Tagebuch: September 2007

Dear Diary,

I was half watching the news when it dawned on me they were talking about a pure bred of dog captured and tortured to death. I couldn´t help but laugh at this story. Talking about caring more about animals than humans! The main Icelandic TV news channel was interviewing the owner and viewing pictures of the dog at prime time, when every Icelander is watching. How few real stories do you have to have if the death of a dog is worth TV coverage? Maybe if it were Paris´ Hilton´s dog...

The one who came out worst in this false report was the suspect accused of the deed. The man received so many threats that he could not leave his house.

Turns out, it was all a fraud. The dog was later found alive, walking downtown in Akureyri, a town in Iceland. Now he has a chance to clear his name and sue the people who threatened him.

Such drama. Who says there is nothing to talk about in Iceland?

It´s funny how your perspective changes when you move away to a country that is bigger and more culturally divided. In Austria the TV mostly covers politics, international news, and leading celebrities. Even rapes or assaults don’t seem to be worth mentioning.

But in Iceland, a death of a dog gets a lot of media attention, and three memorial wakes were held for him around the country, where one hundred people showed up with their own dogs. Of course it´s tragic in a way, but is it news? Really?

Maybe it is like what Stalin said: "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic."