#(figured I should have a sorting tag for that

[matan4il]

Hey, I just felt the need to vent and see if you or your followers had any advice for me because I feel so stuck.

I don't have any relatives or friends in Israel so sometimes I feel I have no room to talk on the conflict. I'm in the US, I'm 'safe', my family is safe, but I still feel so hurt and the grief from everything happening to 'my people'

I was talking to a friend and I know we have conflicting opinions on everything happening. I just feel so heart broken by him as we were discussing things and he cuts the conversation when I said "Hamas is a terrorist organization". I don't know how I can trust him anymore when he can't even see that. I love him so much. He's essentially my best friend. It hurts so much and I don't know what to do. At this point I just keep quiet but there is resentment building and I hate it.

Any advice would help. Sorry for rambling. I'm just emotional.

Hi Nonnie! I totally understand, you're being legit in how you feel, and I'm sending you many hugs!

I believe I've answered a similar ask at some point since the war, I'm just not sure how to find it, because Tumblr's search option sucks. Maybe through the ask tag, IDK. If anyone's better at handling this site, and can find it and link it in the comments, I'm sure the anon (and definitely me) would appreciate that!

I think that ask was more generalized though, so here I'll refer more specifically to yours.

First of all, if you're Jewish, you have family in Israel. All Jews are one big family, one tribe, and I consider every Jew a part of my extended family. That said, there's actually a good chance that, given enough genealogical research, you'll find that one, two or three generations ago, the family tree split, and there's a branch where people returned to Israel, so you have distant relatives you weren't even aware of here. If you're interested in looking into this, a good place to start is to contact the Anu Museum, which delves into the history of the Jewish people, and also keeps extensive genealogical records for Jews.

Hamas is a terrorist organization, that's not an opinion or debate, it's a fact. People tend to claim that resistance can be seen as terrorists or freedom fighters, depending on one's opinion, and it's true that at times the term "terrorists" has been abused, but there's actually a very simple way to figure out the matter. If an organization intentionally targets civilians with violence, including lethal violence, for the sake of achieving some sort of a political change (and that includes political change in service of an extremist religious cause), then we're talking about terrorists. The differentiation between a regime as a legit target for a struggle, and innocent civilians who should never be targeted with violence, that's the difference between freedom fighters (whether we agree with them or not) and terrorists.

The exact date of Hamas being established as a terrorist organization is not known, most believe it was Dec 1987 (it announced it was joining the First Intifada on Dec 15, when it started on Dec 9. Hamas escalated it considerably, as it did the Second Intifada), while the son of a Hamas founder (Mosab Hassan Yousef. He was repeatedly jailed by Israel for terrorist activity in the service of his dad's organization, but as a teen in prison saw how Hamas was torturing Palestinians. He decided to flip and help Israel in order to save his own people from Hamas) says it was actually slightly earlier, in 1986. Either way, by the end of 1989 (just two years after its first public statement), Hamas was already so brutal and violent, that it was outlawed here. Soon, especially as it started carrying out extensive suicide bombings (the very first one was on Apr 16, 1993), it was also recognized as a terrorist organization and outlawed by multiple governments (including the UK, the US, Jordan, the EU, Japan, Norway, Iceland, Canada, Australia and Paraguay).

Not only is Hamas clearly a terrorist organization since its very first act of terrorism, after Oct 7 it is also one of the most successful ones ever (second only to Al-Qaeda after 9/11, though if you look at the number of fatalities per population size, then Hamas have surpassed Al-Qaeda as well). To not recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization is to not recognize terrorism, and that it is fundamentally wrong, because nothing ever justifies killing civilians to affect a political change, and THAT is an incredibly disturbing position to take.

On top of that, Hamas is Islamist, it wants a world ruled by an Islamist regime, and sees the eradication of Israel as a first step on the way there. It will only condemn other Islamist terrorist organizations for digressing from this plan of eradicating the Jewish state first, before taking on the rest of the world. Hamas is also genocidal towards Jews. Its founding charter declares this explicitly, that Judgment Day will not come until all Jews are exterminated. Its leaders have continuously and repeatedly expressed themselves in similar ways, calling upon "true believers" to kill Jews everywhere around the world, and in fact since Oct 7, several Hamas terrorist cells have been exposed as operating against Jews outside of Israel.

