#criticizes antisemitism then inspires islamophobia

[depressedmonster99]

Inspires Islamophobia then criticizes Anti-Semitism. This guy has range. A versatile scumbag.

His mother was a Palestinian Jew. So not only a hypocrite but also a traitor.

Remember to boycott the whole western film industry. Except which are talking about Palestine and Palestinian from the very beginning. Which is very low so it won't be problem for us to create a dent in their profit if we boycott them collectively.

[walks-the-ages]

If you are in Michigan state's 12th District, please reach out to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to show your support!

https://tlaib.house.gov/posts/video-tlaib-speaks-on-censure-resolution

Like and share the original speech on twitter here .

[ID: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a brown-skinned Palestinian American woman, gives her speech to congress. She is wearing a dark purple suit with a traditional white kufiyah around her neck. Various members of congress are in the background, many of them tearing up as her speech goes on. Partway through the speech, a congresswoman in a green suit and green headscarf comes up to hug Rashida in support as she cries during her speech, holding a framed pictured of her grandmother. end ID]

Transcript: 

I’m the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, Mr. Chair, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words. Folks forget I’m from the city of Detroit, the most beautiful, Blackest city in the country, where I learned to speak truth to power, even if my voice shakes. Trying to bully or censure me won’t work because this movement for a ceasefire is much bigger than one person. It’s growing every single day. There are millions of people across our country who oppose Netanyahu’s extremism and are done watching our government support collective punishment and the use of white phosphorous bombs that melt flesh to the bone. They are done watching our government, Mr. Chair, supporting cutting off food, water, electricity, and medical care to millions of people with nowhere to go. Like me, Mr. Chair, they don’t believe the answer to war crimes is more war crimes. The refusal of Congress and the Administration to acknowledge Palestinian lives is chipping away at my soul. Over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed—majority, majority were children.  But let me be clear: My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s actions. It is important to separate people and governments, Mr. Chair. No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation. Do you realize what it’s like, Mr. Chair, for the people outside the chamber right now, listening in agony to their own government dehumanizing them? To hear the President of the United States, we helped elect, dispute death tolls, as we see video after video of dead children and parents under rubble? Mr. Chair, do you know what it’s like to fear rising hate crimes? To know how Islamophobia and antisemitism makes us all less safe? And worry that your own child might suffer the horrors that six-year-old Wadea did in Illinois.  I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else. My Sity, my grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity we all deserve. Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter of faith, no matter ethnicity, should not be controversial in this chamber. The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all. We cannot lose our shared humanity, Mr. Chair. I hear the voices of advocates in Israel, in Palestine, across America, and around the world for peace. I am inspired by the courageous survivors in Israel who have lost loved ones, yet are calling for a ceasefire and the end to violence. I am grateful to the people in the streets, for the peace movement, with countless Jewish Americans across the country, standing up and lovingly saying “Not in Our Name.”  We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to come home. We will continue to work for real lasting peace that upholds human rights and dignity of all people and centers peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. And censures no one. And ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence. 71% of Michigan Democrats support a ceasefire. So you can try to censure me, but you can’t silence their voices. I urge my colleagues to join with the majority of Americans and support a ceasefire now to save as many lives as possible. President Biden must listen to and represent all of us, not just some of us. I urge the President to have the courage to call for a ceasefire and the end of killings. Thank you. And I yield [the floor].

If you are outside her district, now's the time to start hounding your own representatives for supporting the punishment on Rashida for the 'crime' of speaking out against the genocide of her people

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Shuham at HuffPost:

The national group representing college Democrats released a statement Tuesday standing with pro-Palestinian campus protesters and criticizing President Joe Biden for his “bear hug” of what the group called “the genocidal acts of the far-right radical extremist Israeli government.”

The statement, released by the College Democrats of America, illustrated a break with the Democratic Party — of which it is an official arm. It was approved by an 8-2 vote of the group’s executive board, which is made up of national leadership that has been elected by representatives of campus and state college Democrats chapters across the country. “Since the beginning of this conflict, College Democrats and students from every walk of life have had the moral clarity to see this war for what it is: destructive, genocidal, and unjust,” the CDA statement read. It commended the “bravery” of students facing arrest and disciplinary action for their protests, and condemned college administrators for those responses. Across the country, student protesters have called for an Israeli cease-fire in Gaza, and institutional transparency and divestment with regard to investments in Israeli firms, or those linked to American military aid to Israel.

The statement also called for the “release of all hostages” and condemned the rise in domestic antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent invasion and air barrage of Gaza, saying Jewish and Muslim students had no control over the conflict. Still, it said, “it should be abundantly clear that calling for the freedom of Palestinians is not Antisemetic [sic], and neither is opposing the genocidal acts of the far-right radical extremist Israeli government.” The statement’s harshest criticism was directed at the president and his reelection campaign. The White House, according to the CDA, has pursued a “cold shoulder strategy for its own base and all Americans who want to see an end to this war.” “Each day that Democrats fail to stand united for a permanent ceasefire, two-state solution, and recognition of a Palestinian state, more and more youth find themselves disillusioned with the party,” the statement read. It earned praise from progressives across the country including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and the former Ohio state legislator and prominent Bernie Sanders supporter Nina Turner.

[...] The national College Democrats group began working on the statement after Columbia University’s president, Minouche Shafik, called in police to clear a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus two weeks ago; overnight Tuesday, Shafik called in police again, this time to clear a building where protesters had set up camp after Shafik began suspending students for their protest. Both instances resulted in several dozen arrests. Pyarali cited other campus protests as inspiration as well, including at Indiana University, where police snipers were stationed above protesters. “It’s insane, it’s not a war zone, it’s a college campus,” he said.

The statement doesn’t necessarily represent the thousands of Democratic college students whose campus chapters fall under the larger College Democrats umbrella. Rather, the only binding vote on its release was held by the CDA executive board. Two members of that body opposed it. One of them, Joshua Martin, the former student body president at the University of Houston, commented on social media: “The only way to bring peace is to destroy Hamas, who through years of terror have subjugated Palestinians to decades of violence.” Allyson Bell, a Meredith College graduate student and chair of the College Democrats Jewish Caucus — and who collaborated with Pyarali in a December call for cease-fire — told HuffPost in an email that earlier statements focused on condemning instances of campus antisemitism had been “voted down by the executive board and replaced with what was released.” She called the final statement “one sided.”

