Upload a Spoof Video, Go To Jail (In Dubai) 107
Taco Cowboy writes with news, as reported by the BBC, that eight people have been imprisoned in Dubai for creating a spoof video about youth culture in that country, for which they were accused of acting "with the intent of inciting to actions, or publishing or disseminating any information, news, caricatures, or other images liable to endanger state security and its higher interests or infringe on the public order." "The video, posted to YouTube, was a gentle satire on young men in the Satwa residential suburb of Dubai who adopt a 'gangsta' pose despite living the sedate, prosperous lifestyle more usually associated with Dubai residents."
God damn! (Score:1, Insightful)
Arabs are some uptight people!
And they used to be the most progressive people on Earth - even after Islam!
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Well, any recreation is a spoof, so, you can see why recreating the historical life of Mohammed by that Fundamental Christian group, pissed them off so precisely.
Whether there was any actual historical fact or not got obscured in the politically correct clusterfuck that ensued. Seems open discussion and tolerance take a back seat to political aspiration and zealotry. Progressive? Civilized? No one in this story has achieved that yet. Might as well calculate by stones and absence of stones.
I look out my wind
Re:God damn! (Score:5, Insightful)
I wondered how long it would take to morph a discussion on how Dubai suppresses speech into "USA Evil!!!!" Congratulations!
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I wondered how long it would take to morph a discussion on how Dubai suppresses speech into "USA Evil!!!!" Congratulations!
the morph was from "Dubai suppresses speech" to "USA suppresses speech". pretty related.
meaning there was nothing to celebrate until you brought up the false equivalence. congratulations!
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You are correct, any attempt to equate speech suppression in the USA and Dubai is a false equivalence.
Re:God damn! (Score:4, Insightful)
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It should be about pot, cupcakes and rat rods. Where did it all go wrong?
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Well considering both the first time they tried to kill him, he was in a car with members of al-Qaeda (2 of which were killed), and when they actually killed him, he was a in a car with 3 al-Qaeda members, I wouldn't say there was "no evidence at all" that he was a terrorist.
I agree that it is possible he was innocent. I agree that killing him might have been a violation of the constitution. I agree that maybe we shouldn't be killing people in other countries. But I don't think there is 0 evidence Al A
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Here's a kid whose father was also an AQ ^w wedding participant:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/the-aftermath-of-drone-strikes-on-a-wedding-convoy-in-yemen/?_r=0 [nytimes.com]
I can't understand why anyone would believe a single word spoken by the the Executive branch, the NSA -- any of them. They're just a bunch self-serving liars who murder people. Why would you believe them at all??
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Might as well include the entire Federal government in that. It's all about building power and crafting public opinion.
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Agreed.
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I can't understand why anyone would believe a single word spoken by the the Executive branch, the NSA -- any of them. They're just a bunch self-serving liars who murder people. Why would you believe them at all??
Obviously because I don't believe the US government is "just a bunch of self-serving liars who murder people".
Maybe you don't think the us government is any better than Al-Qaeda or the Nazis or the Spanish Inquisition, or whatever is the most evil organization in human history, and that has led you to this conclusion. I just don't agree with this premise.
I think our government has both good and bad aspects to it. (i.e. it's not perfect). I don't think the people at the top are ruthless killers who enjoy s
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Ooooooh -1 Uncomfortable Truth!
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At least in Dubai, they don't murder people with drones for posting videos on youtube like Obama did with Al Awlaki.
Right. They'll just out-right execute them, or ship them back to their home country. And if that home country happens to be a muslim country, the chances of them getting a very quick, fast, and painful show trial with an execution at the end is pretty high. And if you happen to be female, you can expect repeated rapes in there before they kill you...should you be so lucky. Sometimes they'll let them go after raping the women for a few weeks.
It reminds me of the US (Score:5, Insightful)
As an American, it's hard to criticize Dubai when kids in the US getting expelled from school and/or arrested over the content of their jokes or writing assignments.
Re:It reminds me of the US (Score:5, Insightful)
As an American, it's hard to criticize Dubai when kids in the US getting expelled from school and/or arrested over the content of their jokes or writing assignments.
No, it's still very easy to criticize. Just make sure you criticize everyone who acts like that.
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That is something good to point out. As a US citizen, part of our duty is to bring stuff about a kid getting expelled for a pop-tart eaten in an "L" shape and let it be known as unacceptable.
Injustice has no borders. It is just as wrong to toss some kids in the UAE in jail for showing off some ballin' as it is to have a kid expelled for something stated on Facebook criticizing a teacher or admin.
