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Diver convince octopus to trade his plastic cup for a seashell

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I do love seeing all the antisemites scream about pine trees in Israel whenever there's some sort of ecological issue or disaster going on or they want to use them as "proof" that Israel is a white European colonial project. Why? Because I've never seen them say what pine trees are the culprit. It's always some allusion to pine trees being non-native to the region and that they were planted to make the country "more European" or something like that. The articles are written in English for a Western audience that has pines in their backyard and are likely associated with the winter months in their culture. The implication here is "how could your Winter Xmas Pine Tree survive in the desert?!" which leads to the colonial assumptions and so on and so forth.

This entire schtick plays upon the general populace not understanding anything about ecology, range distributions, species, and other biological concepts. Most people see the term "pine tree" and assume it's the same pine trees they've seen their entire lives. The concept of different species all being colloquially referred to as "pine tree" is not a common conception.

So if you're reading any of those articles or posts that scream about colonialization because of "pine trees" then you need to stop and ask "what species?" Because the JNF has planted 3 particular pines - The Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), the Turkish Pine (Pinus brutia), and the Canary Pine (Pinus canariensis).

All three species are endemic to the Mediterranean region and are subtropical species. Meaning, all three have distributions that include Israel in their native range and have a biological history of being there. At one point or another many of them were cut down for some use (from what I understand, primarily for ship construction during the Ottoman Empire). In fact, the Aleppo was almost wiped out from its Middle Eastern distribution until it was brought back (and the three species are all closely related and adapted for the climate in the region).

Now, I've seen variations of the land shouldn't have been greened, they cut down native forests, they drained swamps, etc, etc... as criticisms. I even had the "they shouldn't have drained and greened the swamps" as an argument, barring the fact that the swamps only existed because the native forest was cut down for use by the Ottoman's and as such caused environmental degradation and change.

And the thing is, there's valid criticism for planting so much pine. It's a very dry tree species that catches fire easily. Especially when it becomes sick and/or damaged. There's also concern that it's planted in parts of Israel that are not suitable for said tree species. But at no point are they a foreign invasive species. They are native to the region.

However, what stands out the most to me is that never do one of these articles, blog posts, rants, or antisemitic screeds mention Eucalyptus.

That's right.

Eucalyptus, a genus (or Tribe) primarily endemic to Australia, was brought in to drain swamp, wetlands, and marshlands and make them habitable. And not just one! But multiple species were introduced for this purpose (Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus gomphocephala, and Eucalyptus torelliana).

Not a single writing has ever mentioned these trees, and that should be a big warning flag that what you're about to read is mired in half truths, falsities, and lies of omission besides outright ignorance. Solely focusing on pine trees is to elicit the response I mentioned above in Western audiences who only associate "pine tree" with their winter time and climate. It's a malicious technique to manipulate the reader and come to a false conclusion and assumption that will stoke their outrage at the "colonial" behavior of planting "colonial non-native" trees.

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it’s the “date of birth: 1303 BC” for me...

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May the 4th be with You: A Poem for Star Wars Day

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Horrible news I just found out about that you should probably know, feedism/"encouraging overeating" is now reportable under eating disorders 🙃 really cool Tumblr, truly having a snack and being horny about it is equally as bad as proana. Sigh.

-☢️

SO THAT'S WHY SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING THEIR BLOGS ARE SUDDENLY MARKED AS MATURE

Uggghhhh that truly sucks as an explanation behind it, what the hell

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this tweet is new but it is actually a fundamental text for me

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Why do people keep reblogging that photo of a goth chick in a combine harvester

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grief is so crazy like what if i forget what her laugh sounds like. does she know i loved her. i miss her so much. i catch myself doing things she used to do. i wish i could call her. i miss her so much. i do a crossword puzzle. i cry while washing the dishes. does she know i loved her? my heart feels like a hummingbird. i miss her so much. what if i forget what her laugh sounds like. what if i forget.

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𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵

𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝟏: "User 2 is an evil evil Zio who loves drinking the blood of Palestinian babies. If you reblog from them dni!!!"

𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘳 2'𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨

𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝟐: "I support a 2SS and an end to the war. Also, antisemitism is real and bad."

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This is the funniest tweet I’ve ever seen.

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aquarium advertisments say stuiff like discover the longtooth grouper this friday

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I don’t understand why so many people (on the left) are so “anti Zionist”.

It just seems so random a thing to be so vehemently against. ‘We’re pro LGBTQ! We’re pro environmentalism! We’re pro civil rights! Pro women! Pro union!

Oh and we’re also super anti Jewish-people-going-back-where-they-came-from!’

It’s just such a bizarre thing to be so passionate about.

Just.. why? Why do so many people seem to care so much about such a niche thing? Nobody seems anywhere near as upset about other countries splitting up or border changes or new names. (Where are all the people marching and yelling to free North Korea? (Reunification with the South!) Or Tibet? (Booo! Boycott and sanction China!) Or for the reunification of Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia or the Sudan? Or for New Zealand to be returned to the Māori? Or for the USA and Canada and all of central and South America to be returned to the tribes?)

(I understand why militant Islamists who want to see Islam conquer the entire world would not like Zionists. They represent a failure of regional domination. But unless you’re a militant Islamist or a Nazi, why would Jews going back to Jerusalem or the existence of one small Jewish state bother you so much?)

I just don’t get it.

(I realize the answer is basically antisemitism, ignorance and group think. But still. Isn’t it weird? It feels so out of place with the other things the left claim to care about. Like someone snuck it into the manifesto as a prank somehow. ‘One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong.’ It just seems like such a blatant outlier.

I think once you understand that antisemitism is baked into the very bedrock of Western society via centuries of insidious propaganda, to the point where people can’t even see it and will push back against that accusation in every possible way they can, it becomes so clear. “Jews murder babies to use their blood in their rituals” becomes “Israel genocides Palestinian babies and enjoys it,” “Jews poison town wells” becomes “Israel poisons Palestinian water supplies,” “Jews secretly pulls the strings of the world via secret societies,” becomes “Israel secretly buys off governments and politicians to cover up their crimes,” “Jews steal organs,” becomes “Israel harvests and sells dead Palestinian’s organs,” and so on forever. The activists have been completely taken in by ancient conspiracies and propaganda, and they’re too stupid to realise it and they honestly think they’re “exposing” something groundbreaking instead of being like every single idiot antisemite that has come before them. They’ll happily support concepts like Land Back and decolonisation, and movements like Me Too - that is for everyone except Jews. Before more enlightened views on race and ethnicity and culture, when “White was Right” in other words, Jews were Other, an inherently inferior race that needed to be eliminated for the good of all. Now, they’re White Supremacist Colonisers practicing apartheid and genocide on poor brown people who have absolutely no agency for themselves. The Eternal Scapegoat.