The College Democrats of America's response to the nationwide protests against Israel's genocide campaign on Gaza that criticized President Joe Biden for being too close to Israel Apartheid State government is spot-on.

[inspirationalstarlet]

Welcome ! The ask blog is open !

This blog is probably going to be more chaotic and less polished than the others haha

Welcome to Muse's corner of the multiverse ! The goddess of inspiration is dying to chat with people and perhaps help them get inspired !

Encouragements, references, art advice, ideas, you can find plenty here, just ask !

🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🏵️🌸🏵️

This blog is kinda an excuse for me to give art advices, ngl, or help with references. Feel free to ask about art, or Muse (because this silly does have lore), or even show me your art (for encouragements or constructive criticisms)

🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🏵️🌸🏵️

Read the rules !

• I will keep this blog as swf as I possibly can, but note that there might be subjects like nude drawings and anatomy (that I will censor although it's technically non sexual) and I may talk about sensitive topics if it's for advices. Viewer'd discretion is advised !

• Anything akin to hate speech of any kind will be deleted and blocked. Racisms, antisemitism, islamophobia, homophobia of any kind, etc, none of that is okay and I won't hesitated to block

• Muse can interact with any multiverse, but I will prioritise Welcome Home !

• Muse is new to this world, so she doesn't know many people yet ! Don't ask her if she knows x and y, directly introduce her to them !

• I will give criticism ONLY if specifically asked. Be warned that I will speak my mind in those cases, as much as I try to also give compliments, it might not always be what you want to hear.

• Note also that I speak as an art student myself, hence I don't know everything ! Feel free to give your own tutorials and advices or references to share !

🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🏵️🌸🏵️

Last note, thanks for staying around for all my nonsense

I hope you'll have fun or at least will discover a bunch of things as me and Muse ramble about art and inspiring things

🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🏵️🌸🏵️

"I can't wait to talk to you, new friend !"

🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🌺🏵️🌸🏵️🌸🏵️

[spacelazarwolf]

This is probably not the place to talk about it but well your blog is where I see all the ex-christian atheist complain about the word "culturally christian" so here I am. As an ex-muslim atheist I feel so fucking resentful towards these people. First by the fact that they can just think religion is all about believing in a God and once you stop doing that, you have no ties to that religion anymore because of white Christian hegemony. Like when I celebrate Ramadan, I don't do it for religious reasons but I know it comes from growing up a Muslim but they can celebrate Christmas and call it secular??? And while all forms of bigotry saddens me islamophobia does more so and I know it's because despite everything, I still feel some of of connection to Islam but they don't see people being anti-christian in a systematic way so they don't have to have those feelings. On a similar note, there's also how they can just Christianity and criticize it as much as they but we have to be so careful that we're not inspiring anyone to shoot up a mosque while the left jumps on our dicks for being islamophobic if we try to criticize Islam in any way or form.

that last part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have had so many conversations w jewish friends about how we wish we could have more conversations about intracommunity issues but we literally cannot safely do that on any public platforms bc goyim will use it as an excuse to be absolutely fucking vile to us and use it as an excuse for antisemitism. i can imagine it’s the same for other religious minorities, or people who used to be part of those religious minorities, and it’s fucking exhausting. we shouldn’t have to be perfect to deserve respect and space to talk abt our experiences.

[fursasaida]

We Jews are a diverse people, and we draw strength from that diversity. Many of us have no connection to Israel and don’t desire one. By the same token, many Israelis are opposed to oppression and war. I am thinking of comrades like Hayim Katsman, a leftist scholar who envisioned different politics for the future and was killed on October 7. I am thinking of lifelong peace activists like Vivian Silver, whom we learned recently was also killed that day. May their memories be a blessing, and may the memories of all victims of injustice inspire us to greater works and higher aspirations than our elected officials and pundits—and may they move us to reject the false choices and petty prejudices they peddle.

My Jewish ancestors were treated like second-class citizens in their homelands, just as non-Jews are now throughout Israel and the occupied territories. My Jewish ancestors were killed in or made refugees by pogroms like the ones carried out by Hamas on October 7, and like the many carried out by Israeli settlers over the past year in the West Bank, which continue into the present at an accelerated pace with the active support of the Israeli military. My Jewish ancestors were targeted by ethnic cleansing projects that look increasingly similar to what is underway right now in Gaza. My Jewish ancestors, alongside those of many other communities, suffered at the hands of ethnonationalist, ostensibly genocidal projects like the one that has been perpetrated against the Palestinian people for the last hundred years.

As a Jewish American, I know that I honor their memory, my heritage, and our religion by speaking out for all those facing the same calamities. As a Jewish American, I know that my Jewishness is whole without nationalism, without a state—without hatred, racism, and violence. I know that preserving my safety does not require compromising anyone else’s, that my life is not secured by the deaths of others. I know that we all have the right to equal rights and peace alongside one another, as the Palestinian and Israeli people deserve equally. I know that nations do not keep us safe, and I know that we cannot achieve peace without justice.

I know that no Jews anywhere are safe from the scourge of antisemitism, just as our Muslim siblings are not safe from the scourge of Islamophobia. I know that no Jews anywhere are kept safe from the scourge of antisemitism by a nuclear superpower governed by extremists that carries out atrocities in our name daily. And I know that speech against war, on behalf of Palestinian lives, or critical of the actions or project of the Israeli government, is not antisemitic.

This is very personal to say in my workplace. I am compelled to speak here and now as a member of this faculty because there are many loud voices on and off campus claiming that Jews here are protected by the suppression of speech, expressions of Palestinian identity, criticism of Israel, and silencing of our anti-Zionist students, who have demonstrated tremendous courage and fortitude.

I must say to you all that I, a Jewish member of this faculty, am not asking the University to suppress anyone’s speech. I, a Jewish member of this faculty, am not threatened by appeals to Palestinian humanity and calls for peace. I, a Jewish member of this faculty, am not threatened by seeing keffiyehs and flags, or by the beautiful seas of students from all backgrounds calling for peace and justice that have swept through campus as of late. I, a Jewish member of this community, reject racism and prejudice in all forms—and I consequently reject the idea that calls for Palestinian liberation are by definition calls for the elimination of Israelis.

[...]

As I fear that University leadership recognizes only one account of modern Jewishness, I am—as a Jewish American whose home is here, in New York City, and not in Israel—left with no choice but to speak out. I do so on behalf of myself and my like-minded colleagues, for our students, with some of whom I share these experiences and outlooks. Anyone telling our leaders that they need to suppress our students’ free speech in order to keep Jews like me safe does not speak for me, and never will.

