#“I'm suffering because of what's happening in Gaza and I don't think you're suffering enough so I'm going to /make/ you suffer”

[slyandthefamilybook]

fellas is it freeing Palestine to send graphic images to American Jews

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

I like your blog, we've been mutuals for years. But blogging about the met gala when there are children dying in Gaza? Fuck the met gala and your celebrity worship

at what point have I made it seem like I don't care about/support what's happening in gaza? I don't share a lot about it, but that's because most of what I see have graphic images and videos attached to the posts, and while I understand the thought process behind sharing them to make it seem more real to people, I'm uncomfortable with it because I know that if I was in that situation, vulnerable and injured or dead, I wouldn't want people gawking at me online just so they can pat themselves on the back for 'suffering in solidarity' by making themselves uncomfortable and miserable looking at me. I'm trying to be respectful. I've still reblogged things about gaza though. but honestly, if you've been following me for years, you'd know I'm a pacifist and wouldn't need me to make a statement saying I don't support people being killed. my God, dude.

also, celebrity worship? I can't even tell you who half the people at the met even were. I just like fashion. I post about a bunch of different things on this blog, and you haven't complained about that, so where's the threshold for things people are allowed to enjoy while bad things are happening in the world? fashion is off limits, but doctor who isn't? I can still post about musicals and not support murder, but aesthetic pictures are on par with launching a bomb myself? I truly hate to break it to you, but sharing links on tumblr is not going to fix this situation. denying yourself any shred of entertainment or enjoyment does not give you a moral high ground. what's happening is horrendous, but even if this is somehow magically peacefully solved tomorrow, there will still be other atrocities happening elsewhere in the world. that's unfortunately just how life goes. in no world am I saying we shouldn't care about every single atrocity that happens, I'm just saying if you can't find some time to be happy in your own life just because bad things are happening to others, you will never truly live a life at all. it sucks! but that's how it is. it's like when someone close to you dies, and the first time you laugh after you've started grieving feels like you're betraying them. but you aren't betraying them for continuing to live, just like you aren't betraying anyone else in the world who's suffering just because you don't spend 24/7 thinking and talking about them.

I do truly, genuinely, hope this all comes to a peaceful end, and soon. I'm not naive enough to believe for certain that it will. but I do know, at the end of the day, people are already aware of it. people know what's going on. sharing photos of dead and mutilated babies will not make any difference. you, and I, and everyone else online are not going to personally save gaza. pressure needs to be put on the people who can actually do something to make a change, and they don't care about what's online. arguing with people because you don't perceive them as doing 'enough' isn't going to accomplish anything other than getting them to a point of making them eye roll whenever they see you post, because at the end of the day, unless you're literally a top politician, you are doing the exact same amount to help as someone who reblogs less posts than you. sorry.

[smonk-wonk]

Hello, I'm from Gaza City because of the war,my house was destroyed. We lost everything,my family and I did not have anything left. We left our homes in search of a safe place and we were displaced three times to different places to survive, but unfortunately there's no safe place in Gaza. My mother is very sick and she's a kidney failure patient in need of treatment outside. She suffers from LS. Help me and my family to survive. Please, your small donation can make a huge difference. A friend outside Gaza has come in to help me run the donation program so that my mother can be evacuated

Me when I make an account to exploit the kindness of those who don't like genocide. You are the 14th person this year to come into my inbox as a stranger, asking me to donate to your sick mother or siblings or pets from a fairly new account. 14th. At least half of you have told me you are experiencing a genocide from the comfort of your own homes with your Cheeto dust covered keyboards. I am tired.

Have you seen how emaciated civilians are becoming? Do you know what that's like, to die of starvation and dehydration? For all of your organs to slowly shut down, might even take months if you're getting enough scraps of food and water here and there to keep you alive. You ever wake up from a charley horse because you're kind of dehydrated? Now imagine feeling those painful spasms through your body while your kidneys shut down followed by the rest of your organs. Your family must watch this happen to you and you watch it happening to them too, btw.

Have you ever seen children with their heads off of their bodies? Or being eaten by cats? Shot by snipers? I'm sure you have, we all have at this point. if you didn't know the severity you wouldn't be scamming people with this. And for you to know how bad the genocide is and use that level of destruction and death and tragedy for your own selfish gain is genuinely evil and cringe. I'm not trying to appeal to what little humanity you might have left because I think you're too far gone. There's nothing there, that must feel so empty and hollow. But I just think it's worth emphasizing how fucked in the head you have to be to do what you're doing.

