I stole this news piece but thought it was super interesting

The Emirates Palace Dubai hotel, has apologized for displaying a lavish $11M Christmas tree. (Image: Getty)

Abu Dhabi hotel apologizes for $11M Christmas tree

21/12/2010 8:30:00 AM

by Daniela Syrovy
Emirates Palace hotel in the United Arab Emirates erected a 13 metre Christmas tree adorned with $11 million worth of jewels. They now regret it. Is the tree in bad taste or should we loosen up and enjoy the elaborate gesture?


The folks in Abu Dhabi have received international attention after luxury hotel Emirates Palace decked out a 13 metre Christmas tree with $11 million worth of jewels. The government news agency has now issued a statement saying they regret the "attempts to overload the tradition" of decorating a tree for the holiday season. The statement was issued after critics condemned the tree as being in bad taste.

At first this story did not compute for me. Emirates Palace, a hotel in a predominantly Muslim country, has erected a giant, jewel-covered Christmas tree?! Something has gone awry in the world. It turns out that in the United Arab Emirates many hotels follow the tradition of putting a tree up in the lobby, to make visitors from abroad feel welcome.

I can appreciate the gesture though the irony of it leaves me wondering if extreme cultural sensitivity only occurs in Canada. Here, schools are removing ‘Santa' images and have replaced the term ‘Christmas concert' with ‘winter concert,' leading some to speculate about our country's cultural compassion and its ability to kill Christmas. Meanwhile in the Muslim country of UAE, publicly displayed Christmas trees are commonplace.

That said, this particular tree - described as the most expensive tree in the world - is a gaudy, tacky, tasteless PR stunt. I understand an ambitious attempt to get into the Guinness Book of Records, but if you were decorating a tree to truly show your holiday spirit, perhaps you'd be better off with a tree that is dressed by the community and not an overzealous jeweler.

A more modest tree might have done a better job of not rubbing in the fact that you're one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Abu Dhabi holds 9% of the world's oil reserves. We get it. You're rich. You're really rich. No need to shove it in our faces, especially not during a time when the emphasis is meant to be on giving. There are so many better ways to spend $11 million.

If the hotel and the country truly wanted to draw positive attention to themselves they should have donated a large portion of the $11 million to the countries starving labourers, who for twenty years have worked tirelessly to build the UAE up to its current state of metropolitan glory.

http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/dubai_hotel_apologizes_for_11m_christmas_tree/b9756dd2