it-was-me-zio

[it-was-me-zio]

Jumblr ask game:

🐷 Do you keep kosher?

🎂 Do you celebrate your hebrew, your enlgish or both birthdays?

🎉 Favorite chag (Jewish holiday)?

🐈 Favorite pet?

🐢 Do you do Tashlich and if so arae you a first day or last day type of person

🤬 have you ever gotten hate mail before and if so do you have a really fun hate ask you'd like to share to be mocked?

👿 Do you have horns? what about a tail? (i.e. what's your favorite purim costume)

📕 Whats your favorite Jewish book to study?

🥔 What is your shameful classic Jewish food confession?

🪿 Favorite funny Jewish joke?

👁️ favorite Jewish symbol

Send an emoji for an ask with Silly Jewish Ask Game to play

[it-was-me-zio]

Your icon is silly, but i must ask, aren't you concerned you might be presumed to be a bot?

Thank you! And not really, I imagine the lil doodled bits help detract from the 'looks spammy' vibe.

[it-was-me-zio]

Anon, it took courage to admit this and even more to step away from it, but your ending bit detracts from any apology you could make. Going on about how much you hate yourself for it, how much *we* should hate you and you understand if we want you dead (and oh, you've tried) and how you deserve "every ounce of physical pain inflicted upon [you]" shifts the apology from taking accountability, acknowledging the Why, and looking at how to move on to being about you, your feelings, and begs us to comfort you/soothe your feelings, because quite obviously the statements are incorrect (no one should be hated for making bad choices, everyone is allowed the chance to change, death is never an appropriate punishment, neither is pain).

I'm not meaning to mention this as a way to criticize or minimize your message, my intention is to point out why this type of apology isn't a good one (I do this, too, sometimes (i.e. "I'm sorry I did that, I'm such a bad person")) and thinking about what can be done differently next time.

https://www.tumblr.com/weemietime/767670429687152640?source=share

I suppose it was easy for me to fall into the Hamasnik trap due to my habit of black and white thinking, which I wish I could blame on my autism, my ocd, or my horrible mental state, but I’m just incredibly stupid lol. But yeah, I was very much a hamasnik myself.

For some reason my mind refused to accept or recognise the nuance of a history that I wasn't even well versed on in the first place. I also think that the constant reductionism presented to me played a part. There’s a lot of reductionism that goes on within the Hamasnik circles, and it goes hand in hand with anti intellectualism. Statements like “this isn’t complex! How can you see these videos of these Palestinian children (videos that I later found out were actually from Syria, but I couldn’t tell, I just ate it up) and think that Israel/Palestine is complex!”

The whole thing of blocking everyone who has a different opinion or ideology (the ideology in question being Zionism, or at least what hamasniks consider to be Zionism) from you and refusing to follow certain news channels because they’ve shown sympathy for those who have a different ideology from you, refusing to read certain books from authors who have expressed empathy for those same people, all of this together effectively creates an echo chamber of the same opinions and views being regurgitated over and over and over again constantly.

Then sprinkle in constant videos of people dying and blood everywhere, videos that you don’t even know where the people are from, whether they be from Gaza, from Syria, Lebanon, or Yemen, but it doesn’t matter because they speak Arabic so it MUST be about the Gazans specifically according to the Hamasnik group you’re apart of, all of these videos you’re being told to constantly watch over and over again because according to the Hamasnik cult you’re in, “if you look away from the violence even ONCE, you’re complicit in genocide! You’re personally responsible for genocide if you look away! The people in Gaza never get a mental health break or comfort so why should you?”

That very same rhetoric is the reason why a lot of you Jewish people can’t find yourself able to escape on fandom spaces and shit like that, the antisemitism you encounter in spaces you thought you were safe in? Yeah it’s because these people are being told that they have to constantly talk about what’s going on in every single space they’re in and that they can’t look away because if they do, they’re considered complicit in the killing of Gazans so they have to let everyone else know the same.

There are a lot of people who are purposefully antisemitic, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t me excusing anyone. I’m just saying that a number of these people genuinely believe that they’re doing something for the greater good by constantly being antisemitic. They don’t consider themselves antisemitic because the echo chamber they’re in has convinced them that Jewish people aren’t experiencing anything, that Jewish people are fine. That it’s the “big bad” that they’re hurting, not the Jews. It’s the “big and scary Zionists!” At least that’s what happened in my case. Constantly told that if I took a break even once, the blood of the Gazans, the blood of every. single. person in Gaza, would be on my own two hands.

