#BUT NO FUCKING WAY AM I WATCHING IT WHEN FUCKING ISRAEL IS IN ANY WAY AFFILIATED WITH IT. FUCK ISRAEL.

[outlying-hyppocrate]

why is eurovision trending. stop it.

[scientia-rex]

I feel like disappointment in Biden is baffling to me because he was always a disappointment. He was the asshole who got to ride to power on the coattails of a better man. He told bizarre and repeated lies (despite getting caught at it and his team telling him not to) about having a Welsh coal miner dad when he did not and he stole that story from actual Welsh people. I read a profile of him years back that pointed this out and told the story of the time he straight up ignored good advice from an expert not to plant a certain kind of tree too close together and flew a bunch of them out to plant, at night because he was just too fucking excited about it, and they all died. He’s not a smart man! He’s charismatic ish and lacks principles and as far as I can tell doesn’t really care about abortion rights or a lot of things we’d consider pretty critical to preserving freedom. I sincerely thought he couldn’t become President because there were so many obviously better candidates in the pool. I underestimated the sexism and antisemitism in American politics, and when he became the candidate in 2020 I gritted my teeth and voted for him because the alternative was a man who is not only an idiot but also profoundly dangerous. Trump is not ha-ha crazy, he’s Mussolini crazy. He is not dangerous because he’s stupid, although that doesn’t help; he’s dangerous because he does not care about anyone except himself under any circumstances and if that means he lets the far right push us straight into forced birth for white women and sterilization for women of color he’s going to do that. If that means conversion therapy for queers and death penalty for homosexual acts he’s going to do that. He has literally no limits. If he gets back into power, a whole lot of people are going to die, again. It’s not a hypothetical because it happened the first time and he’s only going to get worse.

I am not, never have been, and never will be a fan of Biden. To pretend that he and Trump are in any way equivalent is wrong at best and another goddamn Russian psy-op at worst. To pretend that a third party candidacy is viable in the US is to completely ignore every election of your lifetime and your parents’ lifetimes, and to further ignore the lesson of Ross Perot.

You cannot save Palestinians by not voting for Biden in November; the best you can do is chip away at his margin, and the worst you can do is see Trump elected so he can decide to do the worst possible thing in ever circumstance. Biden has Palestinian blood on his hands and watching this when we could have had Bernie or Elizabeth Warren instead is maddening. (I would have preferred Hillary to Trump, but I don’t think she’d be any different than Biden here. They’re both old-school politicians.)

I hate everything about this, and I hate that saying “maybe don’t put the man who literally said he would kill his political enemies in power” is seen as supporting genocide. It’s acknowledging reality. Joe Biden as a person can eat rocks for all I care. I was kind of hoping he’d die sooner in his term so we’d have time to get used to and then vote for President Harris. (Remember when the line was “she’s a cop, don’t vote for her”? Funny how there’s always a reason not to vote for a woman or a person of color or someone you just “don’t like” and can’t put a finger on why except she “seems angry.” Oh does she. How would she not? When Michelle fucking Obama, the picture of grace , STILL got called angry for having the nerve to be a Black woman with an opinion? When Hillary Clinton lost to a man with no political experience to her decades and who openly discussed sexually assaulting women? Would you have voted for President Harris? Or would you let Trump win again because you don’t LIKE her personally and she’s made decisions and statements you disagree with?)

Biden has both less power than his critics give him credit for and more power than his fans give him credit for. He needs to do more to pressure Israel and although it’s a delicate diplomatic situation I’d rather see us fuck up our diplomatic relationship with Israel than watch more Palestinians get murdered for things like “wanting to eat” and “existing.” The line has been crossed, and he doesn’t see it. Because he wasn’t the best person for the job. Because they didn’t get elected, because of sexism/antisemitism/racism. Hell, I have no idea what bootlicker Pete Buttegieg would have done here, but I’d have given him a try. But no. We got Biden and we’re stuck with this reality where you can be as leftist as you want and still have to look at the situation and decide whether you’re comfortable contributing to a Trump victory through inaction. I want socialism—I want every single person on Earth to have clean drinking water, enough safe food, shelter, medical care, and education—and I’m going to vote for Biden, pissy as it makes me, because the only actual alternative is so, so much worse, for me personally as both a woman and a queer, and for everyone in America and the rest of the world who Trump would find reasons to hurt. What do you think the man who openly and repeatedly praises dictators is going to do when those dictators massacre their own people? Yes, we need to care about this genocide now. We also need to care about all of the other people who are at real risk, both at home and abroad. Would a Trump government agree to fund military intervention in Haiti without insisting on it being a colonial exercise in power? Would a Trump government roll back the restrictions on discriminating against transgender patients in healthcare? How would Trump respond if Orban started dragging people into the streets and shooting them en masse? How would Trump respond if China finally went for it and invaded Taiwan? There are more lives at stake here than mine or yours or even those of the Palestinians, who have deserved better for literally decades and are being mass killed in ways that should result in immediate sanctions, a war crimes trial, and the execution of Netanyahu.

The world deserves better from you than complicity in a Trump victory.

[stealth-liberal]

So, I am angry. I am hurt. I am terrified at the astronomical amount of antisemitism all over the world right now.

But watching my daughter (the head of the Jewish Student Union at her high school) and her friend (the head of the Muslim Student Club) bond and take measured and mature beyond their years stances about the Israel/Hamas War, about the tidal wave of antisemitism and Islamaphobia (depending on where you are) is heart warming. It gives me hope.

Here's a snippet of the conversation they had tonight at my house (we had a Hanukkah party tonight). They were talking about how they both like the goth aesthetic but how it's frustrating to buy stuff for it if you are Jewish or Muslim, or any other non Christian group for that matter. When asked why the two of them thought that, they gave the most withering 15 year old stares ever, then said:

"Because of all the crosses... duh!"

Then they talked about how to dechristianize various aesthetics for Jews and Muslims.

