Not just barbaric but also ignorant and tribalistic (I mean this literally), to an extent that most Western citizens don't get since they don't learn about the region's history. Yes, the ruling elites practice barbarism through the judicial system and legalized violence. But the population at large also shares in barbarism. For example, I was surprised (but not surprised) to see that nearly all Saudis deny the atrocities of October 7, like some kind of modern Holocaust denialism.
Hating jews never went out of fashion in the muslim world.
But degrading humans to subhuman status due to culture/ethnicity transcends the muslim world.
Anti-semitism is a European invention that had to be imported to the middle east. One could argue it never went out of fashion anywhere.
We are complicit (if not responsible). Accepted practice isn't an excuse for indifference but criticising your own country isn't a free pass to criticise the culture of others without challenging our culpability. If we sincerely want to help the citizens of these countries that we believe to be oppressed, we have options that we choose not to take. We could offer cultural asylum, give people a route to access our cultural ideals through immigration. We don't, though, because we only believe in human rights when it's convenient.
You, as an individual, may do your best to contribute to the betterment of the world, but when talking about society vs. society, you're glossing over far too many of our ills while ignoring the positives of the others.
Freedom of religion, individualism, capitalism, they aren't “good” or “right” they're just… different. The western individualism (seen most prominently in the U.S.) is not the majority culture, to many, even those who are just as “free” as any American, western cultural ideals are a step backward.
The way you perceive Islam is not the way it's perceived by Muslims in Muslim majority countries, it is not an oppression put upon them by religious zealots, it's a community that they participate in with a deep sense of pride and duty. For every Muslim in a Muslim-majority country who wants to break from their religion, there's an unsuccessful American struggling to survive, desperate to break free from the lonely American pursuit of individual success.
You can hate public executions, flogging, discrimination based on gender and sexuality, and you should, I do, but don't compare societies. We are not better, just different.
Clearly you dislike gulf countries.
The points raised are a mixture of facts, fiction, jealousy and dislike.
You want them to boil in desert heat with some environmental appeal, while many countries pump the air full of pollution from factories or massive ICE cars
I haven't heard of back alley executions over there
I don't feel hate towards someone spending their money on 2 cars or a holiday house or whatever luxury shoes, or paint their house whatever color. Why does it annoy you so much.
Why hate on people with different taste, very strange
I get it's ok to hate on gulf countries without backlash more than hating on say Denmark
FWIW I'm not from there and don't live there
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That story is about "The Line", a silly youtube-teir meme plan for a hundred kilometre long, indoor, linear city.
It will get scaled back several more times until its quiet cancellation, just like solar freakin' roadways and hyperloop.
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It is a meme project but they have started construction, though they've already announced they are scaling back the plans so who knows how it will turn out.
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Probably like solar freakin' roadways:
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I throw gravel at solar panels.
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the dot
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They've been doing a lot of shit, including changing Saudi's laws to allow for alcohol sales to non Muslims, and citizenship for immigrants. Probably to attract Euros/Skilled Immigrants from wherever
I'd say it's going to happen in one form or another, not sure why internet nerds hate it so much as compared to anything else.
https://theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/25/saudi-arabia-to-allow-first-alcohol-sales-in-72-years-dividing-opinion
https://agsiw.org/saudi-arabia-amends-its-citizenship-law/
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-grants-citizenship-group-talented-expats-2021-11-15/
The muslim clerics are extremely moderate people who back the king's approach of "idk stop fighting over dumb shit" I suspect it's to build a base of loyal support for when he rams more shit like Neom having bars and clubs and foriegners down the pike.
It's pretty smart, he sees the writing on the wall that they need to partially become part of the west. And what better way to do that, than by importing mayos?
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They'd be far better off getting more permaculture projects to capture water like at Al-Baydha. The mayo who managed it is now "friends" with a Saudi princess
!chuds
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Yeah, it's a major problem if you just dump all your investment in the cities. It will drive up inflation and make the ruraloids poorer. This is one reason why South Korea remained relatively stable during their economic boom. They made sure the villages weren't left behind.
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That's Saudi cultural genocide
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I wouldn't underestimate oil money or MBS. This is the ideal scenario for the rest of the world, we see the sheikhs burn what they accumulated since the 70s trying to preserve their country's position in a post oil world. If some scifi sounding idea is actually feasible it'll work here, they'll hire the best from across the world and free them from all redtape and funding constraints.
I asked my uncle who's in civ engineering about it days after the first press release and one of his friends had already been working on some part of the project(on the Line). I thought for sure it was a paper idea too but fact that they already were contracting out work for subsystems parallel to the flashy press announcement was
Like knowing what I know of local government projects it seems impossible, we have announcement right before election then DPR submitted 5 years later, funding figured out in 2 more then land acquisition done over 20 years and finally you have your 2 km overpass good job 
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Amazing that when you live in an absolute monarchy you can get shit done
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On the other hand you can end up with worthless shit like the Maya Train that does lots of ecological damage and nobody ends up riding it.
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Forest trains can be super fun though Idk why it doesn't pull crowds. Took one through what's basically a mining rail network once, just gliding through a forest for hours with no habitation in sight.
Route had like a few dozen tunnels too.
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The entire Neom thing just screams r-slurred Gulf Arab megalomania. The Shah gets shit on but he built up the steel industry, auto industry, air force, refineries, military industrial complex, schools, hospitals. That was real stuff and a lot of it even still exists after the tardocracy took over.
The Saudis' greatest technological achievement is still burying their children up to their neck in sand. Oh wait, yeah, they learned to dismember people with a hacksaw. I guarantee it was an imported hacksaw though.
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You have to admit that it's funny that the only people building the redditoid dream city are the people that redditoids hate the most.
The video even feels like a reddit animation of their dream city
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Even the most r-slurred redditor can see that the "line" design it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's literally just peepeewaving by a gigatard who happens to be dictator of a trillion dollar oil country.
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Imagine the redditors' confusion when Saudi cyclists start sawing up journos into pieces.
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sandponic goals
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/r/neoliberal also had plenty of sneed about this.
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You're burying the lede here. The real story is that The Line, the most dramatic project in the world, is being scaled back
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Another reason I like Muslims.
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Not even true either.
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That's your truth and its valid!!!!
My truth is that your truth sucks and is effeminate!!!!!
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I also moonlight as a geopolitical expert.
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idk, he admitted to creating a terrorist cell
Karma doesn't exist and even if it did, soys would be admitting that people with shitty lives now must have deserved it.
Lmao lemme tell you about the US, Europe, and Canada for a minute
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[[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider ]]]
[[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies, ]]]
[[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
Snapshots:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39998404:
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It's a barbaric country. US support has created another blemish on US history. Was it worth it to ensure safe seas to enable global commercialism, which kept most of the world stable for decades? I do not, but I'll never be in charge either way.:
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Let's not gloss over the absolutely appalling respect many of these societies have for human dignity. Public executions and flogging, discrimination and imprisonment based solely on gender, absolutely zero regard for freedom of conscience when it comes to matters of religion.:
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These tyrants only get away with repressing their citizens when people like Joe Biden give the first bump of approval due to fantasies about normalization against the will of the people.:
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The only thing the Gulf states have going for them is oil money and a good hub location on the Europe–Southeast Asia airline routes.:
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Yeah they're a dirty corrupt sandBIPOC kingdom and they suck butt, but I like cheap gas and cheap Amazon imports from China.
I thought it was a BAD thing when America tried to do regime changes?
We can do a regime change in Saudi Arabia if that's what the lefties want. We can just make it Normal Arabia again.
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Yes?
Lol. Is he saying that before europe came muzzies and jews were best friends?
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