#also if you're jewish and i'm being out of line right now

[fangerine]

i'm not jewish. i think, maybe a great great grandparent was but that's neither here nor there. but even though i'm not jewish, i was always made aware from a young age how rampant anti-semitism is in not just the united states where i live but globally. when i was 12, my mom encouraged (made me) read "the diary of anne frank". i believe it was only then that i began to truly recognize just how horrible the holocaust was. i don't think my public education did a very good job of teaching people how evil it really was. there seemed to be some sort of assumption that kids "just know". we didn't see the horrors of it actually displayed in books. i know that a world history class can't spend the entire time on one event but a few pages can't ever grasp the ruthless slaughter of six million innocent people. memorizing numbers and dates for some test worth five points will never get the message across to kids that something as horrible as that happened much less than a hundred years ago.

i grew up christian. i'm not anymore but i will never EVER in the good ol' united states of america be afraid of being attacked for my religion. christians can fuckin' whine and complain all they want about being "persecuted" but the fact is that in 2021, the FBI reported that over 50% of religion-related hate crimes were anti-jewish.

over fifty fucking percent.

we always say "never forget" and "never again" but you can find countless surveys where an alarming amount of people either don't know or fervently deny that SIX MILLION PEOPLE WERE SLAUGHTERED FOR BEING JEWISH.

i know the persecution of jews goes much further back than the holocaust but hopefully, my point is clear.

in the past few weeks, i saw a burned apartment door of an elderly jewish couple in paris. they would have been toddlers when germany occupied france in 1940. i saw jewish families in germany with the star of david spray painted on their doors. i've seen people in protests proudly waving nazi flags in new york city. samantha woll, a synagogue leader was just murdered outside of her home in detroit. i can go on but i think you see the picture.

i'm not jewish but i don't need to be for these disgusting acts to horrify me. what i've come to realize (and maybe this is wrong) is that the hatred of jews has become so frequent in our society, that it's not really looked at anymore. it's not "newsworthy" and therefore, many people just don't care.

i'm not sure what i can do except speak up. i fear for the safety of jews all around the world. there are so many ignorant and hateful people out there making it so dangerous. jewish families aren't sending their children out of fear that something could happen at their schools. jewish people are scared so please, don't be ignorant. know the history. for non-jews like myself, we have a duty to educate ourselves and listen to a group of people who have been targeted and violently persecuted for centuries.

for jews who see this post. i'm sorry this increase in hatred towards your community is happening. i can't possibly begin to know how you must be feeling but know that you aren't being ignored by everyone. your cries for justice are NOT unheard.

if there is anything that i can do to help, please reach out. if there's anything wrong with this post, please say something. i am trying my best to be educated but know i don't and will most likely never have the full picture. i would love to add links, resources, and whatever else that is useful and important.

[luckybyler]

This was a reply to someone else, but I'm making this its own post because so many people are being so evil right now re: Noah Schnapp.

You can find other, longer explanations with history and all, but all the places I've seen more or less agree with this:

So you're all calling people to cancel Noah because he's in favor of a Jewish nation in what is today Israel. Which is a perfectly reasonable, decent and educated opinion to have, especially when you, to use a trendy term, "educate yourself" and find out why the state of Israel was created.

11000 dead Palestinians, half of them children

According to Hamas. Don't forget that, ever. They're the current, official government of Gaza, thus they're the ones who give numbers. This means that the real number could be 10, 1 million, anything in between. What I've read is that they probably give more of less accurate total numbers. What they fail to do, however, is distinguish between Hamas militants and civilians, and beteween civilians killed by IDF strikes, civilians killed by failed Hamas or Palestininan Islamic Jihad's rockets (which happens a lot), and Palestinians murdered by Hamas/PIJ (which also happens, a whole damn lot). They also don't specify how many civilians they have prevented or tried to prevent from evacuating or receiving aid.

11k dead people is a horrible number. Even 1 dead person is a horrible number. However, urban warfare in such a densely populated area is its own kind of hell, especially when the other side is fond of using civilians as human shields in every way possible. The fact that the number is 11k and not 50k, 100k, and so on, indicates that the IDF have indeed done a lot to minimize deaths. You don't genocide people by doing roof knocks, opening evacuation lines, dropping guided bombs, putting up an Iron Dome to deal with rockets while avoiding escalation, etc. simply because actual genocide, while a lot worse, is also cheaper, easier and faster than what they're doing. This is important because caling every act of war genocide dilutes the word, and there are actual genocides happening around the world. Also, there is a difference between striking military targets and causing civilian deaths as a side effect (what the IDF is doing) and planning and carrying out a massacre deliberately targeting civilians and inflicting as much pain and humilliation as possible on them. And there is a difference between doing so by breaking a ceasefire (which is what Hamas did), and defending your country because if you don't do that a terrorist group will anhilate you (which is what the IDF is doing).

Back to Noah. So far, these are the things that people have tried to cancel him for:

Traveling to Israel (a completely normal thing)

Having Israeli friends (another completely normal thing)

Condemning Hamas' horrible attack on October 7th (the decent thing to do)

Posting a statement saying he feels unsafe as a Jewish person in the US (which, given the rise of antisemitic acts in the world, including the US, including where he lives and where he studies, is a valid feeling to have)

Signing a letter, along with Shawn Levy, Brett Gelman, Ross Duffer and I think Cara Buono, asking Biden to press for the liberation of every hostage by Hamas. This especially shows the utter ignorance of the cancellers because, as it turns out, caring about every hostage implies a slowdown of IDF's actions (and, at the time, a delay of a ground invasion).

Supporting the existence and preservation of the state of Israel (once again, a completely normal thing). The fact that people are turning against him for these things says to me that the real reason you are all hating Noah is beacuse:

He's Jewish. Like, really really Jewish.

And the fact that this all comes from a place of antisemitism isn't hidden at all: I've seen y'all on here, on Twitter, Reddit, every other social media calling him slurs (such as "cunt"), censoring his name, pretending he's not part of the cast, asking the Duffers/Netflix to fire him, wishing him failure, doxxing him, calling on his classmates to physically assault him, etc. He doesn't need to educate himself: you guys are already teaching him a great lesson on why a Jewish state is necessary. If that's the treament he gets from his own "fans", what can he expect from the world at large?

[boldlygoingtohell]

In a weird way, as a Jew, I can kinda take Normal Antisemitism™️.

I mean, I understand where right-wing racists are coming from when it comes to their antisemitism. At the end of the day, theirs just comes from fear, replacement theory, etc… It’s easily identifiable. 2+2=4. Yea its shitty, but I see how they got from A to B and it’s a straight line.

But left-wing antisemitism?? Like, how does that happen? I thought the left was about supporting minority groups, encouraging them to speak and be heard. But all I’m seeing from leftists these days (I myself being super fucking liberal, left, etc…) is just waves and waves of antisemitism. And yes it has to do with Israel, but these people are incapable of criticizing the Israeli government without going “all Jews are responsible!” in the process. It's infuriating.

Are all the the world’s Jews, millions of which live OUTSIDE of Israel, now responsible for Israel’s actions? I'M a stupid American! I’ve never even BEEN to Israel, much less know the intricate details of a geo-political conflict whose complexities go willfully unlearned by armchair activists in favor of yelling in all caps for 140 characters.

But what really gets me, and I mean REALLY get me about the whole situation, is the hypocrisy.

