Guide

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Pétur Sturluson.

Pétur, who describes himself as "a freelance guide, driver guide, mountain guide, photograph guide, bird guide, geology guide...anthropology student, artist, photographer and [I work] in fashion" is a typically multi-talented Icelander with a wonderful aesthetic sense, as this image shows.

When I asked him to tell the story behind the photo he wrote, So the story behind the Horses photo...goes like this. I was fishing with a friend in Landmannalaugar territory. Enjoying the landscape even more. When arriving close to Hekla I jumped out of the car to shoot a photo of that Volcano. And by complete luck a bunch of horses came galloping towards me and this time I was ready with my camera...Everybody just loves this photo...And so do I...

In photography, timing is everything.

For more of Pétur's amazing images of Iceland and the world beyond, please visit his flickr site. And if you find yourself here on the Lava Rock needing a guide, contact me and I'll be sure to pass your info on.

Twitchforks and Twitterstorms

We've all seen it.  It can happen on a macro or a micro level.  Twitter, with the power of the RT at its disposal can have a phenomenally effect, in both positive and negative ways.

The Little Tweeting Bird has Real Power

On a macro scale people get upset about something on Twitter and it becomes the latest thing: a Twitter Storm.  Outrage is expressed about a video of a woman mouthing off on a tram that leads to a criminal prosecution, a tidal wave of support ("I am Spartacus!") is expressed about a joke that has led to a criminal prosecution, or a international gym chain backs down of the way it has behaved with its 24 month contracts.

On a micro level the same of course applies. You may be going through a tough time: having lost your dog, having an operation in front of you, or being worried about your job. 20 messages of support from a group of people, even if you don't know them terribly well, are wonderful and touching.  When you're feeling down or lonely this can really matter.

The flip side of all this is when the Twitchforks come out and the 20 messages are ones of abuse, or when the Twitterstorm is actually completely misguided.

Twitterstorm: Photography banned in Trafalgar Square

A couple of days ago a blog by a photographer was circulating and some quite intelligent people were expressing outrage at the fact that new bye-laws would mean photography, using a mobile phone, camping, flying a kite and feeding birds in Trafalgar Square would now be banned.  The blog was RTd repeatedly, with people adding comments like "totally unbelievable!"

PHOTOGRAPHY TO BE BANNED: CUE OUTRAGE!

The reason the blog was unbelievable was that it was wrong.  Every one of the restrictions contained in the new bye-laws were not "new" - they had been in place either since 2000 or since 2002.  Ordinary photography is not banned in Trafalgar Square, nor will it be. Commercial photography without a permit (which are available from the Mayor's office) has not been allowed there for the past 12 years.  This is nothing new at all.  The fact that only commercial photography is involved was entirely clear from the short bye-law that was published in full on the blog.  You only had to read it to realise the blogger had made a mistake that led to the screaming headline - the whole blog was wrong.

Did people read the blog before RTing it?  Presumably not.  The storm went on all day.  It annoyed the shit out of me because there was actually an important story here.  There is a downloadable file where you can compare the old and new bye-laws: they are almost entirely identical, down to the language used.  This is a tidying up exercise by Boris Johnson of Ken Livingstone measures - with one very important difference.  That relates to enforcement.  Where previously you had to provide your name/address to an "authorised person", now that person can legally order you to leave the Square with hefty punishments if you do not.

These measures are, in fact, about the Mayor of London putting in place fairly draconian powers to allow the Square to be kept clear of people during the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations: that was brought out far better in @SturdyAlex's blog.  The measures are in my view illiberal, and completely objectionable.  What they are not are new laws stopping tourists from taking a photo.  Because people have got the wrong end of the stick, Boris has got off the hook on this: how easy for his supporters to undermine the claims.  That pisses me right off too. 

The beauty of blogging is expressing an opinion; getting a viewpoint out there and seeing what others think.  That is completely impossible when the entire factual basis of what you are writing is wrong.  The ethics of blogging are being discussed before the Leveson Inquiry at the moment: I would say every blogger owes a critical duty to ensure that his/her facts are as solid as possible before pressing publish.  If there is a mistake, which of course happens, you should bloody well fess up, correct or take your blog down and make an apology.

Read before you RT?

