Getting the mob angry: The satire of Masa Enfurecida as political incorrectness in social networking

Abstract

AbstractSince Ancient Greece satirists are feared figures in any group articulation. Often protected by anonymity, authors have defied political and social order with a harsh and unpleasant sense of humour, which pushes the limits of political correction. This form based in breaking news and everyday life has a particularly suitable space in new media. Twitter, by means of its promptness and need for concision, could be considered a perfect ground for this kind of humour. Provocation and censorship of political attitudes are the objectives of many twitter accounts whose followers echo by commenting and retweeting. Interactivity allows the production of a text without closure which interweaves a myriad of positions, different from the voice of the satirist. My case study is the Twitter account Masa Enfurecida, which targeted for five years the Spanish political and social everyday life by quoting and reversing public messages. With close to 124.000 followers, @masaenfurecida, an anonymous account, impacts political debate and influences popular communication as some repeated expressions become part of the talk of the day. The tweets of Masa Enfurecida are brief pieces that can be considered a pure form of satire, which is transformed in the chains of answers and retweets of the followers.