Taken to its ultimate consequences, political correctness inevitably leads to a dead end where only shouted silence is allowed. Quiet we are all more handsome. But also more restricted, controlled, censored, mentally and linguistically impoverished, mute. And although it may not seem like it, this also applies to social networks: it is only a matter of time before they are intervened worldwide, and not only in authoritarian countries such as China, Iran or Russia. Elon Musk, the one from Twitter, works on it, in his own way.
The skin of people, let alone well-rounded minority groups, has become so thin that no one lets even one pass, and woe to him, her or it who tries to cross a red line, especially if he uses a little of humor or irony, because an exemplary punishment awaits the unconscious offender, for now in the form of a fine, or at least that is the case and will be in Spain, should the proposed reform of the 'gag law' prosper.
As those unfortunate people who have had the misfortune of living under a totalitarian regime know, you have to be very careful about what you say and especially to whom you say it, because even your children can denounce you to the authorities. Until now, Western democracies believed themselves free from such a lack of free speech. Well, not anymore: for some time now we all know that you better measure your words before pronouncing or writing them, if you don't want to get into an unpleasant mess that will cost you dearly and from which you may never find a way to get out of on top of the stigma that comes with the sentence that you have sought for yourself. In other words, the eat and shut up thing has returned, but duly increased and globalized.
However, achieving the necessary parliamentary consensus to reform the so-called 'gag law' approved in its day by a PP government is not and will not be an easy task. No less than 28 meetings in the Congress of Deputies, all of them very discreet, almost clandestine, have only served to reach a minimum agreement that would allow the approval of a new Citizen Security law. But just as when assembling an Ikea piece of furniture there is usually at least one rebellious screw that does not fit, the many times gathered deputies have not yet found a way to satisfactorily accommodate article 37.4, which is the one that includes the punishment for disrespect. to cops.
The current police forces, whether national, regional, urban or local, have very little to do with the grays, woods or the Benemérita of past times. Even so, they are often treated with an unacceptable lack of respect by angry citizens lacking in good manners.
One of the most tricky points of article 37.4 is the one that intends to punish with fines ranging from 100 to 600 euros for "lack of respect and consideration whose recipient is a member of the security forces and bodies in the exercise of their duties ”, only to add, “when these conducts do not constitute a criminal offence”.
What remains to be clarified, among other highly debatable aspects, is who decides if someone has disrespected a uniformed officer, because if it is this, what is the agent's basis for continuing to impose a fine on the alleged offender? enough that you don't like his physical appearance or tone of voice? And it is not a minor issue: in 2021, 26,254 fines were imposed for despising the police, which is not bad at all. These are figures that seem to indicate a widespread tendency for citizens to mess with the police along with the fineness of the skin of the agents and the desire to fine.
If Irene Montero's Ministry of Equality pursues lewd glances without anyone knowing how the hell to distinguish them from, for example, looks of admiration, perhaps it should not surprise us that the Ministry of the Interior intends to put an end to insults and disrespect from those who are targeted by security forces and bodies. If the only thing you want is not to get into trouble, it is better not to address the agents with a cocky tone, or use the familiar name, much less look at them badly. And let's not call them pig, mamarracho, bofia or facha anymore.
Now, while this goes against rebellious citizens or simply bad-spoken or angry citizens, whether justified or not, in the country's parliaments their lordships insult each other, which is a pleasure to hear, while they impose more and more prohibitions and restrictions on us. that they themselves jump into bullfighting. Well, first the fines go to them.
