oy-to-the-world

[oy-to-the-world]

Much has been written about the history of hate that Hitler exploited. There have been libraries of books about Christian, racial and (sadly and more recently) Islamist antisemitism. Far too little, however, has been written about a fourth kind, which played its own part in the centuries leading up to the Holocaust, namely philosophical antisemitism.

It can be found in virtually all of the great continental philosophers of the Enlightenment and beyond. Voltaire called the Jews ‘an ignorant and barbarous people, who have long united the most sordid avarice with the most detestable superstition’. Fichte (1762-1814) wrote that the only way of making Jews civilised was to amputate their Jewish heads. Immanuel Kant spoke privately of Jews as ‘the vampires of society’ and argued for the ‘euthanasia’ of Judaism.

Hegel took Judaism as his model of a ‘slave morality’. Nietzsche accused the Jews of giving the world an ethic of kindness and compassion which he saw as the ‘falsification’ of natural morality, namely the will to power. The most virulent of the philosopher antisemites, whose work was regularly cited by the Nazis, was Schopenhauer. He spoke of Jews as ‘no better than cattle’ and ‘scum of the earth’ and said they should be expelled from Germany. The logician Gottlob Frege wrote in 1924 (he was in his mid-seventies at the time) that it was a ‘misfortune that there are so many Jews in Germany and that in future they will have full political equality with German citizens’.

Martin Heidegger, the greatest German philosopher of the twentieth century, joined the Nazi Party in 1933. Shortly after joining the party he became rector of the University of Freiburg. Among his first declarations was the statement that ‘The Führer alone is the present and future German reality and its law.’ After the war Heidegger made no attempt to apologise for his involvement with the Nazis, his admiration for Hitler, or his betrayal of Jewish colleagues. Jonathan Glover summarises his response as a ‘mixture of silence and grandiose evasion’.

     — Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks zt”l, in The Great Partnership: God, Science and the Search for Meaning

[oy-to-the-world]

I’m slowly realising that almost nobody thinks that antisemitism is a real problem. They only think nazis are a problem (if that even), because they were conditioned to hate them.

But they don’t consider their own antisemitism to be antisemitism - they just consider it to be common sense, or justified political activism!

[oy-to-the-world]

I feel like the reason there aren’t any ‘Jewish hero fights the Fair Folk’ stories is because we’d easily get out of that situation.

Like, put Hershel of Ostropol in any situation involving the Fair Folk and bro would talk his way out.

[oy-to-the-world]

I'm sorry but if Sami people can be understood as other-than-white and lighter featured First Nations people can be understood as other-than-white and individuals of our sisters the Romani when similarly afflicted by melanin deficiency can be understood as other-than-white....

Your classification of Jews, who span the whole gamut of color but share the racialization and experience of being othered among any majority, including whiteness in the north/west, is only further evidence of your racism. Because in doing so you continue to perpetuate double standards for Jewish people, which is dangerous when merged with perspectives that view whiteness as a merit signifier. Not that our identity isn't a fair bit older than this pretty reductive view, but

Regardless, I'll remind that the minority indigenous groups I mentioned are in the context of a white majority, but white people do not have a monopoly on colonialism. Plenty of people don't want to be called Arab in MENA and plenty of people aren't sure that they'd classify themselves as Chinese or Russian in the sense that the West views national identity. But that kind of nuance probably isn't something I should bother with if we haven't made it past point 1.

[oy-to-the-world]

‘You should only send hearts to ppl you’re romantically involved with’

WRONG! BOUNDLESS PLATONIC LOVE, WARMTH, AND ENTHUSIASM BE UPON YE!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[oy-to-the-world]

So much of this boils down to white guilt and the desperate desire to shift that guilt onto some other racial group that they can label as Even Worse Than The Whites and therefor be absolved of ever having to think critically about their own actions and privilege ever again.

[oy-to-the-world]

Specifically he has tattoos that are common among the far right and Christian white supremacists, so, ya know.

