cottoncandysecretlair

[cottoncandysecretlair]

We can talk about how there’s definitely a racism/Islamaphobia issue in a lot of Jewish communities without…*flips through notebook* literal saying Jewish people should assimilate and give up their Jewishness (ie cultural genocide)

These antisemites are getting way too comfortable and I don’t like it

[cottoncandysecretlair]

making heavy use of a technique i like to call "bothering my cat" which consists largely of bothering my cat

[cottoncandysecretlair]

I noticed an interesting pattern of erasing ethnic minorities on Wikipedia that is not exclusive to Jews. We all know how suddenly, especially since late 2023, Jewish actors, singers and historical figures/figures of interest became anything but Jewish on Wikipedia, with their Jewish background being hidden in 1 or 2 sentences spread out in the article. This also seems to be happening with Druze people. For example, I looked over at the wiki page of Farid al Atrash, who is basically the middle eastern equivalent of Paganini, and he is described (in English) as being "Syrian-Egyptian". His Druze background is only mentioned in his Early Life section, described as "being born to a Druze family". Bro is neither Syrian nor Egyptian, he is Druze. Syria didnt even exist when he was born, but his large community of Druze people in Jabal al-Druze did. In the Hebrew version of his article he is described properly as Druze, and later as Egyptian, after receiving Egyptian citizenship. His mothers wiki page suffers the same fate, she is not referred to as Druze but rather, "born to a Druze family". Every single notable Druze figure I saw on Wikipedia in the world of music, acting, literature etc is not described as Druze, in any of the English articles. In the Hebrew articles however, they are all first and foremost recognized as Druze. Pretty crazy imo

[cottoncandysecretlair]

concept i do not feel like drawing

panel 1: tenna smugly points at kit storming away from him saying “i hate to see her leave, but i LOVE to watch her go!”

panel 2, 2 minutes later: tenna gnashing his teeth banging his fists weeping on the ground screaming “OH GOD I MESSED IT ALL UP AGAIN COME BACK PLEASE COME BACK”

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[cottoncandysecretlair]

Today my professor picked up a garter snake, said “Ow!” five times as it bit him, set it back down, and said, “Okay. That’s one defense mechanism snakes have.”

[cottoncandysecretlair]

op routinely criticizes and opposes Bibi, and condemns his government and wants the war to end. this mural is not valid criticism

[cottoncandysecretlair]

every leftist acting like they don’t understand how antisemitism could be racism “because Judaism is a religion” are lying through their teeth. we spent the last 2 decades plus fully understanding Islamophobia was racist.

[cottoncandysecretlair]

it rly is weird how theres this culture in progressive spaces where like you can be as mean, as CRUEL even, as you want as long as youre not being explicitly bigoted towards any marginalized group of people and still be seen as a really good person with good morals who nobody is allowed to have beef with bc theyve never done anything racist or homophobic

[cottoncandysecretlair]

A fantasy story starting with the protagonist minding her own business gathering firewood, when a demon appears out of nowhere announcing that she belongs to him now. The protagonist demands to know on what grounds, she's never signed no damn contract. The demon is kind of baffled by this, and awkwardly explains that just now her father had promised his firstborn for something, and she is his firstborn.

The protagonist digs her heels in and says no, she never knew her biological father and by the way the demon explained the situation, evidently her father also doesn't know that he already has a daughter, so therefore the man who had made no contribution to her life after he bred and fled has no claim to her as something he could barter.

Not giving a shit about the fact she's gambling her life in doing so, the protagonist makes contact with the local woodland fae, asking them to negotiate on her side. The fae think that this is fucking hilarious and go with her. So, having lawyered up and with a reluctant demon in tow, the protagonist heads off on a quest to find her father and do whatever it takes to wrangle everyone involved into unmaking the contract.

[cottoncandysecretlair]

Have you ever seen a violinist going APESHIT?!

Be sure to check out IAmDSharp!

[cottoncandysecretlair]

I have to admit that my jaw still drops at how viciously, openly, and proudly antisemitic this site is. Every plea for basic human decency to be extended to Jews gets shouted down by freaks on here who view their bigotry as akshewally social justice praxis, because they somehow think they’re special as opposed to belonging to humanity's long, ugly history of deeming the targets of their bigotry as inhuman and therefore ineligible to receive human rights. That’s how tumblr sees Jews: ineligible for human rights.

[cottoncandysecretlair]

Vidia and Tinkerbell

[cottoncandysecretlair]

here is my tenna playlist. i made it because i needed one that wasn't mostly lemon demon

it's partially lyrical relevance, part vibes, and very inflected by my personal taste in music

[cottoncandysecretlair]

How would you feel if your child died in an IDF bombing?

A friend of mine lost two children, so I've seen that sort of grief close up...and I have two kids.

I'd probably feel a pain so consuming as to defy words to describe. Not just sorrow, but that kind of white-hot grief that reshapes time. I imagine my body would forget how to move. My skin would stop fitting. Every future I had ever imagined would disappear. I'd probably scream until I couldn't.

