It is quite amazing how successful the Independence Party has been at projecting two of their own larger problems onto others.
In classical psychology, projection is always seen as a defence mechanism that occurs when a person’s own unacceptable or threatening feelings are repressed and then attributed to someone else.
An example of this behavior might be blaming another for self failure. The mind may avoid the discomfort of consciously admitting personal faults by keeping those feelings unconscious, and redirect their libidinal satisfaction by attaching, or “projecting,” those same faults onto another.
The first successful projection involves making people believe that anyone who criticises the Independence Party, especially the Social Democrat party and its followers, are somehow working on the behest of Baugur and its gang of corrupt businessmen.
But Baugur and its minions have never been more connected to any party than the Independence Party. Even if they might have paid for a couple of Social Democratic politicians like Steinunn Valdis Oskarsdottir and though a couple of others might have flirted with their money pits, it pales in comparison with the active involvement and donations Baugur has made within the Independence Party. One of the old dogs in the Independence Party spin machine, Bjorn Bjarnason knows this best as it was he who lost ground when Baugur backed young and eager gun for hire, Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson against him in the party’s primaries. And without Baugur, there would have been less of a bite behind FL Group whose donation of 30 million ISK in 2006 was initiated by Gudlaugur and accepted by then party CEO Kjartan Gunnarsson, the trusted ally of David Oddson and Geir Haarde who sat on the board of Landsbankinn.
But hardly a day goes by without an Independence Party member or supporter trying to pin Baugur onto the Social Democrats.
The other amazing projection is to convince large parts of the Icelandic public that IceSave is a problem which the nation can thank the Social Democrats and Left Greens for. By trying to conclude the agreements, this government has accepted the poisoned chalice of being targeted by the Independence Party for treason at any turn. This neglects the fact that the whole management and ownership team of Landsbankinn held their positions because of involvement in the Independence Party and of course donations to the tune of 25 million to the party from the bank in 2006. That year coincidentally was the year when any sensible government would have stepped in to rein in the banks after harsh criticism of their business models from all over the world. But instead, IceSave was created, then the government neglected to install measures which would have lessened its eventual impact.
But hardly a day goes by without an Independence Party member or supporter yelling “treason” at the persons left cleaning up the mess.
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August 6th, 2010 → 10:50 am @ Dadi
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