I am angry as hell at all the antisemites but I am not angry as hell at Islam or Muslims. I am ranting and frothing at the mouth at the antisemites and the double standards Israel is forced to deal with, but I am not upset at reasoned criticism of the current Netanyahu led Israeli government (because fuck that guy). I hate Hamas, but I've never, ever hated Palestinians.

The only way forward is together. I will always be committed to the two state solution.Even when I am furious. Even when I feel backed into a corner.

There's got to be a better way. I want what my daughter and her friend have to not seem so rarefied. It shouldn't be, and at times, it's not. I want it to be the norm all the time though. That has to be worth fighting for.

I want Jew Haters and Islamaphobes to stop running the conversation about this. Y'all don't help, not even a little.

[skyethel]

What does Judith Butler know about loading her son’s corpse in a cab? What does she know about the horror of turning a taxi into a hearse?

im so mad. i've been in mourning and a state of constant rage for palestine for the past few years, and these past weeks have been especially devastating. while im not palestinian myself, i have friends and family that are, and i cant help but be on edge about the things they cant afford to think about right now.

i read their 'thought piece'. its nothing new on that front, and thats why it makes me so mad. im really struggling to connect with the blind, white-american privilege of calling for non-violence in the face of a genocidal apartheid regime. the fucking gall of these so-called western intellectuals to preach how rampant anti-intellectualism has become just to turn around and buy into some colonial playbook of peace shit is hilarious. people i thought were with me on this, not only on palestinian liberation but on liberation full stop, have been a constant disappointment. i cut off so many ppl i called friends over the absolute lack of grace and empathy they handled this with. when are white western 'activists' going to stop treating us like timed bombs of irrationality?

this part in particular kept coming up and made me feel like i was going insane:

"When, however, the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee issues a statement claiming that ‘the apartheid regime is the only one to blame’ for the deadly attacks by Hamas on Israeli targets, it makes an error. It is wrong to apportion responsibility in that way, and nothing should exonerate Hamas from responsibility for the hideous killings they have perpetrated...The necessity of separating an understanding of the pervasive and relentless violence of the Israeli state from any justification of violence is crucial if we are to consider what other ways there are to throw off colonial rule"

literally nobody is asking anyone to 'exonerate' hamas. hamas is a military organization fighting the US-backed israeli occupation with smuggled weapons that is active in 365 km² at best. hamas is not even in the orbit when it comes to comparisons to israel.

israel said it with its own mouth that hamas is a product of israeli occupation. this isnt a matter of opinion, right? or am i too far left to think that a brutal occupation will radicalize its victims? and they gave them the means to become a 'terrorist organization'? how are you claiming to care about palestinians if you don't bother unsubscribing from the very schools of thought that constructed the occupation in the first place?

some of you 'leftists' have been lying about what you've been reading because where are the frantz fanon quotes you like to throw around, huh? where's the malcolm x, the angela davis? where are your insta posts with chomsky's books?

holy shit WHAT OTHER WAYS?

keep our communities out of your mouth. we are not some thought experiment you can exercise your conscience on. we're watching an ethnic cleansing unfold, and instead of supporting palestinians so many of you are playing out your own little fantasies of the 'progressive' solidarity you fail to show. sometimes, you need to fucking stop and listen instead of consulting the higher morality police on whether you need to 'contextualize' your incompetence.

[ohsalome]

the intention of comparing the reaction to Palestine vs Ukraine is typically not to criticize Ukrainian victims of war. The criticism is directed at American spectators, because the people in power here are insanely anti Palestinian but have made overtures to help Ukraines resistance efforts despite comparable situations. Regular citizens also mostly support Ukraine but many hate Palestinians. People are just comparing palestine to Ukraine as a point of reference to try to make those people understand.

As kindly as possible, I do not think you can educate people out of islamophobia by appealing to their conscience, at the very least because if they had one they wouldn't be islamophobic in the first place.

And when it comes to people in power, appealing to their empathy in the case with Palestine is fruitless because the help Ukraine got wasn't motivated by emotion either. I do not expect you to know the history of current russo-ukrainian war well, so you probably don't know that the western world was perfectly happy to watch russia roll all over us punishment-free as long as they felt that other "properly european countries" won't be involved. Russia has been butchering us since 2014, and nobody gave a fuck about it. Even during the first few weeks of the full-scale invasion NATO refused to send us any military help, because they expected us to fall and were okay with it.

The current support we have did not fall on us from the sky by the graceful kindness of "our american overlords" - it is a consequence of the cumulative effort of our diplomats, pre-existing agreements with NATO countries, and the economical ripples the full-scale war caused (Ukraine being one of the major world exporters of grain being one of the most relevant).

This is why, sadly Palestine cannot follow the Ukrainian scenario of foreign support. The surrounding circumstances of both of our wars are way to different, and while it is easy to ignore them while making simplistic quick-dopamine-hit posts on hellbr dot com, they do influence the real-world situation on the ground. Which is what posts like the one I replied to do - they create a no-nuance misinformed image of the war in Ukraine. Which amplifies the problem even more, because even though "most americans" can agree on a generic "war in Ukraine bad", their idea of what is going on here is hugely misinformed as it is. And this has harmful real-life consequences on which our very survival depends.

Look. I understand that the war between Palestine and Israel has been going on for decades. I understand that there are many contexts that are obvious to the people in the respective countries that I am oblivious to by the virtue of never being there and not speaking arabic nor hebrew. I understand that there is a lot of propaganda that I may accidentally spread out of my ignorance, and therefore I try to be careful to avoid doing so, out of respect to the people living there. So why is it too much to ask you to give the same respect to us?

Like I have said before, the biggest issue with that infographic post is that it spreads misinformation. In the simplest of terms, misinformation is bad. People are trying to do any smallest thing to help Palestinians - who are currently barely surviving in inhumanely horrifying conditions - and out of ignorance they are spreading anti-ukrainian propaganda. Downplaying the number of ukrainian victims (and, as a result, making russian war crimes look "not as bad") is anti-ukrainian propaganda. Making it seem as we are getting "too much american help" is anti-ukrainian propaganda, because USA is our biggest military exporter, and getting less ammo/vehicles/etc will have catastrophic effect on the amount of death.

