A member of Parliament for the Left-Greens has taken a public stance about political discourse, drawing a connection between verbal abuse and its effects on the work of politicians and journalists, Vísir reports.
“I have decided to phrase my words as such that I do not accuse my fellow MPs of violence,” Left-Green MP Kolbeinn Óttarsson Proppé said in part. “To not make accusations of treason, those who have different opinions than I, to not call them bad names or accuse them of being evil, to not tell people to go fuck themselves in public discussions, and to try not to use demeaning or degrading labels.”
He referred to a recent meeting of the Baltic Council in the past week, where it was brought up that similar matters had been discussed in Sweden.
“The situation now is that one in three politicians have faced harassment, threats, or violence and have as such decided not to talk about certain matters out of fear of this,” he said. “Four out of ten journalists say that they have avoided reporting on certain subjects due to threats. This is a very serious situation that we’re living with all over the world.”
The point is especially pressing given recent events in Iceland; naming, the shooting of Reykjavík Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson’s car. Part of this case involves a recently circulated video from before the shooting, from a group opposed to the closing of Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur to car traffic, which falsely accused Dagur of having bought three parking spaces directly from the city without the spaces being advertised. In the wake of the shooting, a vice councilman posted, and then deleted, a strongly-worded post which effectively accused Dagur of bringing the shooting on himself.
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