You might not believe me, but when you’ve trapped a person in an echo chamber like that, it’s very easy to convince them that an entire country is evil, that every single Israeli is wicked and corrupt and should die and that anyone who expresses an ounce of empathy for them is a “Zionist” and should die as well.

You could’ve told me anything a few months ago. Absolutely anything bad about Israelis and I would’ve believed you. Because I’d scroll social media and see videos of children dying, people being beaten, buildings being destroyed, everything. Then I’d scroll some more and see videos of Israelis doing everyday things, videos of people having fun, videos of people eating, etc, and I found it so unfair that they (according to hamasnik rhetoric) were living in absolute peace while Palestinians are dying right next to them. Then I’d scroll some more and see videos of the IDF (I actually don’t even know if the videos were even of the IDF or not, but as I said, you could’ve told me anything and I’d have believed you. I genuinely believed that it was the IDF) shooting people, beating people, etc. And I was told to look at these videos everyday, every hour, every minute, every second. A lot of the Hamasnik mouthpieces take advantage of the average westerner’s inability to understand Arabic or Hebrew, so there’s a lot of mistranslated videos of Israelis saying they want every Arab dead, a lot of mistranslated Al Jazeera videos of people in Amsterdam for example, saying “يهودي قذر" (dirty Jew) with the wrong captions on and then us non Arabic speaking cult trapped people are none the wiser to what that means because we refuse to engage with any sources that won’t fit our narrative, because we’re complicit in death if we step outside the narrative.

I don’t believe that Zionists should die, but I did. I don’t believe that the hostages should suffer, but I did. I truly believed the worst of things, and perpetuated horrible antisemitism, because I genuinely believed that I was doing good. I found myself justifying unspeakable acts, and saying unspeakable things, things that I would have whole heartedly condemned prior, because I genuinely thought I was doing something right. For example, prior to me falling into that cultish trap, I would’ve wholeheartedly condemned saying a slur coined by David fucking Duke. But after? As I said, I was doing and saying unspeakable things.

I would watch videos from Hamasniks everyday, perpetuate antisemitism everyday, go to sleep and dream about that stuff, and wake up and do it all again, first thing in the morning. A vicious cycle.

And unknowingly somewhere else around the world, some Jewish or Israeli person would wake up, witness antisemitism everyday, witness people wishing the worst upon the hostages, the Jews, the Israelis, the Zionists, everyday, go to sleep terrified for what’s happening to their people, and wake up and see it all again first thing in the morning. Another vicious cycle.

I wish I had a better answer for you, I do. An answer that’s more digestible and less disturbing. I wish I could undo everything that I’ve said and done to the people I’ve hurt whether that be in real life or online. I truly am sorry, and I wish that an apology would fix everything, but it won’t. I wish that all the pain I inflicted on all the Jewish people and Israeli people could be taken away and that I would feel that pain tenfold.

If it’s any consolation or solace, I hate myself more than any of you combined. There is nobody who hates me more than me at this current moment in time and I absolutely do deserve every ounce of pain inflicted upon me, whether it be mental or physical. If you wish death upon me, just know that I do agree with you, but unfortunately previous attempts have failed.

I deleted all of my old posts from that period of time to avoid people getting hurt by them anymore, but I think I’ve done too much damage for me to be a good ally, so I just say nothing now, but I truly do wish the best for all of you and I wish that all of this would stop and that the hostages will be found, hopefully alive.

My apologies for writing a whole Bible in your asks, I truly didn’t mean to.

TLDR - reductionism and anti-intellectualism combined with trapping yourself in an echo chamber of regurgitated rhetoric and constantly regurgitating said rhetoric is a quick way to find yourself dabbling in extremism.

To avoid falling into a trap such as this, avoid generalisations of races, ethnic groups, and the like, look for nuance, try hear people out even when you don’t understand them, instead of blocking them (this is in reference to me blocking every single person who opposed my hamasnik ideology at the time. You should probably block hamasniks, they tend to harass Jewish people a lot), and remember that if someone tells you that a whole war isn’t complex, they’re lying. It absolutely is.

