about how we in the west promote our countries as being bastions of tolerance and open arms for all. The Middle Eastern countries don't. Some criticize this and say that the immigrants are taking advantage of westerner's largesse and laws -- and clearly they do benefit from it.
But you can't really level the same criticism here because they certainly DON'T offer the same freedoms here. They're free to set their own rules about such things.
I would say that despite this, we in the west remain the winners because our cultures are more prosperous and we benefit from the "brain drain" that happens all over the world. By not making citizenship freely achievable by others, I think countries here lose out a great deal. Foreign residents here won't develop a sense of civic responsibilty, of really contributing to the larger community -- because Qatar fails to fully embrace 80% of its population, the migrants and expats who have built this nation.
I understand the very valid concerns they have about maintaining their cultural/relgious identity in the face of such a huge number of foreigners, but they could be doing a lot more than they are. They choose to keep everyone else at arm's lengths and not invite them to become part of their country.
And for that, they will simply get exactly what they pay for.
"If you're looking for sympathy, you'll find it between sh*t and syphilis in the dictionary."
- David Sedaris
about how we in the west promote our countries as being bastions of tolerance and open arms for all. The Middle Eastern countries don't. Some criticize this and say that the immigrants are taking advantage of westerner's largesse and laws -- and clearly they do benefit from it.
But you can't really level the same criticism here because they certainly DON'T offer the same freedoms here. They're free to set their own rules about such things.
I would say that despite this, we in the west remain the winners because our cultures are more prosperous and we benefit from the "brain drain" that happens all over the world. By not making citizenship freely achievable by others, I think countries here lose out a great deal. Foreign residents here won't develop a sense of civic responsibilty, of really contributing to the larger community -- because Qatar fails to fully embrace 80% of its population, the migrants and expats who have built this nation.
I understand the very valid concerns they have about maintaining their cultural/relgious identity in the face of such a huge number of foreigners, but they could be doing a lot more than they are. They choose to keep everyone else at arm's lengths and not invite them to become part of their country.
And for that, they will simply get exactly what they pay for.
"If you're looking for sympathy, you'll find it between sh*t and syphilis in the dictionary."
- David Sedaris