Which is why am not staying silent on this, even if your collective intentions are noble and good. Because, I will repeat myself again, your intentions do not matter if the consequences of your actions are harmful. And if (a) comparing Ukraine and Palestine is uneffective; (b) it portrays your ignorance of either one or both of the wars; and (c) simultaneously with spreading support for the palestinian cause you are spreading harmful anti-ukrainian pro-russian propaganda, I do not think it is too much to ask you to stop.

[edenfenixblogs]

Hi, I have a question and you seem like a really balanced person, so here goes: I want to join a drag king collective, and I’m so excited about it, but the king leading it has some Interesting views. It’s the kind of thing where it’s constant “fuck Zionists” and what feels like extremely performative activism (Palestinian flag in bio but no actual fundraising/peace efforts, posting misinformation/irresponsible rhetoric etc.) I’m scared that if I join it I’ll be treated different, and even more scared that my friends will think the antisemitism justified (they aren’t great at understanding what antisemitism looks like these days). Idk what to do about the fear of someone being antisemitic because I don’t want it to stop me from doing what I want, but I also know it’ll devastate me if it does happen. If you can offer any insight I’ll be very grateful.

Hi friend!

I'm really glad you reached out to me. Not because I pretend to know all the answers, but because I love that we can all rely on each other during this time.

Unfortunately, whether you sign up for this is ultimately a matter of your own personal priorities and how you are prone to handle confrontation.

Personally, if it was me, I would join. I'm not afraid of defending myself (but I very much used to be, so no shame if you're not there yet). If I wanted to explore my gender identity through performance (if indeed that is what you are doing. I've never been personally drawn to perform drag, so I cannot pretend to know exactly why one might start. But I don't think I'm out of line to assume that it involves some kind of exploration or critique of gender both personally and societally) I certainly wouldn't let antisemites be the reasons I didn't go for it.

If the Anti-Zionist jerk starts coming at you, you can simply say "OK, great. Real quick question: What's a Zionist?" And watch him squirm to say anything real or substantive other than "a Jew." He might say, "They're basically Nazis!" or "They're people who want Palestinians to suffer!" or some other confidently incorrect hyperbolic statement. If he does so, you can say, "Oh! Well, then that's definitely not what I am," and move on.

If he says something slightly more substantive, like, "They're people who think Jews should get to take land from Arabs/Palestinians in order to have a Jewish ethnostate!" You can use the same response as above. But you can also say, "Oh, weird. That's definitely not what I thought it was. Which Zionist Jews have said this, exactly? Cuz I heard it was something completely different." Remember, their goal isn't actually to educate you or help anyone or even to provide limited but factual information. The goal is to shame you into aligning with their self-righteous point of view. That is not an effective tactic when you respond with QUESTIONS instead of outright CORRECTIONS. Making people explain themselves is a great way to defang a bad faith accusation like that.

Finally, they might say, "It's someone who supports Israel." In this case, either of the above methods will work. Or you could question even further. Here's an example of a chat:

You: Supports Israel how?

Jerkface: They want Biden to use our tax dollars to fund a genocide!

You: Oh, well then I'm definitely not a Zionist.

Jerkface: No, you don't understand! It's people who think that Jews can only be safe in a settler colonial apartheid ethnostate that justified its existence by crying about the Holocaust.

You: Well then I'm still not a Zionist. I don't know why you're assuming these things about me. But people should generally cry about the Holocaust. It was really bad thing that people did to Jews. Do you not think the Holocaust is a big deal?

Jerkface: Of course I think it was a big deal. That's why we all have to condemn THIS genocide. The Jews are the Nazis now.

You: I don't know. I don't think that' show Nazism works. But I definitely don't like genocide. If liking genocide makes a Zionist, then I'm definitely not whatever you're accusing me of.

Jerkface: No! I'm just saying that Zionists don't want a ceasefire. They're trying to kill all the Palestinians.

You: I don't know what to tell you then. Because that's still not me. Of course I want Hamas and Israel to both stop bombing each other.

Jerkface: No, Palestine is JUSTIFIED in bombing Israelis because of the oppression.

You: I think its weird that you're conflating Palestinians with Hamas. Are you saying that Palestinian civilians are bombing Israel as as a protest tactic? I thought for sure that Hamas, a terrorist organization, was the group responsible for Anti-Israeli violence. Personally, I've always though that most Palestinians just want to live in peace and don't support terrorism and violence. I don't know why it would harm Palestinians to suggest that both Israel and Hamas should end this conflict diplomatically rather than with violence.

Jerkface: Right! That's why we need to tell Biden to call for a ceaseefire!

You: OK, but I still don't know if you're saying Israel should just stop firing or that Israel and Hamas should stop bombing. I definitely want everyone to stop bombing each other. But I'm not really sure why Hamas would care about what Biden says.

etc...

I call this the "Rabbi method," because when you go to a rabbi, they never really give you an answer to your question. They answer with other questions designed to get them to see their own answer.

Either Hamas is a terrorist group unfairly targeting Israeli civilians and launching bombs into civilian territories--something that is clearly bad and which makes average Palestinian civilians innocent victims (this is the truth btw) that require both Hamas and Israel too lay down their arms. OR Palestinians and Hamas are interchangeable terms and the ongoing oppression of Palestinians have driven them to violent, offensive, armed resistance--which you may or may not agree with as a revolutionary tactic (To be clear, this is NOT TRUE OF PALESTINIANS. PALESTINIANS ARE NOT TERRORISTS AND DO NOT DESERVE TO BE BOMBED). Palestine IS NOT HAMAS. Hamas is bombing Israeli civilians.