Fucking kys. I can DM you some suggestions if you need them.

[mywingsareonwheels]

On activism and health (and learning from my mistakes, please...)

There is. Oh my goodness, there really is, a happy medium between "positive vibes only" ignoring other people's suffering, and "never look away, this *should* be swallowing your life and health, be willing to sacrifice everything about yourself for this issue".

Here is one way to tell if you've fallen on the wrong side: when you look back at the past two months and your health (which was already very poor, like, "nowhere near well enough to work, needs a full-time carer" poor) has deteriorated absolutely terrifyingly for reasons completely and blatantly connected to not-looking-away and trying-to-do-all-you-can, and in the end all you have to show for it is a few posts boosted here and on Instagram and a few petitions signed. I mean, useful, better than nothing, goodness knows we need people doing those things, but hardly world-changing on its own. And not worth destroying a body and brain for.

Sometimes self-sacrifice is a thing that a person is called to do, but a) not many people are and that's as it should be, and b) the whole point of self-sacrifice is that you don't do it for less than making a huge, huge difference for good. Throwing yourself away for nothing or a few scraps of small internet activism isn't self-sacrifice, it's self-negation, and it helps nobody. (Except, possibly, those powers of oppression and injustice, because then that's one fewer person to trouble them in the future, or at least for a long while to come.)

And unless you're called on to do that kind of sacrifice? Aim to still be able to do activism (at whatever level you can do it) in ten years time. Twenty. Thirty.

Don't be callous, don't stop caring, don't treat climate change or what's happening in Gaza or anything else like that as normal. We're all needed, over time, to do what we sustainably can. But my Gods, sustainably. That means taking meaningful breaks. It means both self-care and (where relevant) group-care. That means choosing what forms and level of activism you can do without harming yourself. That means noticing how you're doing, and not going "well it's fine that I'm suffering, [x group of people] are suffering worse". Because that is not how solidarity works.

(I think of myself as pretty sensible and pretty invested in self-care and pacing and stuff, and I still fell dramatically down that hole because yes, this post is absolutely about me over the last two months. But I'm posting here even though it's hard to talk about, because I'd be astonished if I'm the only chronically ill person who gives a lot of a shit about things who hasn't been making some very unwise choices, especially lately, that ultimately aren't good.)

[mika-0730]

Honestly i think if at this point you still really believe that "voting blue no matter who" is a thing i really don't wanna talk to you or be around you.

Like, how much more do you need to see to know there isn't a "Better Side" in this election? Genocide denial everywhere, literally every expert is saying US is complicit (which is putting it mildly imo)

Every single point I hear about defending blues are specifically around like, "we can't get the other guy back in office because he'll do even worse" Like? The genocide is already damning enough, so you can't say "Red will commit genocides", because Blue already is. Trans right will go away under the reds? You do realize the blues have done nothing to stop the rampant transphobia spreading across the southern states? The ones where I had to literally had to seek asylum because they were banning my meds? Women's rights are in danger? You mean the things that pretty much went away when RvW went away? Let's not forget about the fact the Blues didn't provide us any full pandemic relief under this administration (only continued what was in play and gave half a stimulus check), stopped tracking, and has forced us all to pretend it doesn't exist anymore? Workers rights? Remember how the blues constantly interfere with labor strikes?

I'm in theory for voting. Vote for your local level stuff. Be *active* in your communities. But the federal, and even the state level? Needs to be burned to the fucking ground. Voting for Blues means you're okay with what he's doing. You're okay with the Genocide, because "what about us". And if you really think that's okay, I don't want you around. The trolly car problem is a definition of "two things that WILL happen". In this case, you're voting for a person who's actively participating in killing millions of people. This isn't an example of "one car is driving into a storm, and another car is driving off a cliff". This is someone blowing up children, and you saying "at least it's not us", or "it could be so much worse". I'm glad you can look at what's happening in gaza and say "well, it's not me". I'm glad you can look at all the millions of americans (and people around the globe) who died during the pandemic, and pretend it's normal for us to just be missing the populations of Wyoming and Vermont Combined. Imagine thinking that it's okay that suddenly, every single person in the City of Dallas Texas went missing and we had to make up for that labor.

