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I understand that all this seems provincial—even cute—compared to the Australian government's offenses, but I'm mystified by how oblivious the world seems to our government's crimes in light of the amount of hype Iceland's been getting, especially for our supposedly "ultra-liberal" politics, which in reality have been limited to ideological gestures by the occasional powerless but outspoken pundit or politician.Reykjavik's former mayor wore drag once and everyone assumed everything was just fine and dandy up here in Iceland, like we're some kind of liberal paradise. Or there was the time five corrupt bankers were jailed after being caught doing what our whole financial sector was doing before our economy collapsed, and a load of clickbait sites published articles about how we "let the banks fail" (this never happened) and "jailed all our bankers."The truth is that the banks are soaring, having made massive profits since the collapse, while the rest of Iceland is still stumbling out of it. All the mistakes that led to our meltdown seven years ago are being repeated by the same political parties who presided over it, whom, bizarrely, the Icelandic electorate chose to reelect; meanwhile, the average Icelander sinks deeper into debt as the cost of living rises with inflation while salaries stay the same.But no one really cares. It seems people here want to believe the "liberal paradise" myth so badly that there isn't any interest in learning the truth. The average Icelandophile visiting here has been so thoroughly inundated by quirky music videos and cute news stories about how everyone here "believes in elves" (another total fabrication) or how we shun religion and "believe only in ourselves" (our constitution actually guarantees special rights to the Church) that it's very difficult for him or her to see that this is actually a real place with real problems.I'm not saying you can't visit here and enjoy it—on the contrary; perhaps the only way to truly enjoy life here is to come as a tourist, a non-participant in our farcically corrupt society. So by all means, come and inject your delicious foreign money into our economy and help prove our government wrong about tourism. Come see the nature before it's destroyed. Come have a drink while you still can before our state-owned liquor store workers go on strike. Come see a show before all the musicians move abroad, like I'm doing. So come, but come quick, before the people running this country choke it to death.Follow Sindri Eldon on Twitter.TRENDING ON BROADLY: Mother Teresa Was Kind of a Heartless Bitch