Job Discussion Forums

[Queen of Sheba]

[Bebsi]

Many of the strongly enshrined social customs of KSA have very little to do with religion, they are much more the domain of deeply ingrained cultural values and beliefs. There is, of course, nothing in Islam that prevents women from working, or indeed that stipulates that women should cover their faces. And what about women driving? That is ludicrous...I certainly can't imagine anything in the Koran to the effect that "and ye women, ye shall be for evermore banished from the driving of motor cars in the time many ages from now when cars have been invented, and such driving shall remain the realm of your menfolk, yea".

From the way many people handle cars in KSA, I suspect that there is at large a belief that it is also Haraam for men to drive (or at least, to do it properly)

On a more serious note, I believe the problems of KSA derive to a large extent from the fact that it until a century ago, it was literally isolated from the rest of the world. The west (well, some of it) now wants to impose its values on that society, by making them embrace a way of life that was utterly alien to their grandfathers and even fathers. OK, the car, telephone and aeroplane are also just 100 years old, but the way of thinking that preceded them evolved over centuries. Many desert Arabs had been excluded from this process over millennia, by virtue of their isolation. In the twentieth century, the west discovered oil in the Arabian Peninsula, and suddenly the Gulf arabs, particularly the Bedouin, were thrust into a whole new world and way of thinking.

In light of this, they have actually done quite well. Yes, there are very serious problems to be addressed, but eventually they must be allowed to deal with those difficulties themselves.

Senior Saudis are, in fact, acutely aware of the issues, but are prevented from dealing with them as quickly as they would wish due to various political considerations, not the least of which is religious extremism. Students of Saudi history will know that King Abdulaziz was aware of the problems even the best part of a century ago. He certainly was in tune with the rest of the world, and was also very much aware of the problems within the kingdom. Even he did not envisage Saudi Arabia becoming a modern society in the short-term, at least in its thinking; rather he saw the technology coming their way but acknowledged that this would bring its own difficulties.

Saudi is what it is; when we look at the more fundamental characteristics of human nature, are they really that different to us? To quote a friend of mine in Hafr, "Saudi is a place". That's all folks, just another place.

[Cleopatra]

[shadowfax]

I really haven't seen much evidence of these myriads of posters who are sadly deluded as to the nature of Saudi women. One or two perhaps, but I sniff a whiff of tired hyperbole, more than a scent of extrapolation.
I think it's about time you put away that bete noire or you may become like Fulvia, Anthony's first wife, whom he left to her suicidal state when he opted for the serpent of old Nile.

[scot47]

Recent experiences at supermarket check-outs indicate to me that Saudis do not adapt well to some jobs. The young Saudi males who now operate the checkouts at Carrefour and Panda quite clearly think they deserve better jobs. They are sulken, surly, incompetent, and from what I hear half of them do not turn up for Friday which is the busiest shopping day of the week !

Advanced technology like changing the till roll or getting change from the chief cashier seems to be beyond them so they summon the Bangaldeshi cleaners to do that !

[Cleopatra]

[007]

[Cleopatra]

[shadowfax]

Rather than a cogent response, the mobbled queen wheels on her customary juvenilia about marmalade and big words. Back to your hobby horse, then!

As if we should all spend half our lifetimes bickering and babbling on Dave's. At least my words and ideas are my own, not regurgitated from some webpage like many of the fixated pundits hereabouts.

[Cleopatra]

[shadowfax]

And others of a level of English comprehension to be deserving of the title English teacher. As for the rest, I leave it for you to pander to them.
Idiosyncrasy is in the eye of the beholder but did no-one ever inform you that giggling is reserved for young girls and half-wits?

[Cleopatra]

[shadowfax]

What error of punctuation is this? Or are we just grasping at straws and sidestepping again? As for my bicker, I assure you I will shortly melt away
and return to staring at the wall!

[Cleopatra]

[shadowfax]

Pray elucidate your intended quotation, it seems t'have gone awry. Mine adjectival phrase flows prettily o'er the sense, and needs no curl�d comma to his use. To have a true taste for punctuation you really should read one or two od Anne Radcliffe's novels. I could recommend the Italian , otherwise known as The Black Penitentials