[marbledaesthetics]

navigation

pasc | 20 | she/they | bi | CST/CDT

hi! i'm pasc (short for pascale) and i write things sometimes. requests are open and responses are slow. i'm in nursing school during the standard fall/spring semesters, and i work full time on school breaks so i don't always have as much time or motivation to write as i'd like to

my asks and messages are always open, so come talk to me! i love talking to you guys sm! i leave my asks open even when requests are closed, so you can always reach out. please preface with content warnings if you are discussing sensitive topics (sa, si/sh, substance use, etc) i'm willing to talk about them but i need to prepare myself/be in a good headspace

All that being said, please just be nice. I’m willing to take criticism, but random hate is going to get blocked fast. On the blocking topic: racism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, antisemitism, and other general bigotry is not welcome here. this blog supports a free palestine. if you’re being an dick, i��ll block you. if you look like a bot, i'll block you.

this is not a strictly 18+ account, but if you are a minor: please do not interact with any works labeled as smut or 18+. i try to tag all of these as "mdni" (minors: do not interact). i understand that you feel mature enough to consume sexual content. i also read smut before i was 18. that being said: interacting with sexual content in adult spaces will expose you to predators. it is a US crime to allow you to interact. if you don't have an age in your bio or pinned/are underage, you will be blocked.

if you are strictly a NSFW blog/have no interest in SFW content, please interact with/follow my nsfw sideblog: darkeraesthetics. strictly NSFW blogs following this account will be directed to my sideblog and blocked if they continue to follow here.

my works

i'm always cycling through fandoms so if you want to see something but you don't know if i watch it, feel free to ask! i no longer write for 5SOS or EST19XX (honestly i probably won't do most RPF anymore, it's just not my thing). current fandoms: mainly top gun/tgm, outer range (rhett), and some criminal minds. i've been rereading the pjo books and hunger games so i might chatter about them as well!

request guidelines:

note: the length of a fic pretty much always depends on how inspired i am. you can ask for thoughts/headcanons vs narrative/fic, but whether something ends up a blurb or a one-shot is up to me and the motivation goblin in my brain please preface with content warnings if you are requesting a sensitive topic (sa, substance use, sh/si, etc) hard limits (i will NOT write these, they may be mentioned in kink negotiations as hard no's for a character): scat, weaponry/threat play, incest, anything involving minors, sexual age play (i'll add as need) i will write about nonsexual age-regression (i personally age regress and combining this with explicit content makes me v uncomfy) any prompt lists i reblog are fair game! similarly, you can make a request with a custom prompt remember that responses will be sloooowwww

i currently only post with the username “marbledaesthetics” so please tell me if you see someone else reposting my work! (if you are looking to do any kind of translation or spin off piece, please message me first!) i edit all my longer pieces extensively before posting, but if there is a typo or a broken link somewhere, feel free to let me know so i can edit it. I want this to be a safe place for everyone, so if you ever need me to tag something or add a warning that I missed, please tell me!

[shelleysworldbuildingproject]

Shelley's Worldbuilding Project Masterpost

This blog is basically just a place to keep all my world building ideas, art, and lore stuff for my homebrew world, Nairos. I might also put some character and plot info on here since I'm planning on writing a novel taking place in this world. I hope y'all will enjoy reading :)

General Rules and Warnings:

Be respectful. Assholes will be blocked.

Asks are welcome, just don't be weird about it.

Constructive criticism is welcome, too! I made this blog in part to get feedback on my writing. Again, just be respectful.

If you have any feedback or ideas to share, please let me know! I write best when I have a back and forth with others!

My writing will cover some sentisitive topics such as imperialism, colonialism, oppression and discrimination, war, etc. So if any of these topics are triggering for you, please proceed with caution. I will add individual triggers for each post.

This blog does not tolerate racism, bigotry or discrimination, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism or Islamophobia. I will block you if I catch you engaging in this.

This blog is pro palestine, ant zionist, anti cop, pro prison abolition, pro union, and anti capitalist. I support the freedom and right to self-determination for all people, and those themes will be included in my writing.

Feel free to take inspiration from this blog! Copyright is a tool invented by capital owners to monopolize creative expression, so take whatever you want. I just ask that you credit me if it's something hyperspecific/taken wholesale/used for commercial purposes.

If at any time I decide a post isn't working for me anymore, I'll tag it as such. Unless a post is truly horrendous, then I probably won't take it down.

Inspirations:

I take a lot of inspiration from other media for my writing! I'll note down the biggest ones, but this is by far not a comprehensive list.

Dungeons and Dragons

Pathfinder

Critical Role

Dimension 20's Unsleeping City

Worlds Beyond Number's the Wizard, the Witch and the Wild One

Dragon Age

Genshin Impact

Arcane

Brimstone Angels by Erin M. Evans

The Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

And many more!

Links:

Cosmology:

The Myth of Creation and the Three Realms

The Dreaming Realm

This masterpost will be updated as I post stuff.

[michelle-blue]

December 6, 2023

Sam Harris discusses the social and political consequences of a weaponized term.

* * *

What is Islamophobia? Someone once said on the Internet, it’s a word “invented by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons,” and that’s not far from the truth. There is no question that the term has been designed to confuse people. Its purpose is to conflate any criticism of Islam, which is a doctrine of religious beliefs, with bigotry against Muslims as people. In fact, it equates secularism itself—the commitment to keeping religion out of our laws and public policy—with hatred. The term is now being widely used in the mainstream media, and it is making it impossible to speak honestly about the consequences of dangerous ideas.

Let’s be clear about what is real here and what is fake: Racism is real. There are white supremacists in America, for instance. And, of course, these imbeciles can be counted upon to hate immigrants from Muslim-majority countries—Arabs, Pakistanis, Somalis, etc.—and to hate them for their superficial characteristics, like the color of their skin. This is detestable. But these people hate non-Muslim immigrants too—for instance, Hindus from India—and for the same reasons. We already have words like “racism” and “xenophobia” to cover this problem.  Inventing a new term like “Islamophobia” doesn’t give us license to say that there is a new form of hatred in the world.