This is such a fucking shitshow, I'm probably actually done talking about it here, but like, what the fuck are we doing?

-Your local disabled, trans girl still suffering from student debts for a degree that did jack shit that Biden did nothing about, who cares more about the millions of dead people at the hands of this government than that

[the-rainbow-lesbian]

I'm not Jewish and I don't live somewhere with a Jewish population (🇹🇼) but it's honestly pretty scary to see how many seemingly well educated and well adjusted Western radfem turned into anti-Jewish blogs at the end of last year. I've seen so many posts after posts calling all Israeli murderers from baby to old and saying all Jewish people regardless of nationality need to be forced back to Europe.

Compared to when I see very rare posts about Uyghur, I never see violence and words directed towards Chinese or saying Kill All Chinese. It just looks like acceptable racism for Jewish to me. Majority people where I live are in support of two nations and not being supportive for war but most posts on Tumblr are highly supportive of war and call for the death of all Israeli. It's scary to see.

Sorry if there is any spelling mistake ><

when october 7th happened and israeli women were raped mutiliated murdered and kidnapped and radfems went "I do not see it" I was like oh god it's so over, I feel like I've been living in the twilight zone ever since and idk the world of scary, if you're capable of dehumanizing other people to such an extent that you celebrate a massacre or think it was justified you're a person who should not be trusted, because anyone who is capable of that there is something wrong with them.

and yeah people don't care about human suffering, this is just an outlet for their antisemitism, it's not even about arabs or muslims because where were they when syrians were getting slaughtered (pro-palestinian propagandists are even using pictures of syrian victims and claiming they're from gaza) and why are they silent about the uyghurs in china? this conflict and war is not any more devastating than what's going on in the world currently, it's not a competition of course but the amount of attention it's getting is suspicious, people are heavily being manipulated into a certain narrative and they don't even stop and think who benefits from this and why are they doing it? do they stop and think what's the bias and goals of the news sources they share from that are spreading disinformation and blood libels? no of course not, it is worrisome enough for jewish people but everyone should be concerned because fascism comes after scapegoating.

people on tumblr are such hypocrites, they want israel to ceasefire let the hostages die in the tunnels and just share borders with terrorists who want to annihilate them, this is their idea of "peace"

[abla-soso]

So I have seen your Israel vs Palestine posts. I don't know much about the conflict so I have been doing some research on the history and watching some news coverage.

I admit that I am slightly biased for Israel but there is so much information that it is hard to tell truth from lies. Israel says they want to eliminate Hamas but I don't understand how bombing Palestine is supposed to do this. I mean I don't think the Nazis were defeated by just bombing German towns. That makes no sense.

I want your take on this:

What is your ideal solution to this conflict?

After the attacks on Israel, how you would have preferred Israel to respond?

What is your opinion on Hamas and how they got elected into power?

How would you respond to people who disapprove of Palestinians on the news not condemning Hamas' attacks?

@fanfic-lover-girl

Hello. Sorry it took me so long to answer, but I've been mentally and emotionally drained by what's happening in Gaza. I'm glad you're willing to learn the truth and I hope you commit to it no matter how difficult it is to unlearn years of propaganda. The fact that you're open-minded and decent enough to admit your ignorance and your biases is a positive sign for growth.

I hope you've read my latest Palestine posts because they pretty much answered all of your questions, but I will try to summarize them as best as I can:

This genocide was never about Hamas. It was always about ethnically cleansing the land from Palestinians and turning the legally recognized Palestinian territories into Israeli ones. Israeli officials have publically stated this. There is no Hamas in the West Bank, yet the Palestinians there are still been bombed. Israel has been slaughtering and ethnically cleansing the Palestinians since 1948. That's 40 years before Hamas ever existed. Hamas existed as a response to Israel's state terrorism. Israel is using "fighting Hamas" as an excuse to justify its war crimes.

The ideal solution is justice. Peace can not happen without justice. The apartheid of Israel must end. The brutal occupation and military dictatorship must end. The genocidally racist government and ethnostate of Israel must be dismantled. Palestinians should get back their basic human rights. Zionists - whether they were Jews or Arabs - must be kicked out, because the defeated colonizers can NOT peacefully co-exist with the newly freed population and they'll always be a danger. Non-zionist Jews are welcome to stay as full citizens and they're allowed to call freed Palestine their home.

