#the holocaust was a real thing that happened and there are still living survivors it’s not a vague Bad Event to use in rhetorical exercises

[pjharvey-moved]

look i’m no fan of the guy, but i really don’t think comparing joe biden to hitler is the move

[nazrigar]

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

As a gentile, there's many words I want to say, and it's hard because I want to make sure to give proper respect, especially since there are still those in living memory who has survived that horrific part of history, whose consequences still linger to this day.

To those whose lives are lost, may their memory be a blessing.

For fellow gentiles, (and that includes my fellow co-religionists (I'm a Muslim))... this day imo should be one for reflection, and a deep dive into just how deeply bigoted and antisemitic our cultures can be.

Listen and read about stories about what happened to Jewish survivors after the War, how even after surviving that, BIG section of Europe were either:

In Denial

Still Hostile

Took over their properties, forcing them to leave.

Meanwhile, one of the most horrifying things to me on a personal level, as a Muslim, is seeing other Muslims in full-throated denial about the historical mistreatment of Jewish people by the hands of our own co-religionists. I know, twitter isn't real life... but the sheer vitriol I've seen out there.

Example: I get that the Muslim empires were considered better than the Christian kingdoms in the medieval era for at different points of history... but guys... they still were considered second class citizens with no legal rights if a Muslim accused a Jew of a crime.

Us gentiles have to do better imo. We need to do a LOT more to challenge our internal biases.

[matan4il]

Update post:

Today is the 180th day of the war. Almost 6 months since the Hamas massacre started this war. And still, when I came across a video clip of TV announcers broadcasting on Oct 7, 2023 and I heard the words, "hundreds of Israelis have been killed" (even as I know that the number was actually greater than that, something that took time to confirm back in October), it still felt like it just happened, like it's still hard to believe it's real, and not a nightmare that we might wake up from any moment now.

A combined terrorist attack (vehicular and then stabbing) took place over night. A 26 years old Arab man drove his car into 4 policemen, injuring them, one initially was in a serious condition. The terrorist then drove on, stopped by another group of police personnel, where he got out of the car and tried stabbing them. He was neutralized.

Obviously, everyone in Israel has heard about the aid workers killed in Gaza. IDK yet how it happened, what the details are, we're all waiting to hear, just like other fair-minded people are (I'm not talking about the anti-Israel crowd, who have made up their minds before the incident even happened, they come pre-programmed with the belief that everything wrong is both Israel's fault and intentional). For now, it looks like a huge, tragic mistake, based on misidentification in the middle of the night (such mistakes sadly happen. The accidental death of 3 Israeli hostages in broad daylight was an example that it does, and other "friendly fire" incidents that have happened to Israeli soldiers are another. That's war, there's tragically no army with zero mistakes on its record). I am SO sorry for the innocent people killed, and their loved ones. I feel for them, for their pain and loss.

That said, how do I know it wasn't intentional? For one thing, because World Central Kitchen is actually one of the few humanitarian aid organizations that tried to help both Palestinians and Israelis. Which is one reason Israel very much wanted WCK to be a major factor in aiding people in Gaza in the long run, not just during the war, and the last thing it would want, is for these workers to be hurt, and for this organization to stop working there. The other thing is that we know an incident like this might provide enough international pressure to force Israel to stop the war, while our hostages are still held in the hands of brutal rapist terrorists, and while Hamas still exists, and threatens more massacres like the one we saw on Oct 7. What logical country would sacrifice the safety of its 9.8 million citizens (and the 8.4 million non-citizens it sees itself as responsible for, too) just in order to kill 7 random people, who were perceived as helping it, and who aren't even a part of the group that supposedly this country is targeting? It's not a logical call to make. Anyone who thinks Israel did this intentionally, is treating the Jewish state as if it's a comic book evil villain. I wonder why. When a humanitarian aid airdrop accidentally killed at least 5 Palestinians, and at least 18 were killed during another, I don't remember that anyone was quick to say it was intentional without so much as an investigation, or that those responsible for it must be stopped, rather than that they must study what went wrong, and continue while taking precautions that it won't happen again.

In Belgium, a home for Holocaust survivors has been vandalized with supposedly pro-Palestinian graffiti, reading "Gaza free" and followed by a swastika. This is pure antisemitism, very thinly veiled.

Here's a reminder that if Hamas is allowed to continue existing, and ruling Gaza as a dictatorship, that's not just a threat to the lives of Israeli and Jews, it's also horrible news for Palestinians. IDF soldiers found in Gaza documents that reveal how Hamas had tortured and brutally executed one of its own commanders back in 2016, based on the accusation that he's gay. Anyone who claims to be pro-Palestinian, but is silent about the human rights abuses that Palestinian suffer at the hands of their own leadership, is not that at all, they're just exploiting the Palestinians to demonize Jews.

This is 22 years old Dor Almog (right) and his best friend, Amit.

Amit invited him to the Nova music festival, but he had to miss most of it due to an exam he had. Dor planned to study, and then join his friend at the end of the party, but he fell asleep, and was woken up by the sirens alerting everyone about the thousands of Hamas rockets fired at Israel at 6:30 in the morning. "That was the last time I saw Amit," Dor said about the moment his best friend left for the party. "We've been friends since the age of zero." Amit went to the party and was murdered by Hamas terrorists. Dor and the rest of Amit's friends decided to get his tattoo on their body, and that at some point they would travel to India, which was his dream that he didn't get to fulfil. Dor fought to be called for reserves duty in Gaza. He's the only soldier who survived the deadliest incident there, in which 21 Israeli young men were killed, the last operation his unit was supposed to be a part of, before being discharged. When the explosion took place, he was in a building that collapsed, he fell two floors, and the building crashed over him. "I smiled, because I thought I was about to die, and be with Amit again. But then I literally saw a light at the end of a tunnel, and started crawling there." He was kept in a coma for 5 days, to help his body cope, and only 2 days after he woke up, was he told the news about what happened to his friends in the unit. "That was the real blow." When asked about being a hero, he said, "I'll be that when I get back on my feet."

May Amit's memory be a blessing.

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

[i-cant-sing]

I just want to take a moment as someone from Israel-in Israel. A woman in Israel.

I do not agree with what my country is doing. I do not agree with the violence and atrocities we commit. But just like Americans, we can be against a war our country is fighting.

Yes, if Israel stops this war, the war is over. It is not equal.

But we cannot ignore what Palestine has done, also. I have lost family. Many people I know have lost family. I am fortunate in that I was not ever taken, I am far from the border, but I know someone who lost a sister. When her body was recovered, she had been raped. This happens on both sides, as women are seen as property of the state. But it does not excuse it. There is no excuse in raping women. Not even for freedom, as how can you achieve freedom through violating women?

I understand it muddies waters to say that there is violence on both sides. There are atrocities on both sides. We like to pretend it is one sided as it makes it easier. But it isn't. You can be the country in the right and still commit war crimes.

I understand if my words are seen as unwelcome here. But I wished to see it acknowledged, the pain that has been brought, not always justly. War is simple, but it is also complex. Trauma goes back generations, it grows roots and takes hold. The fear of the Israeli people for another holocaust is perhaps not well founded, but it is real in our minds. It will always be. The hatred we faced for something not of our doing by Palestinians was real. Our response does not become justified, an overreaction is not justified. But it was real. Their hatred for their land being taken was real-but their reaction to us was not justified. Not in the beginning.

