#and if someone says that palestine is a deal-breaker for them

[umanta]

posts that made me think 'hmm, maybe there is a point to voting in the us election': a post simply mentioning that the next president will pick ppl for the supreme court, listing some of the judges who are likely to retire this term, and reminding us the kind of majority we have now and how we got to this point. no actual mention of voting, just info. an info post about how you can register to vote and why voter disenfranchisement is bad

posts which make me quite uncharitably and falsely feel like usamericans think a lukewarm centrist policy in their country is more important than a genocide of brown ppl: every blamey post that treats ppl choosing not to vote like they're a) stupid radicals who don't understand strategy or b) weepy emotional babies who are too childish to do what the adults are telling them

[statementlou]

I feel like when people ask famous personalities to participate in activism, they may be influenced by the parasocial relationships they have formed with these celebrities and not that they really care about what is going on. They expect famous individuals to act as role models or representatives of their beliefs. That's why I think, it is crucial to maintain a critical perspective and not depend solely on celebrities for activism. This can result in a passive approach to social change and disregard the significance of collaborative action and personal engagement. The majority of celebrities don't care lol even who speak up about it publicly. Their reality is different from ours, like Gigi Hadid also drank Starbucks the other day, Bella Hadid worked with a lot of Zionist brands and did a photo shoot with them recently, etc etc. And let me not start on stans culture... the worst thing ever

Okay this is fascinating because yes! I agree with you so much! But then I was completely floored by the choice of the HADIDS (literal Palestinians who never shut up about the cause) as examples- but actually I love it because I think it opens up two really really important points that maybe get to the heart of the whole issue. Gigi and Bella Hadid are, as I said, literally Palestinian, and have throughout their public lives (not just recently) never been silent or backed down in defense of Palestine even when it has very publicly lost them (Bella primarily) jobs and opportunities, and they both continue to be outspoken even while literally targeted and threatened by zionists. Pretty much everything anyone has wanted or asked for from any celebrity, right?! But here we have, first of all, Gigi having all of that discounted because she bought Starbucks, a brand that is not even an official boycott! I feel like this is a perfect example of prioritizing performative and symbolic activism over actions with material impact, if someone who has been so consistent and stalwart can see all that dismissed because they spent $5 on a coffee (that, again, has no material financial relationship to Israel). I personally think that on a scale of good done vs harm, Gigi can afford a lot of problematic coffees, and this is not even getting into the Hadid families finances which involve huge amounts of money being used and moved around in ways that do more to help the cause than any image choice can unbalance. And then you say that Bella has worked with zionist brands- I don't know anything about this so I can't speak to it. Given that we are also apparently considering starbucks a zionist brand despite the company not operating in or having any ties to Israel, I would question what this means. But it doesn't matter- I think the point is that consumer/ individual purity isn't possible! No one is making pure consumer choices, no matter how many brands they boycott, and certainly no celebrity can continue to be one without having unsavory connections. I think that BY DEFINITION no celebrity is politically pure because if they cut all those ties, THEY WOULD NO LONGER BE A CELEBRITY. Whether the pursuit of purity is realistic or desirable is a much bigger issue, but the point is that as you say, looking to celebrities to be activists will end only in disappointment. Their job is to entertain in specific ways and they do that; if that's not working for you, then consume some other celebrity's product (persona). As I have said from the start, if you want to stan Louis because he is talented and hot and kind and smart and fun then you are in luck! But if you are looking for an activist spokesperson, he is not going to be that, and yelling at him (or people who don't consider that a deal breaker) isn't going to change that.

