#No one needs to have that kind of connection to care about Palestine but I find it genuinely hilarious the anon didn’t infer that ofc I’d

[stuckinapril]

Literally annoying as shit *someone makes a good point about how big events like award shows are used to distract from a violent attack* *random person on the internet * “oh so you’re saying I shouldn’t SLEEP now?! I’m not allowed to eat and take CARE of myself? How DARE you!” I am banging my head against a brick wall as we speak, I can’t.

Betting my MONEY on that person being American bc the relatability factor always has been & continues to be such a major issue here. Americans do literally think in terms of “I’m not Palestinian so why should I care” “I’m not Arab so this isn’t really my concern” “ok but do you expect me to just STOP MY LIFE???” and this entitlement ends up breeding actual disbelief for the idea that others could care about other people despite not suffering the same problems or hailing from the same backgrounds. Their recourse is either to shame you for it or get defensive for their own indifference. Its such a tired pattern

(Also worthy to add that it’s not just rooted in relatability and hyperindividualism and a lot of these people are in fact simply anti Arab racist lmao)

[edenfenixblogs]

Thank Your Jewish Friends Trying to Educate You Right Now

If you’re a leftist, and you have had a Jewish friend reach out to you to try and tell you that you’ve said something alarming or harmful or antisemitic: listen to them, learn, and say thank you.

I am VERY lucky in that all the friends I’ve personally reached out to have taken the opportunity to learn and grow and adjust their behavior. I have never told them that they should not advocate for Palestine. I have told them I want to advocate for Palestine WITH them, but I need to feel safe in order to do so. I need to feel like the people I’m advocating with don’t want me and my loved ones dead. Thank HaShem that they have listened to me. From the bottom of my heart, my friends are a blessing.

But I’ve seen an incredibly disheartening number of fellow Jews who have had the opposite experiences—being expelled from their queer communities and activist communities and book clubs and any space they once found community. This is horrid but it’s especially horrid for Jews. It’s a reminder that we are only accepted if we conform. We are only accepted if we accept abuse. Our presence is always tolerated, never wanted. Our views are not to be trusted. Our opinions are always suspect. Our motives are always sinister. Our acceptance is always conditional. And I think that hurts even more for us than you’d imagine, because our own spaces are no longer safe. We are already in diaspora. And now our synagogues and homes and other community buildings are being vandalized and attack. We are cut off from our own cultural community and now many of us are being cut off from our personal communities as well. It is a loneliness that most people outside of a diaspora will never know.

Im willing to bet that if you have/had a Jewish friend who you considered close but who seems to have disappeared from your life, it’s because you either didn’t reach out to them after 10/7 or you have failed to acknowledge the stochastic threat to Jews or the Jewish connection to Israel. Why is it important that you do this? Because we are your friends and loved ones. And when friends and loved ones tell you they are hurting, you should listen. When you say you care about someone, you should be willing to listen to them when they say you’re hurting them and then you should apologize. It is more hurtful than you can possibly imagine to watch people you thought cared about you decide to listen to people across the world who they have never met rather than simply have a conversation with a friend, because they assume that friend will dismiss the pain of Palestinians.

Many of you are assuming what your friends are feeling about Israel and Palestine, but you haven’t actually asked them. Many of you think that expressing sorrow for Israel or jews in the world, that means we cannot care about or want a better future for Palestine.

If you are lucky enough to have a friend who has tried to reach out to you, that means they are willing to forgive you for neglecting them in this time. They are willing to talk with you and try to explain their emotions in good faith. They want to find a way to advocate for progress with you. They want to keep you in their lives. They want you to understand our culture and history—not at the exclusion of anyone else’s culture and history—just at the inclusion of our own.

Because here’s the other thing: they won’t forget that you denied them understanding and respect and the benefit of the doubt. That’s not a threat. That’s a cultural feature of Judaism. We have famously long cultural memories. We remember the people and places we can trust and those who refused to give us peace and safety and basic kindness. We remember the people who targeted us, your friends and loved ones, simply because other Jews who we have never met behaved in ways you don’t understand and of which you don’t approve. You are blaming the sins of others on people you claim to love.

If someone is giving you the chance to undo the damage you have done on this, you should take it. And if you have expelled Jews from a space you once shared or failed to acknowledge their pain in this time—find them and apologize.

I am not Muslim, but I wouldn’t doubt that something similar is happening in Muslim spaces. Islamophobia and antisemitism are at terrifyingly high levels right now. And if you think you can’t support Jews without condemning Muslims or you can’t support Muslims without condemning Jews, you’re not only part of the problem—you’re the biggest part of the problem.

What we all need right now is unity, peace, solidarity, understanding, and education above all else.

[greenlaut]

Hello everyone, I am a house maid in Gaza Palestine. I am here requesting financial support for Layla, a daughter of my employer Mrs Hussein who died three days ago after being shot on the chest by the Israeli army. Her Daughter Layla is diabetic and she urgently needs insulin. Kindly help me purchase insulin for her. Donation link is available on the pinned post

HOW TO TELL IF A DONATION IS FAKE (3 steps)

read carefully. i know you want to help but blindly supporting people without filtering out will ended up de-platforming actual palestinians who need help.

1. look at this writing from pinned post. no one writes like this—it's very much AI generated. not only this person is fake and stealing donations from ghazans, they are also very lazy.

2. Check their blog. it's suspiciously sterile whilst only reblogging every single news article that contains US liberal buzzwords that doesn't connect to eachother; trans news, feminism, etc. what normal person makes a page specifically for donation filled with news articles unrelated to that?

3. and also none of the reblogs have tags. not for filing or anything alike. there's no opinion we can get from them about the actual topic. and say this is a personal account; what miserable folk would only reblog conflict news, if they're not only doing it just to get the news' audiences attention?

these kinds of bots already don't have feelings, so don't bother bullying them off. i encourage you to put your energy into just spreading the word about being careful and raise awareness about palestine instead.

as a note, DO NOT CLICK DONATION LINKS THAT YOU CANT SEE THE WEBSITE FROM it could be a phishing website. it could have trackers. we don't know. be wary—there are shit people.

lastly, here are some safe WEBSITES YOU SHOULD HEAD IN TO DONATE TO PALESTINIANS (if you're able to)

Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Doctors Without Borders

eSims for Gaza (by mirna elhelbawi — this is the one afaik that actually works for Ghazans)

I hope this helps and be safe out there. From the river to the sea.

fin.

