The Tolerance Issue

It's an interesting item by the Scotsman newspaper....Germans are less tolerant of Muslims than most Europeans. The numbers are 34 percent of western Germans and even worse on the eastern Germans with 26 percent. The Dutch were on the high end of tolerance with 62 percent.

There are several questions over this poll taken and the results. Why the difference between east and west Germany? I suspect that having an influx with Muslims throughout the 1960s and 1970s in western Germany....caused some folks to have friendships or work situations with Turks. That type of environment didn't exist in eastern Germany. As for the influx with Muslims into eastern Germany today? Jobs haven't been bountiful and I seriously doubt that any significant number of Muslims have moved in. In most towns throughout the eastern part of Germany....you do have some Turkish restaurants....but it's not the quantity that you'd see in Mainz or Stuttgart.

Why a difference between Germany and its neighbors? I suspect that Germans have higher expectations. They can't see a foreigner moving into Germany....taking a job....and then NOT integrating as the German public would expect.

The educational problem? This is another part of the situation because Germans watch the stories on TV and see various Muslim kids who simply aren't achieving much in school and doomed for failure by age eighteen. I suspect that if you asked a German about potential rocket scientists coming from Muslim families in Germany....they'd start laughing and probably laugh hard enough to produce tears.

Could the numbers ever improve? I suspect that this is actually the peak....and if some massive terrorist action were to take place in Germany by a Islamic group....it'd solidify the German opinion even more. You could actually see more dismal numbers.

What could the Islamic groups do to reverse the trend? There are three simple things for a Muslim in Germany to do. First, why caused you to leave your old country? Deep down....something went wrong, and you need to examine the idea that Islamic traditions might have screwed up your old country enough to force you to leave. If so....using the same values for traditions here will just recreate the reason why you left. Second, if your traditions and expectations are solid and you truly believe in them.....why would you remain in a non-Muslim country? Finally, what comes first....your citizenship or your religion? If you ponder upon this question long enough....you might come to agree that religion only comes if you are a citizen of the right country.....so your religion is second to the values of citizenship.

It's an interesting poll and I doubt that Germans are surprised by the results.