Israel is retaliating with extreme force and prejudice against a terrorist organization in a way that is devastating the lives and futures of Palestinian Civilians, who very much deserve for all sides to lay down their weapons and address their mutual grievances diplomatically and responsibly. What is occurring right now is a messy, ugly, brutal war that is killing and traumatizing all civilians in the Levant. And a one-sided ceasefire leaves the side that ceases firing dead. A ceasefire means that EVERYONE must cease firing.

Unless Jerkface has a plan for how to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians from Hamas that also includes Israeli safety from Hamas, asking for Israelis to simply lay down all their weapons without any guarantee of safety is asking for a nation of mostly Jews to die without putting up a fight. And wanting Arab Israelis and also Jews not to die is not what Zionism means. It's not even what pro-Israel means. That's just called not being violently antisemitic, actually.

Israelis aren't mindless Zionist Nazi Monsters who get off on killing Palestinian babies. Palestinians aren't Noble Savages who have never done anything wrong as individual people and who are inherently morally superior to every single Israeli because they were born Palestinian. Both Israelis and Palestinians are complex, global micro-minorities who have both perpetrated tremendous harm to one another over the course of several decades, and neither group is going anywhere. Neither group deserves for its people to die. Neither group is only "worth helping" if western onlookers categorize them as "innocent" and "good." If someone's activism isn't geared toward respecting the inherent dignity of Palestinians and Israelis regardless of either group's history, then that person is not engaging in activism. If someone is asking you to support that cause because their chosen cause involves perfect cinnamon rolls being targeted by pure evil enemies, then they are not asking you to join them in activism. They are not even asking you to join them in a political reality. What they are asking is for you to join their toxic fandom.

And reducing this conflict down to simplistic fandom rhetoric is not going to help anyone and is frankly offensive to all Jews, Israelis, and Palestinians--all of whom deserve to be seen for the traumatized, suffering, imperfect people they are.

People don't earn support by being good. They inherently deserve support, because they are people.

All that said, maybe it's not emotionally useful for you to engage in this group. Maybe this type of conflict is too much for you. That's OK, too.

And while I would never let antisemitism take away an opportunity for me to fulfill a dream, I will say that my experience of Antisemitism during this time is 100000000% responsible for making me realize that the dreams I had before this experience need to evolve. I no longer wish to be in the town where I live. I wish to be home with my family closeby, because when the chips are down, that's who matters. The idea of moving back to my home state was unthinkable to me before October. Now? I cannot get out of here fast enough. There's nothing I want that is exclusive to my current location anymore. The community I thought I'd built for myself is gone. And while antisemitism didn't take them from me, it sure as fuck showed me that I never had it in thee first place.

If you're going to join this collective, be sure its worth the fight. And if it's not worth the fight, then look for a place that is. Exploring your gender identity freely should not come at the cost of living your ethnic and religious identities openly. Ever.

Don't trade one closet for another. You deserve more than that. We all do.

hope that helps @kit-chaos-doodle

[squidinkedcreative]

aaaaaaa brain is putting things together about izzy and i just :( damn

also going to say this now that if ur an izzy hater, this post isnt for u! pls dont engage :) thank u

saw art with a quote from a post about izzy, talking about how some people find it touching that he’s buried in the yard of the inn, but this person didn’t. it made them feel sick because he’s buried there like a dog. and just first of all yeah. at first it was touching to me bc of that sentiment that they’re keeping him near them, even in death, but the more i thought on it the more my stomach also churned.

i know djenks had the best intentions with how izzy’s character and arc were treated but jfc ya missed the mark. by a wide margin. like hello???? having the entire point of his arc in season two be discovering himself and growing into himself, hell even standing up for himself and letting himself hold on a little looser to his baggage and just put down the baggage he chose to carry on behalf of the man he loved only for him to die like an episode or two later. and the crew acts like nothing happened just. it doesnt sit right with me and it hasnt since the first time i saw it.

i know its for “plot” reasons, but there was no other way to convey any of this than maiming him like the family dog nobody actually likes??? like a grimy mutt?? without him LITERALLY DYING????????????????? AT THE VERY END OF THE SEASON??????? AND NOT EVEN HAVE THAT BE THE MAIN MESSAGE FOR THE REST OF THE EPISODE??? you had to stomp all over his dead body with a fucking wedding. yes yes good for lucius and pete i really do love them and i am happy for them, but its like they all just. moved on. and forgot about izzy. and trust me i am FULLY aware of how complex grief is, but still. it stings. it feels like its watering down the impact izzy had on everyone on the crew.

he and the kraken’s crew grew so close that they tried to keep him alive even tho they all knew if the kraken found out, they’d all be paying with blood. they MADE HIM. A PROSTHETIC. AND PAINTED IT. they cheered him on when he came out in drag and sang in fucking FRENCH!!!!!!! and then he dies and like 3 minutes later theres a wedding and another party. it feels tasteless. it feels demeaning.

and i 100% think djenks roped izzy and ed into the Bury Your Gays trope without thinking that through. elder queer man who is traumatized dozens of times over who just fucking came to terms with himself AND WHO JUST CONFESSED HIS LOVE TO EDWARD!!!! dies. shortly after that, timeline wise. thats the fucking trope. it’s literally right there.

AND THEN. they fucking bury him in the YARD. LIKE A DOG. in the far corner where they wont see it and be reminded of him every day. out of sight out of mind. they’ll move on and grow old together, blissfully happy, while izzy’s bones are the only thing left of the man who once was Israel Hands, First Mate to the legendary Blackbeard. he never got to have his mutual pining moment, he never got to find the true love of his life and grow old with them. he doesnt get to die fulfilled, with labored breaths, as old age takes him. he gets to sit and watch from the corner as ed and stede, his ex of sorts and the guy he replaced him with, live that happily ever after. he gets to sit in the corner like a bad dog and watch as these two get everything he ever wanted. just like the unwanted family pet.

it makes me ill. he deserved so much better. he deserves better than doggy heaven, he deserves better than being roped into the fucking Bury Your Gays trope too.