Re:It reminds me of the US (Score:5, Insightful)
There is a major difference between a couple of days off school and 8 months in prison and a permanent criminal record. Yes there have been some questionable arrests but I have yet to see convictions and prison sentences in the US.
Any country that can not take a little criticism of their youth really needs to take a hard look at themselves. The only way to change bad things is to first admit they are happening.
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There is a major difference between a couple of days off school and 8 months in prison and a permanent criminal record.
The OP was basically referring to the joke's punchline of Now we are just haggling over the price
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A couple of days of school says "you might want to think about that" while 8 months in prison says "we will ruin your life".
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8 months in prison says "we will ruin your life".
Maybe somewhere else, but probably not in Dubai. No Dubaians work in Dubai. Foreigners do all the work. All Dubaians live off the state oil revenues.
What did those guys do before prison? Probably nothing. What will they do after their prison time? Probably more of the same.
Dubai is famous for its lavish 5-star hotels . . . maybe even their prisons have 5 stars, and armies of foreign servants . . . ?
Re:It reminds me of the US (Score:5, Informative)
So don't generalize the US "a criminal conviction is a life-long sentence" attitude to the rest of the world. It might not apply.
I don't think you're aware how bad it's getting (Score:2)
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Maybe you'd be more objective if you didn't constantly see the US as being the center of absolutely everything that happens.
They have a good reason (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:They have a good reason (Score:4, Insightful)
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well, the way they keep control is...
guns. they don't buy guns to fight a war against iran or whoever. at least in apartheid they let the oppressed fuck with each other as they liked..
posting anon because a big part of the problem is the western companies who do the white collar work so even posting shit about dubai could get shit on someone due to that. but the fucks would be in SO BIG FUCKING DOODOO if they were put under even half as bad sanctions as south africa were - because they don't know even how t
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Kuwait was like that. The entire workforce was foreigners. BestBuys,Starbucks, and mansions in the middle of the desert. I saw several totaled luxury SUVs sitting on the side of highways. Guessing there was a wreck and instead of getting it repaired or dealing with it they just bought another. Not knocking them, just my observations.
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Same in Qatar.
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I wouldn't go so far as to say that it couldn't happen but the UAE is ruled by a Monarchy. That is a real Monarchy, not the celebrity heads of state that the UK has. There is a king and his word is law, his family owns the biggest businesses, commands the military and picks and chooses economic winners and losers. The UAE is to poor third world countries what the USA is to Mexico and various other poor countries of the Americas. The UAE hasn't had much terrorist hostilities because a previous king threatene
old news (Score:1)
Weeks old. Yes, it's important. But sheesh, it was news several weeks ago, now it's just a really lame, stale, old dupe.
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They were sentenced on Monday. Pretty sure Monday morning in Dubai was about a day and a half ago. They were first arrested "several weeks ago", yes but the actual disposition of the case is significant news.
And the summary makes no mention whatsoever that they have now been sentenced.
I guess you're the sort of reality TV viewer who gets all stirred up by some barely newsworthy event then just as quickly gets distracted by whatever the new outrage of the day is and forgets all about what he was upset about the day before. I wouldn't be proud of that if I were you, but rather ashamed.
No, I'm the kind of busy person who expects a fucking decent summary that doesn't make me work to figure out what's the news it's trying to communicate ;-)
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And the summary makes no mention whatsoever that they have now been sentenced.
The phrase "has been imprisoned" implies such. For confirmation you could have clicked that phrase, which is a link, and seen that information in both the headline and the very first sentence. The summaries are often shitty, but that's not an excuse for ignorance on anyone else's part.
No, I'm the kind of busy person who expects a fucking decent summary that doesn't make me work to figure out what's the news it's trying to communicate ;-)
You're such a "busy person" that you have plenty of time to whine about it though? This is a discussion forum, not a news aggregator. If you don't have time to read and understand the topic before you post, then go away. This
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The phrase "has been imprisoned" implies such.
No, it most certainly does not. One can be imprisoned for years, decades even, while awaiting trial...
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defaming the UAE society's image abroad (Score:4, Insightful)
A state security court found them guilty of "defaming the UAE society's image abroad", according to the state-owned newspaper, The National.
Does anyone else find it funny that this arrest is "defaming the UAE society's image abroad" much more than the video ever would?
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The truth is not defamatory.
