#but when its arab and brown people they hate EVEN MORE

[itssideria]

when this barbarity one day ends—and it will. it will—i don't want to hear one fucking word about antisemitism within the arab community. i don't want to hear one word about the human rights those countries lack. i don't want to hear it. i don't want to fucking hear it.

[rene-darling]

I've been mad at genshin for its colorism since Sumeru where they made a whole nation inspired by South Asia and didn't represent its people, at all. Where so many people told me I was being dramatic and how genshin is a Chinese company so of course the only brown character is neon white.

I'm glad people are finally waking up. But it goes to show that racism against brown people is never, and will never be taken seriously. It's only after the nation inspired by Africa was shown that people finally decided to wake up to Genshin's bullshit

Every time hate was directed towards Nahida people would always redirect it by saying they were hating cuz Nahida was a child and not a waifu, bro, no one gave a shit about Nahida being a kid. People were upset about her design.

Genshin after whitewashing indian and African deities: 👻🤭😝😋☺️☝️😍🥺😏🤭

Also, can I add, and ask why almost all of the Sumeru enemies are brown-skinned yet most of its playable, friendly, nonaggressive cast is pale? Does anyone see a connection?

I'm not joking when I say people have genuinely told me when I have complained about the cast being pale that "well at least the enemies are brown. They're great rep!" They would be, if also the friendly playable characters were similar in color 💀

No one was more excited for Sumeru than me. No one, and even after the disappointment I remember playing through the storyline and being so happy when NPCs had South Asian/arab names. It was a breath of fresh air just seeing our names being represented.

[nimrochan]

No disrespect, and I want to say that jewish people should absolutely be safe and feel welcome and happy everywhere in the world. But how can you talk positively about moving to Israel, paying taxes to a government, that has been confirmed to have killed 13.000 children? Do you not see an issue with moving to a state that has been determined by the ICJ to be committing a genocide right now?

Thank you for your question. I’ll do my best to answer this as an Israeli-American with a more inside perspective than most people who haven’t been in the area.

Incoming novel.

First off, I encourage you to read my pinned post.

Second, I believe Israel is a tiny country that as being held to an impossible standard. The situation there is very unique and I ask you to not compare it to others.

(I promise I’m going somewhere with this) in the past ten years, half a million Syrians and half a million Yemenis died in civil war in what I think are actual genocides. Millions more are refugees. China forcibly puts its Muslim citizens in “re-education” camps, another form of cruelty and cultural genocide. There are other genocides actually happening in Congo and Darfur and other places. There are humanitarian crises in Arab countries regarding the horrific treatments of women. And in North Korea, the situation has always been dire - it contains a concentration camp the size of Rhodes island.

This leads me to ask- why is the hate for Israel so widespread and deep? I’ve never seen protests addressing these aforementioned issues so passionately. I almost NEVER see them addressed on social media. I have never seen Russian, Chinese, Afghani people etc in places OUTSIDE of their countries being harassed to the extent that Jews and Israelites are. Jews outside of Israel have been harassed and attacked, some have even been murdered. Our synagogues and graveyards have been vandalized. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people openly march for our deaths rather than to condemn terrorism or condemn far more horrible governments. I can only come to the conclusion that it’s antisemitism. It’s not a coincidence that the only Jewish country in the world a) has such a microscope over it, b) is one of the most terrorized countries in the world, and c) has so much widely-accepted misinformation regarding it. Including the whole “white colonizer” narrative - most Israelis are brown.

The UN has a history of not accepting Israel as a country and disregarding the years of constant terrorism against it. It has not acknowledged 10/07. The voters of the ICJ include Bashar Al Assad who is the president of Syria. Yes that same Syria that kills its own people. Another voter is from China. Same China with countless human rights violations. Another voter whose name escapes me now made motions to deny humanitarian crises in other Arab countries. So between the UN and the ICJ voters, the parties are extremely biased and ignore far worse issues. So I am not going to take them seriously. I hope you ask yourself what else may have skewed your perspective on the war, if such big international organizations are demonstrably biased.

Genocide is done with intent. In the last 50 years, the Palestinian population has grown FASTER than the world’s Jewish population. I can tell you first hand, as someone with many family members who have served in the IDF, and who knows how strong the Israeli military is - genocide is not, has never been, and will never be the intention of Israel. If it WANTED to commit genocide, I guarantee you that absolutely far more Palestinians would have been slaughtered and I would tear up my passport in that case.

When the LEADERS of a county cross a border into ANOTHER country, unprovoked, and personally slaughter and rape thousands of civilians, that is genocide and that is declaring war. It’s a very small scale genocide, but technically it is. If you read the charter of Gaza, it actually states the goal of killing all Jews. Hamas killed the maximum number of Israelis that was in their power at the time. Including people that my own family were close to.

Growing up in Israel, among some Arabs, I can tell you that no one EVER taught me to hate Arabs. In fact they taught us Arabic in school along with English. All street signs are in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Meanwhile across the border, their government put guns in kids’ hands and teach them that Jews are pigs. And I don’t think they’re considerate enough to put any of their public signs in Hebrew.

You can see pictures online of Hamas dressing up their kids as child soldiers.

I don’t know if you ever saw the footage of Hamas driving around Gaza with dead bodies after the 10/07 attack and many Gazan civilians celebrating and dancing with their kids and handing out candies, mutilating the bodies further. Look up Shani Louk.

While a handful of Israelis are openly racist (just like there are racists everywhere else on the planet), you will NEVER see something this horrific on Israeli streets. NEVER.

Obviously, not all Gazan civilians are this heinous and nobody should be punished for where they were born (and anti-Israelis are lost on the irony of calling all Israelis kid-murdering genocide-lovers who deserved what happened to them including rape and infantacide). But I want you to ask yourself, If this was My country, how would they respond? I don’t think Israel is responding WORSE than America or other strong countries would. Again that leads me to ask why the hate is out of proportion even for their strong response.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that about 30-40K casualties by Israel. Now that organization is run by… Hamas. But okay, I’m willing to believe that number. I’m willing to believe that that number is double. And I’m extremely saddened by innocent Gazans suffering because of the carelessness and evil of their leaders. But let’s look at the number for now.

Israel reports that about 17,000 of the people killed in Gaza are Hamas militants. That leaves a civilian-combatant ratio of 1:1.2 - 1:2. That’s… average for war. For a dense urban area like Gaza? That is LOW. That does not fit the definition of genocide. It is war, and it sucks, but it’s not genocide.

As for children dying - We do not yet know exactly the number of children who are militants. A baby is counted as a child, but so are the 15-17 year old child soldiers that Hamas recruits. So now the line is blurring.

Not to mention, Hamas has been caught altering birth dates on records of dead Gazans to bring their ages down. Some 18-year-olds are falsely reported as being 17 at death to falsely increase the numbers of killed children on paper.

To go a little off topic, Al Jazeera has also been caught numerous times censoring Gazans criticizing Hamas and reporting biased news. Heck they even reported the rape and murder of my people as “a necessary step.” Look up Howidy Hamza, a Palestinian reporter who talks about Hamas. Hamas is unbelievably cruel to their own people. Yet protests in the US and around the world praise them.

Let’s go back to Israel being the most terrorized country in the world behind Somalia. Do you know what’s going on in Somalia? Of course probably not - another crisis largely ignored by the world because it’s not as exciting or interesting.

Again I grew up in Israel. In the 90’s there was a rash of suicide bombings on buses by the PLO, so I remember avoiding buses as a child out of fear. I also remember waiting in line with my family to get free gas masks because Saddam Hussein once threatened biological warfare on us. Fun times.