Remember how awful it was when we saw waves of Islamophobic hate crimes after 9/11, American Muslims with no ties to al-Qaeda being targeted for the faith those terrorists claimed to represent?

Or do you remember standing against the wave of anti-Asian hate crimes that was spurned on by COVID falsehoods? The “China virus” as Trump so eloquently put it? You remember being pissed about that, not blaming Asian Americans but standing with them against hate?

And hell, I’ve heard there has been a rash of Islamophobic attacks again because of the Israeli-Gaza conflict. That’s fucking awful, and I will stand against that bull shit because it does not belong here, end of story.

But now there are also antisemitic attacks, hate crimes, being perpetrated around the world. And who are the perpetrators now? The left that stood against everything else. There's no widespread ally-ship for Jews like me. There's no sweeping social media campaign, no catchy hashtag, no ice bucket challenge.

Why am I allowed to be condemned for what a country on the other side of the world is doing, when I have nothing to do with it? Why can I have the finger pointed at me when I don’t want the fighting in the first place? Why must Jews be allowed to be the target of this ire when it's already been decided that other ethnicities/religions don't deserve it either?

Now, I am PROUD to be Jewish; it is my culture, in my heritage, in my literal blood. It is in my genetics, my bones, my spoken language, it is in the holidays I celebrate, the philosophies I live by.

But it is also in the generational trauma of my mother insisting I have a passport as a young child, not because we were traveling, but in case we had to flee. It is in her inherent distrust of the government; a card-carrying Democrat all her life, she would always remind me, "if you don't think the government can't turn on you, you're kidding yourself." It is her constant reminders that as a Jew, our assimilation is conditional, our acceptance is political. I felt these, but never as strongly as she did. Not until now.

I am third generation American, and yet I feel like an outsider in the only country I have ever known. People who I thought understood, who were my friends, who marched with me against the injustices of the world, are now calling after Jews to answer for Israel's actions.

I say I don't want the violence to persist and I'm told that I'm, "one of the good ones". I'm told hurt Israelis don't deserve sympathy because, "all Jews are rich anyway, right? Who cares." I tell them my fears about the rising antisemitism and wearing my star of david necklace out. I'm told, "it doesn't matter, you're white anyway."

For the first time in my life, the racists aren't just some crazy KKK members. They're not just Nazis marching around with beer bellies and ill fitting helmets. It's not just some screeching street preacher who claims I'm going to hell after he caught the glint off my star of david necklace. If needs be, I can kick and punch my way out of those. They're just idiots. Isolated, concentrated incidents. It'd be a good story to tell at a bar the next day though a gap-toothed smile and a sling on my shoulder.

But now, both sides are coming after me and my people. Now, it's not just idiots who have all of their views backwards; it's people I thought I could trust to have my back, to go down swinging with me against those Nazis. Right. Left. It's everywhere. There's no escape.

It's coming from all sides. It's coming from social media platforms, from dinners with friends, from posters on street lamps.

I live in one of the safest, most Jewish neighborhoods in America, and for the first time in my life I am truly scared.

[reel-fear]

Bendy And The Power Of Representation

So those graphic novel pages huh? Seems I posted my cover post at just the right time because literally minutes after I was informed the preview pages came out and uh. This is Buddy and Norman!

Oh dear... I'll put the full graphic novel pages down below but I have so much to say on how awful this is it'll need several posts. However, right now I want to mostly talk about representation and briefly touch on why it's so damn important + inform others about the current shit Mike and Meatly are saying about the books n such.

Now note: All the things I'm saying below are based on my personal experience, maybe some people don't care about seeing the representation of their identities in the media they consume. Maybe some will think I'm merely being dramatic and I might be but I'm not lying when I say I personally believe being represented and seen in the media you consume can be one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.

Look I'm not here to argue with people who think that Norman in particular was never meant to be a person of color, I would argue he is very coded but the points I'm making here are not about how Norman particularly had to be black. The point I want to make is the lack of diversity in our cast in general and how Norman's design has heavily dwindled it considering most people [including myself] rightfully assumed he was at least one of three black characters in our cast. Not according to this though and looking at the the rest of the pages our chances of seeing any kind of decent diverse character designs dwindle more.

So firstly... Buddy a character who has been said to experience discrimination for being Jewish, lacks any kind of ethnic features at all. That's... Cool but yeah I think this shows a rather grim future for the character designs as a whole.

Also, Norman... As I mentioned he was largely assumed to be black due to his southern dialect, his voice, and other factors. But nope, he's a generic white guy. With... Gross looking hair tbh...

Sadly this is not the first time the topic of poor representation has come up concerning Bendy either.

[note how he disregarded the other mentioned minorities and specifically cites LGBTQ+ characters]

This sucks as a response but sadly considering Mike's recent behavior it seems to fall in line with the Bendy team's general lack of care towards representing anyone who isn't straight and white.

So how did Mike respond to all of this? Well...

TDLR - "Who cares if the Graphic Novel we're selling to our fans for full price sucks, we now no longer consider the books canon."

This is horrible, I know Mike and Meatly are only really in this for the money, the fact BATIM is in the state that it is proved that, but they really couldn't have been less obvious about it?

So basically when it benefited them, AKA when it meant people would have to buy the books to understand important lore like Boris' identity... [the character you spend all of chapter 4 trying to rescue] They were considered canon... At least the author sure thought so.

Hell even in the tweet Meatly made here he doesn't say the books aren't canon, he just says they're not needed to understand Bendy's world. Now Mike is using that as a shield instead of doing the right thing and saying "You're right, the poc in our fanbase deserve better we'll have it fixed right away!" Like most reasonable people would considering how his studio has literally been accused of bigotry, poor rep, and general lack of diversity before. Why risk making more people avoid this franchise?

Also just... Imagine how insulting it would be to be an author who helps flesh out so much of this world and gives its characters depth like NONE of the games have managed to do, filling in plot holes, creating a timeline for events, etc... Then because they couldn't bother to change the graphic novel for ur story to be better they instead throw out all ur writing and declare it non-canon.

If I were her to put it bluntly I'd feel insulted and horrible. Why make her do all the work of making sure her works align with the timeline and game's canon if they're not part of it?

I can't speak for her obviously but Meatly and Mike know of her account, so speaking out against this could very much risk her being fired or at least not allowed to work on Bendy anymore... So I would take all her tweets on this situation with a grain of salt. She very much is not in a position where she could be honest if she was against this.

So with all that history now, the question I'm sure many are wondering is... Why does this even matter? Who cares how diverse the characters are when it doesn't affect the story?

Well for one thing, if you think like that consider having more empathy for your fellow human beings but also it does affect the story. One of DCTL's themes is about the bigotry of the period it is set in.

Now the Bendy team has managed to make the discussion of this book centering around their bigotry which is ironic in a way I almost find funny... Though this entire thing is just a bit too hurtful and upsetting to find any humor in, at least for me...

But another thing is representation can bring people such joy when it's done with care. It really shouldn't be understated how far it can go to make people feel more comfortable in their own sense of self to have a franchise choose to represent them and their experiences. I know this from personal experience.

Now if you've been following me for a while, you know I'm a big fan of Transformers. I no longer engage with it much due to baggage from the fandom's awful treatment of me, but before I left I remember being able to witness the release of Transformers: Earthspark first few episodes.

