#but I'm not really up for the debate of “why it might be antisemitic to suggest that forcing jewish kids into camps

[macro-microcosm]

Look, I'm sorry, but you cannot say "there is no antisemitism in the Free Palestine movement" and also say that you think Israeli youth should be put into Viet Cong-style reeducation camps.

And no, it's not a more vindicated or less bigoted opinion just because nobody comes to you with a better single-sentence solution to hate crimes.

[jewishvitya]

hi riki! this is a bizarre question ngl, but im wondering if you could please tell me about why you are anti-Zionist? Since i have FRESHLY (last month!! Woohoo!!) become bat mitzvah, and I’m not going to beit Sefer every week now, I’m starting to realize that what I was told about Israel and zionism miiiight be innacurate. Please feel free not to, but I would personally feel more comfortable hearing about Antizionism from somebody who is for sure not hiding any antisemitic biases. Thanks and I hope it’s not a bother!

Mazal tov!

I was debating if I should reply to this and how. You're only one year older than my son and I never considered talking about this with a kid other than my own children. But if you're online reading and looking up information about this, I'll just answer the way I would for anyone. Like I said, I don't mind explaining. But I don't have the energy to collect sources for you. I'll do that later if you'd like. For now it'll be a bit of a rant.

Basically, if you ask different people what zionism is, you'll get different answers. Some people say that zionism is just the acknowledgement of our connection to this land. That's not what I'm going against. I'm not denying that this is our ancestral homeland. I've never known a different home, I grew up near Hebron. Our history means everything to me. So maybe you could create some definition of zionism that I wouldn't be against. But then I'll be against the use of the word because in practice, politically, the movement has been colonialist. And that reality is more important to me. So when I say I'm antizionist, I'm not talking about whatever pretty idea someone might have, I'm talking about things that to me are very concrete.

Zionism uses whatever political terminology is useful to it at the time. Currently, it tries to paint itself as a sort of landback movement, placing us as the indigenous population of this land. This is a distraction. If you mean "indigenous" as "this is where we originated" - both us and Palestinians are indigenous, which makes this term pointless to this situation. If you mean "indigenous" as "a local population facing colonization" - they're indigenous and we're the colonizers. That's the more politically useful distinction.

And the thing is, zionists knew they were colonizers. Ben Gurion was welcomed by the local population and expressed hope that they're nomadic and could be persuaded to leave. Ze'ev Jabotinsky argued that no land has been colonized with the consent of its natives, so we should just take what we want like other occupying forces did. They knew what they were doing. At the time, there wasn't the broad political pushback against colonialism that you see today, so they didn't really hide it. They saw themselves as the colonizing force and the Palestinians as the natives and this distinction had them placing themselves above the Palestinians.

When I was in school, I was made to believe that Palestine was never truly a country and the population here was never a cohesive nation. You might see questions like "Who were the Palestinian prime ministers and presidents? What was the Palestinian coin? What Palestinian wars were there before the creation of Israel?"

These questions tell you nothing other than the fact that Palestine has been under foreign occupation for a very long time. They try to lead you to believe that Palestine and the Palestinian identity are fictional constructs designed to deny us our place in this land.

But Palestinians have their own dialect of Arabic. They have their own varieties of Middle Eastern foods. They have their own clothing, their own embroidery patterns, their own dances. They have a very rich culture that wasn't just made up from nothing within the last century. I still have to battle against cognitive dissonance every time I find something of the sort, because Palestinian culture goes against everything I was taught.

The truth is, the British had no right to occupy Palestine, and they had no right to offer it to us. If we pretend there was no population that was wronged when we took Israel, we can be "the good guys" with Palestinians being a sinister plot to ruin us. This turns normal families, normal people, into a conspiracy made to hurt us. We're not fighting a military force - every Palestinian person is a threat to our legitimacy. Israelis don't even really use the term "Palestinians" - they're just Arabs, their individual identity is stripped from them. We pretend that they belong to other countries around us.

Israeli propaganda will tell you that we only ever act in self defense. It's in the name of our military, it's called a defense force. Israel boasts that it has the only ethical military in the world. The only defensive one. But like I said, we define threats very broadly. And we whitewash a lot of history. I was taught in school all our fighting was defensive - and then I spoke to an elderly man and he said "of course we killed whole villages, it was war, that's what you do." Only as an adult I found out about things like the Sabra and Shatila massacre and our involvement in it.

For the existence of Israel as an ethnostate, every Palestinian is a threat. A lot of people are all in favor of Israel, but against the government actions of ethnic cleansing. The truth is, the ethnostate is not sustainable without the ethnic cleansing. You can't accept one and expect it not to lead to the other. An ethnostate is never a justified goal, and that's always been the goal of zionism as a practical movement.

And I know why this exists. We've had two millennia of persecution. Antisemitism is one of the oldest forms of bigotry. And we just experienced an attempt to industrially exterminate us, we lost millions, including from my own family. We want shelter and safety and the ability to defend ourselves. I just can't see that as justification for what we did and continue to do.