I went back to visit in 2015 - this time, a trend of Palestinian civilians in Israel randomly stabbing Jews or running over them or throwing rocks at them. Some Palestinian teens threw rocks into traffic and killed a 2-year old.

And in the past 20 years at least, Hamas and OTHER parties have been sending rockets into Israel. Into civilian areas. Do you think that’s normal? Do you think it’s normal to have apps to alert you to rockets and to have so many bomb shelters? Have you ever spoken to a relative overseas and heard rockets in the background while on the phone with them?

Do you know how many hundreds of thousands of us would be dead if it weren’t for the iron dome?

EDITED TO ADD: Israel responds to rocket fire to destroy the source, because the iron dome is not perfect and CONTINUED firing eventually harms Israeli civilians. Yes, Hamas makes sure to fire rockets from Gazan civilian areas. Another note I want to bring up - I don’t know how many Gazans are displaced currently, I have a hard time finding a nonbiased source, but I would guess around 750K - 1.2 million. If they are displaced RATHER then killed, that’s another contradiction to calling this war a genocide.

Do you know why Gaza has received billions of dollars in aid over the years - enough to turn it into a living paradise - only for Hamas to use it to build underground tunnels and rockets for the purpose of attacking a country that has NEVER in its history attacked first or started any wars? (Yes, believe it or not, Israel has never STARTED a war since its inception).

The other problem with Gaza is Hamas intentionally having military targets under densely populated areas. When Israel warns civilians to leave, via leaflets or alerts, many times Hamas threatens them to stay and become martyrs. On top of it, they dress as civilians and recruit children, and fire rockets from refugee camps and apartment buildings and schools and hospitals. This is neither legal nor ethical warfare.

Israel does not, has never put military targets near civilian, nor does the IDF recruit children or dress as civilians. That’s a bare minimum.

I won’t deny that members of the IDF have done shitty things, just like the American army and other armies around the world have probably done, but if I had to choose between the country with the military that wants me dead and Israel… yeah. At least rape and other torture are ILLEGAL for the IDF. Meanwhile Hamas continues to freely rape hostages as I type this. Because they make the laws there.

Yes Israel cares more about its own citizens than foreign citizens like Gaza, but again, that’s no more evil than other normal countries.

To address another stereotype about Israel being a racist and apartheid state - there are two million Arab Israelis living peacefully there. There are Arab countries who hold peace treaties with Israel.

So you tell me in your ask, Jews should be safe and welcomed around the world. The sentiment is appreciated, but this is not the case with reality, sadly. There is NO population of 2 million Jews in any other middle eastern country. Many of us left for Israel due to severe oppression. There are no more Jews in Yemen for example. My grandfather left for Israel from his home in Lebanon because some officials wanted him dead. Why? For committing the crime of smuggling Jews through Lebanon to escape the Holocaust.

My grandparents on my mother’s side escaped post-war Poland because of violent lingering antisemitism.

They would have had NOWHERE to go without Israel.

And we are NOT safe outside of Israel or even in Israel because of the intense hatred. We have been scapegoats for society’s problems for thousands of years and I don’t see it improving any time soon.

How can I talk positively about Israel? It’s the most liberal and progressive country in the Middle East. It’s the only country where it’s legal and safe to be openly gay for example, and it’s the only country there that holds annual pride.

It’s a middle eastern country where I, as a secular woman, can dress how I want, marry who I want, get abortions if I needed, own property, own money, have a prestigious job, and *checks notes* drive.

It’s also the only Jewish country in the world. It’s the place I’ve felt the safest and happiest, surrounded by my own people and family and sometimes I wish my parents and I never left, because I am personally feeling the antisemitism when I march peacefully and get nasty comments, or when I lose long time close friends left and right for being a “genocidal Zionist”, or when I see antisemitic graffiti and signs everywhere I walk.

My taxes in Israel would pay for hospitals that treat people from all around the world including Palestinian children for free. It would pay for the iron dome that keeps my family safe.

My taxes in America have been used to oppress women, and for horrific military actions, etc. and America itself is LITERALLY built on colonial genocide and the backs of slaves. Slightly related, most of North Africa was colonized by Arabs who ran a larger slave trade than the US. I’ve never learned that in school! I’ve never seen anyone talk about that! I’ve never seen Americans or Arabs in other countries get attacked for these things (to be fair, I’m very aware of the racism Arabs and Muslims did feel in the US after 9/11 and I absolutely condemn it).

This same America also lifted sanctions on Iran, allowing it to spare money to give to Hamas to buy weapons and slaughter my people to start this fucking war.

So you ask why I’m saving money to eventually move to Israel from America? I hope I’ve answered as thoroughly as I can. You can go ahead and fact check me through non- biased media. And go ahead and look up “list of terrorist attacks on Israel” while you’re at it too. I’d rather face rockets than continue to live in a country that lets antisemitism (and mass shootings for that matter) run rampant.

[johannestevans]

had a Great experience the other day where i was at a trans event and started talking to this woman who was also Jewish, and so we were talking about like, Jewish movies and gender roles in different Jewish and Ashkenazi spaces and antisemitism and like, broader philosophical concepts and it was genuinely really nice

and at some point this other girl came over and mentioned wanting to be a cop, and when she was resolutely shut down by everyone else in the social circle, she started dropping "fun facts" about hitler's regime

such as that "hitler didn't really hate jews, his second in command, himmler, did, and he led the whole thing. hitler was just the face of it" and then at some point said something like "you know, people say even churchill was kind of racist"

and i was like. "yeah. churchill did multiple genocides and also hated jewish people."

and she replied, "yeah. makes you think that no one's actually good, doesn't it?"

and i went, "no. that's a very cowardly position to take, i would posit, by someone too lazy or too spineless to make an effort to be "good", as you say."

and that shut her up for a bit

and then the conversation moved on a bit more, and got onto the topic of israel, and she said something vaguely to the effect of like. jewish voices where she - to her credit, i do believe unintentionally - implied that a Jewish group were Zionist when they weren't, they were just Jewish

and i corrected her, and she went "well, yeah. Israelis aren't real Jews anyway"

and i said, "can you tell me what you mean by that?"

and she said, "well, like. loads of jews oppose israel actually being and having a state, right? like that's part of the scripture, and has been for ages. and loads of israelis are just americans and they're just racist"

and so then i like. explained that yes, when it came to the formation of israel, many Jews opposed it because jews aren't meant to have their own state until after the coming of the messiah, and also that yes, a lot of criticism of israel should rightly be made as to the way it's colonial in its nature and its desire to form a white jewish ethnostate

eugenics have always been part of the israeli mentality, not merely in wanting to be like, broadly white, but also in the ideology around israelis being "super Jews", and a large part of this came as israel tried to establish itself as a more positive territory worldwide through the '60s when it was pushing itself as a tourist destination

many orientalist tropes were taken on, the positive ones, israeli women being presented as desirable and exotic, israeli men as strong and lethal; the focus on the IDF and krav maga and the depiction of palestinians and other arabs as monsters they're triumphing over, the push to define israelis as having a "middle easten" identity when the choice was made to take over palestine over various other locations around the world, in part to legitimise the israeli identity by establishing it as a literal homecoming, and attempting to redefine Jews coming to israel as a return to their indigenous roots

but to say that by virtue of being israelis no israeli jew is a "real jew" is a pretty thorny area, because "jewish" has always been a religion and an ethnicity, and a complexedly policed and examined one. israeli jews will often claim that non-israeli jews or particularly anti-Zionist jews aren't real jews, and that kind of attitude of attempting to delegitimise the other group's identity rather than grappling with the actual harms of their politics or identities is not like. valuable

and then i was telling her a little bit about the history of like. not only the constructed israeli identity, but also forms of racism within the jewish communities - pushing forward modern hebrew whilst pushing back yiddish, ladino, and other jewish languages, because languages associated with poverty, the shtetl, the shoah, or with being too brown or too foreign, undercut the "super jew" idea, even without getting into israeli treatment of ethiopian jews and other Black and darker skinned jews

and i was just like. i don't care that you're bored, i don't care that this is more complicated than you cared for, bc like. attitudes that end up dismissing all jews as supporting the state of israel and therefore evil, or like. atttiudes where you end up really racialising and getting into ethnic condemnations of jews without understanding the history or implications of what you're saying are a large thing of what makes leftist and queer spaces feel so unsafe for jewish people across the board

and i was then like. "do you understand that the modern state of israel has always wanted people to believe that nowhere but a state run by jews is safe for the jewish people? that when you make even leftist and anti-zionist jews feel unsafe in leftist spaces, that's what some israelis want, in the hopes that that lonely experience of antisemitism will be harmful enough to have them go to zionist spaces instead?"

and she really did seem to have a moment of. oh.

because like. fucking yeah, babe. obviously.

but it's just so exhausting bc i went from some really fun and exciting conversations about jewish cinema and antisemitism on the screen and like. jewish gender and gender roles and how they relate to diff experiences of being racialised or pushed into an underclass

and then i had to pivot into giving some ABCs of not talking like a fucking nazi to some goyische 4channers

and i know that being pushed out of a space like this is likely to radicalise the nazi cop girl more, that it's better for her to be in a trans space and be told some of her opinions are shitty and harmful than to be like, excluded and then made to seek out even more racist spaces to exist in, but it's just like. shit. it's just really shit

like it's great to care about your leftist politics but sometimes your reading needs to be more than like. your specific hyperfixation/special interest anarchist who took part in fucking pogroms

[bijoumikhawal]

I've gotten tired of making a post like this every few months so let's just fire a few of these off, and feel free to add on! Tropes you should at minimum reconsider using when you write or talk about Julian Bashir:

Mentions of "harem" pants, "Arabian nights" aesthetics, etc. These are improper terminology (that feeds into racist ideas) for real things, and when using that terminology those things are often being misrepresented. For my part, if you would actually like to know about the material culture of the Middle East and North Africa, I'm a "hobby" researcher of that very topic and will readily answer asks about it- with the caveat that I mostly know about Egypt, and I'm not the best person to ask about Sudanese specific culture even though I know a little, and I don't know much about Indian or Pakistani fashion (mentioning because these seem to be the most common cultures brought up around Julian).

comparisons to monkeys, apes, the word "simian". This should be obvious but it happens a fair amount, and it's almost comedic given a common trope is to comment on how much Garak hates being compared to a lizard.

This is separate but the way some people use mammalian tips from writing xenofic and trying to understand how an alien would think and categorize things into something that feels very exoticifying. It's not a "full stop, do not do this" but it is something I've noticed

Jokes about how undesirable Julian is. He's the exception that proves the rule about fandom's obsession with white twinks and a rare example of a brown nerd who isn't pinned into the "Couldn't sleep with a woman if they were the last two people on earth" box. I'm not saying we can't make fun of how he flirts just- Stay clear of Raj BBT territory

Conversely: my most hated garashir trope is when the author makes Julian's libido a problem by making him inconsiderate, cruel, and outright manipulative in service of his dick, and the writing often makes it clear they're connecting this to his masculinity. Julian does do some really stupid shit when it comes to his relationships, but this particular way of trying to incorporate this into writing him is just OOC, and you need to not confuse writing Julian's canonical robust and healthy sex life with negative stereotypes about lecherous Black and brown men. There's fics that pull off Julian being a bit of a dick or manipulative well- such as Salt the Earth or the ageswap series (at least where I last left off on it).

making his eyes green or blue. I have the same eye color as Siddig, more or less, and while it's technically hazel (or olive, as some people call it) most people think it's brown and most lighting makes it look brown. If you look at screencaps of Julian, you'll notice it also most of the time, looks brown. This sounds minor if you haven't experienced it, but it has a real and very negative impact on people's self image.

Older one but to be clear: if you're writing Julian as explicitly Muslim, find and replacing "god" with "allah" in English text is not how Muslims (or Arabic speakers in general) use the word? It is really funny to read, but please...

Over focusing on Julian as British. There's a long, LONG conversation that could be had about the dynamics of assimilation and how European racism (ime) very specifically views it as progressive to strip people of their culture and thinks they're causing the problem if they don't go along with it that would need its own post and which I've had with white fans before and feel exhausted thinking about- but to put it simply, there is no such thing as "just British", even for white Englishmen.

Yes the inverse is also wrong but I really haven't read a fic newer than 2014 guilty of that lmao and I think some of the more recent complaints about it are overblown, given I've read only a few fics recently published that delve into Julian as a Brown/African Person and I enjoyed them

I would personally appreciate it if fic writers were a little more balanced about cultural discussions honestly. If you write a lot about Cardassian culture, it'd be nice if Julian’s background was discussed. I won't say that kind of research is easy (again, I do this as a "hobby" that's very important to me, it's actually really annoying and difficult sometimes), but it is possible. I recently talked about how not doing this kind of mentally slots Julian into a "white guy" role.

This is not a matter of me policing your "artistic expression". I have no control over what you do. I would just like for fandom, a hobby I do for fun, to be a place where people stop being racist in a way that directly impacts me.

[felikatze]

ultimately while i adore tristrat beyond belief it does fall into genre typical prejudices that are not any more egregious than its genre compatriots but nonetheless worth adressing as a flaw in the game's worldbuilding and a cheap shot against its storytelling

tldr: frederica should've been black

tristrat excels in actually meaningfully examining prejudice and slavery under a more critical eye than "it's bad, don't do it," mainly that it explores the actual reasoning of it. namely that oppressors do reap benefits from the oppression they enact - here the oppression of the roselle is the key pillar to hyzante's prosperity. first, the roselle are a cheap workforce for backbreaking labor no one is willing to enact themselves. the hyzantians can turn to more leisurely and educated pursuits in science while ignoring the reality of hard labor. secondly the oppression of the roselle's history allows hyzante a monopoly on a precious resource, salt, which it uses rosellan labor to extract.

cheap labor + monopoly on the land's resources = profit

the motif of "the rosellan people are hated by the goddess and must forever atone for their sins" was then posed in retrospect as a justification for hyzante's stranglehold on resources, which then seeped into the culture and teachings of the country until the roselle were naught but sinners.

the roselle are light skinned and the hyzantians are arabs.

fuck, even the good hyzantians are light skinned. there are two dark skinned playable hyzantian characters (geela and quahag), whereas there are three playble light skinned hyzantians (archibald, corentin, medina), and one dark skinned non-hyzantian character (hossbara). Of note here is that quahag is literally one of tge three last characters you can unlock, and Geela is the only dark skinned main character (compared to 6 light skinned characters)

Frederica's story and her frustrations ring incredibly true to real world struggles for liberty (e.g. the people being exploited for lithium in congo, the blm movement), especially in frederica's mounting frustrations that she keeps being told to "wait just a bit longer". It is never the right time for her people to stop being slaves because the ruling class have other things to do first, when she knows more of her people are dying every single goddamn day. This anger being portrayed as rightous, being a core driving force of lategame plot, and being rightfully enacted in the golden route is rather novel for video games, mainly for ones i've seen.

I also appreciate the dive into religion as a tool of oppression - it is never relevant whether the Goddess actually exists. It is only relevant that faith in her and her teachings is used to chain the Roselle.

And yet Frederica's story rings just a tad hollow with her being as snow-white as all the rest - her struggle speaks deeply to POC using a white person as a mouthpiece, much how POC struggle to find respect unless a white person points the prejudice out first, regardless of how long and loudly POC were advocating for themselves first.

Tristrat falls into that same trap of ultimately having the rightous white defeat the dastardly arab. When really, there is no real reason the Roselle and other Hyzantian characters should not be as dark skinned as the rest. Even in real life, skin color is not the only axis of oppression, and you'll find no shortage of examples in the SWANA region that the west would both consider POC, because the label of POC only really holds any value in the west, where whiteness represents the cultural majority.

I bring this up not to say POC naturally oppress each other, but to illustrate that Tristrat's real world implications draw on a "reverse racism" angle - white people being enslaved by brown people, as it absolutely has not been for all of human history in any systemic measure. And this angle could've been entirely avoided by not making the Roselle white.

Additionally, Hyzante, again, the only country with multiple POC, is portrayed as the most villanous, particularly in the endgame and golden route. Isodore, Hyzante's religious leader, is the final boss of the golden route. With Hyzante being the only religious country as well, it brings to mind the demonization of Islam as a uniquely oppressive force when any religion can and has been used to the same end. Islam is not unique in this and should not be demonized for Islamic regimes, just as Christianity is largely not demonized for its use in justifying imperialism.

The imperialist capitalist force is of course represented by Aesfrost and Gustadolph, who believes in the free hand of the market. I have less to say on this than the whole Hyzante thing though I do find an examination of Aesfrost as capitalist and Hyzante as communist interesting. The worst of both worlds, obviously, with the unified Norzelia deciding to share all resources freely between all countries as needed representing something of a socialist dream.

Anyways, it's odd to me that Gustadolph is more or less a stepping stone in the Golden Ending compared to Isodore, when Gustadolph's conquest of Glenbrook is the catalyst for all events of the game. Again earlygame it's all against Aesfrost, with the player even allying with Hyzante by either force or choice depending on the route, yet the leaf turns the entire other way to ally with Aesfrost against Hyzante.

Maybe it's a JRPG prediliction to god killing but it is overall something to note that Hyzante is the final villain, meaning the villain most likely to stick in the player's memory.

I think I ran out of words I think my point got across. Tristrat handles the subject incredibly well and in nuance yet the ties to actual reality are muddled, weakened, and opposed by the character design which ultimately ends with the white people being in the right to defeat the evil arabs when this could've been avoided by making the Roselle POC as well, as they should really be by geographical logic, and it would've allowed Frederica's character much greater real world resonance.

Also sidenote it's fatphobic that the fat characters are all greedy moneygrubbers (Lionel, Sorsley, Silvio) even if Lionel is one of the good guys.

That's all goodnight

[phoenixinthefiles]

Times like these I really wish this app had a text to speech function:

I’ve been thinking about citzenzhip a lot when it comes to the Batfamily, HEAR ME OUT.

Disclaimer: I am not part of an immigrant family so if anything I say is offensive please let me know

So Dick, Damian, and Cass, were obviously born outside the U.S, WHERE’S THE CHARACTER EXPLORATION FOR THAT?

Like Damian and Dick knew English before coming here but there are still other experiences they definitely would’ve gone through.

Damian probably hated/hates the U.S. He was raised on “you do things perfectly-good-you slip up-punishment” (that’s obviously horrible) but the U.S. and all its systems are oftentimes OVERLY complicated. Can you imagine how hard it would be to go from an abusive, perfectly, structured environment, to one that’s constantly divided over the simplest things?

Not to mention that if we’re going with the backstory of him having lived in the desert for the majority of his childhood, there’d be a massive climate change. Like he’d probably have allergies, and maybe eczema.

Can you imagine finally getting to meet your father and you breakout and nearly asphyxiate because of the air pollution. (Slight hyperbole)

Ra’s Al Ghul is a horrible, abusive man but he’s relatively environmentally conscious (still horrible and abusive)

And with Dick?

If we go off Haly’s Circus being an European traveling circus, and his mother possibly being a French-speaking Roma, we can understand why it’d be difficult for him to adapt to life at Wayne Manor.

You travel 3 hours from London and you end up in Paris. A kid who’s used to that type of learning environment would HATE the American school system. He’s sitting in an uncomfortable desk chair listening to a teacher drone on about something he will never use in his life. When he used to be taught physics, while doing a handstand on the railing of the freaking Ponte de Rialto.

Regardless of potentially having ADHD or not, he’s still fidgeting in his seat—yearning for recess. But because this is America (and likely around the early 2000’s or so) his teacher rudely points out his fidgeting and the rest of the class see the boy that looks different from them, acting differently from them as well. And Children can be cruel.

I can’t imagine the experience of being an extroverted child who is used to forming connections with children, who look different from him, BECAUSE of his talents and uniqueness, being thrust into an environment that discourages that,WHILE HE’S GRIEVING HIS PARENTS.

Also Damian and Dick are both tan/brown skinned, and they’re likely going to a rich private school without a lot of people that look like them. (Gotham Academy did not start gaining a more diverse population until Jason came around and that was the reason he wanted to go to public school[I stand by this headcanon…bcus fiction imitates life])

Not to mention the unreasonable amount of prejudice towards Arabs in this country and others. That’s a rough time for a 8-11 year old who JUST moved here and already has a disconnect with his peers due to his abuse and forced maturity.

SO, SO much I’ve said and so, so much I still haven’t. I haven’t even BEGUN to talk about Cass and how difficult it had to be to come to THIS country not being able to understand spoken language at all? She was a teenager when she met Bruce but that just makes different, not better.

Once again I am Black, so while I have experience as a minority in this country, I have no experience with being an immigrant so if I have said something offensive do NOT hesitate to let me know.

Also does this count as me writing something? Probably not huh?

@vhscity idk if you want to read my rant with horrible grammar mistakes.😭😭

[jewishvitya]

I just saw this video about how the West projects its own antisemitism on Palestine. And I think it seems like an important look at how things are entangled here, and somewhat a counter to the post I made and apologized for.

I still think Israel wants to own Judaism and Jewish symbolism and Jewish trauma. And I still think it's evil to do and I don't want that to be successful. Part of the goal was to reiterate that Israel shouldn't be seen as speaking for all Jews, and Jews as a whole shouldn't be seen as its agents, which is the image Israel tries to project. I still feel strongly about the importance of separating Israel and Judaism, and not mistreating Jewish culture in diaspora, including to counter Israel's narrative. But I think my way of talking about it on that post was wrong.

Especially for Palestinians, having negative feelings about Judaism and Jewish symbols isn't the same as antisemitic sentiments we see in the West. It's much more similar in nature to the discomfort a lot of Jewish people have sometimes with Christianity, but newer. Any Palestinian who is uncomfortable, I can only blame Israel and the torment they suffered under it. And beyond Palestinians, Israel had a traumatic impact on several countries that border it.

I was thinking of Jewish diaspora who are an oppressed group and keep getting associated with Israeli atrocities, now seeing people from their countries refer to their cultural symbolism as a hate symbol - when I, especially being an Israeli Jew myself, should have prioritized the Palestinians who are being traumatized in my name under this symbol. It wasn't right of me to defend the image of anything used for harm by my people. And I'm sorry I did that.

This was an attempt to explain both my intentions and why I feel my post was problematic. Now I don't know that I'm the best to say more than this. So, in addition to my initial apology, and to this explanation, I'm posting this video. I'll write out the words she's saying, because videos sometimes don't load on tumblr.

Growing up Arab in the US, and I think probably in a lot of the West Arabs can relate to this, you're made to feel naturally antisemitic because of Israel.

But here's the thing. You know, Israel put the Star of David on their flag. Israel puts the Star of David on its fighter jets. The Israeli leadership claims to be committing atrocities and ethnic cleansing and genocide, in the name of Judaism.

And I disagree, I think it's actually incredibly antisemitic that the Israeli government does that, because I think it's the Israeli government smearing Jews and Judaism by doing that.

But it's incredibly unfair to demand that the people who are being subjected to that— in the name, again, they are seeing that their occupiers have a Star of David on everything. In southern Lebanon there's former Israeli torture sites and prison sites, that have the star of David on them. That's what they do to mark their territory.

It is seen in this region - particularly in the places that Israel has bombed or occupied - as a symbol of colonialism and oppression and control and domination. And nothing more, sadly. And that is because of the actions of the Israeli government.

And it's like, to sit there and say that the way that an occupied people feel about their oppressors - who are saying we are doing this to you in the name of Judaism, they're saying that to them - to sit there and call those people antisemites in the tradition of Nazis and of European Christian antisemitism, who are the ones who are actually responsible for the holocaust, is so incredibly offensive. And actually it's just a way to transfer white European guilt for the holocaust onto brown people who didn't even do it. It's like, there are so many layers to how messed up that is.

And I'm not justifying like, you know, people in the Middle East who might have anti-Jewish sentiments. I just think that the explanation or the lens of the holocaust and of European antisemitism does not fit here. This is happening in a very different structure and it's just disgusting that such a horrible European atrocity is used to them demonize the victims.

[violottie]

if the last 7 months have taught me anything its that this world does not see black or brown people as human beings at all

all the word vomitting from white, tripping over each others to be the first to say black lives matter or theyre not racist or of course they are inclusive of all races in the past decade has meant nothing

because in practice, we can see how fast the world snapped into gear when less than a handful of white people were killed over 40,000-

i repeat

40,000 Arab and Afro-Palestinians. Innocent Indigenous men, women, children, babies- entire, ENTIRE FAMILY LINES WIPED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH

but oh that makes sense, that is justified, right? because its not akshually a war crime because you see its just white people doing what they must to "cleanse" "their" land so they can "feel safe" on "their" land for other white people who are apparently native to this middle eastern country

are you thick? are you that dense that you dont see this? that this world is and always has been planet white supremacy? that nothing any non white person does will be enough to even qualify as human in their eyes, and there is nothing white people have to do to be granted that basic dignity

what more words do i have to say? what more words havent been said? how many more of us must be killed until yall feel "safe"? all of us?! because best believe if, and inshallah this does not come to pass, but if these zionist cunts kill every Palestinian in Gaza and the West Bank, suddenly they'll announce how they have finall defeated Hamas.

that is when they will stop. when all of them, all of us ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 are dead

white supremacy does not learn. it devours and destroys and kills in the name of religion or "peace"

and i am fucking fed up with this fucking world and all you dickbrained bastards who cannot fucking see or care or fucking do something about this

because we ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 are not even actually human in your eyes either. no not even white liberals are free of this dumb shit. we're a token of how sanctimonious and good of a liberal you are.

i hate all of this

this fucking world

all these fucking lies

the lie that is that this world is becoming a better place, that we have made progress. but no. give it 40 years and we'll be back to segregation and no rights for women and we'll be back to the "good ol days" of absolute white supremacy and power, and then all you thin skinned cowards will get yours.

just watch, as youre so fucking good at doing now.

fuck you

fuck. you.

[mysteriawrites]

Hello ,can I request a TWST matchup please !? And thank you .

**Appearance:**

I'm a 5'5" Arab girl (165cm) (she/her, straight )who wears a hijab. I am a brunette with big, light brown eyes and red-framed glasses. People often say I have a soothing aura when they look into my eyes. My face is round with a kind of heart shape with big cheeks, a small nose, and cute defined lips. I'm pale cause I mostly stay at home and avoid getting a tan. I have a lot of beauty marks on my face . I have eyebags, which might be due to anemia, and I always look tired unless i use blush ,tho i dislike the texture of makeup on my skin (but i do care about my skin by applying skincare ,but i dont do it very often 😅)people say I am cute and pretty but it's hard for me to believe them (insecurities and self doub go brr...)

**Hobbies:**

drawing, (sketches mostly) ,I plan to learn colour theory to start painting. I adore all forms of art, paintings , music , sculptures..ect (I love everything that is beautiful ,plus everything is beautiful in its own way).I enjoy reading. Although it's been a while since I found a book that peeked my interest ,I mostly read fanfics recently . Video games hold a special place in my heart, I LOVE the different art styles and plots in each game. I like anime, but I've been too busy lately to watch. I have some sewing skills, mostly for patching things up, but I want to sew clothes and learn crochet in the future. Crafting is another hobby I enjoy, I am good with my hands. I love learning new stuff. biology ,psychology, and physics r my fav subjects(i like learning about anatomy whether it's animal's or human's +plants in the medical field +my fav scientist is Nicolas Tesla). I speak 3 languages: Arabic (native), French, and English. I plan to learn Spanish, Italian, or German next, depending on my mood. I'm a quick learner and adapt easily to different situations(that's something I admire and take pride in) While I can cook simple dishes like pasta and eggs, I'm not skilled at cooking savory foods.but in baking ,if you give me a recipe, i will make the most delicious desserts you've ever tasted(but quiet ironically i hate cooking ,i only do it if i am forced to), lemon tart is my fav due to my sweet tooth.

I forgot to mention my love for horror movies and games(they dont even scare me . Even though I am a good swimmer, I have thalassophobia (ironic), but i do like me some facts about marine biology, with jellyfishes, anglerfishes, and Caribbean reef octopuses being my favorites.

**Personality:**

My personality is quite flexible and depends on both the people I'm with and my mood. When I'm outside , I tend to feel anxious, although I do my best not to show it. I come across as calm, chill, and reserved, often giving off a "don't approach me" vibe, but I'm friendly and won't reject anyone who wants to chat, although I dislike small talk and feel a bit uneasy around boys. I've had trust issues due to past betrayals, so I'm cautious with my relationships now (whether it is friends or family ,no lover tho ,don't get me wrong i can be quiet the romantic but the only man that I would probably get attached to would be fictional for sure lol)

With my close friends, I'm more open, bright, and cheerful. I talk a lot about my interests, sharing random facts (they call me a nerd). I'm caring and sweet toward my friends, and my love languages include gift-giving, physical touch, and acts of service. I give them presents and hugs, always respecting their boundaries.

I would describe myself as creative, passionate, and smart, with a hint of perfectionism. I admit I am lazy and unmotivated more often than i like (i can't help it). I am an INTP-T, Enneagram 5w4, and a Libra. I'm also an older sister.

I am a burnt-out gifted kid , but I try to be the best version of myself whether academically ,mentally or physically(i admit i do feel down thinking that i am never gonna make it ,but i always try to push these thoughts aside but most of the time they get the best of me sadly).I often feel I'll never be good enough for my mother (she has high standards for me that I can never seem to meet). I was bullied cause of my looks and weight, which made me depressed and anorexic for a year. Thankfully, I've changed a lot over time, tho it affected me making me antisocial, having trust issues and insecurities. I like energy drinks. My music taste varies from pop, alt/indie, classical( my fav pieces are moonlight sonata 3rd movement, danse macabre , in the hall of the mountain king and la campanella ) ,jazz, to rock/metal, with a particular love for rock & roll. Comfortable baggy clothes are my go-to(makes me feel good in my own skin) , and I can be quite sarcastic with a sharp tongue at times. Once I get comfortable with someone, you'll find I'm pretty blunt and honest .I am polite and respectful .I can also be stubborn and a pessimist if I am not in a good mood . I like cats, and I am afraid of dogs and horses and can't stand people who underestimate me .I have inferiority AND superiority complex (but mostly inferiority)

Hello hello thank you for the request (first hijabi request I’ve gotten which makes me happy cause i wear hijab too ❤️) sorry this took 80 years my life is on fire.

Anyway without further ado DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

VIL SCHOENHEIT!!!

You and Vil are surprisingly similar which makes it easier for you two to click than with most other people. You both try your absolute hardest to be the best people you can be and see the beauty in the world around you although while he tries to bring out the beauty in things you see beauty in the way they already were.

You and Vil met during alchemy class after you dropped into Twisted Wonderland. At first Vil was his usual perfectionist self: ordering you around and being controlling about how to do your project, but once you showed him your alchemic proficiency he was genuinely impressed.

Ever since then not only did you capture his respect, but also his intrigue. Despite being as busy as he is, when he had the time he would try to learn more about who you were by either word of mouth or asking your friends (Rook offered to “observe you” but Vil voted against it for it is rude and creepy).

One day while he was on a run he saw you under a tree practicing your sewing. He decided this was a good opportunity to strike up a conversation with you given he knew a thing or two about clothes.

He walked over and gave you some advice about your stitching. Sadly it came off a lot more condescending then he would like and it rubbed you the wrong way which lead you to giving him the cold shoulder but tried to politely dismiss yourself.

You know those guys that are more intrigued by those who aren’t interested in them? Yeah that’s Vil even if he’ll never admit it. The more you ignore or avoid him the more he wants to make amends and try to impress you.

Until one day where you’re in a particularly bad mood you have an outburst about how him not giving you space makes you uncomfortable due to old wounds and ask what his deal was.

This made him realize his behavior towards you was unfair and disrespectful. He didn’t take your feelings or comfort into account at all. He is as ashamed with himself.

He stood before you and gave a genuine and sincere apology before walking away.

You don’t know how or why, but his apology moved you. He’s not like other guys you’ve met before. You could tell that he felt genuine remorse and met every word of what he said

A week later you two run into each other again and make awkward small talk. You can tell that he still feels bad about what he did, so you propose that you guys start over as true friends.

And he agrees.

After that you slowly but surely grow closer and closer. Bonding over shared passions and views, before long Vil is falling in love with you. You’re not his first crush, but you’re the first one he truly feels love and affection for. Not just a relationship for the press or screens.

And so he asks you out like a classic fairytale prince for a fancy private dinner. And although you accept you let him know that he doesn’t need to do something so extravagant, that you would be happy no matter what. That takes him by surprise, but it’s not an unwelcome one.

You and Vil are like an old married couple once you finally get together.

Always bantering about how you both need to take better care of yourselves. It’s wholesome and funny at the same time.

Because he can’t always spend a lot of time with you, his love language is gift giving and acts of service. What better way to spend his money than on you. He gets you things he sees you eyeing in the store or on your wishlist or things that make your day a bit easier.

Since he’s not the best at showing it he wants to make sure you know you’re loved even without words.

Your dates usually consist of simple things like cooking at home where you have full privacy.

He is the Queen and you are the King/Queen/Royal at his side.

[24hrsoda]

So I've been trying to read more stuff on the al ghuls in comics and I already know so much can be.....counterintuitive depending on writing, but at one point I think in son of the demon ras says he fought the axis powers then death and the maidens he left Nyssa in a concentration camp 😭😭😭 how do u even parse thru everything tbhhhhh

Death and the Maidens is a run i read once and never want to touch again. Might be one of the worst comic runs i have ever read. I don’t hate many things but I hate that run so much I wish I could forget it.

It’s exactly what I mean when I say there’s moments of Ra’s being so unnecessarily evil, and it’s usually just to make another character look better/stronger/tougher. (Fanon does this too, especially with the other bat boys who afaik don’t have deep relationships with Ra’s like Bruce and Damian do.)

What reason does Ra’s (who is supposed to be a Brown Man and an extreme environmentalist) have to work with Hitler and let his own family suffer at the hand of Nazis??? Most of that was to build up Nyssa’s character as the “feisty bad girl oldest sister with daddy issues”. I think that wasn’t a great choice.

For many obvious reasons. In a world where anything can happen because it’s fiction, why use the suffering and tragedy of real people to portray a character being bad/evil? Why do you have to pair him off with some of the worst real life people? Also, how relevant is Nyssa’s entire character anyways? She doesn’t show up or do anything significant anymore. I would argue she wasn’t significant then either.

(There was also the weird pseudo incestuous thing with Nyssa and Talia where she took off all of Talia’s clothes and had her crawling around and clinging to her while naked that just…feels like it was written by A Man™️)

And it’s very much a product of its time. The 2000’s were…kind of bad for a lot of comics. It’s not a wild thing to believe that the villain who’s supposed to be Arab man in a post 9/11 world is compared to the likes of hitler for no reason other than to show readers he’s supposed to be a bad guy that we all need to hate.

Recently, in comics, Ra’s has had a redemption and has admitted his wrongdoings. Followed by him turning himself over to the authorities and wanting to share the science of the Lazarus Pit and his knowledge of Physiology with the rest of the world. Damian later came to understand that Ra’s did this because he was 100% serious about turning his life around and an “I’m sorry I was bad” wasn’t enough to prove to everyone that he wanted to be better.

Everyone can decide for themselves if they like this take on Ra’s or if they prefer him evil. At the end of the day it’s not my job to make sure everyone enjoys the character the way I do and learns what to ignore or look past. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That being said…nobody has to like my art or my headcanons or my takes on characters. Especially the Al Ghul’s. The things I make are not canon and I really don’t want them to be canon. I just like to create things and I like drawing cute stuff ! So…can y’all please be mindful of some of the tags and comments you leave on some of my sketches 🥲

I guess I kind of waffled on….the short answer would be some comics are very much written poorly or with some kind of bias and it’s up to you to decide if you want to acknowledge it. (Canon doesn’t seem to be acknowledging these things anymore so there’s no harm in us being like “yeah that sucked” and moving on to something else)

And to remember that at the end of the day, Ra’s is not real and he has never hurt real people.

[kali-tmblr]

https:// www.tumblr.com /kali-tmblr/729099732437401600/its-heiress-actually-its-heiress-actually-how

Even more than that, it's about how there's a big difference between fighting for the sake of bettering those who have been hurt vs fighting because you want to harm those you hate or whom have inflicted suffering on you.

Adam's rhetoric (and indeed, the rhetoric of people like him) might have once been genuinely about revolution, but it's been hollowed out into bloodlust and a desire to inflict harm on those he despises or opposes him.

That's a dangerous mentality to have for any person, regardless of their ideological standing, because when you're only focused on "harming your enemies", ANYONE can become an "enemy".

That's a dangerous mentality to have for any person, regardless of their ideological standing, because when you're only focused on "harming your enemies", ANYONE can become an "enemy".

Indeed. The best example I ever heard came from a former white supremacist. After he had begun to question his beliefs, he was sitting on a couch with a white supremacist buddy watching TV and asked, "What if we DID get rid of all the Black and Brown people?"

"What? Huh. I guess we'd have to go after people based on eye color next."

I've seen the same attitude derail Arab-Israeli peace talks and cause Republicans to denounce ideas they developed themselves simply because Democrats liked them. Once "owning the ___" becomes the essence of an ideology, genuine progress becomes impossible.

[fang-and-feather]

Ikemen Vampire OC Profile: Amy

Making introduction posts for our my OCs. I chose to start with Amy, since she's my most written. (there may be some future addition to this as I learn more of who my character is in this fandom)

Basic Description: Golden-brown, slight wavy hair, slight bellow her shoulders, often fashioned into a braid to get it out of the way). Blue eyes. Sun-tanned skin from spending too much time outdoors. Athletic build.

Name: Karin Amelia "Amy" Auren

Age: 22

Date of Birth: 20/06/1996

Ethnicity: Mixed Japanese/American

Hobbies/Interests: Reading, music, cooking, running and has a past story in school's fencing competitions, in her original time video-games, roller skating

Dislikes: Being lied to, being underestimated, having to stay still, being in a leadership position (with some exceptions when she needs to), seeing people fight (especially people close to her), loud noises, carrots and beetroot

Phobias/Fears: Abandonment and loss, feeling trapped, big fires

Weakness: Despite being a master in the kitchen, she is bad with other detail oriented tasks, light touches, short movements, small components

Habits/Quirks: Sometimes walks and read at the same time (loves to read but is very anxious to sit for long), can sing herself into a trance-like state while working or to control herself in situations that may cause panic; in her time she usually went around town in roller skaters (she has a especial hate of closed vehicles so its either the skaters, a bike or motorcycle), try not to but she tends to fidget with things or ramble when nervous

Skills/Talents: Won some school competitions in fencing and gymnastics as a child, running; music (singing and playing the violin); cooking, general survival knowledge, know various languages (is more fluent in English, Spanish and Japanese as family’s languages, Arabic she learned from her godfather andFrench from school but know a little of various others); she is agile, flexible and fast, sharp minded, also very observant

Family relationships with other OCs: Hikari (older sister), Kisara (older twin), Hana (youngest sister), also treats her friends as siblings

Curiosities: She is nearsighted, but few people know because she wears contacts, since glasses make activity difficult (and she doesn't like how she looks with them. In her time sometimes she read fanfiction

Personality:

Amy is very friendly and seems very extroverted (although she is more of an ambivert), loves surrounding herself with friends hate to be left alone most of the time, especially for meals, but sometimes she needs that lone time.

She is very protective of her loved ones and children.

She comes off as strong and fearless, always calm and cool, capable of nearly anything, but that's the person she wants people to see.

Although she can fight she is more of a pacifist and would rather solve a conflict in another way, and she can be quite persuasive, coming off even as a bit manipulative.

Very curious, she loves learning new things but do so in pieces because her attention span is quite short.

She is loyal to a fault and grown too dependent on people. Also helpful and hardworking to a fault, she often try to do too much and push herself too hard.

She is honest and doesn't lie outright, that doesn't mean sometimes her words aren't carefully chosen, even to a misleading point.

Although she looks very casual, she puts great care in her appearence.

Many people find her difficult to understand, because she usually only shows a piece of herself needed at a time, like an actress interpreting a character, but these masks are always a part of her

[rei-does-stuff]

no but LITERALLY the other day I saw that stupid terfy post comparing women wearing makeup to hijabi women and I was like “what in the fresh fucking hell” it’s so weird how obsessed they are with policing how different women choose to dress, for whatever reasons they do it. I don’t understand how they can call themselves “feminists” while also implying that women covering their hair for religious reasons is “oppressing themselves for the male gaze” like can we take away the phrase “male gaze” from these dinkuses for like, idk, forever???? do they even know that religious head coverings in Islam are for Allah (PBUH)? I know I’m not an expert on Islam but seriously they can’t even be bothered to know the bare minimum of any culture or religion other than their own before mocking it.

and I hate how their go to is “oh those third world countries are oppressing women with their backwards Brown culture” and you can tell that’s basically what they’re saying because we all know they would never criticize the Christian fascism that’s taking over western countries, but the second people are oppressed by a religion that’s associated with brown people they alstart squawking like chickens with their ducking heads cut off.

it’s like… the act of choosing to wear a hijab IS NOT FUCKING OPPRESSION!!! AND YOU CAN TALK ABOYT THE ISSUES FACED BY MUSLIM WOMEN WITHOUT BEING FUCKING RACIST!!!!! idk, as someone whose number one focus in study in school is intersectional social theory, it just bothers me to no end how these fascist women will see a white American male senator literally ban human rights and overtly state his religion as a cause, and say nothing about it, but when a Muslim does the same thing it’s all “SAVE THE POOR BROWN WOMEN” and ik you know more about this than I do from your own perspective im just rambling about this because you’re like the only person I can ramble about this kind of stuff to since you agree and understand it. sorry if it sounds like I’m being preachy your post just reminded me of some of the shit I’ve seen and I’m just like “cool cool cool these women are totally not overt right-wing white supremacists, nope, not at all nope no way” /s

anyways ur Muslim lesboy swag is off the charts you should be given free reign to slaughter any terfs in ur vicinity /lh

OOOH BOY LILY I WAS FUMING WHEN I READ THIS BC I HATE RACIST TERFS SO MUCHH MANN (nothing against you tho dw :)!)

[I saw that stupid terfy post comparing women wearing makeup to hijabi women] dude I see that all the time and I fucking hate it bc they are NOT the same thing at all. It all comes back to them thinking that hijabs are something the patriarch created when like. No. Sure it’s been used that way occasionally but it’s not as common as they make it out to be they intentionally misrepresent it to make Muslims and hijabs look bad and it’s so infuriating.

[implying that women covering their hair for religious reasons is “oppressing themselves for the male gaze”]

GOD THIS ONE I REALLY DISLIKE bc its so clear they have no idea WHY people wear hijabs. And especially since most people who say this are white and Christian (or atheists which might be worse imo) they’re coming at this from that point of view so they have NO idea what they’re talking about when it comes to that.

[they can’t even be bothered to know the bare minimum of any culture or religion other than their own before mocking it.]

It’s because they see as Muslim as either scary terrorist or poor innocent women who need be to saved for their evil religion and country by white people, really fucking gross

[and I hate how their go to is “oh those third world countries are oppressing women with their backwards Brown culture”]

God yea, they really need to calm their white savior complex for ONCE that would be greatt

Also they claim arab countries are backwards when they don’t know shit abt them, it’s awful

Especially what you said about them never criticizing Christianity for similar views, its only bad when the “evil” brown people do it apparently. Racists fuckers.

[it’s like… the act of choosing to wear a hijab IS NOT FUCKING OPPRESSION!!! AND YOU CAN TALK ABOYT THE ISSUES FACED BY MUSLIM WOMEN WITHOUT BEING FUCKING RACIST!!!!!]

Honestly if you’re not muslim or aren’t from said countries where the issue is prevalent I’m not gonna listen to a word you fucking say bc half of the time it’ll be misinformed and or REALLY racist, yk???

Anyways no worry you weren’t being preachy! This gave me a good excuse to rant too!!

Thank you btw, my lesboy swag is indeed off the charts :)

[kavehater]

I LOATHE when people be like we’re giving rep cause big bad company hoyoverse hates brown people but end up making alhaitham darker in complexion like BRUH there are a billion other characters who logically speaking ought to be darker, alhaitham is not one of them tf 😭 I literally want to make hoyo somehow make him whiter to spite all of these fools who don’t even know how Arabs look which is a key trend I’ve been noticing. Nothing grinds my gears more than ignorance that is just so widespread and DEFENDED like its fact … you all are insanely stupid istg 😭

If you want someone to be darker there are actually so many other characters who’s cultures they are based off of are predominantly darker one major example is nahida, another one nobody talks abt is kaveh like hellooo ??? 😭 I promise you no Persian is blond or that pale … sure they can be quite pale but not to this extent 😭 anyways I still love kaveh my cutie forreal 🤧 but yeah this pisses me off bc ppl trying to act in our favour for the sake of rep are actively erasing it and focusing on the wrong characters.

