I was recently writing a lot about Riyadh because I wanted to express my feelings about moving and settling in that city after being away for more than 10 years. During those 10 years, I visited Riyadh a couple of times. But this time was different. I wasn’t visiting. I was settling. I closed up everything I had back in Dubai and shifted completely to Riyadh.
Long story short: I couldn’t stand the city. After only two weeks, I decided that I had enough bullshit and moved once again back to Dubai.
Dubai is far from being a perfect place, but oh man am I glad to be back here. I feel relieved. I really love Dubai! It’s the only great place that would accept me without a visa or permit.
So, Dubai is great and Riyadh is not. Let’s talk about why that is.
I was stunned by how little progress Riyadh made during the 10 years that I was away. I wondered, what’s keeping Riyadh from being more like Dubai — organized, clean, and generally have a higher quality of life? The government of Riyadh has more money than Dubai, so it’s not lack of funds. And you can’t blame corruption either. There’s enough money to go around for everybody in Saudi. And Dubai is full of corruption, which proves that sometimes there is room for both corruption and progress. So, why can’t Riyadh be more like Dubai? I’ll tell you why. It’s because Saudis are 1) delusional and 2) stupid. They think they can be self-sufficient. But, when they try, their stupidity shines.
Compared to Dubai, Riyadh has almost no foreign engineers, planners, designers or educators. It is a closed society. It’s even closed to any outside help. Riyadh repels foreigners in many ways, but the strongest repellent is its inhospitality. The social and civil rules in Riyadh are very extreme. No healthy person could survive under the rules of Riyadh. There is no entertainment. No cinemas. Severely restricted personal freedoms. Censorship. Single men cannot enter malls after 12PM. Fat, hideous groups of men from the religion police roam around the city telling people what they can and cannot do. And other crazy shit…
What would make a talented foreigner come and pour his heart out on a place like that?
So, if Saudis can’t borrow outside expertise, can they rely on local talents? No they can’t. No talent can thrive under the conditions I just mentioned. Any talent quickly withers away in Riyadh. By the time someone is 21 in Riyadh, they’ve lost trust in their senses and good judgement as a result of all the nonsensical bullshit they’ve been fed as “the truth”.
I don’t think there is hope for Riyadh — at least not before 2 or 3 generations have passed on, which as far as I’m concerned is forever…