You can look up our human rights abuses, but personally, there were moments that hit me. When I saw a whole warehouse of mail intended to reach Gaza, mail that's been kept from them for years, including items like wheelchairs, in such bad conditions that some envelopes got moldy. I still think of the people who spent all that money to get a wheelchair and were prevented mobility because we decided to hold their mail.

I watched the biggest apartment building in Gaza collapse under our bombs and I cried thinking about the people inside, and about the potential survivors and everything they lost.

I watched our people beat up the pallbearers at the funeral of Shireen Abu-Akleh, a Palestinian reporter. They almost dropped the casket from all those beatings. They were no threat. They just carried her. There was no reason to hurt them.

On the news, after Shireen Abu-Akleh died, the description of the Palestinian response to her death was that they're "חוגגים ��ל המוות." The literal translation is that they're celebrating over the death, but that's not what it means. The meaning is that they're exaggerating their pain and their grief. They're acting, pretending, milking the injustice of it for show. And that's a common Israeli narrative, that Palestinians make a big deal out of things and pretend to suffer more just to make us look bad. We've dehumanized them to the point where we don't believe their grief.

And before all of this, growing up, I saw what the "us vs them" mentality caused in children. I grew up in Kiryat Arba and the population there is very strongly zionist. It's a settlement. It's largely Dati Leumi (national religious? I'm not sure how to translate, dati means religious and leumi means national). Over there I saw children as young as six cheerfully talk about joining the military and killing Arabs. I saw a kid throwing chocolate past the electric fence separating us from them, and laughing when a small Palestinian child went looking for that chocolate, calling her a pig. I saw my high school classmates questioning if they should help the family of a six-months-old baby, first demanding to know if the sick infant is Arab.

The Israeli left has a bit of a slogan. הכיבוש משחית. The occupation corrupts. It means that being an oppressive force changes what we are. It ruins us. And I truly believe that. It taints so much about us and our culture, about our compassion and our ability to have solidarity with other humans. Many principles that kept us safe in diaspora are used now to harm gentiles living under our control, and Palestinians suffer most of all.

So these are the reasons I'm antizionist. I hate what we do to Palestinians. I hate what it does to us. And more fundamentally, I'm against colonialism.

[theroundbartable]

My position on the war in Israel/ Palestine

Below the cut, because this is my opinion, and you are, of course, not expected to share it, or even care about my position at all. You might not even like what I have to say.

This is for myself and for the people who decide whom to follow based on the flags I raise in my bio (which is none).

It's a bit long, sorry.

The war in Israel/Palestine has now been going on for over a year and I keep seeing blogs that are entirely pro palestine, and then others who are entirely Israeli, accusing each other of rape and murder and genocide, of antisemitism and zionism, etc. etc. Most of these accusations were fact checked and true. Some arguments I heard of people were quite obviously formed through what their government told them, might even lied to them about. I cannot blame these people for clinging to faith, to clinging to the vague idea that there is a sense to their suffering, or who are trying to deflect of their own guilt.

I am German. I know the arguments. I know why they exist and I cannot blame people who's life might be depending on that hope, who's sanity might depend on that faith.

So far, I have not really posted my own opinion on it and I understand that my position on this is not a common one. Nor is it one that many people will accept or find satisfying. Never the less, this is my point.

Under normal circumstances, I would never have made a post and I already am very late to the debate, but since elections in the US are up and more dangerous than ever, since the debates and the war lead to attacks on people online and world wide, since all this enables the same fascistic views that once dominated my country and are threatening to dominate the field once again, I think I should at least say something.

I need to, in order to make up the the past my grandfather took part in as a German soldier, to honor my grandmother's memory who welcomed refugees of war and "war criminals" who were stationed in the neighboring Arbeitslager in her home; in her home where she was all alone with her sick father and waited for the news of her brothers falling in the war while the polish captive cooked them dinner and taught her to read. I need to, as someone who's ancestors were both shooting and housing their enemies. As someone who carries both the guilt and the pride into the next generation.

This is not a football game.

I can't go and pick a side and root for their win. I can't go out on the street with other students and hold up "free palestine" signs, when I know that the words are war propaganda from a group of terrorists. I can't go and side with Israel and justify a genocide by telling people they are being antisemitic if they criticise the Israeli government.

It is the Israeli government under Netanjahu, it is the Hamas who are fighting this war, and to say that the people under their leadership aren't in on it is naive to a degree.

We are not talking about winning and losing here. Because there are no winners in war. I CANNOT debate on who's human rights are worth more than the other. I CANNOT ignore that the Hamas started the war, I cannot ignore that they abuse their captives, I cannot excuse that the Israeli government shoots back at hospitals and abuses their own captives as well.

I can't choose between the grays, because to me, they are the same shade.

But to say they are all supporting those leaderships, to say that not most of them are just trying to survive is terrifyingly cold. That would be like saying they deserve what is happening to them and that can never be the truth.