Someone who can't even admit Hamas are terrorists will likely not recognize the genocidal, antisemitic and extremist Islamist nature of Hamas, either. If you're Jewish, what that means is that your "friend" is willing to turn a blind eye to the declared statements of those who wish to kill you simply because you're Jewish. And if you ask me, that's not a friend at all. But even if you're not Jewish, I think the willingness to allow Hamas' genocidal antisemitism by denying the nature of this organization is morally despicable. I would kind of get it if your friend lived in a non-free country, where he can't get the true info on Hamas. But if you live in a free society, and your friend can get online, and go to one of the sites that share info on Hamas, especially the footage from Oct 7, but he's still denying what this terrorist organization is really like? I think you're very right to be upset by that.

At the end of the day, how you deal with it is up to you. It sounds like this person is really important to you, and I get it. At the same time, it sounds like you're having a hard time living with his views of Hamas, which is beyond justified. If your friend is willing to overlook this, what else is he willing to allow? I guess the question is whether you feel like you can have a talk with him, where you put this all on the table, not just Hamas being a terrorist organization, but also the genocidal, Islamist and antisemitic nature of it, and explain to your friend that it is personally distressing to you, that he can act as if Hamas is a legit organization? Do you feel like you can talk to him, and if he understood what it means to you, he might be more willing to listen? If you don't talk to him about this, do you feel like you can live with his views?

I'll be honest, I personally would not want such a person as a "friend." I would never feel like I could trust him. That doesn't negate all of his other good traits and what he can and does give you as a friend, though. I get that. I understand that it is a loss, if this ends your friendship. And that's why I say that it's up to you. It's up to what you feel is in the best interest of your well being. Do you still trust him to have your back despite his views? Do you think you'd be worse off to lose everything else about your friendship? Or do you think he values your friendship enough to listen? Do you feel like the distress of knowing what he supports is too much, and is bad for your well being? At the end of the day, only you can answer these questions.

Just know that no matter what you decide, you're not alone. There are others who feel like you do, and who would accept you, all of you, anti-Hamas views included, and will be true allies and friends. You def have a friend here. I'm wishing you well with whatever you decide to do, and if you feel like sending follow up asks, please don't hesitate to! Much love, Nonnie. xoxox

(for more of my posts regarding Israel, click here)

If this is a person who you define as your best friend, but they're cool

[foolsocracy]

I really like how you've been developing MJ's character, it really feels like she's a part of the family. It's also nice to think Peters less alone than he thinks he is

thank you!! :,] she really is a part of the family to me. i love MJ too much to sideline her. In the noir comics her and peter really do have absolutely 0 romantic chemistry but thats okay because it gives me the perfect reason to give the two of them more of a sibling dynamic. ive been starting to piece together exactly what their history entails, and i think i might make a little relationship chart of them over the years to post.

"its also nice to think peter's less alone than he thinks he is" SO REAL. MJ's noir character is really needed. Her and May both have lessons Peter needs to learn if he's ever going to be okay in any semblance of the word. Its set up in vol 1 issue 1 of the comic that Peter is so angry he's going to burn himself down to the ground. I think MJ wanting to be an actress/interested in the arts is a perfect way to start to curb Peter a bit.

there is soo much poetry and writing and art about how its the little things that make you a person & get u through the day. Something about how people have been making art for as long as people have been people, and how thats a way to connect to the world around u despite feeling alone. Or that one quote "in the dark times, will there also be singing? yes, there will be singing about the dark times."

Noir peter is on a slippery slope because he's fighting to make the world a better place, but because he can't see past the corruption that makes up the world, he sees the bad in everything and everyone before anything else. At some point there'll a point where he wont see a city worth saving anymore. Like at the end of Eyes w out a Face, the world is full of decent people, not good. He's approaching that point. But then again, there's MJ sitting right next to him, saying things are going to get better. in his universe, you really have to actively look for good things, but that doesn't mean they're not there.

this is an incredibly longwinded way of saying yeah, MJ is a part of his family and could very well be an integral part of not losing himself as he continues on as the spider man

[aria0fgold]

My headcanons for the named trio in The Cursing of Chateau Castle series:

Josephandre is a big bear. It just fits for him I think! He gets he/him pronouns, and as a way to make him a liiiil more relatable for Mira, he'd have two craft types (Rock type being his main one and paper craft for the other). Battle style wise, I think it fits him to be more of a self-sustaining tank. He buffs defense, heals, and puts up shields. For his weapon, he'd use his fists like Isabeau. He'll be the second fastest in the trio.

