#I’m not Jewish myself but it makes me uncomfortable

[candy-ac3]

Remembering how I’m 5th grade our history teacher let us do a PowerPoint presentation on literally any historical person (when I say any I mean any) and so I decided to do mine on Mr didn’t get into art school and hated Jews, and younger me explaining how he was an awful person and what his history was like, and when I was done my teacher made a small joke that was like “well they better let you into art school”

Tbh I don’t know what was worst, a 5th grader explaining the guy behind WWII to a bunch of other 5th graders, the fact that the teacher was cool with it, or that the teacher even made a joke

[historicity-was-already-taken]

Right at the start of my freshman year of college, 2007, I was walking through the first floor of my dorm building when I passed a door with a poster fixed on the external side; very obviously placed for anyone in the hall to see. It was an IDF soldier in profile, holding a bag of money labeled “Jew Gold.”

I immediately went to an RA and explained my discomfort with the anti-Semitic hate speech. She replied “oh, we can’t do anything about that. It’s political speech.” So the next time I walked down that hallway I tore the fucking thing down myself.

All Jewish people have been asking since October 7, is that non-Jewish non-Palestinian folks involved in movements aimed at the liberation of Palestine please listen to us when we protest against anti-Semitic rhetoric in your movements, and stop gaslighting us about the manifestations of our own oppression.

I just found out the encampments at my undergrad got so hostile to Jewish students that 70 felt the need to quietly leave campus by night before graduation.

Is re-traumatizing Jews the goal here? Because what I’m hearing within my community is: “I’m deeply uncomfortable with the State of Israel but these gentiles are fucking terrifying maybe I should flee to Israel??” Because as shocking as it may be to you, Jews have a long history of having to flee their homes on short notice.

Is that worth the smug self-satisfied feeling you undergrads get when you corner Jewish students and interrogate them about their politics? If you want to dismantle the State of Israel, make your movements and your politics safe for Jewish people. Because all those Jews you hate with the bad politics? Their politics are a response to fear and intergenerational trauma, and none of this shit is helping.

Whenever I post stuff like this I immediately lose followers. Grow the fuck up.

ETA: I am having a very specific conversation here. If you want to see me railing against the Israeli Government and the IDF to prove my Good Jew (tm) credentials, that post is here: https://historicity-was-already-taken.tumblr.com/post/741064080648011776/what-im-actually-furious-about-isnt-just-the

[jujusjunk]

Hi, teenage Israeli Jewish girl from Jerusalesm here, and I’m just looking for a conversation.

So I was looking from some of your posts after seeing your blog on ms. Homochad’s page, and while it seems you’ve grown, some of what you still have said makes me and possibly other Israelis uncomfortable.

Such as saying “isnotrael” or just putting quotations around Israel is general. To me and other Israelis it feels very demeaning, like putting quotations around Palestine, it’s very dehumanizing and very disrespectful.

Not granted it seems that you have grown, and maybe I have been radicalized myself but I feel like everywhere I go I am faced with the fact that everyone who wants to dehumanize me, and even while you might not (now) you’re followers, and earlier just reek of “Israel doesn’t and hasn’t ever existed,” or “Israelis are genociders.” Like I said maybe I have been radicalized myself, it’s just everywhere I go I feel like no one understands me besides other Israelis, though it is refreshing to hear an actual Palestinian voice.

(And this is a little off topic but a couple months earlier that you had posted a meme about “ashke - nazis,” and while you might not feel that way now, I hope you can understand how it is offensive. Especially since Ashkenazi Jews were the most targeted during the Shoah.)

(Also sorry about the death threats.) 

Ok hi, im a Palestinian teenager who’s currently in Lebanon and is still on a very long road towards deradicalizing and trying to be a better version of myself.

I know it makes you uncomfortable, at the time that was the point. I still haven’t really gone through my account for a few reasons, first being I have over 3000 posts I think. Second being I am still not mentally prepared for that but maybe soon enough I will.

I do want to apologize tho, sincerely. The environment I was raised in really would appreciate everything in my old posts just so you can get a glimpse into what I was raised around. I’ve been around this my whole entire life so it really isn’t an easy process to even think about peace with people who have been villains in my eyes for my whole life.

“Isnotreal” is actually something that’s said in Arabic rather than English and it really is just a part of the dialect. Obviously it’s said on purpose but it’s used more than Israel is. So truly it’s more of what I’m used to but I’m working on it.

You have to understand that I can’t and won’t change overnight that’s impossible. And some of my opinions stand solid even though people might not agree with them. And people need to accept that because we are also affected by this.

I am just as much offended by Israelis who sweep Palestinian death under the rug (I know not everyone does and I hold so much respect especially for leftists who actually fight for Palestine and for peace and coexistence). Before I never would have even thought of changing my opinions because of the treatment I received online from Israelis themselves. But I’ve changed.

I’ve always been a peace oriented person until it came to Palestine but I’m working on it and I do believe in peace and I believe in blaming and punishing both sides. But I get to criticize my side and you get to criticize yours. I know how to criticize Palestine without undermining them, without being rude and hurtful. I’ve learned how to criticize Israel without being antisemitic but I still believe that Israelis are better at that than me or in fact anyone on the planet.

I don’t expect to understand you just like how I don’t expect you to understand me and that’s normal and it’s ok and it can be worked out and we can work towards understanding each other that’s ok. We can’t be expected to agree on everything and for life to suddenly turn into rainbows and butterflies. We are going to disagree 100% and we are both going to have a right to hold those opinions and they are both going to be correct and we have to accept that. What’s important is that even when we disagree we are not undermining. I am not decreasing in your value neither are you in mine. We are both human being who have been through horrible things that never should have happened we have each others side to blame.

I still respect you as a human, I don’t blame you for your government, I don’t expect anything of you that I don’t expect of myself and that’s the truth.

