This is a wake up call to Icelanders. A wake up call to get out of their shells and do something.Problem is, they are afraid. So scared that they are like in coma. Like little kids hiding in corners afraid to lift their little heads so they wont be found. It's really sad considering we are talking about the closest descendants of viking known to exist.
Iceland is infested with corruption. That's a fact and everybody knows it. Only few are willing to take some action, not to mention to talk about it, except few independent journalists. The rest is either either deaf, dumb or blind.
It could have been a great opportunity for Iceland to clean its stables and start something new. To get rid of all the mob families that control this country and hold it from its balls. Changing of govrenment was a joke and everybody realize it now. They same corrupt oligarch are still in power, moving things like this place is their private puppet show. Two years have passes since this woman (give me hope Johanna) took over and now what? AbsoFUCKenluley nothing. Icelanders still can't buy forgein currency and the Icelandic Krona is nothing more than a fancy toiliet paprer with figures of dead people on it.
It's real sad considreing the possibilities this small nation has. Running Iceland, is practically like running a business, there are probably companies with more employees than Iceland's work labor.
What I'm trying to say is, the situation here really sucks. England and Holland continue their efforts to rip Iceland off, they understand its weakness and don't have a long history of being a bully. And the world? The usual, nobody gives a damn. Why should they? Iceland is still butchering whales and Goddamn excuses there are in plenty.
The sad truth is, why should anybody care if Icelanders themselves don't care. I mean, if you'll talk to them they will tell you how much they disappointed and that this situation can't go on like this. But if you'd ask them, "and what do you do about it?" Silence, they look behind your shoulder to make sure nobody is looking and rolling their eyes like sheep looking for grass.
Icelanders are scared. They wont openly talk about thieves withing their own communities, withing their country because they were silently terrorized for way too long. Problem is, they don't even know it.
This should be a wake up call to Icelanders, but no Icelander will probably read it, cause it's in English (why bother).
Soon enough if you wont do something, all that will be left for you to do is painting this whole island in blue and trow it back to the ocean. It will disappear exactly they same way it appeared and no one will notice.
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You say that no Icelander would read your rant because it's in English? Well, for your information, 99% of Icelanders speak English and at least one other foreign language fluently. As an Icelander, I read your "deadly truth" and wonder: What exactly do you suggest the people to do? It's very easy to throw out a shallow statement like yours, but when you have a strong opinion about a huge problem like my country has now, you should maybe suggest a solution?
ReplyDeleteAs a simple citizen in your own country, how much power do you have to change a given situation? I've lived in Israel and have heard people speak very resentfully about the political problems there and specifically about the age-old conflict of yours with the palestinians, but what does the goverment do? Raise a wall. When it comes to corruption, the Israeli state is no stranger. Now Guy, I could write a similar rant about what I think about all this, but do I have a solution to the Palesinian problem or to the corruption in the beautiful state of Israel?. Well, no I don't and therefore I keep my deadly truths to myself.
Israel is fucked up in so many ways, you don't have to tell me, I know. I wrote about it before. However, I have no doubt that if Iceland had 10% of the problems Israel is facing everyday, this island was probably been empty by now, they were all gone to Sweden...
ReplyDeleteBtw, do all the Icelanders who protest against Israel has a solution? I wonder what it is...
Anyway, I don´t have a solutions. I´m not a politician. I don´t get paid to come up with solutions, there enough people who sit on their asses, warming chairs in the parliament who this is exactly their job to come up with solution (and maybe not put us into to trouble in the first place). They fucked up. I have the right to say it. The king is naked! does it means I can't say it if I don't have clothes for him to wear?
People need to do something while their leaders keep running still. Maybe that's what Iceland needs. A real leader. Here you go, a possible solution.
I checked your site and I see that you live in Iceland. Yet you seem so out of touch with everything that is happening there that it blows my mind. Not to mention that you are making sweeping generalizations with nothing to back up your statements with and you also have your facts all screwed up.
