Iceland's most Acquitted Man and State-Truth

Icelandic journalist Páll Vilhjálmsson writes about being acquitted by the Reykjavík District Court of "hatespeech" charges.

Páll Vilhjálmsson

Iceland’s most audacious, forceful voice in the fight for free speech and against state-compelled speech is without a doubt journalist Páll Vilhjálmsson. His blog, Random Notes, where he writes daily on politics and current affairs in Iceland, is the most read blog in the country. A few days after the Reykjavík District Court acquitted him of “hatespeech” brought by Reykjavík Chief of Police and the prosecution, acting as serfs for The National Queer Organisation of Iceland (Samtökin 78), he wrote on his blog, “The Country’s most Acquitted man and State-Truth,” which is translated and published here with his permission.

Random is probably the country’s most acquitted person. Three recent lawsuits, two of them from this summer, resulted in acquittals. Three journalists sued Random in two lawsuits, while the Reykjavík Police Commissioner charged him in the third lawsuit.

It’s certainly better to be acquitted than convicted, that’s for sure. However, being taken to court, solely for expressing an opinion that others dislike is a bitter experience. And the lawsuits aren’t the only trouble.

The same parties, or rather the same forces, that sued Random caused such an uproar and commotion at his former workplace, a high school in the Reykjavík area, that an early severance agreement was inevitable. Being in his mid-sixties, Random is no spring chicken, but he wasn’t planning on retiring. His opinions on matters unrelated to teaching, led to his early retirement.

One could argue that Random dug his own grave. He held opinions that many disliked and was foolish enough to express them publicly on a blog. Yet, we’re supposed to live in a free, democratic country with a constitution that guarantees freedom of opinion and speech. Respect for human rights doesn’t run deep in general and is especially shallow among those who talk about them the most—the leftists.

The three lawsuits, in which Random was acquitted, concern seemingly unrelated topics. First, three journalists from RSK media (RÚV [the Icelandic state broadcaster], Stundin, and Kjarninn [online newspapers ] were upset about blog posts regarding the so-called drugging and phone theft case. Random claims that journalists were directly or indirectly involved in the drugging of Captain Páll Steingrímsson and the theft of his phone. The journalists sued Random in two separate lawsuits. Second, the organization Samtökin 78 (National Queer Organisation of Iceland) was angered by Random’s blog about promotion of transgender ideology to children and filed a complaint with the police. Doing work on behalf of a belief-based organization, the Reykjavík Police Commissioner charged the author with hate speech.

A plausible hypothesis about human behavior comes to mind, which is that the further people’s beliefs stray from reality, the more aggressively they try to suppress opposing views. Let’s examine the circumstances more closely.

Well-known facts, including from a police investigation, and the surrounding circumstances strongly and decisively suggest that journalists were involved in the drugging and phone theft in the spring of 2021. The journalists who published material from the stolen phone steadfastly deny any involvement. “We only published news,” they say, as if news fall fully formed from the heavens, requiring neither sources nor intent to obtain them. Random, who dares to believe differently, shall be sued with full force.

Samtökin 78 claims that there are countless human sexes, and that one can be born in the wrong body. This view is of a religious nature and has no basis in reality. But woe to those who contradict this orthodoxy—they shall be reported to the police and face deserved punishment. Especially if the culprit is a middle-aged man with access to a keyboard. [The prosecutor, Silja Rán Arnarsdóttir, who claimed that Vilhjálmsson had mocked, slandered, and humiliated a vulnerable minority group… should face punishment, either a fine or imprisonment [and] that “‘middle-aged men who go insane at the keyboard’ must face deserved consequences, financial penalties, and imprisonment.”]

Idiotic beliefs, in other words, are defended with more fervor and aggression than everyday views that align with observable reality. Perhaps this hypothesis is simply the obvious truth. The zeal of cults is usually greater than that of mainstream churches.

Random is a lone wolf in the blogging field, writing on his own account. What the journalists and Samtökin 78 have in common is that they enjoy public funding. Media subsidies and taxpayer monies empower journalists and the National Queer organization to demand that the state validate their version of reality. The court system was supposed to declare the journalists innocent as angels of drugging and theft on the one hand, and on the other, that there are countless sexes and infants arrive into this world in the wrong bodies.

The journalists and Samtökin 78 already are already backed by the legislative and executive powers; laws favoring their bizarre worldview and funding for the operation of a pseudo-religious organization and corrupt media come from there. The judiciary, in Random’s cases, held firm and ruled that, for now, freedom of expression still applies in this country. Every citizen is free to hold their opinions and has the right to express them publicly. The judiciary’s independence from political orthodoxy is the only thing standing in the way of a state-sanctioned truth. Everyone knows that state-sanctioned truth is one version of totalitarianism.

Random isn’t proud of being the country’s most acquitted person. Sure, acquittal is better than conviction. But that we live in a society where free speech is under attack by journalists, a publicly funded pseudo-religious organization, and the police and prosecutors is not acceptable. It’s absolutely unacceptable. Thank God the courts are still in the hands of people with sounder judgment and viewpoints than the orthodoxy of journalists, the Icelandic Journalists’ Association, the National Queer Organisation, and the Reykjavík Chief of Police.