My Opinion: Jón Gnarr - To Conquer the World

I have never meddled much in politics. Except once, with dramatic consequences. I have a few times joined a political party in order to vote for or support some friend or acquaintance in a primary or something like that. But I find this political squabble annoying, these partisan politics and bickering which always becomes so very tiresome and boring. In the end these are just people trying to do their best in an environment that does not always help them. Among them are a few self-seeking bullies who think they are more important than others. That’s just the same as everywhere else.

I am not, as far as I know, a member of any political party. I do not support any one of them, and I’m not particularly against any of them either. I do not, for example, have anything against the Progressive Party, although some of its members often rub me the wrong way. People in all the parties irritate me. It is more important to me that people are kind, polite and honest than what party they belong to. I’ve never been able to support any sports clubs either. Somehow, I always support the team that is losing. Perhaps it is because I have always seen myself as a loser. I am a loser descended from losers. If asked, I say that I am an anarchist. I like that. I believe in the individual and his freedom, and his right to conduct his life as he pleases, without the interference of others, as long as he does not harm himself or others. This is my fundamental philosophy. I think, for example, that I should be allowed to have whatever name I want, and that it is nobody’s business. But I also believe in solidarity and compassion and social support for our weakest brothers and sisters. This, I think, is the ideal society, where everybody can use their abilities to the full while the underdogs are well looked after. This, of course, can be a complicated execution. Sometimes the losers are well-off at the expense of the others, and sometimes the latter profit at the expense of the losers. Sometimes everybody is a loser and sometimes everybody is a king. But usually that does not last long.

Many Things We Don’t Know

The search for the perfect balance in human society is a labyrinth and it is always teetering. Beliefs and ideals are one thing, and often the most terrible blunders are paved with good ideas and convictions. It is usually human weakness that causes their downfall. Laziness, selfishness, arrogance, anger and all that. There is so much that we don’t know and don’t understand but think we know and understand. The sun, for example, isn’t necessarily yellow just because I think it is.

I have tried to avoid being dragged into this squabble. I think a new hospital should be built. That’s something concrete and real. I don’t care about the EU, whether we join it or not. I don’t think it makes much difference. Some people say we are in it anyway. But maybe that is just nonsense. I think the Euro is an ugly currency, and I cannot forgive the EU for having banned the Swedish chewing tobacco.

The Cards Are Misdealt

I have been commenting on politics lately, mainly because I think the administration itself should be better, i.e. the rules and regulations, how we organize society. I think the framework is fairly clear, but I think the implementation and content needs to be better explained. Many people maintain that a new constitution will solve this. I don’t know. I think it is very important that Iceland gets new traffic laws. The parliament has not been able to agree on them for eight years. The traffic laws are out of date. And I find that first and foremost symbolic, rather than unsafe and expensive. How can the parliament, which cannot agree on simple traffic laws so the people of Iceland can get safely from one place to another in a simple and clear way, ever agree on anything that matters?

According to the law, Reykjavík is the capital of Iceland. But there is nothing about what that means. It is, therefore, anybody’s subjective estimation, and one more thing to argue about. How about taking all these topics and defining them? Unfortunately, the Icelandic rules and regulations are too often sloppy, made more with good intention than ability. And then society becomes like a board game where the rules are unclear and people succeed with importunity and aggression. Some people are allowed to throw the dice twice but others cannot. And nobody seems to know why.