Icelanders are outraged that Franklin Graham is holding a festival in Reykjavík next month, but they’re literally not taking it sitting down.
In a social media-fueled protest against the avowed anti-gay-marriage evangelist, Iceland residents are reserving hundreds of tickets to Graham’s sermons with the intention of leaving the seats empty.
The protest was reported Thursday on Visir, an Icelandic-language website. The report was confirmed to the International Business Times by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir, a deputy and features editor for Iceland Review magazine.
Arnarsdóttir had not heard of the protests, but she said in an email that Graham’s pending arrival in the small island nation is causing no shortage of controversy.
“This is certainly a heatedly debated issue in Iceland at the moment,” she said.
Graham is set to appear Sept. 28-29 at the Festival of Hope, which he reportedly organized at the request of Icelandic churches. The event is free, but, according to the website, attendees may reserve as many as four tickets in advance. They may also make special requests for groups of 20 or more.
Shortly after tickets became available Wednesday, users on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit began spreading the word that protesters were reserving seats for the event, but not planning to show up. Protesters say the goal is to leave the controversial Graham with an empty venue when he appears at Reykjavík’s Laugardalshöll arena next month. One Icelandic software developer, Elvar Thormar, wrote on Facebook that he’d reserved 500 tickets.
According to the Icelandic ticketing website Midi.is, the event was already sold out Friday, when all available tickets had already been reserved.
In response to a Twitter inquiry, one Icelander told the IBTimes that most people who reserved seats don’t plan on going, but that the protests haven’t spilled over into the real world.
Can I just say that the people of Iceland rock?
I literally hope that the sanctimonious prick is left standing in front of an almost completely empty auditorium and that the local news takes his picture the moment he realizes that his prejudice and hate are not welcome in Iceland.
I hope my Scandinavian cousins embarrass the hell out of him. I am very proud tonight.
ReplyDeleteHe probably thought the northern Europeans were isolated, primitive, and easy marks. Jesus Christ God Almighty!!! That was centuries ago; who’s been doing his research; Bristol, Willow and Piper?
DeleteIs the Ice Queen going with him? I mean, she is Christian and hooey and loves cold and snow almost as much as lounging by an Arizona pool.
ReplyDeleteI wrote the 5:39 post and I have no idea what 'hooey' meant. Yikes! Sarah is sucking out my brain cells!
DeleteSally, she inspires me to new heights of inarticulate speech too. Hold on to your hat
DeleteEmily Post
That should read "HOE--Y......:-)
DeleteI love Scandinavians!
ReplyDeleteActually, Icelandic people are not Scandinavian. They are Nordic. Swedes, Danes and Norwegians are Scandinavian, Finnish, Icelandic are Nordic, but Swedes, Danes and Norwegians are also Nordic. I worked for many years with Scandinavians , while I am not, and this was one of the first things that was drilled into my head.
DeleteScandinavia[a] is a historical and cultural-linguistic region in Northern Europe characterized by a common ethno-cultural Germanic heritage and related languages that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Svalbard and Åland Islands. In English, "Scandinavia" is sometimes used as a synonym for the Nordic countries (often excluding Greenland), but that term more properly refers only to Denmark, Norway and Sweden.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries
But I know what you mean, I love Scandinavians, too, and also Nordic peoples. I've made many trips to Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Sweden and have to say that Stockholm is my all time favorite city in the world. I spent a week in the late summer and it was glorious! Norwegian fjords are breathtaking and Finnish nights with the midnight sun is almost otherworldly. The people from every country are so warm and bright and clever and innovative and relaxed.
I knew that someone was going to pick on me for saying this.
DeleteBut YOU should know that Iceland is peopled by Scandinavians....My husband is 100% Norwegian and he taught me the history of Iceland and it's people's and which Scandinavian countries owned it . So, as far as a culture, Iceland is Scandinavian.
That is brilliant!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Icelanders! You have a very wonderful, wicked sense of humor that I truly admire :) Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteDo they accept like-minded American immigrants?
ReplyDeleteSo Icelandic churches asked him to fly in to give inspiration to their flocks, but all the tickets were reserved within two days --- many by those who never intended on going. So how many of those Icelandic churchgoers actually wanted that big scam artist to come to their country to begin with?
