#i have some privilege from being an american living in another country

[waitineedaname]

i don't really have words to say that haven't already been said, whether today or eight years ago. just, take care of yourselves today. take care of yourself and reach out to your community and take care of each other.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

sorry to bother you and please delete this if it's too obnoxious but can you explain what was going on in that last post with the "smol bean hitler" thing I have cognitive issues and definitely want to block at least one of the people involved but I don't really understand what's being said?

Okay I don't blame you for not understanding it because there's a lot of context there. I will do my best to give a rundown of the situation and explain everything to the best of my ability, but my account of the events might be incompelte because I really didn't witness everything.

A little over a week ago, tumblr user siwolism made a post about how she watches a lot of videos about korean fried chicken, and she had noticed a trend in the comments of these videos: a lot of those videos had comments from americans (mainly black americans) bragging about how the only reason why koreans have fried chicken is because african-american soldiers took the recipe to korea during the korean war. She said that as a korean she found these comments uncomfortable because for korean people the korean war was an extremely bloody conflict and korea hasn't still fully recovering from its effects, and americans displaying such pride about any of the things they did during the korean war is an appalling display of american chauvinism. And that the fact that black americans were displaying the same chauvinistic mindset that she would have expected from whtie americans showed that being black or any racial minority in america doesn't exempt anyone from the privileges of american imperialism or the chauvinism of defending it.

At some point I got involved by making a comment on the post, about how I found it silly that people were insulting op and tagging the post as "#tw antiblackness" when all she did was complain that it's downright evil for americans, regardless of race, to joke about the time the USA invaded korea so violently that 1 out of every 10 koreans got killed.

(I still stand by that, considering that the post didn't complain about black ppl in america in general, only about the ones that she saw acting in a specific chauvinistic way, and despite how much people have accused her since of "singling out" black americans as the main beneficiaries or defenders of american imperialism, the post went out of its way to make it clear that this was just a manifestation of a wider problem that applies to all americans regardless of race)

I also made another addition to the post about how i think many of the people making those comments were probably motivated by the way so many african-american inventions in the US have their roots erased once they become popular with non-black people, but that in my opinion they were failing to understand that, despite how superficially similar they may look, "a black american telling a white american that they should be thankful because black people invented jazz and rock" is a fundamentally different situation from "a black american telling a korean that they should be thankful because black people brought fried chicken to them during the war", because the power dynamics between these two countries and the history of the korean war fundamentally changes the situation.

These additions in particular picked up a lot of steam, which somewhat accelerated the post in question breaking containment.

Siwolism was accused of being antiblack for using the term "amerikkka" in her post. Your mileage may vary on that one, but regardless of your opinion I don't think it invalidates any of the things she said in the post.

She was accused of erasing the racism and oppression that black people face in the USA. She repeatedly clarified that she (like any serious anti-imperialist) recognizes that racial minorities in the imperial core face racism and oppression, but that their oppression in that axis doesn't erase the fact that living in the imperial core puts them in a position of privilege over people in the imperial periphery.

She was also accused of erasing anti-black racism in korea (which is a complete non-sequitur tbh, unless you're interpreting her post as "all black people oppress all korean people" and not "black people in america have the capacity to act in imperialistic ways toward people in other countries"). She clarified that she thinks racial discrimination in south korea is a serious issue, that she faces a great deal of it as a north korean immigrant of hui chinese descent, but that she obviously doesn't have it as bad as the discrimination black people face in korea. However, she said the situation of a black person from korea and a black person from america is not the same with relation to imperialism, and when a black soldier is stationed in one of the numerous american military bases in korea they don't face the same struggles as a korean black person because they're acting as part of an imperialist occupying force.

As the post broke containment, she faced increasing levels of harassment. She started getting anons calling her anti-asian slurs, particularly someone who called her an "antiblack gook bitch", "gook" being a slur extensively used by american soldiers to refer to koreans during the korean war.

