There are people that not only believe crazy things, but will go out of their way to convince you that what they believe is not bonkers.

Can you believe that there are actually people who consider that the world is flat? Yet, they’re out there! You hear that there are people who seriously believe that Queen Elizabeth is an alien lizard or that Elvis is alive… and happily living on the opposite side of the moon and you think… oh boy!

Yet there are the more subtle kinds of fringe-conspiracy fanatics, such as the chemtrails and… with the world pandemic, we now have the ‘virus deniers.’

About 200 people demonstrated in Madrid recently, some saying that masks were useless, some saying there was no virus and others that the Government was trying to kill off the aged yet at the same time they claim that hospitals are really standing empty because nobody is dying of the virus – sounds like having your cake and eating it, right?.

Okedoke!

There is no doubt that social media has grown to rival the established press yet the former is not held to the same accountability as the latter. But even so, you cannot just post misinformation or outright lies on your social media account, which is why Twitter, Facebook and other social-media giants are cracking down on the offal that comes out of Mr Donald Trump’s social-media accounts.

In a state of national emergency – and have no doubt about it, that is where we find ourselves – individuals have the responsibility of not producing or reposting utter nonsense concerning the pandemic; not because many claims are laughable and barmy, but because they are dangerous.

They are dangerous because if you have any sort of following and you incite people to not wear masks or any other irresponsible advice that leads to more infections or somebody ending up in the ICU, then you are endangering lives. Unfortunately, it is rarely the idiot that posts or prints such things that suffers but others – “collateral damage; somebody’s grandparents.”

For all of the above reasons we are going to clarify what is and what is not permitted on beaches, citing the Almuñécar bylaw, brought into force in May of this year:

Games on beaches: you should not practice games like using paddle & ball or a frisbie because more often than not it ends up where somebody else is sitting. If your frisbie is infected and somebody stands up to throw it back to you… There is also the fact that it requires a lot of movement in a reasonably reduced space – walking along the beach does not. Can your child build sandcastles? It depends where, logically. Where you are sitting there is no problem but as the first few metres from the shore line are reserved for people walking or running, they would be obstacles, so not there. It’s always a case of being logical.

Is it the big bad government imposing restrictions on what you do on the beach? No it isn’t. Each municipality is free to adopt what restrictions they can as long as they do not infringe on your constitutional rights. During the Lockdown, the Estado de Alarma suspended certain rights like the Freedom of Movement, but with no such Estado de Alarma in place at the moment town halls, provincial and regional administrations cannot force you to stay home and only come out for walks at certain time, because that infringes upon your constitutional right to Freedom of Movement. Yes, the medical authorities can place you in home quarantine but not the civil administrative ones.

So, you have bylaws that operate parallel to state laws concerning beaches, which comes under Costas. You cannot camp on a beach because Costas says so you cannot. The logic is that the beach belongs to everyone, so the moment you erect a tent, you are denying your fellow citizens that space. You can camp on the beach on the Night of San Juan because your local town hall says so, which effectively makes an exception to the Ley de Costas.

If I can sum up the whole of the above in one short sentence, it would be: If you feel that your constitutional rights as a guiri here are being undermined by the wicked Spanish Government, then feel free to return to your native country.

(News/Editorial: Virus Deniers)