These introduced the Maltos the family who meets the Transformers and serve as our protagonists and guess what?

It's a family of Filipinos!

Now look I'm not Filipino, but I am half Mexican and I have a lot of love for that part of me. So seeing the representation of any Spanish culture in this franchise I loved made me so happy! I remember just watching the first episode I was happily telling my partner how fun it was to see people like me and my family in a world I love!!

But it didn't end with the Maltos in fact... There was another character who spoke to me, their name was Nightshade. Their pronouns are They/Them and they spoke about it on the show! Not just mentioning it and moving on but actually sitting down to speak about their experiences...

This clip in particular really turned them into an absolute favorite among fans and well... I'll let you see it for yourself.

This scene... Fills me with a joy I cannot describe. It is the creators of a franchise I love telling me they see people like me and find the stories of people like me important enough to include in this series. There really is nothing like being able to say there are Non-Binary characters in a franchise I have so much love for. I was far from the only one too.

This is amazing, this is wonderful, this clip and character were moving to so so many people and...

This is a joy the Bendy creators have no interest in giving their audience. They don't care how you feel as a queer and/or black person, which... Hurts...

I... Discovered I was trans while in the Bendy community... It was where I learned the word Non-Binary and started using it for myself. To me Bendy will always have that connection... But the devs themselves seem to hate the idea of being forced to actually represent that in their games... And I still haven't really gotten over that pain or betrayal if I'm being honest.

So...

With Norman now being portrayed as white here, we are down to two black characters. Thomas [who Meatly has claimed is white in the past] based on a vague conversation with Sammy in DCTL they could easily ignore... And Jacob.... A book exclusive character which according to Mike means he is non-canon.

If we don't count Thomas' vague talk with Sammy about disrespect as confirmation he's black [which the devs don't seem to think so] then we have one black character in all of Bendy... And he recently got retconned into non-existence. Great.

Look... The Bendy fanbase has always been full of wonderfully diverse designs for the staff and even more diverse people creating them. Bendy's fandom was built with the work of queer people from all kinds of places.

If the Bendy team continues to show how little they care for anyone who isn't straight or white... I wonder who they are counting on to buy this book or in general financially support their franchise?

I know right now, I am furious, I am hurt and I most certainly don't feel like buying a book that's currently just a massive fuck you to the fans and I hope I've expressed why I feel this way in an easy-to-understand way here...

Either way, I will not be forgetting this anytime soon and I hope the fanbase does the same. Maybe just maybe, if there's enough backlash to this series of horrible decisions they'll learn better.

Right now, it's kinda of our only hope for a better future, and if you know any poc who are into Bendy right now... Maybe consider making sure they're feeling okay.

I know from experience how much this sort of thing hurts, to have the creators of a world you love straight up tell you they don't intend to fix the fact no one in their stories represents your identity or life...

What I'm trying to say is...

This is a really low point for Bendy and its fans... Even more for the poc who have to witness such ignorant and careless attitudes from Mike and Meatly towards their feelings.

Please don't forget them when you discuss these tweets or this situation. That's exactly what Mike and Meatly want right now.

For them to be unrepresented and therefore... Unheard.

[kittyoverlord]

Queer Converts at Chabad?

It's more likely than you think.

I'm putting this together because as someone whose practice tends more "traditional" (for lack of a better term), and someone who is very obviously Queer, I have found myself relying on Chabad every now and again, and have some tips for how to interact with the organization with minimal stress. Hope this helps someone.

For those who don't know, Chabad is the "missionary"* branch of Chasidic Judaism, an ultra-Orthadox Jewish community which holds some of the most bigoted beliefs you'll find in Judaism. At the same time, Chabadniks are some of the nicest people that you'll ever meet.

My first experience with Chabad, I had just started learning about Judaism in college and had very little context about the wider Jewish community. During Sukkot I happened upon the local Chabad's sukkah in the middle of campus, and decided to pop in. They were holding a learning session about the meaning of the Lulav, and through a line of questioning I learned for the first time about Family Purity (Nidah) laws, and I piped up, "What if you're gay?" To which the Chabad Rabbi kinda stumbled over his words and said, "Well, simply put, you can't be gay." or something to that affect. I said, "Oh, ok." very calmly, realizing what I had walked into, thanked him for the Pizza, and respectfully left.

I've also had some good experiences with Chabad. There's a local Jewish festival in my town every year, and the last time I went I visited both of the Chabad booths (one for the university, and one for the general town). I can't remember which, but one Rabbi wrapped tefillin for me, while the other Rabbi only offered to the cis men who walked up after me. I found myself surprised, but glad to fulfill the mitzvah, and we had a brief conversation about Jewish practice and being true to oneself. His words were very measured, but were neutral, not antagonistic.

This is just to give you a bit of context of what you may deal with at a Chabad house.

Today, on the last(ish) day of Sukkot, I needed to go shake a Lulav and eat in a Sukkah. I couldn't build my own Sukkah this year due to my health, and had also been unable to plan ahead to register for any local events. As someone who has struggled to connect with my local Jewish community becuase it's very spread out vs. where I converted, I don't have any connections with local Jews who may have their own Sukkahs. Hence, I turned to the last possibility, the everpresent Chabad.

I googled around and found the closest Chabad house, found an email form, and sent a quick email inquiring about stopping by to use the Sukkah. I also had a back-up house closer to the liberal bubble I grew up in where Chabadniks are more likely to keep their homophobia on the DL, but I couldn't find an email for them, so I was gonna call the next morning. However, I received an email respose right away and quickly was able to set up a time for me to visit their Sukkah.

Fast forward to today. The Rabbi was very pleasant and I was able to observe the mitzvot of the lulav and dwelling in the Sukkah, so mission accomplished. I had planned on what to say regarding my queerness - "Yeah, I live around here, I just tend not to fit in to many local congregations." which went fine. What I was not anticipating was the very pointed questions to determine how Jewish I was.

I had been thinking about what I would say about this after seeing this post from @vaspider. So I hit him with the "I started practicing in college where the Jewish community was really close together." We walked around it for a bit but he was practiced and ended up eventually hitting me with the "Are your parents Jewish?" then asked me where I converted. While I have little love for Chabad, I didn't feel comfortable lying to him, so I let him know that I converted with the conservative shul where I lived at the time.

The reason he was asking me such pointed questions is because he was trying to determine how much effort it would take to work me into the Chassidic community. If I were born Jewish, he would just need to convince me to strengthen my traditional practice and be a nice heterosexual woman. As a convert in another denomination**, he would need me to convert again with a Chasidic Rabbi before I could be fully incorporated into his shul.

Luckily, I was somewhat prepared for this possibility, so I wasn't taken totally by surprise. And I didn't really feel insulted - I know he subscribes to a very specific idea of the world that is fueling his actions.

I was also very consious to not offer my hand to shake, and he didn't offer his. A lot of Orthodox people observe a practice of not touching people of the "opposite" sex, and I didn't want to extend my hand only for him to refuse it. I wasn't trying to be stealth, but have a full beard, and wasn't sure where he would land on that.

At least after all of that he still had me shake the Lulav and gave me some noodle kugel to eat in the Sukkah. That's all that I wanted.

TLDR: Chabad has the reputation it does for a reason, but if you go in with a very specific purpose and knowing what to expect, they can be a valuable resource. They want you to fulfill the mitvot, so if you can put up with a bit of awkwardness and proseltyzing, it may be worth it to you. Of course, it may not be, this is just to provide some info for other Queer Disabled Jews who find themselves in need of a Jewish space in a pinch.

