Reykjavík Grapevine - sep. 2020, Blaðsíða 4

What Are Icelanders
Talkin# About?
The stories blowin! up
the comments sections
Words: Andie Sophia Fontaine Photos: Adobe Stock & Art Bicnick
The hottest topic right now is the
same one that has been holding
headlines hostage for months:
the coronavirus and
Iceland’s response to it.
Earlier this month, chief epide-
miologist !órólfur Gu"nason
announced that there would be
some relaxation of the domestic
restrictions that are currently in
place, but border restrictions will
remain unchanged for now. Mean-
while, a new poll conducted by the
Social Sciences Department of the
University of Iceland shed light on
Icelandic attitudes to the social
restrictions, both domestically
and at the border. Turns out, most
Icelanders are either satisfied with
the current restrictions or want to
see them tightened further. Bear in
mind this poll was taken before the
domestic restrictions were relaxed.
Popular Instagrammer and
sheep farmer Pálína Axelsdót-
tir Njar"vík awoke one morning
to find she had lost an inordinate
amount of followers. The cause was
not some problematic post about
race or politics. Instead, the drop
in followers came on the heels of
a lovely photo of her and her girl-
friend snuggling, with the caption
indicating they were celebrat-
ing two years together. Granted,
correlation isn’t causation, but the
correlation in this case strongly
suggests causation. As hard as it
may be to believe, yes, homophobia
exists, even here in Queer Paradise
Iceland™.
Iceland is on Greenwich
Mean Time (see Ask An Histo-
rian on page 6 to learn why), but
if you consult a time zone map,
it’s pretty obvious that Iceland
belongs in GMT -1; perhaps even
GMT -2 in the most western areas
of the country. For years, Iceland-
ers have debated whether or not to
change the clocks and the Ministry
of Health concluded in 2018 that
Iceland’s strange position on the
time zone map actually affected
peoples’ health—most notably,
these effects include the increased
chance of disease, worse schooling
results, increased depression and
tiredness. Nonetheless, the Prime
Minister’s office decided early this
month that we are staying put in
GMT. This has prompted all kinds
of speculation, with many Iceland-
ers attributing the decision to pres-
sure from Icelandair, the tourism
industry and other forces of capital.
Conservatives in Reykjavík City
Council have proposed bringing
self-driving buses to Iceland’s
capital. Their reasoning basically
boils down to two points: 1. Other
cities are doing it, and 2. it would
be cool. The first point is uncontro-
versial and the second is a matter
of opinion. What hasn’t been
answered however is what Reykja-
vík area bus drivers would do for a
living instead, especially as tourism
isn’t exactly booming right now.
Maybe they can all collect unem-
ployment insurance—the bane of
conservatives across Iceland.
4The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 07— 2020First
NEWS
Nuanced & relateable photoillustration courtesy of trusty Adobe Stock
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