#a rant— more or less

[canichangemyblogname]

There are more planned student walk outs in Chicago & the Chicago Land to protest the Biden Administration’s foreign policy in regards to Palestine. And ahead of the protests, the JUF/JFC is sending out talking points to counter the narrative and paint these as “anti-Israel” protests as opposed to pro-ceasefire, pro-peace, and pro-Palestinian.

And they’re using the Republican’s narrative playbook. For the last many years, Republicans have launched a national campaign against the “woke agenda” in schools as a way to marginalize queer voices and black and brown voices, culminating in Florida’s massive book ban. Their main narrative? That teachers are filling our children’s heads with “woke” propaganda to hate the US.

This has been the narrative of conservative media for years now:

But now the JUF is also taking advantage of the “parental rights” fears sweeping the county and the “teachers are brainwashing kids to be woke” narrative. Teachers and “outside influences” (Who? Hamas? Hamas is in CP schools? Who are these nebulous, shadowy “outside influences”? And why does this talking point remind me so much of anntisemitic conspiracies?) are teaching your children to be anti-Israel and are encouraging this protest behavior among the young.

What’s truly insidious, however, is that they are mixing this message with legitimate acts of antisemitism to make it seem like teachers are out here teaching and endorsing antisemitism. “This is extremism masquerading as activism.” This is what these protests looked like last time, btw:

Look at that violent, extreme… *checks notes* sit in at… *checks notes* City Hall. “Peaceful,” in quotation marks, according to the JUF. (BSFFR, please)

(This isn’t to say that there is and has never, ever been antisemitism within any movement. Or to say that antisemitic bad actors cannot take advantage of a pro-peace movement to spread their propaganda. Do not “bean soup” this post.)

And— of course— they’re hammering home the idea “Palestine will be Free” is a call for the genocide of Jews.

These are some of the “contextual” talking points they suggest people use when talking about these walkouts:

Did you know it’s not genocide when— hold up. Let me check something. Okay. 1 in 4 Gazans are starving. Over 33,000 dead and over 61,000 injured according to Euro Med. In 100+ days, 4% of Gaza has become a casualty statistic. At the beginning of Israel’s bombing campaign, they expected 15,000 babies to be born into crisis. We know that some of those 15,000 have been murdered in the occupation. But that seems— and then we have the hike in maternal mortality, the hike in emergency hysterectomies, the hike in uterine infections from a lack of sanitation, and IOF soldiers in the enclave choosing to let newborns die… and— hold on. Yeah, their math isn’t mathing.

———

When Israel shoots civilians at point-blank and rounds up unarmed men en masse and bombs UN schools and raids hospitals and bombs residential buildings with non-precision missiles and cuts civilians off from food, water, and medical supplies and destroys water tanks and salts the earth and films itself chanting and cheering and applauding for the death of Arabs, it’s because they care about civilians and are doing EVERYTHING in their power to protect civilian life. Really? Okay, sure, and I’m the King of England.

———

Also, did you know that having ancestors in a region 3500 years ago and the existence of Mizrahi Jews gives Israel the right to displace Palestinians whose families have lived there for the same time? It also apparently excuses Israel’s mass killing of Palestinian children. Amazing logic, truly.

———

I also want to make it ABUNDANTLY clear that this is a summary of what the ICJ said:

“Alarming signs of genocide in Gaza, and Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law highlight the urgent need for effective, unified pressure on Israel to stop its onslaught against Palestinians. An immediate ceasefire by all parties remains essential and – although not ordered by the Court – is the most effective condition to implement the provisional measures and end unprecedented civilian suffering.”

“The stakes could not be higher – the ICJ’s provisional measures indicate that in the Court’s view the survival of Palestinians in Gaza is at risk. The Israeli government must comply with the ICJ’s ruling immediately. All states – including those who were critical of or opposed South Africa’s submission of the genocide case – have a clear duty to ensure these measures are implemented. World leaders from the USA, UK, Germany and other EU states must signal their respect for the Court’s legally binding decision and do everything in their power to uphold their obligation to prevent genocide. Failure to do so would be a grave blow to the credibility and trust in the international legal order.” X

Yes, the ICJ ruling did not immediately find Israel guilty of genocide as such a decision will likely take years. Yes, the ICJ did not order a ceasefire; it strongly suggested a ceasefire as the court has no enforcement mechanism. HOWEVER, the ICJ found cause for great concern for the Israeli military’s actions and the statements of Israeli political leaders. They found that “At least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention.”