I suppose i am trying to point out the suffering we face as a reminder that we are not our country. I do not enjoy seeing myself and my family and friends vilified in media because of where we live-where we were uprooted to because our family was murdered and our homes taken from us. But I understand our government does evil, now. But we are not our government. Even if we wished to speak up for Palestine, we would be branded terrorists. The things done to innocents is never justified, on either side.

This isn't a war because for a war, both countries should be able to have somewhat similar resources to defend themselves. It's a fucking massacre, a genocide, a cold blooded murder.

Look at Israel's military budget, that gets US aid. Now compare it with Palestine.

Your suffering, the death of your loved ones, your pain, its not invalidated, but it certainly will never compare to the pain of Palestinians.

I understand that this is Israel's government that's behind all this, but you guys are the ones who voted for them. So you should come out and begin protesting for Palestine, even at the cost of being labelled as "antisemitic" or "hamas sympathiser". If Holocaust survivors were to be here, do you think they'd stay silent? People of Israel chose and voted their government officials who now don't even consider Palestinians as humans, so... sorry to say honey, but yall are also responsible for this genocide.

Water, food, fuel, electricity, even donations and trucks carrying MEDICAL supplies have been cut off or prevented from reaching Palestinians. Is that happening in Israel rn? Didn't McDonald's just promise to supply food to the Israle armed forces??

Now, anon, imagine this-

Your country is being bombed, what for? You're not even sure exactly at this point. You've been kicked out of your home, which was then bombarded. your dad's business? All gone, his money, tears sweat, were all for naught. You've been shifted to a refugee camp, and you've been moving from one camp to another for many years because you're constantly hearing airstrikes. You've lost many of your siblings, family, friends. Every night that you go to sleep, with your mother making sure that all of remaining family members are sleeping together, so that in case something happens, you're all dead and no one has to live in pain to mourn for others. Your entire childhood is gone now because you've witnessed such horrible conditions, death is almost always a certainty, and you're struggling for basic necessities such as drinking water, food, etc. Almost all of your family is dead, you were one of the "lucky" ones who didn't die under a pile of rubble. You're grown up now, and you're thinking of leaving this hell by educating yourself and applying to a university outside of Palestine but oh oh! Well, the passing rate is incredibly low, less than 1% of students pass a test which is graded by an occupying force. The doctor who onec treated you is now breaking down becase she lost her entore family in the airstrike while she was helping victims of the same airstrikes, but she doesnt have time to mourn them or wven bury them because the hospital is understaffed nd theres way too many trauma patients in the triage that need her. Oh and look, your best friend was just shot in the back of the head. What for? He was just walking down the street. And the little kid you saw yesterday? Well he was body slammed to the ground by the occupying force's police and taken into custody where he was forced to confess to a crime he never committed, WAS TRAUMATISED AND TORTURED and was never even given a fair trial before he was locked up for more than 2 decades, after which this kid, now an adult has developed schizophrenia. As for you, you thank your lucky stars because you passed your test somehow but oh no. You're suddenly being taken into custody by the occupying force for "suspicious activity and links to a terrorist organisation".

Shall I go on?

[tieflingkisser]

Schrödinger’s genocide

In Gaza, as in Bosnia, a genocide is denied only to be glorified.

Bosnians have experience with genocide. Not just the signs of it coming. Not just the fact of it happening. But also this strange phenomenon we call “Schrödinger’s genocide”: the simultaneous glorification and denial of genocide. There is a cruel dance between the systematic relativisation of the legal qualification of genocide and the continuous pursuit of genocidal politics and its results. Despite the verdicts issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), we have not healed. The ethnically cleansed Republika Srpska still stands as the triumph of the Serb genocidal project. Bosnian history has demonstrated the futility of the “never again” mantra and Gaza is now confirming it. The genocide of my people was accompanied by the same rhetoric that Israeli officials now espouse: a genocidal army is the only thing standing between Europe and “Muslim barbarians”, they claim. I have often lamented how the Jews, who struggled for years after World War II to globalise the knowledge about the Holocaust, started facing serious Holocaust denial as the number of living survivors started to dwindle. Swedish survivors Hédi Fried (98) and Emerich Roth (97) died recently – a major loss for the Jewish community and those working to uphold the “never again” vow. By contrast, Bosnians are experiencing genocide denial while most of us, survivors, are still alive. Genocide scholar Gregory Stanton argued there are 10 stages of genocide, the last one being denial, but we are effectively experiencing the 11th phase: glorification and triumphalism. There are people who not only invest resources into historical revisionism of the genocide they committed in the 1990s, but are de facto threatening to repeat it. The Bosnian “final solution” was not properly finalised, they often say. In my home city, Banja Luka, the administrative capital of Republika Srpska, you can buy T-shirts with the faces of war criminals Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić, Biljana Plavšić, and Slobodan Milošević. And Russian President Vladimir Putin, too. In the case of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already characterised as a plausible genocide, we see denial among Israeli politicians and propagandists while it is still going on. There is even more denial in Western countries with histories of horrific genocides, especially Germany. Western governments and media are engaged in a systematic cover-up of Israeli war crimes and bullying of those who try to expose them. Laws are proposed on short notice that aim to criminalise free speech and criticism of Israel. At the same time, the glorification of this genocide is broadcast in real time on social media. Accounts with thousands of followers post footage of Israeli soldiers committing war crimes. People want credit even for discrediting content. The Palestinians have been dehumanised to such an extent that their executioners are deeply convinced that their violent acts are not just morally justified but also noble, and they must take pride in their “good work”. The Serb authorities did much to hide the concentration camps from foreign journalists. They tried to cover up massacres, moving mass graves multiple times. By contrast, the hubris of Israeli soldiers drives them to produce countless images and videos of their work: endearing messages to loved ones from sites of destruction, the mocking of everything Palestinian, proud repetitions of the genocidal discourse.

[keep reading]

[pussypopstiel]

Thank you for your response. I apologize for how aggressive I was, I've been feeling extremely defensive recently amongst the massive wave of antisemitism that is on the rise on the US right now and the almost total refusal from a lot of the left to acknowledge it. I've had people tell me point blank that antisemitism doesn't exist outside of neo-nazi circles and that Jews aren't oppressed anymore twice just today. There are graffiti swastikas all over my neighborhood right now and I'm seeing people comment "Free Palestine" under videos of Adolf Hitler. So I'm on the defense right now when it comes to the antisemitic tropes I'm seeing in the conversation and just assumed I wasn't going to get a polite answer because that's what keeps happening.

I appreciate that you considered what I was saying. You also put in the tags that I could message you again if I still had concerns so here I am. I understand that that post is supposed to be directed at a certain subset of the Jewish population, primarily at Zionists. But antisemetic tropes are still harmful when they are used against bad people. The way the Holocaust is being leveraged right now as a rhetorical tool in this discourse by both sides is horrific. It is not appropriate to ever compare Jewish anxiety about genocide to white supremacist fantasies about a white genocide, because the difference is that the Holocaust actually happened, and many of its survivors are still alive. This doesn't mean you can't call out people who use the Holocaust as a device to justify the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. But you have to address that rhetoric under the conditions of acknowledging that the Holocaust actually happened.

People can and should be angry at people who use the Holocaust to justify what the Israeli government is doing now. But it has to be talked about in that we should be angry on behalf of the people that were killed that their deaths are now being leveraged to perpetuate more war crimes. Comparing the disingenuous rhetorical device of using the Holocaust in this way to anxieties about a white genocide does not do this. Rather, it creates a false equivalence between these things that lends credibility to the idea that the Holocaust either wasn't real or is something that is wildly overexaggerated.