There is no race of Muslims. Islam is a system of ideas, subscribed to by people of every race and ethnicity. It’s just like Christianity in that regard. Christianity and Islam are both aggressively missionary faiths, and they win converts from everywhere. People criticize Christianity all the time and worry about its political and social influences—but no one confuses this for bigotry against Christians as people. There’s no such thing as “Christophobia.” If you criticize Christianity—and I’ve written an entire book excoriating Christianity—no one accuses you of being a racist against people from Brazil, or Mexico, or Ethiopia, or the Philippines. But even the New York Times will use the term “Islamophobia” as a synonym for racism against Arabs. This is pure delusion and propaganda. There are Christian Arabs. And I could become a Muslim in 5 minutes just by converting to the faith.

How does the term “antisemitism” differ as a concept? Well, we have a 2000-year-old tradition of religiously inspired hatred against Jews, courtesy of Christian theology. But for at least the last 150 years, or so, Jews have been thought of as a distinct race of people, both by those who hate them and, rather often, by Jews themselves. So antisemitism tends to be expressed as a specific form of racism. Antisemites are not focused on what Jews believe, or even on what they do on the basis of their beliefs. Modern antisemites, like Nazis, care about who your mother’s mother’s mother was. Just like racism, antisemitism has become a hatred of people, as people, not because of their beliefs or their behavior, but because of the mere circumstances of their birth.

Why is this different? Well, unlike a person’s race or skin color or country of origin, beliefs can be argued for, and criticized, and changed. And the truth is, we don’t respect people’s beliefs just because they hold them. Beliefs must earn respect. And there is a good reason for this: beliefs are claims about reality and about how human beings should live within it—so they necessarily lead to behaviors, and to values, and laws, and institutions that affect the lives of everyone, whether they share these beliefs or not. Beliefs end marriages and start wars.

Honestly criticizing the doctrine of Islam does not entail bigotry against Arabs or any other group of people. It is not an expression of hatred to notice that specific Islamic ideas—in particular, beliefs about martyrdom, and jihad, and blasphemy, and apostasy—inspire terrible acts of violence. And it’s not an expression of phobia—that is, irrational fear—to notice that violent religious fanatics don’t make good neighbors.

And while every religion has its fanatics, there is only one religion on Earth where even its mainstream members of the faith seek to impose their religious taboos on everyone else. There is only one religion that has made it unsafe for people to criticize it—or indeed, for its own members to leave it. Only Muslims routinely fear for their lives when they decide to leave their religion—and this is true, even in the West. If you doubt this, just read some books or listen to some podcasts by ex-Muslims.

Anyone who wants to draw a cartoon, or write a novel, or stage a play that makes fun of Mormonism is free to do that. In the United States, this freedom is nominally guaranteed by the First Amendment—but that is not, in fact, what guarantees it. The freedom to poke fun at Mormonism is guaranteed by the fact that Mormons don’t tend to murder their critics. They don’t start riots and burn embassies in response to satire.

When The Book of Mormon became the most celebrated musical in the United States, the LDS Church protested by placing ads for their faith in the program. That might have been a wasted effort: but it was also a charming sign of good humor. Yes, there are crazy and dangerous people in every faith—and I often hear from them. But what is true of Mormonism is true of every other religion, with a single exception. Can you imagine staging a similar play about Islam anywhere on Earth? No you cannot—unless you also imagine the creators of that play being hunted for the rest of their lives by religious maniacs. You also have to imagine Muslims by the hundreds of thousands, in dozens of countries, going absolutely berserk.

At this moment in history, there is only one religion that systematically stifles free expression with credible threats of violence. The truth is, we have already lost our First Amendment freedoms with respect to Islam. We lost them decades ago—and anyone who is tempted to cry “Islamophobia” at this point, shares the blame for this. This status quo is intolerable—and, most important, it should be intolerable to Muslims themselves. They should be mortified that their community is so uniquely combustible. So uniquely uncivil. So incapable of self-reflection and self-criticism. So dangerously childish. So desperate to make the whole world it's safe space.

Consider what is actually happening: Some percentage of the world’s Muslims—and it is not just extremists—are demanding that all non-Muslims conform to Islamic law. And while they might not immediately resort to violence in their protests, they threaten it. Carrying a sign through the streets of London that reads “Behead Those Who Insult the Prophet” might still count as an example of peaceful protest, but it is also an assurance that infidel blood would be shed if the thug holding the sign only had more power. Wherever Muslims do have real power, this grotesque promise is always fulfilled. To make a film, or stage a play, or write a novel critical of Islam in any Muslim-majority country, is as sure a method of suicide as the laws of physics allow. There is only one religion on Earth that has normalized this level of fanaticism. And it isn’t an expression of bigotry to notice that this is totally antithetical to everything that civilized people value in the 21st century.

The October 7th attacks in Israel changed the way many of us think about the vulnerability of open societies. They changed the way we think about immigration and failures of assimilation. And they revealed a level of moral confusion in our universities and other institutions that is as astonishing as it is masochistic. We have people who are ostensibly committed to women’s rights, and gay rights, and trans rights, mindlessly supporting people who would hurl them from rooftops or beat them to death with their own hands. It is not a sign of bigotry to notice this hypocrisy and moral confusion for what it is.

It really is possible to be critical of Israel, and to be committed to the political rights of the Palestinian people, without denying the reality of Islamic religious fanaticism—or the threat that it poses not just to Israel, but to open societies everywhere.

There have been nearly 50,000 acts of Islamic terrorism in the last 40 years—and the French group that maintains a database of these attacks considers that to be an undercount. Ninety percent of them have occurred in Muslim countries. Most have nothing to do with Israel or Jews. There have been 82 attacks in France and over 2000 in Pakistan during this period. Do you want France to be more like Pakistan? You just need more jihadists. You just need more people susceptible to becoming jihadists. You just need a wider Muslim community that won’t condemn jihadism, but pretends that the theology that inspires it will be true and perfect until the end of the world. You just need millions of people who will protest Israel for defending itself, or call for the deaths of cartoonists for depicting the prophet Muhammad, and yet not make a peep about the jihadist atrocities that occur daily, all over the world, in the name of their religion.

When hundreds of thousands of people show up in London to condemn Hamas, or the Islamic State, or any specific instance of jihadist savagery, without both-sides-ing anything, then we will know that something has changed. When Muslims by the millions pour into the streets in protest, not over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, but over the murder of cartoonists by their own religious fanatics, we will know that we’ve made a modicum of progress.

The Muslim world needs to win a war of ideas with itself, and perhaps several civil wars. It has to de-radicalize itself. It has to transform the doctrine of jihad into something far more benign than it is, and it has to stop supporting its religious fanatics when they come into conflict with non-Muslims. This is what’s so toxic: Muslims supporting other Muslims no matter how sociopathic and insane their behavior.