ReplyDeleteYou say that Icelanders are scared. Of what? I am still trying to figure out exactly what you mean. You are presenting a picture of the general population being spineless while the whole world has watched the riots and protests that have happened there and how people are sticking it to the banks and the government. Scared? I don't see it. You say people are meeting the situation with silence. This is far from the raw anger I experienced there while I was there in December. Has it dawned on you
that it was the defiance of the people that made the president decide to put a lid on the so called Icesave laws? How does that fit in with your picture of people running scared and not doing anything?
Your factual blunder:
"two years have passes since this woman (give me hope Johanna) took over and now what?"
Her government took over on the first of February 2009 which puts it barely past a year in my book. However, in your distorted picture of Iceland, it might not be the same.
You also state: "Icelanders still can't buy forgein currency...". Again, a sweeping generalization as you make it sound like an Icelander that is going abroad can't buy the currency of the country that he is travelling to. This is, again, factually incorrect.You are not totally wrong here but you are not entirely right either.In your context this comes out all wrong, like you are looking for more generalizations to help fuel your weak arguments.
And my last question: Why should Icelanders really give a damn about your blog and what you say? It seems like you do nothing but criticize the people and the
nation in very general terms: You compare us to sheep rolling our eyes looking for grass, you generally state that Icelanders are scared, spineless, that we don't care about the situation. Then you state that no Icelander will
read your blog because it is in English, almost like you want us to look like an ignorant bunch of monkeys that won't read anything if it isn't in Icelandic. What planet are you coming from?
Well, I can tell you three things: It almost looks like you were drunk when you wrote your entry as the "English" you used can also be considered raping the language. Second, Icelanders won't bother with this blog post because of the lack of decent factual content (not because it is written in "English") and third, if you want to read a real blog about the situation in Iceland, written in English and loved by foreigners as well as Icelanders, go visit http://icelandweatherreport.com.
At least there you will find factual content presented in a professional manner by a person who is "on top" of the situation in Iceland, with mostly thoughtful debates and comments.
And a last note, when you write "They wont openly talk about thieves withing their own communities, withing their country..." then it makes me wonder if it isn't _you_ that they don't want to openly talk to?? Given your views, generalizations and factual inaccuracies, I wouldn't be surprised if Icelanders passed on the opportunity to debate with you.
Dear Dabbi,
ReplyDeleteWhile I was reading your comment a weird thought crossed my mind:
"Maybe I should ask her to volunteer to write a weekly column for My deadly truths...It would probably be boring but at least the facts will be straight."
Saying that people are stupid might sound like generalization to you, but if you think about it for a sec, it's not. To some degree all people are stupid. Even you and me.
I have nothing personal against Icelanders, of course. They are cool people, even cold, but I love them or at least some of them. You see, I managed to escape generalizations pretty well this time.
Throwing fucks and knifes on the parliament building is maybe an extreme act for Icelanders, but considering the actions that were made by some of Althingi members, it's like trying to kill an elephant with a needle. As of today, not counting the protesters who got arrested, how many Icelanders payed the prices for the crisis?
About the Iceland Weather Report, it's a great blog. Alda is a real pro and compare to her I'm the Perez Hilton of Icelandic bloggers. But thanks anyway for mentioning us both at the same time.
You know, You raised some good points in you comment. It looks like you really gave a damn about my blog, not like most Icelanders that wont give a damn. At least you were right about that.
I was going to ignore your blog entry but then I read your post on the lack of recognition for the International Holocaust Day in Iceland. So I don't think your blog is all worthless. But then I read your entry called "Self Made ambassador" and I wondered: "Why doesn't this guy get off his ass and do something about this? Isn't that after all what an ambassador should be doing?". But you see, it is easy to be a complaining, criticising passenger instead of howling into action every time things are not the way they should be. So maybe you fit right in with the rest of the spineless Icelanders in Iceland :)
ReplyDeleteIf provoking self righteous persons like you isn't enough, I don't know what else can you expect from a self made ambassador.
ReplyDeleteBesides, do you know what is even more pathetic then my rants? people who are ranting on the rants.