I hope you've been able to see the other responses your other ask has gotten as well! Truly, you aren't someone who I hate. Personally, I do forgive you. Other people may not, and that's their right. But I know first-hand what it's like to be radicalized and to not only commit to extreme rhetoric but also extreme actions. I've learned to have compassion for myself, and I hope that with time you will undergo a similar process.

Someone else said it, "you can't hate yourself into being a better person." All of us, as beings, grow with love and kindness. War is hard it's horrific, and hellish. You're constantly exposed to this violent imagery, this extreme rhetoric, and your whole friend groups are getting in on it. I understand exactly how it happens, and I do have sympathy for it.

To me, the most important part of your story isn't the worst shit you've ever done. It's this part. The part where you learn how to be better, and so you do better, and reach out across the divides and bridge those gaps that have formed. That is a very human story.

[it-was-me-zio]

Guys you dont get it! Hashem doesn't make bad things happen to us because he is cruel and uncaring! He makes bad things happen to us because we are all his OCs and just like any other OC maker they give all their favorite OCs the most trauma.

[it-was-me-zio]

💙💙💙

[it-was-me-zio]

"Ethiopian Jewish woman wearing chai necklace" (1985) & "Ethiopian Jewish girl with star of David necklace and crown," photos courtesy of the AAEJ Archives

[it-was-me-zio]

i'm making tng characters jewish to cope with my feelings. obviously all the soongs are jewish. troi's got a jewish dad and has fond memories of celebrating the holidays in her house growing up. riker's not jewish but he happily lights the menorah with troi every hanukkah. the crushers are jewish and beverly puts on a purim play every year. the crew always builds a sukkah in the holodeck. it's maybe not kosher because it's not really outside, but you do what you have to on a starship. there's a space chabad at every starbase and when the enterprise docks at the right time there's always a bunch of officers rushing to make it to maariv. the picard family's vineyard produces a line of kosher wine and the jewish crew uses a bottle every weekend for kiddush. the vineyard's supervising rabbi is actually troi's dad's best friend's brother. dr crusher finds out that data never got bar mitzvahed and immediately starts planning the whole thing out for him. nobody knows his exact birthdate so he picks parashat toldot for his torah portion. he's still not sure what he wants his hebrew name to be, but he's partial to ya'akov and lev. there's no torah scroll on the enterprise, so every simchat torah they make a special trip to the nearest shul to celebrate. the botany lab grows native tree species to be planted on nearby planets for tu b'shevat. jews in space, man.

[it-was-me-zio]

woz_art: You deserve better, my Jews.

you need to click on this post to get the full majesty of him setting this art to the tune of “It’s Too Late” by (Jewish queen!) Carole King.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alex Woz (@woz_art)

[it-was-me-zio]

i think it is by now well established that hannukah is the most over-represented holiday in jewish-focused media and that this also applies to fanfiction. too many jewish [x character] fanfics about them celebrating hannukah. especially when the other holidays are filled with so much more potential for story settings. but in the context of my current obsession i want to invite everyone to contemplate the concept of spock celebrating purim. and furthermore: purim being his favorite holiday. he spends the whole time completely stone faced and unmoving, even while wearing the silliest costume, but he is having the time of his life. and of course he wears matching costumes with jim and bones. and he is the one who has to drag them to bed that night after they get drunk. unless he gets drunk himself on all the chocolate.

[it-was-me-zio]

Have you actually met and talked with a jewish person in real life? (as in physically been in the same room and had a conversation with someone you knew was jewish)

[it-was-me-zio]

Just so we’re all clear, it is okay to miss people you no longer want in your life.

[it-was-me-zio]

Questionable Sources - Media Bias/Fact Check

Free background check for any media sources, btw.

this one is fun!!!