This and the way that post talks about some belief in a Jewish "superiority" make it very clear that they are drawing strong comparisons between Jewish Zionists and white supremacists. This just is not an appropriate comparison no matter what evils the Israeli government is perpetuating. Jews are consistently the target of white supremacists, a fact that is constantly denied by the left who are very happy to lump us in with white people and then ignore antisemitism within their own ranks because they just see calling it out as pulling an "all lives matter." Considering the massive wave of antisemitism that is on the rise right now, it is more important than ever that we don't slip into this kind of rhetoric when rightfully criticizing what is happening in Israel and Palestine. No matter how abhorrent the actions the Israeli government is taking, it doesn't change that Jews are Semitic people, are not white, and are not "manufacturing" a "fear of what could be for you." Again, this phrasing heavily implies that Jewish fears about genocide are irrational and comparable to white supremacist anxiety about "white genocide." It's just not appropriate no matter what subsection of the Jewish population the post is addressing. It's a false equivalence. Zionists who use fears of being the target of a genocide to now perpetuate genocide nonetheless aren't making up the idea that Jews could and have been targets of mass extermination campaigns. They're using this anxiety to justify evil, but that doesn't mean it's overall manufactured.

To be clear I fully believe people of different religions and ethnicities in the Levant can live in peace, and it the idea that they can't is absolutely being used as a tool by the Israeli government to perpetuate genocide. But like I said it is just not appropriate ever to compare this to fears about "white genocide" because it is falsely equivicating the Holocaust to a made up persecution of white people that has never and will never happen.

Hello, I’m glad you took the first message well and I am really sorry you’ve had to deal with antisemitism within the pro Palestine movement, the fact that people would use this movement to hide their anti semetic feelings is terrible and not justifiable whatsoever.

Before i say anything im gonna specify that everything im saying is from how I interpreted the post, that doesn’t make your interpretation invalid or somehow frame it as you stretching to an outlandish conclusion. Your experiences are your own and however you interpret it belongs to you and you’re allowed to be upset. The only time the post mentioned jewish people as a whole was in the beginning where they were criticizing the idea of Palestinian liberation requiring jewish harm. Jewish people genuinely fearing a second holocaust is always going to be a valid fear—but the way its being leveraged by zionists as an excuse to wipe out a population is whats being criticized. I understand the comparison to a white genocide may be out of taste and not the best comparison because of the real histories jewish people have faced, but i feel the point of using that comparison is to highlight the hypocrisy of zionists and how their fears have bubbled past justifiable and now more closely fit the ideals of those who scream about white genocide. As they genocide an entire population while talking about the fear they feel of being oppressed in the way they are currently oppressing others. Its not a call out of “jewish supremacy” reflecting how jewish people as a whole “feel superior”. It is known atleast to me that the US support of israel is not because theyre jewish and does not connect to specific jewish stereotypes, but because israel is a great resource and an ally to the US. I understand the route of thinking you had regarding the post that could lead to people using this to justify antisemitism and i think its fucking terrible—but the case is that the Israeli government is manufacturing fear into people that everyone against Israel is antisemitic and standing against Israel is anti semitism when thats not the case.

The issue is that zionists believe the Palestinian people are oppressing the people of Israel and anyone who supports them wants to commit this second holocaust against Jewish people, that anyone who is pro Palestine is in favor of Jewish harm. I can’t impart any validity to that fear because it is what’s causing all this trouble. This isn’t the general Jewish populations fear, this is just zionists who have been conditioned to think anyone against Israel is an enemy.

i understand you think comparing the zionists who are fighting to wipe out the Palestinian population to white supremacists is not appropriate, and this is just where we have to disagree. The Israeli government dosent work as a cold inhuman machine thats sending bots out to kill people. There are real people in tanks, real people doing ground invasions, real people sending the bombs out that wipe out entire bloodlines. I think comparing their actions to those of white supremacists makes perfect sense. And it is perfectly understandable that jewish people would fear a second holocaust, but the way the Israeli government is leveraging the holocaust as a way to drum up fear in a population and create an “us vs them” mentality towards a group of people who did not perpetrate those acts towards them and instead making them perpetuate the same harm that was done onto their ancestors is despicable. Its easy for criticisms of zionists and the israeli government to fall under antisemitism if people start equating zionism with judaism as a whole, which was not the purpose of the post and never will be a stance i support. If you cant call out zionists without assuming im talking about the jewish population as a whole then theres no way i can call out zionists without possibly hurting you which hurts the movement as a whole.

I think all this boils down to is knowing that zionist is not a dog whistle for all Jewish people. When we talk about zionists were not talking about all jewish people. I think we may fundamentally disagree on some things but at the end of the day this is something thats gonna happen and splitting hairs isnt whats helpful to the Palestinian people facing a genocide right now. If you still feel hurt i understand but i dont think what your hurt is relates to the original post and its intentions but rather your own personal experiences which is valid. Have a good day!👍🏼

[philsmeatylegss]

Daily reminder, especially to people with young children or who plan on having children, that the only living Holocaust survivors were teenagers or children when it happened and are now in their late 80s or 90s. Most of us have had the honor of readily available Holocaust survivors to give in-person speeches. But with this next generation, they will not have this opportunity. Even with thousands of survivors still alive and speaking their story, there are tens of thousands who don’t believe the Holocaust happened. So when all survivors all pass and there’s a new generation who never heard survivors speak, I can only imagine how much more that idiotic idea will spread. If you have children, no matter how young, take them to see a survivor. Make sure they are aware from a young age that a bad thing called the Holocaust happened and it is real. Use your experience of hearing survivors to convey the reality. Baby boomers, gen x, millennials, and most of gen z luckily don’t need this because most of us met survivors or had relatives who met survivors. We didn’t need to be told it happened. But as these survivors quickly dwindle by the day, it is the responsibility of everyone, even those without children, to make sure the next generations know that the Holocaust was real and that anyone who says otherwise are idiotic, disrespectful, assholes who don’t deserve to be treated with any human dignity.

[idohistorysometimes]

Why I dislike the True Crime community

I am aware this post will get me hate. It is bound to get me hate. The true crime fandom, yes I say fandom, is so massive it's inevitable. But since the release of that Dahmer show on Netflix, I feel like I need to say something. This issue has gone too far. 

The reason I hate the true crime community has nothing to do with the subject matter. Wanting to learn about criminology, psychology, forensics, and the darker aspects of human history and behavior is not a bad thing or something I view as shameful. This is, in fact, a very big part of my job working in the history world. People are extremely complex. Issues are extremely complex. Everything is complex. We cannot have good without bad. Its just how things are. What I do take issue with is the fact a non-insignificant number of people within this community that try to defend the perpetrators. They defend these men within their posts and in the comment sections of videos. They tattoo references to them on their bodies. They even go as far as to make image edits or tribute pages dedicated to these men and infantilize them. And all of it seems to be done for the same reasons one might defend a tragic character in fiction: because they are a tragic character. And this has become even more true after the release of the aforementioned Netflix show. 

I would like to make it clear now that you cannot defend Jeffery Dahmer and claim to be a supporter of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. You cannot defend Dahmer and claim to be an ally to those who are survivors of sexual assault and rape. You cannot defend Dahmer and claim to be against pedophiles. You cannot defend Dahmer and claim to be an advocate for Native rights or the rights of other minorities. Jeffery Dahmer (and other serial killer) apologism and  anti-racism, anti-sex abuse, and anti-predator activism are incompatible with each other. Jeffery Dahmer is not an edgy misunderstood bad boy you can project your headcanons onto. He was a very real man who killed 17 people, most of which were either Black or of other racial minorities he knew the police would not look for. He raped people, some children. He ate parts of his victim's bodies and had sex with them after they died. And his crimes gave homophobes fuel to demonize LGBTQ people even more than they were during the aids crisis which has still not gone away even today. Gay hate crimes skyrocketed around Dahmer’s trial. And many homophobes cite Dahmer as the reason for their views. They hate as to not allow another Dahmer to kill and rape again. Is this sound logic? No. At this point though it does not matter. Its here and wont go away.