[decolonize-the-left]

Hope this comes as a good faith question.

Jewish people have a huge history to the land of Palestine with ancient artifacts as old as 4K years. While a lot of Israelis are jewish and settlers, there are many in Palestine that have stayed there.

What’s the difference between an indigineous jew and a settler jew if they’re both part of the same ethnoreligious group? I’d appreciate anyone chiming in to help answer.

That's a good question!

Settlers destroy the earth and people in the name of claiming land.

Indigenous people dont. Indigenous people defend themselves from those people.

•••

Hamas is calling for a peaceful one state solution which would value all people equally, there would be no Reason to keep the everyone divided if they were equals, especially as how the holy history in the region has been shared by people of many religions for many ages.

Natives from Turtle Island (the so called USA) are also in a similar position because our first instinct was to be kind and show the pilgrims how to live on this land. We are still advocating for our own "one state" solution: Landback where we too will all be considered as equals with equal rights to exist.

Indigenous people want the right to freely be indigenous again.

Settlers want something to conquer, own, and use up. And they don't see a problem with it. They're simple that way. A lot of time they'll even justify the problems do have by telling themselves the people they're hurting deserve those problems anyway.

Indigenous Jewish ppl will have connections with the land, they'll hear their own heart breaking in when olive trees crack in a fire. When they hear Netanyahu is going to salt the earth and make it so nothing, not even insects, can live there they too will be horrified.

They hear about about how Gazans have no water and they who know that there is no life without water would fight for the Palestinian right to have it.

They'd be trying to dismantle their own government as it's only using the Jewish identity to hide behind as it commits genocide and brings settler colonialist violence into the new year.

I think truly indigenous Jewish ppl are horrified about the things being done in their name. I think they'd be horrified to see what they're going to be inheriting and gifted.

Indigenous is something you are. There is no modifier or blood measure for it.

You are indigenous or you're not. It's a way of being, not a birthright you can prove and that's why colonizers hate indigenous people so much and why they need to create regulations for it like blood quantum or the Nuremberg laws.

You can't fake indigeneity so they can't colonize it. That's why they colonize our land instead by razing it the ground.

Which is why how long you are somewhere doesn't matter either and it's why nobody cares when Zionists say they've been there for thousands of years and that makes it theirs.

Natives don't salt the earth they love.

Colonizers do.

It really is as simple as that.

Anyone, including Jewish people can be indigenous. (And likewise there are many Jewish native Americans)

But settlers? Settlers by their very nature can not be indigenous.

And fortunately Settler is neither a race or ethnic group. It's an action. A choice. So it's not something you are bound to forever.

All this to say the only difference between a settler and an indigenous Jew is whether they've chosen to liberate or subjugate.

If any Jewish Native ppl or Native Jewish ppl wanna chip in to add/correct anything then please do!!!!

[drdemonprince]

Hi, apologies in advance if this is something you've already discussed or addressed, but I was wondering about whether there is any kind of correlation between autism and increased sensitivity to tragic global events? Maybe I'm just burnt out, but the past couple weeks of turmoil and tragedy in Israel/Palestine has me completely immobilized with anxiety and despair. I don't have any profound connections to the region, Israeli citizens, or the Palestinian people, but my heart aches from it all, especially with the ongoing devastation in Gaza.

I had a similar experience in 2017 from Hurricane Maria, but I had lived for a year on the island where it first made landfall in PR, so I was personally invested and it was a place with which I was familiar. Asking other autistic friends if there's a higher chance of being hyperfixated on or extra sensitive to coverage of international tragedy, I was told my own personal history with trauma and violence/tragedy may just make me more empathetic to others' suffering.

How, as an autistic person, do you find ways to pull yourself out of despair for the state of the world and the suffering of others?

Many people find it compelling to draw a link between Autism and heightened empathy or sensitivity to matters of injustice, for understandable reasons, but the reality is far more complex.

In research, we see that Autistic people are more morally consistent than other people -- we are more likely to sacrifice resources or social standing in order to stand up for the things in which we believe. Because of masking pressures, many of us become highly attuned to the emotions of others -- or what we presume those emotions to be, because of course no person is a mind-reader. We can appear stubborn, to others, in holding steadfastly to our beliefs even when doing so is risky. We are also highly traumatized and thus suffer from hyper-vigilance, trauma triggers, and many other symptoms that may register as us taking emotional blows particularly hard.

It would be comforting to tell ourselves that such traits make us more connected to global events, or actually more morally or ethically invested. But that isn't necessarily the case. Having a strong moral consistency doesn't mean that a person's morals are the correct ones, being willing to make a sacrifice for a cause doesn't mean it was the right cause, and being highly sensitive to the plights of others doesn't mean we actually understand them or are feeling their feelings at all.

For myself, being Autistic is associated with being far less emotionally impacted by such global events than other people. I have very limited empathy, and in situations like these what empathy I do have is entirely cognitively mediated. Global catastrophes and massive injustices don't really emotionally affect me the way that I see them affecting other people -- I don't cry about such things or feel devastated by them, I just think about them a lot in a relatively dispassionate way, and many of the gestures people find moving surrounding such issues do nothing for me.

It doesn't mean I don't care. I actively make the choice to care because of my belief system and values. I have to decide intentionally to dwell on the emotional reality of what is happening. I have to force myself to imagine what others might be feeling, and what others are going through, in order to understand it. Otherwise, to me it is more of an intellectual abstraction, and my focus immediately goes toward what I think the logical solution or means of response might be.