This doesn't mean I'm not judging between the two. I judge the obvious violence on both sides, I fear for the victims on both accounts, I hate the idea that categorises who is allowed to live where in the country, I despise the idea that Israel alone is to blame.

"You can't not pick a side."

I did. Because there is not just two sides to this war. There is three or four, perhaps even more than that.

There is the terror organisation, there is the government, and then there is the people stuck in the crossfire. I refuse to side with the criminals. I refuse to side with the abusers. They are both wrong, they are both murderous and violent, and siding with one would be - for me - like pointing the gun at the other.

That said, I do not believe that people who raise the palestine flags are wrong, neither do I judge the Israel one. Both sides deserve justice for what happend and what continues to happen. But to a German who only raises the flag once every four yeara at soccer games, worshipping the government that is doing all this, that feels wrong. I know that my view is distorted because of my family's Nazi history, but I can't help feeling that way.

If we're talking about violence, justice would mean that more violence is the answer. An eye for an eye is justice too, but this will never result in peace.

Quite honestly, I don't even think a two state solution would be the answer either. It could be, if Hamas and Israel wanted peace. If Natanjahus war wasn't a ploy to keep himself in power. As it is right now, with the war expanding, even if they managed to somewhat put down their weapons, they will continue to be neighboring enemies, they will continue to hate each other and they will continue to never forgive, to never forget, justifying future reasons to war.

Honestly, I'm not arrogant enough to say I know the solution. All I know is that I know where I stand. And I will never, under any circumstances, judge you if you live in Isreal or in palestine. Nor will I judge you for fighting for each of their rights. Because unless you wish for the complete destruction of the other, unless you justify a genocide, then I am on your side. Because you are, in this war, on your own. And I don't want to see you there alone.

And I will not raise your flag, I will not raise the flag of your enemy, I don't even raise my own flags because I'm honestly not that much into soccer. Because I separate you and your life from the system you live in.

All I can do is tell you that if you flee to Germany, I will be one of the people voting for your safety, for your right to stay, and for being properly integrated. I will not side with the right wing fascists that dominate this country. I will not side with people who simply picked their favorite oppressor. It's not enough to save you. But I'm not a hero. I can only refuse to be the villain.

This makes my position obviously debatable, to some even unacceptable, and I understand that it's not very satisfying to read this from someone who is lucky and priviledged enough to watch from the sidelines.

But I simply cannot support either of these systems. Because neither of them value human life, let alone human rights.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not wanting my brother to follow Islam?🐢

(Emoji so I can recognize my submission)

⚠WARNING⚠: This is a reaaal long one and also contains discussion of some potentially triggering subjects.

I'll try and explain this as concisely as I can but this is just a part of a long ongoing issue I have had with my brother. I (16F/X) have been at odds with my brother (19M) over a multitude of subjects. We debate often but the problem is he is very stubborn so the debates usually don't result in anything beyond me being frustrated and his opinions remaining unchanged. The problem is that he has unfortunately started going down a nazi rabbit hole and picking up all sorts of extremely harmful ideas. I'll list some of them for you so you can get a general picture: Denying evolution, the rothschild conspiracy, general antisemitism, transphobia, monarchism /facism, calling all sexual content filthy, misogynistic ideas, hating on atheists, etc. As an atheist who is also aroace, nonbinary and also very progressive, this makes me feel greatly uncomfortable. Let me be clear, I don't think I'm the asshole for opposing these ideas, the part where I could be the asshole is me opposing his transition into religion. A lot of his more radical ideas started sprouting after he started getting into Islam like the whole denying evolution thing and his rampant antisemetism. Also just to be clear, I have nothing against Muslims and I am not trying to say that Muslims inherently don't believe in basic science, it's just the particular circles that my brother has been exposed to that are giving him these ideas. However I will acknowledge the that it might be my own implicit bias that is making me reject his own interest in Islam. I'd also like to note my brother has been struggling with his health basically his entire teen life, where he has trouble sleeping, has barely any energy and this has led to him becoming depressed. He barely has any interests and those he had he's recently said he no longer enjoys. It's clear to me this is why such toxic ideas have appealed to him, because he feels disconnected and lonely. He barely goes out, he barely eats, he sleeps until the early afternoon, he has to shave and shower every single time he goes out and if he accidentally nicks himself while shaving he will adamantly refuse to go. It really upsets me to see him this way because I can tell he is suffering but he will never talk to me about it. However it doesn't change the fact that he has said some truly abhorrent things. I have tried many times to show him he's wrong or to gently guide him towards a more progressive and educated outlook but he is too stubborn to change.

This fully came to a head when we were having dinner together with our parents and he kept repeating the same arguments that god must be real because XYZ or, evolution is fake because XYZ and I would tell him why I disagreed with his reasoning. Continue in circles for two whole hours. This ended with me telling him that he was a dumbass and that he should stop watching religious content.