[shaymiens]

i must ask why u need comedians to say something abt a genocide

my unserious answer is: GIRL so much of smosh is just a glorified commentary channel at this point. why wouldn't they say something about a current, extremely well-known talking point such as the ongoing events in gaza??

my serious answer is: because one of the people who is employed under this comedy brand has expressed complacency with a genocide.

i think it's fair that real life folks who care about this genocide want to bar someone who's complacent with genocide from a popular comedy channel with a huge reach.

i think if this comedy group has already spoken on other movements, issues, and politically-charged news in the past, it is not entirely out of their domain to talk about a genocide (or the individual comedians in their cohort who have already, again, expressed their own complacency with genocide).

i definitely agree that there can be value in separating the art from the artist, per se. but i think implying that it's silly or vain or fruitless for fans to even want a statement on a relevant subject they care about from a source who claims to care about its fans and the world they live in, is dismissive and hurtful.

i don't want every comedian to speak about palestine bc honestly it would annoy and upset the fuck out of me. i don't even really respect smosh enough as a moral and judicial entity to want that personally for myself. but smosh is a youtube channel who has pretty consistently made it a point to express their belonging on the "right side of history" whenever a tricky subject enters the western cultural zeitgeist. for them to keep quiet now that it impacts someone within their ranks is telling and reasonably upsetting for fans who truly do care about and trust in them.

i mean it's a pretty simple question if not a little brash. am i laughing with people who would find real life genocide funny and "not a big deal"? can i learn the answer now and react accordingly; or do i just keep watching and quietly hope that these people don't hold beliefs that would be a deal breaker for me as a viewer, had i actually known them?

[andersonfilms]

I've seen people post and rant about "tlou💓" DURING the time the strike was going on. And I mean, they would say, "Not everyone knew about it." But you're on tlou Tumblr where people preach about it left and right, so I do expect you to know. And it's the same ones that post about Palestine, too, and it makes me sick. As soon as that strike was over, a lot of people js went about their day like it didn't even happen. A lot of tlou writers said they weren't posting for tlou for a while after the strike, and I appreciate that. And I can't expect everyone to do the same, but alteast have some compassion 😭. There's so many non zionist games that r so good u can move onto writing about. Like people need to do better. And the people on tt aren't any better. Someone will tell u to boycott, and they're ignorant asses will say, " ohh, well at Starbucks right now, they didn't kill people." Do you all not do research anymore???. I'm so sick of people. They need to grow a pair

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 (sorry if I worded this weird, not directed at you!!)

i could not agree more! i think it’s important for everyone to be talking about palestine, congo, sudan, etc. these are living and breathing human beings being wiped from existence, forced out of land that rightfully belongs to them. everyone needs to talk about it! don’t know about? educate yourselves. it’s really that simple.

we have an unlimited access of knowledge at our fingertips. there is no justification for you not to know what’s going on.

taking a beat from writing tlou content, is the very least we can do. and you’re right, there is plenty of other games to write for. i’ve never played the game personally, i fell in love with abby through watching play throughs. there isn’t much representation for women who look like abby at least that i’m aware of and that’s why i personally gravitated towards her. i have no love towards the game, especially now.

but it’s ignorant to not see the zionist propaganda where the game originates from and neil’s intentions when creating tlou. if you don’t know what i’m talking about, READ THIS NOW. you have no excuse to ignore it at this point.

if you can’t take a break from pixel pussy…..idk man…..grow a fucking heart. reading porn shouldn’t be a deal breaker in your day to day life. jesus fucking christ.

women, men, and children are being murdered, starved, their families are being killed, being torn from their homes. they don’t know safety right now. they’re begging to be heard, the least we can do is pause our lives and listen.

from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🇵🇸

[naylor]

I know that Niall did post about wckitchen in december, but The fact that all of his friends post to support Palestine and he doesn’t is so disappointing. My guess is that he doesn’t want to be a activist or be perfomative. However The fact he sees his friends post, but chooces to ignore them, has made me first time in The past 10 years want to stop supporting him. This is also first time that I’m not defending him. It’s just sad that I have waited so long to see him and I was so excited. Now I don’t want to go. There are much bigger problems than Niall, but still it hurts.

and you're very valid in your feelings. i don't fully agree but if you feel like this is a deal-breaker for you and you need to step back that's okay and no one is gonna blame you for that

for me the fact that he's surrounded by people who are vocal about palestine gives me peace of mind, and i rather someone doesn't say shit at all than perform activism

