#but specific campaign not yet vetted

[thomtrebond]

Hello 👋

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to you today to ask for your help in sharing and reblog my story and my struggles, as I have faced many hardships and need your generous support through Your and sharing of my story will have a significant impact on my life and help me get through these difficult times.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your understanding and generosity.🙏🌹🙏

[nullcasting]

A message from the Gaza Strip to our honorable people in the world My name is Abdul Rahman from Gaza.. I lost everything in life.. My wife was martyred and my child and I were injured by a missile that fell on us.. My life was completely destroyed and I was severely injured all over my body, especially my legs.. The missile tore my wife apart while she was carrying our child.. I ask for your support to start my life anew and overcome the tragedy I am going through.. Please help me with any amount, no matter how small, to treat my injury and my child's injury and get out of the Gaza Strip and start a better life.. And spread my campaign and my story so that everyone can see it

Sharing this.

[zooophagous]

So why do you hate the advertising industry?

Hokay so.

Let me preface this with some personal history. It's not relevant to the sins of the advertising industry perse but it illustrates how I started to grow to hate it.

I wanted to be a veterinarian growing up, but to be a vet you basically have to be good enough to get into medical school. I do not have the math chops or discipline to make it in medical school. I went into art instead, and in a desperate attempt to find some commercial viability that didn't involve moving to California, I went into graphic design.

I've been a graphic designer for about seven or eight years now and I've worn a lot of hats. One of them was working in a print shop. Now, the print shop had a lot of corporate customers who had various ad campaigns. One of them was Gate City Bank, which had a bigass stack of postcards ordered every couple months to mail to their customers.

Now, paper comes from Dakota Paper, and they make their paper the usual way. Somewhere far, far from our treeless plain there is a forest of tall trees. These trees are cut down and put on big fossil fuel burning trucks and hauled to a paper mill that turns them into pulp while spewing the most fowl odors imaginable over the neighboring town and loads the pulp up with bleach to give it a nice white color.

Then the paper is put on yet another big truck and hauled off to the local paper depot, then put on another big truck and delivered to my print shop, where I turned the paper into postcards telling people to go even deeper into debt to buy a boat because it's almost summer. The inks used are a type of nasty heat sensitive plastic that is melted to the surface of the paper with heat. Then the postcards are put on yet ANOTHER truck and sent to the bank, which puts them on ANOTHER truck and finally into the hands of their customers, who open their mail and take one look at the post card and immediately discard it.

Heaps and heaps and literal hundreds of pounds of literal garbage created at the whim of the marketing team several times a year. And thats just one bank in one city.

I came to realize very quickly that graphic design was the delicate art of turning trees into junk mail.

And wouldn't you know it there are a TON of companies that basically only do junk mail. Many of them operate under the guise of a "charity," sending you pictures of suffering children or animals and begging for handouts and when they get those handouts the executives take a nice fat cut, give some small token amount to whatever cause they pay lip service to, and then put the rest of the cash right back into making more mailers. "Direct mail marketing" they call it.

Oh but maybe it's not so bad, you can advertise online after all. Now that there's decent ad blocker out there and better anti-virus ads usually don't destroy your computer anymore just by existing.

Except now when I search for the exact business I want on Google it's buried under three or four different "promoted search items" tricking me into clicking on them only to shoot themselves in the foot because I searched for the specific result I wanted for a reason and couldn't use those other websites even if I felt like it.

And now we have advertising on YouTube and on every streaming service, forcing more and more eyes onto the ad for the brand new Buick Envision that parks itself because you're too stupid to do it on your own.

Oh thats ok maybe I'll get Spotify premium and go ad free and listen to some podcasts- SIKE we have the hosts of your show doing the song and dance now. Are you depressed and paranoid from listening to my true crime podcast about murdered and mutilated teenagers? That's ok, my sponsor Better Help can keep you sane enough to stay alive and spend more money.

It's gotten so terrible that now you have content farms, huge hubs of shell companies that crank out video after video to get more and more precious clicks. Which if the videos were innocuous maybe that wouldn't be so awful except now you have cooking hacks that can actually burn your house down and craft hacks that can electrocute you being flung into your eyes at the speed of mach fuck so some slimy internet clickbait jockey doesn't need to get a real job.

It of course goes without saying that animals are also relentlessly exploited by clickbait companies that will put them in compromising situations on purpose to create a fake fishing hack video or even just straight up killing them for sport by feeding small animals to a pufferfish that rips them apart for the camera.

