer look at those breasts, Dubai guy."
Well, I am willing, but I just don't see how I can.
If it were not for Trump and Israel, the objects of so much unjustified hate, the world might see Iran’s attacks on Arab civilian targets as more evidence that the regime is as evil and dangerous as several US Presidents have claimed.
I looked at the young man in the video and thought, "Oh to be young and dumb in Dubai". The world is a hard place and it's even tougher if you are dumb.
“But it's the disembodied paradise that's insane. You're a human being. Live somewhere human or be flummoxed when humanity arrives.”
Stay in your cave!
Immanuel, it's all an allusion:
Let's take a closer look at those breasts
Randomizer and ~ Gordon Pasha cover a lot of it. Dubai isn't a sustainable place. It exists and functions largely due to what is essentially slave labor. Birthright citizenship for children of the imported workers? Not a chance in h--l that will ever exist.
I was in Jebel Ali several times, long before the Palm Jebel Ali was dredged and fashioned. There was a bar inside the port. With a big sign over the bar- "It's illegal to serve Muslims alcohol". Looked like a few other language signs reiterating that. Any muslims there would be low class sailors from merchant ships flying a flag of convenience. The upper class muslims, Arabs all, and hypocrites of the first degree, all drank their alcohol at the hotel bars in Dubai. Most I met were pretty friendly- to your face. After all, you could afford to drink there. The only women in those bars were rather obviously European/American Caucasians or Japanese/Chinese Asian. Local women were kept locked at home. No way for anyone to simply meet and mingle with them. And the imported workers and laborers weren't paid enough to be there.
Anything happens to cause the working class to flee back to their homes and Dubai becomes a ghost town in no time flat. Arabs run things there, they don't do anything there. Any actual labor is done by imports.
Well that and various stripes of gangsters
"It exists and functions largely due to what is essentially slave labor."
A lot of slaves would disagree with that assertion.
The proper word is corvee
Want to know where the Mullah's et al have their money? Just check to see what isn't being hit.
The barometer of battle success may be read from the increasingly bitter & twisted comments from the opposing chattering class.
It's disheartening to know we have nothing but idiots throughout the entire Trump Administration - and haven't given a second thought into any of the things they're doing - and all the leftist experts are wasting their talents here in the comments.
Still safer than downtown Chicago.
Noticed a tweet today talking about how divorced life in Capetown is from politics for the beach oriented. It struck me a similarly delusional. Unfortunately politics and its morphs into war finds you. I have pictures of my relatives in Leipsig in the 20's and they thought they had found paradise.
"I am still laughing thinking that emirates gave to Trump a jumbo as personal gift ."
Why do you lie? Donald Trump was not given a jet plane as a personal gift.
....nor was it given by the U.A.E.
0% income tax goes a long way to getting people to stick around.
Ex-pats I know there were on their rooftop bar watching the fireworks last weekend.
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