If the Muslim community and the political Left can’t stand against jihadism, it is only a matter of time before their moral blindness leads to rightwing authoritarianism in the West. If secular liberals won’t create secure borders, fascists will. And that is a world that none of us should want to live in.

[rosiewitchescottage]

I'm afraid this doesn't surprise me from one of our politicians.

Religious Freedom and respect for each other's different faiths. That's one of our British Values. And it's an important one.

I want our British Muslims to enjoy that freedom along with everyone else. I'm as much against Anti Muslim Hate as I am against Antisemitism, hate against Christians, Sikhs, Hindus etc.

But Islamists are using parts of the faith of Islam to inspire their violence, their hate and their intention to enforce Sharia Law on every country that they live in.

Many of their fellow Muslims aren't at all OK with this. But Sir Keir and co won't back them up as they oppose these terrible people. They'll all just step on egg shells around the edges.

We need to be able to look at what inspires these Islamists and discover how they can be opposed.

To do that we need to be able to scrutinise Islam and be critical where need be.

We need to lend every support to the Muslims who are our compatriots who don't want the world that these Islamists intend.

They didn't come to live in Britain because they wanted to live in another Islamic Theocracy.

Not out of hate. But to find a way to be able to live together, with our value of Freedom of Religion intact.

What we need Sir Keir's new government to do, is to guide us to be able to unite as British People under common values and goals.

I can't say I'm confident. And I'd love to be proven wrong.

The term Islamophobia was created by Islamists to stop people from being even constructively critical.

This isn't about singling Islam out, quite the opposite in fact.

It's about not making Islam or any other set of religious/political/philosophical ideas and beliefs immune from judgement.

[clonehub]

you know, a lot of people thought we were ushering in a new era of star wars in this weird (falsely-named) post-social justice world, where now Minorities TM are on screen! They're heroes! they fight just like the white main characters!

I remember when the trailer for TFA first dropped, and Finn's face showed up, and I was too excited for new Star Wars to even realize how massive this was, that a Black man was going to be heading Star Wars, and he was a main character, not a stereotype, and a hero. And then the racists came out to say it was forced diversity. They never offered an example of what unforced diversity that was inclusive of Black people was. The harassment didn't stop there. It followed Finn and John Boyega through the entre sequel trilogy.

Where TFA respected Finn's character, TLJ trashed it, and TROS burned it. But by then as a Black fan of Star Wars, I wasn't surprised--sorely disappointed, but in a jaded sense.

racists didn't stop, they condensed and solidified. I got older and wiser since 2015 (lol) and I realized just how overwhelmingly white the star wars fandom is. i started looking at star wars critically. it started with plot critiques of The Clone Wars, and then it moved into critiques of the clones' treatment, the racialization of certain story lines, the whitewashing, the islamophobia, the genocide excusing, etc. It was only recently that I came to realize that a show that literally inspired me to start telling stories was also responsible for so much pain and hurt in all my friends.

The Bad Batch shows up, I'm unimpressed, but I also forget that there are large swathes of willfully ignorant fans here. even in my extended circles. they can't see the racism. they cant see the whitewashing. they dont want to see the antisemitism. and they make excuses for all of it. they patronize or coddle or shout down fans of color who try to bring this to light. they let personal, petty beef get in the way of supporting us. ive had people say they wont support the movement because they thought i was rude. whats interesting is that those people had never been posting about uwwtbb in the four months now that the movement has been in existence. i dont know who they're trying to convince.

and im in a weird position. Star Wars likes to take Black characters and villainze them and/or throw them aside. Mace is villainized by the fandom. Finn was shafted and villainized by the fandom. Saw apparently keeps getting written to be an extremist of some type. Steela was the ONLY Black woman in all of The Clone Wars. They made half her arc a love triangle with Ahsoka and a guy who wasn't worth it, and then they killed her. I couldn't even be excited to see her because of it, and I hated when she died because she didn't need to.

As a kid I latched onto Ahsoka and Rex, the former because she was a girl close to my age and she was cool and badass, and the latter because he and the clones were close to my skin tone and they were cool and badass. and the one who counts as a person of color gets shafted, too. and ahsoka is being played by a transphobe.

did you know that it wasn't until yesterday that I learned that Captain Typho was Polynesian? I'd thought he was Black (I don't have a strong image of his face in my head). I'm not upset, only baffled that the team for tcw/the bad batch can clearly animate features that stick out in the minds of fans of color, and they just choose not to. they made the heroes angular and pale and the villains (crosshairs death squad) look like me. The one Black woman in all of The Bad Batch, the second Black woman in all of TCW/TBB, and she's a war criminal. I'd had a haircut like hers once. Our face shapes are the same. she murders civilians with a flamethrower. the fandom has very little issue with this.

[atheistcartoons]

I’ve written about the confusion over the term “Islamophobia” before, a confusion which was in no way mitigated by the 2017 report on “Islamophobia” produced by the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group.

The definition they’ve settled on, in big capital letters, is:

ISLAMOPHOBIA IS ROOTED IN RACISM AND IS A TYPE OF RACISM THAT TARGETS EXPRESSIONS OF MUSLIMNESS OR PERCEIVED MUSLIMNESS.

There isn’t much room here for people like me, who are critical of religions (which necessarily includes Islam) and the decisions taken by people motivated by religion (which necessarily includes people motivated by Islam). 

Given the confusion caused by the term “Islamophobia”, they surely could have done a better job. Much of the document appears to be inspired by similar efforts to define the term “Antisemitism”, which is generally understood to not include criticisms of Judaism as a religion. 

This might sound like a strange thing to say but consider how much antisemitic stuff you’re aware of is actually challenging the tenets of the Judaic faith and how much of it just trashing cultural stereotypes of bankers and people secretly controlling the world etc. 

In much the same way as it is racist to assume that every Jew will be supportive of Israel’s human rights abuses, it is racist to assume that every Arab (and much less everyone who “looks like” an Arab) is a Muslim. In much the same way that supporters of Israel’s human rights abuses can silence critics by weaponising “antisemitism”, under this definition, supporters of Islam can silence critics by weaponising “Islamophobia”. 

You will get people who try to trash Jews by criticising Israel and who want to trash Arabs by criticising Islam. I’m not going to pretend that this never happens. However, you either support freedom of speech and trust your ability to counter these arguments or you don’t and you don’t. 