No, the truth is often defamatory. Defame means de-fame (e.g. take from famous to infamous, or just reduce the fame of). It's only legally actionable in most cases when untrue. UAE did defame itself for someone defaming it. Yes, that is irony.
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Defame means de-fame (e.g. take from famous to infamous, or just reduce the fame of). It's only legally actionable in most cases when untrue. UAE did defame itself for someone defaming it.
You might want to check the dictionary mate, defame is defined as: " to harm the reputation of by libel or slander". Slander and libel both refer to untrue statements.
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http://www.thefreedictionary.com/defame [thefreedictionary.com]
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The wromg end of the telescope. (Score:2)
Does anyone else find it funny that this arrest is "defaming the UAE society's image abroad" much more than the video ever would?
That depends on the UAE's target audience.
In the Arab world, news of the conviction might play very, very well.
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Streisand effect FTW
Clean your own house first (Score:1, Flamebait)
Take care of your own house first before you complain about the actions of your neighbors.
The USA has plenty to feel guilty about. Stories like this tend to emphasize injustices elsewhere in the world, and IGNORE that these same injustices may be happening at home, but are under-reported.
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Re:Clean your own house first (Score:5, Interesting)
Take care of your own house first before you complain about the actions of your neighbors.
Why does each task need to be executed sequentially rather than concurrently? Is there a hidden dependency forbidding concurrent execution?
The USA has plenty to feel guilty about. Stories like this tend to emphasize injustices elsewhere in the world, and IGNORE that these same injustices may be happening at home, but are under-reported.
Smells like "Buuut Mommmmy ... Jonny did it toooo"
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"Your house?" The second person pronoun suggests you are not an American. By your own logic, you shouldn't complain about our ways and focus on your own problems.
Streisand effect ? (Score:5, Insightful)
I would never have seen this video if they had not been tried in a kangaroo court. What makes Dubai a laughing stock, the video or the prison sentences ?
Dubai jails self for creating bad press for Dubai (Score:5, Insightful)
Dubai's reaction generated more bad press for themselves and significantly enhanced viewership of a YouTube video nobody should waste their time watching...
Keep up the good work Dubai.
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Yes, but how many more people will think twice about making any kind of satire that makes fun of the kingdom when they see how even such a mild video gets you a jail sentence? That's what it's about.
What a boring spoof (Score:2)
Re: What a boring spoof (Score:1)
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It had some funny bits, surprisingly good production value, but insufficient joke density.
Halliburton (Score:4, Insightful)
No wonder Cheney moved Halliburton to Dubai. After 8 years in office, this is what he always wanted the US to be.
We should all take notice (Score:2)
We should all take notice of this but, Lonely Island, you should take special note. It the authorities in this country are not going to punish you for your crimes against good taste, we will find a way to get you to the UAE.
The UAE is not an open society (Score:5, Informative)
Don't ever confuse Dubai with an open and modern society. It's a monarchy that needs to hold onto power and does not toerate criticism or free speech of any kind. They walk a fine line between the glamour of business, yet holding onto traditional values and conservatism.
It's also illegal to kiss in public, even for a married couple. People have been arrested, imprisoned and deported for such indecency.
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such indecency!
I hear the males over there are so utterly without any form of willpower that so much as seeing any display of affection, or even the slightest hint of female flesh, that they are completely unable to hold themselves back from from raping the female to within an inch of her life. Once that inch is reached, their society murders her for the crime of being raped. Its all her fault remember.
This is why females have to hide under a burka, so as not to provide even the slightest hint of femininity
Satire? (Score:3)
a gentle satire on young men in the Satwa residential suburb of Dubai who adopt a 'gangsta' pose despite living the sedate, prosperous lifestyle
This could apply to just about any Rap / Hip hop artist - or Miley Cyrus. Just sayin' ...
Maybe we need a new genre - Suburban Gangsta - with minivans and shit.
Dubai human rights (Score:1, Insightful)
Dubai ranked better in human rights than the USA in 2013. We jail kids for making paper mÃché guns.
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What rankings are you talking about? This is what I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World [wikipedia.org]
UAE doesn't compare well with the USA at all.
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No where in the linked article or the summary post you are commenting on was hate speech brought into the conversation. The fact is the UAE is attempting to stifle conversation by arresting the eight people who made the video. But yes Lets listen to an anonymous coward spewing hate for jews who have nothing to do with this article, or the way the UAE is exerting their power over these individuals.
You are so ready to condemn left wingers and Jews that your hatred made you oblivious to what exactly you are be
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Here's a paper towel for you.