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to Mr Pipes - pride in the west - the euro money

Reader comment on item: Expert on Islam discusses radicalism and the Middle East

Submitted by myth (Germany), Nov 9, 2009 at 09:28

Mr Pipes, "pride" is a very much a forgotten word in Europe whereas in the oriental world "pride" is of supreme importance on all levels. I used to work in Germany,Belgium and The Netherlands and I have heard it many times from immigrants what level of respect they have for their host country. These people usually have family in many european countries and they do compare.

It appears to me that Germany from a standpoint of pride has three things to offer which we, the germans, the europeans and everybody who actually wants to live here may feel proud of. I exctracted these three points from remarks I heard from foreigners. Usually muslim immigrants like german language, I do not know why really. From my standpoint there is an abundance of books in science, philosophy and literature that is essential to the world's intellectual heritage and linked to the language. Quite in a way the quran is linked to arabic. 2nd people love german cars, I cannot imagine a single turkish immigrant who would prefer a non-german over a german car. Again, let me be proud. 3rd there is a respect for germany winning three football world cups coming from a weak position.

We and the immigrants obviously share the belief that you can win from an inferiour position given the will of everbody to do so. Let's hope the jihadists do not extract too much motivation from this. From my own experience I totally agree that the lack of pride say in the uk goes deeper and is more essential than the multicultural mindset which I believe is not really shared by the majority of the population. Some pride based on real achievements does work in integration, providing a common direction, basis for dialgoue and a feeling of being "in this together". The EU has given up on the idea. They got rid of all references to european culture and achievements on the euro-bills. All it says is "European Central Bank". The fist state in human history to do so I assume.

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Reader comments (3) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
to Mr Pipes - pride in the west - the euro money [343 words]mythNov 9, 2009 09:28164245
congratulations to Switzerland [155 words]muslimk***Nov 30, 2009 14:52164245
Re muslimkush - no connection integration and mindset [112 words]mythDec 1, 2009 06:03164245

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