Comment by kshatrea | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kshatrea | Hacker News Reader

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I upvoted you. I live in Sweden and used to live in Denmark. In both places the rise of right wing parties (Danske Folkeparti and Sverige Demokraterna) is precisely due to the conflicts between these two groups. It isn't Islam that is the problem though. There are several Muslims, especially in Sweden that have integrated quite well. I can't put my finger on what it is that is a problem though. Indians by all means(I am one) don't integrate that well either (in clothes or social and religious habits) but they don't seem to receive that much vitriol. I feel the inequality of women is one reason for the negative reputation of Muslim residents(I can't find precise stats online right now but the percentage of non-working Muslim women is much higher than in other religious groups) and the amount of children they have per family is more leading to more welfare[0].

[0] I don't have stats right now so I can't prove this but I can anecdotally prove it based on conversations with many Swedes and Danes.

As an Indian living in Europe, I disagree with you about Indians not being integrated. Well, depends on which part TBH as Europe is so different depending on the direction. But I have no issues whatsoever in Ireland. and have friends from all over.

>I can't put my finger on what it is that is a problem though.

IMHO, the problem is language - i.e. immigrants speak theirs, and natives 'speak theirs'. Natives are unwilling to allow another language into their lives, whereas immigrants are forced to learn another language in order to survive - in both cases, it is a lot of work to learn a new language.

I wish it were compulsory to learn at least 2 foreign languages in European countries - sure, there is the defacto 'English as a second language' standard, which has produced a lot of tolerance in previously warring societies, it has to be admitted - but wouldn't it be great if we all were encouraged, somehow, to .. say .. learn Farsi .. as a means of solving the big European problem of integration, immigration, and internationalization? I mean, it really only makes sense for the Western European powers to promote polyglotism given our current circumstances. I think I'd be happier about immigration if my kids grew up learning the language of the immigrants in our land, alongside their native tongue, anyway .. I'll be doing my best to encourage my kids to learn languages of the immigrants during the course of their lives.

If you're moving to live in a new country, it seems pretty sensible that you should have to learn the language of your new home.

Sure, you should 'have to' .. anything less would be tantamount to accepting a major cultural shift akin to warfare.

But then again, I think there is a lot of room for people to accept social responsibility for the human issue of immigration, and I think any social system which encourages people to learn languages outside their own is bound to produce a more tolerant, resilient society. Right now, so much hate and prejudice is predicated on the assumption that "they don't speak our language" .. if, for example, it were considered highly illegal to ever go to war against someone whose language you cannot speak, this would be a better state of affairs. "Kill no man whose language you have not learned" might be the mantra I'm going for here ..

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