SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - British friends get 1 month in jail for kiss in Dubai

Posted: Apr 01 2010 01:39 pm

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2010/03/15/british-pair-imprisoned-in-dubai-over-greeting-kiss/

I don't mean to knock anyone's religion/nationality/whatever you want to chalk it up to, but I can't believe this state of conservatism still exists in the modern world. Sure they've built all kinds of cool shit in Dubai to encourage tourism, but if you keep imprisioning people for doing things that are deemed perfectly normal in the vast majority of the world, nobody's going to want to come see your big shiny towers.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 03:15 pm

This is outragous. A month in jail!? They should behead him. When did Dubai get so soft?

Posted: Apr 01 2010 03:29 pm

And here's the fun part: Dubai is the *liberal* part of that area because they want to attract rich Western tourist dollars. It's like the Las Vegas of the UAE. *shudder*

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

sidewaydriver wrote:

This is outragous. A month in jail!? They should behead him. When did Dubai get so soft?

I pretty much wouldn't laugh on this forum if sidewaydriver were not around.

Joined: May 22 2009 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 353

I feel sorry for the people in Dubai who live there and are subjected to those insane laws, however not so much for the British couple. If your brave enough to go to one of those backwards ass countries, don't be surprised if you get thrown in some dungeon for a month for something trivial, like having your shirt not tucked in.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 03:51 pm

phantasmzombie wrote:

I feel sorry for the people in Dubai who live there and are subjected to those insane laws, however not so much for the British couple. If your brave enough to go to one of those backwards ass countries, don't be surprised if you get thrown in some dungeon for a month for something trivial, like having your shirt not tucked in.

Right. That's why I love the good ol' U.S.A. and when it's vacation time I stay within its borders.

Though I did wind up in an Ozark gas station one time and it was one of the top five scariest moments of my life.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 04:08 pm

Klimbatize wrote:

phantasmzombie wrote:

I feel sorry for the people in Dubai who live there and are subjected to those insane laws, however not so much for the British couple. If your brave enough to go to one of those backwards ass countries, don't be surprised if you get thrown in some dungeon for a month for something trivial, like having your shirt not tucked in.

Right. That's why I love the good ol' U.S.A. and when it's vacation time I stay within its borders.

Though I did wind up in an Ozark gas station one time and it was one of the top five scariest moments of my life.

In Missouri, the Ozarks aren't that bad. But I can't vouch for Arkansas.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 04:40 pm

phantasmzombie wrote:

I feel sorry for the people in Dubai who live there and are subjected to those insane laws, however not so much for the British couple. If your brave enough to go to one of those backwards ass countries, don't be surprised if you get thrown in some dungeon for a month for something trivial, like having your shirt not tucked in.

I do agree with that point. I think it's ridiculous what's happened to these people, but really......they should have known better. You see enough of this shit on the news that you should take your vacations elsewhere if you don't want to adhere to their laws (read: act normal)

I'd like to do more traveling and see more of the world, but I plan on giving the Middle East a wide berth. There's more interesting places to see where you don't have to worry about this type of shit.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

I think it you go to their country that you should abide by their rules. Simple as that.

E.g. In England with all the Muslim people coming in and wearing their head scarves in schools were it's not allowed. They shouldn't be allowed to do that.. cause it's against the rules. Simple as that. If you want to live in England you must respect the rules of the country.

In both of these cases both parties did not abide by them.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 06:24 pm

Alowishus wrote:

I think it you go to their country that you should abide by their rules. Simple as that.

E.g. In England with all the Muslim people coming in and wearing their head scarves in schools were it's not allowed. They shouldn't be allowed to do that.. cause it's against the rules. Simple as that. If you want to live in England you must respect the rules of the country.

In both of these cases both parties did not abide by them.

I don't disagree with the spirit of this idea; I do think if you're going to visit or live somewhere, you obviously need to follow the laws of the land, regardless of how stupid, unfair, or insane they seem. As a visitor, its not your place to judge this. (I.e. if, for whatever reason, I had to visit Saudi Arabia, you can bet I'd be wearing a head scarf regardless of how insulting I find the requirement.)

HOWEVER, I think the issue here is not so much THAT they broke the rules, but the rather extreme reaction and punishment for a first-time infraction. Had they been warned, and then continued to flout the law, that's different, and I would consider them deserving of such a sentence.

As it is, I'm a little suspicious of just how ignorant they were, after having read the article more closely. Witnesses at the restaurant they were in certainly made it seem like the pair was doing more than simply sharing a "greeting kiss." I somehow doubt that people, even in the UAE, bother to call the police over two white people giving each other a quick peck on the cheek. Something about that just doesn't ring true to me.

But, I wasn't there, what the hell do I know. Either way it sucks to be them, and they clearly should have been more careful.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 06:51 pm

Equally ridiculous...http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/01/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html Yes a man is convicted and senteced to death for "Sorcery". For fucks suck...is it 1692 again?

Posted: Apr 01 2010 06:58 pm

Douche McCallister wrote:

Yes a man is convicted and senteced to death for "Sorcery". For fucks suck...is it 1692 again?