That is an incredible preliminary blow to Israel. The court ruled that South Africa has standing and that the case can proceed as Israel’s actions could constitute genocide (only further pursuance of South Africa’s case can lead to a verdict).

———

Hamas has also offered yet another ceasefire proposal that was rejected by Israel. They both keep rejecting each other’s ceasefire proposals. But the JUF’s rhetoric conveniently ignores the fact that a ceasefire and exchange has been the only measure successful at getting the hostages home. This is not some Hamas apologia. It’s admitting that this single-minded and narrow focus on Hamas, their war crimes, and their ideology has given many organizations tunnel vision when it comes to solutions to get Israelis home. They’ve been so blinded by anger and grief that they forget you do in fact have to negotiate with terrorists to get hostages home. It also purposefully ignores Israel’s culpability and responsibilities in all of this. It’s a “whataboutism” fallacy.

“Israel needs to stop carpet bombing Gaza.” “What about Hamas? That ignores Hamas’ crimes.”

First. No, it doesn’t. Second. What about Hamas? No. Seriously. Let’s talk about it. After 100+ days of bombing, Israel clearly has not prevented them from continuing to rule the enclave. They still have the means and forces to engage militarily and diplomatically. This “total eradication” campaign has been a complete failure (only 7% of terrorist organization globally have been quelled by military force, ever; you cannot “war” against a tactic, no matter how brutal the tactic or the response). So, what about them? They’re still militarily capable and still holding onto power. The carpet bombing has not worked. Israel is once more failing to “eradicate” a threat to Israeli Jewish safety, as it always will.

“But if we negotiate and Hamas remains in power, Israeli Jews and Palestinians will not be safe.” Yes. And if Israel— the country that long funded Hamas and let them gain power and train in Gaza— also remains in power, both Israeli Jews and Palestinians will not be safe. Israel has proven that the Zionist project is a failure. Oct. 7th proved that Israel is categorically incapable of doing exactly what it was (supposedly) established to do: protect Jews from pogroms. And rather than admit that Zionism will not protect Jewish people— because that would mean admitting Israel has no ideology to continue standing— Israel would rather massacre Palestinians in retaliation. They’d rather continue their 75+ year campaign; their settler colonial project, of ethnically cleansing the region of its inhabitants.

———

Zionism will continue to fail to protect Jews in the levant and will continue to lead to Jewish and Arab death and radicalization. For fuck’s sake, Zionism— and the Israeli settler project, specifically— is why Hamas exists. Both literally and politically. And it is what is ultimately responsible for the plight of the Palestinian people.

The world needs to help this region work toward implementing a completely new system. There needs to be a ceasefire & humanitarian aid, first and foremost. There needs to be hostages exchanged, too. Bibi needs to step down. There need to be serious deradicalization programs in Israel for parties like the Likud and their supporters. And— yes— there would need to be deradicalization programs in Gaza and the West Bank; these would primarily focus on resilience, rebuilding, and addressing the Palestinian mental health crisis (deradicalization among a disenfranchised people is oft best achieved by meeting their needs). There needs to be a global effort to rebuild Palestinian enclaves FOR the Palestinians who were living there. There needs to be a global effort to facilitate the right of return. There needs to be mega constitutional reforms to ensure Palestinians have the rights they MUST have and Jews immigrating to and living in the levant have the security and recognition as a people that they want. It is *impossible* to have one without the other. This reform will require a “dismantling” of the Israeli state as it currently exists. That reform *is* a “radical” revolution. The parliament and national bureaucracy will cease to exist in its current form as a new one will replace it. Hamas will not remain in power (before or) after this. Neither will Zionism. <<This is all a very simple summary of a way forward, as none of this addresses Iran’s influence on regional militias.

This is complex in the sense that a solution will not be easy and there are many powers and interests at play. This is not complex in the sense that carpet bombing civilians is wrong.

And this is not so complex in the sense that— no— Chicago teens are not calling for the Genocide of Jews. Please use common sense as opposed to inflaming tensions and fears. They are clearly marching because they want violence to stop. And, no, the reason they’re opposed to violence has nothing to do with teacher “woke” propaganda, but thank you for spreading right-wing conspiracies among traditionally progressive voter bases. This is a generation of kids who grew up with mass shooters. They’ve been conducting walk outs over violence and weapons for years now. They are staunchly opposed to weapons manufacturing and sales *because* of their history of suffering under the onslaught of gun violence. And— shit— they see Gaza and are reminded of Tulsa. They see IOF soldiers and citizens filming themselves stopping and harassing Palestinian children and are reminded of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Elijah McClain. They hear of Palestinians being shot dead in their sleep and are reminded of Breonna Taylor.