This doesn't make my conclusions any better than anyone else's, mind you. Just because I'm thinking analytically doesn't mean I have the correct information or frame of reference -- in fact, in such matters it often leads me to be oblivious to what others need or what others would consider the morally right thing to do. There's a whole spectrum of human experience I can't access, and while I used to think it made me evil, it's doesn't. It just makes me different.

My friends and loved ones who are more emotionally open-hearted are the ones that remind me to pause, to honor people's grief, to make sense of the emotional and social needs of the moment as well as the ones that strike my numb self as more supposedly practical. My knee-jerk reaction to such situations is to try and jump into problem-solving mode, and I have had to learn from experience that I need to slow down, humble myself, and make space for the enormity of people's feelings and the horror of the things are happening that my body just cannot touch. Very emotionally obvious things, by the standards of other people, completely fly past me.

Still, I am also often frustrated and confused by the reactions other people have to crises -- as a very general rule, humanity tends to reach for means of addressing such events that are symbolic and emotionally satisfying but might not align with their professed ideologies or any kind of articulated strategy. The safety pin thing after Trump was elected, for example, or the blackout squares at the height of BLM. These movements felt good, I guess, to people who were in a state of genuine panic, but they actually did more harm than good.

It's difficult to be what often feels like the sole voice asking whether what the collective is doing really makes any sense. If often makes me seem like I am heartless, which I guess I am, but I am still highly invested in the side I believe to be just winning, and in my annoying fault-finding I'm simply trying to aid in that.

There's benefits and drawbacks to both approaches, is what I'm saying, and there are many routes to caring about an issue and many ways in which caring isn't the same thing as being helpful.

All of this is a bit ancillary to your question. Is it an Autism thing to be sensitive to global genocide? I think that's quite a human thing. Many Autistic people take such matters very very seriously, but some of us do so in ways that aren't as emotional as what you describe. Others are incredibly emotionally impacted by such matters, like you are -- and so are many non-Autistic people. It hardly matters whether it's normal or not though -- this is what is happening for you, and it matters, and you certainly aren't alone in it.

I wish I had advice that came from personal experience, but my experience is somewhat of the mirror image to yours. I find that when people care deeply about an issue, whether it's intellectually or emotionally, they compulsively consume information and upsetting imagery about the issue to a degree they find debilitating. I do this, and you probably do it as well, even if what happens to me is analysis paralysis and fault-finding and what happens to you is probably more like horror and despair.

I believe limiting one's intake is necessary. I believe humility is too. We are not the stars of this story, and we are not so important in the world as to expect ourselves to be experts or saviors. I find that stepping back and gaining historical knowledge places things in perspective. I have learned much by studying the political movements of the past. I have had to develop a true understanding of how the social change I desire really works -- thanks to historical reading, discussion with people I respect, and by consuming leftist theory.

I think it is vitally important to be able to disagree with people, at least in the privacy of your own mind and in your own conduct, so that even if someone is ringing an alarm bell and saying that a certain action is necessary, you have the power to determine if you actually agree. I think it's important to not constantly consume information. We have to learn to know which voices to completely disregard, by asking ourselves what belief system drives a person's claims, and whether they are positioning themselves as an expert for their own self-enrichment and betterment rather than for a just cause.

I think we can't just be moved by the emotional panic of the situation, because we are very easily manipulated, drained of energy, and led astray, and disempowered if we are. But I also think we can't be detached from the human emotional reality of the moment either -- no matter what I think is the rational course of action, the only way humans are ever going to organize and take that action is by speaking with one another, crying with one another, eating together, laughing together, and believing in something better together.

I don't know how to do any of that stuff. I only know tactics and history and theory and fault-finding. There is a place for me in the struggle. There is a place for you in it too. But we are small, and we have to make peace with our smallness and flaws and build a movement that accounts for them, and for a wide variety of gifts and perspectives.

[khaire-traveler]

Hello, I am from Gaza, due to the shortage of medicine in Gaza, my mother who is a type 1 diabetic and was supposed to undergo urgent eye surgery, has not been able to get insulin or any medical care for the past three months. . Some members of my family fled to the southernmost part of Gaza (Rafah) in tents. But my parents and sisters have nowhere else to stay. They are forced to stay in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which has been bombed since the beginning of Christmas. "I am on my knees asking for your donations. Please help me. where you can.

Goal: $700

**"DO NOT DONATE TO THIS PERSON; THEY ARE MOST LIKELY A SCAMMER!!! DO DONATE TO ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE PALESTINE CHILDREN'S RELIEF FUND!!!***

All the casual readers need to know is do not donate to this person; they are almost certainly a scammer (I say this after looking into it further). Scammer, please, by all means, continue reading. I'd love to hear your defense. c:

Let's dissect this, friends. One incorrect piece of information at a time.

List of Scammer Red Flags Within This Ask

This account has quite a few posts, but all of them are reblogs dated only up to three days ago. The only original post is their pinned post, and even that was posted three days ago. They even reblogged sending this very same ask to another person who asked for a link, as they did not give one. This, too, was dated three days ago. This is fishy to me.

After looking into your claims about having a Type 1 Diabetic mother who needed "urgent eye surgery" without any access to insulin for supposedly three months, I doubt the validity of your statement. It sounds like your mother has pretty severe diabetes, seeing that she needed urgent eye surgery. Sounds like she's reached the criticality of risking blindness as a complication. That's pretty intense, and I highly doubt she would last three months without insulin. "Without insulin, people with T1D will die from hyperglycemia within days or weeks." She is no longer with us. Why does she need money for treatment if she is deceased?

This is a very real article discussing the very real consequences of the fall of Gaza's healthcare system. There is no healthcare system in place currently - nothing substantial or official. There are freelance doctors providing support where they can, humanitarian organizations with their limited authority and ability attempting to provide aid, and medical professionals of all kinds trying their damnedest to put their skills to use in ways they've never had to before. So I ask you, where the fuck is this money going? Are you going to pay ANERA $700 for your deceased mother's insulin?

