I agree with you on the media being biased (by both sides). But I don't think this should be about the numbers. I only stated that percentage to make clear the point that there was no census and multiple ways to hack the polls...
In any case, my arguments apply wether that percentage is 15 or 50.
Also, I believe we shouldn't differentiate between regions that could have the privilege of voting and regions who wouldn't have it (specially when the reasons aren't solid) , it just intensifies the feeling of false superiority and xenophobia between different populations.
I could agree on the possibility of self determination for any region (or city), but I'd like people to think a little bit more about what that could mean in the long term and if that's something good for the world overall.
Sorry again if I was too arrogant, I fully respect your love for your hometown and your people.
I'm not defending the government here. I agree they over reacted.
Just a couple of things: it was the judicial institutions the ones ordering the repression. And the repression wasn't as big as the international press says, 96% of the schools were opened.
And finally, I'm very sorry if I offended you, I'm just saying that the difference between someone from Madrid and someone from Barcelona es less than someone from Madrid and Cadiz or many other cities. There is no special identity nor history compared to other regions. Your claiming the crown of Aragon, which was pretty much half of Spain...
I don't think you could claim independence just because you belonged to something else (as every region before the formation of Spain) in the past...
The only real argument is to say: a lot of people want it.
I stated my points on that in my comment.
I feel a little bit disappointed with hacker news having this superficial and anti-analytical article in the front page.
As a Spaniard id like to address some points brought up here in the comments. I've read people comparing this with Crimea, thoughts on self determination, thoughts on the repression by the government, etc.
The first thing is to question the referendum itself: there was no census, there are people from Madrid voting, people voting twice, people inserting 4 votes at once, etc. The percentage of Catalan people voting this probably doesn't even get to 15%.
And the people how came to vote were the only the ones who believed this referendum was democratic (99.9% of people who want the independence).
Then there's the legitimacy of this referendum. In order to make this referendum, the catalan parliament approved new laws without majority and breaking the Catalan laws in a dictatorial disgraceful manner. This referendum is illegal and unconstitutional. There are millions of public money and public space used in order to carry on with "crime of sedition", using the political force against the law in order to rebel against the institutions.
If anybody recalls past dictatorships, many of them had these kind of referendums.
After knowing how this referendum was done and why it was illegal and anti democratic, I'd like to address the people who can't conceive liberty with rules.
Referendums on self determination are unconstitutional by law in Spain, I can agree on a change on the constitution. But to change the constitution in order to allow these referendums you need a national referendum, because your changing the constitution of all the country, not just Catalonia .
I will finally argue on self determination and try to clear some superficial comments I've read.
The first and impulsive thought all of us have is to think that everybody should decide about everything. But in reality, that extreme liberty can take on someone else's liberty.
If you allow catalonia to self determine their independence and then they do get independent, the next will be país vasco, then Galicia, then Madrid, and so on.
The problem with this is not that the country would disappear (I'm not very patriotic) the problem is you're creating extreme inequality by regions. If Madrid gets independent they become rich because they give a great percentage of their gdp to Spain in taxes. But andalucia or Extremadura would become extremely poor. If you have a little bit of socialistic view, you can understand this is wrong. It's against redistribution, against equality, against globalization, and pro-isolation, xenophobia and discrimination.
Also, Catalonia can never be compared with Scotland, their history is null in contrast. Their identity is as special as many other regions of spain.
[0]Here are some tweets on how the referendum was done:
I'm not sure that's the real problem. Good firms just try to have the best people in their roster (best creativity and skills). These designers have the same approach a single person would have: figure out the company's identity and come up with a solution that represents it best.
On average, you would probably get better results by hiring a firm than a single person.
I suspect the real problem is related to the ongoing simplification trend that logos have been through for the past decades. Take apple's or pepsi's logo for instance.
This minimalist trend results in simple shapes, and there is a finite number of simple shapes out there. So when designing a logo according to this trend(as everyone is doing and have done in the past), you will probably end up with something similar or equal to something else. Not many dimensions to play with.
Tvs historically have been criticized by filmmakers for cutting off part of the image.
Safe zones are only useful when using analog film cameras and movie projectors, not with digital video.
Of course, you will never place the face of an actor on the edge of the frame, but that doesn't mean that space is useless for the director or the cinematographer. Every filmmaker has a rectangular frame in mind when composing.
And even if you don't care about watching the film in the right conditions, isn't it annoying to know there's something you're missing behind that notch? It's like having somebody's head in front of you when you go to the movies.
Also, there are many films that have a 2.35 aspect ratio, which is wider than 19.5/9.
Sure most of the videos are not films and you wouldn't use a phone to watch films in the first place, but for that price I expect those little details that make the difference. I think Apple has lost that in the recent years.
In any case, my arguments apply wether that percentage is 15 or 50. Also, I believe we shouldn't differentiate between regions that could have the privilege of voting and regions who wouldn't have it (specially when the reasons aren't solid) , it just intensifies the feeling of false superiority and xenophobia between different populations.
I could agree on the possibility of self determination for any region (or city), but I'd like people to think a little bit more about what that could mean in the long term and if that's something good for the world overall.
Sorry again if I was too arrogant, I fully respect your love for your hometown and your people.