Iceland review - 2013, Page 78

76 ICELAND REVIEW
POLITICs
anger demonstrated the sensitivity of a small
nation trying to stand on its own feet in a big
world. American money and military protection
were welcomed but the cultural effects were
deemed to be questionable, not to mention
slights on the nation’s prestige.
An uneasy relationship had begun and then
came the Cold War, with more of the same. The
U.S. got its military base at Keflavík but Iceland
was the ‘reluctant ally.’ Occasionally, U.S. officials
would grumble about blackmail and greed as the
Icelandic authorities used and abused the island’s
strategic importance to obtain economic aid and
favorable loans. Still, the U.S. military presence
also came at a cost. It caused great friction in
Icelandic society and the so-called cultural threat
always loomed in the minds of the intelligentsia.
In the 60s, the average Icelander in Keflavík,
Reykjavík and neighboring regions wanted to
discover America through the base TV broad-
casts of Bonanza, Perry Mason, I Love Lucy and
other popular programs. But the authorities
decided that this would pose a dire threat to
Icelandic culture and the transmission signals
were curtailed.
goodByE to icElAnd
The highbrowed struggle against American ‘low
culture’ was always a losing battle. By the 80s,
a private TV station, video rentals and satellite
channels began to revolutionize access to popu-
lar entertainment in Iceland. Also, the worldwide
collapse of communism drastically reduced the
strategic importance of a small island in the
middle of the North Atlantic. The withdrawal
of U.S. forces from Iceland was a protracted
and edgy process that ended with the closure
of the Keflavík base in 2006. Long-standing
supporters of Western defense cooperation in
Iceland were dismayed and disappointed but
the decision-makers in Washington could not
care less. Although the U.S.-Icelandic defense
treaty remains in place and Iceland is a member
of NATO, the strong bond of before is gone. A
sure sign of that appeared in the crisis of 2008
when Icelandic statespersons looked in desperation for help dur-
ing the Iceland-made catastrophe of collapsed banks, currency and
confidence. “The Americans just showed us the finger,” Foreign
Minister of Iceland Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir complained when
nobody in Washington seemed willing to answer frantic phone calls
from Reykjavík, an unthinkable scenario during the days of the
Cold War—the good old days of the Cold War, it’s tempting to say.
homEr’S lEcturE on icElAnd
Then, in early 2013, the Icelanders appeared to be faced with a new
cultural assault, akin to the infamous Iceland movie of 1942. The
writers of The Simpsons had Homer Simpson travel to Iceland with
his buddies, including the African-Icelander Carl Carlson. “Sorry
Carl,” Homer says at one point, “it’s World War II all over again,
America kicks Iceland’s ass.” Summoning the whole population of
Iceland by Leifur Eiríksson’s statue, the bartender Moe also insults
the sullen-looking islanders as he orders them to be quiet, “Take
a break from your dreary lives to hear Americans lecture you.”
And Homer Simpson then gives a lesson in Icelandic history. “I’ve
learned something about the people of Iceland. You’ve been burned
by barbarian invasion, total financial collapse and a lesbian prime
minister. You managed to survive on a crap-hole island that looks
like the moon and smells like rotten eggs. And to do that you have
to be stubborn.”
The final sentence has a ring of truth to it. Self-confidence and a
healthy pride in the past may be another reason behind the success
story of survival on an inhospitable island. However, those positive
traits must always be countenanced by a sense of realism, detach-
ment, and not least the capability to criticize and make fun of one-
self. Fortunately, the Icelanders seem to have developed those quali-
ties. Unlike the Iceland-episode of 1942, diplomatic protests did not
follow the airing of The Simpsons Iceland special. On the contrary,
the authorities and tourist promoters immediately realized the huge
advertising power and publicity that the country got for nothing.
On a similar note, hopefully the new people in power in Reykjavík
are bestowed with the self-confidence, knowledge and objective
thinking to realize that Iceland will hardly figure as prominently in
Washington as it did during the days of the Cold War. Arctic affairs
notwithstanding, the geostrategic situation in the North Atlantic
doesn’t call for increased attention to Icelandic affairs. Of course that
might change but presumably Iceland will remain what it is in the
minds of American decision-makers: a small island somewhere out
there, sometimes quirky or problematic, yet basically of little con-
cern. And that might just be a very good thing for us Icelanders. 
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