Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.08.2007, Side 7

1_RVK_GV_13_007_OPINION
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Political discourse is the same universal language, full
of silly fights and childish talk, just like an enormous
kiddie sandbox. And while the former is mainly a cock
fight of various ideals, the other one is just full of piss.
However, both are often just full of crap. Of course,
there are slight differences: take for example City Hall.
From the outside everything seems fancy smancy – yet
on the inside, amongst the quicksand and cesspool of
two-faced political spin, you will find gremlins spouting
their totalitarian political jargon. Sauron, I mean Vilhjál-
mur Vilhjálmsson, the mayor of Reykjavík, has decided
to launch a crusade against the location of ÁTVR (The
State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of Iceland) in
downtown Reykjavík. Vilhjálmur, along with his political
cronies, seems to feel that its presence in the midtown
area attracts all the pariahs and vagabonds. Sounds like
a simple solution – that is, if you ignore the fact that
ÁTVR, although run by the government, is nonetheless
a company and its priorities lie in serving the demands
and needs of its customers.
Perhaps our mayor is more a man of action than
words, somewhat in the mould of the classical 80’s
action hero genre? He is more of a Terminator than
a left leaning liberal hanging on to his soapbox, more
Action Jackson than a cuddler, “more machine than
man”. Call me a commie or liberal or whatever you
damn please, I just think it is strange and very uncouth
that a city official can try to dictate what others wish
to drink. His foray into our civil liberties is despicable.
The man actually has the nerve to write a letter to ÁTVR
and complain that they sell cold beer by the can, not
only in six packs. Perhaps he might be earning points
with fanatical religious suburbanites; I just don’t know
what kind of person condones that sort of behaviour.
And strangely enough, I have not heard or read enough
from the junior league camp of the Independent Party
remonstratively rebuffing this conservative element of
their party; yet the young ones always punctuate the
loudest when somebody from left side of the political
spectrum speaks out about anything.
Nevertheless, I might be young and way too ideal-
istic – but I cannot see how a bum or a drunk would
care about the temperature of their drink. A normal
conversation for dipsomaniacs would not be “Not the
Chateau!”, “Please, pass the white wine, it just goes
so well with this brie I bought” or even “Damn, that
Heineken was so much better cold, my life doesn’t seem
so bleak now”, especially seeing as how their drink of
choice is usually to be found in the drugstore and when
their purse is actually not full of lint you can see them
drinking cheap ass vodka. If people are tired of seeing
bums in the street then they should stop complaining,
because those who complain the loudest are usually the
ones who have their own private chant “See no evil, hear
no evil, just speak some evil”. This hidden problem has
been going on for a long time, because even last year
the police were trying to ban these individuals from sit-
ting on Austurvöllur. And just this summer some of the
residents of Njálsgata were inebriated over their bitter
indignation when they heard about the plan to build a
residence, i.e. a home for people down on their luck,
in their area.
Sadly enough this is not the only attempt by city of-
ficials to try to curb our liberties. Stéfan Eiríksson, chief
of police, is part of this vanguard of the older generation
that just doesn’t seem to get it. His patchy quilt work
of a plan is that the clubs and bars of Reykjavík should
be more scattered around the city and that there could
be sufficient reason for earlier closing times – yet it was
only a short time ago that licensing laws in England were
changed, allowing for around the clock drinking. And
I am pretty sure that if London can handle these open-
ing hours along with the rest of Europe, I don’t think
that the berserker Viking gene should make that much
of a difference. Eiríksson also made the very common
error of trying to say that violence has increased – yet
at the same time a professor of sociology denied that
same charge. Although the thing is, even if violence
has increased, I think you would have to categorize
the statistics by where in the city they happen and the
background of the people committing these offences
– and maybe keeping in mind the fact that you may
have one offender or many committing a majority of
these offences. And for example, a person who goes
clubbing at Sólon is perhaps more likely to start a fight
than say perhaps someone at Kaffibarinn or Sirkus.
Here is another shocker: try comparing Reykjavík with
the nightlife in Keflavík. Almost every weekend you
hear about violence and drugs there, despite the fact
they have a population of 12,000 citizens. Strange, 101
Reykjavík doesn’t seem so shady after reading mbl.is.
The fact is that there will always be other people will-
ing to rain on the parade of others. Some people just like
fighting. It’s just like politics. Mine is bigger than yours
and I am right. While some people on a night out on
the town are more preoccupied by dancing and having
fun with friends – or trying to cop a feel with their new
nightlife partner – there will always be some who suffers
from a heightened sense of emasculation, a rapacious
feeling or need to beat some other male up – an act in
my opinion that borders on homo-eroticism almost akin
to the erastes of Ancient Greece. It seems to be a reverse
pick up line – which by default you obviously cannot
use on girls. Why just on Friday whilst returning home
from a night out I was chastised by two tourists, actually
one. One was admiring the sunrise, while the other one
kept saying “We will fuck you up. Should we fuck him
up?” while I just laughed which resulted in him saying
“We will fuck you up”. It was almost believable, except
for the fact that I was sober, weighed more than them
combined and had just been told how good looking I
was. Cocky, I know. But he did use the word: fuck.
Just don’t let politicians ruin your day. Drink, drink
and be merry or as the great one said “Man, being
reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but in-
toxication”.
Fight for Your Right to Party:
Fight Club
Text by Marvin Lee Dupree
The fact is that there will al-
ways be other people willing
to rain on the parade of oth-
ers. Some people just like fight-
ing. It’s just like politics. Mine
is bigger than yours and I am
right.
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