Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.12.2018, Blaðsíða 56

L IF E , T R AV EL & EN T ER TA INMEN T IN ICEL A ND
Issue 21 × 2018
Dec 7th—Jan 3rd
www.grapevine.is
LAST WORDS
Outraged By
Outrage
Words: Andie Fontaine
To follow the cycle of public discussion in Ice-
land when any of our elected officials get up
to something horrible, you could be forgiven
for thinking that rich white men are Ice-
land’s most protected class. The angrier the
general public gets about revelations of cor-
ruption and abuse within the halls of power,
the louder certain voices will get that scold
the nation for being too angry, too strongly-
worded, and generally making too big a deal
out of this whole thing.
The ongoing Klaustur scandal is a text-
book example of this. The recording revealed
six members of Parliament speaking in an
abusive and demeaning manner about their
female colleagues, about the disabled and the
queer, and openly bragging about quid pro
quo corruption. The defensiveness and half-
assed apologies of these politicians surprised
no one, but the behaviour was unacceptable
to thousands of Icelanders, and the latest
polls show that the vast majority of them
want these six to resign.
As this momentum began to build, it
wasn’t long before Icelandic popular figures
began to grumble about the level of public
outrage. ‘Haven’t we all said terrible things
after a few beers?’, they said. A popular radio
show host fretted and blustered about wheth-
er or not the public is being too sensitive. One
middle-grade television host went so far as to
say that people should be “ashamed”.
Ironically, these are often the same voices
who ardently defend free speech, but in a
very one-sided way. To them, free speech
is only important for the powerful; when
those without power criticise the speech of
the powerful, it magically transforms from
being speech to being “bullying”—how the
powerless can bully the powerful is never
explained.
We would do well to remember that the
powerful are only in their positions by our
own graces. Criticising the powerful is never
bullying and should never be something to
be ashamed of. Our democracy depends on
holding those we lift into power accountable.
Being scolded for exercising this democratic
duty is ludicrous, but unfortunately a recur-
ring element of any current event discussion
in Iceland.
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