(that might have been the same person who left me an anon calling me a "fucking antiblack beaner" in response to my additions to silowism's post but who knows)

She also had multiple anons telling her that they hoped she and all her friends got killed by the next american soldier they encountered, which is especially vile considering that american soliders stationed in military bases in south korea have a history of killing and commiting sexual violence against korean women and facing no consequences for it, to the point that the US government coerced the South Korean government into signing a treaty that prevents any US soldiers caught comitting such acts from being tried in a South Korean court.

At some point she psoted the following meme

This is a meme that has been used numerous times on this website to make fun fo the way how a post gets misinterpreted in increasingly ridiculous ways as it gets further away from your mutual circle. I think it's clear that none of the categories on the right are targeted specifically at black people, but instead at the people running with the worst possible interpretation of anything she said in her post (a lot of whom weren't even black americans, I think it's important to acknowledge that a lot of them were white americans who were pissed of that imperialism were being called out and decided to amplify the accusations of racism because it was a progressive-sounding way to shut down discussions of american imperialism). Still, a lot of people ran with the worst faith interpreation of it and started talking about how she "literally said all black people are illiterate chimpanzees"

She also, at some point, after days of continued harrassment, told one of the people harassing her to hang themselves. Again, people ran with the worst possible interpreation of it to talk about how "she's literally sending lynching theats to black people"

Eventually the harassment was so much that she deleted her blog.

Almost two weeks later people keep playing telephone with increasingly outlandish misinterpretations of the things she said, resulting in the tags you saw screenshotted on the post you're referring to, where someone accused her of "implying black people invented imperialism"

so yeah like I'm not going to tell you who to block or even to block anyone at all, but that's my attempt at catching you up to speed on what's going on in that post.

[xinyuehui]

I couldn't put on a finger on why the whole tiktok migration to xhs left a sour taste in me until I got annoyed at recent subtle sinophobic comments towards Love and Deepspace left in the tags. (It's a Chinese game that has a global/English server)

Which had me thinking and seeking out if other people felt the same way. The Americans found a new platform, the Chinese on the platform are welcoming and attempts to speak to the Americans in English. Cool, what is left? The third group of people out here that aren't Americans or Chinese in China, it's us Chinese diaspora that live outside of China (in particular the west). We learnt English, forced to erase everything Chinese about ourselves to fit in here fit in there but never fully get accepted into any community. Online spaces are no better, we get all sorts of hate even though we are all communicating in English. One comment that I read on tumblr here a while back that really struck me was op posted something regrading Chinese culture and some white person dismissed op for having a Chinese url so they must not speak English to speak on a Chinese topic.

Americans barging themselves into other people's spaces seemingly with no effort is the most white privilege behaviour ever. Some of them don't bother learning the language, the culture, or social etiquettes. To call it 'refugees' in this current climate is lowkey insensitive even as a joke. Some are just outright racist saying they are there to colonise the app. The offhanded uninformed political jokes are also on thin ice. If this was reversed and a massive group of Chinese people suddenly joins instagram/twitter/tumblr, starts posting in Chinese, the comment sections will not be as 'haha funny' and 'wholesome' as the ones on xhs.

White people posting selfies on the app is harvesting thousands of likes and compliments is the prime example of white privilege, they don't have to work hard to get far, boosting their egos further more. How am I supposed to feel even when I share something on here of my culture either get no recognition or sinophobic comments?

There's a sense of helplessness when I see my people pandering to the white, similar to when Chinese diaspora/Chinese in China on the discussion of cultural appropriation. The experiences the two groups have are vastly different. I don't blame them for this. China, for the most part, is still a very closed society, a handful of them probably never left the country, interacted with a white person or had any prejudice against them for being Chinese. To them, it's just an amusing conversation or two without much thought. At the end of the day when the Americans leave the app, it'll be another fever dream. But for us, we still have to go to work with these privileged white people, come home from work to what I thought was a Chinese safe space to find that insufferable co-worker is on xhs going 'hello China [google translate some nonsense]'.

