His idea that there is no social class in Las Vegas I find a bit wrong though. Stars and celebrities are held up like royalty whereas your diner waitress is at the bottom of the ladder. Funny how most stars start at that bottom but them most I guess fall off on the way up! The flashing lights and big buildings of Las Vegas draw people in like a moth to the light but the problem is when you get there I think the commercialism and capital needed to live there probably mean that those who don’t become ‘cocktail’, using Hickeys idea, get zapped away by the bug killer..
Davis shows this class divide a bit clear in Fear and money in Dubai. A place which as an Arab I find a bit of a Disneyland idea compared to the country of my birth, Egypt. Most Arab countries I know have a clear class divide but Dubai has its clear steps on the ladder. There are rules to be followed and if you follow them then you will have a great time. Stop following and face the punishment. I think it is this which stops it becoming a ‘home’ but it is more a house.
A place of such importance in Western, financial, illegal, tourist worlds was built, often literally, on the blood of the lower class and when they tried to fight back are flicked off. Considering the article is quite a few years old now some of the points Davis made have come about and of course the idea of what will happen when the oil stops? The overspending left the country unstable for a while with projects going unfinished, will they learn? The stretch of the imagination almost sunk the country back into the sands from where it came but it was this imagination that brought it out of these sands so that is a difficult balance to keep.
These two countries to me almost represent the American / Arab mixture. Both are places of extravagance, both full of people not native to the area. Both cities which would be damaged by the decline of money and who rely on their buildings to keep the money coming in. Is it in these cities the troubles of the past can be fixed? Perhaps its the westernise Arab in me but could Las Vegas ever be my home - no! Could Dubai - although closer probably not. Its too commercial and unequal for me but could I enjoy the place as a tourist or worker / investor? Sure. It’s exciting…… IF you follow the rules!
Davis shows this class divide a bit clear in Fear and money in Dubai. A place which as an Arab I find a bit of a Disneyland idea compared to the country of my birth, Egypt. Most Arab countries I know have a clear class divide but Dubai has its clear steps on the ladder. There are rules to be followed and if you follow them then you will have a great time. Stop following and face the punishment. I think it is this which stops it becoming a ‘home’ but it is more a house.A place of such importance in Western, financial, illegal, tourist worlds was built, often literally, on the blood of the lower class and when they tried to fight back are flicked off. Considering the article is quite a few years old now some of the points Davis made have come about and of course the idea of what will happen when the oil stops? The overspending left the country unstable for a while with projects going unfinished, will they learn? The stretch of the imagination almost sunk the country back into the sands from where it came but it was this imagination that brought it out of these sands so that is a difficult balance to keep. These two countries to me almost represent the American / Arab mixture. Both are places of extravagance, both full of people not native to the area. Both cities which would be damaged by the decline of money and who rely on their buildings to keep the money coming in. Is it in these cities the troubles of the past can be fixed? Perhaps its the westernise Arab in me but could Las Vegas ever be my home - no! Could Dubai - although closer probably not. Its too commercial and unequal for me but could I enjoy the place as a tourist or worker / investor? Sure. It’s exciting…… IF you follow the rules! 
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