El Col·lectiu Emma va publicar un article titulat "A la recerca de la felicitat", en el qual l'autor, l'economista català Xavier Sala i Martin, de la Universitat de Colúmbia, utilitzava una metàfora inquietant per descriure el discurs centralista provinent de Madrid:
Col·lectiu Emma released an article called "The Pursuit of Happiness," in which the author, Catalan economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin of Columbia University, used an unsettling metaphor to describe the centralist discourse emanating from Madrid: Possessive husbands tend to react predictably when their wives ask for a divorce: first they act surprised, then they deny the facts, quickly followed by refusing to sign the papers, and finally, they try to make her believe that the separation will leave her destitute and that without him, she is nothing.