Iceland Elves and Roadwork Delays....

[Josh-H]

From the Age Newspaper in Australia over Christmas. Bless them.

[Colorado David]

Well?  Can you say definitively there are no elves there?

What I'd really like to know is how do they know there is an elf church located there?

[davidedric]

The Guardian headline over here read "Elvin Safety".    You have to say it out loud,  and probably  be a Brit 

[francois]

Here, we have tons of roadwork delays but no elves… 

[Rob C]

The Guardian headline over here read "Elvin Safety".    You have to say it out loud,  and probably  be a Brit 

You mean, like in Alvin Stardust?

The elves are no joke: they are in league with the gnomes of Zurich, and make fantastical banking engineers...

Rob C

[davidedric]

Not exactly,  more "'ealth 'n safety",  standing UK joke about absurd restrictions 

Dave

[Rob C]

Not exactly,  more "'ealth 'n safety",  standing UK joke about absurd restrictions 

Dave

I must be getting thicker by the day! How could I miss it?

;-)

Rob C

[Justinr]

The construction of the dual carriageway that now bypasses Ennis over here in Ireland was held up by the the presence of a fairy tree, one that was believed to be a spiritual site of the little people as they are known. Laugh as we may, Bjork had touched upon a truth in that article and it is respect for the land that we live upon. That respect may find its expression through a form anthropomorphism that personifies the traits of nature and attributes them to human form but it's just as valid as worshiping a soccer team surely?

[markadams99]

On my first visit to Iceland an angry giant was stomping around Reykjavik:




I learnt a few off-beat facts while tramping around the southern highlands and noted them thus:


What I learnt in Iceland -

Rhubarb's a stem and not a fruit,
Prunes and muesli make you toot,
But snorchestras will drown out wind.
Allegedly (I'm not convinced)
Box jellyfish aren't jellyfish and
Greenland is further east than Iceland.
A Minister of Elvish Matters
Defines the routes of roads and detours.
Dottirs and ssons of Irish slaves
Kill foxes, whales, whatever moves.
But there's a certain charm in grimness,
Tax evasion, drunken primness,
Real men who smell of fish and semen,
Strapping horses, strapping women.

Volcanic science,
Car-mangling giants,
Fire and ice,
I think it's nice.

[Jeremy Roussak]

On my first visit to Iceland an angry giant was stomping around Reykjavik:

I wonder if it was the same chap who had been in Sydney a few years ago.

Jeremy

[Rob C]

Just weak suspension, Jeremy.

Rob C

[Rhossydd]

Or to quote an Icelander, Alda Sigmundsdóttir, who blogs a lot about life in Iceland;
"Oh FFS. An earnest effort to conserve some pristine lava is turned into something trite and superficial. Argh."

[Justinr]

Or to quote an Icelander, Alda Sigmundsdóttir, who blogs a lot about life in Iceland;
"Oh FFS. An earnest effort to conserve some pristine lava is turned into something trite and superficial. Argh."

But that's politicians for you, their values are incredibly plastic and any tiny sliver of opportunity to besmirch opposing arguments will be expanded and exploited to full effect in an attempt to divert attention from the essentials of the matter in hand. 

[Rhossydd]

But that's politicians for you,

No. It seems to be the media trivialising an important environmental issue by just concentrating on the clichés of Iceland.

[Rob C]

Lava. There's always plenty more where that came from.

;-)

Rob C

[Justinr]

No. It seems to be the media trivialising an important environmental issue by just concentrating on the clichés of Iceland.

Politicians and media are pretty much in bed together, certainly here in Ireland anyway, they both use each other for their own ends and often their objectives are similar. Is it really that different in Iceland, or anywhere else come to that? I'm a total cynic when it comes to the supposed independence of a free press I'm afraid.

[Rob C]

Here, they all just want to be happy; they just want to make money from being in office. Oh the sweet smell of civic contracts that nobody needs!

Suits the press perfectly, because then, whatever it is, they can write and write and write about it all forever.

Rob C

[Rhossydd]

Politicians and media are pretty much in bed together, certainly here in Ireland anyway, they both use each other for their own ends and often their objectives are similar. Is it really that different in Iceland, or anywhere else come to that? I'm a total cynic when it comes to the supposed independence of a free press I'm afraid.

So why would the media in Australia or the UK be 'in bed together' with Icelandic politicians ?

Alda's point is that Iceland isn't taken seriously by foreign media and they use any excuse to dig out the 'they believe in elfs and trolls' nonsense that trivialises not only their culture, but also their politics.

"The story, which contained some factual errors, played up the idea that Icelanders (A) believe in elves and (B) take this belief so seriously that they might halt road construction for fear of retribution from the elves that supposedly have a church there somewhere. [...] The truth is though, Icelanders are a bit kooky and it seems to me that they don't think anything is wrong with that until they've become the butt of an international joke."

The Völva question aside, the problem with that AP article was not that it made Icelanders the brunt of an international joke, but that it completely misrepresented the earnest issue of the road construction/lava destruction and turned it into something completely trivial and shallow, in favour of something sensational and "kooky". It was not because "elves" lived there that the protest was held, but because it's a very rare and unique tract of lava that has historical and geological significance, among other things because Iceland's most celebrated painter painted there.

And yes, it irritates the hell out of me that an international news syndicate can get away with trashy reporting of that kind.

But Anna gets props for the title of the editorial. Good one.

http://grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Ask-Your-Volva

[Justinr]

So why would the media in Australia or the UK be 'in bed together' with Icelandic politicians ?

Alda's point is that Iceland isn't taken seriously by foreign media and they use any excuse to dig out the 'they believe in elfs and trolls' nonsense that trivialises not only their culture, but also their politics.

The international media are always after a jokey story to leaven the regular dough, nothing too serious in it really and young Anna should take the chip off her shoulder. Now if she really wants an example of trashy reporting that did actually have some serious effect rather than a snigger in far flung commuter carriages then she should look at the case of Savita Halappanavar and her sad passing away due to a pregnancy that went wrong in Galway. Even the Guardian, no less, were happily describing the doctors as killers and proposing that they be prosecuted for murder because a careless remark was made by a midwife about Ireland's abortion laws. The truth was far more complex and although their were errors of judgement made by medical staff (always more obvious in hindsight) the international press proved themselves an utter disgrace in trying to make capital out of a poor womans death.

Anna needs to sort her head out if she thinks the world really gives a flying fig about a few elves in Iceland.

[Rhossydd]

young Anna

If you can't be bothered to use her correct name....