For quite some time now there's been some kind of crusade against humour and its limits. We started with singers and their lyrics, between more minor incidents, but the snowball started rolling a few days ago because of some Twitter jokes, and it keeps getting dangerously bigger with a big chance of exploding and creating collateral casualties.

The Twitter jokes were a dozen tweets about a deceased Fascist figure, killed in a terrorist attack more than 40 years ago. While the jokes were indeed unnecessary and out of place, what happened after was even more out of place. The maker of the jokes, a young girl around my age, was called to court because of them. Understandable if it wasn't because the accusation wasn't made by the descendants of such figure, but instead an act of pursuit by the government.

Initially, they demanded more than two years of jail for the girl, but as the case went on they lowered their demands and toned it down to a single year, which has finally been accepted by the judge in charge. It should be noted that even the descendants of that figure have said it's "excessive" to go to jail for this, but remember the many cases of political corruption happening in Spain that haven't brought anyone to jail, if they're even being investigated, or those cases of pedophiles that get archived for "happening too long ago".

When the sentence was made public, the snowball started rolling. Many media, mostly satirical TV programs or magazines, have started making jokes about that same figure or related subjects in protest for the destruction of a girl's future. One of those TV programs has now been reported to the Congress, with the political forces divided whether it's the right thing to do or something is terribly wrong if we're judging people for expressing their opinion while leaving free those who committed real crimes.

Where will this end and when? We don't know. What's for sure is that this country is going back in time to the repression of the 60s and earlier. I can understand a punishment for people who goes too far when exercising their right of expression, but go to jail is an excessive punishment and totally uncalled for. If there's no actual violation of laws there's no crime made, and thus no need for jail.

How does the outer world react to this? Do you think the girl should go to jail nonetheless? Do you think it's time to take a stand? In the case of Catalonia, seeking independence from Spain and thus all of its government's decisions, should we totally claim our land to be fully ours and exercise the good justice? Share your thoughts, they won't be more bizarre than the actual events.

I think it's interesting that you didn't name a name and instead said, "A deceased Fascist figure, killed in a terrorist attack more than 40 years ago." Why not just say, "Luis Carrero Blanco was blown up and now this woman is laughing about it."


Americans say a lot on Twitter and other social media. We scream 'freedom of speech' and then make fun of the highest office in our government, the U.S. President. We insult and mock political parties, calling people downright offensive things, we threaten violence and belligerence against each other and then we're surprised when the other side is offended with what we say.

It's a free-for-all in the United States unless you communicate a direct threat to another person or property. Then the government descends and presses charges.

I was doing some reading about what you're talking about. I don't understand the prosecution's play outside of setting precedence for future Twitter and social media communications. I don't think jail time will have a positive impact from a political standpoint and I doubt it will stop others from doing the same thing. Perhaps the government is more concerned about criticism of current leaders.

In some countries, you can't say anything bad about their leaders, namely countries with kings. It's against the law to challenge the government. Perhaps Spain, as you said, EX, is regressing to a more conservative, reactionary time.

Ghostbear1111 : I didn't say names because I wanted people to know about the subject without having to investigate. After all, how can I know if people outside Spain know about our past political figures. Besides, the recent jokes have escalated towards other subjects, like I said, so just saying his name doesn't explain the whole thing.

The thing is why are they so worried about criticism if we're not challenging them, we're talking about a regime that ended more than 40 years ago. True is that not many people wants to remember those times and even yet make fun of them (and even less the people who didn't live those times), but why go this far for something that doesn't concern the actual government?

I can't really understand it. They say it's "historic memory" and thus they treat it even more seriously than jokes directed at them. There have been countless jokes and insults and everything about the current leaders in all media yet no one has been even fined, this girl makes jokes about a blast from the past and goes to jail?

It makes no sense. Not only are we halting and/or neglecting progress, we're even going back in time. However, there are no better times in the past, we're wasting the present good times in an attempt to go back simply because some people is attached to it.

When will it end? I am tempted to say "never". That it happens in Spain (or in Europe in general) doesn't really surprise me; despite the Enlightenment too many countries still have an overbearing government that wants to micromanage people's lives and control them. Hell, you can get in jail/fined in France for mocking/denying the Holocaust!

And now, more and more, that virus is infecting America. In Canada, the country is now plagued with "hate speech" laws that try to protect favored minorities from "feeling hurt." Don't get me wrong; I know first hand how getting bullied feels. But unless the said bullying directly endangers one's life or property, criminalizing it will change nothing. Besides, there are always civil courts if there is defamation, but even that can lead to abuses (some language, so watch out): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63MaL0wDsBg

And in the U.S., free speech is going down the drain thanks to the same "no one should get hurt" feeling. No, I am not a supporter of Trump and is complete lack of class. There is a major difference between extreme political correctness and being a complete a-hole with a foul mouth. Too many publicly-funded universities - therefore bounded by the Constitution - censor/severely restrict anything that's not remotely "liberal" (i.e. socialist). Humorists like Jerry Seinfeld don't dare come near campuses for fear of facing hecklers that will stop them at the slightest sight of a "microagression."

Unless people start realizing that government limitations on humor - it's free speech, after all - is hurting everyone, we will see an expansion of its restrictions in the years to come.

janus : Mocking/denying the Holocaust is mocking/denying hundreds of thousands of innocent people assassinated by a tyrannical regime, so I totally support going to jail for it. What is happening here is that they're mocking the regime and not its victims (though in this case it was a victim of terrorism even if his past is tied with a fascist dictator).

Here in Spain the restriction on free speech is going just too far, and basically the restriction on any human right. I'd like to believe this could lead into a revolution to throw out the government, but historically Spain has always been like this no matter what form of government we've had: monarchy, republic, democracy, dictators... The only real choice seems to be Catalonia's pursuit of independence, but that's not a safe choice either.

I'm keeping an eye on what's happening towards this subject, but still no big news. At most, possible new reports about other humorists, simply because it seems that reporting everything that is minimally offensive is a trend right now.

Freedom of speech means that government cannot censor what you say. So what if you decide to make a fool of yourself by denying an absolute truth of history? By mocking it? As Noam Chomsky said, "If you don't believe in hearing things that might shock you, then you don't believe in free speech." I would certainly not encourage a humorist who does it, but why make him/her a criminal?

You are embarking on a VERY slippery slope if you justify government censorship on speech that doesn't directly threaten anyone. Once a government has such arbitrary powers, it very lets go of it. If anything, it usually expands such powers until there is no freedom left.

janus : We're talking Spain, not the United States. And Spain's penal code, Article 578, states "the prohibition of glorification or justification, by any means of public expression or dissemination, of the crimes included in Articles 571-577 of this Code or of those who participated in its execution, performance of acts involving disrepute, contempt or humiliation of the victims of terrorist offenses or their families."

So the law says no one in Spain can either joke about, ergo justify, a terrorist attack or make fun or insult those who are victims of said attacks. It's not freedom of speech so much as protectionism against legitimizing a militant group, either GRAPO or the ETA, even if they haven't really done anything in the past 20 years or more.

Spanish government can and have censored speech because they deem it unlawful.