This isn’t some grand conspiracy, but it’s easier to argue it is than contend with your worldview. You’d rather silence speakers and ban books than challenge power.

[featheredadora]

Disabled people shouldn't have to jump through hoops!!

[thottybrucewayne]

I think what I want to get into with the "Anyone can do harm." thing that I keep beating yall over the head with is that literally anyone, anyone at all can do harm it's not "in your DNA" to be an abuser or written in the stars that you'll be a predator. Whatever image you have of an abuser in your head, drop it and replace it with your favorite person in the world and you'll probably be closer to the truth than you realize. It's easy to address harm when it's coming from someone you already hate. I see it happen all the time. Someone you couldn't stand for no real reason does something heinous then all of a sudden here comes the avalanche of "I always knew they were a fucked up individual." No, you didn't. There is no possible way you could have known, you just already didn't fuck with them before they started doing something you could use to justify your hatred of them. I'm guilty of it too! I'm petty, mean, vindictive, and yes! I'm way quicker to believe something bad about someone I hate versus someone I love because I'm human. Still, y all gotta learn to move past that initial "Well, they were always nice to me!" gut feeling and understand that nobody truly knows anyone and anyone can be capable of anything. Even victims. Even you.

[amphibianaday]

day 1421

[kazmaniandevii]

now you call it madness

but i call it love

[haunted-xander]

I think Ryne would have a kinda skewed sense of what's normal. Like, she may technically know what's "normal" for most people, but what's normal for her is way different. She's raised by two men who are both Weird, only one of which can even pretend to be normal (and like hell Thancred bothered with that while on the run with Ryne lol)

Ryne thinks that talking circles round pixies is common knowledge from her many stays in Il Mheg. It is not. She also thinks knowing how to and being able to stomach skinning and gutting animals for food is normal. It's certainly more common, but unless you're a hunter it absolutely does not come as easily. Being able to walk and run around quietly is something she technically knows is unusual, but since her company has mainly consisted of a professional spy and a man who barely leaves home she tends to forget that most people can't do that.

I can't come up with anymore atm but. Ryne should get to be just a little weird(er) I think

[thatonepersonthatdied]

I think it’s silly how in fics Danny’s like “oh thank the ancients” or otherwise using them as a stand in for “oh my god”. He beat half their asses bi weekly and they only made him stronger. He spits on their names like a Canadian who just got attacked by geese 

He is cocky and full of rage. He can and has fist fought several gods, no way is he respecting them.

Maybe clockwork and pandora, but no one else (nope, nvm on clockwork).

Anyway I think he should curse them out or use them in derogatory ways rather than use them as a curse

Examples:

Oh fuck the Observants!

You’re dumber than the Observants

I’m gonna beat you so hard Nocturn would be impressed

I hope Vortex goes up ur ass hole

Overgrowth wants to know what ur smoking

I hope overgrowth eats ur mom

I’m not that creative but you get the point.

(This is no way a dis on the ancient trope, I like it fine enough)

[shapelytimber]

not sure if you've answered this before but for the sapphic au... how did leia and luke get made if their parents are both cis ? are they force babies, created by anakin meddling with the force just as sidious did and thereby killing padme? or maybe they just went to star wars sperm bank idk. desperately curious to see if you have an explanation in mind or if they just kind of popped into existence (sorry I just get wrapped up in silly details with everything)

Oh am I glad you asked !

Only hole in my flawless explanation..... There is no way in hell Anakin in topping regularly in this relationship. So gotta assume the moment they tried to switch it up a bit they got magic stap babies.