Seems you have done your research on these tent and refugee camp locations. However, there was an unfortunate airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in early March. From my understanding, it may no longer be standing at all. Even if it is, I doubt, very much so, that you are there. I'm not sure where you are, but I feel it is not there. And where are you posting from, if I may ask? I'm curious how you've gotten internet access. Although I'm aware it's possible, from my understanding, it's extremely difficult to come by.

The Internet thing leads us into our fifth point. How will you access this money? If you were to say, run out of Internet connection, where would this $700 go? How will you get it out of your PayPal account? From your local refugee camp ATM?

PayPal does not work in Palestine, dumbass. You are as bright as a black hole and twice as dense.

-

If you need genuine help, I'm sorry, but this isn't the right way to ask for it. I wish I could do more for you. I wish I could go there myself and give you the relief that you need. I'm not sure what money could do for you in Gaza, especially when medical care is literally impossible to find with many doctors having, unfortunately, passed away and many more fleeing the country, but if you're real, I hope you receive the care that you need. I hope you find somewhere safe to reside.

But I do not think you need help. I think you are someone preying on the kindness of others, taking advantage of a goddamn genocide to earn some extra money. Your money is soaked in the blood of innocents. Innocents who could've used it themselves. Scammer, you disgust me. Children have fucking died while you were busy trying to earn some extra cash, profiting from their suffering. Fuck you, truly. There's a special place in the deep, deep depths of the afterlife, waiting to drag you kicking and screaming to the consequences of your actions. I hope you regret this scam. I hope it haunts you.

[all-the-fun-of-the-cirkus]

okay, so.

waltz.

rarely have i watched an episode and immediately come here to talk about, but i have a lot of thoughts i need to get out

so firstly, the title. obviously a callback to duet from the first series (still the best single chunk of star trek i've seen yet). that one was a two-hander between kira and marritza, the former already having condemned the cardassian and the latter struggling to work through what he did in the occupation, and this is the same with sisko and dukat. except marritza felt genuine remorse, accepted he was wrong, and that's what dukat can never do

he's awful, i know, but he's a fantastic character, because he is a character. he has a sense of humour, soft spots, humanising (so to speak) moments, he's a real, fleshed out person, who just happens to be, as sisko says, true evil. and that works because he truly, genuinely believes he isn't. and what's more, he needs everyone to see that too. we saw that with his relationship with kira, his banter with sisko, his constant bemoaning that the bajorans didn't accept him, it wasn't just posturing, or pr, he genuinely needs to be liked, and he can't understand why people don't, because as far as he's concerned, as people so often point out, he's the hero of the story in his own mind, and he can't be wrong

that's played out superbly in his hallucinations here; weyoun is his cold and clinical side, dumar his arrogance and pride, kira his doubt and self-loathing, and they criticise and needle him throughout, but in the end, crucially, they're all telling him the exact same thing - what he really thinks

and what he wants to hear is that he's the good guy, which is where the political metaphor gets interesting. this whole time i've interpreted the occupation of bajor as a holocaust allegory, obviously, the cardassians are the nazis, bajorans jews. and that is of course a big part of it, but the connection i didn't make until now is the british empire

dukat's big speech is fully "white man's burden," the bajorans as savages centuries behind cardassia, following backwards religion, no technology, who clearly needed civilising by their superiors, bringing into the light, and dukat was the kind father helping guide them into the light. and he really believes it's for the best! he tells himself he doesn't despise them, that he doesn't want to wipe them off the face of the galaxy, it's their fault for being too stupid to appreciate him, to see what he's trying to do for them, how he only wants to help them if they'd only stop resisting and submit to those who know better than they do

part of this is that he insists that he's "one of the good ones," that another prefect would have been harsher, crueler. and this is where it gets interesting, because he's probably right. a leader who didn't care about being liked might have killed more bajorans, worked them harder, starved them more, executed them more. dukat may, indeed, have been the lesser of the evils, and that's not really in dispute. what's really compelling about this is that the story never lets this be an excuse. so death rates dropped by 20%? that's great! why didn't they drop by 100%? so labour camp output dropped by 50%? cool, you were still keeping people in labour camps and enslaving them

and i find that uncomfortably compelling in the current climate. i'm not american, but i see full well what's going on there, and it disgusts me. because there's several genocides going on right now, and i'm going to focus on palestine, because the democrats are gleefully funding that genocide and protecting its perpetrators from any repercussions, brutally coming down on any protests. and when people understandably say "hey what the fuck," they remember there's an election this year and go "well is the republicans were in power this genocide would be way worse! you gotta pick the lesser of two evils!" and you know what? they're right! the genocide would probably worse if the republicans were in power! but the democrats committing a less-bad genocide doesn't mean they aren't still committing genocide! because the lesser of two evils is still evil, and sometimes there's no shade of grey

[bip2]

babel: as a mixed race person

reading babel's reviews online has kind of shocked me because a lot of people are insisting that it's flat and that it tells not shows... I think there's a difference between not enjoying an author's writing style and saying that it's bad. I've always found kuang's writing to be pretty didactic, she clearly loves history and likes filling her books with knowledge. there's nothing inherently wrong with that.

the people who are insisting that the book hits you over the head with its message have missed the point of robin's character and the overall problem with Babel as an institution. Robin did not want to acknowledge the truth of what was happening, what was necessary, Babel did everything it could to sabotage this understanding. When you are complicit in a system like that, you can be shown time and time again how wrong it is and still refuse to see it. One only needs to look at how Israel and Palestine is being treated as an issue right now to see that truth. It's a very realistic portrayal imo.

as someone who is wasian, but not an ethnicity that most of the world cares about -- babel really connected with me. Even the east asian people I know never bother to learn about my country, my language, and my culture even tho we share similarities. it is being alone even amongst the people who are supposed to understand you. living in a country that actively hurts your homeland, and having english be much more comfortable than my first language and knowing that i am falling behind in my thai fluency hurts and I especially loved Griffin's character for that aspect alone.

and the aspects of ramy being a practicing Muslim really really really felt wonderful to read. it's so small but as a devout Buddhist it's so rewarding to read a book where a character's religion is a clear part of who they are but not tokenized. i loved it every time it came up.