IM GONNA ADD THIS AND I HOPE ANON SEES IT

Please feel free to send me as many anons as you wish and ask many questions and start as many conversations as you want. I am very open to having a convo with you and I was so scared that my tone came off as passive aggressive but I swear to you I meant it with the wholeness of my heart. (I was thinking in Arabic and writing in English which is why it might sound a bit weird) I would genuinely love to have a conversation because you genuinely seem like a really nice person🫶🏼

[xclowniex]

Ok I have a lot to say and no way to say it so first off hi, anyways I would like to say a few things. Firstly, I’m a Palestinian, currently in Lebanon but raised my whole life in Jordan. over 60% of Jordanians are Palestinian but Israel is at peace with Jordan. I mean I think Jordan and Israel’s relationship is a kind of window into what I think a Palestinian and Israeli relationship could look like if both governments were torn down. Now I ideally my wet dream is for the land to just be called the holy land and everyone to have equal rights and be treated equally. But I know that’s a delusional way of thinking. Secondly, I wanna say that as Muslims, as in the religion, we respect Jews and their religion. You are known as اهل الكتاب (people of the book) because Judaism is an abrahamic religion. This means that we must extend respect to you. It’s not always done (frankly it’s never done) but it’s the way things should be done and I am personally trying to improve myself because I grew up in a very secular and religious and intolerant household. And I think that if I am able to do it with the family I grew up with, a lot of people should be able to too especially non-Arabs, non-Muslims who have genuinely no connection to this conflict. It is still a work in progress because I do still feel like I have hate programmed into me but that’s why I like to start random conversations with people. I hope I’m not in anyway intruding or making you uncomfortable with this and honestly if I am you can just block me. But I do genuinely love having convos with people and it’s my own way of proving that even if we don’t agree on certain points peace can still be found and respect can still stand.Anyways I’m rambling at this point, have a good day.

Hi! Sorry this has been sitting in my inbox for a day or two. I've wanted to properly answer this but have been tired from work.

You are not bothering me at all!

We need more jewish/Palestinian solidarity.

I'm in a similar thought track to you. My ideal is a land for all, where there is one land where jews and Palestinians coexist and both have self determination. However realistically a two state solution needs to happen first and likely won't move to a land for all solution at least within my lifetime.

I too grew up in an intolerant household. The shit my father as said, is very bad. I usually don't talk about his internalized anti arab comments much as A) I would get blasted with asks about why I call myself an arab jew (not directed at you, but anyone else reading his and is curious, I have answered this question before, you can use the search function on my blog), B) antisemites use it as an excuse to say that all jews hate arabs, which yes, some do and it's bad that some do, but it's not like the majority of jews hate arabs, and vice versa. And lastly C) it's a lot to unpack as a lot of his internalized anti arab sentiment is due to being radicalized by antisemites. When he first moved to NZ, he was very left wing, then he was betrayed by the left here and ended up going far right, to finally settling on centre right.

Shit now I'm rambling lol

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for telling my teacher to stop asking my opinion about Israel in front of the class?

Both of my parents are Israeli immigrants. I was born in the USA. They are generally pretty progressive and raised me to be critical of the Israeli gov. There were many different reasons why they decided to move to America, but their disapproval of Israel’s colonization of Palestine and right wing leadership gaining more power was a factor.

Israel is also where they grew up, so despite their criticism of the government they have a lot of emotional and family ties there. As you can imagine the current situation has been emotionally complicated for them.

As a Jew who is pro Palestine I tend to keep my opinions to myself because it is such a divisive issue and I am pretty conflict avoidant, I really hate getting into arguments with people and I don’t think getting yelled at by genocide sympathizers would actually help anything. I have a very obviously Jewish last name, and I’m told I also look stereotypically Jewish tho I’m not even sure what that means bc there are Jews of every shape and color but that’s besides the point. My philosophy teacher has decided I am the class expert on Israel and Palestine. She brings the topic up CONSTANTLY and she calls on me first every single time, to ask me questions about specific aspects of the situation and get my take… she treats me like I am authority on the subject and I very much am not.

After several classes of her doing this, I met her during office hours and explained to her that I’m not like, an expert just because I’m jewish and that it makes me feel uncomfortable when she singles me out. I told her that it’s a lot of pressure to be put on the spot about such a delicate issue in front of people I don’t know well. She apologized but also said that she was just trying to give me the space to express myself as a Jewish person and seemed kind of offended that I asked her to stop. AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[terulakimban]

The “cultural Christianity” stuff is making the rounds again. And what I think a lot of people who object are missing about that designation is that you have to actually leave a culture to not be part of it anymore, and even then, it will still shape a lot of how you first react to things.

I’m American. I have spent, collectively, a grand total of four months (rounded up) outside the US. My parents were born here. My grandparents were born here. I am pretty definitively culturally American, for all that literally no one in my family identifies as “American” before they identify as “Jewish.”

I can say American culture sucks. There’s a lot about it (yes, I know there’s more than one. Yes, they can be quite different. Yes, there can be a great deal of tension between them. No, that doesn’t necessarily make that much difference from the outside. Yes, that is quite relevant to the extended metaphor I’m going for here) that does. What I can’t do is say I’m not actually a part of it. I’m a citizen. I’m surrounded by other Americans at pretty much all times. I’m not emigrating, I’m not making a point of immersing myself in specific local expat communities as a cultural immersion thing. I’m certainly not “from no country.” I definitely don’t have a more objective sense of American culture than someone who isn’t American and is living here reluctantly. I may have a more in-depth sense of it, but there’s no way they don’t have the basics down, because it is fucking everywhere, and they are constantly running into people who are trying to make them assimilate into it (further) in some sort of attempt to help them be normal. And they, unlike me, have a sense of what it looks like in comparison to something else.

