#(i do not support genocide don't worry)

[unityrain24]

nono no you see thor ragnarok didn't follow the strict Thor Movie Formula, that's why it turned out that way.

This is how Thor movies are supposed to go:

Typical Thor Movie

Odin's (racist) Monologue to start it off, Genocide is Cool guys, i swear

usually consists of condemning a race, beating them at battle, stealing an important artifact of theirs

again, wooo genocide so cool

Pan over Asgard directly after said monologue

Close-up pf Heimdall's eye

1 (one) shirtless scene of Thor

Thor and Loki "madness" talk

Odin talking over Frigga in a deleted scene

Odin talking about birth-rite, duty, honour, etc.

Thor's face squished against glass (this is a must)

Jane running to Thor as he's unconscious as a harmful object/force is coming at him

genocide = cool & effective (unless loki thinks about it)

Loki assumed dead at some point in the film

Thor and Jane kiss passionately at the very end and it's awkward for me

cool music

[buttercuparry]

1k+ notes over a day, only for the fundraiser to barely have moved at all in 12 hours.

I don't know maybe you are tired of hearing about Siraj Abudayeh ( @siraj2024 ) but you have to remember that he is trying to survive through a genocide. I can guarantee you that he doesn't like asking for help either, rather everyday he struggles to reach out to people. I mean it is kind of horrible to have gone through Zionist harassment and then finding out that people have stopped responding to you in every way. It kills something inside, especially so soon after finding out that the occupation forces have once again bombed your already destroyed house for no purpose at all, except to flex their power .

Right now Siraj's family is struggling to make do. With the early set in of torrential rains, they don't know what is going to happen. They don't know if the 10 children of the family and the elderly parents will survive through this incoming winter! It is so horrible to have to beg for a chance to survive. So horrible to explain every detail of your life, your every action which in this case entails why he had to increase the end goal of the campaign. I don't know why the donations have stopped but you do realize that he wouldn't be bothering any of you if a settler colony was not bent on destroying Gaza to cement its existence right? He would have been in his home. His kids, his nephews and nieces would all be in the home he took a decade of pain to built. They wouldn't be terrified of the harsh winter ahead and that house of theirs would have given shelter to generations!

Siraj is begging you to donate so that he may buy shaders to water proof his tent. If in the next week the rains start without mercy, then the family at least wouldn't have to worry about leaks of icy water.

$80,121 / $82,000 CAD

1.8k to go. Please help Siraj reach the goal BY TOMORROW so that he may at least buy the shaders to waterproof the tent. Boost and Donate.

Vetting #219

[medicinemane]

You know, it bothers me the way it seems like people have totally forgot about Iranians... thought we were all on the same page, wasn't it... women, life, freedom? (I legit don't remember, but the reason for that is it wasn't my slogan to say. Maybe it sounds strange, but that's how I felt, so I never actually wrote it, which makes it harder to remember)

Just feels like for a brief window there we were all talking big talk about supporting them, but then it all kinda dried up

I'll be totally transparent about one of the reasons this keeps coming up for me, russia is a major ally of Iran, Iran supplies the kamikaze drones russia hits civilians with... you know they're not giving them away for free... I worry what the Iranian government uses anything it gets to do... I don't really hear anything from Iranians anymore (though once again I fully admit that most of what I was hearing was second hand, I never had found an Iranian to directly follow... I don't know if anyone's still talking)

I just... I legit worry that people talk a big game about Gaza right now, but will they in a year?

I'm frustrated because a lot of the support people and causes around the world get seems like it's almost more self masturbatory than anything real... sure, everyone really well and truly means it, but then they get bored and it's on to a new cause

So I worry the support will be fleeting... and I see some people really getting down in the mud in ways... well, I'm not a people keeper, I don't get to tell people what to do, but I wouldn't be very pleased if I was acting the way I see some people act and my real point is I worry they're doing all this shit and they're not even gonna stick it out with the cause... seen people get bored and dip to many times to trust it

I'm not perfect... I have a shit memory a lot of the time, and I got a lot on my mind, but I still remember Hong Kong... at least sometimes... even looked into it from time to time and the news never looks good

I remember the Uyghurs, though my shit spelling always makes me look it back up. I think about Syria and how forgotten they are. I do actually still keep up with Ukraine... and then I see connections between russia and Iran and assad and...

I don't know... this stuff eats a me a little... not a lot, not more than the helplessness we all feel about bad things beyond our control usually does... I just worry about people, how they act with shit

Worry that you roll around in the mud too long it starts getting hard to wash off, and I worry that people sometimes get in the mud less cause they're trying to help anything and more cause sometimes it feels good to have an excuse to get dirty... righteous anger that makes any behavior permissible

I don't talk about current events that are on everyone's radar nonstop cause I don't want to burn support out by just overloading people with horror... but I generally find murdering innocent people to be a bad thing, so yeah... I want to see a fucking ceasefire already

Don't talk about it, but I actually do care quite a bit... and I worry... I worry that it'll be forgotten the second the news cycle moves on like everything else is

Worry that every bit of vile behavior I've seen that was for high minded goals will turn out to be dropped in an instant...