I feel I am an asshole here because just as I don't want to be forced into a religion, I shouldn't force him out of one, but I feel since he's picked up religious ideas he's only gotten worse. Just yesterday he officially became a Muslim at a nearby mosque. I feel I should be happy for him but I can already see problems that may arise. He has to do 5 prayers (salat) a day at certain times and this morning he slept through two. I also worry about Ramadan since he's already very skinny and barely eating, I don't think further fasting will help at all.

Even worse, he's been spreading some of his ideas to my parents. They don't take on all his BS thankfully but they have absorbed some of the more troubling stuff, particularly his transphobia. I try to avoid queer topics as much as I can for this reason but whenever it does come up I always feel sick just sitting there listening to them.

Yet again I want to reiterate that Muslims are not a monolith and do not all share the same opinions but an unfortunately high number are greatly opposed to the idea of queer people. Not to mention many hold strong beliefs regarding the strict divisions of male and female. I don't know. Yet again, it could just be accidental Islamophobia on my part but I don't think it's a coincidence that he started getting more extreme once he got into particular Muslim circles.

So tumblr, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[liskantope]

With regard to the recent testimony of several presidents of major universities about their policies on antisemitic speech, my orbit seems divided into people who are ignoring the story entirely and people who have reacted to it with nothing but outrage and exasperation toward the university presidents. I also find the whole event and situation frustrating and disturbing, but I'm wondering if I'm the only one out there who can't help feeling some significant degree of sympathy with the university presidents and why they might feel like they're in a bind under that type of questioning.

(I haven't gotten my hands on a more comprehensive video that shows the hearing -- the only video I was able to find that looked it might contain this was 5 hours or something -- but this treatment by David Pakman contains about the most footage I've seen. Notice how Pakman, perhaps not deliberately, distorts the sense of the MIT president's meaning in her sentence, "I've heard chants, which can be antisemitic depending on the context, when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people" by seeming to rearrange the quote in his mind so that the phrase "calling for the elimination of the Jewish people" is placed earlier in the sentence implying that calling for the elimination of the Jewish people is only sometimes antisemitic. Which is not at all what she said.)

Here's the thing: accusations of antisemitism and particularly the use of the term "genocide"/"genocidal" in speech content are being thrown around quite loosely nowadays. The way the presidents squirmed around struggling to navigate how to answer the questions was cringeworthy to be sure, and made worse by the fact that they didn't explain what they meant by "become conduct", but it's kind of understandable that they wouldn't want to straight-up say "Yes, we have a no-tolerance policy towards all calls for genocide against Jews" knowing that will immediately be turned onto them the next time a pro-Palestine slogan which someone on the pro-Israel side might interpret as antisemitic is uttered on their campus. For instance, "From the river to the sea!" seems to take on a range of meanings depending on who you ask, from "Get all Jews out of that whole piece of land!" to (according to for example Robert Wright) "Let's have a one-state solution where Palestinians get equal rights throughout that whole piece of land!"; the former can certainly be argued to be genocidal whereas a lot of protesters will probably (perhaps quite sincerely) claim the latter meaning.

(It's like during that whole debate about whether or not it's okay to punch a Nazi: I think a lot more of us may have been comfortable saying that Nazi-punching is generally okay, if it hadn't been for the fact that there was a visibly large overlap between the people advocating Nazi-punching and the types who tended to wield very broad criteria for who qualifies as a Nazi.)

I don't really have the time or energy to try to develop a full-blown stance on where the boundaries of free speech should be on college campuses or anywhere else. My general inclination would be to draw the line at speech that advocates intolerance of groups that include people that would be on the campus. So for instance, speech advocating genocide of Jews as a general group (which would include Jewish students/faculty/staff on campus), let alone speech expressing hatred toward or otherwise harassing/threatening any individuals or subsets of Jewish students/faculty/staff at the university, should not be tolerated under university policy. Speech advocating removing Israeli Jews from the state of Israel (the most extreme interpretation of "From the river to the sea!") is pretty disturbing and frighteningly reminiscent of early Nazi policy, and Jewish students wouldn't be unreasonable to feel deeply offended by it and I don't feel great about allowing it, but I'm not sure if it crosses that line. I don't know. The policy position I'm suggesting could plausibly be what the university presidents were espousing, but it was hard to tell without further clarifications from them, and it may just be wishful thinking on my part.

I do agree with David Pakman and others that, almost certainly, if you replace "antisemitic" with "anti-black" or "anti-Asian" or "misogynistic" (or probably even "anti-Muslim"), those university presidents would have without hesitation sung a very different tune, and that is an issue that needs to be examined and reckoned with. I'm not sure I'd say that it's evidence that Jews are uniquely hated among marginalized groups exactly, but it's a reflection of the fact that this recent general turn of events has kind of broken the guiding lines of certain strains of US progressive ideology.

[cookinguptales]

...well, to start with, because this is tumblr and I'm mostly here for tarot, memes, and silly vampire porn. The things I discuss IRL, the things I donate to, and the things I support are not always reflected in the social media where I come to unwind.