Now. Let’s say I decide I hate America and everything it stands for and I don’t want to live here. But my family’s here, and I’ve got positive memories. I don’t have the money to go somewhere else. So rather than actually leave, I develop a deep fixation on another country. Maybe it’s based on a shallow understanding from stereotypes, maybe it’s a genuine respectful interest. But surrounding myself with a bunch of other Americans while we go on about... I dunno, how much we love England and tea does not erase how we’ve spent our whole lives being American, and it certainly doesn’t erase how we’re still living in America. Let’s say I take it a step further. Let’s say I actually emigrate somewhere. There’s two extremes. Either I fully immerse myself in my new country. I learn the language, I participate in the culture, I genuinely try to immerse myself. Or, I feel uncomfortable because things are weird and different and not quite what I’m used to, so I surround myself with a bunch of other American expats, and we spend all of our time talking about America. Maybe we talk about how much we hated it and how awesome we are for leaving it and how much it sucks and how everyone who’s there is terrible. Maybe we talk about the good things. But we’re still centering our existence around America.

But even in the first of those options, where I genuinely try to acculturate, there’s still going to be things that pop up for the rest of my life where those initial few decades of life in the US will shape my expectations. Maybe they’ll be small things “oh right, sales tax is listed on prices here.” Maybe they’ll be big things “excuse me, what just happened in parliament?” But I will always have that American lens with me. Even if I hate it. Even if I found it traumatizing. That’s not a moral judgement on me, it’s just how formative life experiences work. I can become not-American. I can’t become never-American. 

Cultural existence in a religious framework -any religious framework -works the same way, because religion both has and shapes culture. When I bitch about the omnipresence of cultural Christianity, I’m not calling anyone who is culturally Christian bad. I’m complaining about the pervasiveness of Christian hegemony. When I complain about culturally Christian atheists (which I only ever do in the context of specific behaviors by specific people), I’m not saying “these people are terrible and unredeemable,” I’m saying “there is a very clear pattern of people taking the step of saying they dislike Christianity but then trying to enforce Christian hegemony by claiming the parts they like are secular, thereby effectively coming across from an outside perspective as a continuation of the general attempt at forced Christianization.”

If you hated the Christian family you grew up with and everything about them and Christianity but like Christmas and want to celebrate it, that’s fine. Genuinely happy for you you’ve got something you enjoy! Have fun! Nog your eggs! Deck your halls! Call it Festivus and put up a pole instead of a tree! Do an anti-Christmas where you decorate with Halloween decorations in Santa costumes and celebrate with spooky stuff! But that doesn’t make it secular. It makes it you finding the one bright spot you had in darkness and hanging onto it. I sincerely respect that -it’s difficult to do. The thing is, I’m not in that darkness, and you trying to insist everyone have that light of yours comes across as yet another person shining the interrogation light of “why can’t you just be normal like me” in my face.

I don’t want Christmas. I want freedom from it. “Everyone can have Christmas” in response to “I don’t want Christmas” doesn’t come across as a friendly offer to share. It comes across as an aggressive attempt to force assimilation specifically on people who say they’re actively fighting it.

[a-faggot-with-opinions]

I don’t want to come off anon because you get some unhinged people in here (i’m sorry) but as a jewish person the whole “ex-hate group people are bad forever” is so. Christian.

Am I gonna be comfortable interacting with every ex-nazi? No! Probably not! Am I glad they’re open and honest about their experiences and are better people now? YES!!!! One less hateful person makes the world safer for me, and personally I’d rather that happen in a restorative justice way. “Perfect track record or DEATH” helps no one, it’s punitive and impossible. It lets you comfortably dehumanize other people instead of doing the hard work or thinking about the uncomfortable reality of why people are sucked into these ideologies,

Those human beings also deserve to live happier lives not consumed by hatred. People still in those groups questioning and/or looking for a way out deserve to know there IS hope for a better life as a kinder person. I don’t have to invite every single ex-hate group person into my home but I do respect them for improving and escaping groups which often use literal cult tactics like lovebombing or cutting them off from loved ones to keep them stuck in the cycle. They take advantage of vulnerable people like sexual assault survivors and victims of trafficking as well (RadFem groups do this by encouraging that fear and trauma so they can utilize it and keep the victim trapped in a cycle of re-traumatization and terror)

You don’t help anyone by going “well if I got sucked into a hate group I’d just KILL MYSELF”. No one is immune to propaganda/manipulation and everyone is fallible. Kill the christian in your head telling you there are groups of eternally tainted evil beings and not just humans who are fallible and prone to both fucking up and improving themselves. Kill the cop in your head telling you the only solution to any issue is the most violent and extreme one all the time and there is no hope for change.

If you can’t do that than don’t pretend like you’re progressive and actually interested in helping minority groups. Because we’re also prone to fucking up and you putting us on that pedestal is why you eat us alive the second we’re fallible humans (people do this with transfems very frequently btfw). It’s the same issue as people who are happy to reblog “I would PUNCH AND KILL A NAZI” posts but go dead silent the second a Jewish person starts talking about the antisemitism they’ve faced in “progressive” spaces.

Restorative justice and deradicalization are hard but you have to put the work in if you want anything to change long-term. There are a lot of good books and organizations devoted to both so that’s a good place to start.

Literally! And I think it's important to educate people who were formerly part of hate groups to make sure they never join another hate group again. Kill the cop inside your head. Kill the judge inside your head.

[nicollekidman]

Hi Abby, I am uncomfortable saying this off anon for a variety of reasons, please do not think one of them is cowardice. I have followed you for years and years. I’ve come to love so much media because of you and always appreciate your takes. I have chosen to unfollow you now. I am a Jewish person who has been so scared and upset about what the state of Israel is doing to Palestinians and am disgusted by the war crimes committed by Israel. At the same time, I have numerous Israeli friends and family members who have been murdered by Hamas in the last few weeks. Civilians visiting for educational and cultural exchange programs, horrifically killed. Your recently reblogged informational post about how Hamas is not a terrorist organization was deeply upsetting. This may not matter at all to you, but I ask that you consider empathy to all people involved in this issue. Decolonization is important. My friends and family are dead. These two facts can coexist. Just wanted to share this with you because I know many people see your blog and are affected by the information you share.

probably shouldn’t answer this at 1am and you’ve already unfollowed so you probably won’t even see this but i just want to ask you why my sharing resources and information about the reality of hamas and it’s current functioning within gaza / its original charter immediately made you think that i don’t care about loss of human life. there was not a single phrase in that post that minimized victims of the october attack, in fact, not a single phrase in that post took a stance on anything, it was purely informational. frankly, i think it was so measured to dissuade from reactions exactly like this, and if i had written it myself, i would’ve done a worse job.