From the perspective of the Twitter user pressing RT and adding outraged comments, I'd also suggest it's pretty important to actually read whatever you are sending on to your own followers.  An RT doesn't imply agreement, but surely we should bother to look at the item rather than reading its headline? If you had read the blog in question you would have seen the commercial photography element glaring at you, without needing to do any more research.

Twitchforks: an example

Now, the micro level.  Back in November I saw an example of Twitchforks that really troubled me.  A gay man announced to his 900 followers that another gay man, whose photo and real name appears on his profile is a "cunt" who is HIV positive and is sleeping around, having unprotected sex with other men.

I'm sure you'll agree this is a pretty serious allegation.  A posse was soon formed, the twitchforks came out, and there were screams of condemnation and disgust.  It is also an extremely problematical claim.  We were not told if the man had disclosed his status to his partners or not, how many guys were involved, if they knew their own status, why these men were agreeing to engage in a highly unsafe activity (regardless of the information in their possession) etc.  We had no idea what the motivation of the accuser was - looking at his timeline that day he said nothing more substantive than the first allegation.  The only thing that did become clear was that the accuser had not slept with the man.  His ex-boyfriend apparently had, so this was a word of mouth allegation the accuser had then decided to publish on Twitter.

This was Twitter at its most brutal, bullying and basic: people believing what they read without any critical thought or other knowledge.  Amongst the outrage a few isolated people stopped and asked the critical question: was any evidence for the allegations?  The accuser admitted there was none and said people had to believe him.  The allegations were in fact flatly denied by the accused, who had not been open about his HIV status before, and was effectively "outed" by them.  At the end of the day the tweeter thanked his "loyal followers" for the shit storm that had happened, and their reactions.


Like you, I simply cannot judge the veracity of the claims, nor is it my place to.  SURELY if the accuser seriously believes this man is a danger, the place to go is to the Police?  Why were people joining in with this?  If you want to support an online friend, should that extend blindly to reaching for the Twitchfork, on the basis of zero evidence, with the knowledge that this behaviour could drive someone off Twitter and/or have a much more serious "real life" effect on them? 

Twitchforks: an ugly feature of the Medium

I'd also ask whether Twitter is really here for making accusations about personal aspects of someone's life?  It's tangential, but the accusation was not that the man was using Twitter to meet people to sleep with: this was just about outing him as being HIV+ and making an accusation about his life completely off Twitter.  He wasn't being accused of being a bully, or lying about himself, or being a fraud on Twitter: this was about his sex life and medical condition.

Think about this: how would you feel if someone revealed you had an abortion years back, that you enjoy visiting sex workers, or are having an affair.  It could be potentially horrendous for you if true: imagine if it were a lie and people started RTing it?  Even if denied, how many people would think "ooooh there's no smoke without fire!"?

There is literally nothing to stop anyone making an accusation about anyone on here and that not spreading like wildfire.  This frankly terrifies me.  Most of us aren't that well known or interesting to warrant this type of treatment: but you must know how much one nasty comment can hurt during an evening on Twitter.  It sticks with you for days.  Imagine being on the end of a Twitter Posse.  This may "just be Twitter", but I sent the man involved in the HIV allegations (whom I had recently started following at the time) a DM to ask if he was okay.  His reply simply said "I want to die".  Having a vague idea of the other things that are going on his life at the moment, I fully believe he meant that. 

COME ON GUYS: is this right? Twitter as a place that acts as a posse, judge, jury and potential destroyer of someone's life, operating with no evidence regarding deeply private aspects of someone's life.  I don't care how how serious or "juicy" the claims are, I will not join in with it.  I can't judge the HIV+ man's actions because I do not know the facts, but I can judge what I saw that day on Twitter.  The people who engaged it in were pretty ugly.  The accuser came across as the vindictive bully and those who reached for the Twitchforks were at best deeply misguided.

The Power of Twitter

Twitter is just a mirror of people.  We find many good souls, and many good things can take place on here.  We find a few bad apples, and we find lots of people who don't mean to harm but still can.  Twitter's power is its speed and ability to reach many.  The RT button is the key to this.

This (once again) has been a long rambling blog but it contains a simple message.  Think before you tweet, and most of all, think critically before you RT.  Twitchforks hurt.  In extreme circumstances they can push someone over the edge.  Twitterstorms can bring about a pleasant change in the weather, but please, please check your facts as far as you are able.