Lady Irene-Janine-Kanine looks like an elegant noblewoman on the outside but she has vibes similar to Euphrasie! She gets she/her pronouns. Her craft type is Paper. Battle style wise, she's more on the offensive side, a main dps kind of thing. Most of her skills focus on buffing attack and speed, she'd have an item that helps regen her hp a lil bit and her chosen weapon is an umbrella. The tip is a sharp blade so it's used like a spear that has a hidden sword in its handle. Open it, and it becomes a shield! That'd be one of her skills too, although it's only applicable to her. She's the fastest one of the trio.

Pierre-Jacques-Erneste looks like a nobleman and carries himself as such! He gets he/they pronouns. Their craft type is Scissors. Battle style wise, he's more of a debuffer, skills focusing on weakening the enemies, slowing them down, poisoning them. Their weapon is a sword dagger, though he doesn't seem to be able to handle it well, how clumsy! But he Is a nobleman so it makes sense! Oh but... why doesn't he have a title? They're the slowest one of the trio, how strange, he seemed to be faster than Lady Irene-Janine-Karine that one time though.

[sparky-is-spiders]

I think Jon should give his statement to Gertrude as a child and be so haunted by the nightmares it gives him that he seeks refuge in the Lonely. Like obviously he wouldn’t know what he was turning to (not until it was too late) but he should anyway. The awful watching figure he dreams of making him fear being seen, DESPISE being looked at completely, and make an already isolated and lonely child desperate to avoid other people and, well, Lonely. And as he gets older this would probably mix really badly with the gender dysphoria too, as well as worsening his aversion to eye contact.

And I think that’s when he’d notice the faint fog that’s always creeping around the edges of his vision.

[jakeperalta]

spent weeks psyching myself up to stand up to my mum and then immediately got shot down by her 😃👍

[irrigos]

okay, I finished reading Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, and i have some opinions on it, and about Clay Men in Fallen London. Shocker, I know. Irrigos? Having opinions? I'm only 80% opinions by volume!

This is really long and rambling, and I WOULD apologize for that, but, idk man you chose to read it.

anyway, I'm gonna preface this by saying that I am not Jewish. I've been pretty forthcoming about that on here, I think, given that every post I make somehow becomes about how I was raised Catholic.

so... the Clay Men are golems, yeah? I don't think I really need to argue that that's so, and even if I did, I'm not really sure how I would (or, rather, I don't know how someone would disagree, beyond "but they're not CALLED golems")

I've always thought the Clay Men were such an odd addition to Fallen London, because like... why are there golems here? In folklore, the golem was made to protect the Jewish people (in the most famous story, the golem was made by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to protect the Jewish ghetto from pogroms and blood libel) but like... there's no imperiled Jewish community in Fallen London. I mean, I don't think there's been any mention of any Jewish community whatsoever. So why are there golems? What purpose do they serve?

I know in canon, they were created by the King with a Hundred Hearts. But I'm not really sure... why. The lore wiki says that the Clay Men come into existence when the King dreams (but also, the article on Clay Men on that wiki doesn't cite any sources, and has a big banner saying it doesn't meet their citation requirements and might contain theories and headcanons. So I can't verify where in the game it says that). I know the King's backstory and all, and I know why he's a city, but I just don't really see why that resulted in the creation of a race of golems. Not really sure how his divorce was aided by the presence of an entire race of swole mud dudes, but... well what do I know

Anyway, the reason that I read Feet of Clay is because it's all about golems, and also... it's kind of the only answer I can think of for why there are golems in this game? I mean, golems aren't really a staple of the Victorian era, like Jack the Ripper or Sherlock Holmes, and they're not a staple of the cosmic horror genre (that the game at least makes a lot of gestures towards), like squid people or uncaring cosmic entities. And it doesn't seem like any of the FL founders were Jewish, or had any particular attachment to the golem as a folkloric character, so like... why? This is just a theory, and I might be totally off-base, but the best reason I can think of is that the Discworld books are incredibly famous and iconic and (especially in the UK) ubiquitous, and... they have golems, I guess? I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here because I have NOTHING. I understand all the talking animals and the fish people and sentient cities from space, but the golems? The golems confound me.