If you’re attacking someone for their ethnicity or the way they look, then that is racism. If you’re attacking an ideology or an abstract set of ideas, then that is criticism.

“Muslims are all…”

“Muslims hate freedom…”

“Why are there so many Muslims over here?”

Sentences like the above are attacking people, where “Muslim” here could be understood as meaning “someone who looks Arab”.

“Islam insists on submission to a non-existent god.”

“The Koran says…”

“Under Sharia law…”

Sentences like the above are attacking ideas.

"... Islamophobia, where criticism of the religion gets conflated with bigotry towards Muslims as people. It's intellectually ridiculous." Sam Harris

[politicalsci]

People need to immediately fight back against these smears led by the far-right/right-wing/center who are now weaponizing antisemitism even against Jewish people. It is disgusting and unforgivable to say that Bernie Sanders, whose own Jewish family was murdered by Nazis in the Holocaust, is antisemitic. This has and always will be about stopping a democratic socialist politician who supports Palestinian rights from gaining power. It is shameful and it must be shut down immediately.

Just as in the UK, Boris Johnson’s antisemitism and support of the far-right was minimized and excluded from discussion. Donald Trump’s alignment with the far-right and his own antisemitism has been minimized and replaced with outrage over people like Ilhan Omar (which peddles in Islamophobia).

An important point regarding the smears against Jeremy Corbyn was that a portion of the electorate viewed him as being “too supportive” of the Muslim community. Boris Johnson’s Islamophobia wasn’t viewed as an issue, because there are sadly many in the media and general public who don’t even view Islamophobia as racism. What is clear, is that the right-wing/center continually chooses to side with fascists over socialists and selectively chooses what counts as racism.

Bernie Sanders: “It’s very troubling to me that we are also seeing accusations of antisemitism used as a cynical political weapon against progressives. One of the most dangerous things Trump has done is to divide Americans by using false allegations of antisemitism, mostly regarding the US–Israel relationship. We should be very clear that it is not antisemitic to criticize the policies of the Israeli government.”

“As a people who have experienced oppression and persecution for hundreds of years, we understand the danger. But we also have a tradition that points the way forward. I am a proud member of the tradition of Jewish social justice. And I am so inspired when I see so many Jewish people picking up this banner, especially the younger generation of Jews, who are helping to lead a revival of progressive values in our country. They see the fight against antisemitism and for Jewish liberation as connected to the fight for the liberation of oppressed people around the world. They are part of a broad coalition of activists from many different backgrounds who believe very deeply, as I always have, that we are all in this together.“

[schraubd]

Preparing the Meat Roundup

I'm going on the law school job market this fall. That process began this week, when I sent in my application to the "Faculty Recruitment Conference" in Washington, DC, charmingly nicknamed the "meat market". But possibly inappropriate name aside, it actually is a relatively humane way of organizing academic hiring: all the law schools come to DC for their first round interviews, which take place over one weekend at a single hotel. Makes for a rather frenetic weekend, but the centralized process does cut down on applicant labor time. * * * And then there were none: the last African-American GOP Representative in the House, Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, will not run for re-election in 2020. Hurd barely squeaked by Gina Ortiz Jones in 2018; Jones had already jumped into the race for 2020. LibDem wave! LibDems picked up a parliamentary seat in the Wales constituency of Brecon and Radnorshire. The seat had been held by the Tories, and their defeat cuts Boris Johnson's parliamentary majority (which already depends on the support of a third party) to a single vote. The Poway synagogue shooter was inspired by the Christchurch mosque shooter. That's because extreme-right Islamophobia feeds into extreme-right antisemitism, and vice versa. Despite the efforts by some on the right that reflexively label the entire "squad" as antisemitic, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez actually hasn't said all that much on Israel or Jews. A recent interview changed that -- and revealed that her positions are for the most part wholly harmonious with those of liberal Jews across the country (absent, perhaps, her fondness for IfNotNow). "The same way that me criticizing Trump doesn’t make me anti-American, criticizing the occupation doesn’t make you anti-Israel, frankly. It doesn’t mean you are against the existence of a nation." Well spoken. Long-time Baltimore-area Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) -- in the news after Trump attacked him by declaring all of Baltimore a place "no human" would want to live -- has long quietly promoted an exchange program bringing young Black Americans to Israel. JTA interviewed several of the trip's alumni -- they offer a great endorsement of what seems to be a wonderful program. NPR interviews Wanda Sykes. Who knew she used to work at the NSA? via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/31aCKDy

[keubengtchoffopascalroussel]

((Continued)) .... Case n ° 979-Part 04: "NO TO SLAVERY, NO TO DERAISON, NO TO ANY DIVISION 👣"

_________________________________________

Keubeng.T.P.R

第 一个 ���洲 👤✡️

If we live it is not for a vulgar trade on the profit market of a baron with the head of madness, but for a destiny of union, of common existence.

We can all live in harmony as a unity defined to the best standard of human existence, a unity which excludes the principle of one value center. This is why we must all recognize that we can all be United without being unique.

Accepted the qualities and the faults, the advantages and the disadvantages, the potentialities and the ends, the possibilities and the necessities, to reconcile the good and the bad sides, to join together the aspirations, the motivations and the ambitions of each other, to do proof of self-suggestion and questioning for a universal consensus on our belonging as the holder of a new vision to follow and to consider.

Living together, accepting oneself and the other, becoming the daughter of all our preconceptions and our superstitions by valuing only this dream in the making: to create a community of common destiny for humanity where we can shine and realize the the dreams and hopes of everyone, the potentialities and ambitions of different peoples, the philosophy of a more solid and united humanity.

To understand and accept each other is to allow the world to move forward, to reject each other If we live it is not for a vulgar trade on the profit market of a baron with the head of madness, but for a destiny of union, of common existence. s others by selling, degrading, exploiting, martyring, ostracizing each other is to reject the idea of ​​our own life as a direct source of union with heaven.

... NO TO SLAVERY,

... NO TO DERAISON,

...NO TO RACISM,

... NO TO XENOPHOBIA,

... NO TO ISLAMOPHOBIA,

... NO TO ANTISEMITISM,

AND IF YOU REJECT MY SITUATIONAL OPINION THEN I WOULD STITCH IT ALONG, NO TO ANY INCONVENIENT DIVISIONS AND AFFINITIES.

........... End of the Publication of the proceeding n ° 979.