Yes

Veggiephobia

Something odd happened last night. Having no friends and having run out of conversation with the collie, I decided to blog.  I wanted to write about why I was vegetarian.  I got four paragraphs in and ground to a halt.  I've never not been able to blog before.  What stopped me? Veggiephobia!

VEGGIEPHOBIA (n): 1) Irrational fear of vegetarians; 2) State of being a total arse when in the company of those decide not to eat meat.  Manifests itself in the churning out of a series of clichéd jokes or passive aggression and usually culminates in an observation such as "Ah but you wear leather shoes!"; 3) Longstanding provocation defence in English common law. Reduces a murder charge to manslaughter when the vegetarian clobbers the meat-eater to death in complete exasperation (R v Vegetarian Society [1974 AC 217[1]).

What on earth am I talking about?  I just knew that if I blogged about why I'm vegetarian, I would get a whole set of snide, defensive and frankly really quite unfunny responses. When I tweeted that observation it led to a flurry of exchanges.  Most meat eaters seemed amazed and genuinely didn't have any idea this type of thing existed.  A series of resigned tweets from vegetarians led me to think I was far from alone.   

 I think Matthijs puts it pretty well.  He is 26. Early retirement indeed.

A Personal Choice

Being vegetarian is an intensely personal choice.  People have a whole series of reasons for it and it covers a whole range of choices about what you eat.  You can have "vegetarians" who eat fish (technically they're pescetarians) through to vegans who don't eat any animal products at all.  Most people are like me: lacto-ovo-vegetarians.  The way I explain it is "if it had a face, then no thanks".  We eat eggs, cheese, drink milk but don't eat a dead creature's flesh.

Some people are part time vegetarians, frequently choosing the non-meat option when they eat out in restaurants.  It doesn't have to be a black and white choice.  Many people were vegetarian for at least some time in their lives and then for whatever reason go back to eating meat, or perhaps just fish and fowl.

Some Examples

So what is the fuss about?  I can't imagine hostility and jokes about a decision not to eat ice-cream for example.  Yet hostility there is, without question.  I've been veggie since I was 25 (I'm now 40) and the range of negative reactions range from the patronising through to quite unpleasant outright taunting.  Here are a few I've encountered:

• "If we weren't supposed to eat them, why are animals made out of meat?" 
• "Carrots scream when they're pulled out of the ground you know"
• "It's not natural to be vegetarian" (yup, just like antibiotics and central heating. We should all in fact live in caves and die at 30)
• "If we didn't eat cows they'd be extinct" (erm yeah, just like giraffes, for example)
• "But bacon tastes soooooo good" (ideally accompanied by picking up a piece of it on your fork and dangling it in front of the vegetarian's nose)
• "Any vegetarian who eats eggs is SO hypocritical" (having pronounced this you can smugly go back to eating your lump of steak)
• "Wasn't Hitler vegetarian? Haha - but look at what he did to the Jews... " (no he wasn't: his favourite food was sausage. He suffered from stomach cramps and so ate heavily, but not exclusively vegetarian meals) 
• "Oh I could never give up [insert: bacon, Big Mac etc.]" Fascinating. Ever thought I MIGHT NOT CARE WHAT YOU LIKE TO EAT? Are you interested to know I don't like grapefruit? And also is not giving up the odd bacon sandwich *really* your reason for you to continue eating lamb, beef, pork etc up to 3 times a day?
• "How ridiculous you eat meat substitutes - I just don't get that" (for many it's an ethical not a taste decision.  The thought of Wienerschnitzel makes me whimper and salivate.  If I can find a tasty meat substitute I will eat and enjoy it: mung beans and tofu are not everyone's idea of fun)
• And our absolute and utterly original favourite: "Ahhh, but you wear leather shoes/ belt" followed by raised eyebrows.  This is where the provocation defence mentioned in the definition above kicks in.

My best friend was once told at a dinner party by a Tory MP "Suffolk may accept your homosexuality, but it will never accept your vegetarianism".  Cue guffaws from all the guests.  Hmm, hysterical.