ReplyDeleteI do love this maneuver! There's no way to tell the sheep from the goats, who legitimately wanted to attend and who didn't, until the event arrives....
O/T but as I've said all along, Gryphen, the guy is a traitor, pure and simple. There's some very nefarious things afoot and he's been sucking Putin's cock all along...
ReplyDeleteReport: Snowden Reached Out To Russian Authorities While Still In Hong Kong
A Russian newspaper report suggests a far greater level of collusion between Snowden, Wikileaks, and Russia than previously admitted.
The respected Russian newspaper Kommersant is reporting that NSA leaker Edward Snowden approached the Kremlin for support and spent a few days in the Russian consulate in Hong Kong before flying to Moscow in June.
Russia hoped to be rid of the whistleblower a day later until the U.S. essentially blocked him from leaving Russia by threatening Cuba and other unnamed countries with “undesirable consequences” if they allowed him to land on their territory or helped him in any other way, Kommersant writes, citing Russian and U.S. diplomatic sources.
It was not immediately possible to confirm the accuracy of the report, written by veteran diplomatic correspondents Elena Chernenko and Alexander Gabuev, as well as Kommersant’s U.S. correspondent Kirill Belyaninov. A rough equivalent of the Wall Street Journal, Kommersant has long been regarded as one of Russia’s top independent news sources. In recent months, however, talk of politically motivated meddling and censorship by owner Alisher Usmanov, a close Putin confidant and the richest man in both Russia and Britain, has sparked talk of a crisis at the publication, prompting the departure of several top editors.
The report cites a source “in Snowden’s entourage” as saying that Snowden spent several days in the Russian consulate in a rented office on the 21st floor of the Sun Hung Kai tower in Hong Kong. Snowden even celebrated his thirtieth birthday there on June 21, the unnamed source said. Snowden flew to Russia two days later.
An anonymous Russian official cited in the report confirmed that Snowden stayed in the consulate, but insisted that it was on Snowden’s initiative, that it was only for two days, and that Snowden said he was doing so as part of his effort to seek asylum in South America. As the Kommersant reporters point out, this does not contradict Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements that Snowden’s arrival in Russia was a surprise for the Kremlin.
If true, the report indicates that Russia and Snowden were in contact far earlier than either camp has admitted. Snowden’s reported actions indicate that he and Wikileaks were eager to reach out to the Kremlin immediately after Hong Kong received an extradition request from the U.S. on June 20.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/report-snowden-reached-out-to-russian-authorities-while-stil
It will be fun to see the results. I hope it's 100% successful.
ReplyDeleteLast time I knew, Lynne, crusades were free. They'll just open it to all, first cone first served to save face
DeleteTHE good folk of Iceland – said to be among the most godless people on earth – reacted with horror when they learned that a homophobic US preacher, Franklin Graham, had been invited to preach at a Festival of Hope rally at Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavik.
ReplyDeleteDisgusted by Graham’s impending presence – Icelanders, 60 percent of whom say that religion has no place in their lives – decided to disrupt his gig by reserving free tickets they never intend using, in the hopes that Graham will deliver his empty message to an empty arena.
It was reported here that shortly after tickets became available on August 7, users on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit began spreading the word that protesters were reserving seats to the event but were planning a massive no-show.
Later, it was reported here that the Bishop of Iceland the Rt Rev Agnes M Sigurðardóttir, had apologised to the island’s gay community for the participation of the Church of Iceland in the festival because of Graham’s presence.
Disgusted by Graham’s impending presence – Icelanders, 60 percent of whom say that religion has no place in their lives – decided to disrupt his gig by reserving free tickets they never intend using, in the hopes that Graham will deliver his empty message to an empty arena.
It was reported here that shortly after tickets became available on August 7, users on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit began spreading the word that protesters were reserving seats to the event but were planning a massive no-show.
Later, it was reported here that the Bishop of Iceland the Rt Rev Agnes M Sigurðardóttir, had apologized to the island’s gay community for the participation of the Church of Iceland in the festival because of Graham’s presence.
http://freethinker.co.uk/2013/08/25/icelanders-disgusted-by-us-evangelists-visit-and-a-bishop-apologises-to-the-gay-community/
Graham is a particular kind of nasty creepiness and deserves to be marginalized.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Icelandic protesters!
