MTV Culture

I am always highly amused when I go out to some club or a dance venue and check out these local guys or others dressed up as wannabe gangsters. Why the hell do you need to wear a towel round your neck or have a comb stuck in your afro. The last time I checked, you cant really comb an afro. And that is not to mention the way-too dodgy dress sense, i.e Cap sideuppy, real dodgy shirts and baggy trousers which give the rest of us a full view of either their arse crack or their undies. Please, leave that for real gangstars. I also don’t understand the whole thing of synchronised dancing between blokes. I personally like dancing with the opposite sex, so maybe they are homosexual. I guess I’ll never know. What I do know is that MTV has a lot to answer for!

I think part of the problem is, most prominently amongst the young Emiratis, is that they have a cultural identity crisis. They were brought up in an age where the UAE changed so fast and exposed them to ‘western values’ through movies, MTV and books, but there was no real system in place to deal with this. The youngsters growing up through the 90’s didn’t really know how to connect with their own culture and weren’t really accepted by the expats. So seemingly to fit in, they started adopting what they saw on TV or through the hollywood culture. Although this is only really prominent here in Dubai, as the other Emirates seem to have retained their culture. Abu Dhabi, especially, has been keen to establish local culture in their society without losing too much to westernization.

Dubai needs to think carefully about what it wants to portray to its local citizens for once, rather than catering to tourists and expats. I know that the counter argument is that Dubai is doing this for its citizens, but really is it? The minority harvest the most whilst the majority struggle to understand what it is all for. Salik, Arabian Ranches, Palm Islands, mass development catered for foreign investors. Yes, some locals have benefited, but not all, and lets be fair there isn’t very many of them. Where is the culture?, how many of you that live here have seen local culture other than the driving skills along Sheikh Zayed Road? And to be fair there is not that many places to go to experiance this, and please dont say Madinat Jumeirah because that is just an absolute shambolic tourist trap.

There is a lot of culture out there such as local fishing and pearl diving traditions, dhow sailing and racing, spices and gold, Emirati cuisine, the desert, the mountains, the majlis and the diwan. Hatta and the history of the place, the local tribe and bedouin names for places. The local names for fish (and all I hear you say is hammour!), the fort and history. How many of you know why and how the Dubai flag (yes there is a Dubai flag and it is not the UAE flag!) came to be? The locals need to be proactive here and show the visitors to their country about their culture, history and traditions. There is no point adopting another culture because you don’t know how to fit in, be proud of what the UAE and Dubai have done, embrace it by all means, but it is vitally important to make sure that you dont lose your past.

Some quotes for food for thought from the late HH Skeikh Zayed:

“A nation without a past is a nation without a present or future.”

“We should preserve our heritage because it is our origin and base, and we have to embrace our origins.”

“The understanding of heritage enlightens one’s judgment and illuminates one’s life”

“Our people should not forget their past and how their ancestors used to live and on what they relied on in their lives. The more they come to feel and know more about their heritage, the more they are interested in their country and willing to defend it.”

~ by youseflahej on July 21, 2008.