Dear Guy ,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this very interesting article.
I totally agree with you:
1-Iceland is definitely a great country, Icelanders are undoubtedly a unique people.
2-One cannot deny that, in the countryside, people are really scared to denounce what you were right to call "corruption". Nobody dares to talk openly about it because they seem to be paralyzed with fear. Why ? Simply because a group of people controls the whole economy and prevents anybody else to compete with them. That's what we call an oligopoly. Of course, in Iceland, we are dealing with the fishing industry, which is the biggest and least open -(by definition)- oligopoly I had ever seen.
This group of people have in their hands the economical and political powers. That is the reason why the rest of the population (that does not belong to the oligopoly) is so afraid of talking. This very well-known reaction is called Omerta.
I, myself, tried to denounce the disgusting corruption recently. But, to my great surprise, nobody dared to express themselves about it. That's what I called a " deafening silence". From that moment onwards, I realized how powerful the mafia system was. I found it disgusting and it affected me deeply.
You are so right when you write "They wont openly talk about thieves within their own communities, withing their country because they were silently terrorized for way too long"
3- I think you should give a chance to the newly elected government. It takes time to clean the stables .
4-People here should realize that the only way out is, firstly, to put to prison, those who broke the laws (corrupt MPs, businessmen, ...) That is the first step. Once the baddies are in jail, the good people will realize that the mafia is not so powerful.
Then, the quota system, which is so unfair, has to be entirely done away with.
The only way for Iceland to bring more competition into the system and dismantle the mafia is to join as quickly as possible the EU.
That's my point of view.
I, myself, have nothing to fear and I could not look at myself in a mirror in the morning if I did not denounce this disgusting situation.
Thank you, Guy, for courageous analysis. As foreigners living in Iceland, we all experienced how difficult it is to speak openly about politics. Some say they have no interest in it, others answer they just do not want to speak about it with you. As a matter of fact, your analysis sounds great and I totally agree with you: many people are scared, scared about losing the few things oligarchs leave them, about losing privileges they enjoy, about talking and being banned with that noisy silence. Yes, that noisy silence that makes us desperate to find true friends here to talk to. People hearing without listening, people talking without speaking, the poets sang a few decades ago.
ReplyDeleteJournalists claim Iceland is still a rich country... A rich country where workers in the fish factories earn less than the social benefits in many countries. A rich country when you do not seem allowed to answer something else than "Fínt bara" when one asks how you are.
Still, we are not good, not happy to live in villages where a few families, mostly related to fish, own everything, not happy to know we are not supposed to talk about those things.
Thank you, Guy!
Thanks for your replies.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised that the people who supported this blog aren't Icelanders.
Icelanders have all the reasons mentioned above to not reply unless they try to blindly defend their country by attacking the person who speaks. Ad hominem.
too darn sad
ReplyDeleteVery good topic you've chosen to write about, Guy.
ReplyDeleteYou write about governemnt corruption in Iceland. But you could just as easily make the same arguments and simply change the name of the counrty to The United States and tell the exact same story.
And you reply to, eyji67 was exactly right too. It's not your job to have the solutions. That's the job of the politician who told us he had the answers. All we had to do was vote for them and they'd take care of it.
It's your job, Guy, to point it out when they don't follow through and to bring out in the open.
You're doing your part and you're doing it well...
You are a beautiful man. I've missed you lately. I wish I had seen this post six days ago. Anyway, I will read more about Iceland so that I will be more informed. I hope I am still in the running for Kansas' ambassador to Iceland. And I'm sure Kevin will support my nomination for you as Iceland's ambassador to Kansas.
ReplyDeletewell now the volcano woke up after 200 years !:(
ReplyDeleteHello Guy, please give Gudrun a hug for me! I was looking for her on facebook but can't find her...found this article instead. I must say that if I didn't know you were talking about Iceland, i might think you were talking about my hometown in Michigan, or anywhere in the U.S. it seems where corruption equates the government. If you want an idealic society, build a spaceship and head for a new planet =-)
ReplyDelete