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

As an Arab who has been talking about what’s been happening in Palestine since October, it’s infuriating watching other Arabs pretend like any of our governments have done fuck all to end this genocide.

You’ll see various Arab politicians condemn Israel, but they’re not going to do anything that’s actually helpful. Because fuck forbid we end up alienating the US government by pushing for a ceasefire, am I right?

Don’t sit there and try to lecture me on “Arab solidarity” when you’ve done fuck all to help out in any meaningful way.

[snarky-badger]

If you follow me, you've seen me reblog things about the genocide in Palestine.

Let me be clear. I am NOT saying that all Jews are genocidal murders. I AM NOT.

What I am saying, is that Israel, the country/state/whatever the fuck - they are committing genocide against Palestinians. They are slaughtering people in an open air prison. People who can't escape. People who have no where to go. Israel told them to move South. They did. Then Israel bombed them there too.

Genocide is happening in real time. It infuriates me that our governments are helping it happen. It infuriates me that when I speak about saving Palestinians, I get the messages about 'well what about Hamas?' or 'then you're anti-Semitic'.

Israel is killing CIVILIANS. They aren't going in to track down the supposed 'bad guys' in a way that spares innocent lives. They're killing EVERYONE. They used enough explosives to equal the bombs that was used in Hiroshima! They used White Phosphorous - shit that will burn through your skin and flesh and, if you're lucky, it might stop burning through you when it reaches your BONES.

They bombed a hospital. They might have bombed another one overnight. They've killed UN members in Gaza. Journalists. Doctors. CHILDREN. They call Palestinians 'Human Animals'.

And don't tell me crap about tunnels under the city or shit like that. All that info comes from Israel. And I don't trust them one fucking bit. (also Israel monitors everything that goes in and out of the Gaza Strip - you really believe they wouldn't notice a shitton of construction equipment and supplies to build tunnels under ALL of Gaza? Give me a fucking break. Gaza is monitored 24/7, even before this current slaughter.)

Their story that started this, about 'Hamas beheading babies'? Proven False. The reporter lied, and the media ran with it. IT WAS A FUCKING LIE.

Did Hamas attack Israel? Yes. Did they kill people. Yes. Was it the amount Israel said? - who the fuck knows. No independent journalists are allowed in to check any of Israel's 'claims'.

I am watching genocide happen in real time and I am enraged and disgusted.

I honestly have no hope for humanity anymore. We don't learn from our history. We just create atrocity after atrocity and learn NOTHING.

Fuck this shit. Fuck Israel and their IDF. (Note that I am not saying fuck Jews. JFC people, Israel is not a religion. There are Jewish people against this genocide.)

[darksides-dutchess]

seeing a south argentinian (aka a westerner who has nothing to do w the conflict) try to mansplain your own conflict to you is uhhh Something Else Lemme Tell Ya(tm)

It's so fucking crazy!!

I've already hated that person for their god awful takes on the sides but now having them try to be some social justice warrior to a conflict that they barely know the surface off was just headache inducing.

Sure, I'm aware that not ever Israeli citizen has something to do with the conflict/is against the conflict, but to try and put thir pains on a scale and compare is as equal has to be the most brain dead thing to ever do. Awww the poor Israeli folks are forces to join the military while the Palestines are starving to dead, getting amputated without any medicine, taken out of their families and tortured by the IDF, their homes being bombed and raided, etc etc.

You cannot compare these two without sounding like a lunatic.

I've said it to them and I'll say it too everyone, we are far from a peaceful resolution to this, the Palestinians have been civil from 1948, they have endured this pain for over 80 years and they reached their limit. Don't pity the oppressors, pity the victims of it all. Don't turn your eyes away from the brutality of what's going on in Palestine by asking for a "peaceful resort" when there is no peaceful way around it.

I'm not demanding the murder of the people in Israel, I'm demanding they give back their lands from people they stole it from and go back to whatever European land they came from.

I don't care what you think of me being "too harsh" or "too biased" I am tired of watching these brain dead people not understanding our pain yet acting above us.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!! FREE PALESTINE!!!!

[youareinlovetv]

one of the best things that happened to me in 2023

getting a tumblr really was one of the best things that ever happened to me in 2023

let me explain

so i have very… sheltering parents. they like to control what im watching and listening to, they don’t like me having social media. not an insane amount, but just like… to make sure i don’t see or hear anything completely appropriate, cos i am 13 years old. maybe control is the wrong word. but you know what i mean.

the problem with this is, it means that i don’t tend to know about current affairs/events that happen in the world/any major issues going on. not like in a way that lead me to have wrong ideas about anything, like for example the LGBTQ+ community, but in a way that means that i don’t know anything about that community… at all. i didn’t know what the word gay meant until much more recently than probably anyone else on this site. i don’t hear anything about the Palestinian occupation, because my parents will always turn the radio off if it’s talking about something “upsetting”. i mean fuck, i barely knew anything was going on in the middle east until i got a tumblr.

its not that i had the wrong opinion, it’s not that i support israel. i just didn’t have an opinion. full stop.

so when i got a tumblr, i had to very quickly catch up on everything that’s happened… ever. like yes i updated myself on the Palestinian occupation, i learnt what the rest of the letters in the LGBTQ+ acronym were, what they stood for, and what those words meant. but the way i grew up meant that i never heard very much music on the radio, just whatever my parents wanted to listen to. which would’ve been fine, because we have similar music taste. but it was getting genuinely ridiculous. to give an example, i never heard the song Blank Space until 2023.

