Monday, March 19, 2007

Shocker: Immigrants not integrating well in Denmark

I missed this piece in Jyllands-Posten last week while I was traveling. The second paragraph is good for a chuckle:
While ethnic Danes and immigrants hold the same ground when it comes to questions of democracy and freedom of speech [Doubtful...Danish Mohammed cartoons, anyone? --ed.], the two groups are still worlds apart on issues such as homosexuality and gender equality, according to a government survey released Monday.
Gee, d'ya think?

The article goes on:
When asked about their views of homosexuality, 76 percent of Danish men and 89 percent of Danish women said it was 'acceptable'. Amongst immigrant groups, 59 percent of Iranian men and 52 percent of Iranian women agreed. For Danish with a Turkish heritage, 8 percent of men and 10 percent of women said it was acceptable.
At first the large percentage of Iranians that viewed homosexuality as 'acceptable' surprised me, until I recalled that a huge number of Iranians emigrated from Iran specifically because of their distaste for the Islamic theocracy there.

As for future generations of immigrants:
The responses varied only slightly for the children of immigrants, leading Erik Bonnerup, the leader of the Think Tank, to suggest that simply assuming that the group would integrate itself had been misguided. He said the figures revealed the need for a new approach.

[ ... ]

Children of immigrants tended to be more religious than their parents [This isn't unique to Denmark --ed.] , but the report said that was often a reaction to Danish youth culture, which young non-ethnic Danes often felt was filled with parties, alcohol and sex.
Amazingly, the writer managed to avoid using the words Islam and Muslim throughout the article.

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