Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2009, Side 4

Sour grape of the month
A case of POLAR BEER for your thoughts.
We're not gonna lie to you: we really love us some beers. Some folks
would call it a problem, but beer never gave us any problems. In fact,
over the years, it's solved most of 'em. A frosty glass of cold, frothy,
bubblicious, golden-tinted beer has consistently failed to let us down.
In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson: "Mmm... Beer..."
Now, since we're real pleasant and giving folks here at the Grapevine,
we thought we'd share some of that wonderful POLAR BEER with
you, our readers. Henceforth, until the end of days (or our Polar Beer-
sponsorship program, whichever comes first), we will reward one
MOST EXCELLENT LETTER with a case of the Polar Beer. You read
right. A full case of beer. At your disposal.
Give us your worst: letters@grapevine.is
(light)
Say your piece, voice your opinion,
send your letters to
letters@grapevine.is
4
Letters
MOST AWESOME LETTER:
Sour grapes
and stuff
Good afternoon,
Just returned from a great hiking trip to Iceland where I came upon your excellent
paper.
I read with interest your article on the difficulties people encounter in legally
emmigrating to Iceland. While interesting, the article omitted one crucial
element: there is no universal right to live in whichever country one wishes. I
realize that the concept of citizenship may be lost to a new generation of globally
minded individuals, but citizenship and the accompanying right to live in a country
is tied to more than a parochial sense of identity. With citizenship comes a number
of rights (e.g. voting, social services) and responsibilities (e.g. paying taxes, obeying
laws) that are fundamental to the fabric of a nation's political, economic and social
identity, development and overall well-being.
Furthermore, it's also important to underscore that Iceland's immigration laws
are no more strigent than most other European Union states. In fact, I thought it
a bit rich to read commentary from three American citizens who fell ill-treated by
Iceland immigration system when immigrating or moving for professional reasons
to the US is no picnic for most people since 9/11.
I think its marvelous that people love Iceland so much they wish to live there,
but to characterise negatively Iceland's immigration system is unfair and, frankly,
not realistic.
p.s. if this qualifies for the case of Polar, well, keep it for yourself and have it my
honour.
Michael A. O'Neill, Ph.D
Sessional Lecturer/Chargé de cours
Political Science/Sciences politiques
University of/Université d'Ottawa
Dear Michael,
Thank you for your informative and well put letter/ Merci de votre instructif et
bien mit la lettre.
Yours is without a doubt this issue’s MOST AWESOME LETTER. You had us at
“keep it for yourself.”/ Votre lettre est sans un dute notre plus AWESOME LETTRE.
Vous nous avez à "gardez-le pour vous-même."
All fun aside, this is an interesting topic to ponder. If the concept of citizenship,
as well as the concept of the nation-state is dead to a new generation of globally
minded individuals, as you suggest, is it maybe time to seriously reconsider them?
After all, they are mere constructs, and thus dependent on us for survival. It’s
like in the Neverending Story or something. If we quit believing in them, they go
away.
Perhaps, there is a better way? Gosh, I hope so.
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Hi.
My wife and I went to Iceland last month
(August) and had a good time. One thing
that I noticed is that everywhere I went #2:
hotel, public toilet, etc. the toilet paper was
stiff and hard like a piece of paper that my
third grade teacher would pass out for do-
ing math problems. Is this the norm, or
just saving money and using the cheap stuff
for foreigners and people out and about?
I'll admit that when I was in Bonus I didn't
"squeeze the Charmin" so to speak. Just
curious if I could make a killling starting a
soft-toilet paper export business.
Ben
Dear Ben,
thank you for your letter.
I think I speak on behalf of the entire Icelan-
dic nation in saying, in the immortal words
of Ol’ Dirty Bastard:
“Oooh, baby, I like it raw.”