2023.

that song came out in 2014. hell, it was RE released in 2023. people would sing popular songs and ask me why i didn’t know them. what was i supposed to tell them? that my parents didn’t listen to that music, so i didn’t either?

so why did they act like that? were they scared, for example, that i would become LGBTQ+ if i ever found out that that community existed? nope. i came out at bisexual to my parents February 2023, and they were both pretty ok with it (it was awkward and still is, but they’re not homophobic). were they worried id upset myself by finding out about the horrific things happening to innocent Palestinians? well, even if they were, it’s better that i know, so that i can try to do something about it. nothing can change if we’re all kept in the dark, right?

so. in November 2023, i got me a tumblr. found out about it from Pinterest, which my parents would also kill me for having. i love this site. i love my moots. my parents will never know.

thanks for reading, i guess. i don’t really know where i was going with that, but i am pretty pissed at my parents for not letting me find out about fucking current events. letting me listen to normal pop music like a lot of teens do. i may only be 13, but im not stupid. and they’ll never find my tumblr.

love you all <3

[stealth-liberal]

While Jumbler on this site focuses massively on left wing issues and left wing sins (of which Jew Hatred is paramount) I live in a red area, so my life and the lives many other Jews just like me are different.

Jews like us have MAGA nutbags come up to us, apropos of NOTHING, and try to get us to agree with them about the CRAZIEST islamphobic bullshit you've ever heard in your life. For Jews like us, this is the only time right wing antisemites try to do anything other than terrify us or try to bully us out of our homes and neighborhoods, or to bully our children out of the schools. And it's so clearly a trap that they actually think we're stupid enough to fall for, that we might actually play respectability politics for them. That we'll be the "good Jew" that they can point to that they know, so as to defend themselves from accusations of antisemitism or straight being a neo-nazi.

I haven't met a Jew yet who plays along. For Sephardim, MENA, Mizrahi, and Beta Israel Jews... it's so very clear they want them to play "the good darkie" and for many Ashkenazi Jews, it's so clear they want them to twist themselves into knots to prove that they're "white like you". It's a losing game. No Jew can be "the good darkie" enough for them. No Jew can be white enough for them. They will ALWAYS toss us into the fire.

In my city, we have Jews and Muslims, and we don't have the option to tear each other apart. There is an embedded hate element here, and for the most part, we watch each other's backs. It isn't always perfect, but I don't mind watching my Muslim neighbors back, and they don't mind watching mine, and so on and so forth.

Why am I writing about this? Because since the war in Israel began, I have had some stomach churning experiences in my town. Many of them some right wing fuck nugget trying to get me to agree that we should do some sort of violent act towards Muslims in this country because... blah, blah, blah. And when I back away and vehemently don't agree, they practically turn purple with rage and yell at me. I live in a city that Marjorie Taylor Greene visited on her Jewish Space Laser tour. So it's just a day ending in Y for me. It's clear they want to scare me, but I used to be a Marine, don't let the makeup fool you, I can take care of myself easily. That kind of thing doesn't scare me.

But I want to be clear. I hate Hamas with every fiber in my body. I support Israel's right to exist and to defend itself. I do not, nor have I ever hated Palestinians. They're just people, individuals. I do not, nor have I ever hated Muslims. They're just people, individuals. No Muslim that I've ever known has made me feel unsafe, hated, or in any way fearful. I've spent too much of my adult life in areas with small or even tiny Jewish populations to turn away someone who's willing to reach out and watch my back. I think most of the Muslims I know have had the same situations.

So if one more fucking right-wing antisemite/islamaphobe comes up to me and tries to get me to agree to some Muslim hatred nonsense... I swear to G-d, they're getting my hands in their teeth. Same goes for online encounters. Though instead of hands, you'll get blocked and reported.

I have been dealing with intense antisemitism both in my real life town and online. I refuse to add islamaphobia to that shitty cocktail. Go find some other putz, I'm not the one. I'm heartbroken and enraged right now. Don't try me. I'm not your fucking pawn. Jews are not your scape goats nor your pawns.

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

I truly don't know how you can see pictures of men stripped to their underwear, kneeling on the ground, in rows, and not have alarm bells ringing. People really will just go with the mainstream explanation of anything when it's convenient, huh? I saw those photos and my fucking heart rate jumped. Other people see it and apparently are just like Oh! Well, Israel says they're all Hamas, so I guess that's who they are and it's fine. :)

But I have to say--and I try not to do this usually--but it is really disappointing (doesn't quite cover it, but for lack of a better word) coming from women who know what it's like for the mainstream to tell you to ignore what you can clearly see with your own fucking eyes. When we're told that women can be men and say no the fuck they cannot. Where is this energy when the mainstream tells us "Israel's just defending itself from terrorists" when it's clearly a fucking massacre of civilians for an intended land-grab? Their politicians and military leaders have fucking SAID as much!

To be clear, I know it is impossible to be informed about every single atrocity taking place in the world, and I know not everyone not directly involved has been keeping up on and off through the last two decades as I have, and no I don't want people blindly spreading information if they don't know what's true and what isn't. As I said, I have not been keeping up consistently. There are other things closer to home, or which have a direct impact on myself or people I love, such my own country's actions towards the Indigenous peoples here. So I'm not shaming people who don't know and who can't add this issue to the list of things in the world they're spending energy on. It's disappointing to see how much silence there is, but I think impossible to hold any individual responsible or to make assumptions about why any one person hasn't said anything about it. So I'm not going to do that.

But I absolutely am talking about those who see the images, see the videos, see the reports from human rights organizations, see the statements by Israeli officials and still come down on the side of the oppressor. Like, do you not remember how a bunch of us gathered articles and news reports to prove to TRAs that yes, men are a danger to women even when they claim to be women, and how they responded with "cherry-picking!" "no true trans!" even against hundreds of such reports? Or else they justified it as retaliation against "transphobia"? And yet in spite of all this information out there, the idea that men can be women if they say so is fully mainstream. Women's voices are completely ignored. How do you not draw parallels? Because I'll tell you there are plenty to be drawn. These current events in Palestine aren't new. They've been happening since 1948. Which predates the existence of Hamas by several decades, by the way.