As a person who works in a historical field and regularly interfaces with dark subject matter all of the time. I am no stranger to the fact people can be complex and more complicated beyond being just “pure evil”. But that complication is not a justification. To make a comparison: let's look at Adolf Hitler. I get this is an extreme example: but it still works given we are talking about people vs actions.

I think it is fair to say Hitler is both directly and indirectly responsible for some of the worst atrocities history has seen so far and is a pretty evil person. He can be in some way connected to the deaths of 11 million people. This is just the number of those who were killed in concentration camps during the holocaust. This does not include the number of civilians who died during air raids he ordered and his invasions, the number of soldiers who died on both sides of the conflict, or the deaths that occurred after the war proper such as the deaths of human experimentation victims who survived the camps or exposure to chemicals used in war. If it did the number would be much higher. We might never truly know the exact number of people that man killed either directly or indirectly. But we do know how it happened and why he did it. He wrote it down. And beyond that, a lot of other information has been left behind that paints a rather clear picture.

But despite the fact Hitler ordered all of these horrible events (and did a lot of horrible things behind closed doors) he also had a very rough childhood and early years. Monsters are not outright born in most cases, they are created. In Hitler’s case: he was created through an abusive father, constant exposure to anti-semitic viewpoints through other people he was around at a young age, and coming back injured and shellshocked from WW1 and seeing and feeling what happened to Germany afterward. He had authentic trauma which shaped the person he became. But what happened to him as a child and into his adulthood does not negate what he did as an adult. It is not an excuse and never will be. It might explain how he became the way he did but it does not justify it.

Trauma and hardship is not a pass for people to do horrific things to others.

This is often the argument I see used to defend Dahmer and people like him within this section of the true crime community. Jeffery did in fact experience trauma, that is true, but as I mentioned before trauma is not a “get out of jail free card” for doing horrible things to others. If I tried to argue what Hitler did was not that bad or that it was forgivable because he “had a bad childhood” and that “he is a victim too just as much as his victims were victims” I would justifiably be verbally crucified. Not only are people who survived the holocaust STILL ALIVE TODAY, their families are also still alive and have to carry the weight of what has happened to their loved one with them. They carry that story with them. And remnants of these horrible events still exist within society today. Hate still exists. We are not far removed from it because it still happens. Its still a very real problem.

Obviously, what Dahmer did and what Hitler did are very different things on a few levels so the comparison is not a perfect one. But if you don't feel comfortable doing something on a macro level (like for example defending a mass murderer on the basis of his childhood trauma) why do it on a micro level or only do it with certain people? Even if there are fewer people dead with Dahmer, those people are still people. Those were still people with families, friends, and lives. It should not take an extremely large amount of people dying at once for death, specifically murder, to be treated with respect and dignity. Why are the families of Dahmer’s victims crybabies for not wanting this man being praised and to see their loved ones murder dramatized for the entertainment of others but the families of the victims of other people with much higher death counts respected? Why do we even have to have this conversation in the first place? What do you gain from defending these people? What makes their crimes defensible now but not when other people commit the same offenses (both on a larger or smaller scale)? Why does Dahmer get that pass when the creepy pedo up the street and or Hitler does not? At what point do we draw that line? At what point is the crime ‘too extreme’ to be tasteful enough to condone?

Another thing I would like to add is that a lot of these apologists claim that they do this in the name of “education”. They consume this type of media to become “Educated” on the crimes these men committed. They tattoo themselves, wear ‘merch’, and post fan edits for ‘education’. As I mentioned before, the actual people who talk about these crimes in a respectful and informative way are not the problem here. You can have a documentary about a serial killer or a podcast discussing their trial and crimes that does not exist to exploit the victims. You can have true crime media that is responsible with its messages and careful with how it handles the subject of the victims. But education stops being education when you are not learning anything. You have to actually be trying to understand the subject matter as a whole, not just parts of it.

Shows like Netflix’s Dahmer series that just came out or the movie about Ted Bundy also produced by Netflix are not educational media. You are turning in for the drama, the conflict, not because you want to know more about the crimes in question and the people involved in them. Just like “the crown” is not a reliable source of information regarding information about Queen Elizabeth or the royal family, these types of true crime media are not good representations of these cases and do not respect the victims and their families. These shows and movies are meant to entertain you, not educate you even though they are based on real events. And while some movies and shows can be educational (like Saving Private Ryan for example since its one of the most accurate depictions of D-Day in film), when the focus of the show is to entertain you facts take a backseat.

From what I am able to tell people just be seeming to use education as a shield to justify their unhealthy attachment to these men. Because yes, this is an unhealthy attachment. There is nothing healthy or positive about dedicating your time to defending rapists, pedophiles, necrophiliacs, and serial murderers and sexualizing them. If you truly want to learn about something actual sit down and dedicate the time to learn about the subject matter you are interested in instead of hyper-focusing on the serial killers, their looks, and how hot you think their crimes are.

Overall: This community as a community gives me “cute selfie at Auschwitz” vibes. It's insensitive, it's dense, and it's just thinly veiled misogyny, racism, and in some cases, homophobia and transphobia framed as educational content. Not all of it is, but the parts of it that are this way are extremely vocal and loud for their size

As I said before you can still be interested in dark topics without being like what I said above. You can still be interested in the subject of True Crime and talk about it without being part of the problem. Just talking about these subjects and learning about them is not the problem here and never was since many good conversations can come out of them. The problem is the people who treat murder and murderers who have done horrible things like “Tumblr Blorbos”. And that is what is becoming more and more common with the production of shows like Netflix’s “Monster” and the perpetuation of a “fandom” sorrounding these people.

If you know everything about a serial killer but cant remember/say their victim’s names, you are doing this wrong. If you cannot understand why a man who only killed gay men of color and then raped them and their corpses is a problem for the LGBTQ community today and in general, you are doing this wrong. If you make fanart of these people you are doing this wrong.

Be better.

[automatismoateo]

This election cycle made me lose whatever faith I had left anyone feel the same? via /r/atheism

This election cycle made me lose whatever faith I had left, anyone feel the same? As the title of this post says this US election cycle has made me officially lose all little faith in had left. In religion and the whole structure of it. I was raised catholic (being MX didn’t have much of a choice). When I moved to America I started going to a Christian church with my neighbors. I attended church every Wednesday and Sunday until the age of 19. I never really was all on board, since I would question a lot of things. But I would go because it was what I believe it was expected of me. But I would always say I was a believer more than a follower. Then the 2016 elections happen and MF Trump comes into play. And he wins, and I see all those “god” loving people go crazy for a man that is opposite to anything Bible teaches. During this time I was starting college and like I said I still believe god was real. But was living my life. Like I said if I go to hell it is was it is, as long as I’m a good person and treat others well and do not commit any crimes. Then this election cycle comes up again and it’s making me question what god lets this happen. I read a book once from a WWII survivor, saying that if he met god when he died he would ask god to ask him for forgiveness. That what god lets this happen to people. I am not comparing this election to the holocaust or anything all I’m saying is that seeing all Trumpers saying god loves Trump and all has made me lose any faith. Like im questioning what god lets this happen. People are openly supporting a felon and rapist and a piece of scum and they call themselves Christian. Submitted September 09, 2024 at 04:26PM by Crispy_pizza_ (From Reddit https://ift.tt/O4FyGZR)

[momowho34]

Here are some jewish myths you might still believe!!!!