[hindahoney]

This is going to be heavy, probably. I'm trying to research as best I can but the information I'm finding is presented in a way that is battling my processing disorders. I'm sorry for the question and the long-windedness. Recently I've stepped into learning about Judaism, as I'm ashkenazi and my family at some point threw it away to convert to Christianity. I've spent a lot of time recently, studying and appreciating my heritage. While sitting with a friend, I was complaining about all the antisemitism I was seeing on the internet in my searches. And he didn't know I was a jew. He is Muslim, and is not from the USA. He says using Hebrew on the internet is stupid, and invites hate because of what is happening in Palestine- this is something I've heard of but haven't educated myself on fully. So I've been reading about it. I am conflicted. I am not benefitting from anything happening in Israel. I don't wish to oppress or harm anyone. I don't understand why Israel is doing this, how this connects to myself or other Jewish people. I don't want to be insensitive to anyone. What is happening in Palestine? Why is my friend treating me differently? Again I'm sorry. I want to educate myself and I'm trying, I have tabs open as I type this, but I feel it's valuable to ask and discuss outside of my tabs as well. You have no obligation to answer. I will not put down my studies in Judaism. I am not ashamed. I just want to understand, and seek perspective. - ♠

Alright, so this is kind of a difficult question. There's no way for me to summarize everything that has happened in Israel without having some sort of bias. Every source you find will be biased in some way, finding something that isn't is nearly impossible. The only book I've seen that has been decent at explaining is 1967 by Tom Segev. I've heard that book is appreciated by Zionist and non-Zionist Jews alike.

Your friend is treating you differently because they're antisemitic, whether they realize it or not. There's no other explanation for why someone would treat you differently after they find out you're Jewish. It doesn't matter if it's about Israel or not. You've never been to Israel and you don't have an opinion yet because you don't even know what's going on. You have absolutely zero control over what the government of Israel does. The only thing he knows is that you're Jewish, and he decided to bring up Israel and say that people shouldn't speak Hebrew online, after you mentioned antisemitism. Your friend is antisemitic, and you need a new friend. Your friend also sounds uneducated, if he's saying that people speaking their native language online is "stupid" and warrants antisemitism over things they don't have control over. He probably has only ever heard one side of the situation and doesn't care to hear anything else.

I'm sorry you experienced this, good luck on your journey of reconnection. On the bright side you will make many new friends to replace him.

[stuckinapril]

i think you said somewhere you volunteer - do you have any tips on how to start doing that? ive been wanting to start both to help people out myself and to push my social boundaries but i get stuck in my head before i even get in the door somehow. do you have any tips lol? i think im overthinking this...

Hey no worries, I really like that you’re genuinely interested and trying to gather resources. I actually have some thoughts I’d like to share on this:

There are two types of volunteering: long-form volunteering and short-form volunteering. Short-term volunteering looks like participating in the occasional phone bank, helping raise donations every now and then, attending a food drive on a blue moon. Long-form volunteering is typically something like volunteering at a place on at least a weekly basis. A lot of the time that requires that the place actually train you so you’re of use to them. Before you look up places to volunteer, consider which type of volunteering suits your schedule the most. I do both, but I understand how not everyone’s workload can accommodate that.

When it comes to long-term volunteering, understand that just because it’s not paid work doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously. You can’t do frequent callouts or blow off tasks because they’re not paying you to be there. A lot of the places that do social justice work—providing free food and medical care to homeless people, providing services to refugees—unfortunately do not have the necessary funding to support a whole lot of employees most times. Whatever your time commitment looks like, it remains a time commitment that needs to be honored regardless of pay.

With that said, it really is best to find something you’re actually passionate about, not something that you’re doing for the brownie points. One way to do that is to work towards a cause you have a personal connection to. For example, I volunteer weekly at a refugee center for middle eastern refugees. I also participate in a plethora of events with a view to assist Palestine in whatever ways I could. Because I’m an Arab girl, one w Iraqi heritage (also a war-torn Arab country), obviously all these things will be of personal importance to me. It’s easy for me to be incentivized to care about them, because I have this preordained connection to them. Personal connection makes it that much easier to be passionate about a cause.

But it’s equally important to mention that relatability isn’t the only way to care, nor should it be. I also volunteer at a clinic that provides service to homeless people weekly. I’m not homeless. I still care. I volunteer at my city’s Alzheimer’s research center. I don’t have Alzheimer’s. I still care. We don’t have to only associate ourselves with people we personally relate to. In fact, and this goes for life in general, you really should seek to befriend, interact with, and be curious about people who’re not like you. You should find their experiences intriguing: a window into another perspective you perhaps hadn’t thought of before. You should not always be surrounding yourself with an echo chamber of yesmen and homogeneity. Be curious about people who’re not like you. Try to put yourself in their shoes. And then learn to care about them.

It’s okay to frame volunteering as a way to benefit you too. It’s not a one-way street. There’s nothing more fulfilling than devoting yourself to something that’s solely rooted in your humanity. Not in the desire to be paid, not in the desire for acclaim, but simply in the desire to help. It makes you feel better. It boosts your self-confidence. It helps you form long-lasting connections with other people who’re also doing it out of the sheer kindness of their heart; out of the fact that they find it in themselves to care. And it reminds you of what really matters.

The biggest mistake is overwhelming yourself w 82727 resources and 72627 organizations. Start with something simple and stick with it, then go from there if you have the time to get more involved. A lot of the places that need volunteers would be happy with as little as one day a week, so long as you’re consistent about it.

It’s okay if you don’t have the time for long-form volunteering. Volunteering every now and then at one-and-done events still makes a huge difference. A lot of people make the mistake of thinking it has to either be this grand commitment or nothing. Please don’t think that way; organizations know life could be busy, and they’re happy to have you even if it’s only for the occasional event. Just make sure you’re doing something if you can.