Almost like that's not a bug, that's just the point

[bajibitch]

Democratic Republic of Congo 🇨🇩 | Sudan 🇸🇩

Links to help and learn more about what’s happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Also do NOT say free Congo 🇨🇬 when referring to the issues happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo 🇨🇩. They are two different places with different flags. Instead say free DRC.

Focuscongo.com • Friendsofthecongo.org

Don’t replace your electronic devices for newer versions and if you need to, you can buy a refurbished one. As someone who’s had the same refurbished phone for seven years, I promise you it isn’t bad. It works the same. Here’s a list of books you can read to learn more, recommended by Friends of the Congo.

Here’s links so you learn more about what’s happening in Sudan 🇸🇩 Talk about Sudan.

Here’s people and organizations you can donate to:

Help Sudan Tarada Initiative • Help A Family of 11 Leave

Eyes on Sudan • Zubeyda Adam and Family

The image says:

13,000+ people have been killed. 26,000+ people injured. 10M+ displaced, making Sudan the largest displacement crisis globally. 25M+ need humanitarian assistance and support, 14 million are children. 4M women & girls at risk of sexual violence. 1OK+ cholera cases with 275 associated deaths. 3.5M+ children suffer from acute malnutrition.

As someone on twitter called out, since it applies here too. Do not say, free Palestine and then slap on free drc, free Ukraine, free list of other places… if you’re not adding ways to help, or providing information on their situation. It doesn’t help the other places because their tags just get filled with information on the genocide of Palestinians, when it should be sharing all of their problems. Don’t use their tag without talking about their situation as well.

Last thing. Don't let the aesthetic of your blog be the reason you don't speak up about what's happening. You can make a post filled with links and add you’re little banners and whatnot while helping others. And don’t worry about your following count, if they leave then they aren’t worth having around. Also post ways you can help and don’t worry about what you aren’t able to do, negativity does nothing to help. Don’t tell everyone you’re not able to donate, just spread awareness so those who are able can provide.

[hametsukaishi]

FUNDRAISER FOR THE ALHABIL FAMILY

Once again I reach out to y'all on behalf of a family in need; Mohammed and Aya (@alhabil, @aya2mohammed) parents of three wonderful children: Ahmed, Osama and Mira. They also take care of Mohammed's elderly parents, who both suffer chronical conditions that have worsened since the genocide started.

The situation is this: They have been displaced seven times already and are staying now in Nuserait, wich is not safe as the IOF troops are bombing it.

They lost the buissnes that supported the family, the little kids have fallen ill because of the lack of resources.

They are eight, six and four years old. Do y'all remember what were you doing at their age??? Sure as hell wasn't constantly escaping from death or trying to battle deathly ilnesses.

They deserve a childhood, a chance at a full and happy life. Their parents deserve to see them happy, and not having to worry about their family crumbling. Mohammed's parents deserve a tranquil retirement. They deserve everything, so let's make our best to make sure they get it!

Donating is the base of everything. Small acts of kindness really go a long way, and have a huge impact, just like big donations. Even a dollar can make a difference, if there's somebody else willing to keep it up.

However, if you are truly unable to donate, I ask you to share this, and do it properly! Read their blogs and open your heart to their story and struggles. Don't dehumanize them: they are a family like the rest of us, and they deserve to be taken as such. Comment, tag people supportive of palestine and reblog.

This is literally the only thing I do and it has had a huge impact in a lot of people's life, so y'all can do it too!!

@dykesbat @witchywitchy @slashermilf @tamarrud @dxsqz

[thedailydescent]

Every day I come onto this site and try to think of a better, more convincing method of trying to get people to donate to stagnating fundraisers.

I am very disappointed that Hashim & Laila's, Mohammed Eid Matar's, and Yahya's fundraisers have barely budged over the past week, despite the regular updates they and the people promoting them have been giving.

Mohammed (@mohammedmatat) desperately needs a new tent for his family for the upcoming winter. We have already heard stories about heavy rain this week, which the average tent provides little protection for. Farah (@/farahmoo2), for example, has told us that her family's tent got flooded this week, and needed to be rebuilt. A tent in Gaza costs anywhere between $200-$1000 depending on the quality (not including bedding or a toilet), and building one isn't that much cheaper than a ready-made one. I was hoping to get Mohammed's fundraiser to at least the 2k mark by the end of the week, yet we're still at €1,350. Mohammed is only 23, and has two young siblings to take care of, who not only have been injured over the past year, are now, if they do not get access to safe shelter by the time the winter chill sets in, at risk of getting sick. (don't forget that there has been an outbreak of polio in Gaza as well, and they've only recently started the first rounds of vaccinations for children under 10).

Hashim & Laila (@hashimsafadi) are also at an abysmally low amount, still at €1,362 despite the fundraiser being up since Apr 23. Without jobs, how can two people live off of €1,362 for five months? How can you live off of that, put up with being displaced several times, living constantly under threat of being killed in unsafe areas? Being exposed to massive heat waves, suffering "contamination, intestinal infections, skin rashes, jaundice, and infections of the joints, bones, and teeth"? You can't.