That said, I suppose for me who is able to post this on tumblr is a somewhat privilege move. For the people in China, it is an avenue to interact with Americans on a large scale without having to use a vpn. The welcoming atmosphere gives me peace knowing that to be respectful is still in our core. For the Americans, whether they are on the app out of spite without thinking of the consequences or to learn about China with an open mind, only time will tell if they will remain on xhs after the fad dies out.

[rinasdigitaljournal]

journal entry #01: sevika drabble/imagine...potential fic?

take my hand and walk with me here, okay?

imagine, high school teacher sevika who teaches an specific country's history. maybe african american studies along with south asian...just something that relates to her and her background and she's hella passionate about it yk. obviously coming from (and still living) an under privilege neighborhood comes with its challenges and now dealing with wealthy people drives her up a wall but the students actually enjoy her class and have a genuine desire to learn and find her gruff, no-nonsense, give it to you straight attitude a breath of fresh air from the posh and authoritative teaching that they are used too (although some don't but does she care, no.) the parents don't really understand why so many students genuinely enjoy her class when she's like scary asf? and most teachers in the department look down upon her bc of her background but hey, the credentials and degree's speaks for themselve (plus they're too scared of her to say anything directly too her). her one friend in the department is mel who teachers african american studies but AP level bc mel's just that girl, ANYWAYS.

the two are chatting one afternoon in the teachers lounge and mel casually mentions the new english teacher working and how interesting she was too talk too. sevika tried to pry a little bit more but given how tight lipped mel is (and her cocky smile), she genuinely didn't give a fuck until her students begin coming to class with this new teacher on the tip of their tongues. how she's so sweet, kind, funny, and the work is interesting? yea, she has to go sniff the newbie out herself just to make sure those knuckle heads aren't ripping their teeth into her. she's already envisioning some soft, big doed eyed, fresh out of college teacher with no actual teaching experience and letting those kids walk all over her.

so imagine her surprise when she takes a peak into..paradise? a cozy and comfy classroom with a colorful rug, throw pillows, bookshelves lining up the wall with poorly but cute hanged up novel posters with a mixture of string lights nad lamps? yea, sevika already decided the woman was fresh meat thrown into the wolves until her eyes found their way to a woman sitting next to a student, on a small makeshift couch mind you, with her arms wrapped around the crying girl's shoulder. the woman was still soft looking with a grandpa sweater on along with a maxi skirt, the colorful glasses didn't help either or the dangling star and moon earrings but her voice was warm and firm. her eyes were gentle but full of fire and her lips were turned into a genuine smile with a smirk edging the corners of her face. whatever joked she shared made the student laugh and wipe her own tears away and when the new teacher turned to stare at sevika, feeling a presence staring into her, with an arched brow in*challenge* her presence, she could've sworn she felt her heart skip a beat.

journal footnotes: could this be something...maybe. do i have another work in process fic for another fandom, yes. do i still imagine this plotline and characters every single hour of my being...yes. is this self indulgent, yes, but hey this is a form of self-care.

[germiyahu]

The way in which people on this site and others unironically with not a shred of self reflection, will say things like "I'm America's biggest hater until a Brit starts speaking!" Like, they understand intrinsically what it's like for an outsider to make blanket judgments about the only culture they've ever lived in and ever known and they immediately decide that their feelings about that are true and valid.

And the response is not even "Well you're one to talk about our problems!" or "Um sweaty things here are far more complex than you understand so maybe leave the criticism to Americans," it's usually just "Rah rah bald eagle screeching go America fourth of July beans on toast OI BRUV!" or some other equivalent mockery of a European (or Canadian/Australian) stereotype.