Dear grapevine,
I am writing in response to your immi-
gration article. You define Realative, ''as a
dependant child or parent'' as does the im-
migration office. to clear that up here is a
personal example that I find funny:
My daughter is Icelandic. I do not qual-
ify because she is a child and cannot apply
for me until she is eighteen. I was married
to her father but as soon as we divorced it
became increasingly difficult for me to stay
here. I left the country for 9 months and was
almost deported when I returned. It didnt
seem to matter that my 8 year old was de-
pendant on me, the law only provides for an
aging parent dependant on a citzen. It also
doesnt matter that I have paid taxes here
for the last nine years according to the im-
migration office I have only been here for a
year. I speak Icelandic. I fill all the require-
ments for appyling for citizenship or per-
manant residency execpt being married to
an Icelander.
With one divorce under my belt I no lon-
ger believe in marriage. Where does it leave
me? I reapply year by year for a temporry
permit to work and live here but each year it
is a fight. I cannot vote. I cannot recieve un-
employment or welfare benefits like other
single mothers recieve or student loans. I
doubt if seriously ill that I wouldnt be asked
to pay for my care.
So if you are sure that this is the way you
want to treat us I prefer to have that fraction
of tax that I pay for unemployment welfare
and healthcare refunded to me. Lets be fair
about this.
It should be of note that a few years back
the senator,Jónína Bjartmarz, secured an
Icelandic citizenship for her daughter in law
shortly after her arrival in Iceland. She did
not fullfill any of the requirements nor did
she speak the Icelandic language. It is a slap
in the face.
So again its not what you know but who
you know in Iceland.
b.r. neal
Dear B,
thank you so much for your letter. It is a
pleasure to run. We need stories like yours to
demonstrate how utterly out of touch some
of the people running the system are.
Seriously. I wrote that without any hesita-
tion. The stories that occasionally reach us at
the Grapevine are enough to completely con-
vince one that some of the people running
the system are completely and utterly out of
touch with both reality and humanity.
Oh, of course they have their stringent
rules to rely on, to lay back on – where would
the modern bureaucrat be without rules to
guide his every action. We wouldn’t want our
bureaucrats running around making deci-
sions of their own, lord knows they’re prob-
ably not qualified to anyway. Also, it would
make for a random and unreliable system.
“There have to be rules.”
Still, you’ve got to question the merits of
a system that in every case fails to take the
individual and his situation into consider-
ation, unless, of course, he is in some way
connected to a member of government.
Hi, I dont know if it is too late but I just
wanted to writte you a few words about your
last issue 101.
I'm from Iceland and Ive been living
in swsitzerland for my whole life. I always
came to iceland on holiday during the sum-
mer or at Chrismas. And the thing I always
read here was grapevine. Now with your
last issue you put all the past covers and it
was funny because I remembered every one
when I was here and the great partys we had
during that time . really cool
The thing I didnt like was in the article
about aids. The writter or an intervenant
talks about aids vs. diabetes . I really think
we shouldnt make a "diesease ranking".
Personnally I think it depends on each per-
sonne and how every one reacts. because
what is easier to talk about aids vs sclerose
? aids vs cancer ? diabetes vs ... I think its
a lack of respect against the single human
beeing. I mean you can see a guy kill him-
self because of anything.
Ok its not really glamourous to talk
about that but I wanted to give My opinion.
I appriciate your work . peace,
Edvald Thorsson
Dear Edvald,
Thank you for your letter. It is good to
know you drew some enjoyment from our
totally narcissistic and self-centred 101st
issue. We certainly had our fun making it,
being self-centred, narcissistic magazine-
geeks.
As for your beef with Catharine Fulton’s
HIV article, I think you’re actually misunder-
standing what was said there. The individual
quoted was merely trying to explain that the
AIDS virus is, for some, still enshrouded in
shame, even though there is nothing shame-
ful at all about it. It’s a disease, same as any
other disease. Diabetes included.
Diseases are generally bad; I think we all
agree on that. Oh, I’m sure there are some
cool diseases out there, if you look hard
enough. Like HULK-disease, or Spiderman-
disease or any of those diseases that turn
folks into superheroes. Those seem pretty
cool. In any case, I am not interested in par-
ticipating in any debates that have to do with
the hierarchy of disease.