Hamas - like any freedom fighters group aiming for liberation from brutal tyranny - is certainly flawed and some of its methods can be problematic. But it's not a religiously extremist group. It's not a terrorist group. They're not aiming to kill all Jews or whatever bullshit Israeli propaganda spews. Their only enemy is the armed zionists. Do they care about Israeli citizens? No, not really. Hamas as a group does not systematically aim to kill or torture Israeli civilians (their humane treatment of the Israeli hostages should be clear proof of that), but they don't care if some Hamas members lash out on their own. They don't view Israeli citizens as innocent civilians, and I can't blame them. Not when ALL of these "civilians" have worked in the Israeli military (because military service is mandatory in Israel) and are actively and directly supporting the genocide of Palestinians. Most of Hamas members are deeply traumatized orphans who suffer from unimaginable oppression every single day. I can't condemn them when they lash out. Just as I can't condemn Nelson Mendiola (who was labeled a terrorist for using armed resistance). Just as I can't condemn the Native Americans who raged many wars against their colonizers. Just as I can't condemn the freed slaves in Haiti who massacred their white slavers during the slave revolution. I can objectively find some of their actions unjustifiable (mainly if they deliberately targeted children) but no one has any right to condemn them.

I'd tell them it's pretty fucking shitty to focus on the oppressed when they lash out at their oppressors, and it's even more shitty to condemn them for not being passive victims. I'd ask them: Why is no pro-Israel person being asked to condemn Israel's war crimes on the news? Why are they equating the violence done by the oppressive colonizers with the violence done by the colonized who are trying to be free?

[queenie-says-free-palestine]

Hi! I came across your blog and wanted to offload some feelings, I hope you don't mind.

I've been kinda aware of the situation in Palestine for a few years now (However I am sure that there is A LOT more I don't know) I'm from Western Europe, I'm sure you're aware of how little concern there was and is for Palestinian here. My stomach just dropped when I turned on the news this past weekend. The first thing I saw was the Israeli president proclaiming war. I felt horrified, I knew that whatever Hamas had done, the Palestinian people would be punished for it. It's terrible what happened to the Israeli people, of course, but the entire western world doesn't seem to acknowledge, accept or even care about the fact that those in Palestine are living in an 'Apartheid system'

I've seen videos of kids being 'roughed up' by Israeli military, old people forced from homes they've lived in for generations. They have been suffering for decades like this. Why is it okay for them to be treated like this? Because they're brown? Muslim? I'm sorry if that's a controversial thing to say, but I can't think of any other reason for it. It is both heartbreaking and infuriating.

I wish the western world just cared, if only a little bit. We have been bombarded with 'Israel the victim' narrative, there is some reporting about what they are doing to Gaza (cutting aid etc) and it's generating a little sympathy but not enough to change the overall narrative. Those who publicly support 'Free Palestine' are painted as antisemitic at best, a terrorist sympathizer at worst.

I'm sick of it!

Forgive me if I've got anything wrong here, but this is the opinion I've come to from what I've seen/read. Feel free to correct me.

Thanks for letting me vent.

sorry, i meant to reply to this when you sent it but ive been so busy 😭😭

im glad you feel that my blog is a safe space to vent :) and no worries, im fine w you feeling the need to spill all this. if anything im somewhat honored you chose my blog !

i will be expanding on some notes you said, but trigger warning for graphic depictions of violence. also notable that if people will get triggered at the very ideas of these things, at seeing them as words or on screens, then imagine those who face this in their every day lives, who have faced this every day for decades. you can choose not to read and not get triggered and move on. they dont have a choice.

the first thing id mention is that you mention how the condemnation is "why is it okay for them to be treated like this? because theyre brown? muslim?" and as a brown muslim, yes this is exactly why its okay for them to be treated like this. the west has made it clear for decades that muslims are terrorists or plane hijackers or bombers and they should be disciplined and indoctrinated, and arabs are either oil money bilionaires or robbers or sex objects who live in tents and dont use cars because they have camels. thats why white ukrainians are defending themselves but brown palestinians are terrorists

but also keep in mind that minorities such as arab christians are just as threatened, especially due to a lack of awareness about the fact that theres actually a large number of christians in arabia, and the christian communities in the middle east are some of the oldest in the world, with the ones in palestine able to date back to the birth of the church. in fact, arab christians are almost condemned more than arab muslims because people tend to blow them off because theyre arab christian and somewhat alien to other people.