(Pls read and reblog I’m tired of people echoing shit like this)

Jesus was not a rabbi. He lived a hundred years before rabbinic judaism even started to develop. Please stop saying this as if it lends him credence in our religion, because no. It doesn’t.

Yeah, Jesus was jewish, but he also rejected mainstream Judaism and hated it. Stop pretending he means anything to us. Idk if you guys have even read your own books, Matthew is like 60% about how the Pharisees are bad and wrong and evil for sticking to the traditions that have kept them alive for 100s of years. It’s also, y’know, historically inaccurate to the actual behavior of the Pharisees in that time period. Seriously man he is not ours and means nothing to us, keep your Jesus and stop trying to shoehorn him into judaism.

Our god is not yours “minus the Jesus.” In trinity terms; divide the Holy Spirit by the Father and then subtract the Son and that is a bare bones grasp of what god appears as for Jews.

Jews are not white as a whole. Are there white Jews? Yes. Are there jews who are literally every other skin tone? Also yes!! We are all over the place. India, numerous Middle Eastern countries, Morocco, Spain, and a lot more I can’t be bothered to list. You are actively hurting poc jews by pretending that all jews are European, holy shit stop doing that please!!! Most white jewish people are Ashkenazi, which is just one type of judaism.

Actually, the historical relationship between Jews and Muslims is a lot more complicated then you think it is. Sometimes we got along, sometimes we didn’t. Some would argue that Jews were treated better by Islamic caliphates in the Middle Ages then they were by Christian kingdoms. Stop trying to pretend we are and have always been “arch nemeses” or some fucking bullshit (that would be the Amalekites for us, actually, and not the Muslims) Also we’re honestly more similar to them when it comes to traditions then christians so like take that into account thanks

Hey guys listen to Romani when they talk about the Holocaust too!!!!! Please, they have a different experience/perspective and deserve to have their voices heard. Don’t pretend they don’t exist and that it didn’t effect them because uh.... it did. To a degree that I don’t think I can properly explain. Do not overlook them and then pretend it’s just because ur a “jewish ally” or whatever the fuck.

Stop pretending that we’re the same as Christianity. We aren’t. Stop stop stop holy shit stop. That’s not how any of this works at all. Christianity is so so so different, it takes like a handful of jewish beliefs and runs with them. Christianity is its own thing and so is Judaism, stoppp.

Not all Jews are zionists. some are explicitly anti-zionists. Not all zionists are anti-Semitic, but some of them are. Basically, jews aren’t inherently zionists and anti-Zionism isn’t inherently antisemitic. That being said, some people do use anti-Zionism as a cover for their anti-semitism. Watch out for those people, they’re not that hard to spot. That’s all I’m going to say about that, don’t want to start on this issue because it isn’t what this list is about.

Jews never actually lived by the literal laws of the Torah. We did not stone people. There is no archeological evidence of that and actually more evidence pointing to the opposite. jewish communities actually held capital punishment as being inherently immoral and was very very very rarely used in some communities. Understand that. Don’t ever say shit like “but the Jews used to live by the Bible too, and they stoned gay people!!!” No. No we didn’t. Ever. Nobody did that in ancient times.

Guess what, jews are not rich or greedy! what the fuck are you talking about??? Quit it please. This stereotype has literally been used since the Middle Ages to alienate Jews as a more privileged “other” that deserve their prosecution. Stop stop please stop, please!!!!! People actually believe this shit and commit hate crimes, stop, even as a sarcastic joke.

The Old Testament is not the same as the Torah/Tanakh. It’s just not? For one thing, the Old Testament is a translation of a cut down version of a translation of a different modified version, so no. Not the same. Also the books are ordered differently and the sections are mixed up.

God does not abandon the Jews in the Tanakh or the Old Testament for that matter. It’s like... sort of implicated to happen between the two testaments in Christianity. The Old Testament basically structured the books non-chronologically so that the last one would be Malachi because his prophecies are supposed to echo Jesus. We end the Tanakh on Nehemiah, and there is no “New Testament” for us because there’s only one and it ends at the end of the story.

Antisemitism is definitely still a thing. I don’t know who the fuck told you about this one? The Jews got treated like shit after the holocaust, and some of the few survivors 70 years later got reparations so now everybody’s acting like antisemitism doesn’t exist. It does. It really, really fucking does. Please listen to us.

Holocaust denial isn’t “a fringe conspiracy theory,” it’s genuinely awful and dangerous and hurts real people. I’m serious about this one, holocaust denial (and any genocide denial for that matter, whether it’s talking about the Armenian genocide or Holdomer or any others) is legit dangerous. Pay attention to it and have 0% tolerance for that shit

You are allowed to be invited to a jewish event if you’re not jewish! We literally do not care. Respectfully participating in traditions if you’re invited to is fine! The issue is when people take a jewish tradition and twist it into something for them. That’s a no-no, but getting invited to a seder/bar mitzvah/bris is fine. just show respect to traditions you see, even if you don’t entirely understand them. Do that and you’ll be fine.

Jews are a ridiculously diverse group of people with a lot of different beliefs! We all have vastly different ideas of fucking everything from god to the purpose of pomegranates (not a joke). Accept that we think differently form eachother and aren’t a monolith please

These are all the ones I could think of lol, jewish friends add more if you can think of some. Ok and encouraged to reblog for everyone.

[nazrigar]

A Personal Story about the Importance of History

I know this comes outta nowhere, but... I felt like sharing this after witnessing some... horrible stuff, I want to share a lil' story growing up that shaped me, and why I try to make sure my space is a safe space for Jewish folk (an increasingly dangerous opinion from where I currently live unfortunately).

A forewarning, I am no historian, I am have NO authority on the subject, and I am merely an enthusiast. So what I'm typing here is merely a retelling of an experience I had in middle school.

This is the now demolished Synagogue of Surabaya. When I learned this in middle school, it was just ONE of the things that made me realized how... pervasively awful antisemitism, alongside being taught about the horrors of the Holocaust and the interviews from survivors that we were encouraged to watch, to help understand WHY it's horrible.

To begin the story, I've always had a love of learning history. I didn't know it yet, but it turned out to be a personal passion of mine.

As a Muslim, I was always taught to see the good that people of my faith contribute and the history of said peopls. The popularization of algebra, the preservation of roman knowledge, and being relatively more tolerant than medieval europe at the time.

All that kinda good stuff, and made me feel proud to be a Muslim in a VERY Christian dominated school, where I felt ever increasingly isolated before I moved to a school closer to home for high school, one that was much more secular. (Ironic! Considering Indonesia is a mostly Muslim country).

That pivotal lesson on the Holocaust however, also forever changed my perspective on just how overarching and all-consuming antisemitism was no matter the country, the fact that CENTURIES of ignorance and being scapegoats led to genocide of an industrial scale. It lead to a rabbit hole of learning about Jewish history, something I still occasionally do to this day... and that included some VERY unsavory aspects on the history on the treatment of Jewish folk by the people who share my faith, which includes what happened to the above mentioned synagogue.

Learning about the Synanogue of Surabaya, and how callously it was demolished by a real estate company, hit very close to home... because it IS, in a way, close to home. Surabaya may be on the other side of the island of Java, but the fact that instead of protecting the legacy of a people that were utterly decimated during the occupation of Imperial Japan, and thus shared our struggle, it, like so many was taken over by others and thus forcing local Jewish populations to move to overseas... and in the case of the Synagogue of Surabaya, demolished.