And all of this, ALL of this doesn't even touch how adveritising is the death of art in general. Queer topics, any kind of interesting art, any kind of sex or substance use topics are scrubbed clean and hidden at the behest of advertisers.

Sex education, a nude statue, topics such as racism or sexism or bigotry in general have tags purged or hidden from search, even life saving information about SDTs or drug use, because if someone saw that and complained then Verizon might sell fewer tablets and we can't fucking have that.

Conservative talking heads often bitch and moan that they're being censored on social media. The stupid part is, they're right! They are being censored! But it's not by a woke mob, it's by ATT and Coca Cola not wanting their adspace sharing screen time with their stupid fucking opinions.

However, they won't ever figure that out, because the talking heads they get their marching orders from like Tucker and Jones ALSO rely on the sweet milk flowing from the sponsorship teat and they aren't about to turn on their meal ticket so they have to come up with even stupider shit to say for the train to continue rolling.

I managed to rant this far without even getting into the ads I see for the beauty industry. The other day a botox ad described wrinkles as "moderate to severe crows feet" as if wrinkles are a symptom of a fucking serious disease! Like having a flaw in your skin is a medical problem that you need thousands of dollars of literal botulism toxin to fix! I was incandescent with anger.

Advertising is a polluting, censoring, anti educational and anti art industry at it's very core. It destroys human connections, suppresses human thought and makes us hate our own bodies. It ads no value, actively detracts from value, and serves no real purpose and I believe it should be almost if not entirely banned.

[timetravellingkitty]

It is so cruel to say “surrender or starve”, as if Palestinians have been doing anything but starving for months now. More than an year of genocide, and the occupation keeps getting away with both massacring and starving Gazans, while the world hems and haws, and does nothing. So, we do not have any time to waste here; what is happening in North Gaza is insane, and Ola’s family is in urgent need of your help right at this moment!! I will keep this short:

Ola is only 26 years old, and her life has been completely destroyed in this genocide. Where before she was a brilliant student of mathematics and dreamt of having a career in the field, now she spends her days trying to find food and escape death.

As the eldest daughter, it has fallen on her to ensure that her family of SEVEN survives through this genocide.

The condition of North Gaza is terrible: there is a famine and the cost of living is tremendously high. Many of the family members have started to show signs of malnutrition, with Ola herself having fallen dangerously underweight.

With barely anything to eat, exhaustion weighs on her daily and yet she walks miles to get an internet connection to campaign for her family. This is becoming more and more dangerous now, when the occupation forces have started to bomb the north of Gaza.

This is extremely urgent, as 200 Gazans have been murdered by the occupation forces recently. In this bout of indiscriminate bombing all across the North of Gaza, the IOF are specifically targeting camps and the remaining shelters - mass displacement is imminent and no one knows what is going to happen with winter looming ahead. Food and other resources will be stretched thin even more and the prices will go up to unprecedented heights which Ola's family won’t be able to afford without immediate donations. So please DONATE and BOOST. The fundraiser has been stagnating and there has been no donations for up to 9 hours straight.

Currently at $56,690 USD. Let us help Ola raise at least 1k. Please treat this as an emergency

Vetting #205

Tagging:

@oorevitcejda @yellowwperil @sandersgrey @ofide @rukafais

@officialpenisenvy @theonpilled @fleurrice @tetrafelino @think-queer

@timothylawrence @roakkaliha @lostacelonnie @huzni @laurajameskinney

@gamb0fficial @vincentspork @teabisexual @officialscud @evilponds

@dinodamage @yurischolar @lune-tic @lipid @newporters

@witticismz @dovv @capricornpropaganda @charlott2n @determinate-negation

@parsleyrosemarybotch @tadpoledyke @userpeggycarter @thedigitalbard @melon-colli

@demilypyro @lesbocrocker @kahin @chososhairbuns

@zamanassad @wayneradiotv @jihaad @evillesbianvillain

@stuckinapril @goldenspirits @scarletlich @rongzhi @marxistcomedy

[pcktknife]

hello! sorry to bother you, but i was wondering if you could boost this gofundme which has been verified by Hussein? (Renad's family is #128 on his vetted fundraiser's list and Renad has a tumblr account @renadmagid with additional details and proof which unfortunately is shadowbanned by tumblr).

