Count,
You know of any militants in Dubai who hate westerners? I have yet to hear of any and I live here.
This place isn't perfect but it's a lot better than a lot of places in the so called west. EK pay isn't great, I'll admit that. But you have to look at the overall package in order to compare apples to apples. And yes, you can have a good quality of life here. I certainly do. I couldn't fathom living in such congested sourroundings as in HK But again it boils down to personal preference. I'll be here for the next 20 + yrs unless the sky falls on my head or something equally bad.