A historical legacy of what was once a people that numbered 3000 here in Indonesia, now down to just 100–550, was gone. Just like that.

And that's the end of the story, and... well. I don't have much more to say really. I guess I'm just depressed, to see virulent antisemitism that, no matter what, one can't escape here in this country, and triggered a lot of memories of the past.

Stay safe everyone.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Yesterday, the IDF managed to prevent an independent Palestinian terrorist attack, by killing the would be terrorist on his way to execute his plan. Based on the type of weapons that were found on him, had he managed to carry out the attack, there probably would have been a lot of fatalities.

Also yesterday, the UN Security Council had an emergency session to discuss the UN report on the sexual violence of Hamas on Oct 7 and since (with the hostages). This was thanks to Israel asking several countries to request this session, and the US, the UK and France obliged. Believe it or not, more than 5 months after the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and the single bloodiest day in the Israeli-Arab conflict, that was the FIRST time that the UN has met to discuss what happened to people in Israel on that day. Let it sink in that the UN has discussed earlier and more frequently the situation in Gaza, than the massacre that started it. And that the UN still doesn't consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Israel again asked for this to change during yesterday's session.

Remember how I wrote about Yussuf and Hamza al-Ziadna, 2 of the 3 Muslim Israeli hostages, still held in Gaza after more than 5 months? Well, yesterday at the UN, Ali al-Ziadna, Yussuf's brother and Hamza's uncle, confronted the Palestinian ambassador, demanding to know why the Muslim Israeli hostages have not been released to fast and pray during Ramadan, as all Muslims should get to, and how could Hamas call themselves Muslims... (I'll just correct one thing he said: while Hamas released 23 of its 32 Thai hostages without asking for anything in return, but as part of the November 2023 deal to release the Israeli hostages, 9 Thai citizens are still in captivity. I do not want anyone to forget these men, they must be released and reunited with their loved ones, too)

The BBC has already been accused by members of the British Parliament of being institutionally antisemitic. Now, it seems like the British broadcaster is insisting on further proving those accusations right, as its head chooses to defend the BBC's use of an unsubstantiated witness account from a "journalist" known to be working for Iran, and who has in the past praised terrorists killing Israelis (his testament matches Hamas' narrative) regarding the stampede incident in northern Gaza. But, you know. Good on the Jews and the Jewish state for controlling the media. *eyeroll*

This is 58 years old Rami Davidian.

He's a farmer from moshav Patish. On Oct 7, he got a message from a friend, asking Rami to save his kid, who was at the Nova music festival, where today we know was the single deadliest scene of all the place Hamas attacked during the massacre. Rami went in, and saved the kid and 12 others in his vehicle, while also directing others to moshav Patish. This led to more people hearing about it, and calling Rami as well, giving him details about their loved ones, and asking for his help in rescuing them. Rami went back in, again and again, to an active shooting scene controlled by murderous terrorists, for hours, and he kept getting people out. Once, to save the life of a young girl, he approached the terrorists, and speaking Arabic to them, he lied that he's a Muslim Arab like them who came to warn them of nearing soldiers, and that they must flee, leaving their victim behind. Rami didn't know this, but on that day, many actual Israeli Muslim Arabs were murdered by Hamas for "working for the Jews," which the terrorists claimed made these Arabs even worse than the Jews. But miraculously, the lie worked for Rami. Once the IDF arrived and Rami was no longer needed to save the living, he helped with the identification and bringing to burial of the dead. After everything he had done for others on that day, risking his own life repeatedly, 2 days ago Rami gave an interview, and said that it's the survivors of Hamas' sexual violence who are the real heroes. Thank you for everything you did and who you are, Rami. Together with other people who risked themselves to save others, whether Jewish or not, you are gibor Yisrael (hero of Israel).

This is 19 years old Itay Chen.

He's one of the Israeli hostages that in the past 5 months, I have heard his parents speaking about their fears over not having gotten a sign of life, and hopes for his release countless times. As Itay has an American citizenship, they even personally met with Biden to plea for their son's life. Today we got the announcement that he had in fact been murdered on Oct 7, and it's his body that's being held captive by Hamas. I have no doubt that Israel will still do whatever it can to get it back, and allow him to be brought to kever Yisrael (Hebrew term for Jewish burial. Literally: Israel grave), and it would even release convicted terrorists to make that happen (it has done this before), but obviously the "price" for a living hostage is higher, not to mention that the thought of someone alive and suffering in captivity comes with a greater psychological pressure and urgency, so Hamas intentionally and cruelly let his parents spend months not knowing, hoping for what Hamas already know was impossible, fly all over the world, and beg for something that no one could give them. I just have no words for this type of ruthlessness.

May his memory be a blessing.

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

[spacelazarwolf]

Ngl, I'm reeling because if you so much as FART in the direction of Google you get a bunch of holocaust historical sources, there are so many jews that have dedicated their whole lives to awareness campaigns, yet someone's first stop is random people on tumblr dot com??? Like, for real?????

yeah i am very angry but also just genuinely dumbfounded. like. there is ENDLESS information out there about the holocaust because of all the denial and conspiracy theories. there are survivors who are still alive and still talk about what happened to them. it is so easy to find sources. so i get incredibly bad vibes from people who skip the millions of sources that are out there, free, and easily accessible, and instead seek out jews to send wildly upsetting asks to on tumblr dot fucking com.

like i want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but what the fuck are we supposed to think when you come into our ask boxes wanting us to provide sources you could easily google about a topic that you can safely assume is extremely upsetting for us?????? how are we supposed to assure ourselves that you’re not intentionally sending us these asks to upset us, to remind us that there are people out there who believe these things???? why are we supposed to take on the burden of your ignorance or paranoia and put ourselves through the emotional ringer of proving we didn’t fund our own fucking genocide instead of you just?????? fucking googling it??????????

[antifainternational]

Whenever I get invited to a "leftist" space I'm almost immediately kicked out for advocating violence against nazis. I've just become completely hopless as of late. I'm not sure anyone's gonna bother fighting back anymore and I have no idea what to do.

It looks like wherever you are, people are spelling “liberal” wrong, Anon. First, some memes to cheer you up:

Now, here are a couple of essays that underscore the huuuuge position of privilege it requires to be able to sip tea and politely debate the philosophical merits of stopping racists bent on genocide and murder: -”My ‘Nonviolent’ Stance Was Met With Heavily Armed Men” by Luke Rimmel -”Antifascist Practice and Impossible Non-Violence” by Natasha Lennard Not the essay-reading type?  Dr. Cornell West on his experience of nearly being lynched in Charlottesville in 2017 summarizes it succinctly:

Don’t feel like reading @ all?  Watch Philosophy Tube’s breakdown of “antifa + violence” (from the 20:47 mark of this video, but the entire video is faaaantastic!):

