The Joke is on Us

I wish I had an explanation as to why talkshow host/comedian Stephen Colbert would be testifying in front of Congress on the the conditions of the nation's farmworkers. But I can not find one, simply because there isn't one. It just shows the lack of wisdom by the members of Congress who invited him. 

The idea that because someone is famous, they then must have very insightful things to say about everything (I call it "the Bono effect") is predominently an American phenomenon, but can be found in all over of the world in one form or another.  

Icelanders, luckily are not infected by the "worship the famous" disease, (at least not their own) but instead have a similar sickness that assumes because a person is capable of being elected he or she must be capable of running the government.  The current situation has proven that this assumption is not only untrue, it is dangerous.  

Someday, people will learn to rely on those with actual knowledge of the task at hand, instead of on those whose only claim is popularity. Then, and only then, will the situation improve.

GTB

 

 

 

Grín í Bandaríkjaþingi

Athugasemdir

[Guðmundur Júlíusson, 25.9.2010 kl. 01:31]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSxuvNGSrmc

[Sigurjón, 25.9.2010 kl. 01:34]

,,...þar sem Chilemaður kemur með Brasilíumann..."

Greinilegt að þýðandinn hefur aldrei heyrt hvað ,,Brazilian" þýðir...

[Guðmundur Júlíusson (IP-tala skráð) 25.9.2010 kl. 01:47]

Hvað ertu að meina Sigurjón, hvað kemur Chile eða Brasilía þessari grein við????

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 25.9.2010 kl. 04:03]

Guðmundur,

Interesting. I had never heard that song before, probably because it was released the year I was born. If I wasn't already busy analyzing Joyce's "Eveline" for Marxist influence, I would have given my interpretation of the lyrics. Maybe later.

 Sigurjón,

Out of curiosity, what is the Icelandic translation for  "a Brazilian" ? You are most likely right that the translator was not familiar with what "a Brazilian" really means but even if he or she had, I think it would be difficult to translate and retain the comic relation to the other words in the joke.

GTB

[Heimir Tómasson, 25.9.2010 kl. 04:58]

There is an old Icelandic saying that roughly translates as "Everyone can be a prophet away from home". That saying is basically Iceland in a nutshell. Because of the small-mindedness of icelanders, ecerything that comes from far away has to be better than what comes from your own backyeard. Likewise, whoever manages to rise above the rest in one form or another is either a criminal or a saviour.

Lately, Iceland seems to have only produced the criminal kind, least in it's own mind.

This massive, massive inferiority complex is well on it's way to ruin the whole nation as an entity. I live in the US, as you may perhaps know. There are so many things here wrong that I can't even begin to describe them. There is not a single molecule in me that wishes to return to Iceland under those conditions but nevertheless I am moving back in the spring. Why

[Heimir Tómasson, 25.9.2010 kl. 05:01]

[Friggin Return button!]

Why?

Because it really, really pains me to see my country in these dire straits. I want to go home and help out, any small way I can.

Mark this, I want to go home and help out - but I don't want to live there. Catch-22 if there ever was one.

(ps: sorry about the spelling errors in the previous post, I wasn't able to make a clean copy before I inadvertedly posted)

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 25.9.2010 kl. 05:49]

Heimir,

Catch 22 is a great book. Yossarian finds himself doing many things he doesn't really want to do, but must nonetheless. Without passing judgement, when the kreppa began I was quite amazed at the number of people who wanted to leave Iceland. Even with all the problems, Iceland is still a far better place to live than the United Police States of America. My only question is -Why wait until the spring?

 GTB

“Correct" spelling, indeed, is one of the arts that are far more esteemed by schoolma'ams than by practical men, neck-deep in the heat and agony of the world” - H. L. Mencken

 

[Heimir Tómasson, 25.9.2010 kl. 06:26]

I love the US, faults and all. I travel all over the US because of my work and I can tell you one thing, different as the northwest and the deep south may be, those are some of the best people I have ever met in my life. And I've travelled far and wide, believe me. Northeast - don't know it all that well, but my impression is that it is too much like Iceland for my liking. Too much stress and not enough consideration.

I have said ever since I started travelling the US and getting to know the country that the US is 4 different countries that have nothing in common, not even (in case of the deep south) the language. You have the northwest, the south, the east coast and the northeast. Different places, indeed.

No country is without faults. Americans tend to bitch and moan about the minutest things, not realizing how well off they are. Same thing with Iceland, but the one thing that puts me off Iceland is the unbelievable racism and aloofness. The society is not at all remotely the same as the one I grew up in. I wouldn't even walk downtown Reykjavik by myself anymore and I thought I had seen it all. Mind you, I only moved to the US 4 years ago. And the reason I am moving back to Iceland has nothing to do with patriotism, I really and sincerely want to become a Seattlite [sic] but personal reasons take me home.

Don't get me wrong. Even if I would have moved here to Seattle permanently, I would have always been an Icelander. I don't know what your beef with the US is, but it seems to me that we are exactly the polar opposites. You want to be in Iceland, I want to be in the US.

So personally, my question is more like: Why move back at all?

[Þorgerður María Halldórsdóttir, 25.9.2010 kl. 15:20]

The Icelandic translation for a "Brazilian" is "brasilískt vax" The reason why the translator messed up the translation might be one of two things; A. a "Brazilian" is not a part of his or hers world of experience, be it through personal contact with the procedure or through pop culture items such as films and magazines. Or B. The translator did not fully understand the context in which the word was used.

On a different note, I find it amazing that they even let Stephen Colbert in (whom I love), in the first place.  I thought  the House was way too stuck up for that, but kudos to them.

[Sigurjón, 25.9.2010 kl. 18:39]

Guðmundur: Fylgjast með!  Lestu fréttina og horfðu á myndbandið.  Skrifa svo...

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 25.9.2010 kl. 23:58]

Þorgerður,

 Thanks for the translation. I can see now that it would not retain its comical meaning.  I think it is nice that you love Stephen Colbert, but that, again, is not a very good reason to have him testify on a matter on which he has no particular expertise. I prefer Jon Stewart anyway, so my opinion may be biased. While I am on the subject of Jon Stewart, he sometimes refers to Tea Party members as "teabaggers".  Do you (or anyone else reading) want to venture a guess on how to translate this into Icelandic so that it retains its contemporary (not so nice) meaning?

GTB

[Þorgerður María Halldórsdóttir, 26.9.2010 kl. 18:23]

I'm sorry but I don't think we have a translation for such heinous acts, since Icelandic people are much too sophisticated :D I don't even think, most Icelandic people know what it is to begin with, so it would require an explanation rather than a translation.

Translating something that is ment to be funny, is a very difficult thing, since humor doesn't translate well, even between two western languages. The reasons are both cultural and the difference between the two languages.  Syntax, verbs, context.  In regular text, you translate to what is being said in the previous text, but humor relays much more on how things are said, rather than what is being said.  So news-related humor is very difficult to translate well since it's often full of pun.

I like them both, maybe it's just me, but I find it fynny how comical Colbert becomes, since he's supposed to be the right-winger.  Jon Stewart get's to be much more rational.