because they are in every big protest, and have been identified many times. because you can spot them wearing headphones and talking to center command. because they have been captured on video throwing stones and inciting riots. because they are routinely identified and exposed by the crowd, and told to get the fuck out of the demonstration, which they promptly do, although not a single one of them has been harmed up to this date in these situations (on one instance however they got scared and had to be rescued by anti-riots, although anybody had touched a single hair of them, just shouts). because the fact is 99% of people in these demonstrations is peaceful and has actually very good reasons to be there.

is that the reason why they are wearing "police" armbands in the picture? idiot.

to add to this, there is a brand new political force in spain ("podemos", literally "we can") that is expected to overturn both traditional (right/lefty right bipartisanship) pro-stablishment parties. this is an absolute novelty. this new political party does have some "left" ideology although it declares itself neutral (go figure). it's supposedly a grassroots party made up of simple citizen, and there is a very real chance they get to power. main program points are emergency mitigation of social impact of the financial crisis, fighting corruption and reconstruction of presently greatly diminished democracy.

however, being myself very skeptical about this new party, the real danger to fear if they get to power isn't what they could do, but the predictable reaction of the right (plus probably part of the left) which i expect to be specially ruthless and might even end in a coup d'état or even a bloodbath. spain is essentially a deeply corrupt oligarchy and they will not allow to be displaced so easily. has happened before (see spanish civil war).

this poster above must be the equivalent of a teabagger. just to put his bullshit in context.

the spanish "left" has been a minority since franco. there is no real viable "left" alternative as much as there isn't any in the us, where calling democrats "left" would be a big stretch (that would be in spain the official workers party, for which "socialism" is just a funny part of the name, and just equally corrupt as the right.)

the part about protests is just outright lie. while there's little positive to say about the official spanish "left" (which actually isn't) there is nothing more socially hostile, disrupting and ruthless than the spanish "right" in opposition, on every level. they control the media, the judiciary and most big businesses and know all too well how to use that to good advantage. on the streets, spain has still a very signifficant share of far right extremists, and they are tightly entrenched with the police. most violent actions from these extreme right groups go largely ignored, if not directly supported by the police. anticapitalist or mere social protests, however, are dealt with switly and harshly, with people having got hefty fines or even jail time just for being randomly picked up at or near protests. this recent gag law is just pushing to a extreme what has been an already dire situation for people's rights for years, as has been extensively reported by world oprganizations abroad already. yes, it seems bad things are about to happen, and they know it. i'm guessing they even want them to happen ...

narcissism is to a great extent a consequence of our failed social education impregnated with sick individualism, from which social networks are part of so yes, they do. if not the root cause, still a great amplifier.

at least it has some utility, since they expose themselves in public: if you are looking for a decent coder you can safely filter out prima donnas like this and spare you some headache.

ok, then. can we be friends now? :-)

also please note i never told anyone how to express themselves. i just pointed out the underlying nonsense in response to someone sort of reprobating someone else for the pun word "usians". of course it was a pun, but you guys should expect that (and hopefully with a tiny bit of humor) from the moment on you mangle meanings in such a way. not a problem at all but it's just natural that other people might get confused.

btw, both [sic]'s i assume were also a joke. just for the record, i didn't get it. i hate missing jokes.

no, you were wrong. you said:

which implies that's the only form. it isn't. at all. its adoption varies but other forms are actually more prevalent in several instances, probably most. spanish language academy, for instance, expressly states that "americano" in lieu of "estadounidense" is incorrect, and should not be used. that's a board of over 40 phylologists and i'd say they have a point. of course if you disagree (or think they're just being arrogant), you can go argue with them.

wrong again. see above.

i didn't. i'm speaking for my personal experience. it's obviously different from yours.

oh, did i? come on, i just played your words, why so stiff?

the "offensive word" ((c) monkeyzoo) has different penetration. it is more common in germany as in spain, more common in casual speech as formal, written or media, and it was also more common some decades ago. i guess it depends on the context but fact is it isn't at all universal, so ...

yes, but since english has become a de-facto common language on the internet, which is a good thing for us all, the scope is significantly broader, and there is no actual consensus on the meaning of 'american' in that context.

it's indeed the case, at least for the languages i cited. monkeyzoo (not 'others', he's the only one making this incorrect statement) is actually wrong and you can check that easily out.

dunno. are you sure there isn't? anyway, what if i tell you that people in several countries call themselves "americanos" too? will you then spot the basic contradiction?

absolutely not. i just pointed out a fact. i had no idea it would have such an impact. but i've been moded troll (wow!) and even had someone declare me his "foe" (lolololol). this wasn't expected but i have to say i do find this fortuitous trolling incident quite funny.

it's still silly and incorrect, but i do understand it is difficult to overcome cultural impregnation even if it's wrong. every language and variation has plenty of those, anyway. i have really no hard stance in this and realize it will not be easy to come along on such, er ... sensible? matters. thank you for your time and informative comments, anyway!

thank you, so it logically follows that "american" should apply to what? thank you for demonstrating my point.

same as you, apparently!

not at all. you can call yourselves whatever you like. i'm just pointing out it is incorrect.

sorry? don0t get what's your problem here.

you're wrong.

in spanish "estadounidense" is the official term, while "norteamericano" is also used, and ocassionally "americano" but you will never hear that in the media. portugese also say "estadunidense".

in german it's "Nordamerikaner", "Amerikaner" and "US-amerikanisch" can also be heard. french indeed say "étasunien" and "américain". italian say either "nordamericano" or simply "americano"

it seems you can go just about anywhere in the world and still not learn anything from it.

which is the "offensive" word, btw? (not that i'm wanting to use it, just curious :D)

it's still silly. what's wrong with "north americans"? "south americans" seems accepted too.

i meant appropiaton in a linguistic sense. in the end it might just be you just have a silly name for your country, i admit that "united staters" or "usians" sounds weird (though that's exactly how you are referred to in most european languages), but that's no reason to disregard the meaning of a reference for all people in america to the point to, ... yes, appropiate it. or else, how would you actually refer properly to that group (assuming you wanted to)? you could'nt, you'd have to use a periphrase because you gave an arbitrary meaning to the only word that would make sense.

there are examples of the opposite. people in canary islands, for example, refer to themselves as "canarios", not "spanish". that makes sense, however, because the term isn't inaccurate.

can you remember any other instance where the name of a whole continent is appropriated by a single country as "nationality"? thought so. you should be able to understand how nonsensical this looks from anywhere outside united states. i know that this is customary in the states, but you guys should also note that this is the internets where you are being read.

it's called "professional politicians" and happens all over the world (where there's some sort of elections, that is)