and if you had been able to push past your knee jerk reaction to reading “they are not a terrorist organization” you would recognize that clarifying language and correcting misconceptions is one of the most important things we can do, both going forward in ending this genocide and looking back on how and why lives have been lost in both israel and palestine.

i have personal empathy and grief for your situation, and i’m so sorry you have suffered loss amongst your community and loved ones. but your loss does not form a shield behind which you are allowed to hide from truth, or force other people to close their mouths when trying to educate themselves and others. we are currently witnessing ongoing mass death, us-backed genocide, and a hugely successful (in the west) propaganda campaign to make this endeavor as Unknowable as possible, especially to those who have never looked into the reality of life in the region. grounding ourselves in recent history, learning more about words and labels that are thrown around weekly, daily, hourly, SPECIFICALLY to justify and excuse the ongoing campaign of death israel has visited upon the palestinian people for decades…. that is the LEAST we are all responsible for. it is your duty, as someone who has lost friends and loved ones, and it is mine, as someone with eyes on their stupid blog, to make every concerted effort to understand and spread the truth, in context, to enrich our own activism and honor the dead.

saying “decolonization is important” while unfollowing me after years bc i shared information about what hamas is, is so empty and meaningless you might as well have not said it at all. thousands of people are actively and endlessly being murdered behind a smokescreen of Terrorism with the VERY SPECIFIC connotations that holds over the west and the US in particular… attempting to relay information that complicates and clarifies your exact knee jerk reaction is the entire point. i hope one day you are able to look a little closer and recognize that your personal hurt in seeing new information that makes you uncomfortable is not important in the scheme of what we are currently trying to prevent

[ellsss]

hey, I have a question! I’m also a Christian but I’ve been…questioning my sexuality lately. Could I ask, how do you deal with being Christian and lesbian?

HEYYYYY thanks for the question! i literally never get asks so this is niceeeeeeee.

tbh, it's incredibly hard. im kinda learning how to deal with it myself, so in true honesty, i don't really have a complete and full answer. as of right now, i'm trying to take care of my mental health as much as i can.

from Christians, I've kinda gotten used to seeing fucked up homophboia from them unfortunately, but it still makes it sad, although it's constantly hard to see. However what gets to me and hurts me the most is fellow LGBTQ+ people be angry at me or insult me for being Christian.

and while I understand it's a response to severe trauma, it hurts so much. someone literally said to me once "you shouldn't be part of a religion that gives people trauma, just something to think about", which is 1. passive aggressive and 2. genuinely unfair on me, because imagine saying that to someone of Jewish faith or Islam? I get that Christians have harmed millions of people for years and years. but having people tell me that i should abandon my religion hurts so much.

not to mention how people have compared being LGBTQ+ and Christian to being a n*zi which is a huge offensive comparison and a slap in the face to Jews who survived and died in the holocaust tbh.

it's incredibly hard because i feel like im constantly pulled in two directions and i'm being told to pick a side by people on Earth, even tho i feel in my soul that God genuinely loves me and LGBTQ+ people, and everyone. It's unfair.

How I deal with it as of right now is, while this sounds awful, I unfollow or block anyone who is ex-evangelical or ex christian. and it's not because i don't think their trauma is valid. it is 100% and they have every right to speak on what they experienced. it's just it makes me feel incredibly guilty for something that also feels like a genuine part of me.

and it's something i don't want to abandon or leave behind, because that would dismantle everything i have been through and everything God has helped me with up to this point. i just block or unfollow anything that makes me feel guilty and uncomfortable with my lesbianism, or my Christianity.

idk if this helps but i hope it does😭😭

[peachypizzicato]

The Five Of Cups: An Open Letter to Dorian

Hey everyone! Welcome back to my soapbox (or, if you see this and by some divine happenstance don’t know me: Hi! I’m Felix! Or Anemone. I go by many names.)

As you can tell by my Big Boy Letters, I’m comin’ to talk about kind of a serious subject. At least, it’s serious to me anyway. I wanted to talk a bit about the game The Arcana. You know the one. The definitely not at all divisive one. That Arcana. (/s)

(Warning: I will be touching on depictions of racism, misogyny, anti indigenity, antisemitism, and just general mistreatment of marginalized people!)

TLDR; The Arcana is full of harmful portrayals of marginalized people and the fandom at large ignores it at best and encourages it at worst. The best thing we as the community can do is make it abundantly clear to the company that this is not okay and should not continue.

To be completely upfront here, I’m not going to be going in-depth on every single problem with the devs or the distributors or anything. We’re all busy people and there’s not nearly enough time in the day. But what I am going to do is touch on a few things I’ve witnessed firsthand that I think are worth sharing with the wider community.

One of the behaviors I’ve noticed most often is what I can only think to call… Strange treatment of the love interests. Not by everyone, mind you, but on a startlingly normal basis. Now, what do I mean by “strange”? Well, it really depends on the character honestly.

With Asra, much of the portrayals feel significantly more sexualized than that of their peers. Drawn and portrayed as if their body exists to be ogled by someone else rather than lived in by themself, y’know what I mean? That, combined with blatant orientalist imagery baked into much of their designs, makes for a feeling of feast or famine when seeking out content. And this isn’t even to comment on the intense focus on them as defined by their relationships to others– namely Julian– and all of the mischaracterization that comes with that.

It’s not much different in regard to Nadia, if you can believe it. The image of “step-on-me-queen dominatrix” cultivated by the original writers persists in the community, with overwhelming focus put on her body and her sexuality over anything else. Anyone who’s known me since I discovered the game knows I actually really liked her at first, but it’s hard to have a genuine attachment to a character who seldom even gets to have a personality outside of basic traits and Having Tits.