Even if this is just silly joking, they are performing jingoistic nationalism at the slightest prickling of other Western (usually white) people daring to criticize America, even when it's accurate or in good faith. These Europeans (et al.) aren't even calling for the destruction of America, declaring Americans a dirty evil people who deserve nothing but pain and suffering and any calls to wipe them out are justified and any resistance to that is oppressive. They're just making fun of American aphorisms and the response is unquestioned patriotism. And no other super woke Leftie Americans look at this behavior and say "That's actually problematic." They're in on it.

But these same people couldn't possibly conceive of applying this thought process to an Israeli. That's just a non-starter to them. Like there are based Israelis on this site who are patriotic, who make dank memes and all, that much is true. But I'd say for the average Jew (Israeli or not) to react with extreme jingoism at the gentlest ribbing is just unthinkable. They know the optics of that. But Americans can throw a tantrum about being called out as the hegemonic power in the world and expect everyone to think that's actually really funny and cool.

An American can make jokes about "discovering oil" (the subtext being invasion and devastation) when someone from another country says "Wow Americans don't have electric kettles," but an Israeli can't even politely say "I don't think we all deserve to die because our Prime Minister is a corrupt racist shithead." No that's propaganda and genocide apologia. American privilege is real, I think.

[sybaritick]

In response to recent posts I've seen discussing "people on tumblr lying about being working class when they're clearly not/people on tumblr claiming they're regular middle class when they make 200k a year": it's true this is extremely annoying, but i really think this problem exists on EVERY website and also in real life (feel like one can meet working-class-larpers at every US university, but more so the more elite the university is).

People build an identity around an image of their social class, both current and past, and that can be for political reasons (they're a leftist and don't want to be one of the bad rich people) or just because they want to have a bootstraps success narrative around themselves or whatever else. But that identity they build can be completely disconnected from the material reality of their upbringing.

My parents were definitely well-off: my dad was a software developer and my mom also had a tech-adjacent job. Because we lived in a very expensive area, people still made fun of me for class-related reasons as a kid and my parents struggled with financial stuff at times (like having to move out of the house we lived in and switch to renting a smaller condo). However I would still never make the claim I am just some average American, because as a kid my family's income was definitely in the top ~15% in the US.

The thing is though... I think some people either 1) Solely base their perception on the people around them, and if you do that you'll probably think of yourself as average, or 2) have a load-bearing element of their personality that depends on them having been working class background or at the very least have come from an "average" background.

I think the problem here is people building their identities so hard around what their ideology "demands." It's not easy to solve but it's something you have to be honest with yourself about. There is a huge strain of online Tumblr-type-leftism that demands you perform a sort of victimhood/background of oppression or be considered inherently a bad person, and the result is that some people will fake it, but they might not even believe they are faking it, it's part of their self-image.

Don't buy into this idea that victimhood is virtuous.

The first step is do not apologize for any advantage you have and do not feel guilt over any advantage you have: the advantage is good. it lets you do more, gives you power, gives you time or money or connections compared to the average. Everyone has at least some advantages in life, even if they are as simple as "It's an advantage that I was born in at Western country," or "it's an advantage that I'm not blind or deaf." You will never accomplish anything useful, politically or personally, by feeling bad for these things. (You cannot give another person your advantages, or remove your own advantages, by feeling guilty. you CAN use your advantages to help disadvantaged people-- but not through guilt or performative hand-wringing!)

You should feel good and happy about the things many on Tumblr call privileges, because they mean it will be some amount easier for you to get further and climb higher and do more. I love being American. I love being able to do this many pull-ups. I love being male-passing. And I love money. Build from there.

[inkher0]

I think some leftists are coming at the H1B Visas from the wrong angle because they don't want to be racist/nativist, and it's really not helping in trying to get liberal people to see the issue.

There's nothing wrong with people from other countries coming to work in the U.S., but there is an issue with how they're used against both immigrant and native workforces. With American jobs, Americans should have priority simply because they already live there. I would expect other countries to prioritize native people over me for that exact same reason. They live there, they pay the taxes there, their entire family lives there. They should get the opportunity before extending the offer to someone from another country. Simultaneously, H1B holders should be welcomed with the EXACT same rights as American workers, and shouldn't be used as glorified serfs to keep Elon Musk's shitty website running to replace Americans who have more rights and privileges they can leverage.

