Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2009, Page 2

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2009
Cover Photo:
Hörður Sveinsson
hordursveinsson.com
Printed by Landsprent ehf. in 25.000 copies.
The Reykjavík Grapevine
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Editor:
Haukur S Magnússon
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Florian Zühlke / f lorian@grapevine.is
Sindri Eldon
Marc Vincenz / mysticmarc@gmail.com
Ian Watson
Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl
Dr. Gunni
Hildur Knútsdóttir
Hugleikur Dagsson
Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
Ragnar Jón Hrólfsson
Quentin Bates
Bergrún Anna Hallsteinsdóttir
Joe Shooman
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The Reykjavík Grapevine is published 18
times a year by Fröken ltd. Monthly from
November through April, and fortnightly
from May til October. Nothing in this
magazine may be reproduced in whole or
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You may not like it, but at least it's not
sponsored. (No articles in the Rey-
kjavík Grapevine are pay-for articles.
The opinions expressed are the writers’
own, not the advertisers’).
For some reason, I don’t have a lot to say
this time around. No witty comments or
clever analyses to espouse. If there ever
were any. However, I did recently receive
an interesting letter from a friend of the
Grapevine’s. I dug what it said, so I asked
Friend if I could print it. Friend said it
was alright, as long as long as I didn’t
give out her name. So I translated it for
you all to read. Here it is:
“Dear Haukur and the Grapevine
crew,
How are you guys? It seems like I
haven’t seen you all in ages, even if it’s
only been a couple of months since I left
the country. How are things anyway? I
like keeping up with what’s happening
on your website, and I do read the paper
on line. You guys have been doing an OK
job since I left. I like a lot of what you
print; it makes me feel like I’m back at
KB, browsing through a fresh copy over a
cold one. Also, the letters are always fun.
Good to see Andy Saur is back in action.
Anyway. I was reading over your
last editorial (from issue 11) and I felt
the urge to share some of my thoughts
with you, something you said there really
resonated with me and sort of made me
reflect on why I left in the first place and
my feelings about the whole collapse
thing.
I understand why you got bored of
covering that, by the way. It’s a boring,
boring topic. And you do get angry when
you think about it. Pissed off, in fact.
Anyway, the following passage struck
a cord with me especially, when you
say that: “...what we have is the result of
what the majority of us asked for, what
the majority of us voted for, approved
of, condoned and cheered on. Not me,
ever, but that’s how democracy works. [...]
it’s not like they weren’t being warned,
again and again. It’s not like our corrupt
system wasn’t evidently and obviously so
– it was. Probably still is.”
As I said, it made me think pretty
hard about why I chose to leave, and why
I’m not sure I’ll be returning anytime
soon. All of the sudden it dawned on
me that I’ve been feeling out of step
with Icelandic society and its values for
a long, long time. It’s not that I don’t like
the people or our general way of going
about things – I really do. I like the can-
do spirit, the go-for-it attitude, the not
thinking anything through, necessarily.
The crazy scramble to finish a job,
staying up for a week working hours on
end before stumbling out and getting
drunk for another week.
I like how people are kind of rude, how
they bump into you and how not every
single person you meet tries to make
small talk and exchange meaningless
banter, feigning a smile and an interest
in who you are and what you’re doing
for two seconds (this is an especially
popular activity here in the US). I like the
landscape and our schools and our TV
shows that aren’t reality TV shows.
So it’s nothing like that. I like the
people, and I am proud of a lot of what
we as a nation have stood for over the
years. I am by no means a self-hating
Icelander (if such a thing even exist, I
feel we may be too full of ourselves to
ever appreciate the subtle art of self-hate).
I just feel hopelessly out of step. And I’ve
felt that way for a long time. I feel no
one out there is speaking on my behalf.
I feel my own views and opinions, my
values and needs, that they haven’t been
represented in public life by... by anyone.
For as long as I can remember, for all of
my 27 years. Nothing. And those who try
and speak them or something of the like
get laughed off the stage or ignored.
Remember: every single person who
opposed privatisation and corporate
interest and smelting and didn’t
necessarily like where we were headed
as a society back in the nineties and
early 2000s – they were laughed off or
ignored. Or considered jealous or crazy.
“Do you want to return to the trawler?”
They’d say. “Do you think we can live off
eating grass and mountain herbs?”
(What’s ironic here is that the policies
those people supported have brought us
closer to working on a trawler, eating
mountain herbs, than anyone even
thought possible).
I haven’t supported any of the
governments we’ve had since I started
following politics back in 1993. Not a
one.
I mean, fuck. It’s like every single
decision made by every single ruling
party in Iceland has been in direct
opposition with my views on the subject.
Every time! They built Smáralind.
Everyone loves it. I don’t love it. I hate
it. They tried their best to demolish our
social welfare system. They privatized
everything to fuck. They make silly
highways all over the city that make it
impossible to get around on foot or bike.
They hunt whale. They build aluminium
smelters. They give tax breaks for
corporations and banksters. They... they
declared war on Iraq! Fucking Iceland
fucking declared war on a sovereign
nation!
Their favourite singer is Bubbi (or
maybe Bono), their favourite food is KFC
or McDonalds and their favourite show is
Icelandic American Idol.
So yeah, I’m glad I left. It’s not that
things are much better here in the
US – believe me they are NOT. USA
also loves Bono and McDonalds and
American Idol, and they also declared
war on Iraq. But at least there are many.
many people living. This makes room for
diversity of opinion, it enables someone
like myself to identify with a group of
people numbering in the hundreds of
thousands. I feel part of something, and
I feel free to form my own opinions and
identity. I feel they are respected, even by
those that do not agree. This is important
to me.
I don’t know what any of this means,
or why I decided to write and share this
with you. I guess I just felt like voicing
my opinion for once. And I do miss a
lot of things about home (including you
guys).
See you soon,”
Editorial | Haukur Magnússon
Haukur’s 12th Editorial!
An Expat Writes
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