An interesting observation is that most of the negativity (dressed up frequently as "humour") comes from men.  Many women say "Oh I could quite easily be a vegetarian".  A good few men seem to retreat to some weird caveman position that unless you're shoving bleeding bison down your gullet, you're a huge poof.  It genuinely seems to threaten the masculinity of a few guys.  I find this utterly bizarre.

Back to the "jokes"... guess what - you're never going to come out with an original or amusing quip to a vegetarian - we've heard it all.  Many, many, many times before.  This is a large part of why we don't find it funny.  When a joke is heard the 80th time, it's just not amusing.  It's not to do with a lack of sense of humour.  I also bet if you've made comments like this, you don't see it as being hostile, passive-aggressive or just plain boring at all.  For the most part, we do, though.

Evangelical, dull, worthy vegetarians

I don't seek to impose my dietary choices on anyone.  If you want to eat meat in front of me, you're welcome to.  If we're out on a date and I'm paying, I'll pay for your meal whatever you order.  What I won't do, personally, is cook meat for you in my house.  I know plenty of veggies who would though.  They just choose not to eat it themselves.  I'm not evangelical and have a "live and let live attitude".   I think most of us do: as I said, this is an intensely personal decision. 

Ahhh you say - but what about all those evangelical, worthy vegetarians?  Why do they have ram their views down our throat and get all superior?  I'm sure these people exist.  I literally can't say I've ever met one though.  What I think is much more likely to be the case is that there is a big dollop of projection going on here from the meat-eater and it's linked to an inherent unease that some have about their diets.

Some might call this guilt.  All I can speak about is myself; and before I became veggie it definitely was guilt for me.  I could only eat meat if I didn't associate the cute brown eyed animal in the field with what was served up on my plate.  I certainly didn't want to think about the process in the middle (or indeed the millions of animals that never see the light of day or a field at all).

Paul McCartney is right: I didn't inform myself and just wouldn't "go there" even in my own head.  I therefore was naturally quite defensive in respect of anyone who had thought about this a bit more and made the decision to be veggie.

Now here's something interesting about evangelical, worthy veggies: Fiona Laird whose tweet appears above, is a friend of mine in real life.  We've had dinner together in restaurants.  I'd never even registered she was vegetarian until our discussion last night.  She's not running around making a big fuss about it, forcing her views down people's throats.  I didn't even know - and why should I, as I've never cooked for her?  Many other people whom I follow tweeted me and are veggie, unbeknown to me.

So why are people veggie?

The range of reasons is huge.  For me I looked down at a ham sandwich and a cheese sandwich on 20 August 1996.  I simply realised I'd never made the decision to eat meat: I'd done it since a kid without thinking about it because my parents gave it to me.  When I did think about it, it repulsed me.  Not the taste of the stuff: but what it actually is.  I know the intelligence and amazing range of emotions my dog has.  I wouldn't eat @LassieOscar, so why eat any other animal?  It just seemed unnecessary for me to choose the ham when I could have the cheese.  I can nourish myself perfectly well without meat.

For other people it's about the environment.  I can dish out the numbers: one tonne of beef production takes up 45 tonnes of crop production that could be used to feed the world.  The millions of cows we breed to eat let out methane, which is 25 times more damaging to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide.  Visit Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia and the desert for miles around under Aboriginal control is beautiful and full of flowers and wild life.  Get back to cattle producing Australia and the land is red dust.  One single cow guzzles over 70 gallons of water every week.  A herd of 1000 is a disaster for the environment.  When we ate meat once or twice a week it was better.  Now as people demand meat up to three times a day, and countries with heavily vegetarian diets move to "Western" diets (e.g. China) it is massively and frighteningly unsustainable.

My best friend has been veggie for 25 years.  He does not believe it is morally wrong to kill animals; he simply fundamentally objects to the industrialised factory nature of farming today.  There are meat eaters like him of course: they eat little carefully sourced organic free range food (at least that's what they buy for eating at home; what's served up in restaurants is mainly out of their control).  My position is that I believe killing is inherently wrong: again, this is a very personal viewpoint and you (and he) don't have to agree with it.  A couple of total dimwits from the past have however taken a similar position...

The point is there are masses of reasons for any decision we make: for vegetarians it can be sentimental, ethical, pragmatic, taste, health or environmental factors.... or a combination of some or all of them that lead them to eat what they do.  Why people have to be so snarky about this decision, I really don't get - other than coming back to the fact that it's because of an inherent unease they have about what they themselves are eating.