[ween-kitchens]

mildly frustrated at how many 'we need to talk about lizzie more' posts ive seen and the distinct lack of actual posts of art or writing about lizzie that ive seen cross my dash

like guys i thought we wanted to talk about lizzie and not the fandom's problems when is that happening

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

henlooo just wondering if you have any sketches of morax' parents? or you can describe them and who he'd taken after?

i did have a sketch lying around, so i've cleaned it up and colored it!

in this hc zhongli would've gotten his dad's facial features, but like,, all the colors from his mom save the skin tone. also her smile. his dad is a qilin and i gave him a tail bc 1) qilin have tails 2) ganyu has no tail but she's half-human so that tells me nothing and 3) i can do what i want lmao

remember the mom was a jewelsmith so all the dangling bits and everything gold was made by her. the only reason the dad isn't absolutely decked in baubles like a christmas tree is bc he thinks it gets cumbersome at some point n the mom is like "you're no fun". he does let her use his horns as hangers for necklaces n shit while she works tho. the dad was also the one who saved baby zhongli from being a christmas tree, too.

zhongli does get his androgynous swag from both of them

[colekinnie-4life]

This goes along with my 2 part rant I made a while ago :3

[chickensauras]

Ok listen. I just have *some thoughts*. Thoughts I can't articulate. So I drew this instead :U

Ref image is from ch. 6

[skywalkr-nberrie]

Girlboss Padmé stans saying that her dying out of sadness over losing Anakin is “out of character” (when it’s actually not.) because she would want to live for her twins, as she’s always desired to have her own children one day? They missed the huge part of her character that said she desired to have a “family” specifically, which included her husband. She wanted to settle down with someone she loved and have children with THEM. Nobody could ever impress Padmé enough to stir her away from duty until Anakin came into her life. Padmé finally found that one person whom she could have all she desired with and that was Anakin. She could have her kids, her husband, her very much desired family, they all are mentioning.

She loved Anakin way more than her duty, and this is the part they purposely ignore. Which is why her ending doesn’t add up to any of them. Willfully ignoring her character and behave as a hypocrite when they say they “understand her.” Yes, duty was important to Padmé, but she always wanted to step away from that to enjoy her life, which she was so close to having. And blaming her for dying out of an unendurable heartbreak is cruel.

Constantly bringing up the deleted ROTS concept of Padmé going to Mustafar to end Anakin, and claiming that ending would be “better” for her proves you’re only projecting your own ideals into her character and not truly loving and appreciating her as she is. Funnily enough, the knife concept is widely misinterpreted by these fans as well. They see it as the colder and more detached version of Padmé’s character, but that’s a huge misconception 🤷🏾‍♀️ in the OG concept, Padmé only went there with the intention to end Anakin’s life because she loves him so much, then inevitably isn’t able to actually kill him because of the amount of love she had for him.

And I’ll be the first to say that had anyone else been reported to be seen killing younglings and other Jedi, it would be in character for Padmé to bring this issue in front of the senate and bring the culprit to justice. However, it was never going to be the same when it came to Anakin, and that’s the pill these girlboss stans can’t swallow. They can’t handle that Anakin was more precious to Padmé than duty.

Fact is that Padmé would choose him over and over again if the opportunity presented itself. Of course, she wouldn’t have joined him when he asked to rule the galaxy with him (in the same way Luke doesn’t when Vader asks his son the same question. And somehow people are still able to comprehend that Luke still loves and believes in his father, despite refusing to join him, but don’t apply this same logic for Padmé?) nor would she justify his actions, she’d be severely against them 100%. She’d even in her own way take up actions against the Empire, and go up against anything Anakin was being put up too. (Like working with the Rebellion, and taking Anakin away from the chaos.) But she’d never lose faith in his goodness, nor would she ever abandon him. (like many insist she should’ve, or choose to turn him in to the authorities.)

It’s 100% in her character to put Anakin as her top priority. Her first and main allegiance and devotion is to him (she even says so in ROTS junior novel.) her loyalties was from day 1 with Anakin, more than anything. And why is that? It’s because Padmé not only loves Anakin, but she knows him. In fact, It’s because she knows him, that she loves him so deeply. She can understand and sympathize with him, she knows he’s a good person at his core, and would never hurt anyone out of malice or aim for power. If he’s committing atrocities? Padmé would know he’s going it out of a desperate act of love, which is something Padmé can relate to and understand.

And if you ask me, talking as if Padmé chose to die, is completely unfair, and shows no compassion nor sympathy for her character. Even if she did, holding that against her is also inconsiderate. No, this poor woman couldn’t handle the loss of her husband, whom she loved so much, and mourning the loss of the family they’d have together. It was too much, that she lost heart and succumbed to death. She couldn’t handle it! That in no ways makes Padmé a “bad person” nor does it make her a “bad mother.”

