Great article about Europe

[HardDrive]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11569485/site/newsweek/

[bigchillcar]

why aren't more western europeans and americans flocking in droves to the wonderfully peaceful muslim countries, where they'd be welcomed with suicide...er, warm greetings..
ryan

[Joeaksa]

The Dutch were some of the most accomodating people in the world, then a Muslim killed Teo van Gogh just over a year ago because he made a movie about the way of life with many Muslims. The whole country changed on that day and life has not been the same there since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)

How different things look today. Dutch borders have been virtually shut. New immigration is down to a trickle. The great cosmopolitan port city of Rotterdam just published a code of conduct requiring Dutch be spoken in public.

Parliament recently legislated a countrywide ban on wearing the burqa in public. And listen to a prominent Dutch establishment figure describe the new Dutch Way with immigrants. "We demand a new social contract," says Jan Wolter Wabeke, High Court Judge in The Hague.

"We no longer accept that people don't learn our language, we require that they send their daughters to school, and we demand they stop bringing in young brides from the desert and locking them up in third-floor apartments."

I feel that what is happening in Holland now will migrate to other countries in Europe and finally to America. Personally I agree 100%. If someone wants to move to a new country, in many cases as a refurgee, then they should not try to make it like the country they just fled.

Very happy to see Holland doing this. IMHO the sooner it happens in all countries, the better.

JoeA

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
If someone wants to move to a new country, then they should not try to make it like the country they just fled.

JoeA

That's a great line.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Dantilla
That's a great line.

Yep, has me shaking my head in agreement - I hate when that happens.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
If someone wants to move to a new country, in many cases as a refurgee, then they should not try to make it like the country they just fled.

I think the exact same thing when I have to choose between English and Spanish at the ATM, or I have to deal with ESL candidates working retail positions.

[Joeaksa]

You know, I am very liberal in some areas (yes Kach, I did just type that) and really enjoy various ethnic types of things but when our families came to America, they wanted to become a part of the way of life here. After all, America is very successful at most of what they do.

Why is it that so many people in the last 20-40 years want to come here, or Europe for that matter, and force their old ways down the new countries throats?

I lived in Mexico, and learned Spanish. I lived in Germany and learned German. There is a trend there. Yet now we have so many people here who refuse to do the same. Now in Holland its illegal to speak anything but Dutch on the streets and I really see this happening in other countries as they tire of trying to bend to accept other people when its the immigrants who should bend to join a new society in their adopted country IMHO.

Joe

[Peterfrans]

Now in Holland its illegal to speak anything but Dutch on the streets

Now this is not entirely true. until now this is only a code of conduct in Rotterdam with little chance of it becoming law. It is true that the mood is changing regarding immigrants in a sense that in exchange for our hospitality they are expected to make an effort to join in themselves. Maybe the van Gogh murder was the turning point but there were a lot of outrages before that (even second or third generation Dutch of maroccan decent cheering the 9/11 attacks). Until recently a large percentage of the dutch felt like this, but in politics there was a tabu on this topic. That has clearly changed after the recent events.