What ABOUT wearing leather?!

Live and let live.  For me that means respecting that if you want to eat meat and enjoy it, fine.  But drop your silly comments, please, and leave me to eat what I wish to, without making me feel like a pariah when you invite me over to dinner.  Please don't ask me to justify or explain myself.  I don't ask you to justify why you eat meat.

If you do push and push me, and I end up pointing out that what you are putting in your mouth is the antibiotic laden corpse of a tortured animal, you're not going to take it too kindly, are you?  No, even though you brought the subject up, I'll just be one of those evangelical, dull, worthy vegetarians...

As for (many) egg and (especially) dairy products, yes - you're quite right.  Only a vegan can take the moral high ground in this area.  Most vegans I know are quiet, thoughtful, gentle souls - they actually don't get all aggressive and moralistic, funny enough.  I respect and admire them, and I know the huge problems they have in eating, other than in their own homes.  The same point about the moral ground goes for wearing leather: I've tried plastic shoes: they don't work for me and it's a compromise I have made to wear leather shoes that clearly cannot be justified if I'm consistent.

There is however the rather obvious question of degree.  If someone drives their car at 34 mph once a year in a 30mph speed limit, this is not great.  I think most people would agree, though, that there's a qualitative difference between that and someone who speeds at 70mph every time they drive through the village.  Yes, better that no one speeds: but don't pretend we are the same qualitatively.  We are not.  I've apparently saved the lives of around 1500 animals in the time I've been veggie.  If I reach 80, then 5500 animals will not have died because of my dietary choices.  Yes, my shoes are leather and an animal died to produce them.  However, I'm undeniably doing my bit, however imperfect.

Ending Thoughts

If reading this has brought up issues that make you uncomfortable, sorry.  If you're making a conscious informed choice to eat meat, enjoy it.  If you're doing it blindly (as I was) though there is no inevitability about your continued choice.  I'm not a black/white person: if you do feel uncomfortable, just cut down.  Try some veggie substitutes.  You can make a huge difference to animal suffering, the environment or your own health just by eating less meat rather than stopping it entirely.

There was genuine amazement last night when I tweeted about hostility to veggies.  Some of it came from people who themselves had made comments such as "yummmm bacon!" to me in the past.  I guess you're just not aware of it.  We are and I'd ask you please have a bit of sensitivity about this.  If someone has made a personal decision actively not to eat meat (which is not the default setting in this country) they've done it for a reason.  Taunting them, no matter how amusing you find it, really isn't that big or clever.

Over and out: it's time for a quorn sausage!

 

UPDATE: Was sent this by commentator "Forty Shades of Grey" below - Priceless :-)

My uncle

He died
I cried
Devastated

When death comes, it reminds me of how short life is. 10, 20 years can pass by with a blink of an eye. But we tend to forget that age matters and most of the time, only think about our own selfish needs... Family matters.

Roadtrip

To Ipoh

Practice

Bear with us! We're freaking out again because of the weather. And no, not we as in me, personally, but as in the entire island nation. It's really cold! It's really windy! Roads are closed! Domestic flights have been cancelled and cars can't get into/out of parking spots! Snow has invaded the tops of our winter boots and we've lost our woolen mittens! An entire meter of the fluffy stuff has fallen and it's apocalyptic times here in this country named for ice. How will we ever survive? 

Well, since most of us have lived through this kind of thing before it shouldn't be too difficult. And according to my favorite weather site (click on a pic and scroll the timeline to watch the pretty colors change) it will warm up and all the impertinent snow will be turned to sludge by Friday midnight. Phew!

Another sweet thing to do, though, to keep warm here in winter is to experience Hot Yoga with Lana Vogestad who is a talented artist and amazing Barkan Method yoga instructor leading sessions at the World Class chain of gyms here in Reykjavik. They unfortunately don't have a site in English, but here's your chance to practice your Icelandic (that last link is an inside joke: Google Translate is not the definitive Icelandic language resource by any means) by checking out their verðskrá. If intensive, balancing, healing, rewarding, sweaty Practice is your thing, Lana's classes are an absolute must in any season.

Have you tried Dynamic Viewing yet? Five new views in all. Use the blue tab at the top of the view page to check them all out : )