Edit: I told my Rabbi (who hates Chabad) about this and basically summed it up as, "I feel like a carry a little of your spirit every time I interact with Chabad, because I think I'm fueled out of spite. Like, 'I'm going to fulfill these mitzvot, even if you don't want me to.'" and he loved that. My Rabbi is the best.

If spite is what gets you there, use what works lol.

*I'm calling them missionaries because that's the closest term I could think of, however their goal is not to make non-Jewish people Jewish (that's prohibited), their goal is to make already Jewish people more Orthodox. Not that they'd turn away someone trying to convert.

**Jewish groups that vary by practice are more commonly referred to as "movements" as at the end of the day a Jew is a Jew so even different movements will respect eachother, but of course there's always exceptions and I just didn't want to use the word "movement" over and over again, so denomination seemed like a sufficient synonym.

[xclowniex]

I don’t know if it makes me a horrible person but I’m actually kind of glad seeing Yuval (feels very weird saying that seeing as my uncle is called יובל) getting ripped to shreds by his ‘supporters’. Like, not happy, but just sort of satisfied??? I had to unfollow him when I was still on tiktok because he was promoting ahistorical bullshit and demonising Israelis. It’s extra shitty because the first ever video he made on the conflict was actually fairly balanced and recognised Jewish self determination and being indigenous to the levant, and then he deleted it, apologised, and started erasing Jewish history because he thought he could bend to these people’s will. His account prides itself on being informed and factual and fair, and yet he pulls a stunt like that, and I can only imagine how much worse he’s gotten since I deleted tiktok

We all knew that this would happen. The harassers knew it would, at least in their subconscious. It was only him who didn’t. They’ve pushed him to the very edge because now the baseline for being like them is to view the Shoah as a couple thousand people dying for basically being Christians, and it’s made special because they were white, and now that he’s stepped out of line a little they are coming for him. Maybe it’ll snap him out of being an idiot who sells out his own people so that he can be seen as a good person instead of like, actually being a good person. But he’ll probably just try to curry their favour again and fail over and over and over. Idk. It’s a weirdly gratifying but also incredibly depressing thing to see that what you predicted was going to happen was exactly right

(and I know some idiots are going to try to twist this into saying ‘you think fundraising for Palestinians is evil!!!’ because the anons you get are absolutely deranged. That’s not my problem with him or his account, wanting to fundraise for families is great and, as long as they’re verifiably real, it’s a good way to directly help people without their aid being taken away and siphoned off by Hamas. My problem with him is that in an effort to be the token Good Jew tm he completely revises history, spreads propaganda and false info, and vilifies every point of Israel’s life as a state. Plus he can’t even pronounce his own name right lol)

100% with everything you said.

I don't think you are a bad person for having a sense of "I told you so" towards what he is experiencing. It sucks and no jew should experience antisemitism, however two things can be true at once.

Its only natural to feel almost a sense of vindication, a "see look, I told you all this was going to happen and none of you listened to me and now you're suffering too"

I also agree that he will likely bend to their favor. He has shown some backbone in regards to his apology video where he stood behind his original message but apologized if his wording was off and re-worded his statement. This is all my assumption as I am not in his head, but I feel like his backbone on this came from sheer disbelief that face eating leopards ate his face. We may see this end up as a turning point where he stops pandering, or he might continue to pander either out of wanting to be accepted or because of other commitments like Ayame. She might not want to continue to make content with him due to the backlash and boom there goes his biggest series + a potential relationship as I'm unsure if it's just for views or if they are genuinely interested in each other.

[book--brackets]

Hi everyone. So I've been considering doing this for a while because I post a lot about it on my main blog but there are almost 2,000 of you following me here so I feel like this will have more impact.

As I'm sure you all know, there's some absolutely awful stuff going on in Palestine right now. To put it frankly, we are watching a genocide happen right now. Palestine has been colonized by Zionists for almost a century now, forced out of their homes, killed for no reason, had their basic rights denied, and now the Israeli government is actively trying to wipe them out. I want to make something abundantly clear. I am not here to debate this issue with you. I am firmly pro-Palestine, and there is no reason that homes, hospitals, and evacuation routes need to be bombed. No. Reason. If you are pro-Israel, maybe this isn't the competition for you.

Instead, I am here to tell you what we can do to support Palestine! Right now, it might seem like a pretty hopeless situation, but we are capable of affecting change. Currently, while donating is always good, it's very hard to get resources into Palestine. Also, donating isn't always feasible for everyone. Instead, here's what's recommended:

Boycotting. Right now, there are boycotts going on against pro-Israel companies. Now, to boycott every company supporting the Zionist movement would be very difficult, so there is a specific list of companies to target. There's the big three, Starbucks, McDonald's, and Disney+, and then the BDS has a list of the more minor companies to focus on boycotting. By focusing our efforts on these specific companies, it'll be a lot more effective.

If you're in a country where this is a viable route of action for you, contact your government officials! Tell them to call for a ceasefire! In the US, that means Congress, in the UK, that means Parliament. Even if it doesn't seem like it, this does have an impact. In the US particularly I know that representatives are so out of line with what their constituents want that their staffers have started pressuring them to avoid being so pro-Israel.

Finally, keep talking about this! There are a lot of issues in the world that have a surge of activism around them only for it to fall out of the public eye. Keep reblogging information and Palestinian testimony, keep posting resources, and keep the pressure on for a ceasefire!

Also, I want to make it extremely clear that the actions of Zionists do not speak for the many Jewish people of the world. Zionism does not mean Judaism. There are so many Jewish people out there standing with Palestine, and I won't tolerate any antisemitic or nazi ideology as a result of supporting Palestine.

I know this isn't exactly what you expected from a competition about childhood books, but this is an issue that all of us should be worried about. I'm not an expert on this, and I highly recommend checking out other sources on how to help, but I hope I can help get the word out.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

[fierycavalier]

Intro to Scouting for Nancy Drew Fans

i love to see Ace's Eagle Scout status come up in fics. Although it was almost a throw-away line, I think it informs Ace's character and fleshes out his backstory well, beyond just knowing knots and navigating the woods. But I see a lot of awkward phrasing, and I see a lot of missed opportunities to bring it up, and it got me wondering if a little primer would be helpful.

Things Ace could say: "I learned this in Boy Scouts." "My troop leader took us out here all the time." "This trail didn't go this way back when I was in Scouts." "Don't worry, they love me here--my eagle project was to clean up this beach." "Don't talk to me about Jared Spriggs-- I'll never forgive him for what he did to my derby car when I was 14."

Eagle Scout is a rank and an honor that he achieved, not a program he was in. The program is Boy Scouts of America (BSA). People familiar with the program will just say Boy Scouts or Scouts. After 100 years of only allowing boys to participate, the program became co-ed in 2019, so it's now called Scouts BSA, not Boy Scouts. Ace would have grown up in the program before then since he turned 18 in 2016.

If Ace started in scouting before he was 11, he would have been in Cub Scouts. At 11, he could move up to the scouting troop. There are ranks in scouting, tied to the number of merit badges you've earned. Eagle Scout is the top rank and must be achieved before the age of 18. It involves a certain number of merit badges, hours of volunteer work, and a main Eagle Scout Service Project that they must plan and execute themselves (with assistance from scout leaders and parents).