Soon, I might also feel rage. Not the cheap kind, the social media kind, but a rage that lives in the bones and makes it hard to eat. I might direct that rage at the IDF, Hamas, the Israeli people, the world, myself, or God. Probably all of them.

Because losing a child in war isn't abstract. It's not a moral gotcha', it's not an aesthetic, It's not a meme, it's not a rhetorical device.

It's just hell and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

What the Death of Our Children Should Teach Us

If the death of a child should teach us anything, it's this: don’t start wars. Don’t glorify them, don't flirt with them, don't justify them with hashtags. Don't build your politics around people who do.

The wars between Israel and Hamas did not begin because two equal parties had a disagreement. Every round of conflict began the same way: Hamas attacked. Israel responded.

That includes the current war.

On October 7th, Hamas invaded southern Israel and committed the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. They didn't target only soldiers. They didn't storm only military bases. They raped, tortured, mutilated, and executed civilians - babies, grandmothers, festival-goers, migrant workers, and entire families in their homes.

Then they kidnapped over 250 people and dragged them into Gaza, including babies, toddlers, and Holocaust survivors.

One Side Targets Civilians. The Other Tries Not To.

Let's talk about bombings.

Hamas intentionally fires rockets at Israeli cities, aiming for civilian casualties. They hide weapons in hospitals and launch sites at schools. They do this knowing - hoping - that Palestinian civilians will die in Israeli retaliatory strikes. That's the PR strategy. That's not my opinion. That’s from Hamas’s own documents, interviews, and media.

Israel, by contrast, invests massive resources in avoiding civilian deaths. It warns people with phone calls, text messages, and "roof knocks" before airstrikes. It uses precision-guided munitions. It calls off operations if too many non-combatants are in the area. None of this is perfect - war never is - but the difference in intent matters.

It matters morally. It matters legally. And it matters if you're the one living under the bombs.

Yarden Bibas

You asked me how I'd feel if I lost my child in an IDF bombing.

I imagine I'd feel kinship with Yarden Bibas.

Yarden Bibas lived in Nir Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza border. On the morning of October 7, Hamas terrorists invaded his home. They kidnapped his wife, Shiri, and their two sons: Ariel, age 4, and Kfir, nine months old.

You can see the footage. It's online. Yarden's family being dragged away at gunpoint. A terrorist holding baby Kfir like a football. Ariel screaming. Yarden himself was taken separately.

While the whole family was in captivity, Hamas released a psychological warfare video showing Shiri and the children alive. Then, silence. For months, Israeli and international media asked for proof of life. None came.

Eventually, Hamas admitted what Israel feared: Shiri and the children were dead. Hamas claimed they were killed in an Israeli airstrike - but refused to say where, when, or provide evidence.

Yarden Bibas was freed by Hamas on February 1, 2025, as part of the second ceasefire-hostage release deal. He had endured 484 days in captivity after being kidnapped on October 7, 2023.

Hamas returned the bodies of his wife, Shiri, and their sons on February 20–21, 2025. DNA testing confirmed the remains, and their funeral took place on February 26, 2025. They'd been strangled.

So let me return your question: How do you think Yarden Bibas feels?

How would you feel if you, your wife, and both your children were kidnapped, your family was murdered, and then their corpses were used as leverage in a propaganda campaign by a genocidal death cult, while you sat in a dark tunnel underground?

Would you be calm? Forgiving? Would you write poetic appeals to humanity? Would you want the whole world to stop pretending this is complicated and get on with balancing the scales?

I can only imagine how Yarden Bibas or any other parent who has lost a child feels. I can hope that such a thing wouldn't destroy me -but it might.

That's the best I can do if I treat your question as sincere and in good faith.

What if it isn't sincere or in good faith?

When I write about complex and difficult things, I often receive comments which are rhetorical traps disguised as empathy. You probably know what I'm talking about, right? One of those fake-compassion tricks people play when they want to make a moral accusation without doing the work of making a moral argument...?

For a wrap-up, I'll assume that's what your question is.

Maybe you want me to say that if I lost a child in a bombing, I'd blame the bomber pilot, or Netanyahu, or Israel as a whole....so then you could say: See? That's how Palestinians feel about Israel. Case closed.

But life isn't a tidy moral equation.

It matters who started the war. It matters who used civilians (their own and enemy civilians) as shields. It matters who deliberately targeted families and babies and celebrated it with GoPro footage.

Intent matters, not just outcome.

So if you care about children dying, please don't participate in romanticizing the groups who engineer those deaths on purpose...and that includes Hamas.

If you really care about peace, don't try to weaponize other people's grief. Instead, start listening to it.

One way to listen to it is by giving your attention to peace activists who have lost family to violence in the Levant.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib lost 30 family members in Gaza in December of 2023. His response to that is Realign for Palestine...and I listen to everything he cares to share.