All in all? Padmé loved Luke and Leia so much, and she wanted nothing more than to be with them. Don’t try and downplay that because she lost the will to live. She spent the last bit of strength she had left to bring them into the world, see her babies with her own eyes, and give them a name herself. You can see in her eyes how much she loved them, and how badly she wanted to be with them. But her heart couldn’t take much more. It’s truly tragic. Her whole life was in service of others, and she couldn’t even have one thing to herself. Now she can’t even die in peace thanks to some of these fans 💀

[dlldior]

i cannot begin to tell you guys how much i hate this charles grey fucker and his ugly face and ugly hair someone fire his barber. why is he always here. can he fuck off for once with his annoying ass chipmunk voice and his annoying ass chipmunk face.

[anghraine]

I've been moving and navigating further departmental nonsense etc (my pseudo-dissertation got approved for defending, though! l o l). But it was interesting to see the Worst P&P Takes poll I reblogged accumulating more results and the general tenor of responses in the notes.

I mean, the results are definitely to be expected if you're familiar with the side of Austen fandom doing a lot of the reblogging etc. But still, interesting!

Many Tumblr polls specify that they're asking about personal preferences that may be irrational—favorite/least favorite, coolest/most annoying, or something like that. This one, though, asked for the worst interpretation of P&P, not the most annoying one—and the current leader is "Darcy is never really proud, he's just shy and probably has anxiety" against some very steep competition on the Bad Takes front.

I was thinking about why that seemed a kind of tediously predictable choice even though I agree that the take is wrong, and realized that while I do disagree with the shy Darcy interpretation and I particularly disagree with the specific formulation where he is never proud at all, it ultimately feels to me like a failure of nuance rather than just completely wrongheaded like some of the others. And this is probably my fundamental difference with a lot of Darcy takes I see!

In my opinion, a character who is introverted and who feels awkward in various social situations and who doesn't like common social activities and who has to work himself up to talking to his crush and who is repeatedly suggested to behave very differently in contexts where he's more comfortable being interpreted as shy and anxious is not that big of a leap.

Yes, it's important that he is actually fundamentally confident and haughty, that he makes his personal feelings of discomfort other people's problem, and that he thinks he's such a unique and special butterfly that he doesn't need to even put in an effort outside his personal social circle. But it's a misreading that is easy to follow (and long predates the 2005 P&P, as I've mentioned before!).

The additional misreading that a shy and anxious Darcy is also never proud at all is a much more drastic leap, and in my experience, condemnations of shy Darcy interpretations rarely differentiate between "Darcy is shy as well as arrogant" and "Darcy is shy rather than arrogant" as interpretations (although their basic arguments are quite different). But even that as the worst possible misreading of P&P when Darcy is not even the main character is ?????????

I mean, for one alternative (not even the one I voted for!), the idea that Elizabeth is an author avatar Mary Sue seems a far worse misreading of P&P than basically anything to do with Darcy at all. The center piece of the entire novel is Elizabeth's epiphany of self-knowledge about her own shortcomings that do not particularly resemble Austen's at all, but were ethically a concern for her, and she's a complex, interesting character in general whom Austen correctly regarded as a major achievement. Inverting that into Elizabeth as an improbably perfect, reality-warping self-insert is deeply wrong and frankly pretty misogynistic as well.

(ngl though, it's a little funny to see such a blatantly terrible reading of Elizabeth rank so far behind the shy Darcy votes. I've gotten "does anyone actually think/say that?" so many times on my posts about Austen fandom's prioritization of Darcy's character development over Elizabeth's and yet...)

And even just going with the Darcy-centric misreadings, the idea of Darcy as a "bad boy" seems easily the most absolutely wrong take on him. His pride is at least complicated and the finer points can be fairly debated and it's a quality that actually changes somewhat throughout the novel, and you can have discussion over what happened when, whose testimonies should be weighted more, etc. But there is no point at which "bad boy" isn't utterly wrong for him. However, there's definitely a tendency in some wings of the fandom to find the idea of Darcy being misread too favorably more objectionable than him being read too unfavorably, regardless of the particulars, so it's not a surprise.

I suppose you could argue about what "worst" means in the context of variously bad interpretations. Like, is an interpretation that is about a fairly trivial aspect of the book but extremely wrong about it "worse" than an interpretation that is pretty bad but at least comprehensibly so about something very important?

[uncanny-tranny]

If I'm honest, the whole "love in every stitch" saying for fiber artists does not apply to me, like. I'm trying to get this fucking hook into stubborn yarn and I'll be stabbing it like it owed me money. Is that love because I hope not 😭💀