Hashim & Laila will also be needing a safe and sanitary environment to live in for the upcoming winter! Please help them out.

And finally, Yahya Bkheet. Yahya has been tirelessly working to get his family, including three children under 10, out of Gaza. They were given until Aug 23 to raise €30k so they could all evacuate together, yet they didn't even make it to the 5k mark. That hasn't stopped Yahya from continuing to try. He has posted an update today of his situation: his mother needs treatment for her heart disease and diabetes, they need at least $200 to fix up the tent for the upcoming winter, his child Anas has contracted a skin disease from the polluted water, and his other child Mira has the flu and needs money for medicine.

They have only raised €5 today! They deserve better than this. Please help this family out.

Living conditions will not be the only thing for these three families to worry about for the upcoming winter. There's also the question of food. A few days ago, it was reported that Israel’s siege now blocks 83% of food aid reaching Gaza. That means 83% of required food aid will not make it into Gaza, up from the 34% that did not make it in 2023. That means the average Gazan eating two meals day will now drop to just one meal every other day. This makes the recent post @/omgthatdress made yesterday telling everyone to report people who send fundraiser asks, and just donate to aid organizations instead, that much more harmful. Guys, there's hardly any aid coming in! From July-September 2024, fresh meat prices have increased by 366%, and fresh fruit 228%. Please give Gazans a chance and donate to vetted fundraisers if you can, so they can at least buy their own groceries. When the cold weather sets in, people naturally become hungrier. Children cannot survive off of one meal every other day. A couple, whose dream is to go back to school and start a family of their own, cannot survive off of one meal every other day.

In other news, there has also been an update from the Mona Abu Hamda Team, who run a mutual aid fund which provides essential supplies such as blankets, food, flour, charcoal for cooking, sanitary products, and financial aid for necessities such as baby milk. There has apparently been a decrease in donations, and they are currently sitting at €75,639 of their €100,000 target. Please also consider donating to them to help Gazans out this winter.

Tagging for further reach (sorry if I've already tagged you today. I am a tiny blog and my posts only get traction if I tag):

@neptunerings @victoriawhimsey @captainsaltymuyfancy @maester-cressen @buttercuparry

@lesbianmaxevans @ana-bananya @magnus-rhymes-with-swagness @just-browsings-world

@danlous @underthejollyroger @lesbianboyfriend @weirdmarioenemies @teabisexual

@robotpussy @khanger @brutaliakhoa @cluelessbot @appsa

[guyoftheego]

People stop trying to simplify the actual most complicated situation in the world challenge.

Yes, Netanyahu's government is horrible and we should oppose all of its terrible actions. Yes, Palestine deserves to be a free state with its own government.

No, this does not mean we support HAMAS, which mistreats its own citizens and puts them in the line of fire. And No, Israel itself can and should not completely stop existing, the Jewish population in Israel is too populous and too well established for them to ever be able to "go back to their old homes" which don't even exist anymore. And considering the atrocities commited by Israel against the Palestinians, I don't doubt for a second that the hurt Palestinian goverenment would lead a campaign of genocide right back against the Israelites.

You guys *need* to realize that this issue will never be as simple as "Palestine owns everything" or "Israel owns everything" because that will lead to nothing but more loss of life down the line. You *need* to realize that Israel is no longer made up of people who migrated there, and its now mostly people who have lived there their whole life. On the other side, you *definitely* need to realize that Palestinians are not horrible monsters for the sins of one extremist group in the Gaza strip, and you need to realize that the Palestinian people have just as much of a right to self-determination as any Israelite, and deserve to be able to live without fear of the IDF bombing their home.

There's nothing I myself can do personally to lead to peace, but I can at least hope for Netanyahu to be ousted one day, for the West Bank and Gaza to be free and not have to worry about their livelihoods being ruined by the IDF, for HAMAS to eventually no longer have the influence they have, and for Israel and Palestine to be able to exist with eachother without any sort of encroachment on eachother.

[fairuzfan]

Hello, im a minor who doesnt have a job or a credit card and My parents are 'neutral' on the palestinian genocide despite my efforts of trying to convince them to support palestine. Other than interacting with posts about palestine and not spending my allowance on brands that support israel, what else can i do to help palestine? Sorry if you've already gotten a similar question before or this comes off as offensive/bigoted in some way

hey no worries, that's totally ok. i completely understand.

honestly, posting is really helping. some people who are new to Palestine might not know this, but this is the like.... most consistantly we've talked about Palestine for the longest time and... it feels different. I don't know if it will make anything happen differently, I think it already did quite a bit but yeah! posting is helping so much! trust me!

spread the word, keep spreading the word as much as you can. you have no idea how much it helps.

I also answered a question on my list of information here about different ways you can help as a minor!:

https://fairuzfan.tumblr.com/palestine

thank you for your kind words, and i hope we can work together for a better future. remember: no action is too small in the act of liberation!

[germiyahu]

Like can we think about the journey this website has taken? From mocking people who claim not to be bigoted and smugly patting them on the head and explaining that they are bigots but just don't realize it... to becoming those bigots?

