Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.02.2007, Blaðsíða 4

0_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 0_007_INTERVIEW/POLITICS
Award winning journalist Eric Weiner has
seen a lot of the world. His post as a foreign
correspondent for respected U.S. radio sta-
tion NPR (National Public Radio) has brought
him to over fifty countries, as far as Tokyo
and New Delhi, covering a wide range of
topics including growing tensions in Iraq and
the rise of the Taliban movement in Afghani-
stan. Now on leave from some of his journal-
istic duties, Weiner is researching a book he
has in the works, entitled ‘The Geography of
Bliss – One Grump’s Search for the Happiest
Places in the World’. And the self-proclaimed
grump’s search brought him to Iceland for
two weeks this January.
/// What inspired your search for the
happiest places on Earth? And what
does such a search entail?
One reason is that I’ve been visiting a lot
of places where bad things are happening,
which is what you do as a foreign correspon-
dent. I saw some amazing things, but it’s a
depressing job, because by definition you’re
pretty much going to places where people
are unhappy. Where they’re killing one an-
other, dying of disease. And if you go to a
happy country, you look for the tensions,
where things are falling apart. That’s where
journalism is; we’re negatively oriented.
And this gets depressing. About a year
ago, I thought to myself, why am I travel-
ling halfway around the world to interview
people that are more miserable than myself,
which is basically what I do for a living. So I
thought, what if I spent a year only travelling
to the happiest countries and got a publisher
to pay me for it? That’s what I’ve been doing,
travelling to about a dozen countries, trying
to figure out if they really are happy. If A,
the surveys and ‘science of happiness’ are
right. B, if so, then why? And C, if there are
any lessons for the rest of us, for America, in
terms of what they’re doing in Iceland, Swit-
zerland or India; are there any life lessons to
be found there. It’s like flipping journalism
over, I’m actually looking for the good stuff
in the country.
Where has your trip taken you, and
why? And why Iceland?
I’ve visited, or will visit, The Netherlands,
Switzerland, Iceland, Indian Bhutan, Thai-
land, Qatar, Moldova – the least happy coun-
try in the world, by the way, I went there
for comparison. All these happy places were
getting me down, so I went to Moldova and
I can tell you, they’re really unhappy there.
When I go someplace, I’ll pose the question,
could I be happy here? I try not to behave
like a tourist, but not like a journalist either.
So I set up shop here and pretended to live
here for a couple of weeks, not doing tour-
isty things. Also, I’ll do some reporting in the
U.S., look at America, why people move to
certain cities, and why they are considered
the most liveable.
And that’s all based on…?
I partly base my criteria on happiness re-
search. I am in Iceland mainly because the
surveys consistently show that Iceland ranks
as one of the top three happy countries in
the world. Denmark scores a little higher,
but I thought Iceland was more interesting,
and it’s more counter-intuitive. Iceland is a
more interesting country than Denmark, and
then you have the artistic scene, which you
really don’t have in Denmark to such an ex-
tent. You’ve got some weird characters too,
strange people that make for some interest-
ing stories.
Take Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, who I just
met for the second time. He’s a musical com-
poser and head of the Ásatrúar sect. He’s a
character, in a good way. Here’s a guy that
composes the most amazing musical scores
for Hollywood, and he’s also a heathen. In
America that has really negative connota-
tions, but over here it’s just another religion
and respected as such. He was interesting, as
was just about everyone I’ve met, you know.
You meet a lot of people who’ve done like
five different things and their CV is all over
the place. I think that’s common in Iceland,
and when investigating what makes Iceland-
ers happier I think one of the main differ-
ences lies in that, the flexibility in careers you
see here.
The possibility of change?
Yeah, you don’t get pigeonholed here, and
you can always start over. And you can fail.
That’s a big thing I’ve discovered here, that
failure is always an option. And it seems that
Icelanders like failures, people who have
failed, the heroic failure. Not that they want
to fail, but it’s OK to fail.
Wouldn’t that be a result of the Social
Democratic system that has been preva-
lent in Scandinavia, and is rather on the
decline?
Yeah, that is a part of it. Is the trend towards
fewer benefits these days? Even still, com-
pared to the U.S., you’re working with a net.