Julian is, admittedly, a difficult one. I am not jewish myself, but I’ve heard testimony from jewish fans that his portrayal is less than ideal (to put it lightly). At the very base, his design itself is riddled with common antisemitic imagery and was based primarily on a real brown-skinned jewish man whose melanated skin they excluded, surely coincidentally (/s). but it goes even further than that (depicting a jewish man as a bloodsucking vampire, anyone?). I don’t claim to speak for any groups I do not belong to, but with the knowledge I do have it simply makes things uncomfortable to witness.

Muriel. Oh, Muriel. Again, if you’ve known me for any significant amount of time, you probably knew I was dreading this. But as much as I’d like to think nothing could ever be wrong when he’s around, there are definitely problems. Now, I could go into all the issues with the way the writers concocted his route, his story, his character as a whole (brown man with a ~foreign~ type of magic lives in solitude in the woods and is “in tune with nature” to the point of communication, very original /s), what I really want to touch on here is how this informed the way the community treats him. Listen, I’m not gonna sugarcoat this, a lot of Muriel fans are not subtle about their (most often white, but not always) savior complexes. More times than I care to remember I’ve seen him babied, treated like he’s incompetent, made at best into an animal to be tamed and at worst into an uncontrollable monster. I’ve seen pieces of fanfiction call him, a very blatantly indigenous-coded character, a real actual slur. Not to mention how watering down the trauma he faced has become something of commonplace. And this isn’t even an exhaustive list of ways he’s mistreated! For as much as it makes me angry, it’s also extremely saddening. The devs and writers made one of their most genuine kindhearted characters into a metaphorical punching bag, and the community has only continued swinging for years afterward.

But, I think I’ve made my point. Moving on.

Portia is a combination of problems I’ve already touched on. Conveniently, all of the stereotypical traits that Julian inherited happened to skip right over his little sister. What didn’t skip over, however, was the gene of being shamelessly and gratuitously oversexualizing of her. Take a look at any of her CGs; most if not all of them are centered on her chest or otherwise use color and design to draw the eye there. Every one of her sprite outfits are low cut to show varying levels of cleavage. And the few vocal fans she does have only serve to perpetuate this over and over again. To be completely clear, there’s nothing wrong with characters who embrace their sexuality. That goes without saying. However, for being the one “plus-size” love interest– which really in this case only means short and curvy– the emphasis on her body over anything else about her is startling and sad.

Finally, we find Lucio. Our one ethnically white male love interest. You may be wondering how a character like that could possibly receive “strange treatment”. Or maybe you’re not. I will elaborate anyway. The biggest problem with Lucio, with the fans and absolutely with the teams behind the game, is and has been for the longest time the complete and utter lack of awareness of his role in the world and the consistent retroactive rewriting of his character. What I mean by that is this: Lucio, originally and in every route but his own, is blatantly written to be an unforgivably cruel and immoral man. He seeks the best treatment he can get while cityfolk all but die in his streets, he takes advantage of the kindness and generosity of others and punishes their trust. There are many assumptions that can be made but we are shown explicitly that he can know Asra, a child (as an adult himself), and make sexual advances on them in adulthood with absolutely no guilt. He blackmailed Muriel into being and staying his slave and in turn forced him to perform brutal public massacres for an indeterminate amount of time: all we know is that it was long enough for a colloquial name to become well known and for his appearance to grow unkempt and haggard. All this plus more things that I don’t even have the time to list. And yet, he is arguably one of the most popular characters. Take two steps into the fandom at large and you’ll see countless postings about how his childhood was so tragic and how he’s so very sorry, he’s just a little oopsie whoopsie uwu soft boy! The few times I personally have seen his horrible actions even addressed by his fans was to underplay them, to insinuate that he has it worse than anyone he hurt. In spite of, or maybe even because of his extensive list of broadly observable crimes, he thrives in the community. The people love him. I don’t think I really have to explain why this in particular is so extremely chilling to me.

So, with all of these things laid out… What now? We’ve acknowledged the problems, there’s pages upon pages of other posts outlining ones I didn’t even cover here, so now what do we do? What’s the solution?

The answer to this isn’t quite cut and dry. There’s no simple solution to murky waters that run as deep as these do. But, for what it’s worth, I have a few suggestions I’d like to propose.

First off, I understand that all of the routes are finished. They had all completed well before the Dorian acquisition, I’m fully aware of that fact. However, in regard to said acquisition, I feel as though Dorian dropped the ball when transferring the property to their own app (and I’m not even talking about the writing of the tales, which is its own can of worms). Rather than simply copy-pasting the routes from the existing app, things could’ve been redone, remade better. Problems could have been solved now that the game had gained new life. This was much of the inspiration behind my own reworking of the concept, to address the problems and fix them. I don’t even believe that it’s too late for them yet; routes have only just begun being uploaded to the Dorian app, in theory there’s still room to reconsider things.

But that’s the problem. I don’t believe that the crew behind Dorian really cares. I don’t believe the original development team or Nix Hydra crew really cared. If the people involved really cared about these problems, there was ample time within the last nearly five years to fix things. They did nothing. They continue to do nothing. People like me shout endlessly into the void, hoping someone will hear and actually listen to the issues happening within their game. But they don’t care. They continue to make money, they continue to draw in players, why should they? If racism and misogyny and every other form of bigotry under the sun doesn’t hurt their bottom line, why change anything? Why care, why change if the community at large not only ignores it but actively encourages and supports it? Why listen to criticism if you can just block it and soak up praise from your unconditional fans? Why?

As I said, I don’t have a simple solution for any of this. But I’ve made personal choices in my own life to give less of my time and money to the company. If I want merchandise, I seek out independent artists. If I want to see or read something again, I can find screencaps. As much as I miss certain things, I don’t play the game anymore. I can’t help being attached to characters who have been important to me for as long as I’ve known them, but what I can do is make purposeful choices in response to the affection I feel. Maybe my singular actions won’t mean anything to them, but specifically and purposefully refusing to support the profits of a fundamentally flawed game that doesn’t even have the self awareness to be ashamed of itself means everything to me.

Thanks for listening. I hope anyone who happened to make it to this point can take something good from my impassioned ramblings.