I don't understand it. I don't understand how you can do that, and I think the only explanation is racism. Because I don't see how else you could hear about pregnant Palestinian women being stopped at checkpoints and forcibly stripped, about disabled Palestinian women arrested and denied menstrual products and left to bleed in their wheelchairs, about Israeli soldiers using rubber bullets against disabled Palestinians engaging in peaceful protest, about a young American peace activist run over and crushed by a bulldozer as she stood in front of a Palestinian home, about women and girls held in Israeli detention centres where they're sexually harassed and assaulted by Israeli officers, about children as young as eight years old arrested and held for months on the charges of "throwing stones at soldiers", about women dying in childbirth or losing their newborns because of the lack of medical resources thanks to Israeli blockades or cutting the power, about a mother watching her children burn alive in white phosphorus with absolutely no way to stop it, about a woman drugged by an Israeli collaborator, stripped naked while unconscious, and having her photos sent to her religious family, etc.. I don't see how you could know about these things as a self-proclaimed feminist and still think Israel is justified.

It's racism.

[spookyboywhump]

I can relate to the frustration, but assuming this is about politics, I don't think "lesser of two evils" is a deep moral statement people believe in on a philosophical level, but just a way to cope with begrudgingly voting for a party that's the obvious choice given the only realistic alternative. It's a roundabout way of signaling how bad the implied "greater evil" is, and it pops up every election season, only to die down, since it's rooted in pragmatism rather than some serious moral shit. When (progressive) people in the US vote, don't they do it with an understanding that at the end of the day they'll either have to live under a government led by the "war crimes and some welfare here and there" party or the "50x the war crimes and also we need to start killing as many trans people as possible" party? Even in terms of foreign policy alone, there is not a single thing on the republican agenda that wouldn't be like, at least ten times worse (unless someone's idea of "good" is just maximizing the amount of brown people that die). And domestically? Holy shit. I don't want to spiral down into a rant on how fucked the mind of an average conservative lawmaker is, but we both know that for some marginalized people democratic rule vs. republican rule is literally life vs. death.

Just to be clear I ain’t trying to start an argument or nothing this is just my opinion on shit going on in the world.

After seeing so many people say “I know he’s committing genocide and I don’t like it either but you HAVE to vote for Biden, you HAVE to vote for the lesser of two evils” I cannot take it anymore. After seeing people yell “four more years” over people protesting an actual genocide I cannot take it anymore. I am tired of Biden being treated like he can do no wrong, and any wrong he does do should be ignored simply because “Trump Worse™️”.

I have reached the point where I don’t give a shit who wins the presidency, I care about pretty much everything under that down to small local elections. It ain’t really that I’m one of those people who thinks voting Doesn’t Work, I think it can, I think people need to worry about more than just who becomes president though. I think both candidates are evil, and I want the people who represent me and my state to be there when they’re committing evil to speak out against it. I want smaller politicians who actually have to listen to the people voting for them to run in the best interests of those like me and I want them in power in whatever office they’re running for. I think people put all their effort into the presidential candidates and ignore other elections that can still make change, even just in their home town.

I personally however cannot put my support behind this bastard after watching all this. I am tired of watching people defend him, when he wants to bypass all this shit to send weapons to Israel it’s whatever, but when it comes to Roe v Wade being overturned, when it comes to states trying to criminalize transgender people existing at all, when it comes to kids in cages, suddenly he’s “doing his best” and he “doesn’t actually have that much power”. I find this to be a somewhat selfish take given the severity of things in Gaza and other places but all that money he’s sending to Israel could work fucking miracles for those vulnerable minority populations here. Everything I was told to fear would happen in 2016 has happened since 2020. Everything we were told would be fixed in 2020 was swept under the rug and any criticisms of it were met with “Oh, so you’d rather have Trump as president???”.

I’m a mixed Mexican transgender man. I live in Texas. I’m capable of bearing children. I am becoming more disabled by the day since October of 2023. And I don’t trust neither presidential candidate to protect me and those like me, I don’t trust neither one as far as I could throw them. I know people are gonna vote for Biden anyway, I can’t realistically tell people what to do and who to vote for, but I do think we have a responsibility to hold him accountable, we should speak up against war crimes, as long as he’s saying the US stands with Israel, we need to be shouting that we sure as fuck do not. We cannot continue to let this fear of trump hypothetically becoming president make us feel like we have to look the other way when this president is currently, actively helping to commit genocide.

[izzyeffinhands]

The only Facebook group I feel safe in as an Izzy Hands stan is Our Flag Means Daddy.

Even though I am apart of the two main groups as well, i.e. Our Flag Means Deathposting, Our Flag Means Fans, I do NOT feel SAFE. I see the wildest and hottest fucking takes in these groups and they piss me off. Are you even watching the same show? I’m also sick and tired of people calling Izzy a villain when he clearly is not. Also there are many that don’t recognize he’s gay, even after season 2. If you voice you’re upset and betrayed? You get attacked. I was again last night.

I guess I’m a proud Izzy “apologist”, but it fucking baffles me how fans just give Ed a pass on all the brutal things he did. Oh but the love story—- NO. Recognize you’re an Ed apologist as well. I like both Ed and Izzy, but I recognize the horrifying things Ed did.

The day of the finale, I posted my thoughts on various social media. I got attacked. I got messages even on tumblr from anon cowards who I imagine followed through Twatter. I was called the t slur. That I was stupid, fat, all sorts of things.

It’s because I said I’ll never trust David Jenkins again. Now, do I have my own thoughts as to whether parts of the finale are a dream state/gravy basket that Stede himself is in? Absolutely. But let’s dive into why I was especially hurt.

First off. I am disabled. For those who know me, I’ve also had two leg surgeries and my injury has ruined my life. So seeing Izzy with a false leg, as a disabled character, still being badass? It felt good. It boosted my confidence for me to keep going. I had so much metal in my leg it caused pain that left me bedridden and using a wheelchair and cane. Many a time I wish they’d chopped my leg off.

I see a lot of myself in Izzy. I swear, he has the traits of an Aries with his anger and intense emotions. This man feels deeply for those who cares for, even though at first this seemed to just be Edward. Despite the hardened shell, he’s a romantic at heart. I’m very much the same.