We’re working without one. Ironically, Amer-
ica is supposed to be the land of opportunity
and risk-takers, but the system is actually set
up to discourage risks, to discourage some-
one from quitting their job at the insurance
company to become an artist, because then
they won’t have health insurance and a net.
But I don’t think the differences in welfare
systems tell the whole story.
There’s also the familial safety net.
That’s true. One of the people I interviewed
told me that in Iceland you never fall into a
black hole, and this is true. There is a sense
of belonging that other countries don’t have,
and I think that’s a source of happiness for
people. It may get a bit claustrophobic at
times, but then that’s what you have the air-
port in Keflavík for, so you can get out. I think
there’s a reason why Iceland is happier at this
moment of time instead of twenty years ago,
you’re wealthier and there’s a freedom of
movement that maybe wasn’t here for your
parents’ generation.
So you’ve concluded that Icelanders ac-
tually are happier?
Yes. Statistically, you have a good combina-
tion of capitalistic opportunities and a social
safety net. You’re halfway between the U.S.
and Europe, geographically, of course, but
also in other ways. Culturally. You have the
American can-do attitude and entrepreneur-
ial spirit, which a lot of European countries
lack, and you have the social safety net.
Not to say that those things cancel
each other out, but we certainly don’t
have the same amount of social safety
we used to. The extremes are growing.
Someone will take a chance and suc-
ceed, and that will move them further
away from the general population…
Next thing you know they’re flying in Elton
John to perform at their birthday! That’s a
good point, that’s why I think happiness is a
fluid thing and there is such a thing as geog-
raphy of happiness, it’s geography and points
in time. And Iceland, maybe you’re enjoying
the success of five or ten years ago. People
and nations tend to be their happiest when
about to achieve something great, not when
they’ve already achieved it. Afterwards, you
feel a bit lost; you don’t know what to do
next. Right before, that’s a good place to
be, and maybe you’ve already passed that
curve.
Then again, Reykjavík is a good place to
be young and artistically inclined right
now, bursting with energy, some say.
Definitely, and that’s what I’ve been trying
to answer, first of all: does that contribute to
happiness? And yes, the artistic scene con-
tributes to it, but why?
Couldn’t you just as well say that having
a safe and happy nation would contrib-
ute to the artistic scene?
That’s true. I’ve heard a lot of answers; that
sense of safety, that it’s OK to fail, the his-
tories and the Sagas, which give people
firm ground to stand on, and the land itself,
which for someone like Hilmarsson provides
a lot of inspiration. The land shapes the cul-
ture, and I think the people in 101 Reykjavík
still have that element of the fisherman in
them, however far removed. But those are
all fuzzy concepts.
I’ve chosen three words to frame my
trip to Iceland: small, dark and hip. The dark
would be the winter, which some people hate
and others claim to thrive on, citing a beauty
to the cold, dark winter. This was surprising,
as the American concept of paradise is more
along the lines of a tropical beach. The small
part is, then, the family ties and connections,
that village feel, which has some negative
sides too. And there’s the hipness, this cre-
ative thing. Why are there so many writers,
filmmakers and artists here? There are cer-
tain periods of history that are hotbeds of
creativity, ancient Greece, Florence, maybe
Reykjavík in the nineties was a place like that,
everything was lined up and the right scene
for creativity was born. Overall, I’d say that
you guys are happier than you think you are.
You take care not to say it too loudly.
But you’ve been interviewing a very
specific portion of the population, art-
ists and journalists, mainly, rather than
the farmers and factory workers.
Yes, I have. I’m not trying to be comprehen-
sive, and I haven’t gone to villages and talked
to fishermen. I’ve talked to the people who
work at my hotel, but you’re right, I am look-
ing at a slice of the demography. But I still
think that underlying with anyone I’ve talked
to is a good, positive and mentally healthy
attitude. You have all the ingredients; you’re
a wealthy country, a fairly humanitarian one,
a creative one... It’s sort of like all the stars
are lined up for a happy country.

The Joy of Failing Miserably, or:
Why Icelanders Really Are Happy
Text by Haukur Magnússon Photo by Gulli
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