[winotheredmage]

Introduction

It's now the start of Pride, the co-opted commercial celebratory period where corporations pretend they care about the queer community as more than a consumer base for A Whole Month(Thirty Days, Seven-Hundred-Twenty Hours). Company's vague impressions of solidarity is never as staunch as what's shown on the ground, by the ones living radically as themselves. I had the good fortune to see that solidarity in action today when a sizable majority of folks who attended the local dyke march migrated over to a protest for Palestinian liberation, bringing the march with them and melding numbers. Some might scoff at the notion that both struggles are linked; but as queer Palestinians bravely fight against genocide and colonial-settler violence, their rights as queer people encompass all queer people's rights: This should go without saying.

Like a river joining another, the flow and energy between the two demonstrations were strikingly similar; The air felt fearless, nurturing, exciting, and gay as all get-out. Flowing through the streets, the sound of hundred-fold footsteps was rain coming to nourish the flora of change. We shouted "dykes against genocide", "queers for Palestine", "burn israel to the ground", and there was birdsong echoing like thunder, roaring and comfortably close. There were plenty who stood by on the sidewalks, offering cheers of support, going about their day, or recording the procession with anywhere from a smile to a sinister smirk on their face. Looking at the occasional dissenters from the sidelines, it made me want to scream just a little louder. In those moments, I thought that standing on the sidelines and sitting idly by for such an issue was the last thing I want to do.

Social anxiety is a mess to deal with, and for me, more often then not, it's debilitating. Could nary get a word out at either march and stayed by my lonesome while everyone was conversing and connecting. Whether it was getting hung up on future anxieties, lingering imposter syndrome, or maybe just nothing, I found myself feeling alienated surrounded by my own peers. There were so many people I wanted to meet, so many things to talk about, so much joy to share; Yet no matter the path I went down, its destination was me feeling unworthy one way or another. There are many days where I feel this is a struggle impossible to overcome.

On those days, I look at all the other pieces, the shiny broken ones we all keep polishing: For me, they're the scripted youtube videos I never filmed, songs in storage I never released, friends who are lost in forests of notifications I never replied to. Clearly in my perspective is the enormity of the life I don't live, but want to live, should be living. When puberty, intrusive thought, and chronic pain already saps your energy and ability daily, it feels unbearable to do anything else. There's no stopping the thought that its also exacerbated by the overlapping scaffolding of oppression in place, leaving the issue feeling like a decidedly hopeless one. I think maybe there's something about a fig tree that goes here too???

There was something else I saw during the marches; Signs brought by protesters with quotes and passages from writers the world over. From prose to lyric, from poem to passage, more than ever did I see the work of writers, poets, and wordsmiths of all kinds from the revolutionaries attending. All of it left me feeling like there was something that needed to change, some inner bud in my brain about to burst and sprout. One can easily be lost in the pursuit of perfection, especially concerning artistry near and dear to one's self, and I felt like I may have been wandering for much too long. My position, however frayed and fraught, is still a privileged one that can, and must, be used for good. Many need to speak, and many need a voice, and many need to scream, many are screaming. It's about time I screamed a little louder; No more do I stand recording on the sidewalk of my life. To be on the sidelines when faced with a reality like this is the last thing I want to do.

(tl;dr I went to a dyke march/protest for palestine today; Poor social skills, anxiety over the future, and lingering depression left me feeling isolated and without purpose. There was, and is, so much experience I want to relay, so much to say; Often the aftershocks of those experiences left me unable to say it. Seeing quotes from writers on the boards of protesters inspired me to write properly about my experience, because I owe it to so many to not stay silent.)

[hufflpuffin]

Hello there! My family needs to leave Gaza out of necessity . I suffer from nightmares that are so closely resemble reality that I no longer Differentiate between reality and a dream.Thank you for taking your efforts and time in reading my plea. There are no words to describe the horrors unfolding in this place,never expected to find myself in this situation. Because of this horrible situation I have decided to come before you guys for a financial support so that I can evacuate my family from this hell that we are into.The funds will be strictly used for the evacuation . I will personally bear any additional expenses incurred.Your support will make a significant difference in alleviating the suffering of my family ,We urgently need any kind of support before it is to late. As time ticking away translates to lives lost in Gaza I'm here and ready to answer any questions or concerns you may have.Kindly reach out and connect with me

Another brand new account made in April, no gofundme, no pictures of themselves or their family. Only a direct link to their paypal with the name "Jeff Owino" which matches a name in a masterlist of scammers.

This person appears to have already gotten money from people. Please be careful and don't let yourself be scammed by people like this attempting to exploit the genocide of Gazans.

[ungirthed]

want to make a place for my thots of anything with no viewers if i remember to come on here. i cant believe i keep having to make these since i end up getting followers and interacting. but i'm an adult with shit to do irl and things to fight and this fandom is almost 20y old so idt i will do that. lol. just finished atla like 20y too late cos my parents hated me and my bro watching tv growing up. journaling/blogging thots!!! ugh. i wish i didnt hve adhd and dyspraxia lmao gonna split them up so i dont get overwhelmed reading my bullshit. if u stumble upon this it doesnt make sense sry

politically a lot of critique that i have to think about. character and plot wise it was pretty good and tight esp for a kids show. amazing female characters. can't wait for the bi agenda from LoK but i may take a while for that. p much i have to say these are great characters and i could talk a lot about them but i'm shocked at what i took away with regards to the romantic rships from the show and the characterization via it.

re love lines:

i wish kataang was written better in the show (MY opinion if any1 stumbles upon this). i don't ~ship~ zutara bc i am an adult and even back then no cos who cares lol but i see the appeal and am attracted to that. i do think we have to retire the trope of the "both sides but falling in love" not because it isn't possible but because post 10/7 (free palestine) i don't think it's worth it to look at it this way anymore. until someone proves themselves not worthy of death because of the resistance fighting back then they NEED TO PROVE THEMSELVES IMMEDIATELY. no more of this i'm in a concentration camp but he's a nazi bullshit. no more i'm a slave but he's the slave master's son (i mean in this case u could have been related but no1 listens to me!) it's repetitive, reductive, and untrue.