[bandzboy]

kehlani is a great example - she was openly pro-palestine (even though they've stopped posting as much) but she's signed to a zionist label. and i'm boycotting the music officially but to a certain extent it's like these artists livelihood IS threatened if they leave their label (if they're not dropped first). do these artists' pro-palestine views get erased because zionism is so insidious and has grown roots in literally every aspect of the western music industry and they happen to be signed to these labels (which at this point all have a zionist connection)?? the creative community for peace (responsible for justin bieber becoming a zionist all of a sudden) has probably invested so much money and time to make sure it's established and unavoidable. knowing this about the western industry, it's hard to be so hard on kpop idols because they are also largely being taken advantage of by these companies. it's like, we see western artists being openly pro-israel but aside from like a few idols no idol has been openly pro-israel. idk my brain is working in overdrive lately it's such a shitty situation we're forced to be in when we just want to enjoy music and our favorite artists

yeah that's why when i know all of these things i respect the artists that show their support knowing they could get dropped by these labels SO MUCH because they are putting their career on the line and they know that, especially small artists, need labels to support them and it's essentially a deal breaker. i know for a fact that there are probably a lot of artists who get threatened behind the scenes to not say anything and they probably start saying "if you say this we will drop you and make your life a living hell" i mean... a lot of these people in the industry are so powerful that they can blacklist someone just like that and it's terrifying! what is annoying to me is how there are big artists that have a lot of money atp and are so well loved that it's hard for them to lose anything not so say anything! some of these people could start their own label and everything and choose not to say a thing and to me it's disappointing in that sense! but it's always the smaller-ish (saying this because some of them aren't that small and i don't offend anyone lmao) that speak out and put everything on the line. that's why i hate this aspect of the industry, how much these artists are exploited and obligated to do things they don't exactly want to but because they have these big music executives waving their contracts in front of them are probably threatening to just throw it in the trash if they don't comply! a lot of them use that to their own advantage and it's something that is unfortunately very common! that's why if an artist is dropped from a label for speaking out they should be supported and i respect those people so much because even tho they lost opportunities they stood up for what they believed in and what i am hoping that these boycotts do over time is for us to make a better space for artists and even incentivize unions in the industry etc because having no freedom of speech because of a contract or wtv is it's absurd and personally, i could not stand living like that!

[dizzy-and-hard]

I'm familiar with the concept of protest votes and safe seats. I've probably voted in more UK general elections than you have.

I'm not suggesting that if you vote for a party, that you support all their policies. I'm saying that if you make it known that support for genocide is not a deal breaker for you, then that's taken by the party as endorsement enough for their purposes. A reluctant vote counts just as much as an enthusiastic one, they don't care how you feel about voting for them. This is because everyone but you understands that your vote *is* your leverage. Withholding your vote is the *mechanism* by which you influence a party, if there are enough of you, and you let them know in writing why.

In many seats, pro-Palestine independents won or nearly won. Before the vote, someone with your mindset and attitude to voting would have called it irresponsible to even try to achieve something like that.

It was 5 seats out of over 600. It is also a different system to the US, where if an independent wins one seat, it ultimately still has an impact on the larger democracy. They also won the seats in Labour constituencies where the chances of a non leftist win were low, so tactical voting wasn't as necessary. It was also an election with huge odds on a labour landslide, so people had more liberty to vote for what they actually wanted to represent. I deliberately didn't vote for Labour because I knew I was in a safe leftist seat, which is usually labour, but if the vote was split, it would still be a left leaning candidate who won. My mindset 100% agrees with the people who voted independent in the UK elections. But the UK and US electoral systems and systems of government are not the same, so it is a false equivalent to draw parallels to my views on that and my views on US voting.

In a 2 party state, where you only vote for one candidate to be in charge, and both support genocide, but one is also a fascist, you don't have the luxury of voting so freely, in my opinion. I fully support US citizens voting for independents in their state representative elections. In fact, I actively encourage it, as a more diverse Congress and senate would only better represent the values of the country. In a presidential election of this magnitude, however, I do not think you can afford to split the vote. I think threatening to withhold your vote in this case won't work as they know you have no other real option to go for for president. We've seen that they won't blink on this, like in 2016 when they didn't.