Especially after reading Feet of Clay, I just wish Fallen London would actually DO something with the Clay Men. There's been a few stories focused on Clay Men, but... well I've made no secrets about the fact that they've been the ones I enjoyed least. I think The Clay Man's Arm is gross, I think Factory of Favours is boring, I think the Comtessa storyline is... idk uncomfortably racially coded? ("Rich young white woman is kidnapped and killed by someone that is less than human but still undeniably A Man who claims to be in love with her" is uh. literally a plot point in Birth of a Nation? That really famous 1915 movie about how awesome the KKK are?)

The golems in Discworld are such a rich thematic vein-- they function as allegory for Jews, for oppressed workers, for automation, for the power of words in general. What is the narrative purpose of the Clay Men? What do they add by being in the story? What would be different if any given Clay Man that shows up in a story was replaced by a human? In Feet of Clay, you couldn't replace the golems with humans, because the story would cease to function. If you replaced the Clay Men in the Comtessa story line or in Factory of Favours with a human, or a Rubbery, or literally any other being that exists in the Neath, what would really be different, narratively and thematically? In my opinion, not a whole hell of a lot! So why are they here???

Anyway, I'm hoping that Mask of the Rose has more meat on this particular narrative bone. I know FBG has mentioned several times how much research they're putting into representing Jewish characters in MotR, and I know there's going to be a Clay Man lodging in Horatia's, too, and if David and Rachel don't have something to say about the fact that golems are real, I'm gonna riot.

Also, I couldn't think of a good way to work it into this post, but I really like this Jacob Geller video about the golem.

Thank u for reading all this mess. If you have any thoughts about Clay Men and what they mean, uh... well, let me know, because I'm stumped.

TL;DR:

[natjennie]

i dont want to make a bad faith interpretation, but it seems like people in the ofmd fandom who are maybe used to putting their writing somewhere else or maybe haven't posted writing before are misunderstanding some of ao3's features. which is totally understandable it's an overwhelming website. now I'm not an expert, I dont have like. a degree in database management or library sciences or something, but, as someone who is very particular about the fics I read, I thought I'd say some things.

mainly, tags on ao3 work directly for both what you want to include and what you want to exclude. so, for instance, when I'm searching for an ofmd fic, I can specify ed/stede included, and izzy/ed excluded, so nothing that has been tagged as izzy/ed will populate on the list. but I think writer's don't usually think about tagging their fics with the "negatives" as in, you're usually advertising the selling points rather than potential downsides, right?

and you're looking at your fic from the point of view of the person that wrote it. you know how it ends you know the specifics, you have a biased opinion about the degree to which those things feature in your fic. for example, if you write a line about someone getting stabbed and bleeding, but it's very very minor and vague, you might not think to tag it. but if someone specifically searches excluding blood as a tag, it means they really don't want to see that. so you not tagging it means they might see your fic, read and love it, then get triggered by the inclusion of injuries and blood. even though you knew it was no big deal, the character was fine, there was barely a description. but that's just your perspective.

same with the idea of character death. if they get revived or if they come back as a ghost or something, you might not think to tag it because it's not the main point of the fic, it's not a big deal, it gets resolved. but someone who specifically excludes character death doesn't want to read a character dying. no matter the end result.

do you know what I mean? and I think this gets really prevalent specifically for alternate universes, and the specific tagging etiquette for them.

because, from the writer's point of view, it's a fic about them being doctors. or something. and you've written all these thousands of words about hospitals and medicine and stuff, so you tag it alternate universe - doctors. because that's what the fic is about. but you're forgetting that, by virtue of them being doctors in hospitals and texting and answering calls, they're in a modern au. you didn't think that was the main part of the fic, but someone specifically avoiding- or specifically looking for modern au's is shortchanged by your use of only the tag au - doctors. rather than covering the broad genre first.