[4chanid]

An older lady in my shul survived the holocaust as a child. And to see you rebloging shit like “oh guys i’m transantisemitic” makes me so angry. Do you not feel any shame?? None at all?? Do you see photos from inside camps and not realize “hey, calling myself a nazi is wrong and bad”??

jewish people are allowed to be upset, angry and uncomfortable with you, same with romani and queer people. And I’ll repeat it again, you are no different than “cis nazis”, you can say that you don’t believe in the ideology, but you still clearly love the nazi regime and by proxy, what they did to people like me. I don’t care if you think i’m wrong, for the love of G-d take a look at yourself and wonder WHY you want to be a nazi so badly, and how it effects the people around you. Wonder WHY you’re so dedicated to this, because it’ll be clear real fast that it’s just because you’re a nazi.

To answer your first question, nope! I don't give a fucking shit! I'll never feel guilty for having these feelings because guess what? Forcing people to feel shame about the ways they identify themselves, controllable or not when it doesn't fucking hurt people is bad!

Also for the second part, people, victims of cisnazis or not can feel uncomfortable with me, that's fine, I admit that my identities can make someone feel very uncomfortable but you know what I do when I feel uncomfortable with someone? Avoid them! Block them! Don't interact with them! I don't cry about how they can't exist because I know the fucking world doesn't and will never revolve around me, do you?

And look, let me just tell you something that might be shocking, I can like something and identify as it without supporting it or the ideology it pushes. Maybe, just maybe you should learn that's possible! Wow! Shut the fuck up and stop being obsessed with me (though I will admit, it's very flattering, maybe you should keep being obsessed with me!)

"Take a look at yourself and wonder WHY you want to be a nazi so badly, and how it effects the people around you." Uhh, my source? Bitch I'm 4Chan take a damn guess. Also, this might be shocking but my friends actually support me cause they know I'm not a cisnazi! Wow! It's almost like if you take the time to understand someones identity you can realize "Hey this isn't actually harmful, it just gave me a bad first reaction!" Instead of going on thinking everything new is bad.

[daisybellejpeg]

hi! this is regarding dr. shaw and the bright situation, so don't feel forced to answer this at all ^^ asking about 2 things

do you plan on rewriting the scp 963 article with dr. shaw? i know a lot of people say it's already not written the best, and i'm wondering if you'd give it some major rewrite or just sort of replace the character and leave it

the character dr. bright has been mentioned to be jewish, is dr. shaw as well? i'm not jewish personally but i know that, especially because he was such a well known character, a lot of jewish people (that i know at least) appreciated seeing that representation. ofc i understand that they're 2 separate characters so i don't expect them to be the same, but i'm curious because i've definitely seen mixed feelings on that aspect specifically

sorry for any poor grammar! i'm a bit sick atm but i wanted to send this ask in because i'd forget if i put it off. again, feel free to delete this if it makes you uncomfortable due to the situation, i've been through something similar and i get how hard it is to work through. wishing you the best!

Hey hey! Dw about asking, I don’t feel forced to answer any of my asks and love talking to people!

Onto what you’re asking:

1. As of now there is an article being made! Unsure if it’ll replace the original’s slot at the moment. I’m sure you’re aware kaktus put me on board with the project, he proposed strong arming staff into the article getting the original slot but I have no updates as to how that’s going as of now. It is to note that I’ve lost contact with him since late April. None of our mutuals know what’s up with him either. I’ve both quintupletexted him and asked around;;

I’m making my own version of the proposed article, once he pops up again I’ll cross ref with him and probably ask for help with formatting because I suck at computer stuff.

2. Ethnically Shaw is Mexican, specifically Chicano-Indigenous. I’m latine myself and live in a community with a Mexican kind of majority (lossa Haitian people too, unsure which demographic is more prominent). A ton of family friends are from Mexico with indigenous roots and I only have two other Mexican characters so I have the advantage of being able to ask my pals from my former parish alongside my usual deep dive research. As for the Roma aspect of his character I’ve been doing research on both Caló and Chicano Romani peoples for him and his mother (https://www.tiktok.com/@florida.florian?_t=8eDhq1agf51&_r=1 here’s a link to my favorite mainstream Romani content creator. His informative videos have been of major help for writing them as well as Dr. Carina and their mom. He even has vids on how to write Romani characters!!)

I don’t have a religion for him or Ansel yet? His mom, Dr. Soraya Zugasti, however, is a Muslim convert and is actually hijabi, not presumed hijabi like Evelyn was. At the end of the day to my knowledge Judaism is an open religion with the exception of some ultra orthodox communities and Shaw is the kind of person to be pretty open minded when it comes to spirituality. Statistically, as Ansel and Soraya immigrated from Mexico, the country has a Christian/Catholic majority, especially in the time that they lived there. There’s always the possibility that Shaw could be a convert like how his mother converted to Islam from being mostly agnostic. I’d have to think more on it but it’s a good chance that I’ll write that in!

I also have more Jewish characters if that gives you and your friends reassurance! Most notably Carina’s wife Commander Jezebel Diamandis and her kids, Dick and Rachel, as well as one of Carina’s Uncles, Agent Hannemann Charles. I’ll have to draw em up soon but I’d like to think they’re pretty cool 😎

Hope that answers your question! Feel free to pm me or reply to this if you have anything else to ask!

[shakespearefreak]

New friend! Meet Virginia Wilde, from the late 1880s - early 1890s.

I've wanted Truly Me #115 for a while now, and I found a very good deal on her recently. I originally had intended to make her into Luna Lovegood (in fact, I'd already bought a fan-made Ravenclaw uniform for her), but as a trans person with trans and Jewish friends, Harry Potter has become... much more complicated for me the last few years. There's still a lot I really love about the series, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that (as long as I don't buy official merchandise etc.), but a lot of people I know are starting to see HP as a signal that someone isn't safe to be around (which, to be fair, makes a decent amount of sense, especially given Rowling's comments about the fanbase supposedly supporting her agenda). Anyways, the point to all this is to say that while I was planning to make #115 Luna, I also knew that for the comfort of those around me, I couldn't post a lot of photos of her or bring her out in public as I do my other dolls. I also was very torn on having a reminder of how betrayed I feel by Rowling in my room for me to see on a daily basis. Every time I find myself thinking of the Potterverse, it makes me happy, then immediately sad and angry when I remember how Rowling has harmed and continues to harm people like me. I was considering maybe keeping her stored away in her box part of the time.