The second reason is because I was literally in another country for over a month. I have multiple chronic illnesses and I've barely been keeping my head above water and the last thing I wanted to do was post about international politics. The fact that you think it's appropriate to just go up to random people that you may or may not even know and demand that they weigh in on important issues in the manner, environment, and time period of your choosing is uhhh bizarre!

In fact, I debated replying to this at all just because it is such an out-of-line demand to make on fucking Tumblr of all places. But I do actually have thoughts on the subject, and I guess it's as good a time as any.

The third and honestly most important reason I haven't said much publicly is this: there has been a lot of misinformation spreading about this issue. It's quickly become apparent to me that this is a fight that's being fought through propaganda, and it's not always been easy for me to figure out which news articles are accurate. I see an article go up, then an article criticizing it, then a retraction, then a retraction of a retraction. I see horrifying videos being posted, then it coming out that they're from a completely different conflict. Hell, I've seen people I used to respect quoting straight-up conspiracy theory weirdos because they agree with what they're saying on this particular subject.

(Yes, I did notice the person who put fucking RFK Jr. on my Tumblr dash like he was a hero.)

As a general rule, I am against the slaughter of innocents, which is why I have been historically against many of Israel's actions in Palestine. It's why I am against the actions they are taking now, which, no matter how you slice it, seem to be using a terrible tragedy as an excuse to enact one that is several hundred times worse.

But I have to admit that I've also been looking at several of my acquaintances very differently as they talk about how the slaughter of other innocents is ideal, and I've gotten really uncomfortable with the implications of some of their posts.

(And to be very clear, when I talk about posts celebrating the deaths of civilians, I'm not talking about things that are pro-decolonization or anything, I'm talking about people I know who, when the news first broke and very little was known, explicitly said that being against the murder of non-combatants means that you are not acceptably dedicated to revolution. And like... no, I do not believe that's an acceptable (or even effective) way to achieve peace.)

Plus, I do not believe that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, but several posts I've seen lately have been very undeniably antisemitic. (And yes, others have been islamophobic as well.) I've seen people attributing the actions of Israel's government and military to all Jewish people worldwide. I've seen people who are boosting the voices of literal Neo-Nazis. I've seen conspiracy theories that are honestly just straight-up rehashes of blood libel. And I've seen a lot of posts, far too many posts, that seem happy to indulge in old tropes about Jews controlling the media instead of looking at the political effects of mainstream Evangelical eschatology.

Like... I've seen a lot of well-meaning people post things that are inaccurate, misleading, or straight-up hateful propaganda. Against either side, really. Against both.

And frankly, I am afraid that, through ignorance, I might do the same. I've seen posts that seem normal to me, only to be shown how they contain dogwhistles or inaccuracies that feed into longstanding stereotypes. I've seen news articles (supporting both sides) that seem accurate only to turn out to be sloppily reported inaccuracies, if not straight-up lies.

While I've been supporting human rights organizations IRL, I do not feel as if I am so qualified to speak on this subject that I won't accidentally do harm. While I am usually content simply boosting others' voices, in this situation I am afraid that I might spread misinformation that might hurt Palestinians or Jewish people that have nothing to do with the conflict. Hell, there are a lot of other groups that are getting caught in the crossfire, too. Even people who live in Israel who aren't politicians/combatants aren't people that I want harmed.

(Like... I wouldn't want to be judged based on what my country's politicians, military, and most outspoken racists have done, either, y'know? I do not believe that there is any country where every person in it is bad.)

Honestly speaking, there are a lot of subjects that I think are important that I don't talk about publicly. I talk about things like queer issues and disability issues because I feel like I have firsthand knowledge of those things and am unlikely to accidentally post like... fucking alt-right propaganda or something. But with... really probably most issues, I tend to keep quiet and do my best to listen to people who know better than I do.

Which is not always a fucking bad thing!

So... you might have noticed that I screencapped this ask rather than answering it. This is because I wanted to be able to block you from my inbox after answering your concerns. Like damn, learn some fucking social skills.

[hindahoney]

Thank you sm for your answer and sorry for assuming Orthodoxy of you, though I can guess the same antisemitic sentiment extends to anyone who is frum. (I try to be pretty frum and as observant as I can but I wont lie, there are places where I don't put in the effort that is expected of a frum Jew, so even though I'm probably way more 'tight' about my practice than most people at my synagogue, I have always identified myself as Reform/Liberal/Progressive depending on where I lived at the time)

I equally feel really sad seeing my family at odds with one another. Disagreement isn't necessarily a bad thing but moral subjects can get touchy and people get very trigger happy with accusations of things like sexism and homophobia without considering who they are actually talking to. One of my favourite Jewish values is discussion, debate, disagreement, and learning from different views.And that value seems to be largely forgotten when faced with Jews of other movements.

Not that things like homophobia and sexism are up for debate whatsoever. (Discussion yes, debate no.) But, people conflating Orthodoxy with particular beliefs and biases, without ever bothering to speak to Orthodox Jews and learn what they actually feel, or why they feel how they do, and without bothering to learn Orthodox congregations' history and progress with equity and social justice.

