Failing to prove that I’m Danish, and I’m not even an immigrant

One thing that can make me really angry is when governments around the world force immigrants to prove that they are entitled to live in a country by conducting ‘culture tests’.

I consider this to be the single most obvious example of how racists xenophobic nationalists are really running this world, and I find it to be a massive violation of people’s basic human rights.

Remember, the 2nd charter in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says this:

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status

The reason I write about this now is because the Danish government (where I live) just released its latest immigration test, and it’s worse than ever. And just for fun, I decided to take it to see how I would do. Not surprisingly, I failed.

Out of 40 questions, 32 of them which have to be answered correctly, I only got 25 of them right. And I’m pure Danish. I was born in Denmark. I have lived in Denmark my entire life. My family is Danish back more generations than I know of. I’m as Danish as one can be.

If I failed to prove to my government that I’m Danish, just imagine how hard this test is for immigrants to pass.

But let me show you how bad it really is by showing at the actual questions you are asked to answer. I will divide these up into three types of questions.

There are the questions that are useful to know if you are coming from a country with a different social structure, there are the racists Islamophobic questions, and then there are the completely pointless Trivial Pursuit questions that make no sense whether you know or not.

The good-ish

Let’s start with the good questions, although when I say good, neither of these really determine whether you can be a good citizen. They are just good to know.

• Who has custody of a child when the parents are married to each other?
• What public authorities are entitled to raise taxes?
• Who can vote in national elections?
• How many years of compulsory education is there in Denmark?
• The courts have the judicial power. What does it involve?
• What role does the Council of the European Union have?
• Does Denmark have members in the European Parliament?
• Must the government secure approval from both the parliament and the population before the constitution can be changed?

The bad

Then we have the Islamophobic questions, which is 100% about trying to make people with a different faith fail because they are not Christian:

• Jyske Lov (a Danish law) did away it with the earlier tradition of blood feuds, where families took revenge on each other. Where does the law come from?
• What science increased in importance during the Age of Enlightenment?
• Should you respect the law during periods of religious worship?
• When do you obtain salvation as a Protestant?
• The Easter egg has its roots in an ancient symbol. Which?

What the frak does understanding the intricacies about Protestant salvation has to do with whether you are a good person? This is 100% religious racism and totally in violation of the human right of not being discriminated against by religion.

And the completely idiotic

Finally, we have all the questions that have no relevance to anyone (including people in Denmark):

• Does the monarch participate in the opening of Parliament?
• What does it say on the rune stones that Harald Bluetooth placed in Jelling around the year 965?
• In what constellation did Tycho Brahe discover a new star?
• Did women gain the right to vote when the Constitution was introduced in 1849?
• Beginning in the Middle Ages, Denmark’s population was divided into four classes, called estates. Which four estates were involved?
• In 1933, the government and the old political parties agreed on a settlement that would ensure the economic and social conditions. What is the settlement named?
• What is the name of the dictionary published by the Danish Language Council?
• When, during the 2nd World War, was Denmark occupied by German troops?
• When was the Danish folk songs written?
• Do you have to be a member of parliament to be appointed as a Minister?
• England conquered the Danish navy during the Battle of Copenhagen. What year was this?
• Is the Parliamentary Ombudsman independent politically?
• How many municipalities are there in Denmark?
• When was the composer Carl Nielsen alive?
• In the years 1657–1660, Denmark was at war with Sweden. What impact did it have for Denmark in 1658?
• What is an agreement? (Bad translation. They are referring to unions)
• How many stænderforsamlinger (early form of country councils) was established in 1834?
• When did the Danish monarchy change from an elective monarchy to hereditary monarchy?
• When was North Schleswig (also called Jutland) reunited with Denmark?
• What is the ballet La Sylphide about?
• Absolutism had a special meaning for the Danish state administration. Why?
• When did the first film about the Olsen Banden premiere.
• When did Denmark introduced passport control at the border with Germany?
• In May 2016, the conference ‘Women Deliver’ was held in Copenhagen. Who is the patron of the conference?
• Which former Danish prime minister died of old age in March 2016?
• Which Danish restaurant gained its third Michelin star in February 2016?
• What North American head of state visited Denmark in April 2016?

Just look at these.

Many of these are talking about ancient history that wouldn’t even be relevant for someone born in Denmark to know. Mind you, history in general is kind of interesting, but this has no relevance in relation to whether an immigrant is capable of having a successful life here in Denmark.