Renad is a 24 year old midwife who had spent the past years after her graduation working at multiple hospitals such as Al-Quds and Al-Shifa. Renad wants to evacuate her family of seven, and also to continue her PhD degree to help more mothers and newborns. Her mother, father, and brother are now suffering from Hepatitis A, and her mother's case specifically is very severe and in need of treatment. Renad's campaign is currently at £4,992 out of £25,000, which isn't enough to evacuate her 3 sick family members she has out of Gaza (the current cost is around £3940 to £5500, so £15,000 if not more)

here's the link [removing the parentheses around the periods would hopefully produce a working link!]: https://www(.)gofundme(.)com/f/help-renad-her-family-evacuate-gaza

i don't have any affiliation with Renad but i've been trying to spread her fundraiser for some time now and it has been very slow, so i wanted to share it out to blogs! thank you again for sharing

her campaigns currently at £5,005 / £25,000 goal

donate if you can please share if you can't

[junglejim4322]

Hello, I am Dina, a Palestinian mother of three children, the youngest of whom is not yet a month old. I lost the people dearest to me in the war, and I lost everything I had. With a heavy heart I ask you to spread my campaign and help me save my children

https://gofund.me/f9205cf7

Please can you publish my campaign? It has not received any support. I do not know who to send it to and I do not know how to publish it, but I am trying to save my children.

this is not only vetted by ibtisams, but also one of the 3 specific fundraisers she chose to highlight in her sisters honor. Dina is a mother of 3 (a 7 year old, a 5 year old and a newborn) she and her family have faced and continue to face tremendous loss as well as sickness and starvation. more information is available on both her blog and her fundraiser

$4,146 CAD raised of $20,000 goal

[leieryx]

DONATIONS FOR COMMISSIONS!

If you donate to Salma’s family campaign here, (minimum 5 CHF , 5.89 USD) I will draw for you! They’re more than 2/3rds to their goal!

VETTED HERE 🔸 EXAMPLES:

COMMISSION SLOTS : 🔴⭕️⭕️ (Please check most recent version of post, you can just click the bar around my username) (Read under the cut for more information.)

Reblogs are appreciated! If you reblog with #🍉 I will draw your pfp in a poorly drawn but hopefully funny manner when I am next at my drawing tablet and add it to the post :]

Commission info under cut, additional info for the GFM is through the link, and a specific thank you to @arctic-hands for letting me know.

Thank you for reading, and to everyone who has and will support them.

————————————————-

My portfolio is at leiart.carrd.co !

When you would like to request a commission, please send me proof of donation to Salma’s campaign at aleieryx@gmail.com, along with a general description of what you would like! If you want to know if your request would be OK beforehand, feel free to send it, but I will not start drawing till you have proof of donation. Slots must be open and I will accept donation proofs from before the date of this post only if I have the time to complete them without using up slots. Thank you!

🔹= If you happen to make a contribution of 50 CHF/58.89 USD or more (thank you so much!), these can be ignored. They’re for time’s sake, so they have to be in place for most donations, but I wanna stress that all donations and assistance are appreciated a ton.

🔴= Pay attention before you donate if you want a commission!

——————————

🔴You will need to email to communicate, please do not message me here.

🟧You will get in progress pictures to help with the process! if you want to have input that’s a good time to give it.

🔴As these are for donations, and I do not handle the money, refunds are not available. Remember you can have ideas pre approved if you would like!

🔹Commissions will probably turn out like the left most example BUT will only be in black (or a signature color) and white for time’s sake. If you are set on color we can do something less polished but colored, feel free to ask, please respect if I can’t do it in that time :)!

🔹A maximum limit of 2 characters, human or not. Both can be full body but expect it to take longer exponentially for each character.

🟧You can use what you commission for profile pictures, neocities, banners and the like, just ask me first.

🟧Commissions can be suggestive, but I do not have a place to post NSFW yet and will not be taking those commissions.

🟧Most characters are ok but steer clear of real people you don’t know personally, unless they’re actors playing a character.

Again, thank you so much for reading! Feel free to email me with any related questions. When commissions are closed for good I will put it in the comments and reblogs and eventually turn off reblogs.

[transmutationisms]

how do i help gazans and others if i don't have a bank account? i want to help, and i've wanted to help, but it is not possible for me to give money. i've shared posts here, liked them on instagram and shared them there as well and it doesn't feel like enough

the reality is that posts made by longtime tumblr users who write fluent english get more notes and donations than gazans' own posts because this website is racist. so, sharing posts is a great start, but there are also so many people who need someone to actually write a post for them. if you drop a reply here or send an ask off anon, i can dm you usernames of people who need someone to write them a post about their campaign; i receive (i am not exaggerating) upwards of 200 such requests per day and am nowhere near capable of even replying to all of them, let alone actually writing that many posts. i know that many of the other people on here who frequently boost fundraisers are getting similar numbers of requests, if not more, and we literally always need more people to help.

it's also helpful to write updates on fundraiser posts, whether the original posts were written by you or by someone else. an update can be very basic (amount raised, distance to goal, currency conversion if it's a weaker currency than usd because that's what most of this website uses, link to vetting info if it's not in the original post) but you can also write a few sentences about the person's specific situation and needs. updates help keep a campaign circulating and show potential donors that someone is paying attention to this person. you can do this any time a fundraiser crosses your dash, when someone messages you or sends an ask, etc.

if you are willing to commit for a longer term, it is extremely helpful to 'adopt' a campaign (or more than one, if you can), meaning you commit to continue posting about that specific person until they reach their goal. this is more work, it's more stressful, but it can also make a huge difference for the person on the other end. i can also point you toward people who need this and have asked for it, if it's something you can do.

if you have artistic skills, original artwork is often helpful for drawing attention to a campaign. even just a quick sketch of a family portrait can be helpful for getting more traction on posts. i've also seen people make banners, cartoons, pixel art, you name it. donation posts generally do better when they're short but also eye-catching, and art is one way to help with that.

and you might consider whether you have any skills, artistic or otherwise, that you could offer as a raffle or giveaway to support these campaigns. i've seen people offer art or writing commissions, research skills, aquarium passes, gift baskets, plushies, fibre crafts, etc. frankly i think sometimes these giveaways are just helpful because they reassure potential donors (yet again) that the campaign is 'real' and has people looking after it. you can offer these kinds of incentives whether or not you're in contact with the person fundraising; i've even seen some people just offer commissions or raffle entries as a blanket offer for anyone who donates to any vetted campaign.

i also want to stress again that this truly is a situation where any commitment is better than no commitment -- like, can't adopt a campaign but can write someone an original post once a week? great, that's still helpful to that person. can't do that but can commit to writing short updates on someone's campaign once a day? great, still helpful. literally any time and effort you can put in is good, it's not an all-or-nothing proposition. i think most of us are capable of finding at least a few minutes to do something on this list.

[s0fti3w1tch]

‼️The GFMs In Your Inbox

plaintext: the GFMs in your inbox /end plaintext

I understand the worry about scams, yet, it's situations like these where you have to give the benefit of the doubt and research rather than completely brushing it off right away.

Remember that a lot of Palestinians are going to social media specifically to reach out. For most of them, English isn't their first language too. Please consider the reason why some messages may be copy-pasted from others or other reasons that some could end up similar. Please remember how Tumblr tends to strike down Palestinian accounts, even ones with vetted campaigns. Please remember that there are thousands of people who need help right now and are counting on the power of social media to get them out. Please do the bare minimum of searching up their username in the Tumblr search bar before you claim anything like "this is a scam."

Being quick to spread distrust right now is how extremely detrimental theories like "el-shab-hussein is running a scam ring (with nabulsi or 90-ghost or whichever other user they pick)" get spread about. The two people responsible for the VERY important Vetted Gaza Funds Spreadsheet (please check it out) linking to GFMs of hundreds of Palestinians that need support. This is a theory unfortunately shared by HUGE Tumblr users.

I'm not saying there are no scammers taking advantage of the genocide for their own gain, but I DON'T want anyone to believe for a second that there are NO Palestinians asking for help on Tumblr.

I'm going to look through the asks in my Inbox that're reaching out, and see if they've been vetted, and make a post listing all of them.

That is all.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Paige Skinner at HuffPost:

Ken Klippenstein, an independent journalist, was banned from X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday after he published a dossier on Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) via his newsletter and promoted the link on the social media site owned by Elon Musk. “Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance’s physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number,” a post from X read.

The dossier is a 271-page research paper that the Donald Trump campaign had apparently compiled to properly vet Vance, now Trump’s running mate. According to the Trump campaign, the Iranian government allegedly hacked the campaign. An anonymous sender emailed the dossier to several media outlets, but the outlets did not publish it. In a follow-up post on his newsletter, Klippenstein argued that he never shared any private information on X; he just linked to it. He wrote, “The principle involved here is complex,” because Vance is an elected official and vice presidential candidate, but also because the private information is available for anyone to buy. Klippenstein said it’s a “very funny end” to his time on the social media platform, but it’s also a “chilling effect on speech.”

“Not a single media organization was willing to publish a document that would have been a no-brainer during or prior to the heyday of Edward Snowden’s disclosures. That illustrates the dramatic shift in attitudes about what the news media thinks the public should know, and the role the mainstream plays in steadily ceding that territory to the national security threat machine. Media’s job, I believe, is to push back against these various forms of censorship.” The dossier includes everything from Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities,” his past criticisms of Trump, and his criminal, police, voting and lobbying records.

Journalist Ken Klippenstein got banned from X for publishing the JD Vance Dossier, and this is yet more proof that supposed “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk is anti-1st Amendment.

See Also:

Mediaite: Journalist Ken Klippenstein Suspended By X After Publishing Hacked JD Vance Dossier

Ken Klippenstein's Substack: My Twitter Ban Is Political

[walks-the-ages]

Anyways, Pro-Palestine friends in the USA:

if you want a third party candidate who is Pro-Palestine and wants to end the genocide, please do not get fooled by Jasmine Sherman (they/them) 's big claims of having Ballot Access in 48 states!

They've been claiming 48 state access for at least three months now (thanks, timestamps on Reddit), which means they've been claiming to have ballot acces in 48 states since April or May of 2024......

.....but on checking various state voter websites, Jasmine Sherman is on none of the ballots they claim to be, let alone under "the Unicorn Party" which doesn't even officially exist, let alone on a ballot anywhere.

I've checked, and the one state election website I found that mentioned then was Florida .... Except further reading shows that's from 2022 and while their status is still 'active'..... They still haven't been Qualified for the state's ballot, either!

Feel free to check your own, individual state government websites as well to confirm!

So yeah, if you're voting for a Free Palestine this November, vote for Jill Stein, someone who actually knows what she's doing and actually follows the regulations needed to actually be on Ballots when the election rolls around, not just claiming to have ballot access in 48 states out of 50 starting NINE MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION which is literally impossible for third party candidates!

Want someone who's an actual real candidate and not a grifter on tiktok?

Vote Jill Stein.

Want someone who actually takes the time to write their actual platform on their website (instead of copying random news article links and hoping no one will notice)?

Vote Jill Stein.

If you're wanted to buy Jill Stein merch such as bumper sticker or yard sign, they have ones that are specifically in support of Palestine, and all profit goes directly to UNRWA!

So you can help spread the word about Jill Stein's campaign (and maybe convince some friends, family, and neighbors to vote for change!) , while all the money goes to aid!

If you've got the money, please also try to support the vetted fundraisers at

[wombatwisdom]

Words of Love

I would like to dig into the idea of "love" a little bit. This word gets bandied about quite a bit and I fear we all mean something different.

Part 1: Anita

After the oranges but before the cream pie to the face, Anita Bryant (an infamous anti-gay advocate in Dade County Florida) gave us these delightful words: "I love homosexuals. Its the sin of homosexuality that I hate" and "I don't hate homosexuals. I love them enough to tell them the truth: that God puts them in the category with other sinners".

Anita's "love" for the LGBTQ+ community prompted her to advocate against their basic human rights to employment and housing without discrimination in the 1970s. And her "Save the children" campaign was largely successful--at least in Dade County. Her influence can still be felt today in a lot of right wing canards (you can even see her shadow in the 2024 LDS policy of exclusion).

There is something compelling about Anita's version of "love". She loves the "sinner" enough to tell them the truth, to teach them, to coerce them back to righteousness. She loves them enough to hand them the tough realities of life.

Anita could probably point to scriptures and religious thinkers to support her brand of love. Sinners don't fare well according to the bible, so wouldn't our "love" motivate us to try and save them? Wouldn't you want to spare a loved one or even a stranger the horrors of eternal damnation and suffering?

Parents intercede for their children to keep them out of harms way. Isn't it loving to tell kids that cigarettes are harmful? Isn't it loving to remind children of the dangers of drinking and driving? Don't parents owe it to their children to protect them from harm from external or internal sources?

A cogent reader might be able to spot the difference here. There is a difference between loving someone by "informing of harm" and advocating for a removal of rights. Further more, this "love" is being conflated for control (however well intentioned), and learning to love without controlling is probably the most challenging part of parenting. But even more, our positions on cigarettes have shifted as science has provided more insights into their harm, similarly, as evidence has mounted showing the positive impacts of living authentically as an LGBTQ+ person, so to have publicly held stigmas and misunderstanding changed.

But, crucially, to Anita, she would maintain that she loves gay people and was motivated by love. It is not her problem that you may not agree with her definitions.

Part 2: Joanne

Before the Cyber bullying lawsuit and after the wild success of Harry Potter, JK Rowling published her attempt at "explaining" the maelstrom of social media debate that had sprung up around her. In the halcyon days of the early pandemic, JK Rowling tweeted almost-compassionate sentiments towards trans people such as: "I respect the right of every transgender person to live life in a way that makes them feel authentic and comfortable with themselves. I would march with you if you were discriminated against because you are transgender."

And in her "essay" published in July of 2020 (which was at one point entitled "TERF Wars" I'm almost certain, but has since been renamed), she specifically cites a transgender acquaintance whom Joanne calls "wonderful". And yet all this lip service to "respect" and "wonderfulness" has yielded some rather caustic twitter discourses, significant contributions to a increasingly transphobic political culture, and even some good old holocaust denialism.

Joanne's "love" (or she would call it "respect") seems to come if she deems it earned. My read is that for Joanne, transitioning should take a long time, require extreme levels of vetting (both internally and externally), and will only be achieved adequately by a relatively small number of people. Besides, if this population is so tiny, then we shouldn't have to accommodate them at the expense of everyone else's comfort. Love, it would seem, is a numbers game.

I do think Joanne's point about knowing a transwoman personally, should not go unremarked. She herself admits that she has met young trans people who she finds "adorable". And yet, even as we cheer for Brene Brown's "it's hard to hate someone up close", Joanne's behavior seems to suggest otherwise. She does know and respect the wonderful and adorable trans people in her circles, but that does not mean that they should have space to exist comfortably.

Joanne shows us that loving someone on a personal level is not the same thing as loving the group they represent. Furthermore, we all love someone close to us but don't agree with every thing they do. We question clothing choices, food preferences, parenting techniques, movies watched, books read, time wasted. To Joanne loving someone does not mean you need to advocate for then.

To Joanne, love is a limited resource and so who is loved and how they are loved must be chosen carefully. Joanne believes to make space for trans people comes at the expense of woman and girls, and don't woman and girls need to be loved too? There are more cis woman and girls than trans people. When love is scarce, than it follows that certain groups must be dismissed and harassed, I suppose.

Part 3: Dallin

Before his inevitable ascent to become the next prophet and after worriedly writing in the 1980's that "one generation of homosexual "marriages" would depopulate a nation...Our marriage laws should not abet national suicide", Dallin H Oaks gave a rather love-focused address in the most recent general conference (Oct 2024, Saturday morning session). He urged for us to remember the first two commandments and to avoid political contention by being peacemakers, despite the fact that he was involved, at least in part, with the recent transphobic policy put in place by the Church a few weeks ago.

My fear here is Dallin, lawyer that he is, has left a lot of words to be defined by the listener. What does it mean to be a peacemaker? What does it mean to avoid contention? And what does it mean to love?

From talks given in the past, Dallin's position seems similar to Anita and Joanne. Dallin's concern is getting people to the celestial kingdom which means that certain people need to be reminded that the way they are will not be compatible with that place. This is a thought birthed from love--he loves people enough to tell them what God expects from them! He's also keenly aware that there is a gulf forming in society and he's got to choose which one to protect because love is scarce, and given the voices he chooses to amplify (see the letter he reads in this young adult fireside), he stands with his more conservative base.

Dallin's love may be short sighted and biased, but he probably doesn't think so. He thinks his motivations are on the side of the angels and who am I to disagree, arguably he knows heaven better than I do.

But you may not find Dallin's version of love very uplifting or meaningful. You may find it motivated more from fear or bias, and perhaps your version of love has space for inclusion and multiple paths, but here is the kicker: your definitions and positions on love have limited reach.

Dallin's love is amplified in multiple languages all over the world every six months at least. When he speaks, people listen and to some degree internalize what he's saying. Dallin knows gay and trans people, he has a grandson that is openly gay, and still he shows his love this way.

Dallin has power and influence in this community and so his version of love gets elevated and replicated. Every six months we get the privilege of grappling with his love and decide what to do with it. Dallin's love comforts a certain subset of the audience while alienating others. His influence will eventually fade, but then we will need to move on to someone else's version of love and that is always a gamble.

Part 4: You

In queer spaces the individuals I have mentioned are often heavily criticized. And from my perspective rightfully so. Their actions and words have costs and inflicted damages our community routinely has to bear. But we need to be aware that our criticism that they should be more "loving" might not land where we would hope it does. They do, in their own definition, act out of love.

Their definitions certainly don't align with most of ours, but we don't often take the time define what we mean by love. And in writing this, I have come to realise that love contains multitudes: both good and bad--and holding people to my definitions just leads to unmet expectations.

What I have learned from this review is to acknowledge the differences in what love can be--I am less interested in love now but motivation and impact. Much of what I do in "love" is actually more motivated by a desire for "safety", "acceptance" or "belonging", which can have mixed results. I need to demonstrate, not to Anita, Joanne or Dallin, but to those in my life that the outcomes of certain "love" can be damaging and negative for me. I now know to avoid or be skeptical of the outcomes of Anita's, Joanne's and Dallin's love, but I also know that they don't think themselves unloving, so trying to convince them to "love" more is a fruitless exercise.

Perhaps, we become peacemakers when we hear the heartbreak of our neighbors and find ways to partner with them to build solutions. But ultimately, all of these words are up to you and how you wield them is your choice--but the fruits of your love will be decided by those who stumble across them and you cannot control how they will be received.

[bluegarners]

saying this now because i noticed that i have been tagged as someone able to verify gofundme’s: i cannot and will not verify campaigns. i do not have the time to go through that process. every campaign i reblog or make a post for, i specifically search if someone else has vetted the campaign before. if it has not been vetted yet, but the reverse image results come up clean, i will still reblog it, but i do not personally vet any fundraisers.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

serious non-fandom talk time

i am getting an increasing number of asks that are specifically related to the ongoing genocide in gaza, and i... am not sure what to do about them.

concerns:

1) i absolutely am willing to use my modest little platform to bring awareness to the needs of palestinians who are suffering atrocities that most of us can't even begin to imagine. (i'm an avid follower of wizard_bisan's IG account and i am positive that there are images and experiences so horrific that she can't share them with her followers for fear of being deplatformed by IG.) however--

2) i don't want to end up accidentally signal boosting something that turns out to be a scam, because signal boosting scammers decreases the likelihood of anyone donating to fundraising campaigns across all platforms. more than that, i know that you guys trust me to do my due diligence before i signal boost anything, but verifying and vetting these campaigns is so far outside my wheelhouse of expertise that i'm not sure how to go about doing it.

and yet the desperation and urgency in some of these asks can't be overstated--i've got one where the sender is desperate to receive insulin because they are diabetic, and can you imagine the horror of trying to manage your diabetes in the middle of a genocide--and i just can't in good conscience ignore them.

so my question for those of you who know more about this kind of thing than i do: how do you go about vetting and verifying these fundraising campaigns? do you send links to specific trusted blogs who can vet/verify this information? i want to help, but i want my help to be substantive and meaningful.

[anonprotagging]

Palestinian fundraisers I've gotten asks about this month (September 2024):

Mustafa Eiada Hilles gfm, @mustafaeiada: €262/€30,000

Not vetted/verified, BUT I noticed that no one else had done a reverse image/text search yet and did them myself. They are all unique, consistent, and no trace of AI. VERY likely real, VERY low on funds.

Motaz Mohamed gfm, @motazmohammed: €2,950/€50,000

Not vetted yet this month, but all reverse image and story searches have been unique; very likely real; low on funds

Osama Thaer gfm, @osamathaers-blog: €1,777/€50,000

Not directly vetted but vouched for by vetted campaigns; very likely real; low on funds

Walaa Ahmed/Fadi Zakkout gfm, @ahmed79ss: $12,762/$50,000 CAD

Vetted fundraiser

Abdallah Sweissi gfm, @gaza-love100 (prev. @/a6h16): €251/€49,200

Not yet vetted, but images/text are unique; very likely real; VERY low on funds

Abdallah Mousa ggf/gfm, @abdallahblog0: approx. $2,341/$30,000

Verified: #315 on spreadsheet, low on funds

Marah/Mahmoud Baalou/Marleen Tipu gfm, @freepaleatine95 (prev. @/ helpfamily): $13,286/$50,000

Vetted fundraiser

Dr. Farhat's Family gfm, @drfarhatblog: $10,179/$29,500

Vetted fundraiser, Verified #248

Muhammad Reesh(?) gfm, @mohammed-reesh/@mn-mohammed109/@mohamed-resh0: $2,476/$40,000 CAD

Not verified specifically, but vouched for by family with verified gfm campaigns/accounts; low on funds

Mohammad Bakroun gfm, @save-salam-family: €24,309/€40,000

Vetted fundraiser; seems to be shadowbanned; only €15k left!

Mohammed Almadhoun gfm, @savepalestineinfamily19 : €7,909/€50,000

Verified fundraiser (#45)

Ahmed Khalil gfm, @ahmed0khalil: €3,088/€50,000

Verified fundraiser (#77)

Abd Alhadi Aburas gfm, @abedalhdihesham (prev. @/abdalhadiaburas): $5,807/$65,000 CAD

Verified fundraiser (#2)

Mohammed Zaquout gfm, @springbutterfly37: $2,159/$45,000

Vetted fundraiser

Muhammad Al-Sir gfm, @mahmoud04/@hasanalserr7: €277/€65,000

Not vetted, but unique images/text; very likely real; VERY low on funds

Nisreen Suhail/Hazem Shawish/family gfm, @nisreensuhail, @hazemsuhail, @kenzish: €9,815/€50,000

Verified fundraiser (#75)

Etaf Alquattaa gfm, @moatasemmoatasem, @familyetaf1234567, @yousef1234567: €2,647/€100,000

Not vetted, but unique text/images; very likely real

Aseel Asad Mohammed gfm/org. Margaret Brown, @aseelo680: $32,617/$50,000

Vetted fundraiser; approaching goal!!!

Sami Hussein Hammad/Muhammad Mazen Rabah Hammad gfm, @aseelmhamad12: €438/€25,000

Not vetted, but unique text/images; very likely real; VERY low on funds

Roba&Mohammed Ayyad gfm, @yasermohammad/@mohammadayyad: €23,605/€35,000 

Vetted fundraiser

Nesma Khazendar/Khalid Family gfm, @khalid-sisters: $4,220/$15,000

Vetted fundraiser

Rasha & Karim Saad Al-Din gfm, @kareem-sd: €3,890/€50,000

Not vetted, but unique images/text; likely real

Mahmoud Balousha/org. Denise Pratt gfm, @ahed-family2: $3,855/$40,000

Vetted fundraiser (link lost)

Doaa&Tahreer Jad Al-Haq/org. Raina Carter gfm, @tahreer1990t (prev. @tahreer-1990, @tahreer19900): $9,977/$65,000

Vetted fundraiser

Maria/org. Reem Alhayek gfm, @maria-gaza1: $6,001/$30,000 CAD

Vetted fundraiser (by association)

Ahmed Jehad/org. Ashika Jaffar gfm, @ahmad-syam: $5,201/$40,000 CAD

Verified fundraiser (#84)

[blazeyxx]

Hello👋, I am Jamal Shamiya, 63 years old, from Gaza.🍉 I live in tents💔. My house was bombed. I suffered fractures in my waist and had to leave. I also suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure. 😭 I used to work as a lawyer, but with the war my work stopped and I have no monthly income. 😟All my children are with me in the tents and were exposed to the same conditions💔. There is no healthy food or clean water, and I am responsible for all of that. They have children.😟 My wife is stuck in Egypt.She went for a specific surgery and no one was there with her. She also suffered a broken hand. She does not have the income to buy the necessary medicines 🙏🚨. Please donate $20, equivalent to 220 Swedish Krona, my link is in my bio, and help us share our campaign so we can evacuate. Sorry if it took so long. I hope you sympathize with us. My account was verified by 90_ghost, 1100kr=100$

Please stop to read if you have the time, even if you have nothing to donate. Jamal has posts asking for help dating back September, yet in spite of it donations to him has barely passed one-fourth of the way from its goal. 90-ghost has a post in support of his campaign >here<, he is vetted. Please support his >GoFundMe< or share this.