Mecca Turning Into Vegas?

Jerome Taylor for The Independent:

A growing numbers of [Saudis] have looked on aghast as the nation’s archaeological heritage is trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own heritage. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Mohamed insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, critics say, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city’s raison d’être.

While the article makes some good points about the importance of preserving a country’s heritage, I have no doubt in my mind that it is — through its choice of language and focus — mean spirited and written with more than a tinge of hate for the Saudi Regime.

I will make no attempts to defend the kingdom (which I find abominable on so many fronts), but it is very clear to me that Mecca’s aggressive expansion is a rational undertaking.

Of the millions and millions of people who visit Mecca yearly, how many are there to see “Saudi archaeological Heritage”? The Saudi government is right to play to the city’s strength, which is the yearly pilgrimage. It has increased the city’s capacity to accommodate a large amount of visitors, and it has used capitalism to make the system most efficient, orderly and comfortable to visitors of all classes.

If the price was destroying a few dilapidated old houses — which are probably architecturally insignificant anyway — then be it.