Arévalo was just a man who told jokes

Go ahead, I never liked Arévalo. Not even as a child, and not because I was a precocious example of egalitarian consciousness, but because I never liked the culture of jokes. I laughed with Mortadelo and with Asterix. If someone came out hitting the ground or stepping on shit, I would get upset. I also liked the absurdity: I laughed at Tip and Coll because I didn't understand a damn thing what they were saying, or at Martes and Trece because they shouted a lot, but a man telling jokes left me cold. It is a part of Spanish popular culture that has never touched a chord with me, even though it was everywhere, especially at gas stations.

Perhaps he felt alien to it because he lived surrounded by it and associated it with an ugliness from which he wanted to escape. I clarify this so that my perplexity is not confused with apology, and to emphasize that one can be oblivious to Arévalo's humor and, at the same time, regret his end, understand the tragic sadness of his last years and appreciate his importance in the Iberian pop universe . I didn't laugh with him, but my uncles, my grandparents, my parents' neighbors and many others did. And I was no better than them for not laughing.

If a foreigner were to read some of the reactions to Arévalo's death—especially in that meat grinder formerly called Twitter—he would think that a war criminal had died, an abominable being who subjugated homosexuals and patients in health clinics. speech therapy. To the suffocation of some, it seems that the centuries of darkness, opprobrium, persecution and violence in Spain were the fault of a guy who went out for a while to fool around on stage. I am very disgusted by all those very good people who dance on the grave of a man who the only thing he did in his life was tell jokes that are no longer funny. How can someone who does not respect mourning or know how to maintain, at least, a polite silence when the procession passes by, boast of moral greatness?

You can follow EL PAÍS Television on x or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.

_