But here's the thing... when she arrived, I took one look at her face and knew I couldn't do that; I loved her too much. So... now I had a very, very beautiful doll and no idea who she was. And I'd never, even as a child, bought an AG just because she was pretty and made up a character for her later. I definitely wanted to keep her though, so I just decided to wait until she told me who she was.

The first one I got came with a manufacturing defect, so I returned her to the seller and got a replacement. While the replacement was in transit, I racked my brain trying to decide who she should be. I had some vague ideas, but a lot of them seemed contradictory: I kept picturing her in historical gowns, but also found myself thinking of her in contemporary gothic alt fashion. In my mind, she was both a cheerful, creative artist type and an unusual “old soul” who made many people uncomfortable. Then, when the replacement arrived, I found myself thinking of her physical features: her pale skin, wide cloud-gray eyes, and flaxen hair, and tried associating her with pre-existing characters with similar attributes; and suddenly it clicked. She’s a Victorian gothic heroine; her biggest influences are Virginia Otis from “The Canterville Ghost” (which is also where her name came from: “Virginia” from the character herself, “Wilde” from the author), Edith Cushing from Crimson Peak, and Johanna Barker from Sweeney Todd.

She’s a little older than the rest of my dolls (15). Her father died shortly before her story starts, which is why her Meet Outfit is a mourning gown (I also want to get her some accessories inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry). She was quite close to her father, and became interested in the paranormal after his passing. She also loves art (especially painting). She’s quiet but cheerful, despite her more morbid interests, and friendly when you get to know her. Like Samantha, some of the dress codes of her time period frustrate her, and she surreptitiously rebels against them when she can.

I wanted her to be from 1884 originally (because of the old AG tradition of starting each story in years that end in 4), but then I had the idea of giving her a doll-sized Ouija board (which I’d found on Etsy ages ago, but never found a good use for!), and while spirit boards were used at the time, the Ouija board specifically was invented in 1890, so I’m leaning towards 1891 (I know I could use 1894, but then only a decade would separate her story from Samantha’s). I’ve been having trouble finding affordable era-appropriate doll clothing on Etsy, and I don’t know too much about the fashion from that period myself, so I’m kind of kicking myself for choosing this backstory, but now that I’ve seen it I can’t unsee it. (Any information about the time period any of you have, or any ideas for where to get outfits/furniture/accessories for her, would be more than welcome; thanks in advance!)

Since I don’t have a black Victorian-style gown (yet), for this photo I put her in the nightgown my mother made for Samantha when I was a child. I think it suits her more than it ever did Sam, so it’s hers now.

[autistic-katara]

ok finally making that writing post-

hi! i’m Ryan, or Raines_Adopted_Son on AO3. i write fanfic (mainly angst) and my inbox/dms/ao3 comments r always open for requests, here are some guidelines:

fandoms i will write for: (keep in mind i join new fandoms all the time so if theres a fandom u want me to write that isnt here that u think i like just ask, i probably forgot to update it // will say next to the fandom if ive written for it before or not)

Stranger Things (written for it before)

The Spiderverse Movies (written for it before)

The Owl House (written for it before)

Nimona (haven’t written before)

PJO/Riordanverse (including mcga and tkc // written for it before)

ATLA (including lok/the kyoshi novels // written for it before)

Heartstopper/Osemanverse (haven’t written before)

Jackson’s Diary (written for it before)

Bungou Stray Dogs (haven’t written before)

The Dragon Prince (have written but never posted)

Derry Girls (haven’t written before)

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (haven’t written before)

Good Omens (haven’t written before)

stuff i enjoy writing/specialise in:

shortish one-shots (1k-2.5k words // i would like to write longer and/or multichapter stuff, this is just my current level)

angst

hurt/comfort

heavier topics relating to mental health stuff (depression, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal characters, etc.)

queer (specifically trans) stuff

stuff i feel uncomfortable writing/am unsure if i’m able to write it but wanna push my boundaries on: (aka send me requests but theres less of a chance i’ll write it)

nsfw stuff/smut

depictions of abuse (non-romanticised obv)

depictions of SA (specifically just the recovery tho, i am NOT writing non-con)

longer fics

multichapter fics

pure fluff (idk if i’m able to write smthn w/o angst 😭)

stuff i will not write: (do not ask me to write this stuff :))

nsfw/smut of characters under the age of 15 (that being my current age // still kinda iffy abt characters 15-17 but yk)

stuff that romanticises things like SA or abuse

any ships where both a) at least one of the characters is a minor and b) the age gap is canonically 3 years or more (emphasis on canonically, looking at u punkflower antis)

incest

other stuff i wasn’t sure how to fit in:

when it comes to depicting types bigotry or hate or whatever theres some stuff i feel comfortable including and some stuff i dont (obviously in a non-romanticised way as just like part of what a character experiences):

homo/transphobia, i’m fine with including this, i am queer + trans and feel like i could sensitively depict those topics.

racism/xenophobia, i dont rlly feel comfortable writing abt this stuff given that i’m white i rlly dont think id be able to write that stuff properly like at all.