Honestly if I were an Orthodox Jew I would be really really upset by Reform Jews completely ignoring or overlooking all the work that queer Orthodox Jews continually put in to making Orthodoxy safe and welcoming, and going straight to the accusations. Like there are queer Jews in these communities who are putting in soo much work to educate and accommodate, and then none of that work is recognised bc folks just want to point fingers and say "well YOUR movement thinks women are LESSER" or something. If they put in even a minute of their time to listen and converse with Orthodox Jews, they would realise how wrong they are. But ugh. Too much to ask i guess.

This is half the reason I never tell people what movement Im with (unless Im on anon :P) because it gives me a chance to weed out anyone who's weird about Orthodoxy. Like yeah I might be Orthodox for all anyone irl knows. If that makes them uncomfortable then they can gtfo haha. I protect my family before most if not all other things and that explicitly includes Orthodox family.

This is a really good response and I connect with it a lot. This is part of why I hope we are moving into a post-movement form of Judaism where we stop caring about the labels so much. Jews are so diverse, it's only natural most of us don't feel like we 100% fit into any movement.

[fayoftheforest]

I posted 2,276 times in 2022

That's 715 more posts than 2021!

97 posts created (4%)

2,179 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@croissants-andcoffee

@plugnuts

@jmax523

@whatdoessunshinetastelike

@fishtish

I tagged 1,260 of my posts in 2022

Only 45% of my posts had no tags

#south park - 57 posts

#ask - 43 posts

#fave - 27 posts

#ask game - 17 posts

#birthfay 🎂 - 14 posts

#sp kyle - 12 posts

#sp k2 - 11 posts

#writing - 10 posts

#headcanons - 10 posts

#south park fic - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#also just realised the blurb i pasted here was from an old draft where the soulmate tag was on their arm not their chest 😳how embarrassing

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

man, it kind of bums me out how the majority of the time that kyle's jewishness is a focal point in fan content, it's for a negative reason. if kyle's contemplating the fact that he's jewish, it's because he's being bullied or harassed, because he's feeling insecure about his appearance or self worth, because he's feeling lonely and isolated, because he's having a crisis of faith, etc etc. these are all totally valid themes and character arcs to explore, of course! i think many jews like myself may be able to relate to these themes, thanks to living in a society where antisemitism and other shitty behaviour runs rampant. but i think we're really missing a golden opportunity to explore the complex and compelling positives of being jewish. where's his love for his community? where's his excitement for an upcoming holiday? where's the comfort he might take from prayers? where's his curiosity or knowledge about his family history? where's his passion for debating interpretations of the torah? these are also valid, relatable and in-character directions you could take things!

i know that this trend is probably heavily influenced by the presence of this pattern in the show itself, but it's still a bit sad. or maybe gentiles (non-jews) shy away from celebrating his jewishness because they don't feel confident in commenting on a religious experience that they've never had. to those people, I would ask, why is it you feel comfortable speculating on the hardships of being jewish, but not the joys?

that isn't to say that you're not allowed to write about the former if you're not jewish, of course! regardless of religious background, anyone can empathise with his struggles because, at the end of the day, we're all human, and it's our humanity that unites us. but i'd encourage you to push yourself out of your comfort zone, do a little research and have some fun celebrating and supporting his jewishness once and awhile :)

109 notes - Posted October 30, 2022

#4

today I am thinking about... fat tweek! and fat butters! and fat wendy and heidi! maybe throw a lil fat kyle in there too! I'm sick and tired of fatness being equated with immorality when it comes to south park (and the world in general tbh) and it makes me sad that so many people seem afraid of portraying any of the non-cartman characters as plus-sized. 'fat' is a neutral descriptor and not a dirty word, and displaying body diversity amongst the cast is not only realistic, but a wonderful and beautiful thing! so anyway reblog this and put in the tags which character(s) you've always headcanoned to be fat or not skinny :)

113 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

#3

STOP RIGHT THERE 🔫 THIS IS A STICK-UP 🔫 NOBODY SCROLLS ON UNTIL THEYVE WATCHED @roostertuftart 'S GLORIOUS VIDEO THEN REBLOGGED IT 🔫

142 notes - Posted August 29, 2022

#2

I'M ABSOLUTELY BLOODY LOSING IT OVER THESE VINTAGE SOUTH PARK MUGS I FOUND ONLINE

THE CAPTIONS. THEIR EXPRESSIONS. THE FACT THAT STAN IS KNOWN AS "THE CUTE ONE"?? LIKE?? IS HE?? WACK :D ANYWAY SHOULD I BUY THESE YES/NO

256 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

fucking obsessed with this meme that came up on my pinterest feed

what IS up with gay eople liking south park???

1,222 notes - Posted November 15, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[stop-him]

I've been stewing on this for a while, debating whether I'd actually say anything about it, because on the one hand uugh discourse but on the other hand this kind of encapsulates a lot of what is just so fundamentally rotten about today's online discourse.

