Dealing with Doubters
The industry that contributes most significantly to Iceland’s GDP, besides fishing, is the mining, processing, and exporting of aluminum. As Icelandic education and technology have increased, so has their efficiency in producing aluminum. And yet there is a factor that slows the process down; one which the Icelanders have chosen to embrace, rather than dispel. The one factor that makes their aluminum production slower than it could be is the widespread national belief in fairies. Well, not really fairies. It’s actually the sincere belief in elves, trolls, and gnomes. But collectively they are referred to as fairies or in their language Huldenvolk, or hidden-people, or secret-people. According to a 1975 national survey, only 7% of the population were certain of the existence of Elves, but only 10% of the population were certain there were no Elves. Leaving a whopping 83% of Icelanders who doubted the existence, but not enough to go on record as calling themselves, unbelievers. My questi...