NUTZ!

Today I bought a jar of the hilariously named "NUTZ" peanut butter. The label has a massive amount of American iconography crammed onto it. Observe:
You've got a football player, some sort of governmental monument, an old-timey car, a hockey player, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. Also, the ingredients list makes sure to assert that the peanuts are "American". When I saw this jar in the store, I knew I had to buy it.

But the act of buying this peanut butter brings up a larger point. Four years ago, it took quite a bit of hunting to find even one variety of peanut butter, let alone to have a choice of creamy vs. crunchy or brand. Now, all the grocery stores carry peanut butter, and there is quite a bit of selection - I've even seen Jiff in a couple stores! This realization got me thinking about other ways in which Denmark has changed in the past four years since I've been here last.

Some of the ways in which Denmark has changed have been good. More peanut butter selection, and a wider selection of food in the stores in general. I've even been able to find tortillas and semi-decent salsa, something that was very hard to locate before. I once made Mexican food for my host family, and we ended up using store-bought crepes/pancakes in place of tortillas. Things also seem to be open later (maybe staying open until 7 or 8 instead of 5), and - gasp! - some stores are even open on Sundays. There have always been a lot of American movies and TV here, but the time lag seems to be much shorter now. Instead of movies coming out here a couple months later than when they do in the US, they come out maybe two weeks later.

But there have also been a lot of bad changes, namely, a lot more violence. It seems like every time I read the newspaper here they are reporting a shooting or stabbing. Luckily, not many people seem to die from these encounters (as my host dad put it, "they're not too good at aiming yet"). Much of this violence stems from conflicts between gang members (which are called "rockers" in Danish). The two main gangs here are motorcycle gangs; one is Hell's Angels, and the other is called AK81. They engage in all sorts of nefarious activities such as selling drugs. stealing cars, and robbing stores and homes. Another problem with the rockers is that they tend to own large fighting dogs, such as pit bulls. Lately, one of these dogs got loose and killed a little boy, and there has been a lot of debate about whether those types of dogs should be outlawed or not.

There are also a lot of immigrant gangs that are contributing to the violence. As in all of Europe, immigration is a hot issue here in Denmark right now. The two countries that have the most immigrants in Denmark are Turkey and Somalia (this is entirely unscientific data, it's just what I have been told). There are also a decent number of immigrants from other Middle Eastern countries, and from Eastern Europe (case in point: I had a friend from Yugoslavia who who turned out to be a pop star there). Many Danes see the increase in violence and crime as a result of these immigrants. Because of this, Denmark has some of the tightest immigration laws in the EU. Recently, Denmark has elections for the EU Parliament. One of the candidates who won a seat belongs to a very conservative party that basically wants to outlaw any more immigration to Denmark, and to send many of the immigrants currently living here back to their home countries. The students in my dorm were all very distressed that this viewpoint has become popular enough win this candidate a seat on the Parliament.

As much as I like all the good changes (they make life much easier when it's Sunday and I realize I have no food to eat), it does make me sad that sheltered little Denmark is being exposed to all these problems.