Conservatives want to make this about brown people to confuse Liberals, but at it's core, it genuinely isn't. Brown immigrants are the people most affected, but this is about worker's rights and shareholder profit. This is about us being turned on each other so that these companies can pick and choose based on who they can pay less, not who's most qualified for the job.

The real truth is that it needs to be easier to just Live Here and do Whatever You Want. You shouldn't have to be in dire straits, seeking a way out of your shitty life. You should be able to live here just because we've got nice mountains and have good food, and not have to spend a goddamn decade proving you're not a terrorist. All forms of immigration need a serious overhaul to be empathetic, welcoming, and efficient, and you're not gonna get that from Trump and Musk.

[sonicenvy]

I had another conversation with someone who didn't have health insurance today about ACA that she didn't know existed as an option. Ever since I got my first ACA plan last year after turning 26 I have been a big ACA fan because this piece of landmark legislation is the reason I have health insurance instead of being in thousands of dollars of medical debt. It bugs the ever living shit out of me whenever I see internet leftists saying things like "the ACA didn't do anything because it is not medicare for all." It really speaks to me about the privilege that these people likely have because they're not noticing the amount of monumental positive change and harm reduction that was made by the bill.

The ACA is a bill that is comprehensive, and walks, talks, and chews gum at the same time, and I think a lot of people who are either a.) too young to remember how health insurance in this country worked before the ACA or b.) have not had to get government subsidized health insurance because they have always had either their parents' insurance or employer insurance really and truly don't get it. I am obviously too young to remember how healthcare worked before the ACA because I am under 30, but I do have a mom who works in healthcare and lots of older relatives that talk about it a lot so I was pretty familiar with the concept despite this.

I am low-income, in school, and have an employer that doesn't offer me employer subsidized plans, so the ACA quickly became pretty important to me as a person with lifelong disability, higher than normal cancer predisposition and a need for lifelong psychiatric care.

Also, if you are in your 20s but under 26 and still on your parents' health insurance? Bam! You are directly benefiting from the ACA. Before the ACA you would not have been able to be on your parents insurance plan in your 20s.

Some things that the ACA did:

Made it affordable for people who are above the medicaid income limit and/or self-employed to independently purchase health insurance. Before the ACA premiums for independently purchased health plans could be $500+ for individual plans! If you were one of the many Americans who worked multiple part-time jobs that did not provide PT employees with insurance, you were basically fucked and uninsured. If you were a small business or self-employed, you were also fucked. The creation of the healthcare dot gov health insurance marketplace, which is open to anyone was a massive success of the bill, and millions of Americans benefit from it. During open enrollment (or after a specific life event such as "turned 26," or "became unemployed") a person can log on to health care dot gov, see a wide range of plans, and purchase one. The government then provides you with a premium subsidy (which is what your employer does for you if you have an employer plan) to lower the cost of the premium. Subsidies are calculated based on a person's income so people with lower incomes get higher subsidies.

Obviously there is some nuance, and a coverage gap with ACA plans for individuals who make above $60,000 (and are not a small business obtaining a group contract with an insurance company) where premiums are still very expensive because they are ineligible for the majority of the premium tax subsidy, which is a major ACA weakness, but for everyone in the $30,000-$55,000 gap and for owners of small businesses that want to offer plans for their employees, the benefits are huge. I am able to get a PPO with a low deductible, low OOP for less than $200/mo in premiums! There is exactly zero way that I would have been able to do that if I were trying to get insured pre-ACA.