I failed this test because I didn’t know the answer to half of these. For instance, I had no idea that in the 1700 to 1800 (I had to look it up on Google) that we had a form of country councils called ‘stænderforsamlinger’.

And how does it make you any more Danish that you happen to know that the ‘North American head of state’ that visited Denmark was the Prime Minister of Mexico?

I also have no idea who the composer Carl Nielsen is, but after looking it up on Google, I discover that he apparently lived in the 1800s. And some of his more famous songs are those the old nationalists like to sing when they are together.

Why should I know this? Why should an immigrant?

Then we have questions like “Denmark’s population were from the Middle Ages divided into four classes, called estates. Which four estates were involved?”

This question is intentionally useless. The answer to it is that the four classes were “The nobility, clergy, commoners and peasants,” but that is no longer how it is today. The Country of Denmark today is not based on a class-system. But by adding this to the test, the government is kind of implying that it is. This question is intentionally hurting immigration.

Or take the question about women’s rights to vote. I, of course, know that women has the right to vote, and I think it would have been important to ask people: “Do women have equal rights in Denmark?”

If you are an immigrant and you can’t answer yes to that, I kind of agree that maybe that’s a problem. But that’s not what they asked. They asked:

Did women gain the right to vote when the Constitution was introduced in 1849?

Wait… what?

I failed to answer this question correctly because I thought women gained the right to vote a few decades later during some other law. And remember, the test also asked “Who can vote in national elections?” so there is no need to ask this at all.

You see what’s happening here?

This test has nothing to do with making sure immigrants know about basic practical information and laws governing the country of Denmark, nor does it tell you whether you can be successful in this country or not. The only purpose with this test is to force people to fail, especially people from other cultures by asking them arbitrary questions that has no relevance to anyone, including people who were born in Denmark

This is a case of xenophobic nationalism and the ‘racism’ that is growing towards people from other countries. It’s pure bigotry against anyone who doesn’t think exactly like how nationalists wants you to think

They want to create a country where everyone has to have only one culture, where everyone think the same, and where there is no room for anyone else.

And I’m angry about this not just because it’s a violation against the immigrants, but I too feel violated …and I was born here. I failed this test, which means that, according to the Government, I shouldn’t be allowed to live here either.

As a Danish-born citizen, the Government can’t throw me out, but that’s basically what they are saying. They are aiming for a mono-culture so specific that even I am not allowed here.

Even more to point, it’s extremely damaging to our country. If we look at the data, we see a very strong correlation between the mixing of cultures and the ability for each country to be successful.

This was something Parag Khanna recently talked about in the video below. Here he talks about how the most successful cities in the world, like London, are also the places with the highest mix of culture.

And this shouldn’t come as a surprise to you. As Scientific American wrote:

Decades of research by organizational scientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and demographers show that socially diverse groups (that is, those with a diversity of race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation) are more innovative than homogeneous groups.

It seems obvious that a group of people with diverse individual expertise would be better than a homogeneous group at solving complex, non-routine problems. It is less obvious that social diversity should work in the same way — yet the science shows that it does.

This is not only because people with different backgrounds bring new information. Simply interacting with individuals who are different forces group members to prepare better, to anticipate alternative viewpoints and to expect that reaching consensus will take effort.

This is what we need to succeed in the future. This is what we need to get the competitive edge. This is the reason why free western worlds are better than closed worlds. This is why we are winning.

But the Danish Government (and many other increasingly nationalistic governments in the Western world) now wants to stop this. And they do this by creating these completely arbitrary immigration tests designed for the sole purpose of making sure that nobody from ‘the outside’ can possibly come here.

They say they are doing this to protect the Danish culture, but what they are actually doing is destroying the future of the country.

And mind you, just because you have a mix of cultures doesn’t mean that you lose your own. It’s a mix, which means that it isn’t about one culture replacing another.

You can still enjoy eating fried pork belly (which the Danish Government has proclaimed is now the National Dish of Denmark) even though a person from another country don’t want to eat that. That doesn’t make someone a scary immigrant. I have very good friends who are vegans who wouldn’t eat that either.

Nationalism is a concept that is based on irrational fears, and it’s currently the basis for how the Danish Government welcomes people to this country.

It’s disgusting!