"very rude locals that refuse to speak in english" ... say that again, but slowly.

They are Spanish. They live in Spain. They speak either Spanish or Catalan and have no obligation to speak English to you. It's "very rude" of you to not try learn some basic Spanish.

I'm native English and live in Poland. My interactions with Poles (who mostly speak English and are happy to do try) are vastly different if they can see I am trying also: starting the conversation in Polish before transitioning to English is a much warmer experience than just starting with English from the beginning.

It's the same in Spain as well. Start with "hola" or "buenos dias" and then something like "podemos hablar Ingles?" or "perdon, no hablo Espanol" and suddenly 99% of these "very rude locals" will be incredibly friendly to you.

You don't need to, and most don't expect, that you can fluently speak to them in the local language. But they do expect that you respect them enough to try.

This is a funny comment. It comes across like a satirical "typical privileged American" silicon valley-esque comment. Is Uber now somehow the mark of a progressive society? Most cities, particularly tourist destination, have old shops selling trinkets, antiques, and other items that can be a lot of fun. Many airbnbs are technically illegal and detrimental to the local community, so again, not sure how this demonstrates Barcelona being "extremely regressive" by fining them. Then the icing on top of the cake, you are upset that the locals refuse to speak in English... in their own country... where English isn't the native language. You sound exactly like the kind of tourist these people want to keep away

I’m not quite sure that random tourists and Airbnb guests bring more value to a city than the actual people that have been living there for generations.