I just think the risk of a split left and Trump winning is too great. As I said though, in another post, I hope I am wrong. We all have the ultimate same-ish end goal, so I hope we get it somehow. I just think it's too easy to suggest someone voting for one of 2 realistic options is complicit in a genocide.

I think we are better off judging people by what they've protested for, what they've financially put their weight behind, and what their ideals are than who they've voted for in what is essentially a 2 party presidential race.

[ecaliqy]

Notes to Followers

I'm pro:

2nd amendment (in a very rightwing sense)

ukrainian assistance (fuck putin)

choice (10000% bodily autonomy)

black lives (in fact) matter

lgbtqia+ (all this transphobic nonsense is just that)

I'm against:

bigotry (in generally, tho i do despise religion, i try not to let that translate to the practitioners. call me out if i do.)

vaccine mandates (10000% bodily autonomy)

prohibitions, generally

oligarchy (corporations are NOT people)

I consider myself wokeish. Honestly, sometimes I'm a bit like the accidentally PC guy with the straw in his mouth, leaning up against the truck: I'll probably get the concept right, but call someone a retard while doing it.

Bernie would've been my president for the last two terms. He points true north 99% of the time.

I absolutely will talk with terrible people. The worst, sans pedos (to the chipper you go; no, I’m not part of the trans panic and don’t call normal people “groomers”). Sometimes I'll even repost them, if I agree. Having a terrible history isn't a deal breaker for an accurate specific post, to me. Beyond that I watch what _everyone_ is saying... good people and bad people alike.

If I go of the rails, please feel free to call me out. Or call me out on ideological inconsistencies and hypocrisies... I want to be consistent.

There's nothing centrist about me. I'm very long on unions. Unions all day long. I want universal healthcare and to raise the minimum wage. Palestine _deserves_ statehood, simply for existing, like Israel _deserves_ to exist now that it does (going back, I wouldn't have had the US participate in forming an ethnostate, but intentions were different and context was fresh, back then).

Tax payer subsidized higher education would be nothing but good for us. At very minimum anything offered at a community college should be an extension of public schools (though I also think our public schools suck, due to lack of funding). I'd like to shift some military spending to better pursuits, absolutely... BUT I _do_ LOOOOVE our military supremacy. I don't want anyone else to have it (maybe that makes me a neolib, or whatever I am with neolib characteristics, but idngaf).

Anyways, I just wanted to put a clear advisory here... if you follow me with any thought that your followers will be in an echo chamber, I'll probably repost Rothmus or Kim Dot Com or Elon the next time they say something sane (sometimes they do).

Why is this on Tumblr? Because I'm not giving that shit bag $8/mo. I may end up paying for Tumblr, but Elon will never get a dollar from me.

Ultimately, it boils down to: I'm pro freedom and I think for myself and, though I watch, you'll notice I FOLLOW no one (on platforms that have lists anyways, on platforms that don't I follow everyone, lol).

Mostly, you're going to get a mix of left-wing reposts, me shit posting on right-wing accounts, and some AI and computer stuff.

Ah, one more thing... capitalism has been quite good to me. I don't think we could keep communism on the rails, just based on our nature. Some industries should be socialized, not because of theory but because of our experience with them. Some should have a nationalized competitor, to keep greed in check.

Most other things that can simply be well regulated, obviously, should stay in the freeish market. Maybe this is inconsistent with your notion of freedom, but I'd rather restrict corpos than pay my life to the company store, if you get my drift.

Oh! One more crucial thing: I periodically purge my followers. It's a vibes thing. "I don't need them." No, it's more like I don't need to think about them and the numbers fuck with me. I'm screaming into the ether, jerkin' it with the engrams, if you catch my drift. If you want to actually follow me, put me in a private list... or public (i'm not the boss of you)