This website used to laugh at people who said "I'm not a homophobe! I'm not afraid of things that are the same lel!" Now it says "We're not antisemites... we have nothing against Semites only genocidal Zionazis and their colonizer supporters 😂"

This website used to see red when people said "I'm not a transphobe, I just have concerns about the unregulated influence this MOVEMENT OF GENDER IDEOLOGUES is having on innocent children!" Now it says "We're not antisemites, we're just curious who is funding all this pro-Zionist legislation and initiatives and campus organizations! Aren't you worried that Zionists have an undue influence in our government and culture?"

This website used to sneer at people who said "I'm not a racist! It's a fact that black people [misquoted and misinterpreted statistic]! My God you people are against the truth!" Now it says "We're not antisemites when Zionists have proven that their bloodthirsty fascistic goals are widely supported by Jewish institutions in America, who aren't even true Jews by the way! Zionism =/= Judaism real Jews support Palestine ✊"

This website used to roll its eyes at people who said "I'm not a misogynist! Women have their equal rights under the law, and if you research it they actually have it better off than men in several areas, they're always whining about nothing!" Now it says "We're not antisemites, Jews are a protected class, more than you can say for most actual minorities, they control succeed in finance, entertainment, politics, in what ways are they oppressed? Where are these streets that Jews don't feel safe on lol? Why do they always cry antisemitism when there's a genocide going on? They actually collaborate with the police state btw 🤓"

And there are so many more examples and parallels and my posts are always too long. Antisemitism is the rug being pulled out from under Leftists to reveal that they've been right wing bigots this whole time. Antisemitism is a tool that Leftists use to radicalize themselves into abandoning their own principles, because it's just too enticing not to use it.

[tanadrin]

while i think like. *inaction* born from pessimism is misguided, and the state of the world being really bad does not necessarily imply it is immutably so, and what this might say about the appropriate *emotions* is like, fuck if i know, but i think both a) the world is objectively worse than it ever has been and getting worse, this is just straightforward statistics on animal agriculture and b) somewhat more disputable but from my american-centric viewpoint the current political situation looks *really* bad, there is a serious risk of national authoritarian far right rule, like the trump campaign is openly making plans to occupy cities with federal troops and round up millions in concentration camps and purge the bureaucracy of anyone who isnt a loyalist and might object, and state governments are already becoming increasingly oppressive, meanwhile the liberal establishment is... supporting a genocide abroad, and appeasing the right by going after immigrants domestically. i think the attitude the online left takes to the world is often extremely broken but this is not that they think the world is worse than it is or they are too doomery or whatever but that like, they seem detached from actually trying to do anything about it (as opposed to Posting) i think you are being rather needlessly uncharitable honestly to people who pessimism-adjacent post at you.

the world is objectively worse than it ever has been and getting worse, this is just straightforward statistics on animal agriculture

This is an insane claim to me. Are you just basing this on the existence of factory farming + a strict utilitarian position that weights animal lives equally to that of humans?

from my american-centric viewpoint the current political situation looks really bad

Trumpism worries me too! But this is not a process immune to human influence like a roulette wheel or something. If you're in the United States, this is a thing you have the power to affect especially as the election draws nearer (volunteer, phone bank, etc.).

(I also think Biden's chances are a bit better than polls or the media portray them to be right now; the election is certainly not a shoe-in, but the polls are really weird right now, in a way which seems to be sampling bias that underrates Biden's support.)

i think the attitude the online left takes to the world is often extremely broken but this is not that they think the world is worse than it is or they are too doomery or whatever but that like, they seem detached from actually trying to do anything about it (as opposed to Posting)

I disagree. I think anybody who thinks there's no relevant distinction between Trump and Biden, who thinks we are making no progress on fighting climate change, or who thinks that the economic situation in the US is worse than it was in the 1970s has a view of the world which is wildly distorted; but these are all relatively popular claims online!

I also don't think this distorted worldview is separable from the chronic inaction. I think the doomerism is the cause of the inaction; if the only thing that would help is the revolution (which you are not organizing anyway), you have no incentive to do anything else, so you sit at home, and you post to each other about how bad everything is, and that reinforces the impression you get from social media that everything is bad and you are correct not to do anything to try to make it better.

i think you are being rather needlessly uncharitable honestly to people who pessimism-adjacent post at you.

You haven't seen my posts before I edit them to make them more polite. I am being extremely charitable, especially relative to how charitable I want to be.

[buttercuparry]

Please I want to draw your attention to Hani's campaign. @skatehani has contacted me directly and has only one request for all of you. To help him evacuate his family to Egypt. Hani is currently in Belgium doing all he can, to collect the funds. This genocide has cost his family their home and he has also lost his father, making him the sole breadwinner of his family of 10 members. Please the goal is of 50,000 euroes and only 10,279 euroes have been collected so far. Time is crucial and we need more funds. I know all of us are trying our best but we need a little more. Just a little more.

Hani is holding a raffle too. This is the link to his post detailing how it works, on his own blog (please follow him and reblog and donate). I will explain how it works here too:

The raffle is for 5 Palestinian thobes, made in Palestine. They are beautiful and he is giving them away. The condition to participate is to donate 50 euroes and 5 people will be selected for the draw. A donation of 100 euroes would be considered as donating twice and that would be very much appreciated. The end goal is to reach 25 thousand to complete the draw. Gofundme and Paypal both works. All you have to do is donate and then send Hani a screenshot privately.