______________________________________ #liberty#deraison#racism#history#xenophobia#slavery#violence#antisemitism#islamophobia#eccentric#sadism#extremism#separatism#terrorism#humanism#colonized#despised#enslaved#criticized#stereotyped#belittled#insulted#marginalized#sabotage#blackmail#violations#hostages#motivationalquotes#takeovers#inspirationalquote#inspirations#motivation101

[hockey-jews]

For anyone who wants to learn more about Judaism! Also, kind of a post about how to deal with some Things and Stuff. This is a long post so I’ll put it under a read more for those interested:

This is really for an anonymous message I got that described struggles with things that I think many of us struggle with or have in the past: not being “Jewish enough” in the eyes of other Jews due to your heritage being on the “wrong” side (read; on your father’s side), yet still experiencing antisemitism from goyim. Not learning very much, if anything, about Judaism as a child but wanting to learn more as an adult. Not being comfortable with some traditions or laws of Judaism because you are a) a feminist b) LGBT c) an atheist. Living in a place with few to no Jewish spaces. Not feeling welcome in the Jewish community due to any or all of these things. 

Book recs!

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys reading (or can at least tolerate it) I highly recommend these books! They’re all books that I have either read/started reading/or plan on reading. (Please keep in mind that none of these are Jewish texts such as the Torah or the Talmud and that I do understand the importance of such religious texts but am not recommending them because I feel those are obvious sources of information)

A Bride for One Night if you aren’t familiar with the Talmud, it’s a collection of writings and explanations of Jewish laws and traditions and it’s old as balls. The author of this book, Ruth Calderon, takes a bunch of Talmudic stories and makes them into these wonderful beautiful stories that are easier to read than the original ones from the 3rd and 6th centuries. Even if you don’t know anything about the Talmud this book is so fascinating and fun to read. 

The G-d Who Hates Lies is literally perfect for you if you have issues with how women are viewed and treated in the most traditional sense of Judaism. It’s a really great criticism by people who are extremely qualified to make those criticisms (both are rabbi’s and I think they both have doctorates in theology, specifically Modern Orthodox Judaism, which makes for a really cool viewpoint). I can’t find anything about the third author of this book, who is a woman, but it’s comforting to know that a woman had a part in this as well. Obviously these people love Judaism, they just want to see it adapt to modernity. Just in general it’s a really thoughtful book that challenges dogma. 

Jewish Literacy was recommended by an anon (thank you!) The rest of the title is “The Most Important Things to Know about The Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History” so like. Ya get what ya see here folks. HOWEVER I did see a review that mentions there is some Islamophobia and hostility towards Jews who are antizionist. It does genuinely look informative and I haven’t read it myself so I can’t attune to whether or not that review is accurate, but maybe be cautious if you read this in knowing that the author may not be objective. 

Book of Mercy made me openly weep and feel something tender and weird in my heart and like. Okay so it’s not informative so much as it’s a book of poetry by Leonard Cohen (he was Jewish if you didn’t know!) He calls his poems “modern psalms” and honestly this would be a good read even if you aren’t religious at all because his writing is just so gorgeous. But it does have references to Judaism and his identity as a Jew 

Understanding Judaism is really a “building blocks” kind of book to me, if that makes sense? It’s really informative but also really basic and is fantastic for people who know very little about Judaism or just want a well presented understanding of the core aspects of the Jewish religion. Even if you aren’t a Jew who’s looking to learn or someone who is considering conversion it’s still a good book if you’re interested in world religions regardless of your faith or lack thereof. (man I’m starting to sound pretentious lmao I just mean like, if you’re an atheist or Catholic or whatever, it’s pretty interesting and also this guy is kinda dorky-funny so it makes for an easier read than some other books about religion)

Shmooze I think this is meant to be more for a group to read an discuss, and like, also maybe meant for a younger audience (I’m talking about teenagers so not really that young, but if you’ve been reading dull infodumps by 90 y/o Jewish rabbis with doctorate degrees this is gonna be a change of pace lmao) I should mention that I’ve only read like two pages of this book because I saw it at Barnes and Noble and just kinda briefly checked it out so I don’t know a ton about it but it stuck in my head and the reviews look positive so 

Obvious I don’t think you have to read all of those because I haven’t even read all of those so maybe just check one of them out if it seems like it could be helpful to you. 

Judaism here on tumblr dot com:

Okay so like. This is really my personal diced onion so take it however you will but keep in mind that this really only reflects things I’ve come across and how I feel. 

Obviously there are a lot of really great blogs about Judaism but I don’t have any specific ones to recommend I’m sorry :O I really really hate ~Discourse~ and like, in-depth arguments about the Holocaust because I get so wrapped up in it and let’s be honest, tumblr is all about the discourse and ignorance. That being said, I like to follow other people who are Jewish and blog about whatever because that usually leads to safer discussions and also is a great way to find really helpful thoughts and discussions by other Jews about topics like being LGBT, being a woman, being an atheist, etc. These are just nice to read and also if you aren’t familiar with certain Yiddish or Hebrew terms that are commonly used it’s a good way to see how and when they’re used in certain contexts. 

I’m going to tag anything like this that I post here as “good info” just so me and anyone who wants can find this stuff easier. No they won’t necessarily have anything to do with hockey. 

Also please be very careful when you’re reading a post that is presenting certain things as facts, always double check what someone is saying because misinformation is spread so quickly, and it’s almost always unintentional. The things that I find genuinely helpful/safe/fun involve opinions, common feelings and experiences, little personal stories and jokes, cool stuff like that. 

I’m Jewish on my father’s side :0

Me too boo. Unfortunately that’s an unending discussion, and one that is often held by matrilineal Jews and doesn’t actually include patrilineal Jews, nor does it consider our thoughts/feelings/experiences. Without sounding like an idiot, it is absolutely buckwild to me that there are people who have been raised Jewish, have never known anything other than Jewish tradition, have been subject to antisemitism, but still aren’t considered Jewish. 

And then this is where I see matrilineal Jews who hold this viewpoint bring up Reform Judaism, which is one of the three main branches of Judaism and does recognize patrilineall Jews as Jews. I’ve seen some discrepancy as to whether or not patrilineal Jews had to have been raised Jewish in order to be considered Jewish. This is all well and good for Jews like me whose family practices Reform Judaism, but for patrilineal Jews who wish to practice in an Orthodox or Conservative synagogue, it gets tricky. 