I think it highly likely that the Captain was a troop leader or otherwise involved in scouting, especially before his accident. I can see his mom stepping in as well- if I remember right, women could be pack leaders even before 2016.

Although most people work toward Eagle as 16-17 year olds, it's possible to achieve it earlier, especially if you're smart and committed like Ace. So his pot-smoking days could come after he earned Eagle and lost interest in Scouts, or they could coexist. Your call.

Although people assume scouting is about wilderness preparedness, the program's goal is to create well-rounded, responsible citizens. Ace would have the Oath and Law memorized.

Scout Oath

On my honor I will do my best

To do my duty to God and my country

and to obey the Scout Law;

To help other people at all times;

To keep myself physically strong,

mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law

A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent

As you can guess, being Jewish might have been tricky for Ace in a program that's culturally Christian as many 20th century American institutions are. That'd also depend on what his troop was like--was there one troop for the whole town, or maybe his synagogue hosted a troop?

There's a Sea Scouts program. Where I'm from is landlocked so I don't know anything about it, but Horseshoe Bay or a nearby bigger town would definitely have Sea Scouting!

Lastly, here are the current Merit Badge categories: it covers a lot more than knots! Ace often gets into hacking in pre-series fics by hanging out at the library with his mom after school. But what if he was introduced to programming in Scouts? And I'm sure Florence helped him complete many merit badges.

Automotive Maintenance

Backpacking

Bird Study

Camping

Canoeing

Chemistry

Coin Collecting

Cooking

Digital Technology

Engineering

Fire Safety

First Aid

Fly-Fishing

Golf

Indian Lore

Insect Study

Journalism

Law

Mining in Society

Nuclear Science

Photography

Plant Science

Programming

Radio

Safety

Scouting Heritage

Skating (I know we never see him on a skateboard but come on)

Surveying

Sustainability

Swimming (the way Ace is built heavier in top looks like a competitive swimming shape in my experience!)

[awellboiledicicle]

It's a good think ol Mo the Human doesnt know the shit I actually do, tbh.

Mostly because they'd spend an inordinate amount of time trying to make a Geiger counter and worrying about lifespans. Because if Flow is magic, its probably still radioactive. It just feels like it's radiation made funky bc future shit.

Not to mention they'd be trying desperately to get every banned book to squirrel away in a basement no one knows about. Because about the time the LIBRARIAN is locking down on what you're ALLOWED to read, it's bad.

Not to mention if they're from rn times mentally, the robots are a fucking wild thing to see. What do you mean we managed to make sentient life in a body that lasts thousands of years and still runs well? What do you mean the archeology students friend bot was a nanny bot? Holy shit.

Not to mention you're. Very much not on earth. So that is another trip.

Basically I'm now imagining a very strange person trying their best to be jewish in their corner while also being deeply suspicious of everyone BUT the criminals. Because criminals are at least honest about what they're about, to themselves at least. But the good people you need to watch out for because they can convince themselves they're doing the right thing a whole lot easier.

Hassain was not actually prepared for them to drill him on what a chappa eats or the deer things. Or the birds in the area.

Sifuu gets the fun task of explaining that no, shes not allowed to make them a sword "just in case".

Jel is also beset by them staring v intently after a chat and going "I am so mad I don't remember more than fifteen lines of The Raven."

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

do you think laura lee is a catholic? I always thought she was a protestant (mainly bc im a catholic from NJ and the snippets of her pre-crash life didn't seem to line up w/ my experiences) but i've seen some people say she's a catholic and you're like the catholic expert on here so i wanted to ask you

No I do not. Laura Lee is Protestant as all get-out.

I think people read Laura Lee as Catholic for a few different reasons. The first is the "Camp Mary Magdalene" thing; this seems to be the name of her summer camp in the 1x08 flashback (although as @lais-a-ramos has pointed out there's other stuff in this scene indicating that this is a meet of multiple camps and thus CMM might not be her own), and, while it's a weird name for a Catholic summer camp to have, it's a way weirder one for a Protestant one to have. But this doesn't necessarily mean much other than that she or her parents wanted something "faith-based"; I grew up in New Jersey as well, was raised vaguely Christian by a lapsed Catholic mother, and went to a summer camp so Jewish that we sang the Israeli national anthem every morning. (This would come across as very incendiary of the camp in Current Year, but this was the late 2000s, and at least la Mantovana is a great melody.) The nondiegetic reason for the camp's name is probably just that the people who make the show don't cornplate these things as much as autistic Yellowjackets superfans* do.

There's also the "our blonde patron saint" description of her in the season 1 scripts. I think "patron saint" is being used more broadly and allusively here; my guess is that direction was written by someone who was from a Catholic background themselves. It also ties into the show's broader themes around these girls' devotion to exalted, stylized qualities in one another. That's hard to square with a Protestant understanding of sanctity and a lot easier to square with a Catholic one.

On a broader sociocultural level, I suspect people "want" Laura Lee to be Catholic because her sort of Ned-Flanders-before-his-eponymous-TV-Trope-set-in genuinely-well-meaning Evangelical God-bothering is unfortunately kind of unusual these days. It's been supplanted by something much more aggressive and mean-spirited, including outside the US; South America in particular produces both a disproportionate number of Laura Lee stans and a disproportionate number of EXTREMELY right-wing Evangelical communities that have given her kind of Christianity an even worse name than it has in left-leaning parts of North America and Europe. So I think a lot of the fandom would like Laura Lee to be Catholic because it's a flavor of conservative-ish Christianity that people find easier to understand in a character they like. I totally get this; I'm Catholic myself. But no, I don't think she actually is Catholic. The first L in Laura Lee is for latitudinarian; the second L is for low church.

*Of whom I am the foremost; I think I was the first person in the fandom to notice that Shauna's holy card in the pilot is anachronistic, since Our Lady Undoer of Knots was not a widespread devotion outside Latin America until Pope Francis was elected. It's very popular now, so my guess is that the prop was a holy card that a Catholic member of the cast or crew happened to have close at hand during filming.

[listentoace]

hahahah as a jewish girl you being german adds a layer of dominance that for some reason turns me on

I think this is one of the "weirdest" asks I've gotten in a long time. Weird, because even my dark and evil brain had never spend a single second thinking about a scenario like this one – and I've thought about many scenarios. It's also quite hard for me to decide whether or not I like this fantasy. Technically speaking, I have nothing to do with Nazi-Germany as I was born long after their regime fell, but I still deeply resent their actions and beliefs. I also hate watching the populist, fascist, right-wing party AfD gain more and more popularity, and other parties such as the CDU just jumping onto that train as well. I can't wrap my mind around how utterly stupid, self-centered, and irrational a person has to be to vote for those parties and share those beliefs – I probably never will.

In a kinky sense, I enjoy inequality and very skewed power settings. I love the dominant role and everything that comes with it. I've even had quite morbid fantasies about being a dictator, controlling my people and using feederism and fat-sentences as a way to keep my subjects in line. But those are just fantasies my brain spits out every now and then. In the real world, I deeply hate inequality in every way imaginable. I even boycott a ton of companies ranging from Nestlé to Disney, and even actively discourage people to buy their products and use their services. So I am very conflicted about this ask.

