Omg I Recognized This Right Away And Then Sat Here Thinking, But No, It Can’t Be, How Likely Is It

16th February, 2021. [Video: Pablo Hasél being arrested by policemen and taken inside a police car while he shouts “mai ens aturaran, mai ens callaran, mort a l’estat feixista! mort a l’estat feixista!”, which means “they will never stop us, they will never shut us up, death to the fascist state! death to the fascist state!” in the Catalan language]

The rap singer from Lleida (Catalonia) Pablo Hasél being arrested for the lyrics of his songs and the content of his tweets. He has been sentenced to 2 years, 4 months and 15 days of prison for “glorifying terrorism” and “insulting the [Spanish] monarchy” according to the Spanish judicial system.

He refused to turn himself in, and instead locked himself with comrades who showed up inside the University of Lleida, as they barricaded the doors and people blocked the access of the policemen in solidarity. After 2 hours displacing the protestors, the anti-riot police accessed the third floor, where Hasél was, and took him directly to prison.

Spain is the country in the world with the most artists sentenced to jail (source: The state of artistic freedom 2020, FreeMuse).

More than Turkey, more than Iran, more than China. Spain, and disproportionately national minorities (Catalans and Basques). And the European Union allows it.

In Spain, you can go on TV and openly give support to fascism, you can send death threats to people from national minorities and/or political dissidents, you can do the fascist salute on the streets and shout “viva Franco” and “arriba España” while circling cultural centres of national minorities (mostly Catalans and Basques) and calling for the need to “shed their blood”, the Spanish army can call for the execution of 26 million citizens … but you cannot take a stand against the Spanish monarchy (remember Josep Valtònyc is still on exile for having said “the Bourbons [dynasty of the Spanish monarchy] are thieves”) and wish them the guillotine.

People like Pablo Hasél and Valtònyc were not even famous when they released these “criminal” songs, they were just people like any other, with access to internet and something to say. Spain came for them like it can come for any of us, like it came for our parents and grandparents. Like they came for Adri, for Tamara Carrasco, for the Altsasua boys, for Dani Gallardo, for Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez, for our democratically-elected government still in jail and exile, for everyone arrested and threatened and beaten by the police in strikes and demonstrations, for the people who tweeted jokes about the death of Carrero Blanco (the fascist admiral who could’ve been Franco’s successor as fascist dictator if he had not been killed by ETA), for the people who posted on Facebook comments against the Spanish police’s brutality on Catalan people… People like you, people like me.

LLIBERTAT PABLO HASÉL

So a lot of people are rightfully unhappy about the possibility that Katara will be aged up in the new Netflix version of The Last Airbender. That has a lot of issues and I’m glad people are talking about it.

But truthfully, I’ve always had some issues with how Katara’s relationship with Aang was handled. Generally, ATLA did very well with its female characters and gave us a lot of strong girls and women to admire, but it still had its flaws.

Specifically, the thing that bothered me the most when I first saw it as a child was the scene in Day of Black Sun where Aang kisses Katara without warning and without permission. That always made me uncomfortable. 

There’s also the way the writers handled the development of their relationship. Throughout the series, it is made very obvious that Aang has a major crush on Katara. But while Katara cares deeply for Aang, she is pretty much never shown to have romantic interest in him - except for that time that the fortuneteller tells Katara that she will marry a powerful bender and Katara is reminded that Aang is a powerful bender, plus that time they dance together in the Headband. But honestly, neither of those carries a lot of weight, in my opinion, especially compared with other scenes. Katara explicitly has a pretty negative reaction to the idea of a relationship with Aang in the Ember Island Players episode - where, again, Aang kisses her without permission, right after she said she was confused. Again, she reacts negatively to the kiss, and to Aang’s pushiness regarding a relationship. It’s kind of hard to see how they could move from this point to a full blown romantic relationship over the next few episodes. (Honestly, I hate that scene for Aang. It’s a pretty negative characterization for him. This scene made me uncomfortable as a kid as well. Actually, I might have hated this scene more than the Day of Black Sun scene.)

Anyway, for most of the series, Katara acts more like an older sister or mother-figure to Aang. And then at the end of the series, Aang defeats the Firelord and suddenly Katara is all in for a relationship? I remember the first time I saw it, it seemed sudden within the context of the story. Outside of the context of the story, it pretty much looks like Katara was treated as a reward for Aang - the hero saves the day, gets the girl trope. I don’t think I need to explain why that’s bad. It was also weak within the story’s plot, because it’s not well-supported by Katara’s character arc.

So the two main problems with the Katara/Aang relationship, in my view, are  these: one, Aang’s treatment of Katara within the story; and two, the writers’ treatment of Katara from outside the story.

(Plus, a 12/13 year old dating a 14/15 year old comes off kinda weird to me. A couple years difference matters at that age.)

This is honestly my biggest criticism of the series. It was still a great show, and I loved it, but as iconic as it was, it wasn’t perfect. 

This person gets it

in sixth grade you were either a cucumber melon bitch or a warm vanilla sugar bitch

the largest ray species in the world is the giant oceanic manta ray and they can grow to be more than 25 feet across.

look at them!!

...I really want to pet one.

Worshippers trapped inside Al-Aqsa are now being subjected to explosives, gas, stun grenades, and bullets. This video shows heavily armed soldiers throwing grenades, point blank, into a group of women and children trapped inside.

Women and children are being targeted, specifically.

Palestinians are being run down on the street in broad daylight. I chose to share screenshots instead of the video because it was too violent. Police and Military are protecting and endorsing this.

This woman was arrested after she fainted from exhaustion watching over her own home and trying to protect it. Then they arrested her entire family, too. Another woman was arrested for intervening and attempting to stop a soldier from kicking a little girl.

In further retaliation from the government, airstrikes in Gaza. The Arabic captions mention that women and children were the victims, among 9 others martyred.

These aren't "clashes" between two equal parties. This is a targeted campaign of violence and ethnic cleansing by an apartheid government funded by the USA and enabled by cowardly countries in the Middle East who have decided to turn a blind eye. If you pay taxes in the USA - know that over three billion dollars a year get sent in aid, which is used to fund this terrorism.

Media organizations only continue the colonialism by whitewashing the rhetoric and blocking hashtags and silencing voices.

One of our holiest sites is being desecrated in the holiest days of the year. The blood of the innocent is being shed. Children have been slaughtered, homes taken, bombs dropped, sexual violence runs rampant, and the western world continues to look the other way.

Do not be silent.

“No small thing, a bee’s sting, when it enters the heart.”

- Shannon Hale

I just saw a post where someone replied “that’s rough buddy” in reference to a character’s love problems and I think it’s hilarious that we all know exactly what’s being referenced here

I would rather choose To love and lose - Than to never have loved you.

me

I wrote this a long time ago, but I went to see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World today, and this suddenly seemed very appropriate.

Love - real love, the kind that lights your chest up and rushes in your throat and is selfless - is always worth it. We lose everything in the end. Some things we lose sooner than others, and some losses are more painful than others. But the choice to love is always worth it, even when it hurts.