If you took two seconds to research what the fuck Arab ppl look like you’d know but again you all are fake activists who just wanna be mad for no reason 😭 anyways … if you DO want rep for alhaitham my biggest critique is his clothes. That’s it. The grey hair is silly but idk there’s charas with pink hair I think we’re fine 😭 but this issue cannot be resolved if every single artwork of alhaithams having his non canon clothes is a what I think is called a sherwani? I’m not too sure but it makes me so sad like yeah it looks super cool but he’s not from there … and the fact that those artworks majorly outnumber the Arab wear outfits ppl draw him in srsly makes me so sad.

Like in 2 years of his existence I have only seen like 3 designs where he’s actually wearing Arab clothing and every other design is not. Pissing me off fr i really think none of you guys know what Arabs look like OR wear and cannot be bothered to research even one second. It’s disrespectful bc you’re mashing two unique cultures and making it out to be a single culture. That’s so disrespectful to Arab and desi cultures and that is literally how orientalism starts out are you guys daft 💁‍♀️ like nahida would look so pretty in classic desi wear yet you focus on alhaitham 😭 what the heck.

I only have a gripe with this topic because I hate when people act like they know something and they don’t, and more so I hate it when people act like they know the truth and spread said falsehoods to everyone when they know nothing 🧍‍♀️I hate idiots and it’s genuinely like people are allergic to educating themselves.

[grotto-esque]

By Hisham Awartani

Mr. Awartani is a Palestinian American student at Brown University.

That frigid autumn night in Burlington, Vt., was not the first time I had stared down the barrel of a gun. It was not even the first time I had been fired at. Half a world away, in the West Bank, it had happened before.

On a hot day in May 2021, a classmate and I, both of us 17 at the time, were protesting near a checkpoint in Ramallah. Bullets, both rubber and metal, were flying into the crowd, even though we were unarmed. I was hit with one of the former; my classmate, the latter. Before, we had been students cramming for our chemistry final; then, on the other side of Israeli rifles, we were a mass of terrorists, disqualified from humanity.

So that night in November, when my two friends and I were shot while we were walking on North Prospect Street, I was not particularly surprised to find myself lying on the lawn of a white house and blood splattered across the screen of my phone. Back home in Ramallah, I knew that I was one wrong move away from bleeding out; Israeli soldiers have been known to prevent or hinder paramedics from tending to injured Palestinians. But I had never expected to feel this on a quiet street in Vermont, on a stroll before Thanksgiving dinner.

The shooting of three Palestinian Americans in Burlington has received more sustained coverage than any single act of violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank since Oct. 7. Why did reporters and news channels interview our mothers and take our portraits when young men my age have been shot at by snipers, detained indefinitely without trial and treated as a statistic?

It’s a question that has eaten away at me these past months. Was it the shock of such a violent crime in peaceful Vermont? Was it that my friends and I went to well-known American colleges? Did the timing of our shooting during a holiday weekend play a role? I’m sure it did, but to me, the determining factor is the reframing of the crime: Instead of settlements, the Oslo Accords or the intifada, the conversation around our shooting involved terms such as “gun violence,” “hate crimes” and “right-wing extremism.” Instead of being maimed in Arab streets, we were shot in small-town America. Instead of being seen as Palestinians, for once, we were seen as people.

Death and dehumanization are status quo for Palestinians. We grow used to being funneled through checkpoints and strip-searched, assault rifles trained on us all the while. The result is a constant existential calculus: If an unarmed autistic man, an 8-year-old boy and a journalist wearing a vest emblazoned “Press” could be perceived to be such a threat that they were shot dead, then I must accept that by existing as a Palestinian, I am a legitimate target.

This dynamic was so ubiquitous to me that I could not quite put it into words until I left the West Bank to attend college in the United States. My classes gave me the vocabulary to understand dehumanization, the portrayal of the colonized as a violent primitive. I realized that the infrastructure of the occupation — the checkpoints, the detentions, the armed settlers encroaching — is built around the violence I am assumed to be capable of, not who I am.

This system of othering — Israeli-only roads, fenced-off settlements, the “security” wall — is an inherent part of the Israeli state psyche. Yet far from ensuring Israelis’ safety, it instead inflicts mass humiliation on Palestinians. Close to half of the Palestinians alive today were born after the violence of the second intifada, and have interacted with Israelis only in the confines of the security apparatus built in its wake. The military apparatus in my home in the West Bank is a judge, jury and executioner. While settlers in the West Bank are subject to Israeli civilian law, Palestinians are subject to military law. It is as if we are all already combatants.

The dehumanization we face is twofold: Beyond the day-to-day aspects of our lives, it permeates the media coverage of what we experience. In the news, our militancy is presumed, our killers unnamed, and our deaths repackaged into statistics. Somehow, we die without being killed. The very veracity of our deaths is called into question. The extent of the civilian death toll in Gaza should not come as a surprise when Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, can speak unchecked of “human animals.”

My story is one drop in the ocean of suffering faced by Palestinians, and compared to the immense and indescribable suffering of the people of Gaza, frankly trivial. As I wheeled myself down the smooth corridors of the hospital where I received care after the shooting, I thought of those in wheelchairs in Gaza, struggling to navigate the rubble-strewn streets as they fled their homes. I thought of the reports about a woman being shot dead as she held her grandson’s hand while he clutched a white flag. I thought of a 17-year-old shot in the back by settlers in the West Bank. The pain of knowing their fates is fathomless, and it has yet to cease.

I think back to the circumstances in which I was shot with my two friends, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad, and imagine them instead in the context of the West Bank. A Hisham, Kinnan and Tahseen shot there could have been left to die. Our names would circulate for a day or two in pro-Palestinian circles, but in the end, we would be commemorated only on a poster in the streets of Ramallah, our faces eventually worn down with time like the countless others I’ve walked past in the streets of my home. If that scenario does not stir the same feelings in you as my shooting, if your first instinct when a Palestinian is shot, maimed or left handicapped is to find excuses, then I do not want your support.

When I was still in the hospital, my family and I were visited by a friend who had just recently made it out of Gaza. He recounted how he saw the beginning of the Israeli bombing from his balcony, and soon after showered and left his house with a prepacked bag. He told me of tents, of hunger, of explosions, but there is one thing that really stood out for me as he recounted his ordeal.

He explained how the only way for him to survive in Gaza was to accept that he had already died. Only after he had come to terms with the realization that his life as he knew it was over could he enjoy a puff of a cigarette and a sip of coffee in the morning. This acceptance is the goal of the Israeli dehumanization complex. To be Palestinian today is to accept this fate.

I have been back on campus since February, and the adjustment has been tough. The man who is accused of shooting me has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder. But my mind is elsewhere. Every morning when I wake up, I check for one number. It has exceeded 35,000. It’s difficult for me to come to terms with the reality of so much loss.

In class, between Mesopotamian myths and commutative algebra, a few thoughts play on a loop in my mind: How can we come back from so much grief? How could we let this happen? What are we supposed to make of the world when Palestinian deaths are excused by talking points, repeated again and again on the news? I yearn to return to my home, to my olive trees, my cats and my family.

I realize, though, that when I cross the King Hussein Bridge from Jordan into the West Bank, I will return to my designation as a potential terrorist. I cease to be a junior at Brown University, a student of archaeology and mathematics, a San Francisco Giants fan, a Balkan history nerd. My entire identity will be reduced to my capacity for violence, not as a human being, but as a Palestinian.