So: It seems evident that some people use the phrase "noticing" and/or "pattern noticer" as code for some antisemitic/racist stances. I don't see any reason to doubt it; people are gonna do what they do to say what they aren't allowed to say directly in public spaces.

But besides antisemites, do you know who else recognizes patterns? The entire human race. The average human brain is real good at picking out patterns - it's one of the survival traits that let primitive man develop into a civilized creature. Patterns are crucial to language development. It's also why we see faces in things like electrical outlets and the fronts of cars.

I don't know anything about the OP - a quick scan of the first dozen or so posts seems benign enough. Maybe they're some kind of hater, but nothing obvious leaps out. Me, I'd be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

So why has the Anon at the start slipped in to deliver this notice, like posting a note on a neighbor's house in the middle of the night? "Good citizens don't have that kind of name, you ought to watch yourself..."

Because that sort of person does not give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Suspicion, if not guilt, is presumed up front, if someone detects a "dogwhistle".

And can I say how much I think the very term "dogwhistle" is an indicator about how up-its-own-ass the culture is? An actual dogwhistle - you know, used to call actual dogs - is designed to be inaudible to human ears. People can't hear it, that's the point. The conceit in using "dogwhistle" in discourse terms is that it's a thing a certain group says to communicate with like-minded people while supposedly not being noticed by outsiders, and yet somehow the kind of genius that inhabits social media and believes the infinite chocolate meme is just so sharp that they can pick out all the dogwhistles. Right. (And ironically, being able to recognize dogwhistles would be a prime example of noticing patterns.)

So now what we have is the contamination of a concept, where busybodies don't judge you on what you actually do, they judge you on some surface feature. Your nickname might be a simple comment on the human condition, but if any bigot anywhere used those same words, well, I dunno, you might be guilty of something! It's like when Richard Spencer was having his moment and every man with a fade haircut was being accused of being a white supremacist, you know, because hair is how hate is transmitted.

But having delivered this info, what does the Anon expect will happen? I can only assume that they want some sort of cringing assurance that "oh, no, I'm not one of them, dear sir!" followed by either the prompt changing of the nickname (to avoid that contamination, horrors!) or abject apologies and promises that they're one of the good ones, really, really.

The saddest thing is that the Anon might actually believe they're doing something helpful or meaningful when this is all a knee-jerk reaction, a capitulation to the opposing forces. If, for example, it were to come out that Nazis were fond of ice cream, you know there would be the same kind of people whining on the Internet at strangers about how they are disappointed that someone's showing themselves eating some Cherry Garcia because you know what "ice cream" means...!

Stop it, you idiots.

jsyk your name is very similar to an antisemitic dogwhistle and I hope that's not on purpose

What's antisemitic about noticing patterns

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Coming for advice- I think I'm just, done with Christianity. I was raised Baptist, my parents are involved with our church/private christian school which i attended. The issue is that they're very deep in it, and I know it will break their hearts if I tell them so. I'm trans, and out/on testosterone, so I already have broken their hearts once, and I'm worried my dad especially will think thats the main reason why (he's not particularly wrong). I've tried to gain my faith back, tried to find a comfortable space, but the past few years have shown that there really isn't anything worthwhile for me in American Christianity. There's too much hurt, too much broken, and I can't separate what "good" there might be in the Bible from the evil I see in the church and America's Christian Nationalist culture. I've been looking at other religions, because I do have a desire for the spiritual, and have been specifically looking at Judaism in part to unlearn the antisemitism that I grew up with, and because I do find genuine beauty in what I have found there. I haven't made plans to convert, but it's something I consider a potential. All this to ask; how do I talk to my parents about this? They ask if I've been doing anything for my faith lately (reading the bible, watching an online service), and want to know why I haven't. I don't know what to tell them.

CW: non-accepting parents

Hey there, anon. My heart goes out to you to hear what hurt you've experienced from communities that should be founded in love. I'm also sorry to hear that your parents didn't take you coming out well. I pray that in time you find the healing, wholeness, and support you deserve, no matter where that is for you.

As you journey, you might like to wander through my #leaving Christianity tag or #exploring and discerning tag.

For instance, there's a post in there from someone asking advice on telling their parents about their exploration of Islam. There also a few messages from other folks exploring Judaism.