that being said: i just never care about the typical bildungsroman love story. you see the One Person bc i guess the kids tasked with saving the world have to be monk-adjacent (in aang's case quite literally) bc understandably theyre so fucked up lol. but it's always sooooo boring to me esp if it's f/m.

katara is such a complex character and mae whitman brings a wisdom to her voice that can be frustrating to connect with for me but her character arc, her strength, her MIND, her heart, and her fists. i think ppl probs like zutara the most when shes' going batshit and no one can understand aang's perspective. but aang is one of a kind and the cutest smartest sweetest loser ever. not my fav char but i love him. he's like if i had a younger brother and not an older one lmao.

of course they're (kataang) together. they were meant to be from the moment they saw e/o and that stupid cave kiss...this is why you don't wait until 32 to watch this lol.

but nothing surprised me and it was meant to be the way it was written. that's also why i find it understandable but shocking people in the universe and apparently outside of it were surprised at aang's turmoil over ozai. like are you joking? he's a 12 year old vegetarian monk. which: i loved his vegetarianism and obviously he was going to be but very casually they put in a line that hints as to why he would be and why many of us are...so i am dedicated to it again.

so wrt that and zutara...the episode where he's with her with the dude that killed her moms and his support of her i can see why people like them. the cave ep obviously but this show is veryyyyy free with affection i noticed and there's some jealousy but they all get over that pretty quickly. i read some of the comics and i could see different rships happening and i definitely think this world lends to queerness (me personally i love monogamy but a certain type lol so not rly interested in much poly but i do like a throuple) but i could see most being bi+ or having identified as that in the past, or labeling themselves but nto limiting. that's just an aside for meee...

so like katara was being katara. i could see suki and zuko being romantic but also a deep friendship that could be deeply affectionate either affect or physically or both bc that's who these ppl are. katara is a very intense person and that's part of why she can be annoying. that's part of why they ALL can be overwhelming. theyre intense, traumatized, repressed kids and teens with mostly good hearts (or just a person so disconnected from herself but also a fascist so u know. her going nuts lol)

hmm what else oh yea. so i came away with maiko......gjpasig the show was paced and plotted well. i am a libertarian communist (anarcho-commie) so MANNNNN i wish they did better on that front but again i must remember i am 32, ancom, and the world is diff. but anyway lmao so team avatar is who i would want to spend time with but i got so interested in mai and ty lee (mailee...). that beach ep conversation was so good, that whole ep, their argument. it was extremely teenage and showed how fucked up they all are. how confused and fucking lost and pathetic. how small their lives are. how boring....so mai...

[revlyncox]

Peace Candle Reflection for March 3, 2024

Our congregation has added the lighting of a Peace Candle each week. We do this right at the beginning of the prayer and meditation section of the service, when we're deeply in community. The lighting begins with a few sentences that are fairly consistent from week to week, to which we might add a quote or a prayer that's specific to the events of that week. Here is what I said on March 3.

As we approach our time of meditation and prayer, many of us have heavy hearts as we think about war, displacement, famine, and violence all over the world. We think of Ukraine, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, among others. We also remember those lost to violence in our families and communities, and the aftermath of pain in our loved ones and neighbors, known and unknown. We wish for the safe homecoming of hostages, displaced people, and service members. 

This week, my heart is breaking not only for those who have lost loved ones, even dozens of loved ones, to war and famine and mass violence; my heart is also breaking for those who are so gripped by despair that they turn to self-destruction. My hope and wish and prayer for all of you, and for those you love, is that achievable acts of kindness and justice will help you hold on to hope. 

What the government of Israel is doing to the people of Gaza, the violence of bombs and the violence of starvation, is wrong. What the government of Russia is doing to the people of Ukraine is wrong. The encouragement that politicians and pundits are perpetuating to incite violence against Trans and non-binary kids is wrong. Violence against women and anyone who dares to exercise bodily autonomy is wrong. The violence we are doing to the planet is wrong. We could get stuck and overwhelmed by the enormity of our grief and anger. Instead, let’s be strategic. Let’s find strength and comfort in one another. Let’s root our actions in love.

Choose one right action each week, and then take a deep breath and remember that we do not have to encounter the beauty and the horror and the heartbreak and the promise of this world alone. Your one right action can be small. Maybe you are writing to the White House to offer your opinion about foreign aid. Maybe you are calling your Congressperson to ask for a supplemental humanitarian aid package for Gaza. Maybe you are preparing a gift basket of dates for your Muslim co-worker as Ramadan approaches. Maybe you fly a Ukrainian flag on your front porch. Maybe you are attending a school board meeting and testifying for the need to protect our young people in school. Maybe you are donating to Doctors Without Borders or the UN World Food Program. Maybe you are attending a public witness event in favor of a cease fire. Choose one right thing. And then practice community care. Breathe. Connect. Love. 

We will light the central candle in our Joys and Sorrows bowl in hope for peace. May we shape our own lives in the paths of peace, and may we direct our energy in the world toward the peace that comes through justice. With peace in our hearts, we turn toward our personal joys and sorrows. 

[ndragoon]

.

Really love how the past two weeks have played out.

Starts off with me going to the ER because of back pain so severe I couldn't even just sit and watch stuff because every pulse of pain made me physically move in kind

They told me that not only did I have a bad infection, but it had caused sepsis and I needed to stay and be treated for it.

Okay, whatever. I don't know the specifics of it but I know it killed one of my closest friend's mom a few months ago, so I'll put up with it.

While I'm there, I get seen by a urologist (technically I saw four, but the other three were decent) who tells me that actually, the prostate doesn't really have any issues unless you're around 60, so even if this wasn't going on they'd never look at it anyway. It doesn't matter that it hurts to stimulate my prostate because it's "small and perfectly healthy".

She then goes on to tell me that I didn't actually have any shrinkage from the testosterone gel. Sometimes the testicles do reduce in size some. But mine are just small and were small since I was born. The only reason they "seem to sit high" is because I'm just really fat and because of all the fat down there, it hangs around them and obscures them. The only reason I felt any pain in them was because of this infection, since it's all connected.

