Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

Some seem to think that gringos should be excused from obeying the law of the land.
From todays' news digest on Saudi Arabia :-

"American Woman Jailed in Saudi Arabia for Sitting With Men at Starbucks
Last Edited: Thursday, 07 Feb 2008, 6:14 AM CST
Created: Thursday, 07 Feb 2008, 12:14 AM CST

02/07/2008 --

A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh, according to a report in The Times of London on Thursday.

Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's �Mutaween� police, The Times reported.

�Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked �Why are you here together?'. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,� recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.

The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers.

Yara says she was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her �crime,� the Times reported.

Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report."

[Saudi4Ever]

When I first read this report a few days a ago it saiud that she was a Saudi, from Jeddah, visiting Riyadh on Business. I personally would have to verify ANYTHING from Arab news.

Maybe it was edited, once they realised nobody cared if she was saudi and decided to make her American so the story would be juicier

[007]

Be carefull with the SR2 newspapers!!

[desert_traveller]

my humble contribution to the topic is this

even though the rules here are quite interesting, i personally think if someone decides to come here to live or for a visit, they should obey the law, even if they don't entirely agree with it

if someone gets upset because they have to bear the consequences of breaking the law, then they deserve to get upset

especially so as we all know that behind closed doors you can pretty much do whatever you want here

if the story was true, they were asking for it, and they got what they deserved

the law is law, no point in trying to be smarter or play 'cool'

[huntjuliehunt]

deleted

[Cleopatra]

I too had read this story in the Snooze, and assumed the woman concerned was Saudi. Unless it is a different story about a woman being arrested for being in Starbucks with an unrelated male?

[007]

[scot47]

If 'gringo' is racist then we can substitute 'white folks'. Will juliehunt be happy then ?

[007]

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,
I believe the correct politically incorrect (please see thread on this subject in the General Discussion area) term would be honky (alternative spellings: honkey or honkie.)
It has an interesting (at least I think so) etymology.
It's a corruption of hungy or hunky, a term which originated in the stockyards and slaughterhouses of Chicago. The term may derive from "Bohunk" (Bohemian-Hungarian), which was used to refer to central Europeans. Black workers and Hungarian workers were two of the largest ethnic groups in the Chicago meat industry. Racial and ethnic tension between the two groups led Black workers to begin calling Hungarian workers, and those perceived as Hungarian workers, hunky, perhaps in retaliation for the familiar racist epithets to which black workers were subject. The corruption 'honky' emerged shortly thereafter.
Honky was later adopted as a pejorative in 1967 by black militants within SNCC seeking a rebuttal for the VERY politically incorrect "n word." They settled on a familiar word they felt was disparaging to certain Americans of European descent; hunkie meaning an American of Slavic or Hungarian descent.


So, scot47, considering your current "homeland" (when away from your Saudi home), you would then seem to be an honorary honky.
Regards,
John

[huntjuliehunt]

deleted

[johnslat]

Dear huntjuliehunt,
Just out of curiosity, do you take your coffee (gulp) "Black." But I wouldn't bother to keep checking the mail for that gift certificate were I you.
Regards,
John

[huntjuliehunt]

deleted

[scot47]

Gifts are only for female relatives, wives and concubines.

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Hah! Speaking of "Exempt from the law", I remember back in '94 when the American Embassy in Riyadh announced that non-Muslim women were NOT required to cover up in public. Theologically correct, but big words when coming from people on a Diplomatic passport!

NCTBA