Three poignant things:
1) People in Germany do not particularly want it to become an immigrant state, as it has effects on both on the families already existing there and the new immigrants. But because immigrant workers are staying and not moving back to their old countries as many German citizens expected, they are staying, aggravating many Germans.
2) Islam is becoming prevalent in German culture as well as other countries in western Europe. According to the economist, many German citizens are wary of practicing Islamists, and are calling for some type of restricted practice, which would be a step backwards in social/religious rights and tolerance.
3) People are afraid of the decline or the original German, as younger German generations are not reproducing at the same rates as young immigrant generations, which could eventually lead to a massive national misplacement.
2 Questions
1) How do the older generations interpret immigrant labor as opposed to the younger generations?
2) How could Germany’s history of intolerance perhaps force them into an unwanted position? Are they under the international microscope and must tread more lightly with immigrant reforms than other countries would have to?
1 Interesting Point
1) A lot of comments disagree with the article, is this most likely a politically biased minority? Or an general reflective demographic?
Those who comment of an article online are usually a very small, vocal minority. Almost every media website has the same situation. Whether or not they accurately represent the total opinions of the readers would be interesting to find out.
I think Germany in many ways is under an international microscope in part due to its history. However, Germany is not the only country facing an immigration problem. Many other European states as well as the United States have similar issues and because of Germany’s history, all face scrutiny in their treatment of immigrants.
I think the older generations would have more resistance to immigrant labor whereas the younger generations would recognize the benefits and be more open to it.
I think that Germany’s past will of course be a problem. The world will always have what happened during World War II in the back of their mind. Even if other countries have immigration issues, Germany’s history puts them in a different predicament.