Insulted on the Madrid metro for predicting a crash
A member of an online economics community was heckled for his predictions. The incident reveals the mockery directed at collapse prophets and their mythology.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The housing crash prophet and his metro crusade
A member of a digital community dedicated to analysing the excesses of the property market had an uncomfortable scene on the metro this week. While checking his group's latest posts on his phone, he was recognised by another passenger. The result: insults and reproachful looks. Far from being intimidated, he stood up and shouted one of his cult catchphrases: "It'll be October, we're all doomed!".
Cassandras against the rest of the carriage
The response from his own circle was not unconditional support. One fellow member replied with the beatitude "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you because of me". But most chose mockery: "zero out of ten" was one sceptic's score; another suggested that the real safe haven is a bank vault, and one even fantasised about moving into a branch to keep up the same obsession without witnesses.
The incident, seemingly trivial, reflects the tension within a group that sees itself as Cassandra and that everyone else receives as fanatics. As they wait for a correction that never quite arrives, they turn the waiting into an identity. And the metro, the scene of the humiliation, becomes an altar. The next time someone shouts in the carriage, it won't be a madman, it will be a prophet with his phone switched on.
A member of a digital community dedicated to analysing the excesses of the property market had an uncomfortable scene on the metro this week. While checking his group's latest posts on his phone, he was recognised by another passenger. The result: insults and reproachful looks. Far from being intimidated, he stood up and shouted one of his cult catchphrases: "It'll be October, we're all doomed!".
Cassandras against the rest of the carriage
The response from his own circle was not unconditional support. One fellow member replied with the beatitude "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you because of me". But most chose mockery: "zero out of ten" was one sceptic's score; another suggested that the real safe haven is a bank vault, and one even fantasised about moving into a branch to keep up the same obsession without witnesses.
The incident, seemingly trivial, reflects the tension within a group that sees itself as Cassandra and that everyone else receives as fanatics. As they wait for a correction that never quite arrives, they turn the waiting into an identity. And the metro, the scene of the humiliation, becomes an altar. The next time someone shouts in the carriage, it won't be a madman, it will be a prophet with his phone switched on.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (20 replies).
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