I can see how the helplessness and immense stakes could be a turn-on, but I absolutely don't want to mix any Nazi-German past with feederism myself, as I simply can't turn off how disgusted I am by those people and beliefs. I'm not trying to kink-shame you, tho. You're free to enjoy and explore any fantasies you find appealing, no matter how dark or even disturbing they might be. After all, I do that as well and even write and talk about it on the internet – although most of my content only covers the gentler to medium ideas. I just had to reply to this ask as it stands out a lot from the ones I usually get, and because I felt like this was a good opportunity to share a few of the beliefs that lay under my hard and evil shell. This might not be the reply you've been looking for, but I hope you still like it. Also, my DMs are always open for anybody, just so you know :)

[kleenexwoman]

Aziraphale is Lucifer, Sauntering Back Upward

There's an amazing meta post about Crowley being Lucifer, and it got me thinking about the nature of their own rebellions. I love the idea that Crowley is Lucifer, and I totally think it fits, but he's a a version of the Adversary seen through a very Jewish lens, possibly even placed there deliberately by God herself as a sleeper agent. (I'm not placing Good Omens God as the good guy here; the whole point of the show is that neither side is good or bad, they're just sides to be on.)

In Judaism, Ha-Satan is an Adversary in a way that translates to "The Opposing Advocate" or "The Prosecuting Attorney" (Hebrew is Really Old and only has so many words to convey concepts), and his actual job, as appointed by G-d, is Asking Questions. He's appointed to do that. He's one of the mazikim, an angel who does G-d's dirty work of testing, tempting, judging, and destroying (I know Neil knows what this is, he named a character that!). And why was Crowley placed as the Tempter of Man? Well, he's really good at asking questions. He was turned into a demon because he had a lot of questions.

The assumption is that this is a punishment.

Job also thought he was being punished, but he wasn't. He was being used as a test because he was such a great example. Crucially, the Jewish interpretation of this story is not about trusting G-d and being rewarded or whatever, it's "Being very good doesn't mean that you'll be rewarded on Earth, it means that you'll probably have an even harder time here because G-d is using you to prove something." The double livestock and children are not meant to be a reward, they are due compensation for damages. (The Mishnah says equal cost, but I think Pain and Suffering counts for an awful lot in this case, so it's only right that he gets twice the livestock.)

Whereas Aziraphale, actually? Is not only a Christian angel, but a Christian Lucifer who is sauntering very slowly downward. A Lucifer whose job is not to ask questions, but who actually tests the angels themselves and leads them to rebellion.

(Additionally, I think it's really funny that Aziraphale and Crowley are having the exact same argument as G-d and Satan in the Book of Job, which is that it's very easy to do the right thing if you're rich but hard if you're poor, but they pick a very poor person instead of a rich one and end up taking everything away from her, and she's tempted to suicide. Great job, Aziraphale. Proves my point.)

Let's look Before the Beginning.

The first line in Genesis is about G-d creating the heavens and the Earth. So this is obviously even before "Let there be light," Market Version. The Miltonian War in Heaven takes place before that, so obviously this is before the Earth even happens. So what's Crowley doing, speaking the Divine Command when the Earth isn't around yet?

Well, without God looking over his shoulder, he's setting the stage for things like matter and energy to even be able to exist before the Earth even has the conditions to form. He's disbursing the Divine Light that's contained in the now-shattered vessels of the Sfirot.

Rav Wikipedia sums it up thusly: 'Because the sephirot are pure and unrelated to each other at this stage, each attribute alone is unable to contain the enormity of the Divine light as it descends into them, and the "vessels" (Keilim) of the sephirot undergo a "shattering" (Shevirah), creating the World of "Chaos" (tohu). Their Divine light is released and reascends, while the broken vessel fragments descend, still animated by "sparks" (Nitzotz) of light."

So, Crowley summons that Divine Light, it Big Bangs out and shatters existence into being, and Divine Light shoots out all over the place. Now, in medieval Kabbalah, this separation was considered to be a result of humans sinning, but in Lurianic Kabbalah, which is a reaction to the very beginnings of the Spanish Inquisition (the thing that got Crowley so upset with humanity), it's a necessary part of Creation. Divine Sparks being trapped inside the shards of the vessels it was stored in and forgetting what they were is necessary for consciousness that's not just a part of G-d to exist.

That's Crowley's job. It's necessary. We used to believe this was a mistake, but turns out it's not! This cosmic separation is actually really important, otherwise the Divine Sparks cannot forget their origin and experience individual consciousness and thus free will.

"In the Lurianic scheme, Creation is initiated by a primordial radical Divine "self-withdrawal" (Tzimtzum), forming a figurative "empty space/vacuum" (Khalal) in which only an "imprint" (Reshimu) remains of the withdrawn Ein Sof."

Compare this to Crowley and Gabriel's discussion of their lack of memory feeling like a house where furniture used to be. But also, consider how out of touch Crowley is with the whole Divine Bureaucracy at this point. He's clearly been left alone to do his own thing and hasn't heard what's going on in the scheme of things.

So what's Aziraphale doing there? He's just blithely winging his way across empty space, a little spark of light, when Crowley calls out to him. He doesn't appear to be doing anything more urgent or important. He comes over, asks what's up, and Crowley gives him a task -- holding the blueprint while he activates it into existence by turning a crank. Crucially, Crowley needs somebody to help him bring existence, as imperfect and chaotic as it is, into a place where it can even start to think about being. Trapping the Divine Spark in matter.

This is real fuckin sexual. It suggests Hesiod's placement of Eros as an act of attractive, sexual love as the beginning of existence, but also it's a pretty obvious sexual pun.

(The Gnostics would identify Crowley as the Demiurge for this, but we're not talking about them. I don't think Neil is trying to do anything with Gnostic mythos here; it would be a lot more obvious if he was.)

What is Aziraphale's response to this? He's disappointed that Crowley is praising Creation instead of praising his own personal beauty. It's only a second, but wow, how petty can you be? Someone has just unleashed the full beauty of the first moments of existence before you and you're like, "Wait, I'm pretty, too!" I mean, you did just metaphorically cum existence into being and I guess you're stuck in the wet spot, you could use some aftercare.

That sounds a lot like Milton's Satan. He's the prettiest boy in Heaven, and his whole thing is that he's not impressed by humanity and they should be worshipping him instead of him having to serve them. Aziraphale is a little jelly of Creation from the very start. So jelly, in fact, that he starts talking shit about it. Oh, this? Yeah, it's not that important. It's just a backdrop for humanity. Yeah, some little apes on an unregarded little blue-green planet far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy. That's what this is all about. Yeah, uh-huh, sucks to be you. Well, I wouldn't do anything stupid like raising a fuss about it. Oh, you're gonna? Ooh, don't, it's pretty dangerous. Little old angel like me could never. I don't even know what gravity is.

And yeah, maybe he was sent there to give Crowley the news in the first place, but still.

(@mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea , who suggested I tag @neil-gaiman , also points out that many interpretations suggest that Milton portrays the Fall as a Felix culpa or necessary fault, a planned thing like the shattering of the Divine Vessels in Lurianic Kabbalah -- both are necessary for independent consciousness to exist.)