In many places in the world it is. They still burn witches in parts of Africa.
Hell, even in this country many prominent people believe 'sorcery' is a threat. Sarah Palin's on video being prayed over to protect her against witchcraft. (1:40 in)

Posted: Apr 01 2010 07:19 pm

Alowishus wrote:

I think it you go to their country that you should abide by their rules. Simple as that.

E.g. In England with all the Muslim people coming in and wearing their head scarves in schools were it's not allowed. They shouldn't be allowed to do that.. cause it's against the rules. Simple as that. If you want to live in England you must respect the rules of the country.

In both of these cases both parties did not abide by them.

I don't disagree with that point. That said, I find it ridiculous that Dubai is trying its damnest to be the biggest tourist attraction in the world, yet they still do this kind of stuff to visitors. A lot of people like to drink, party, have sex, etc on their vacations. If you're going to ban (or severely limit) those things, nobody is going to want to come to your magical wonderland, no matter how impressive your architecture may be.

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

I agree with Alow. I don't see what the controversy is, either. They've been doing things a certain way for a long, long time. We do things a different way here. Some people who do things like we do went where they do things like they do. They did things like they do. Where's the story?

Whatever happened to tolerance? It's not like this is some crazy new regime who's coming into power and cracking down on everything. It's a different culture who has different values than us doing things the way they always have. Why the fuck should they adhere to our way of life?

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

Douche McCallister wrote:

Equally ridiculous...http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/01/saudi.arabia.sorcery/index.html Yes a man is convicted and senteced to death for "Sorcery". For fucks suck...is it 1692 again?

I find stuff like this hilarious. It's like a judge sentencing you to 10,000 years in prison.

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

I don't disagree with that point. That said, I find it ridiculous that Dubai is trying its damnest to be the biggest tourist attraction in the world, yet they still do this kind of stuff to visitors. A lot of people like to drink, party, have sex, etc on their vacations. If you're going to ban (or severely limit) those things, nobody is going to want to come to your magical wonderland, no matter how impressive your architecture may be.

You could do some of them in private but yes i get what your saying: people won't want to go if they are going to be penalized for their actions for what for them is normal.

Posted: Apr 01 2010 10:34 pm

Captain_Pollution wrote:

I agree with Alow. I don't see what the controversy is, either. They've been doing things a certain way for a long, long time. We do things a different way here. Some people who do things like we do went where they do things like they do. They did things like they do. Where's the story?

Whatever happened to tolerance? It's not like this is some crazy new regime who's coming into power and cracking down on everything. It's a different culture who has different values than us doing things the way they always have. Why the fuck should they adhere to our way of life?

Understanding the rules of the country you're visiting is important, yes. My point is that Dubai is trying to build themselves into the biggest tourist destination in the world, and yet they're treating their guests in a way that's going to drive people away. If that's your culture and you're unwilling to change it, that's fine. But don't expect tourists from other cultures to want to come spend their time and money there if you won't let them have fun.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 10:47 pm

scamrock wrote:

Klimbatize wrote:

phantasmzombie wrote:

I feel sorry for the people in Dubai who live there and are subjected to those insane laws, however not so much for the British couple. If your brave enough to go to one of those backwards ass countries, don't be surprised if you get thrown in some dungeon for a month for something trivial, like having your shirt not tucked in.

Right. That's why I love the good ol' U.S.A. and when it's vacation time I stay within its borders.

Though I did wind up in an Ozark gas station one time and it was one of the top five scariest moments of my life.

In Missouri, the Ozarks aren't that bad. But I can't vouch for Arkansas.

The Ozarks are one of America's hotspots for Mullet-Watching.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 10:55 pm

Quote:

This is not the first British case of this nature to fall foul of the strict laws in the conservative Muslim state. Last year Michelle Palmer, 36, and Vince Acors, 34, were sentenced to three months imprisonment for having sex on a beach.

So public sex is apparently only three times worse than public kissing. I disagree. I think if the punishment for public kissing is one month, the punishment for public sex should be at least a year, or even death.

Also, I'm not quite sure that first sentence is entirely coherent.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

Alowishus wrote:

I think it you go to their country that you should abide by their rules. Simple as that.

Fuck that. Learn to speaking the native language? Yea sure. But going to jail for kissing? Shit like this is what makes me think that the NWO where every land is under one nation with one set of rules is a good thing.

Title: Hugh Joined: Sep 23 2007 Posts: 1591

So you should learn to speak the language of a place you visit, but you shouldn't be forced to abide by their laws? That doesn't sound the least bit rational to me.

Posted: Apr 05 2010 04:56 pm

Well if your visiting you are going to need to know some of the language. We are the lucky bunch because most countries use english as a second or primary language. They come here and we have no idea what they are saying, because everyone has a choice of a second language to study. Although this law is quite notorious it would be hard to argue deniability due to ignorance, its just scary to think of what could happen if you break less publicly known laws.

Joined: Sep 17 2007 Location: The Opium Trail Posts: 3475

Captain_Pollution wrote:

So you should learn to speak the language of a place you visit, but you shouldn't be forced to abide by their laws? That doesn't sound the least bit rational to me.

Neither does punishing a woman for being raped by death.