New York Times ridicules Qataris

[qatarperegrine]

Today's New York Times published a rather biting article about the conflict between Qataris and non-Qataris in Qatar: Affluent Qataris Seek What Money Cannot Buy.

Qataris' and non-Qataris' stereotypes of each other is something I've been thinking about a lot this summer, between the Lisa Clayton kerfuffle and the recent arguments over on Mimiz Blog about whether Qataris are discriminated against in the workplace here.

So it's nice to see the New York Times addressing something that I think IS a hot issue here (their last article on Qatar having been a little random)... but the way they go about it makes me cringe a little. I think it'd be more interesting for them to have dug deeper into Qatarization and its effects, or the role of nationality in expats' experience of Qatar, rather than just making mocking digs about people's restaurant etiquette.

The main things I've heard discussed about this locally are (a) the unrepresentativeness of the Qatari interviewees, almost all of whom are high school dropouts, and (b) shock that the NYT got these quotes on record. I am completely unsurprised that a director at QSTP would privately feel that "Qataris are very spoiled," but utterly astonished that he would say so to a New York Times reporter. (Some even suspect they might not have known they were on record.)

Comments

Re: Infantile NY Times

[(Anonymous)]

I also think we're on the same side of the argument here, but one word in your comment makes all the difference. My point was, Qatar's laws and Qatar's citizens aren't necessarily intertwined. I'm the first one to say that Qatar isn't perfect, and I really hold a lot of contempt over many issues in my country that are perpetrated by my govt, not least of which are the human rights abuses, which I'm vocal about, as are many other Qataris I can assure you. But one consistent accusation that I often hear from many Expats is that we Qataris are to be blamed for this, and that's a mistake, not only because its an unfair generalization, but it doesn't help achieve anything other than further widen the divide between Qatari's and Expats, making everyone defensive and intolerant. Moreover, I believe that- and I don't think I'm giving the benefit of the doubt when I say this- if Qataris were left to determine Qatar's labor laws then things would be very different. At the end of the day, the relationship between Qatari's and Expats is a reciprocal one. It helps no one to point fingers and we must work alongside each other to help make Qatar a better place.