Remember, Hani is going through very very difficult time now. He will start the draw after he reaches his goal, so it is highly suggested that you follow his blog and be patient with him.

If you are wondering about the legitimacy of this fundraiser, then don't worry. Here is @/fallahifag's post. They have been hunger striking to reach the goal of 500 euroes for Hani. Their last post on this matter had been on May 7. ***very very important

And this is el-shab-hussein's reblog of the raffle Hani is conducting. So please please keep Hani in your thoughts and go follow him and reblog his posts. The link to both is GFM and Paypal is as follows:

[saintsenara]

What parts of canon do you find the most frustrating/that you are dissatisfied with/wished that was handled better/explored more? Mine is the inconsistency of Voldemort as a character. How he is described as being perhaps the most talented student that Hogwarts has ever seen and so powerful and intelligent but regularly made such dumb decisions e.g. in the final battle where he still uses Avada Kedavra despite seeing it not work before. I like the explanation that Horcruxes rotted his brain

thank you very much for the ask, @sarafina-sincerity!

the parts of canon which i find the least satisfying all have the same thing in common: their morality is individualist.

the harry potter series has - at its core - a really profound and very black-and-white belief that good and evil not only exist but are rooted in the individual. and while i understand why this is the case - the later books in the series are governed by the genre conventions of folkloric epic and, especially, of christian folkloric epic, which means that the whole seven-book narrative arc ending in a battle between christ and satan after which all is well is only to be expected - i don't like it.

so here we are... ten things i hate about canon, for fanfic writers to win my heart by interrogating in their work...

i hate the series' insistence that everything is fine once voldemort is dead

the middle books in the series - especially goblet of fire - do a really interesting job at hinting at the endemic rot in the ministry of magic, and the ways that the state and its enforcers perpetuated harm during the first war that was indistinct from that perpetuated by the death eaters - above all the use of internment without trial for suspected death eaters [which is a reference to something the british state actually did in the 1970s!].

they show how widespread blood-supremacy and magic-supremacy is, even among people who don't openly support voldemort; how the wizarding population is kept deliberately ignorant by what appears to be state-controlled media; and how no serious efforts have been made to eradicate the conditions which enabled voldemort to attain such power.

this is then forgotten completely in deathly hallows, where the fact that almost the entire civil service keeps working for a government which is committing genocide is hand-waved away with "oh, people are scared", and both the epilogue and jkr's post-series writing take the view that kingsley manages, as minister, to preside over a government which easily sheds all its old prejudices and starts working properly.

i don't like this! i think it's just much more interesting for corruption to be impossible to fully eradicate from the government, for blood-supremacy to have long-standing causes which actually take a lot of very hard work to untangled [especially the fact that the wizarding world not appearing to have a welfare state means that those whose lives are poor or unstable are prime targets for radicalisation], and for kingsley to have the same capacity for leaning on the prophet and worrying about his polling numbers as any other politician...

i hate that the series changes how the death eaters are written between half-blood prince and deathly hallows

connected to this shift from the series hinting at the broader issues in the wizarding world to a flat battle between good and evil is that the death eaters, their aims, and their modus operandi are written very different between half-blood prince and deathly hallows. in the former, the death eaters can be situated very easily as anti-state sectarian terrorists who have all sorts of complex analogies within british history and politics. in the latter, they're just caricatures of pure evil - which is why the death eaters introduced from the latter stages of half-blood prince onwards, especially the carrows, are considerably less interesting as characters than those, such as lucius malfoy, barty crouch jr. and bellatrix lestrange, who are introduced earlier.

it's also why the voldemort of deathly hallows feels so uninteresting. i don't like the fanon that the horcruxes render him insane at all - when he's shown outside of the epic battle between good and evil in that book, he's shown to be as lucid and cunning as always - but he ends up having to flop because his only purpose in the overarching narrative is to be killed. in the earlier books, in which he's a paramilitary kingpin poisoning and corrupting a society which was designed to exclude him because of the fact of his birth in revenge for its treatment of him, rather than satan and hitler's lovechild, he is so much more interesting.

i hate the series' belief that slavery is fine

obviously, one of the biggest examples of state malevolence in the series is that wizards own slaves. like many readers, i loathe that the house elf plotline ends up being reduced from its potential for radicalism in chamber of secrets - in which dobby mentions whisper-networks of elves who decry their treatment at wizards' hands - to what we see from goblet of fire onwards - in which elves love being enslaved and think that any attempts to free them from their subjugation is cruel.

i also hate that elves' freedom is then hand-waved away as part of the general race towards "all was well" with the implication that hermione found it easy to undo what appears to be centuries of state-sanctioned oppression without any pushback at all.

the house elf plotline is one of the clearest distillations of the series' individualistic morality. harry abhors the treatment of dobby at the malfoys' hands entirely and only because he doesn't like the malfoys. he abhors voldemort's treatment of kreacher, but sees absolutely no issue with sirius' because he likes sirius - and he clearly sees no issue at all with his own legal mastery of kreacher, seeing as, literally minutes after the end of a war in which the good guys fought for the rights of muggles and muggleborns to be seen as fully human... he is considering ordering his slave to make him a sandwich.