not to mention that people have the nerve to say palestinians should die bc the majority are muslims and want to kill infidels and queers. what of the queer palestinians? im friends with palestinians irl and two of them are queer. are they excused from the massacre but their families should die? and its sad that this next sentence might be controversial, but even homophobes dont deserve to be slaughtered. yes, i said it.

next, this is smth that angers me, not what you said, but the fact that its so unknown. youve seen videos of "kids being 'roughed up' by israeli military, old people forced from homes theyve lived in for generations". i promise you, anon, this is the tip of the iceberg. scroll far enough, esp on twitter under the hashtag #freepalestine. the things ive seen will stay with me forever. the things youll see if you look far enough, i promise, you wont be able to comprehend how people who witness this every day can still have the will to live.

if you scroll far enough, youll see videos of women screaming in pain as they watch their homes getting bulldozed. youll see a video of a hearing impaired palestinian girl running, only to get hit in the face w a stun grenade. shes only eleven years old. youll see videos of a boy, only about six, eyes wide and staring off, silent as the person holding the camera urges him to speak and shakes him. youll see a father crying over his sons body after finding it among the dead. youll see a boy running through a crowd, screaming and crying for his dad, only to find his fathers corpse being held up by the people in front. youll find people being pulled out from rubble. youll find a boy pointing at his little sister and saying "look at the blood on her feet." youll see videos of people being held hostage in al aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in islam, by the idf. they did nothing but pray. youll see a man holding a dead fetus, saying that its mother was killed. youll see a father vlogging what life is like in gaza, he buys gifts for his daughters for eid but they keep hiding under pillows thinking that theyre going to get bombed and he has to reassure them and hug them. he died a few days later. youll see two children being held by an idf soldier as they cry and swear they havent done anything. youll see a palestinian girl gesturing towards destroyed buildings behind her and saying "you see all of this. what do you expect me to do, fix it? im only ten." youll see a woman talking about how her two and a half year old son, who was shot by israeli soldiers, was loved by everyone and he loved everyone. youll see a group of men in the middle of prayer, refusing to stop even when they hear israeli missiles hitting. they flinch but they dont stop praying. 

and what of the incidents that didnt get recorded? these are just from the last decade or so. what of the sixty five years before that? this is what i call terrorism. the hijabi on your flight is not a terrorist. the zionists who tells people to leave the land they grew up in, the land their ancestors grew up in? THATS who the the terrorist here.

and even those who dont get killed are terrorized. there are people who have to sign in with checkpoints any time they enter or leave their own home. theyre arrested by the idf for no reason and interrogated for hours.

i would also like to add a point. palestinians arent punished for hamas's crimes. palestinians are punished for being palestinians. people could argue that "oh, israels trying to attack hamas, the civilians are collateral damage, thats inevitable in war!!!"

bull. shit.

okay fine, lets assume that, ethically speaking, its morally just to level all of gaza with the aim of exterminating hamas. lets assume that its not morally questionable to do so, and lets assume that it doesnt violate international law. let me steal the argument of bassem youssef from when he debated w piers morgan:

lets assume hamas doesnt exist. lets assume theres a world where hamas doesnt exist in palestine, and lets call this world the west bank. ... whats the excuse for killing palestinians in the west bank?

(he said smth of the sort, im not sure these were his exact words)

why would you kill palestinians in the west bank, where there isnt hamas, and say that its "collateral damage" from a war w hamas? its thinly veiled racism, i promise you

the slightly more fortunate news is that the world seems to be waking up. there are protests, even in the west, in support of palestine. al jazeera news has an article abt places that have held protests in solidarity w palestine (the link is here) and a lot of them are in western/european countries. even jews are protesting, i remember seeing a video (its kinda old tho maybe two years old ??) of a jewish guy saying "we are embarassed of whats happening in the state of israel, in the jewish name" and that palestinians "shouldnt give up the struggle" (the video is here)

unfortunately, where i live, no protests can be held, but maybe if theres any near you, anon, you can show some love by attending :) and if there arent then you can simply donate (only if you can, obviously)

sorry this ramble is so long hahaha its just that your ask allowed me to let out some bottled up feelings of my own

[sorcerous-caress]

checking in, you okay?