Three final thoughts for you, Anon: -Maybe the problem is how you’re phrasing things.  Antifa do not actually want violence and are not very keen to employ violence.  But we do believe that antifa reserve the right to defend their communities from fascists and because fascists are violent by definition, this can mean sometimes having to physically defend their communities.  “Community self-defense” = a far more accurate way to describe what antifascists do than “violence.” -If the liberals you’re running into know a better way of dealing with fascists, ask them what it is.  WE’D LOVE TO KNOW!!! Is it “we should win debates with fascists so everyone can see how bankrupt their ideology is?”  The historical record disproves this, as Holocaust survivor Frank Frison would tell you.  To quote Frank, “If fascism could be defeated in debate, I assure you that it would never have happened, neither in Germany, nor in Italy, nor anywhere else. Those who recognised its threat at the time and tried to stop it were, I assume, also called “a mob”. Regrettably too many “fair-minded” people didn’t either try, or want to stop it, and, as I witnessed myself during the war, accommodated themselves when it took over … People who witnessed fascism at its height are dying out, but the ideology is still here, and its apologists are working hard at a comeback. Past experience should teach us that fascism must be stopped before it takes hold again of too many minds, and becomes useful once again to some powerful interests.” Maybe liberals think we should just ignore the fascists and they’ll go away if we don’t give them the attention they’re seeking?  Again, the historical record shows that  an unopposed/”ignored” fascist force quickly moving on to pogroms and mass murder. The only thing that works to stop fascism is stopping them by any means necessary.  We don’t usually quote Adolf Hitler, but here’s what he said in 1933 about stopping the nazis: "Only one thing could have stopped our movement - if our adversaries had understood its principle and from the first day smashed with the utmost brutality the nucleus of our new movement." So really, if the liberals you’re running into don’t think it’s appropriate to physically defend their community from fascists, ask them what they think the correct approach is.  Should we hug it out with them, maybe?  Turn the other cheek and let them slaughter us?  Their responses will at least be entertainingly naïve.  Here’s a bingo card for you to use while you’re having those conversations:

-You should probably accept that some/most liberals are simply never going to accept that fascists can’t be debated away or ignored away or made your BFFs.  Fuck ‘em, then!  We know that fascists pose a very real threat to the lives of people they target for violence (a quick glance at our list of the 578 bigoted & fascist attacks on people so far this year - attacks which have killed 372 people and injured over 1100 others - attest to this fact) and must be stopped by any means necessary before they hurt people.  Move on and find some people that have a more realistic understanding of the threat posed by fascists and what is required to stop them. -Finally: antifascism isn’t all about violence.  In fact, it rarely is.  99% of anti-fascist activities don’t involve violence at all. Here’s our list of 30 antifa things you could probably do where you live that even liberals would approve of; here’s Pop Mob’s list of 40 street legal ways to fight fascists that again liberals are going to have a hard time arguing against.  Pick some stuff you think you can pull off, maybe grab a couple of friends, and do the things!  And let us know how it goes!

[nitrateglow]

Favorite films discovered in 2020

Well, this year sucked. I did see some good movies though. Some even made after I was born!

Perfect Blue (dir. Satoshi Kon, 1997)

I watch a lot of thrillers and horror movies, but precious few actually unsettle me in any lasting way. This cannot be said of Perfect Blue, which gave me one of the most visceral cinematic experiences of my life. Beyond the brief flashes of bloodletting (you will never look at a screwdriver the same way again), the scariest thing about Perfect Blue might be how the protagonist has both her life and her sense of self threatened by the villains. The movie’s prescience regarding public persona is also incredibly eerie, especially in our age of social media. While anime is seen as a very niche interest (albeit one that has become more mainstream in recent years), I would highly recommend this movie to thriller fans, whether they typically watch anime or not. It’s right up there with the best of Hitchcock or De Palma.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (dir. Sergio Leone, 1966)

Nothing is better than when an iconic movie lives up to the hype. Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, and Lee Van Cleef play off of one another perfectly. I was impressed by Wallach as Tuco in particular: his character initially seems like a one-dimensional greedy criminal, but the performance is packed with wonderful moments of humanity. Do I really need to say anything about the direction? Or about the wonderful storyline, which takes on an almost mythic feel in its grandeur? Or that soundtrack?

Die Niebelungen (both movies) (dir. Fritz Lang, 1924)

I did NOT expect to love these movies as much as I did. That they would be dazzlingly gorgeous I never doubted: the medieval world of the story is brought to vivid life through the geometrical mise en scene and detailed costuming. However, the plot itself is so, so riveting, never losing steam over the course of the four hours it takes to watch both movies. The first half is heroic fantasy; the second half involves a revenge plot of almost Shakespearean proportions. This might actually be my favorite silent Fritz Lang movie now.

Muppet Treasure Island (dir. Brian Henson, 1996)

I understand that people have different tastes and all, but how does this movie have such a mixed reception? It’s absolutely hilarious. How could anybody get through the scene with “THA BLACK SPOT AGGHHHHHHH” and not declare this a masterpiece of comedy? And I risk being excommunicated from the Muppet fandom for saying it, but I like this one more than The Great Muppet Caper. It’s probably now my second favorite Muppet movie.

Belle de Jour (dir. Luis Bunuel, 1967)

I confess I’m not terribly fond of “but was it real???” movies. They tend to feel gimmicky more often than not. Belle de Jour is an exception. This is about more than a repressed housewife getting her kicks working as a daytime prostitute. The film delves into victim blaming, trauma, class, and identity-- sure, this sounds academic and dry when I put it that way, but what I’m trying to say is that these are very complicated characters and the blurring of fantasy and reality becomes thought-provoking rather than trite due to that complexity.

Secondhand Lions (dir. Tim McCanlies, 2003)

The term “family movie” is often used as a synonym for “children’s movie.” However, there is an important distinction: children’s movies only appeal to kids, while family movies retain their appeal as one grows up. Secondhand Lions is perhaps a perfect family movie, with a great deal more nuance than one might expect regarding the need for storytelling and its purpose in creating meaning for one’s life. It’s also amazingly cast: Haley Joel Osment is excellent as the juvenile lead, and Michael Caine and Robert Duvall steal the show as Osment’s eccentric uncles.

The Pawnbroker (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1964)

Controversial in its day for depicting frontal nudity, The Pawnbroker shocks today for different reasons. As the top review of the film on IMDB says, we’re used to victims of great atrocities being presented as sympathetic, good people in fiction. Here, Rod Steiger’s Sol Nazerman subverts such a trope: his suffering at the hands of the Nazis has made him a hard, closed-off person, dismissive of his second wife (herself also a survivor of the Holocaust), cold to his friendly assistant, and bitter towards himself. The movie follows Nazerman’s postwar life, vividly presenting his inner pain in a way that is almost too much to bear. Gotta say, Steiger gives one of the best performances I have ever seen in a movie here: he’s so three-dimensional and complex. The emotions on his face are registered with Falconetti-level brilliance.

The Apartment (dir. Billy Wilder, 1960)

While not the most depressing Christmas movie ever, The Apartment certainly puts a good injection of cynicism into the season. I have rarely seen a movie so adept at blending comedy, romance, and satire without feeling tone-deaf. There are a lot of things to praise about The Apartment, but I want to give a special shoutout to the dialogue. “Witty” dialogue that sounds natural is hard to come by-- so often, it just feels smart-assy and strained. Not here.

Anatomy of a Murder (dir. Otto Preminger, 1959)

I’m not big into courtroom dramas, but Anatomy of a Murder is a big exception. Its morally ambiguous characters elevate it from being a mere “whodunit” (or I guess in the case of this movie, “whydunit”), because if there’s something you’re not going to get with this movie, it’s a clear answer as to what happened on the night of the crime. Jimmy Stewart gives one of his least characteristic performances as the cynical lawyer, and is absolutely brilliant. 

Oldboy (dir. Park Chan-Wook, 2003)

Oldboy reminded me a great deal of John Webster’s 17th century tragedy The Duchess of Malfi. Both are gruesome, frightening, and heartbreaking works of art, straddling the line between sensationalism and intelligence, proving the two are not mutually exclusive. It’s both entertaining and difficult to watch. The thought of revisiting it terrifies me but I feel there is so much more to appreciate about the sheer craft on display.