God could have totally sent him to check up on Crowley, not just inform him of the new developments in the plan. Oh yeah, that one nerdy angel who got all geeked about nebulae. He's gonna flip his shit when he realizes this isn't going to run long enough for any new stars to form. Let's send my insecure little gay gossip over to see how he takes it. Ooh, he came right the fuck up to my office with a serious attitude. I mean, I don't wanna deal with that on a daily basis, but he's making some good points. I need to put him where I can use that attitude and also not have to deal with that attitude...

Not only that, but Aziraphale gives fire and the first weapon of war to Adam. These are traits identified with Prometheus and with Azazel, another name for Satan, in two different traditions.

One common interpretation of Milton is that his sympathetic Satan shares traits with Prometheus, acting as a bringer of enlightenment and a heroic figure to humanity, risking his angelic status for actions that will ultimately free humanity from the yoke of the gods. Prometheus risked the wrath of Zeus to give fire to the humans and was punished endlessly for it, and is prophesied to someday rise and do battle with the forces of Order at the end of time. Prometheus is also associated with the human brain and toolmaking (because of the fire), as well as being ultimately responsible for Pandora, the First Woman, who likewise doomed humanity because of her curiosity and disobedience of the gods.

According to the Book of Enoch, the angel Azazel, another name for Lucifer or Satan (I think by now it's pretty clear that Satan is just gonna be whichever angel is being an Adversary at the time, but w/e) was the leader of the Grigori, the angels who lusted after humans so much they decided to fuck them. Azazel personally taught them smithing and how to make weapons of war (and makeup; Aziraphale does love disguises and sleight of hand). Very Promethean. Aziraphale didn't Fall then, true, but he's also Human Gay. Possibly because his first individual experience was being attracted to (and, uh, Used for Cranking It until Creation exploded into being by) Crowley. Regardless of how much agency he had in his Gayness, he probably brought humanity the gift of Gay Sex and thus avoided having any Nefil babies that had to be drowned like half-tabby Siamese kittens in the Sandman, so he didn't Fall then either, but gee it was a narrow miss. He must have been worried about what else God could do to angels, which is why he was so terrified about his child-saving lie with Job.

(Of note is that literally the only remotely Biblical book that refers to an archangel rebelling directly against G-d for the Throne of Heaven is the Book of Enoch. Yep! Just there! It's not a Jewish belief at all, along with the idea of Original Sin or the snake being Satan--that is your Animal Urge, and it's necessary to live but you should not let it control your behavior, in Jewish thought.)

And the thing is that he does Fall a little after lying to God. She never speaks to him again, so he's left in constant doubt and has to be forced to make his own decisions, just like a demon. He obviously never tells any of the other angels, just Crowley. But you can see his anxiety about this constantly, and I bet there's a little part of him that wonders if he's actually Fallen and somehow nobody has noticed yet, but worries that the moment they do he'll be officially kicked out of Heaven. That's gotta be so, so bad for you.

But there he sits, acting as an angel, irritating the other angels to the point of extreme measures simply by being himself, the way that Crowley does to humans and other demons with lots of thought and cleverness.

He even offers Crowley the temptation to defy God's decision and take control in Heaven. Yeah, Crowley is horrified by the idea, but he's gotta stop and think about it for at least a moment, right? Crowley just didn't take it because he sees beyond the system. He already knows that the sides are bullshit in the same way I told my Christian classmates that they didn't need to worry about devils because they were really still just all angels and Hell was obviously a lie to keep them under control. (Mazikim!) Crowley wasn't tempted to take power because questioning the System is literally his job right now.

He obviously corrupted Gabriel by being so clearly in love and enjoying himself on Earth. Gabriel has his clothing tailored special and wants to save it, just like Aziraphale, even though he doesn't give a shit before. He wants to stop the Apocalypse and keep things status quo, even though he didn't before -- that's Aziraphale rubbing off on him. He wanted to meet his Hellish counterpart in a place where humans eat and drink, just like Aziraphale. And he decided that he was going to fall in love with his counterpart and even start enjoying music, just like Aziraphale, and face exile with graciousness just like Aziraphale.

Aziraphale literally tempted Gabriel to Fall. He didn't do it by asking questions, just by being himself. Enjoying things. Enjoying clothing and music and love and Earth and peace and the status quo. Indulging himself and his desires above serving God or, frankly, the humans. (Yeah, I know, he tries when he bothers, but he's still a lazy, petty bitch who prefers his personal drama and own sense of comfort to nearly everything else, and he barely tries to hide it. That's why we love him.)

And now?

Baby is Supreme Archangel. And he's gonna defy God about it. This is everything the Miltonian Lucifer ever wanted.

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Nazi dumbfuck

I know you're trying to goad me but let me explain something about my family history

My ancestors name was Julia Levy, she immigrated to America in the year 1848, Levy is another version of Levi my family comes from the Levite tribe, I had family not directly but I had cousins in the Holocaust my main family tree is burnt to the ground and only really my branch has survived as a result nobody in my family can figure out before Julia who belongs in our tree because all the records have been burned by actual Nazi's

Did you know a majority of my family laid dead in Ukraine as Ukraine had another term for their Holocaust the Holocaust of Bullets. A majority of my family probably lie in Mass Graves out there

Also, if this is about Palestine, let me explain something to you the Is Not Real state is breaking every single rule in the Torah when it comes to being Jewish

I was not raised Jewish religiously because my family left the faith after a couple of generations because of hatred but I do know the Torah and it's rules

There is a line that says only King David can lead the Jewish people anyone else is blasphemous and trying to bring about the End of Days because the only reason King David would be bringing the people together into Israel is if Revelations was happening

Again nobody else let alone the Ten Commandments coveting what is not theirs what is their neighbors murdering to get that

Is Not Real is a Zionist Colonizing Settler State,

I'm not anti-semitic I'm anti-zionist and anti nazi if I find out anybody is a Nazi around me I don't care if I go to jail they'll be finding themselves facing Yeshua for judgment because I personally sent them to him

Because I'm Jewish in blood but Nordic pagan in religion, and we have been busy cleaning out the muck that is those white supremacists that have tried to touch this religion the Nazis that tried claiming it as their own once again I will send them to their maker

Fucking try me, I do not stand for hatred I do not stand for genocide, I stand for a diversified world where there are no borders where there are no walls and there are no slaves being forced to work for other countries even if it meant I had to give up what comfortabilities I have! If it meant another could have warmth love and something to look forward to in the future a stable amazing life.

Because right now children in the Congo they're busy mining for the Cobalt needed to make our Electronics

Right now Palestine is the most noticed and recognized genocide occurring happening, but there are four other genocides going on right now. Can you label them, dear reader, the Uyghurs Muslims, Myanmar, Congo Sudan

And yes I dare say North Korea because while those in the city live in relative comfort outside millions of Koreans are dying of starvation and being offed by a government that is tyrannical.

And yet our governments stand by, our people go after each other making false claimants like this while Millions possibly upwards of a billion people are having their lives brutally cut short for only being who they are.

[jewreallythinkthat]

So I tried to talk to someone I know, and have to see semi-regularly, about how they have talked about Israel and the I/P situation this weekend. It did not go well.

Quotes of how they responded under the cut

For context this person has shared JVP and various other not representative Jewish groups as examples of "good Jews" over the past 4 months. This is the first time I have called the out for it and I'm including two lines of their response below because I was honestly blown away but how rude they were. (It was a long reply and I don't have the energy to disect the whole thing but yikes)

1.