i hate that the series doesn't show the realities of resistance

the reason i think the whole "why does voldemort keep using avada kedavra, isn't he supposed to be clever?" question arises is because the series is incredibly resistant to the idea that the good guys must have to kill as well, which makes it look like it's only the death eaters using it while the order use lots of clever magic that the stupid terrorists are too thick to think of.

this is idiotic - not only because the killing curse is canonically flawless unless the thing you're blasting is your own horcrux and so the order would use it for efficiency's sake alone, but because the reality of being a resistance fighter is that, even if you're on the "right" side, you are going to have kill people or they will kill you.

lupin is completely right in deathly hallows that harry is breathtakingly naive to avoid shooting to kill and that - without the protection of genre conventions allowing him to be preternaturally merciful - his resistance to killing is going to result in him being destroyed by the enemy. it is inconceivable that the rest of the order don't using the killing curse - and the question of what this does to their souls [is it murder if you believe yourself to be justified in your actions?] and their senses of self post-war is so interesting to think about - and i wish we were shown this in the text.

especially because molly absolutely blasted bellatrix with it.

but i also hate that the series thinks that violence is fine when the good guys do it

this is primarily another example of the black-and-white "this is fine because harry's good" theme which runs through the series, which we see in things like harry using sectumsempra on draco malfoy in half-blood prince or the cruciatus curse on amycus carrow in deathly hallows. harry's overarching response to committing attempted murder is to sulk that the incredibly minor punishment he receives is reducing the time he could spend hitting on ginny, and his response to torturing amycus is "lol. lmao."

the series thinks - again and again - that cruelty and violence are completely fine when the person they are perpetuated against "deserves" it, and it does not bang.

and that the series allows the good guys more complexity in characterisation

the role played by the house system in the story - and, above all, the fact that our heroes are all connected to one particular house with straightforwardly admirable associated characteristics - means that the villains receive less opportunity to also have positive traits intermingled with their negative ones - and, therefore, complex and interesting personalities.

i also dislike that when non-gryffindor characters - especially slytherins - do reveal themselves to be brave and loyal etc., instead of recognising that this is because bravery can be multi-faceted the series suggests that they should be recategorised as "belonging" to a "good" house.

or, in other words, me and dumbledore's "i think we sort too soon" line in deathly hallows are enemies for life.

i hate that the series blames merope gaunt for dying

and - of course - the main way a villain isn't allowed as much complexity as a hero is that the series never examines the impact of voldemort's childhood on his adult self. while we see hints throughout canon of just how profoundly affected he is by his institutionalised childhood and the weight of his grief over his parents [his mother especially] - such as him learning as a baby never to cry for attention because it's futile - this is hand-waved away throughout the series by dumbledore-as-the-voice-of-god as irrelevant. the eleven-year-old tom riddle is straightforwardly evil, that he grows up in an orphanage is used as nothing more than narrative colour to underline how creepy he is, and dumbledore's spectacular mishandling of their relationship is viewed by the series as undeniably correct right up to the very last moment [when harry imitates dumbledore by - and we should call it what it is - deadnaming voldemort in their final confrontation].

but the most egregious thing that dumbledore does when discussing the course voldemort's life takes is blame merope gaunt for her own death in childbirth, by implying that witches are immune to one of the most common causes of death throughout human history if they just try hard enough and then saying that a nineteen-year-old girl whose life appears to have been nothing more than unrelenting abuse and misery [perpetuated both against her and by her] lacked the moral fibre to try hard enough.

and this infuriates me.

i hate how the series treats female characters who don't fit its narrow spectrum of "correct" womanhood

merope is but one victim of the series' general issues with treating women who aren't its heroes - all of whom are exactly feminine and beautiful and clever and talented enough that we know they're good people, but not any of these things in an extreme which could make them vapid or arrogant or defiant of social norms or so on.

the series takes a very low view of women who exist outside of narrow boxes - whether they are interested in a hyper-feminine aesthetic [lavender brown, rita skeeter] or a more masculine one [marge dursley]; conform to stereotypes about being bitchy, flighty, or vapid [pansy parkinson, romilda vane] or refuse to adhere to social expectations to be polite, meek, and demure [fleur delacour]; are unmarried, are not inherently maternal, and/or are cruel to children [bellatrix lestrange; petunia dursley; dolores umbridge]; are unrestrained emotionally [cho chang; moaning myrtle] and so on. and i don't like it.

and i also hate that - connected to this - the series uses physical appearance - especially weight - as a shorthand for [female] characters we're supposed to dislike.

what it says on the tin, really - if the series doesn't like a character, especially if the character is a woman, you can almost guarantee that they will either be fat or be unusually thin.

and finally...

i hate that the series prioritises one form of love - love as suffering and as sacrifice - over all others

part of the series' march towards the epic two-person showdown between good and evil is that harry is made to endure trial after trial - including his death for the salvation of mankind - in the name of love. obviously this is because he becomes, by the end of deathly hallows an allegory for christ, but it also fits into the series' view - articulated most frequently by dumbledore - that love, suffering, and sacrifice are all synonyms.