That hardened shell is also a form of masking to me. In my opinion, and in my own headcanon for this roleplaying blog, Israel is neurodivergent and suffered sexual assault on ships when he was young. It’s part of the reason he has bowel issues. He had to force himself to put on that rough motherfucker mask in order to protect himself. I was bullied mercilessly in school. When I started middle school, I decided to align myself with the “bad kids” as a form of protection. Guess what? Part of myself was masking I was a bad ass, part of myself became the badass I was masking to be after years of torture.

Also. I am transmasculine. I’m pre-HRT. But to me, Izzy is very transmasc coded. This was even confirmed by Con himself when a transmasc fan at Supercon brought the conversation up. I’d just like to say again how much I adore him for supporting the trans community, particularly transmascs who often are glanced over.

Then David Jenkins, a straight man, that swore he wouldn’t fall into the kill your gays trope did exactly that. So let’s exclude here the thought that this is possibly a dream state, or even that he might be resurrected by Buttons as a zombie or ghost which I fucking hope not. We’re talking about my initial feelings. Now it felt like they were setting him up to be killed but I said oh no Jenkins wouldn’t do that to us. He promised he wouldn’t.

Guess what?! He fucking did. Not only that, he murdered off the disabled, gay, transmasc coded character after giving him the most beautiful character arc of any character on the show. You can have a gay pirate rom com, you can understand some characters can get hurt, but killing someone as a means to advance plot? Fuck you. Also, the fact that Izzy apologized to his ABUSER?! As if the victim blaming and shaming wasn’t enough for Izzy Hands, which I see plenty of still, that’s fucked up on so many levels.

So to me I watched a version of myself be murdered. It hit me in the hardest way imaginable. I cried for days. I’ve never been so attached to a character in my 38 years of existence. I’m sick and tired of people saying they like his redemption arc. Izzy never needed redemption. He just needed one, single, person to tell him that he was loved and cared about.

So voicing that I felt betrayed and that I no longer trust Jenkins got me nothing but vitriol. Then toward the end of the day, he made a tweet about how there’s no version of the show without Izzy and had the comments turned off. He knows what he did. And then in the FB groups, if you dared say you were upset that day, requoted Jenkins, you’re a horrible person? Right. I didn’t start attacking the writers. I just said I’m betrayed and I can’t trust what I thought was my comfort show. Because of that, I got hate.

As much as I’d like to believe Izzy will return, the interviews David has done post season 2 talking about his character give me little hope. It’s like he just stabbed every fan in the back. Id like to think the rushed finale is really a dream sequence or gravy basket deal. Id like to think that Izzy will come back thanks to Buttons. But now I just don’t trust David Jenkins.

And if you dare voice this opinion anywhere but Our Flag Means Daddy and Twatter, you get attacked. So here goes. Thanks for my TED talk.

[pussypopstiel]

Holy fucking shit dude. I am 10000% here for Palestine, I got detained by the NYPD yesterday for daring to exercise my right to protest at Grand Central in the Jewish Voice for Peace rally. But it is undeniable that there is a massive wave of antisemitism growing within the movement and that shit you just posted is absolutely part of it.

"Jewish people" as a whole aren't framing the liberation of Palestine as something inherently violent and reblogging a post that repeatedly accuses of this is antisemitism! And don't ever, ever make light of Jewish people being concerned for our own safety and compare it to a hysterical white supremacist idea of "white genocide," are you fucking nuts?? Yeah those crazy paranoid genocidal Jews who make up all this nonsense about being in danger. Oh hey what are those massive camps over there with those gas chambers in them haha I wonder what that's about??

I'm sure you will take this and turn it around on me and say yeah well the Holocaust doesn't justify what's happening to the Palestinians and OBVIOUSLY it doesn't. But holy SHIT. Sometimes when people say "criticizing Israel isn't antisemitism" you really have to take a pause and realize that what antisemitism you are being accused of has nothing to do with criticizing Israel at all. There are swastikas painted all over my fucking neighborhood right now!! The way you talk about this genocide matters!! That post is HUGELY antisemetic. Please don't accuse me of claiming criticizing Israel is antisemitism, because that's not what I'm doing! I'm saying that you specifically reblogging a post in which Jews worldwide are repeatedly accused of making up hysterical fears for our safety and falsely equivocating this to what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza is antisemitism, which it IS! Don't ever, ever act like Jews globally are making up nonsense fears in order to justify the Israeli governments genocide. That is NOT what is happening! The Holocaust isn't some made up rhetorical device that Jews use as a get out of jail free card, holy fuck! It's an actual genocide that occurred in living memory and it is not comparable in any way to a made up imaginary white genocide. And posting something that accuses Jews, JEWS rather than the Israeli government, of using a nonsense fear for our safety to justify the Israeli government's actions is absolutely textbook antisemitism! For the love of God watch the way you talk before this wave of antisemitism and Holocaust denialism and conflating of Judaism with the Israeli government gets even more people killed.

I think youre taking what i reblogged in a completely different way than what i had in mind when i reblogged it. Many zionists are saying that if Israel were to not exist than where would the jewish population in Israel go, as if jewish and muslim people cannot peacefully coexist on one land. I understand the fear jewish people would have about waves of antisemitism, but the whole “screaming about white genocide” part is not a criticism of jewish people as a whole who may fear antisemitism—but Israeli zionists who cannot fathom Palestinian liberation without their own personal harm. If the post youre talking about is the one i think it is, ive read over it many times and i dont see anyone claiming its jewish people as a whole who frame Palestinian liberation as a violence against them, and I know jewish people as a whole arent framing it that way. I’d never invalidate your personal experience with antisemitism. The post is a criticism of people who feel Palestinian liberation is directly linked to jewish harm, because people who really take the time and care about the issue know that whats happening to the people of Palestine is not a Jewish vs Muslim issue as some may try to turn it into, but an issue of an apartheid state ethnically cleansing a population for nearly 80 years.