Germans use the term schadenfreude to describe the experience of taking delight in the misfortune of another. It's an experience that's visibly reflected in international media coverage of Dubai these days. Indeed, for over a decade, Dubai has been portrayed as a model case study of economic reform and diversification. Now, the media seems equally keen to dramatise the city's challenges.
The media's fascination with creating celebrities and then equally delighting in their fall is, of course, nothing unusual. Movie stars and musicians will vouch for that. Of late, Dubai – with its international resonance and symbolic value as a global Arab metropolis – seems to be the favourite theme.
Not too long ago, we had the rather wry credit crunch catchphrase, "Dubai, Mumbai, Shanghai or goodbye" reverberating across media. The narrative at the time was a city supposedly insulated from the financial implosion that was still unraveling in the West. Going by the torrent of media commentary about Dubai recently, that narrative has come full circle. One prominent international glossy recently ran a story that simply said, "Goodbye Dubai."
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