Unfortunately, you're probably right that your parents will be upset about your decision about Christianity — but however they take it, it's your decision to make. I wish I had some solid advice for you about how to tell them. Ultimately, you know your parents better than I could, so if anything I suggest doesn't sound right to you, don't go with it. But what I can think of is:

it's probably better to plan a specific time to tell them, rather than blurting it out spontaneously (such as when they're asking you all those questions about whether you've gone to church lately). .

pick a time that's relatively low-stress for everyone involved. Ask for your parents to hear you out because what you want to say means a lot to you. .

write out what you want to say beforehand, so that if you get tongue-tied in the moment (if you opt for a spoken discussion), you'll have your writing to fall back on. .

i'd probably avoid getting into a long debate about the merits and faults Christianity. For instance, i can't imagine you trying to explain to them how tangled up Christianity is in white nationalism will be all that fruitful in a discussion about your own personal experience. Instead, I'd stick to something like "I understand and respect that Christianity holds a lot of meaning for you; I hope you can respect that it does not for me", and "I feel" type statements, rather than letting them pull you into a debate. .

have an activity line up for later that day that brings you comfort, whether that's going to get your favorite food or watching a comfort show; or ask a friend to be waiting for you to visit or call them up afterward to talk through it and/or just quietly be there for you. .

depending on what exactly your parents' beliefs are, it might be somewhat comforting to them to know that even while you're leaving Christianity, you're still exploring spirituality. Especially if you do decide to delve deeper into Judaism, you may emphasize that leaving the church doesn't have to mean leaving all faith or "leaving God." .

if they seem responsive or willing, you might suggest you all read Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor together: it's a book for Christians, by a Christian, about learning to respect and appreciate other religions. It addresses common fears about non-Christians going to hell, for example, if that's a fear your parents express. .

know that their initial reactions may not be their final reactions. it's possible that they'll respond first with stronger negative emotions, and need time to accept your decision. set what boundaries you need to set, and hang in there.

This situation sucks, no getting around that. Wishing you so much love and courage, anon.

If anyone else has advice or encouragement, please share.

[fayofthefandoms]

YOU'RE ALSO RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD ALSO SAY IT! Very based opinions right there, not a single miss. Here's some more thoughts of mine, building upon that...

...But I can't figure out how to put a page break on mobile Tumblr so you've got no choice but to read it >:)

I go through periods of bingeing South Park until I get to Very Special Episodes where the arguments put forward are so awful that it sends me reeling into an existential crisis of "Oh, God, this is the show I'm into? This is the show that I've dedicated hundreds of hours and thousands of words to? I've made a severe and continuous lapse in judgement here!" Because even though I agree that enjoying a piece of media doesn't mean you support it's messaging, it's still hard to watch an episode that goes "Haha fuck this specific group of people amirite? Those guys suck!" when 'those guys' in question are currently having their basic human rights violated. Or when those guys happen to actually be me.

But part of the reason why I like being in the South Park fandom is that we get to have the conversations. I'm very interested in politics and SP gives me a chance to talk about that both through my writing and through general discussions without feeling like those opinions are out of place.

I've seen the phrase "If you're offended by XYZ in South Park then you clearly didn't get the joke," echoed by a lot of people round these parts, or just a general sentiment of "If you're offended by South Park then you're just too soft." I'm gonna say something a little controversial here but I actually believe that, nine times out of ten, people are totally justified in being offended or put-off by South Park.

Samantha Lux, a fantastic trans YouTuber did a video on Board Girls a few months ago, which I'd recommend checking out.

She made a lot of valid criticisms and deconstructed exactly why this episode was complete bullshit. But the comments section from SP fans is... embarrassing, to say the least. It's 50% "Oh, you're offended? Good, that was the point of the episode *insert slur of their choosing*" and "No no no babe it's not trabsphobic you just didn't get the joke! 🙃"

Well which one is it, folks? Is it pro- or anti-trans? You can't have both! This isn't Schrödinger's Political Commentary.

But I don't actually think Matt and Trey's intentions matter (Death of the Author and all that). The point she was making is that this narrative is inherently trabsphobic and perpetuates trabsphobic myths. And, hey, I think it's a pretty reasonable response to not like South Park as a result of that.

Another really basic example of the whole "critique the fandom but not the show" phenomenon is when it comes to antisemitic stereotyping. I've seen some really articulate and valid discussions about the Good Jewish Boy trope that fanfic writers shoehorn Kyle's character into, but when it comes to antisemitism in South Park itself, a lot of people default to the "Every Joke About Jews is Actually Making Fun of Nazis!!!" defence. Okay, well how about Sheila Broflovski, a character who follows the Angry Jewish Mother stereotype to the letter. Look me in the eye and tell me that the employment of that trope is actually critiquing antisemites, and not making fun of Jewish women. Go on. Try me.

...Actually, please don't do that, because I think I might throw up on your shoes! On purpose.

Anyway, point being that if Sheila's character was enough to put someone off South Park, I wouldn't blame them! Just because I can roll my eyes and move on doesn't mean I should expect other people to do the same.

In conclusion: Just like the fandom, South Park Good, and South Park Bad. Also, Matt and Trey, debate me in the marketplace of ideas 😎 but only if you promise not to call me a slur.

Cherry picking what you like about the show doesn’t make the problematic stuff go away. And many know this and acknowledge it, but some people just don’t want to admit the source material has it’s problems and that you can actually discuss those problems without, idk, going to hell.

This doesn’t mean everyone should be forced to talk about the problematic aspects of South Park. Hell no, I still wanna see cute Kenny with angel wings fanart. But maybe we should try to talk a bit more about stuff.