Really this post is more about Dave Hickey's "A home in
the neon" vs "Fear, sand and money in Dubai" by Mike Davies. Let
me just say that this was like comparing a wonderful hot toddy made with the
best Irish whiskey and sweet honey - warming, comforting and enjoyable, to -
well, to a shot of whatever Russian knock-off vodka your local has stocked up
on. Yes "Fear, sand and money in Dubai" is the bargain booze I speak
of: alcoholic - TICK, consumable - TICK (at times), Guaranteed to get you
pissed - TICK. It is cold, boring and uninterestingly informative.
Dave Hickey's writing is unapologetic. He gives himself over
to the reader, telling us his emotions, his opinions, his doubts without fear
of judgement. Honestly after reading this piece I feel like I know him as an
old friend you might bump into in the pub. Someone you can have a chat to with
no hidden agendas, no underlining meanings. He is telling a story, his story,
unlike Mike Davies who is simply giving us facts. In fact he doesn't tell us
much about himself at all. We learn nothing of the man, he is nothing other
than facts and figures. Indeed if I were to try and imagine him as a person I
find myself picturing something between an accountant and Simon Cowell and then
I think to myself, why bother? I imagine I would either kill myself or IT (I've
always been more homicidal than suicidal) long before I would have to listen to
it speak ....... then again I was forced to read his "Fear, sand and money
in Dubai", perhaps I have more self-control than previously stated!
Anyway, back to the task at hand, Davies' piece at least gets
slightly interesting when he lists the problems, particularly in inhumane
treatment of the workers in the construction industry, but really we already
knew that! Or at least had a rough idea about it, not to mention that I still
don't really care. Don't get me wrong, it’s shocking. We should care and it
should stop. But it reminds me of a news report which aims to shock and shake
you into action but fails to do so. Facts and figures never do. I wonder if
Davies even bothered to interview or meet any of these workers he has wrote
about, because quite frankly he writes about them as if they are non-human
objects. To him they are faceless and so they are faceless to us. Hickey's
writing is so enjoyable simple for me because he describes his characters,
including himself, as people and that is exactly what they are.... they are
people to us.
