Hvordan ser udlændinge på Danmark? Vel, hvis du tager til USA eller Storbritannien, vil du opdage, at de fleste aldrig har hørt om det. Svaret er i almindelighed: “Slet ikke”.
Så er der Oprah Winfrey, der mener, at danskerne er “verdens lykkeligste folk”, og smægter over, hvordan folk får SU og kan lade barnevogne stå på gaden uden at barnet bliver kidnappet.
Men hvad så med folk, der bor her? De er vel fuldt ud lige så taknemmelige over at have fået lov til at bo på denne paradisiske plet på Guds grønne jord, som vi værtsfolk mener, de burde være?
Vel, ikke helt præcist. På adressen somethingmanky.blogspot.com finder vi en blog skrevet af en expat, der er nødt til at dele sine observationer med omverdenen. Bloggens navn er: Warning: Don’t come to Denmark!
Om bloggens formål hedder det:
A few years ago I started collecting immigrant-related newspaper stories from Danish newspaper websites, a kind of digital scrapbook if you will. A great deal gets said about us [foreigners] in Denmark, in forums public and private. We’re extremely popular fodder for the media, and some of the stuff that gets said about us is pretty outrageous. After showing my collection of articles to a friend, it was suggested I put them all online, because, well, people deserve to know what’s going on here.
One of the problems about Denmark is that no one really knows anything about it. It’s kind of small, and you could easily drive through it without noticing. People don’t get to hear much about it, because, well, nothing much comes out of it. Except for ham. That means that just about anything that’s known about it originates from Danes themselves, who, being a generally nationalistic bunch, are a bit biased in their accounts. Most people seem to believe Denmark is a slice of heaven on earth, populated by fabulously happy and tolerant people. And for the most part it is. If you’re a Dane.
Most foreigners who have lived in Denmark will tell you about the darker side of Danish society though, one which Denmark has recently become increasingly infamous for. For Denmark has something of a problem with xenophobia. It’s actually a tightly integrated part of the society, and you’ll find that in most cases, Danes have so endeared themselves to xenophobia that they hate calling it that.
Og her er lidt fra dagens kommentar til regeringens nye tåbelige/uhyggelige forslag om at kunne udvise fastboende udlændinge for helt trivielle forseelser, såsom for eksempel at have deltaget i en demonstration, regeringen ikke bryder sig om:
Every time the Liberals, Conservatives and DF huddle in a room together, you know they’re going to emerge with something like this. It’s like a plot turn in a cheap soap opera. What’s going to happen this week? Brain-damage? Coma? An evil pregnant zombie twin back from the dead?
Every day Denmark slips closer towards a Soviet-era police state with vague and aggressive laws which self-stifle any complainants. Don’t bother protesting if you think it’s unfair – you need government permission for that, and they file it under “T” for trash. And don’t you even dare think of sidestepping the permission, because the Danish police now consider even passive civil disobedience as a violent crime.
[…] So as long as you don’t have citizenship, you are a guest. And they make it really tough to get citizenship. So as long as you’re in Denmark, just shut up and do your job, and be thankful that you are allowed in the greatest country on god’s earth. With lots of hard work, a spotless record and a bit of luck, you might be deemed fit enough to stay for good.
This stupid “guest” routine has to end. When I have guests over, I don’t make them cook dinner and wash the dishes afterwards. A guest who was born in your house is just another term for your kids. So learn to be better parents already. And as for the guests who happen to pull a salary and pay tax, kindly refer to us as the staff, thank you. That’s right bitches – we have the same right to organize and protest as Danes do. Get used to it, because that was part of the deal when you shipped us in to work. We refer you to the fine print on the EU membership form you signed.
Så hvis du gerne vil læse lidt om, hvordan Danmark faktisk opleves med fremmede øjne af folk, der i modsætning til en vis Ms. Winfrey bliver længe nok til at se om bag glansbilledfacaden, er somethingmanky.blogspot.com slet ikke det værste sted at starte.
Jeg fulgte din opfordring og så mig interesseret omkring. I går på http://somethingmanky.blogspot.com/2009/11/sweden-gripped-by-epidemic-of-muslim.html var der så følgende udsagn:
“Danes are jubilant because SD can pull Sweden down into the same racist mud Denmark has been wallowing around in for years…”
Retorikken og sagligheden genkender man fra uriasposten og lignende fora, her er det blot danskerne og ikke muslimer, der svines til over én kam. Hvad der driver ham til sådanne udtalelser, ved jeg ikke, men hans troværdighed lider voldsomt.
Jeg ved nu ikke rigtig: Nogle danskere vil utvivlsomt fryde sig, om Sverigesdemokraterne (God forbid!) skulle gå hen og få samme position hinsidan som DF her.
Jeg synes selv, den anonyme Mr. Manky sætter tingene på plads i sin disclaimer:
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I want to state for the record that when I criticize Denmark, I criticize some, yes, a majority of Danes, but I am not naming names or drawing faces. More than anything I am critical of a long and complex process that has produced a specific result. That result is a set of laws and a social climate that I feel is irrational and unfair, and deprives many of us of the happiness we work hard to achieve. I am critical of the people who actively support this outcome.
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Hvis knæfaldet for Dansk Folkeparti ikke er typisk eller repræsentativt for danskernes holdninger, så er det jo helt ærligt op til os danskere at bevise -- ved at sætte DF og den strømning, de repræsenterer, helt og aldeles fra bestillingen. Så længe vi ikke gør det, har den slags kritikere en pointe. Vi er selv medansvarlige for det, vores regering gør i vores navn, især hvis vi ikke gør noget aktivt for at forhindre det -- og alt det der.
Mankys stil er så tydeligvis at give den lige én mere på skallen, end den kan trække. Det er ikke Uriaspost-niveau, mere satire. Og så er det jo ikke hans fejl, at der er så mange ting at brokke sig over, og at tiltagene kan være så himmelråbende, at de faktisk kalder på stærke ord.
Om al-Jazeeras negative udsendelse om DK skriver bloggeren f.eks.:
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Al-Jazeera are really going to have their work cut out for them if they don’t want to make Denmark look like a country of raving bigots. Right now they’re like a tv crew storming into a luxury apartment to find a well-loved celebrity, drunk out of his mind, beating his defenseless wife into a bloody pulp. Yes, it’s going to look bad when it hits the 8 o’clock news. But whose fault is that?
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Det eneste jeg vil give dig er, at jeg mener, det svækker folks troværdighed, at de optræder anonymt. Og det er en alvorlig brist. Men selve ordvalget vælger jeg mere at se fra den satiriske side …
Der er ikke mere satire over den citerede udtalelse end at sige, at alle muslimer i Danmark går ind for sharia, eller at finnerne drikker og slås med knive.
Og her er det så, man kan henvise til the disclaimer:
This is a political blog. By definition, it contain’s strongly-worded opinions.
…
I want to state for the record that when I criticize Denmark, I criticize some, yes, a majority of Danes, but I am not naming names or drawing faces. More than anything I am critical of a long and complex process that has produced a specific result…
Uriasposten og Hodja har ikke en sådan disclaimer. Det gør en ret stor forskel, så vidt jeg kan se.
PS: Men i øvrigt synes jeg da, du skal tage diskussionen op med Mr. Manky himself, derovre. Jeg kan kun i begrænset udstrækning svare for andre. 🙂