The Spanish smell of onion, it’s horrible”. Gross. “To smelly armpit.” And that “here is soap and deodorant”. Two young Venezuelans in front of their cell phone cameras. It does not seem that they are doing badly financially. Their parents decided to move to Galicia and here they are, recording a video on TikTok entitled “Things we don’t like about living in Spain”. The occurrence went viral.
They admit to being delighted in their destination country. They go out and feel safe. Private property is usually respected. They have rights. Universal public health cares for them. But what a smell when they come across Spaniards. “Not everyone, but it is too common,” one of them qualifies about that stench that they conclude is unbearable.
You will not have seen the controversial video on any newscast, but it has reached millions of Internet users through different channels. It is the strength of the “networked” opinion compared to the published opinion. Ask Vox or Podemos how they manage to reach their voters. Or Trump. The network without filters. It makes you dizzy just thinking about it.
The beauty of young Venezuelans does not end there. “Sundays is a dead day; It doesn’t open anything, just a few food places.” Come on, what are you doing resting? And you, Spaniards, exploring the four-day journey? But who do you think you are, Sweden? Anyway. And on top of that you take a nap.
The couple continues: “They smoke and drink a lot. You go to a disco and the most normal thing in the world is to see people vomiting. Magaluf syndrome has spread throughout the country. And “they don’t know how to dance”, they concluded.
The video is not going to provoke a diplomatic conflict, but it shows that social networks are, at times, a repository of unsubstantiated generalities. A kind of net-garbage where every day it is more important to separate the wheat from the chaff. Everyone can say almost whatever they want, as if they were leaning on the bar. Slander is free. It is difficult to put doors on the countryside, but the fact that these channels are the main source of information for millions of citizens is, to say the least, worrying.
As for Spain, it goes without saying that of course there are things to improve, although we have little to envy any country in the world. But we only realize this when we cross the border.