ReplyDeleteIt is shameful that the churches of Iceland organized this event. The people have more common sense and compassion than thei religious leaders. It is about time people stood up against their hate-filled churches.
THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOooh, it's kind of like when Marilyn Manson played the Egan Center in Anchorage and all of the xtian crazies thought they could buy all of the tickets and then we just increased the capacity of the venue by that same amount and sold more tickets and had a great show! Stupid bible diddlers; they never seem to get it right!
ReplyDeleteThis guy makes my skin crawl, there's not enough hand sanitizer in the World to wash the "ick" factor away.
ReplyDeleteThis is Iceland's subtle way of saying "Bjork You, Franklin!"
Iceland rules!
This man behaves shamelessly. I remember when he and then-governor Palin made their way to make things right in the villages during a very hard time. What clueless and insensitive dunces. Palin arrived with cookies and Graham arrived with religious brochures. Fuck them.
ReplyDeleteFleecing your own charity (Samaritan's purse) for $500,000 a year, flying around in a private jet, and posing as the great man must be some lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteIt's a long fucking way from a humble itinerant penniless preacher from Palestine.
For the record, I'm an atheist, but I have nothing against anyone who really believes in feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and being kind to people
It's the exclusionary, bigoted, and hateful idiots who give religion its truly obnoxious reputation in the USA.
Besides the Dominionist militant Christians in the USA who want to force their biblical crap on everyone else, we also have the "prosperity gospel"
charlatans like Joel Osteen.
These are the pastors and teachers that live in million dollar houses, and preach that prosperity and wealth is a divine inheritance.
I think Graham has a foot in both camps
That Franklin Graham is a Huge Asshole and a Prejudiced Piece of Shit, just like his stupid father. He and his father are two of the biggest frauds ever put upon the American people. I hope he gets fucked over big time by the very smart Icelandic people.
ReplyDeleteGood on the Icelanders but there is another fundamental question that must be asked.... WHY would anyone fly to Iceland to see/listen to a proven lunatic ???
ReplyDeleteSeems a bit unclear....
Iceland also handled their banking situation much differently. We could learn from them.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.forbes.com/sites/traceygreenstein/2013/02/20/icelands-stabilized-economy-is-a-surprising-success-story/
"Instead of allowing the criminals responsible for bank fraud to run free as the years passed by, Iceland thought it might be wise to actually indict bankers who committed serious financial crimes that contributed to the collapse. By paying off loans for consumers, forgiving homeowner debt (up to 110% of the property value), and throwing the offenders in prison, Iceland was able to bounce back. Now, its economy is “recovered” and is growing faster than both the US and European economies.
When Iceland’s President Olafur Ragnar Grimmson was asked whether or not other countries – Europe in particular – would succeed with Iceland’s “let the banks fail” policy, he stated the following:
“Why are the banks considered to be the holy churches of the modern economy? Why are private banks not like airlines and telecommunication companies and allowed to go bankrupt if they have been run in an irresponsible way? The theory that you have to bail out banks is a theory that you allow bankers enjoy for their own profit, their success, and then let ordinary people bear their failure through taxes and austerity. People in enlightened democracies are not going to accept that in the long run.”
Grimmson’s “famous” reply to the controversial question, “What is the reason for Iceland’s recovery?” is most remarkable.
“We were wise enough not to follow the traditional prevailing orthodoxies of the Western financial world in the last 30 years. We introduced currency controls, we let the banks fail, we provided support for the poor, and we didn’t introduce austerity measures like you’re seeing in Europe.”
It was quite revealing to hear his father Billy speaking, on a Rachel Maddow segment, recently.
ReplyDeleteIts a released recording of his call to a forlorn Richard Nixon, who had been found out by the press. In it, he says he'd like to kill the CBS reporters who televised their findings of Nixon's criminal activities.
...and in the same breath, Graham then says, "Oh--and God bless."
I think his son is even more rotten to the core.
A little extra effort could make this super idea even better. The ticket holders could all show up, take their seats, and ceremoniously leave about 1/2 hr. into the program.
ReplyDeleteor better yet, stand with their backs turned to him the entire time.
Delete