ableism/saneism, depends on the type tbh, maybe subtle ableism to an autistic character (i am autistic) and casual ableism to a chronically ill character (i am chronically ill) but other than that ehhhh

antisemitism, while i am Jewish and have experienced it myself, for personal reasons i’m not comfortable writing stuff including it, even if its subtle and not a big thing (other kinds of religious discrimination i wont write simply cause idk enough about allat and dont wanna be insensitive abt it)

thats all i could think of for that one but next thing: i dont like AUs. its not like i hate them or anything, and if i time traveled to the future and found out i learned to love them i would be ecstatic since thats more fics for me, but for some reason i just don’t enjoy reading/writing them (excluding canon divergence, i wouldn’t mind writing a fic with canon divergence // didn’t wanna put this in the hard-no section cause again its not like they’re smthn i hate or am disgusted by or anything, i just don’t find them appealing)

also if u dont know what i ship/what ships id be ok w/ writing just ask, a couple of them should be clear based on what i rb/post tho lmao (still if u gotta ask, ask)

anyways yeah thats all i could think of for now, i probably forgot smthn important so i might edit this later + lmk if u have any questions srsly id love to answer :)

[fayoftheforest]

I know for sure that you had good cause in mind making the post about Kyle’s Jewishness but if you aren’t well educated about the matter at hand then don’t bring it out like that lol. It’s not your duty to educate people about judaism nor being a jew is the only thing that makes up Kyle as a character.you guys are making it weird

(I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to say here anon.  I'm assuming this is the post you're referencing, although I have made several posts about the way the fandom treats Kyle's Jewishness, so apologies if I've misinterpreted your message.)

Wow, I should hope it’s not my duty to educate people about Judaism! I’m certainly not being paid enough if that’s the case, haha. Often when I post about Kyle being Jewish, it’s after I’ve experienced antisemitism within the fandom. I don’t want to start “drama”, so I’ll make my own seperate post where I articulate a general issue, and then explain what we can do to remedy it. I try to stay as kind and good-faith as I can, but I’m not surprised when people still get upset by it. No one likes hearing that they’ve hurt people! That doesn’t give them an excuse to bury their heads in the sand.

I am Jewish, I have been in the fandom for several years, I have watched the show, read fics, metas, essays, and had many in-depths discussions with other fandom members. I've never claimed to be an expert on South Park, but I think that's enough to consider me relatively "well educated about the matter at hand." If I've shared misinformation then please do let me know. But regardless, I'm not going to stress over whether I meet your threshhold of "education" and earnt the right to speak about this.

I’ve never said that being a Jew is the only thing that makes Kyle up as a character. That would be a pretty antisemtic thing to believe, actually! I’m a little confused as to why that was tacked onto your list of accusations. I’ve written plenty of fics where Kyle being Jewish isn’t so much as mentioned, because it’s not relevant to the plot or his character arc in that fic. But for many Jews, particularly those who are practicing, being Jewish is a big part of their identity, and it does play a significant role in their daily life. So, if someone were to choose to explore Kyle’s relationship with Judaism in their metas or fics, I don’t believe that would be innately reductive or “weird.” Maybe you should ask yourself why them doing that makes you so uncomfortable.

I’m going to generously skip over the “you guys” part, because I’m struggling to interpret that in good faith. Who is the “you guys”? Jews? People who aren’t complacent about antisemtism? Oh boy!

I don’t like to get personal about my relationship to antisemetism in this fandom, because strangers are not entitled to a profile of my mental state, but god fucking damn, sometimes I ask myself whether sticking around here is an act of self harm for me. I cannot describe to you how harrowing it is to be constantly subjected to the insidious dehumanisation of Jews that permeates this community. I know most gentiles won’t understand how it feels, and that’s okay. I’m not asking you to understand. I’m just asking you to listen every now and then when I say “Hey, please don’t do this, it hurts.” And maybe, just maybe, don’t send me asks where you try to shame me into silence.

[evildilf2]

heyy dude what’s up you don’t have to post this but your discussion of this had me thinking.. as a gay and trans person who would consider myself very religious but in the Jewish way I think this sites obsession w Catholic imagery is really bizarre like I do understand finding things about it compelling or wanting to reclaim imagery but it’s soo weird to me the way nonreligious people choose to engage with it sometimes it’s corny like you said. it’s also so weird to me that catholicism specifically is what’s been chosen as The Aesthetic Religion bc the Catholic Church is soooo antisemitic (on top of many many many other obvious issues) like my family had to leave Europe bc of it. like the Catholic Church has a long bloody history of inciting violence against ppl like me and that Wouldn’t actually change if I was cishet which I think is an interesting distinction between myself and people who want to post gay Catholic imagery stuff. but it’s also like can’t rly complain I think it would be weirder to me if non-religious people engaged with non-christian religions in this way, it would be a really bizarre form of cultural appropriation. the state of being a religious transfag on tumblr in 2023. sorry for rant <3

No need to apologize, I think this is a very important thing to acknowledge! I think the reason why Catholicism is the “aesthetic religion” of choice is largely due to the fact that Christianity in general dominates American culture. So on one hand, I’d say you be hard pressed to find a gay person in the US who hasn’t been impacted by Christian homophobia. & because it’s not uncommon for people to channel their angst with oppression into fascination with or fetishism over a sensitive subject, it’s only natural that so many people would be drawn to do so for Christianity. That said, the aesthetics of many Protestant religions are far more modest than Catholicism, and many Protestant faiths are far less literal with their interpretations of the Bible/biblical rituals and all that. Aside from Catholicism the 2 other faiths I’ve seen be romanticized are fetishized is like… the whole Southern Baptist midwest gothic “Ethel cain core” type thing, and Mormonism, but the only people I’ve seen fetishize the latter are ex Mormons whereas the former seems to have more of a wider appeal.

What you said about that specific oppression resonated with me; though I’m not Jewish myself, I recently learned that my mom & her side of the family are Jewish to some extent… but I was never made aware of this as a kid (despite that side of the family frequently discussing heritage), and I suspect this was due to how Catholic that side of the family is. It’s really fucked up, and I want to ask my grandma what she knows about that, but I’m hesitant to because I fear it would make her or other people in the family treat some family members differently. That dilemma itself definitely has made me uncomfortable with my family’s religious beliefs in a way that’s distinctly different from the discomfort with their homophobia I had prior, so I can only imagine it’s pretty upsetting to see that faith be romanticized when you’re directly and more severely impacted by centuries of Catholic antisemitism. I really appreciate you reaching out & sharing your perspective, apologies if I talked all over the place 👍