[oy-to-the-world]

btw the implied subtext of that "mary shouldn't be played by a jewish -- sorry, israeli -- woman" thing is that there isn't ancestral continuity between the jews of ancient israel and the jews of today. it's an assumption that judaism is like islam and christianity which spread via mass conversion rather than a combo of ancestry and conversion-and-marrying-in. it's also an implicit embrace of things like khazar theory. it goes hand in hand with opposing the concept of pan-jewish ethnicity and pan-jewish identity, as well as the christian-influenced idea that we're "just a religion."

and none of this is borne out in the historic, archaeological, genetic, or textual record. it does not match up with either modern scientific or traditional cultural and liturgical understandings of who we are. it denies both our tribal mythos and our observed reality.

[oy-to-the-world]

the urge to blame women for men's problems runs so fucking deep in culture. from Male Loneliness to the alt right pipeline we talk about these things like it's womens' obligation to do the emotional labor for these men.

like i do think that pulling people out of the alt-right pipeline is valuable, but uh, frankly i think it's something that cishet white men should step up to bat for, considering that they are categorically the most safe when interacting with these people and also the most likely to be actually listened to and respected.

also yeah "you have privilege over other people and oppressed people might not always be polite about it" is just a bandaid that needs to be ripped off at some point. some people just hear "you have privilege" as "you are evil and deserve to be punished" and thats just something that they are going to have to get over.

[oy-to-the-world]

I wish we had more female characters like Eleanor Shellstrop. One of the most unlikable people you've ever met. Read a Buzzfeed article on most rude things you can do on a daily basis and decided to use that as a list of goals. Makes everyone's day worse just by being there. Dropped a margarita mix on the ground and tried to pick it up, only to get hit by a row of shopping carts which pushed her into the road where she was hit by a boner pill delivery truck, killing her instantly. Cannot keep a romantic partner despite being bisexual. Had a terrible childhood but will die before she gets therapy. Best employee at a scam company. Just the worst but also can't help but root for her to improve.

Absolute loser. Girl-failure. Bad at almost everything. Literally perfect female character.

[oy-to-the-world]

i don’t think this is going to be a popular take but sharing factual updates related to climate change that are upsetting or scary is not “climate doomerism”

[oy-to-the-world]

Russian State Duma has passed a law, in both its second and final third readings, prohibiting the adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where "gender transition" is permitted. The State Duma deputies have also unanimously passed a bill to ban the “promotion of refusal to have children.”

This was reported by Meduza and Media Zone respectively, citing the website of the lower house of parliament.

The bill on prohibiting adoption introduces amendments to the Family Code, aimed at "eliminating any possibility of Russian children being adopted by representatives of the LGBTQ+ community," according to its explanatory note. 

Deputies noted that this effectively imposes a ban on adoption by citizens of NATO countries, as the majority of these nations legally permit gender transition.

The amendments also modify the article on “promoting non-traditional sexual relationships and gender transition” (6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), with fines reaching up to 5 million rubles for legal entities. 

The concept of “LGBT propaganda” will now include the “promotion of a child-free lifestyle” if it involves “spreading information and/or engaging in public actions aimed at making the choice not to have children appear attractive, […] equating the social value of having children with not having them,” or “imposing the idea of rejecting parenthood.”

State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin stated that this law’s critics exist only “abroad,” claiming they “want to do everything to see our country disappear.”

Russia’s parliament started working on the legislation to ban the promotion of a “child-free” lifestyle in September, as the country faces its lowest birth rate in 25 years.

[oy-to-the-world]

Honestly I still haven’t let go of what happened to that 12 year old girl in France. Every time a new wave of antisemitism hits I think about her. I still worry about her. I think about how she deserves such a different world. I think about how violent antisemitism isn’t just something that happened to her once, it permeates Europe right now

[oy-to-the-world]

4B (or "Four Nos") is a feminist movement which originated in South Korea in 2019. Its proponents refuse to date men, get married, have sex with men, or have children. Submitter added: please, publish this anonymously. I've seen this trending on TikTok and I'd like to see what folks here think 🤔

[oy-to-the-world]

my mutuals are so awesome but my conversation skills are much less awesome

[oy-to-the-world]

[oy-to-the-world]

I love you everyone in red states right now.

I love you everyone who has family that is/will celebrate a Trump victory.

I love you everyone surrounded by loved ones actively voting against your rights.

If you voted for Kamala, you did everything you could and you should be proud.

All of your frustration and anger is justified, understandable, and fair.

I’m sending you all love and peace.