When I went to the UAE in 2015, it was with hopes to feel a kinship with Muslim /Arabic/Bedouin and to see if the dynamic would be better than with liberal whytes... I was badly disappointed is the short answer.

There are just rather few people of courage, decency and moral uprightness anywhere, was the fruit of my experience.

But it is better to swallow this bitter pill, than remain in a deluded state.

And yes, I am speaking as someone so often been called a Pollyanna and naive.