Anon I should start paying you for this free therapy you're giving me, thank you so much for continously checking on me <3

I'm not. My wisdom teeth situation is getting unbearable painful, I'm taking antibiotics and painkillers to get through the days. Because of that I'm barely conscious most of the day, my thoughts are slow and I sleep most of the day. I'm not even really aware of when one day ends and the other starts without checking my phone.

I should've went to the dentist earlier, it's my fault. I wanted to finish Wyll's Week so I kept postponing it until it got this dire.

I have an appointment tomorrow. I'm tried just thinking about how I need to get up, cook food for my meds, shower and do chores. Part of me doesn't want to deal with any of this, just sleep forever.

My mental health has been declining as well, depression always hits rock bottom around new years for me. In previous years around this time, I had an attempt. I'm really holding myself together as much as I can so I don't relapse.

I keep reminding myself that I am safe, it doesn't work but I keep doing it.

The situation in Palestine also isn't getting any better. They're publicly posting videos of soldiers humiliating and torturing civilians, making them crawl naked. It's beyond evil It's genuine inhuman how cruel this is. They're real people that could've as easily been any of our families if we just happened to be born there, imagine your own father, brother or even cousin being put through that.

What right do I have to celebrate new years when they're going through this. Worse of all, i wanted to discard my own life away while people in Gaza are fighting for their own, enduring everything just to survive while the whole world just watches.

It's hard to think, it's hard to focus on my own life or writing, it's hard to function whilst knowing this. This could've been any of us.

Could still be really, we're taking our own safety for granted. It could easily disappear, what then?

Did I not notice these things as a kid or is the world gradually getting worse. People might say these things should make me thankful for the things I have, but it's not. I don't want to be thankful for what I have, It's not enough, I want others to have them as well.

How can I ever be thankful for having food, basic water or safety when others don't, it doesn't fucking make sense. Why do I deserve these things and they don't? Who decided that? What rights do they have to let someone else suffer? It's fucking bullshit, countries, borders and separation is bullshit.

But again, thank you for letting me vent anon. Please don't feel like you have to reply to this, I don't want pity.

[xfilesinamajor]

It's Halloween in America. I'm lucky. My biggest concern is whether it's going to snow during trick-or-treating. I'm sitting here sharing cute memes.

Because if I share something that talks about the sudden global surge in antisemitism or the atrocities committed by Hamas, then I feel like I'm ignoring the daily horrors happening in Gaza. And if I share my support for Palestine, I feel like I'm discounting what happened on Oct. 7th.

Well, I'm not discounting it. I don't think anyone's really discounting it. It's just that it doesn't justify the scale and indifference of Israel's response. NOTHING could justify the scale and indifference of this response. There IS no justification for thousands of dead children, for entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, for the lack of humanitarian aid, FOR THE INDIFFERENCE.

That's what gets me, the indifference. No matter what awful things Hamas did, how can you just stand back and shrug as Palestine suffers? No, "suffers" isn't a strong enough word. You're bringing their entire world down around them. You're starving them, leaving them to scream in hospitals, slicing through their children with shrapnel. Just because you aren't doing it face-to-face doesn't make it any less murder.

I have no stakes in this, but that doesn't give me permission to ignore it. Maybe it's BECAUSE I have no stakes in it, that I can cry for the victims on both sides. I know the history of the area is long, fraught, and complicated. I know there are bad people on both sides, just as there are innocent civilians and heroes on both sides. I know that the people committing hate crimes against Jews and Muslims in other parts of the world because of this are doing nothing to help the cause.

I just want to say that I support Palestine, and that doesn't mean I hate the Israelis. Most of them are just people trying to live their lives...but any government that's trying to stop a country full of innocent people from just living THEIR lives should be stopped, not supported. This is unacceptable. On so many levels.

Many things in war aren't simple or black-and-white. What Israel is doing Palestine right now IS. It's bad, it's wrong, and none of us should feel guilty about saying we're against it.