Basically, yes this is a huge topic that inspires a lot of disagreement, and that sucks, but here’s what it comes down to. No one else is allowed to make you feel inferior because of your heritage. So many people, even modern Orthodox Jews, recognize that certain aspects of Judaism need to adapt to today’s society. I don’t want to offend anyone here, but I really do feel that most matrilineal Jews who don’t consider us Jewish are extremely hypocritical (for a lot of reasons but mostly like...y’all really follow every aspect of Jewish Law? Like do you really? All of it? Girl do u? Or are you maybe just being elitist). Learning about your heritage, talking about shared experiences, combating antisemitism, these are all things that are fair game for you (especially for the anon who said they were atheist) and going to Shabbat services, praying, participating in holy days. That’s all yours if you want it, bubbeleh. 

Can I be an atheist Jew?

Sure you can! I, personally, am not an atheist so I wasn’t comfortable finding specific resources about this because I don’t really know much about it? It’s fine with me if you’re atheist that’s none of my business, I just don’t want to direct you to a bad source. But yes, many Jews are atheist, many are secular, I’m sure there are many here on tumblr. It’s absolutely okay, Judaism is an ethnoreligion, and while you may experience Judaism different than the rest of us, you’re still a Jew and still belong. 

Here’s an excerpt from a short lil synopsis of Judaism:

These three connotations of Judaism as a monotheistic system, as a literary tradition, and as a historical culture are sometimes viewed separately. For example, there are Jews who see themselves as culturally Jewish, but who are also non-religious or atheist, often identifying more strongly with Jewish “peoplehood” than with traditional understandings of God and Torah. Even so, all Jews would recognize that these three points of reference have shaped and guided Jewish experience through the ages.

Jewish “peoplehood” that they talk about is like. Culture, customs, food, art, history, etc. 

One last little note on this, you’ll hear a lot that Judaism focuses more on actions than on beliefs. This is an excellent article that is pretty short and worth reading that I want to include because I think that even if you don’t believe in G-d or even if you are seriously questioning, the focus on just. Doing good. Actively doing good things and trying to be a good person (I know that’s objective but bear with me) is a such a huge part of Judaism that you can try to incorporate into your life without having to subscribe to any sort of dogma or beliefs that you don’t hold. “Judaism is certainly a faith-based tradition. Belief in G-d is central to our religion. It just isn’t a prerequisite. If you are Jewish, you are so regardless of belief.” 

But I’m a feminist....

As you should be. This is probably another personal statement you gon’ wanna take with a grain of salt, but I think Judaism, especially in the last 50 years or so, has made huge strides in this. Especially Reform Judaism, but that kind of goes without saying. 

Example, my synagogue was founded as a Conservative synagogue. Our website still says we are. I’m not actually sure tbqh, like I said, my family are Reform Jews, and so are most other families in our congregation I think but this is literally the only synagoge for like hundreds of miles so. Anyways our rabbi is female (Rabbi Shaina!) and she does great work, we all love her. She’s really adament on teaching kids that gender shouldn’t keep you from anything, that Judaism is for all Jews, that it should enhance our lives. She wears a tallis, lays her tefillin, and reads from the Torah. 

My point here is that while this isn’t like, the end of misogyny in Judaism as we know it, it’s still a big deal in most religions to have a woman as their religious leader, essentially a position of religious power. For men to accept a woman as a religious leader is not something that is super common in most religions. And we’re like, a tiny congregation over a hundred miles away from anyone else, technically a Conservative synagogue, that’s super loving and accepting of a feminist running our shit... female rabbis are super common and I think it speaks a lot to how we’re progressing as a religion. Reform Judaism is going to be your best bet when it comes to tolerance but knowing that all three of the main branches are progressing, at least with this, is really comforting to me. 

However, that’s an extremely one sided view and doesn’t really show the issue as a whole. This super short article (? not sure) is a bit pessimistic in my mind but presents the other side of things and gives a good explanation of the traditional sources of misogyny in Judaism, so this could further your understanding as well. 

By no means are we perfect but we’re workin on it. Look into Jewish Feminism though, if you have the time. That article is just a lil intro to the topic. 

I’m Q*eer/LGBT and I’m not sure y’all are gonna be cool with that...

Well this one’s a doozy. 

I’ll kick this right off by presenting an article that is objective and does not reflect the author’s opinion, just lays out the issues at hand. It also has some links to other good pieces, including one cool story about a transgender man, Rafi Daugherty, embracing his role as a father and details his experience with pregnancy and giving birth. I should mention that I am cisgender so I’m interpreting this article through a different point of view, but it really does make a point of celebrating Rafi and his daughter and sharing their story. It does include a little cultural background context, but this is a positive story that I think deserves to be shared :) 

Then there’s this statement from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism that confirms its absolute acceptance and support of LGBT Jews. 

On the other side of things, there are still homophobic and intolerant Jews. Conversion camps were not just a Christian thing, there were Jewish conversion camps as well, which is horrific. Idk what to say because I think homophobia and transphobia in Judaism is really similar to what you would find in Christian settings. 

I’m bisexual and I feel completely welcomed by other Jews who know this about me, and I certainly don’t feel any less Jewish because of it. 

I live in a place where Jewish spaces are rare.

I really hate to disappoint with this one but I don’t have any specific sources or anything like that. Alls I got to say is that’s why the internet is so great? I really don’t feel like that’s helpful at all, but I think for the most part, the Jewish side of tumblr is pretty accepting and welcoming. Obviously that’s not always gonna be true though idkdjaskfl;dj

I spose with this one I wanna encourage anyone who has any good resources for involvement or something like that to reply to this post or drop by my inbox and let me know! Or maybe just your thoughts on some Jewish spaces you’ve encountered? 

I hope this was helpful

In conclusion, don’t let anyone make you feel less Jewish. Your sexual identity, gender identity, and even your belief in G-d doesn’t take away from your Jewishness. I’d like to say that since I started delving into Judaism a little more I’ve found a lot of peace. And yeah that sounds cliche and also vague but it’s really a breath of fresh air to learn about my family and know more about this community. Also if you’re comfortable with or willing to try prayer, even if you’re atheist, it can be a good way to decompress sometimes, a really therapeutic kind of way to voice your thoughts and feelings and reflect on them. 

There’s so much information and culture to delve into but it’s so so worth it to learn and I’m really happy for you that you’re interested in getting more in touch with your Jewish roots. 

If any of these links don’t work and you’d like to see them let me know!