Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2008, Blaðsíða 8

08 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 06 2008 | Opinion
The Below is True:
– A reporter should strive to be fair and balanced.
– He should never let his own views and opinions
colour his reports, articles or interviews.
– And he should strive to always include every
relevant viewpoint in a report, so that his readers
may make an enlightened, informed decision as
to where they stand on a given subject.
– And he should always give his subject the benefit
of the doubt, no matter how contrived, conceited
or downright dumb his views may be. If they are
indeed contrived, conceited and dumb, if they are
plainly wrong, self-serving or hurtful, the reader
will be able to figure that out by himself.
The above is true, and it should be self-
evident, even though it is not always practiced
by every member of the press. As a sometimes-
reporter, I try and go by it, and it’s usually pretty
easy. Sometimes it’s difficult, however. Say when
conducting a Q&A with a person that’s presenting
a view that at its core goes against everything I
believe, in a way that my conscience finds poten-
tially harmful. A Q&A whose format doesn’t allow
for you to invite adversaries to comment or reply
to what’s being stated as truth.
As a reporter, you let your subjects speak
their minds, then subject them to the esteemed
reader’s judgement, letting them dig their own
graves if they want to. That should be that, but
what if you are dealing with a master rhetorician,
one who says one thing whilst clearly implying
another. One who seems clearly interested in fan-
ning certain flames, say, for his own purposes, but
doing so in such a vague and fuzzy manner that
he can never be called on it.
As a reporter, I have occasionally come
across people who clearly presented foul agen-
das that they couldn’t be called on, because they
knowingly refuse to call a spade a spade. Hah.
And sometimes, I’ve had no choice but to
let their quotes stand unchallenged, hoping that
someone will write an intelligent letter to the edi-
tor opposing it in the next issue of whatever pub-
lication has printed it. Sometimes, I have argued
with these people mid-interview – “just say what
we all know you want to say” – and cut it out of the
final story, for I should not present an opinion in
my reports.
But this is an opinion column, not a news
report. So I can allow myself to be as biased and
unfair as I want to. In that grand spirit, here is a list
of things I currently believe, in no particular order,
followed by a much shorter list of things I know to
be true:
List of Things I Believe:
– I believe that people in general are thoughtful
and well intentioned.
– I believe that while the above is true, thoughtful
and well-intentioned people may be manipulated
to support irrational (and sometimes dangerous)
agendas. Just look at advertising, and advertising
psychology. (Sidenote: I also believe “psychologi-
cal methods to sell should be destroyed”).
– I believe this to be especially true when an ap-
parent crisis strikes – when people start fearing
for their livelihoods and safety. An economic one,
for instance.
– I believe fear is a key ingredient in this regard.
– I believe a certain breed of career politician
– the populist, opportunistic kind – will try and
harness the above for the sake of their various ca-
reers and/or agendas.
– I believe that promoting fear and anger in the
general populace for ones own self-serving pur-
poses is not only morally deplorable, I believe that
it is outright evil.
– I believe that you can express overtly racist
views without using overtly racist lingo.
– I likewise believe that you can be a fascist whilst
denouncing fascism, that you can be Nazi without
sporting a swastika.
– I believe that if the Western hemisphere were to
enter an era where fascism, Nazism and racism
were acceptable anew (if it hasn’t already), those
isms would not go under any of their former moni-
kers. That a Hitler for the 21st century, if that fellow
ever shows up, will not necessarily sport a funny
beard and a German accent. Not that I’m calling
anyone a Hitler, mind you.
– Finally, I believe that as my fellow Icelanders
and I were fortunate enough to be born in one of
the most prosperous countries on Earth, we have
a huge responsibility to the millions of humans
who weren’t – and suffer for it every day. I believe
the same goes for the rest of the world’s hyper-
privileged contingent.
List of Things I Know to be True
– It is true that thirty Serbian and Croatian refugees
were welcomed in my hometown of Ísafjörður
back in 1996, during a long and painful bout of
recession for the town, were a fine and welcome
addition to the population. I shared a class with
some of them, and even though a couple had to
go through the trouble of acquainting themselves
with the Western alphabet, none of them have
thus far turned to crime or otherwise tried to tear
down the fabric of our great society.
– It is true that the welcoming of other such groups
of refugees to other such small towns in Iceland
over the last decade has been nothing less than a
complete success.
– It is true that at the time of writing, Iceland is one
of the richest, most prosperous nations on Earth.
– It is nevertheless true that, Iceland’s track record
of welcoming refugees from war-torn or famine
struck regions of the world is deplorable. The na-
tion hasn’t been up to speed in providing aid to
those territories, either.
Text by Haukur S. Magnússon
Australia and Iceland are probably as different as
two countries can be – one big, the other small;
one hot, the other cold; and at the opposite ends
of the world from each other. And yet here I am…
an Aussie girl who has travelled from “down un-
der” to the top of the world on a one-way ticket…
to live in Iceland.