and I know you're putting your writing out there for free and you don't owe anyone anything, but ao3 is an archive. it's a database. it's free access to information, and being inaccurate in your labeling is an injustice to you, not getting the credit or audience you deserve, and potential readers, reading something they didn't sign up for, or not being able to find something they want.

think of it like a literal library. when you go to the young adult section, you want young adult novels. if a children's book ended up there because the author neglected to market it as a children's book, you'd be pretty annoyed at the organization of the library. because that's not what you were looking for.

so I guess I mean, for all the memes about those giant blocks of text as tags for crossover fics or w/e, please be generous in your tags. there is no algorithm to ao3, there is no word association by the search engine. when I search, or exclude, cats it is only going to comb through and provide, or remove, fics with the tag cats. nothing else. it works like putting things in quotes in google. please tag your fics as literally as possible.

that's it. rant over. thank you :)

[camellia-salazar]

I really love this masterpiece that you did

It shows us how Claire's family could have been,a normal functioning family,but the harsh truth is always there honestly

(Sorry for the rant that's gonna come onto you)

Yeah, that's probably what I was going for the most. I'm going for the concept of they're trying to be better but with how everything went it's kinda.. meh.

I've had similar problems with my fam too, which is probably why I declare Claire's family in the middle of both positivity and negativity. I'm not too sure on what to call it.

I guess I wished the best would happen with Claire and her family. Even when it seems like the adults from the short film doesn't deserve the best from an outsider's perspective.

I even wish the same thing for the Puppingtons from Moral Orel in some degree. Idk, just a comforting coping concept I guess. Bluey seems to display a better positive role with a lot of stuff.

More rant undercut if you want to know more:

Between all of the negativity that was displayed in Moral Orel and Jack Stauber's Opal, Bluey is the perfect opposite of those two mostly negative family issues.

Bluey having shown issues too but solving them positively is a perfect example to not always having things negatively. The differences between the Puppingtons and the Heelers are intense.

Where how Moral Orel represents nothing much good ever happens, Bluey represents anything can end up good as long as you got the right mindset, and I know Moral Orel does the same but it mostly seems to end horribly. It depends I guess.

And I guess I was trying to have Claire's family be in-between the positive side and the negative side, it starts off negative but I like to think that eventually the adults see the errors of their ways and change for the better, a little rocky but at least they would try. Kinda like my family did.

I wanted more content of wholesome family fun for them, which is why I mostly made that animation/animatic.

They would have fun sometimes, but also bad things happen too, which is a trait I'm sort of familiar with IRL. It's kinda confusing and it may seem bad, but it happens.

Idk that's my thoughts anyways. Thank you for reading this if you did. 👍💖✨

[steelycunt]

aus where r/s have a kid are a little strange to me sorry. because well s okay i sort of get it but r? what about that man makes you think he would a) want a child b) be a good father to one. be real

[tachyon-omlette]

(click image to read & stuff)

had a very unfortunate day so to make myself feel better I went ham digitally penning my thoughts about how Eda would exist in @cuppajj​‘s tf mech pilot au. quintesson kaiju designs forthcoming

[ninjaliike]

can't believe i missed our 6th birthday here! damn ... time flies, eh? ❤️

[elegyofthemoon]

day 2 and they are still very confused about what to do w me and i am also confused but at least i have a schedule.... i just need to wait for them to bring it back to me lmao

did have a very eventful morning and that was super cool except i spent it looking like >:O during the whole thing so

[spacedykez]

.

[oc-landfill]

ummm... hehe. ze gets a bit silly with it

[asfdhgsdkjhgb]

doing research for my final unit in english class and i have 3 sources cited already :D !

[quibbs126]

You know, there’s an alternate universe where Luke Triton is the puzzle/mystery solver while Hershel Layton is his loyal apprentice

I know I’ve already said something along these lines before, but I was thinking about it yesterday and it’s just something weird to wrap your head around. And you know the opposite would be just as true for the people in that universe