the acts of love the series foregrounds - snape's willingness to endure anything because of his love for lily; sirius' willingness to rot in azkaban and caves and grimmauld place because of his love for james and harry; harry giving up a love that's like "someone else's life" with ginny so he can go die - are all sacrificial, and the series generally takes a dull view of love that is fluffy, silly, carnal, selfish, soothing, transformational and so on. lavender and bellatrix's open adoration of their lovers is mocked; dumbledore's sexual desire for grindelwald is punished by his sister's death; tonks and lupin's uncomplicated happiness in the birth of their son is not to last.

but happy endings and silly jokes and forehead kisses are love too. and the hill i will die on is that they have even more potential to bring about the salvation of the world than constant suffering and abiding.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Israel has been preparing for the possibility of a direct strike from Iran. To that end, the IDF has been initiating GPS jamming, first in the south, and now in central Israel as well. On a personal note, I had to calm my mom down today (I could do this thanks to having heard about it on the news already), because it's a scary thing for people, and they don't know what to think, when they open Waze and find themselves "appearing" in enemy territory. Iran's attack options might also include drone attacks, or anti-Jewish terrorist attacks around the world. We've heard about Esther and Mordechai's Tomb being attacked tonight in Iran itself.

Speaking of the country that's the biggest funder of terrorism globally, tomorrow it's "Al-Quds Day" (Jerusalem Day) in Iran. It was established in 1979, after the Islamist revolution, as an antisemitic political measure, meant to help radicalize people against the Jewish state. Officially, it's a protest of Israel's sovereignity in Jerusalem, the city which has been the capital of the Jewish people, the place we pray to, for over 3,000 years, longer than Islam has existed. Some people worry that Iran will use this date specifically to strike against Israel or other Jewish targets around the world.

With or without connection, the chief of Israel's army intelligence is quoted as saying in private conversations, "I have told you time and time again that it is not certain that the worst is behind us and we are ahead of complex days."

Back in February, we heard that the niece of Hamas' overall leader, Ismail Haniyeh, gave birth in an Israeli hospital, and her baby, which was born prematurely, was treated in an Israeli hospital's NICU, the same hospital that had to have millions of shekels spent on, in order to make parts of it safe during Hamas' rocket attacks. While at it, we were reminded that several of Haniyeh's sisters live in Israel after marrying Israeli Bedouins, and that a few more of his relatives were allowed from Gaza into Israel for medical treatment. Just a small reminder that Haniyeh's personal wealth is estimated to be somewhere between 4 to 5 billion dollars (Taylor Swift's is only a little over 1 billion dollars), and if he wanted to, he could have flown his entire family out of there, to join him in Qatar, with the best facilities and care, rather than get medical care at a hospital subsidized by the "genocidal Zionist enemy."

Now we get the news that one of Haniyeh's sisters, a 57 years old woman, has been arrested for helping Hamas, including support for the Oct 7 massacre.

This is 34 years old Lidor Levi.

He was critically injured in the Palestinian terrorist attack in Gan Yavne. He was in a hospital, fighting for his life for 4 days. Today we got the news that he succumbed to his wounds. He leaves a pregnant wife and a daughter behind. May his memory be a blessing.

I will never understand how the accidental killing of 7 civilians in Gaza is making more headlines, and causes more rage, than the on going and intentional killing of so many Israeli civilians targeted in terrorist attacks along this entire war. I can't remember the world even addressing it, let alone raging about how unacceptable these killings are, and how they're proof that Palestinian terrorist organizations must be stopped. For that matter, I haven't come across anywhere as many headlines and world leaders' statements about an intentional drone attack that killed several rescue workers in Kharkiv, where a residential area was targeted. The hyperfocus on the one conflict where Jews can be demonized, is also leaving a lot less attention for, practical aid, and just general caring about other conflicts, which are in many ways far worse (just look at Tigray alone on the below map). It's harmful to so many more people than we come close to realizing.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[random-knowone]

There's so much more at stake: The naivety of single-issue voting (Part 3)

Even if you still aren't convinced that Kamala Harris will support Palestine, or she doesn't do so in the "right" way to you, there is so much more at stake here.

Obviously, the ongoing genocide is incredibly important, but you can't refuse to vote just because of one issue. There are many other things at stake here, and it's naive to act like none of those matter, and shows that you're privileged to not have to worry about:

Trans rights: Trump and his cohorts want to ban transitioning and make it illegal to be "visibly" trans. Kamala Harris will defend trans rights and access to healthcare.

2. Reproductive rights: Trump wants to ban abortions, IVF, and contraceptives, stripping away any autonomy for reproduction, and making it impossible to receive life-saving treatments. Kamala Harris is a fierce defender of reproductive rights, and it's one of her biggest concerns.

3. Ukraine: Trump is known to be an ally of Putin and has said in regards to Ukraine "Russia can do whatever the hell they want". Harris has supported them throughout the whole war, and will continue to do so.

