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WTF, Spain?

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Clarissa

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In case somebody is unaware, things are not going well for Spain. The economy will take forever to recover, Catalonians are freaking out, corruption scandals are mushrooming, the possibility that there will be no Spain quite soon is strong, and even the World Cup brings nothing but two humiliating defeats.

Yet in the midst of all this, crowds of adults decide it’s a good moment to play “kings, queens, and princesses” and abandon themselves to the game like they don’t have a care in the world. Spanish newspapers have become unreadable because all they publish these days is “His Majesty said this and Her Majesty did that.” Believing in Majesties in year 2014 is a bizarre pursuit for anybody but it is even more idiotic for people whose royal family has disgraced itself with shameful corruption scandals just recently.

I love Spain with a blinding passion but after reading several articles expressing the belief that the new king will “save Spanish democracy” I’m finding it hard to avoid the feeling that “Spain is different” albeit not in a good way.

5 responses to “WTF, Spain?”

  1. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    I’m not so convinced that Spain is different in that manner. When things go so wrong, people want some kind of strong authoritarian to solve their problems. Of course it doesn’t work but that doesn’t stop it. There’s no Franco, there’s no significant Neo-Nazi presence (like Greece) so they blubber about royalty

    When Obama partisans start going on about saving the US from another Great Depression, this is what they mean, “At least we didn’t turn into Greece or Spain.” They can’t really argue growth because growth has been anemic, frankly.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Of course, it’s only different because I care about it differently. 🙂

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  2. sugs Avatar
    sugs

    I wonder which people want ‘some kind of strong authoritarian’ to solve their problems. I certainly don’t know any.
    In the UK most people who can actually be bothered to be interested in the royals (and that’s not as many as the murdoch press machine would have you believe) are quite happy with the constitutional monarchy we have, which doesn’t give them a lot of power. Their wealth, which is considerable, gives them a lot more.
    None of this gives any clue as to how a monarchy can save democracy in Spain!

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  3. N G Avatar
    N G

    “In case somebody is unaware, things are not going well for Spain. The economy will take forever to recover, Catalonians are freaking out, corruption scandals are mushrooming, the possibility that there will be no Spain quite soon is strong, and even the World Cup brings nothing but two humiliating defeats”

    Why worry about this when the jihadists are coming to reclaim Spain for the new caliphate?

    “Yihadistas radicados en Siria han colgado en Internet un vídeo de un minuto en el que dos hombres que hablan castellano afirman que van a recuperar España con la ayuda de Dios. En la grabación, uno de ellos dice: “Estamos en Tierra Santa, la tierra del Islam, y le digo a todo el mundo y aviso también: Estamos viviendo bajo la bandera islámica y vamos a morir por ella hasta que los abrimos todas las tierras presas desde Yakarta hasta Andalucía. Y os digo: España es tierra de nuestros abuelos y nos vamos a abrirla con el poder de Alá”.”

    Leer más: http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20140701/54411477609/yihadistas-castellano-espana-tierra-nuestros-abuelos.html#ixzz38LcXprdQ

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      There was a brilliant article linked recently where a talented journalist poked vicious fun at ISIS for these fantasies of reconquering Spain.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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