Family Plot (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1976)

Family Plot is an enjoyable comedy; you guys are just mean. I know in an ideal world, Hitchcock’s swan song would be a great thriller masterpiece in the vein of Vertigo or Psycho. Family Plot is instead a silly send-up of Hitchcock’s favorite tropes, lampooning everything from the dangerous blonde archetype (with not one but two characters) to complicated MacGuffin plots. You’ll probably demand my film buff card be revoked for my opinion, but to hell with it-- this is my favorite of Hitchcock’s post-Psycho movies.

My Best Girl (dir. Sam Taylor, 1927)

Mary Pickford’s farewell to silent film also happens to be among her best movies. It’s a simple, charming romantic comedy starring her future husband, Charles “Buddy” Rogers. Pickford also gets to play an adult character here, rather than the little girl parts her public demanded she essay even well into her thirties. She and Rogers are sweet together without being diabetes-inducing, and the comedy is often laugh out loud funny. It even mocks a few tropes that anyone who watches enough old movies will recognize and probably dislike-- such as “break his heart to save him!!” (my personal most loathed 1920s/1930s trope).

Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2019)

This feels like such a zeitgeist movie. It’s about the gap between the rich and the poor, it’s ironic,  it’s depressing, it’s unpredictable as hell. I don’t like terms like “modern classic,” because by its very definition, a classic can only be deemed as such after a long passage of time, but I have a good feeling Parasite will be considered one of the definitive films of the 2010s in the years to come.

Indiscreet (dir. Stanley Donen, 1958)

Indiscreet often gets criticized for not being Notorious more or less, which is a shame. It’s not SUPPOSED to be-- it’s cinematic souffle and both Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant elevate that light material with their perfect chemistry and comedic timing. It’s also refreshing to see a rom-com with characters over 40 as the leads-- and the movie does not try to make them seem younger or less mature, making the zany moments all the more hilarious. It’s worth seeing for Cary Grant’s jig (picture above) alone.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (dir. Joseph Sargent, 1974)

This movie embodies so much of what I love about 70s cinema: it’s gritty, irreverent, and hard-hitting. It’s both hilarious and suspenseful-- I was tense all throughout the run time. I heard there was a remake and it just seems... so, so pointless when you already have this gem perfect as it is.

They All Laughed (dir. Peter Bogdonavich, 1981)

Bogdonavich’s lesser known homage to 1930s screwball comedy is also a weirdly autumnal movie. Among the last gasps of the New Hollywood movement, it is also marks the final time Audrey Hepburn would star in a theatrical release. The gentle comedy, excellent ensemble cast (John Ritter is the standout), and the mature but short-lived romance between Hepburn and Ben Gazarra’s characters make this a memorably bittersweet gem.

The Palm Beach Story (dir. Preston Sturges, 1942)

Absolutely hilarious. I was watching this with my parents in the room. My mom tends to like old movies while my dad doesn’t, but both of them were laughing aloud at this one. Not much else to say about it, other than I love Joel McCrea the more movies I see him in-- though it’s weird seeing him in comedies since I’m so used to him as a back-breaking man on the edge in The Most Dangerous Game!

Nothing Sacred (dir. William Wellman, 1937)

I tend to associate William Wellman with the pre-code era, so I’ve tried delving more into his post-code work. Nothing Sacred is easily my favorite of those films thus far, mainly for Carole Lombard but also because the story still feels pretty fresh due to the jabs it takes at celebrity worship and moral hypocrisy. For a satire, it’s still very warm towards its characters, even when they’re misbehaving or deluding themselves, so it’s oddly a feel-good film too.

Applause (dir. Rouben Mamoulian, 1929)

I love watching early sound movies, but my inner history nerd tends to enjoy them more than the part of me that, well, craves good, well-made movies. Most early sound films are pure awkward, but there’s always an exception and Applause is one of them. While the plot’s backstage melodrama is nothing special, the way the story is told is super sophisticated and expressive for this period of cinema history, and Helen Morgan makes the figure of the discarded burlesque queen seem truly human and tragic rather than merely sentimental.

Topaz (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1969)

Another late Hitchcock everyone but me seems to hate. After suffering through Torn Curtain, I expected Hitchcock’s other cold war thriller was going to be dull as dishwater, but instead I found an understated espionage movie standing in stark contrast to the more popular spy movies of the period. It’ll never be top Hitchcock, of course-- still it was stylish and enjoyable, with some truly haunting moments. I think it deserves more appreciation than it’s been given.

What were your favorite cinematic discoveries in 2020?

[semper-legens]

16. Maus, by Art Spiegelman

Owned: Yes Page count: 296 My summary: A graphic novel memoir of the experiences of the author’s father, Vladek, as he tried to survive as a Jewish man in World War Two Poland. My rating: 5/5

I’ll confess, the then-recent ‘controversy’ about this book is the reason I picked it up again. It’s an excellent comic, if not easy to talk about because of its subject matter. This book is a brutal depiction of the Holocaust, both of the events as they happened and the lingering effects that the trauma and pain had on the survivors. This isn’t a story with a happy ending. This isn’t a story with an ending, really - it’s real life, with all of its complexities. Heavy warning for Holocaust-related material under the cut.

Vladek Spiegelman is portrayed in a very interesting way throughout this book. He is, of course, author Art Spiegelman’s father, who he interviewed throughout the 70s to get his story of what happened to him during the Holocaust. Vladek, as portrayed by Art in the present day, is a complicated person. He’s stingy, mean, racist towards a black man Art gives a lift to, and constantly critical of Art, who has a rocky relationship with him. This is discussed in the book - Art at one point wonders about the ethics of portraying his father as the cheap, mean Jewish man from every anti-Semitic stereotype, but notes that was how he really was. Art tries to rationalise his father’s actions as being a result of his status as a survivor, but Vladek’s second wife points out that she is a survivor, as are her friends, and they aren’t like Vladek. Similarly interesting is the fact that we only have Vladek’s word for what happened to him in the 40s. Not that I’m saying he’s wrong or a liar, more that Art makes a point of highlighting that his (deceased) mother’s perspective is lost forever with her death and her journals disappearing. Is how Vladek portrays himself, as not doing anything too ethically dubious but still surviving, accurate? We have no way to know, as Art can only balance the current-day version of his father with his own opinions.

This book portrays the horrors of the Holocaust in an incredibly effective way. Many narratives, particularly fiction narratives, will give the story a happy ending. This hugely traumatic and terrible thing happened, but for the survivors, they lived and got away, happily ever after. This book exists to complicate that. Anja, Art’s mother, killed herself when he was in his 20s. Vladek, as previously discussed, is severely affected by what happened to him. Art grows up in the shadow of his dead older brother, with a family and community heavily impacted by trauma. The story doesn’t end when the camps are liberated, it goes on and becomes people’s lives.

Finally, the art is always striking to me. It’s simplistic, black and white with thick lines, but that brings a stark contrast with the events it depicts. The horrors it portrays are never tastelessly gory, but they are still as shocking and impactful as they need to be. One thing that breaks my heart is Spiegelman’s use of more realistic depictions of his family. He reprints a comic called ‘Prisoner on the Hell Planet’ to show his grief over his mother’s death. At the start of the second volume, we get a photo of his brother, and at the end we see a photo of Vladek, reminding the reader that, for all Spiegelman’s mouse metaphors, these are real people, his real family. It’s sobering, and used to great effect in this already impactful work.

Next up, back to Fitz, with the last in the Farseer trilogy.