The Icesave quarrel, prosecuting the Icelandic racketeers, returning or receiving the IMF loan, joining the EU or any other of these immensely important issues that are discussed here on a daily basis post-crisis (and the only issues generally discussed for that matter): I don’t give a fuck.
You could easily say I’m one of the lucky few here in Iceland. What do I mean by that? Well, I’m part of the generation that got away. No mortgage, no car loan or any other ludicrous financial commitment loitering above my head, increasing the number of my already many grey hairs by the day. No sir. Didn’t lose my job, don’t have to declare bankruptcy or file for unemployment benefits either. Not that I wouldn’t have gone down that road. Don’t get me wrong; I ain’t claiming any superior foreseeing wisdom—I probably would have danced along with the rest.
Then there is my lack of patriotism. It plays a role in my not-giving-a-fuck attitude. People talk about re-establishing the Icelandic legacy, shit like that, and although it’s a valid thing to fight for it doesn’t feel like it’s my fight. I don’t look at being an Icelander as any sort of privilege—I look at is as a fact. I don’t plan spending all of my life on this forsaken rock. And although it has provided me with decent education, some common sense and a lot of other good odds and ends, I’m pretty sure I could’ve obtained these things in many other places. Not everywhere though; I’m godawfully thankful for coming from a place where luxuries most people never experience are taken for granted and I don’t mean to come off as an ungrateful asshole at all, but nevertheless: I don’t get a hard-on when Icelandic independence heroes are quoted and I don’t brag about per-capita records. That being said, it should be abundantly clear that I don’t really have great interest in spending my earnings to-be paying down some daft debts my government is obtaining as we speak.
Some wise men have talked about the biggest threat Iceland faces is a drain of young Icelanders, and speaking as one, I can affirm: it’s true. There are quite a few of us that aren’t really the flag-waving fighter types. So what to do? For my part, it’s to try my best to scrape some money together for a one-way-ticket far, far away and take it from there. Maybe we’ll see each other in fifteen years or so, who knows? But for now: See ya suckers, good riddance.
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