Made it so that insurance companies could not discriminate against patients with so-called pre-existing conditions — so basically if you are disabled, the insurance company can no longer: a.) decline to provide you coverage or b.) increase your premiums/ reduce your plan benefits because you have a disability or get something like, oh, idk, FUCKING CANCER. Like there were people who got cancer and found out that their insurer dropped them because they did not want to pay out for expensive cancer treatment. That was a thing that was legal for health insurance companies to do before the ACA, and they fucking did that. The pre-existing conditions clause was one of the biggest benefits that has been touted since the beginning of the bill's conception and passage. Under the ACA, all health insurance companies are banned from denying plan applications for any reason, or from revoking plan coverage for any reason that isn't "patient stopped paying their premium." Made it so that children could stay on their parents' health insurance plans until they were 26 instead of being booted at 18. Made it so that all plans must provide some level of coverage for a list of specific EHBs (Essential Health Benefits) such as "emergency room care," "prenatal and pregnancy related care," "preventative care such as doctor recommended cancer screenings for patients" "office visits with general practitioners," etc.

If you have an marketplace plan or medicare/medicaid, that plan MUST provide you with contraceptives at no cost to you regardless of whether or not you have met your deductible. Democrats also wanted this to be true for all other plans, but unfortunately in 2014, whacko religious conservatives got themselves an exemption for "companies with fervently held religious beliefs against contraception" from providing this coverage in their employer subsidized plans in the bullshit case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which was decided by a conservative majority vote in the Supreme Court. A case which had other broad and shitty implications btw, and which is yet another example of why allowing weird conservatives to get elected to the presidency is bad for America. btw, in the original intention of the ACA they wanted to also include mandatory coverage for abortion services. Unfortunately, the Republicans (and a group of stupid pro-life dems who suck, and to my knowledge are not in congress now) torpedoed this provision despite Nancy Pelosi's best efforts and refused to pass the bill at all as long as this provision remained in it. Reason #10000000 Republicans suck.

Lots more that I'm not naming here, but I hope you get the idea. My point is that even though ACA was not a medicare for all bill, it was a landmark (and very needed) piece of healthcare reform legislation that changed a lot about the landscape of health insurance in America. Tragically, right wing and far left smearing of it has obscured the truth about the many good things that the bill did do. Was it perfect? Absolutely the fuck not! Even Obama himself admits this. What it was was a major victory against injustices in the system, and a massive piece of harm reduction legislation, and I wish that more Americans credited it for the things it did do.

Dems managed to get the bill passed with the vast majority of their highest priorities still in it despite major republic ratfuckery combined with a minority of independents and dems who sucked. Pelosi walked circles around these fuckers day and night to get this bill passed, and I for one am deeply grateful. Because of the ACA I can get the healthcare that I desperately need as a disabled person with higher than normal cancer risk. I can get my desperately needed medications and see all of my doctors because of this piece of legislation. I was able to get surgery to remove CANCER from my body becuase of this legislation, so yeah, fuck everyone going "the ACA is bad because it's not perfect medicare for all." Girl (gender neutral), I (and many other people) would not be surviving if it were not for this bill, and I for one, think that that is a whole heck of a lot better than all of us dying because y'all want to wait for perfect legislation. Harm reduction is good and is an important step on the road to bigger and better change. Universal health care has risen to more popular and broad public opinion/knowledge because the ACA passed.

Yeah, anyways this is rant about how fucking stupid anti-ACA people are. To deny the gains of meaningful healthcare reform is a clear sign of privilege, ignorance, and tunnel vision that lets perfect be the enemy of good or better.

This is also a post about a clear and obvious way that Dems are infinitely different (and better) than republicans. Voting dem is harm reduction. Not voting, voting third party or protest write in voting is a vote for republicans. And republicans??? They give exactly zero shits about anyone other than themselves. They support stupid and insane religious conservative politics, and look to fuck over the American people (and everyone else abroad) at every turn because they don't believe in helping people; their convictions are all about hate, prejudice, fearmongering, and a right-wing Christian Theocracy. They would rather see millions of people die than give dems a win, because they are spiteful and hateful. They want us to be afraid, disengaged, disorganized and fighting one another, because their ideas, convictions and beliefs are deeply unpopular, and if we organize against them, they will lose.

