Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard respond forcefully in today's National Post to Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen. For context see my previous comments.
It's no surprise that Elisabeth and Elsebeth were members of the defeated Socialist-Radical Liberal government. They, like so many others in Canada (for example), endorse multiculturalism not because of any love or respect for other countries and their cultures, but to undermine the society they live within, which they despise.
Re: Multiculturalism and Denmark, Letter to the Editor, Sept. 6.
Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, two members of the Danish parliament, are "offended" by our article Muslim Extremism: Denmark's had Enough, (Aug. 27).
Most Canadian readers may not realize that both writers are politicians belonging to the Socialist-Radical Liberal government that was defeated last November --- indeed, Ms. Nielsen was its minister of culture. They have an axe to grind.
Both protest our conclusion that Muslims "make up a majority of the country's convicted rapists," saying that because Danish statistics do not correlate religion with crime, this assertion "is without any basis in fact." Statistics Denmark does, however, produce numbers on immigrants from Third World countries and their descendants, which it reports makes up 5% of the population; and it is known that Muslims make up four-fifths of this element. The latest police figures show that 76.5% of convicted rapists in Copenhagen belong to that 5% of the population, and from that we drew our understated conclusion.
Our critics then sow confusion about the word "welfare." We wrote in English for an English-speaking readership, and used "welfare" in the conventional English sense of meaning public assistance in the form of cash or food stamps -- not in the Danish sense of including "housing, transport, homecare, early retirement, protected workplaces, daycare and other smaller schemes" as mentioned by the two politicians.
As for the numbers involved, former Socialist spokeswoman for immigration and integration Ritt Bjerregaard has leaked figures from an unpublished study showing that in 1999, the 5% of the Danish population made up of Third World immigrants received 35% of all welfare payments (Danish: kontanthjaelp). This percentage is higher today and therefore we wrote that that 5% consumes "upwards of 40% of the welfare spending."
Both MPs may not believe Danish Jews are threatened but the Jewish population itself believes it is under siege. This obliviousness of Ms. Arnold and Ms. Nielsen is part of a larger problem, whereby they have long been among the most vocal cheerleaders of massive immigration and completely blind to the problems this creates. Unfortunately for them, Danish voters do see the problems and threw their coalition out of office last November.
Finally, we are at a loss to explain the notion our critics forward that the current government believes "intermarriage should be avoided" between Danes and foreigners, an outrageous accusation which no one of any political stature has advocated. To the contrary, the policy of the government is integration, not segregation.
Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, Philadelphia, PA.
