Twitter and freedom of speech

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Bullfighting groups cry foul over Twitter abuse

Spain's major bullfighting organisations have called on authorities to take action against people making "despicable" comments on Twitter about a bullfight on Tuesday which was cancelled after all three bullfighters were injured.

Five groups made a joint statement declaring their "complete repulsion" towards what they described as "unspeakable" comments made on the social media network after Madrid's San Isidro bullfighting festival was cancelled. 

They claimed that the comments incited hatred towards both the injured bullfighters "who shed their blood in the arena of Las Ventas" and bullfighting in general, which they described as "fully recognized" as a legal activity of "ethical and cultural value". 

In the statement the groups also hailed the "dignity and sacrifice" of the injured bullfighters and said that the offensive comments on Twitter were made by users "protected by cowardly anonymity or by a misunderstood use of freedom of expression." 

They also stated their intention to strive towards making Spanish authorities put an end to the "despicable" anti-bullfighting expressions. 

The organization Juventud Taurina (Bullfighting Youth) went one step further and organised a meeting at the gates of Las Ventas bullring to call upon Spain's authorities to take legal action against people on Twitter who wished death upon the injured matadors. 

"Of course freedom of expression exists, but its freedom ends where ours begins and we will not let them step on us time and time again with impunity," they declared, according to Spanish daily La Información. 

Many tweets in English from international Twitter users after news broke of the events at Las Arenas were mocking in tone: 

Spanish reactions were also generally less than sympathetic towards David Mora, the most seriously injured matador: 

Cuando un toro cornea a un torero la gente echa las manos a la cabeza, cuando es al toro al que matan, aplauden!! #DavidMora no me das pena — Condesa Villaverde (@CondesaSoy) May 20, 2014 

"When a bull gores a bullfighter people hold their head in their hands, when the bull dies they applaud! #DavidMora I am not sorry." 

"If the bullfighter doesn't deserve to die, why does the bull? I'm ashamed of this country." 

Pues yo creo que lo bueno de que mueran toreros es que así surgirán más para sustituirles y podrán morir también. — SanteroTrece™ (@SanteroTrece) May 21, 2014 

"I think the best thing about bullfighters dying is that more bullfighters will replace them and then they can die too." 
Others were more succinct: 

"I'm not at all sorry for bullfighters who are injured in the arena. F**k them." 

The call by bullfighting organizations for tighter control of comments in Twitter comes shortly after Spain's Interior Minister, Jorge Fernández Díaz, annouced authorities would crack down on people posting offensive content about ruling Party Politican Isabel Carrasco, murdered in broad daylight in mid-May. 

While some praised the crackdown, others viewed it as an attempt to silence free speech about a political figure widely viewed as controversial, and a futher attempt on the part of the government against criticism. 

Several people have subsequently been arrested for making offensive tweets about the Carrasco case. 
Bullfighting has been on the decline for years in Spain, with a 2010 survey in El Pais showing 60 percent of respondents opposed the practice. 

Barcelona's ring held its final bullfight in September 2011 after the Catalonia region banned bullfighting, the second Spanish region to do so after the Canary Islands.

 
  
Vocabulary:
 
to cry foul -
 
to injure / an injury -
to make a statement -
 
joint (adj) -
 
to claim - 
hatred (n) -
 
to shed (blood, tears) -
a coward / cowardly -

to strive towards sth -

to put an end to sth -

to go one step further -

to call on sb to do sth -

to step on sb -

to mock -
evil (adj) -

sympathetic -

to gore -

to deserve -
ashamed -

to crack down on sth / a crackdown -

in broad daylight -

to praise -
to arrest -

to be on the decline -

a bullring -

to ban -

Spain's royals unveil 'polite' Twitter account

Spain's royal family launched their new Twitter account on Tuesday and are already asking users to be "correct" and "well-mannered" when leaving comments.
The royal Twitter account with the handle @casareal went live shortly after 12pm on Wednesday, containing a greeting in Spain's four official languages — Castellano, Catalan, Basque and Galcian — and English.
The aim of the account is to "inform users" about the day-to-day activities of the royal family, the palace said in a statement.
But people hoping to find out Spanish King Juan Carlos' innermost thoughts on life, the universe and everything are in for something of a let-down: "This is an institutional profile and is not personal nature at all," say the account's operators in their rules of use document. 
Those rules also ask users to mind their manners when commenting on royal tweets, reminding them that politeness is required. 
Offensive comments, trolling and spamming are also strictly out of bounds as the Zarzuela Palace enters the Twittersphere. 
The @casareal Twitter account is the latest phase in the long-running process of getting Spain's royals online. In 2012, the palace unveiled a new website, and recenlty a children's area of the site became available with interactive games and a photo family of the royal family. 
By opening a Twitter account, the Spanish royals have caught up with the Britain's Queen Elizabeth II who keep royal watchers informed via @BritishMonarchy. Her son Prince Andrew also has his own account (@TheDukeofYork) while Prince Charles uses @ClarenceHouse.
In Sweden, Princess Madeleine has her own phenomenally successful Facebook page, which has won her over 400,000 likes. 
The news of the launch of @casareal comes on the same day that Spain's tax authorities informed a judge that King Juan Carlos' son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarin was guilty of tax fraud to the tune of €240,000 ($329,000) in 2007 and 2008. 
Since the scandal erupted 3 years ago, the popularity of the royal family has plummeted. A recent poll showed that 62 percent of Spaniards were in favour of the abdication of 76-year-old King Juan Carlos, while support for the monarchy in general fell to just under half. 
Source: The Local

Vocabulary:

a handle -

to go live -

an aim -

day-to-day (adj) -

a statement -

innermost thoughts -

to be in for stg -

a let-down -

to mind your manners -

to troll -

to spam -

to be out of bounds -

long-running -

to unveil stg -

to plummet -
a poll -

Comments

Sir Joseph said…
Hi Graham,

The title of this post is about twitter and freedom of speak, so my comment is about that. Law and order must be the same for everyone without exceptions, always and beneath all conditions. In my opinion, if you respect what people say without limits, apart from the infraction of the law, you will be a steady and reliable man, but if you only respect what is according to your wishes and ideas, you will be a biased and unreliable man.

I try to do my best and, especially, to be unbiased. Therefore, even if a criminal gives his opinion I know that I have to respect him. In this case, if I don´t agree with his opinion I can´t offend or slander him. That must be on twitter, on facebook, on wedsite, in newspapers, on tve, on the radio and so on.

In addition, I don´t mind that Spain´s royal family launched their new twitter account.

See you.
Saturday, 08 May, 2021
Graham said…
Good afternoon Joey,

Most of the tweets that I read are just plain nonsense and many of them are rude or intended to create offence. Social media has brought about a huge increase in hate speech cases and also demonstrates the banality and badness of humans.


The title of this post is about twitter and freedom of spech, so my comment is about that. Law and order must be the same for everyone without exception, always and under all conditions. In my opinion, if you respect what people say without limits, apart from the infraction of the law, you will be a steady and reliable man, but if you only respect what is according to your wishes and ideas, you will be a biased and unreliable man.

...

In addition, I don´t mind if Spain´s royal family launches their new twitter account.

Friday, 14 May, 2021
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