Every American hamasnik's favourite newspaper Al -Jazeera is left leaning and is NOT credible and was funded by Quatar and has limited freedom of press

@secular-jew's favourite website is not very credible and is actually far right propaganda that cherrypicks the worst of muslims to imply that they are here to infiltrate your country seduce your women and convert everyone to Islam.

but they don't have their media set by Quatar, it's just some guy's solo endevour kinda like infowars

For when fox news isn't right enough but you're not enough of a nazi for Stormfront you turn to Breitbart the one stop shop for the alt-lite

the guy who owned this was Trump's cabinet pick

by contrast my favourite source for high school essays for civics is actually reliable

and my favourite so far for lowest ratings

Not for it's extreme right leaning or it's credibility because religion of peace is higher but the fact that's literal government propaganda and that's basically the two types of press in Russia is propaganda or behind three types of firewalls.

they have a completely different metric for conspiracy sources and I think that's beautiful

Type in a news source you use or see thrown out by your opponents, screenshot the results and post them here! It'll be fun and help this tool break containment

[it-was-me-zio]

When people in Queers for Palestine say things like "I know I wouldn't have rights in Palestine but my activism is not transactional" I lose it because nobody is bringing up the fact gay men get thrown of roofs because of "transactionality", we are saying it because you are actively harming the LGBT community. You actively go against your gay brothers and sisters in the Middle East when you cheer on Hamas or want to see the only gay-friendly country there abolished. You are hurting your own community because you love your community less than you hate (((Israel))). Get your head out of your asses and realize people telling you about the LGBT killings in Palestine is so you can stop hurting the Palestinians you "care so much about".

[it-was-me-zio]

@achaziel Making me own post to talk about it too - literally SAME. I am watching Deep Space 9 with my partner and while I'm not one to back down from content that triggers me, there's been several episodes where it's gotten very difficult to keep watching. It doesn't help that a YouTuber I was watching who talks about Star Trek (Steve Shives) decided to compare us jews to the cardassians. Which is such an antisemitic, disgusting remark, not even regarding the parallels of the Cardassian Occupation to the Holocaust.

[it-was-me-zio]

I know there's not a genocide going on because I know the fucking definition of genocide.

why d0 y0u thiink there'2 n0t a gen0ciide g0iing 0n

Because the people who say there is one are led by people who want to commit one against those whom they accuse of it

[it-was-me-zio]

Melhem Asad is one of the Righteous Among the Nations.

When the Dutch police were standing idly by -- or worse, aiding and abetting terrorists -- and allowing Jews to be violently pogrommed, Melhem was RISKING HIS LIFE to protect Jews.

The Amsterdam police colluded with these terrorists to allow this pogrom to happen on the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht. The Netherlands allowed a pogrom against Jews to take place in Amsterdam, the same city where the Dutch sent over 100,000 Jews, including Anne Frank, to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps.

Melhem helped protect our people from that attempted massacre and hostage taking.

Mr. Rogers once told us, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping'."

Melhem is a helper. He shielded our people and helped rescue them from kidnapping and murder. He is a hero.

[it-was-me-zio]

In light of how it seems y'all are feeling, let me translate a fitting song:

Why should I have politics right now?

Thousands of mercenaries gather inside a mosque They talk about me but not with me And the uncle of my neighbor welcomed the Deputy Battalion Commander Told the wife of a son of my sister Ahhhhh, my sister. Ahhhhh, my sister

Shamir and parsly meet in the darkness (Shamir refers to prime minister Yitzchak Shamir, and also the plant dill) To solve the current situation And in New York they invented a new strain of disease And one man claims he is my brother Ahhhh, my brother. Ahhhhh, my brother

I lied when I said everything is so amazing Because nothing was actually correct Our ball also which turned to a square (in hebrew, earth is "the ball of land") Forgot it's round Forgot it's round Forgot it's round The rock & roll businesses

In San Francisco the bridges need recovery (as in from a disease) In Russia another train disaster The masses in Berlin made the wall fall And for you and I all that's left is to hope Ahhhh, to hope. Ahhhh, to hope

I lied when I said everything is so amazing Because nothing was actually correct Our ball also which turned to a square Forgot it's round Forgot it's round Forgot it's round I am in the rock & roll

Why does a stone in Ramallah stray from its path? ath (refering to terror attacks from the arab city of Ramallah) Why does a stone in Ramallah stray from its path? ath You, and I as well inside a box I sing, and you dance in the center

I lied when I said everything is so great Mercenaries gather inside the darkness And in New York they invented a new strain of disease I feel so amazing I feel so amazing We are the chosen people We are the chosen people

So why should I have politics right now?