"It’s incredibly condescending especially since I have a Masters in Global Crime and Justice and therefore have done and am capable of doing my own research into this"

Now in their defence, I was unaware of their uni course, however having an MA in global crime and justice doesn't stop you posting utter shite online. Additionally, you may be capable of doing your own research but your repeated posting of JVP shows that clearly you aren't doing actual research and talking to either of the Jews you actually know in real life.

2.

"I understand this is an emotional topic for you but that doesn’t give you the right to jump down my throat and I am not going to engage with you on this any further."

I have several issues with this.

A) As I said before, this is the first time in 4 months I've messaged them. I send what I would describe (and have also confirmed with other people) as a very measured and reasonable message, not aggressive or throat jumpy in the slightest.

B) Israel isn't any more of an "emotional topic" for me than any other country I have family in. While I believe it is important for Israel to exist, safely and securely, I have no control over what the Israeli government does whether I agree with it or not and as such, Israel itself doesn't make me emotional. People spreading things online that lead to an increase in antisemitism and refusal to condemp a group who have declared their intent to commit genocide absolutely does. Being emotional does not mean I cannot be reasonable and infantislising me by implying that if I have emotions about a topic, I cannot discuss it is incredibly... Well... "Condescending" to be honest.

C) refusing to "engage" with a Jew you actually know when discussing Israel because you prefer the Jews online who you have decided are correct is unbelievably insane. I cannot even begin to explain how insulting that is that being called out on what you're saying once leads to refusal to talk about a specific topic at all with someone because you didn't like that they pointed out you were being nasty.

[nebularanger-art]

By the way in case you've been following me since my Clone High days and wondering what happened, this is the post.

Why don't I post about Clone High anymore? There's three reasons.

1. Devil May Cry. It's actually funny how you can pinpoint the exact moment I started to switch fandoms, and that was when I decided to make Clone High OCs based on the historical figures Dante and Virgil, but also based on the Devil May Cry characters Dante and Vergil, but specifically based on their reboot versions.

Anyways, yeah, DMC hijacked my mind and it's all I can think about. Same goes for Power Rangers, though to a lesser extent since I have yet to really integrate myself in the fandom itself. And hey, speaking of fandoms,

2. I'm not sugarcoating things: The Clone High fandom is garbage. The sheer amount of pedophile apologists in the community is genuinely concering, especially given how many of the fandom consists of minors. And no, I'm not giving them the luxury of calling them those self-coined terms they use to hide themselves under, I'm saying what they are because that's what they deserve; No amount of "it's just fiction" excuses posting about how "fun" it is to sexualize minors in a fandom FULL OF MINORS, KNOWING MINORS INTERACT WITH YOU.

On the contrary, or maybe as a result, a lot of fandom members have started witch hunts against others left and right for significantly smaller, bordering on nonexistent, issues. I could bring up how rings4casey is a hypocritical piece of shit who thinks harassment is okay as long as you're on "the good side"... oh wait, I already brought it up. Anyways, it didn't also help that around the same time, yet another Clone High Discord server controversy was happening that dealt with a similar topic; I wasn't in the server for it and I only heard secondhand accounts of it so don't ask me about what happened.

Edit: I'm also not gonna let it slide how racist this fandom can be lol. From redesigns that whitewash characters of color to straight up making nazi OCs, this place sucks for my Mexican/American and Jewish ass

The point is that this fandom was just a hostile environment to be in; You can be the shittiest person in the world and get away with it because everyone is busy punishing someone who went only slightly out of line. But to be honest, I think I dipped at a great time, because...

3. The show's dead. It got cancelled uncerimoniously after season 3 ended on a cliffhanger that'll never be resolved. I already lost hope on the show after season 2, and I didn't even bother to stay for season 3 and was only into the fan content, but now the show is dead and the fandom committed mass suicide.

TL;DR: Why should I churn out content for a series I don't like anymore, for a fandom whose five only remaining members are constantly going at each other's throats, and when I could just focus on the series and fandoms I do like making art for and participating in?

Wait, but what about my Clone High OCs and that rewrite project? I liked posting about that, will they just be abandoned now that I've deleted the sideblog made just for them?

HELL FUCKING NO THEY WON'T. I still love my OCs absolutely dearly, and I definitely have plans to revamp my Clone High "rewrite" into an actual proper series. Just don't expect it to be on tumblr because I kinda hated using tumblr to catalogue my OC stuff lol. Instead, check my dedicated Toyhouse folder for my Clone High OCs, and be on the lookout for an entire page to fill you in on the lore of their universe.

Also, I don't actually know if I still want them to be Clone High OCs. On one hand, I don't like the series anymore, but on the other, these characters being clones of historical figures is literally integral to their stories and the premise is just way too good to throw to the bin.

That's my final statement for the Clone High fandom; I still want Phil Lord dead in minceraft.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Hi! 🐏-anon here again. When I messaged you back in March about feeling drawn to Judaism in part because my great-grandma was Jewish, I... thought the whole "Jewish woman in my matriarchal line" was more of a technicality than something meaningful, because it didn't seem reasonable that that could make me Jewish. But I've since learned more about the different branches of Judaism, and now I realize that to Orthodox Judaism, it's not just some technicality that nobody takes seriously, it would genuinely make me Jewish. That kinda scares me.

Your reblog a while ago about the one person OP had met who regretted converting to Judaism because now she was bound to the mitzvot and it was demanding and she wasn't really called to it-- if I believe that my great-grandma having been Jewish makes me Jewish, wouldn't I also be, like, bound to it, despite its demands? What if I don't want that? For converts it's clear "if you're not 100% certain you're ready & want this, don't do it". Of course, there's more to Judaism than Orthodox Judaism, & I have the option of just... not believing this, right? But part of me really does feel some sort of connection to Judaism, enough that it'd be hard to just walk away. I've had an email drafted to a local synagogue for a few months that I keep chickening out of sending. Especially with current events, I don't know what I want.

I'm messaging you because I know you've grappled with the gravity of being Jewish, and it's nice to have company; I hope you don't mind the message. I love seeing your posts on my dash. I hope your Hannukah was happy & I'll be wishing you the best for this upcoming year!

-🐏

All of this is definitely complex, so I really hope you are able to send that email to the shul soon. I know it's scary, but having answers from somebody qualified would probably be really fulfilling for you, especially if you still want to go through with this.

And it isn't just the family ties which are complicated (especially with how individualized they are - which is why a rabbi would absolutely be helpful!), but mitzvot as well... Technically, yes, mitzvot are obligations, but not all mitzvot are created with the same level of ease for each person - I think it's helpful to think of them as goals you work toward, rather than expect perfection (especially if you aren't sure you can do everything at once). There are many thoughts about mitzvot, and I tend to believe that it isn't about perfection per set but about intending to do good, rather than "think good" or just "appear Good." These obligations are deeper than just Do The Thing or Don't Do The Thing, and to me, that's made them more meaningful, and has led to me understanding a bit more how they will fit into my life as I work through conversion. I wonder if that might help others in terms of thinking about the many obligations and commandments that are associated with Being Jewish (as in, religiously and in community with similarly-observant Jews)

Thank you for the well wishes, and I truly hope this time has been meaningful to you. It's definitely a scary change, but I really, really think you ought to get in touch with that shul. I think spending your time wondering can be more torturous than getting those answers. I hope this all makes sense, and I hope you are met with nothing but love and kindness along the way