Having already spent five months in Iceland
last year, I feel much more comfortable this time
round. And once I master the language, in about
40 years or so, I will probably feel truly at home
and call myself a ‘local’
Australia and Iceland do have a few things in
common. According to the ´Human Development
Report,́ they are both ranked within the top three
countries in the world with the highest quality of
life, with Norway ranked number one, followed by
Iceland and Australia respectfully. Icelanders and
Australians are also ranked among the happiest
people in the world, according to the ´Internation-
al Happiness Scale.́
So, besides the 25°c, obviously, what is
the difference between Australia and Iceland?
Whilst Australia has sun, surf and sand, Iceland
has mountains, glaciers and most importantly,
no killer spiders, cockroaches or snakes! And for
someone who has a cockroach phobia, that suits
me very well!
There are two big challenges an Aussie (and
I imagine many other foreigners) face when mov-
ing to Iceland – the weather and the language. I
find Icelanders have a strange perspective on the
weather. When the temperature rises above 10
degrees and the sun pokes its head out, people
get rather excited and proclaim that “summer is in
the air.” Whilst in Australia, when the temperature
drops below 25 degrees, people grab their jump-
ers and declare that “winter is just around the cor-
ner!”
It definitely rains a lot more in Iceland than it
does in Australia too. Australia has been gripped
by severe drought for over ten years now, with
water restrictions in place for most of that time.
The restrictions involve things like people being
banned from washing their cars and people not
being allowed to use hoses to water their gardens.
The councils also have extensive advertising cam-
paigns requesting people to “watch every drop”
and suggesting people only have two-minute
showers. So it is very nice to come to Iceland,
where there is an abundance of water, and have
looooong hot showers without feeling guilty! I can
even live on the edge and have both a shower and
a bath if I want!
Considering that it rains quite frequently in
Iceland, I was surprised to see that no one really
uses umbrellas here. I learnt very quickly how-
ever the reason for this. How silly of me to actually
think that rain falls from above! The rain blows in
from every direction… other than from above! It
seems that Icelanders and Aussies have different
terminology for ´wind´ too. What an Aussie would
call ćyclonic winds´ seems to be referred to as á
mild breeze´ here.
The second biggest challenge facing a for-
eigner is the language barrier. I am finding that
learning the Icelandic language is quite “erfiður”
or should that be “erfið” or “erfitt?” What is with
the complicated grammar?! So here is a quick
summary… Nouns are inflected in four cases
(nominative, accusative, dative and genitive) and
in singular and plural form. The same is true for
most pronouns and adjectives. Nouns are also in-
flected in three genders (masculine, feminine or
neutral). Come on, stay with me now! Verbs are in-
flected in three persons (first, second and third),
two numbers (singular and plural), two simple
(non-compound) tenses, three moods (indica-
tive, subjunctive, imperative) and two voices (ac-
tive and medio-passive). Did you get all that? And
that was just Icelandic 101… I was just scratching
the surface!
So let’s do a quick comparison between the
English and Icelandic language then… just for
fun! Let’s use the word “day” for example… just for
fun. In English, in any context, the word can only
be written two ways - day or days (singular and
plural). In Icelandic however, it can be written 16
different ways (depending on the context) - dagur;
dagurinn; dag; daginn; degi; deginum; dags; da-
gins; dagar; dagarnir; daga; dagana; dögum; dö-
gunum; dagar; dagarnna. To a simple foreigner
who speaks English, this makes one feel defeated,
deflated and discouraged. But alas, I have a plan
– foreigners take note! When speaking Icelandic,
say the beginning of a word in a normal tone / vol-
ume, then drop the volume and muffle the last bit
of the word (i.e. by placing your hand in front of
your mouth and/or looking away), so that no-one
can make out if you are saying the grammar cor-
rectly. This way, they hear enough of the word to
pick up the gist of what you are saying, without
laughing at “the stupid foreigner.”
So where to from here for the little Aussie
girl living in Iceland? Can she survive this cold
harsh climate? Can she learn this strange lan-
guage called Icelandic? How will she find her
groove? How will she bring sexy back? …To find
out the answers to these spine-tingling questions,
stay tuned for the next chapter of “Aussie Adven-
tures in Iceland!”
Text by Iris Goemans
One Reporter’s Opinion
“Aussie Adventures in Iceland!”
“In Iceland, when the
temperature rises above
10 degrees and the sun
pokes its head out, peo-
ple get rather excited and
proclaim that ‘summer is
in the air.’ Whilst in Aus-
tralia, when the tempera-
ture drops below 25 de-
grees, people grab their
jumpers and declare that
‘winter is just around the
corner!’”
“This is an opinion col-
umn, not a news report.
So I can allow myself
to be as biased and un-
fair as I want to. In that
grand spirit, here is a list
of things I currently be-
lieve, in no particular or-
der, followed by a much
shorter list of things I
know to be true.”