Doesn't matter that they shrunk down so much I only feel the tubes behind them most of the time. Doesn't matter that I can't even find those sometimes because they pull up inside me. Doesn't matter that they used to hang low enough that if it was warm I had to put in effort to make sure they didn't dunk in the toilet water. Doesn't matter that my penis has shrunk so considerably that it's clearly visible with photo evidence, since I used to take size comparison pics to show just how small it was for the longest time. Clearly I'm just a Manly Man trying to strut my stuff and explain why I'm not packing a summer sausage with two oranges at the moment.

When I finally get told I'm well enough to leave, I'm also told I'm not allowed to drive for some reason until I see my PCP and get cleared. So I'm like whatever, I'll deal with it since I shouldn't be going anywhere anyway.

Finally see my pcp and she tells me that apparently the scans they did found stuff on my liver, some kind of thing alongside fibrosis. What's going on with it is something that just seemingly happens. She told me there really isn't any known cause, it just happens.

The rest of my lifespan is basically going to be dictated by roulette. It doesn't matter if I became *perfectly healthy* by the most ridiculously strict standards. I could see the doctor one day and be told I have 2 to 10 years left anyway.

And now I can't even find anything pleasant online because people are acting like reblogging about Palestine's genocide to the exclusion of everything else is going to help. If anyone posts anything even slightly positive or neutral, they get attacked because they are supposed to be reblogging about it exclusively with no breaks.

So I'm basically stuck being reminded that I'm stuck dying alone because I'm not going to drag someone else into my life when I might have to tell them I have two years left after we just got started, on top of everything else. While also seeing an endless running commentary about how a genocide is going on that is actually okay! Because apparently Jews are the only forbidden people to genocide!

Because people seem to think that the US Army will suddenly start to care about what the people want if they are just annoying enough to the right people, as if they haven't been doing whatever they want longer than I've been alive.

And I'm sitting here being forced to pretend that everything is okay because if I stop to so much as catch my breath, everything will breach my mind and I'll start to spiral badly. But I also can't step away from anything because it's as they say, it makes me selfish putting myself over everyone else who has no choice but to keep dealing with it with no way to get out.

[returntothewilderness]

Parashat Toldot: The Loaded Concept of "Birthright" and Choosing Justice over Harm

Toldot is a sad passage in that it pits brother against brother, parent against parent, and shows how greed can overtake and ruin a family. Siblings have the potential to be one of the most special connections we have in this life. While a variety of things can change that dynamic to indifference, exhausted resignation, or hatred, in the case of Jacob and Esau it all boils down to birthright.

As an Arab-Amazigh who fully supports the liberation of Palestine, the word birthright has a visceral effect on me. It brings out rage and disgust. What exactly is birthright in today's society? In a world that has been ravaged by colonization, imperialism, capitalism, and a heavy dose of greed, what the hell does birthright even mean? How do Jews born outside of Palestine, coming from long lines of other nationalities and ethnicities, claim to have a birthright to a land they and their ancestors have never been? My father was born in Libya, but I would never believe I have the right to move over there and remove someone from their home to be there - and I'm only one generation removed! The audacity and mental gymnastics necessary to believe you have the right to someone's home, to ethnically cleanse and kill them, to erase their culture, to walk on a land when your presence caused another's exile. Birthright is nothing but a colonial project aimed to attract visitors and money to an economy propped up on Palestinian genocide and ethnic cleansing. In the story of Toldot, birthright is the cause of major strife between two brothers. It's something that causes deep grief, distress, and exile. The parallels are too uncanny.

What I ask after reading this portion, and what I ask for those who INSIST that it is in fact their non-Palestinian birthright to visit, colonize, and settle on a land that is not theirs: why not just say no? I understand that people who follow Torah fully believe that Hashem chose this one plot of land to slap all the Jews for some divine miracle to occur. But what I'm asking is, scripture aside, has it ever occurred to you to look at what you're being told, to see that Palestinians are being murdered and terrorized for your "birthright" and choose to say no? Think of the Midwives in Egypt who were told by their highest power to kill the Hebrew babies, lest they suffer grave consequences for going against the Pharaoh. They knew they'd be in danger and potentially die for disobeying, but they chose to say no and not harm those babies. What good is a birthright, what good is a promised land, what good is scripture if it causes nothing but pain and strife between humans? I'd rather reject the notion that as a Jew I must make my way to Palestine for the ultimate Jewish life. That my relationship with Hashem is only sacred and at it's most divine within the bounds of Al-Quds and Palestine. No. I will not listen to an order that forces me to contribute to genocide. If I need to debate Hashem in the spirit world about my decisions, so be it.

What kind of life could Jacob and Esau have experienced if instead of fighting over birthright, they chose each other? What if instead of having a rivalry over birthright they dropped out of the race altogether and said "if my brother cannot receive the blessing with me, I do not want it". What kind of deep, wonderful, respectful dynamic would this have created? What if instead of taking a birthright trip, Jews who were not born in Palestine chose to see the death and genocide Israel is waging against Palestinians in their name. What if instead of creating more division and hatred, death, fragmented and erased culture, and war, Jews said no. I choose life. I choose healing the harms caused by Israelis. I choose finding ways to support Palestinian liberation, safety, health, and mental wellbeing. I choose to honor the land Hashem deeply loved and care for it, not colonize and destroy it, not burn down generations old olive trees, not destroy Muslim graveyards, not erase Sephardic culture, not create more tension in a region ravaged by decades of colonialism. What if we found divinity in our own homes and invited Hashem to visit us where we have landed. To ask that our humble abode be as grand in their eyes as Al-Quds and Palestine. To ask that we stop harming others in the name of our beautiful faith. To ask if we can stop placing blood on Hashem's hands, on our hands. We have to come clean. We have to care for one another.

Jacob and Esau wept tears of joy upon seeing each other decades later, after all the pain and cruelty they caused each other over birthright. The tears they shed are a deep rooted pain; we were never meant to cause each other so much harm. We were meant for care, for support, for love.

Free Palestine, from the river to the sea.