4. Disability rights: Trump wants to shut down medicare, raise drug costs, and says disabled people should "just die". Harris has lowered drug costs, and wants to expand Medicare and improve healthcare all around

5. Homelessness/poverty: Trump is a landlord, and wants to increase the cost of living by thousands. Kamala Harris wants to lower costs, build affordable housing, and cut taxes for low-income families. One of her major talking points is that trickle-down economics is a lie, and plans to use "trickle-up" economics to raise families out of poverty and into the middle class.

6. Climate change: Climate Change is a HUGE threat. The biggest in history. If big plans aren't put in action now, it could cause the end of life on Earth. Trump refuses to admit it exists, and does the bidding of Big Oil and Gas. Kamala Harris has worked on the biggest Climate bills in history, and once she gets in office will put even that to shame.

I could go on for hours, but you should get the idea by now. Kamala cares about Palestine, but there is so much more on the line. To act like she's as bad as Trump, to ignore everything else at stake here, is incredibly naive. I see people (probably alt-right trolls) saying that bringing anything like this up is racist, or means you don't care about Palestine. That's not true. Ignoring all other issues at stake is admitting you don't care about disabled people, poverty, climate change, or reproductive rights.

My goal here isn't to attack or insult, simply to get people to consider how much else is at stake beyond one issue. And once again, Kamala Harris cares about Palestine.

[decolonize-the-everything]

There are straight men in power banning trans people, outlawing queer books, and banning gay marriage again, and we're about to have a woman president cosigning genocide.

I think maybe the queer community needs to stop engaging what is at this point blatantly psyop discourse meant to make us hate each other. This isn't even veiled homophobia. Like it's just homophobia. Straight men are misogynist too. Men in general even so it's bizarre that this person specified queer men.

Like I'm sorry Gay Gary fucking sucks and is a man that worships patriarchy, but he also makes minimum wage at Starbucks so maybe we have bigger things to worry about than specifically making Kevin feel unwelcome in queer spaces.

Like any of the 500+ anti-lgbt bills that were presented this year. Or actually codifying gay marriage. Or if you care about women, getting Roe v Wade codified or changing constitutional language so that the rights of men will ALWAYS apply to all genders, Not just men or white men or white women (like in the case of voting). Or you could support the Equal Rights Ammendment and organize more support for that.

Keeping misogynist gay men out of gay safe spaces isn't gonna give any of us rights or protections even if it does make the space more welcoming for women and femmes and I know ppl aren't gonna like this but if you really find that necessary then create additional spaces specifically for that purpose.

Because queer/LGBT spaces are for ALL queer/LGBT people. Being LGBT/queer is the only prerequisite.

We aren't a monolith, remember? One of the foundational arguments for our rights is that we are just people like everyone else!

Queer people are capable of being Republicans and Democrats and doctors and nurses and teachers and racists and activists and philosophers, JUST LIKE THE STRAIGHTS. Just like everyone else! And it's our right to be treated with the same complexity and freedom to be as they are.

It's not a reflection of their orientation. Nobody is going around like "yeah if you're straight you shouldn't be voting Republican" because they aren't being dehumanized and having their entire being reduced to who they do/don't sleep with and having their identities regulated by their choices.

Don't do that to each other.

The point of community is being a community. You don't abandon the community you have cuz your community will the ONLY people that have your back. At the end of the day gay Republicans also need a gay bar to retreat to and be comfortable and themselves at. And when they're there they're grateful that at the very least nobody is gonna give them a hard time for being gay.

Bitching at gay men about misogyny is basically a mean lesbian past time, besides. Stonewall happened because the Black drag king, Stormé Delarverie, who got clubbed and fighting cops was just being ogled by other lgbts who just watched and she yelled, "why don't you guys do something?" so they did. In fact, Stormé Delarverie often patrolled the area with a rifle to keep lesbians safe.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And do you think she stopped to do a tally of who's problematic and who wasn't before they started to de-arrest Stormé? Do you think Stormé would have just let lesbians be harassed if they were racist?

No.

Cuz when that Republican gay needs backup against homophobes you know who he's gonna call? That mean lesbian who ripped into him about misogyny that one time and would fight anyone if they were acting ugly. At the end of the fucking day we are the only people who will look for each other. Quit acting otherwise and fighting with each other.

To deny someone a safe space is to deny part of their humanity.

Idk when the queer community forgot that but I hope this serves as a reminder.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

how to be a good friend: an spop thread

when your friend is going into a panic attack:

DON'T: slap them and invalidate their worries

DO: listen to their concerns and help them relax

when your friend feels defeated:

DON'T: feed into their insecurities and make them feel like a failure

DO: assure them that everything is okay and give them the support they need

when your friend achieves something:

DON'T: guilt trip them into apologizing to you or disregard their efforts

DO: be happy for their achievement and make them feel loved

when a genocidal fascist threatens to put your friend in danger:

DON'T: stay quiet about it and congratulate him for it later

DO: try to protect your friend by all means necessary

when your friend is about to face a difficult situation:

DON'T: blame them for not prioritizing you and abandon them

DO: give them the courage and support they need to get through the crisis, stay with them till the end

(i had more but tumblr only allows 10 pictures per post so)