A large majority of the population continues to support the new level-headedness within the media:

This majority agrees that it is a good idea for newspapers to stop printing Kurt Westergaard’s caricature of the Prophet Mohammed.

Does this mean that the Danes have decided to collectively kowtow to Muslims, and have seriously failed in their duty to respect freedom of speech? Of course not. The population has reached the same conclusion that we newspaper editors have reached.

The damage caused by an insistence on maintaining the right to offend the feelings of millions of Muslims, is far greater that the news value of the caricatures. This is common sense and pragmatic reconciliation.

At the same time, today’s Megafon poll shows that almost a third of the population supports Politiken’s settlement with several Muslim organisations, while 51 percent disagree.

Given that over 90 percent of the politicians in Parliament have disassociated themselves from our attempts at dialogue, and given how critical the general media has been, it is gratifying to see how nuanced the population is in its attitudes to the issue.

Younger generations more open
It is worth noting how badly the politicians at Christiansborg reflect their voters. The most extreme case is that of the Socialist People’s Party (SF) where more than twice as many support than reject a settlement that the SF leadership has distanced itself from.

The Social Democratic Party is also split in two equal groups on the issue – a nuance that has certainly not been evident in its leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt’s strident statements. Smaller parties such as the Social Liberals, the Red-Green Alliance and the Christian Democrats are, on the other hand, in keeping with their support base in backing this newspaper’s attempt at reconciliation.

It is, of course, regrettable that a majority cannot see the perspectives in allowing Muslims to receive an apology, and thus gradually put an end to the Mohammed issue that has been so unfortunate for Denmark. But public opinion is, perhaps, gradually moving in that direction.

It is interesting to note how important age seems to be in viewing the issue. Among the 18-29 year-olds there is actually a majority that supports Politiken’s settlement, while among the 70+ segment, a full 74 percent are against.

That is an indication that coming generations are more open to a society with greater religious and ethnic diversity, and have more of an awareness of the significance of tolerance and mutual respect in a globalised world.

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