[meichenxi]

your post about uk accent bias was so cathartic and a great read👍

thank you so much!! sorry it took so long to reply. it was definitely a bit of a rant and I received a few corrections, which I was grateful for. I hope it's okay that I use this post to chat a little bit more about this area, because I'd like to introduce a term:

LINGUICISM

wikipedia's definition: the unfair treatment of people based upon their use of language and the characteristics of their speech, such as their first language, their accent, the perceived size of their vocabulary (whether or not the speaker uses complex and varied words), their modality, and their syntax.

(and with that, my own positionality statement: I am a white British person educated to university level, reclaiming my heritage language Gaelic. I will gladly accept corrections or pointers for anything in this post!)

the -cism ending is deliberate and deliberately provocative in its similarities to racism, sexism and so on. it acknowledges the similarity of frameworks of oppression on race, gender or other groups to linguistic groups - your skin colour, gender presentation, way you speak are all outward signifiers of belonging to some marginalised group. the amount of discrimination a person might face might be different in each case, but EVERYBODY has a right to live free of discrimination. it's literally a universal human right, as decried by the UN. and the underlying framework of the oppression is the same: a powerful majority speaks/acts/looks Like This, and if you are anything different, you're going to suffer the consequences. and you're going to be told to be grateful it isn't worse.

accent discrimination and language discrimination are part and parcel of wider issues of language use, colonialism and settler colonialism across the world - and ones that are easier for people in the anglophone world to understand. it is crucial to interrogate 'smaller' things like accent discrimination on an every day scale, on a scale that many of you will have come into contact with (though is it small to the person who's been denied a job because of their language?) - and then we can zoom out and figure out how to apply the same critical lens to further, larger issues in our community and around the world.

language is a tool of both power and resistance. it is a way of disseminating and participating in culture. how do you perform the songs or stories or games or ceremonies of your people without the words to do it? how do you transmit critical ecological knowledge or spiritual knowledge when you have to use a foreign linguistic framework that doesn't reflect that knowledge?

it might not be obvious to monolingual people in the greater anglosphere or monolingual areas of europe. it's a layer of privilege likely many have never even considered.

but this is very obvious to Native Americans whose ancestors were torn from their families and suffered horrific treatment in residential schools - or similar stories in other commonly known settler states around the globe like australia and canada, but also in less talked about countries like russia and norway - and no longer have access to their native language because it was taken from them, by force and by violence, to assimilate them and to control them, by deliberate governmental design.

(e.g. Hawaii DOE | History of Hawaiian education act 57 in 1896, putting it in law that the language of Hawai'i in all schools must be english and english only; after this it took another 91 years for ōlelo Hawaiʻi to be used in schools again.)

this is very obvious to the Black children in the united states who are told the AAVE they speak is not 'correct' and they should use 'standard' english grammar, who learn very young to code-switch which is known to lead to psychological stress, and who cannot take part in public culture (i.e. 'assumed white until proven otherwise‘) without being overtly or covertly mocked, discriminated against, underestimated, feared or ridiculed - see what happened with people watching kendrick lamar in the superbowl. ('I can't understand him!' 'why are there no white people on stage!' …okay, so it's only important to have diversity when you feel excluded?）

this is very obvious for the children of immigrants, migrant workers and refugees who of COURSE suffer educational consequences from having no support for their bilingualism; when they enter a bewildering environment, schooled in a second language that they have never been exposed to before, who may go throughout their adult life illiterate in their first language and unable to fully take part in their heritage, because of a push towards assimilation with the majority culture.

this is very obvious to the children of highly multilingual countries and regions like odisha in india, where the average literacy rate of the urban population is 86%, but the rate for the Scheduled Tribe population is only 52%. ('Scheduled Tribe' = officially recognised as Indigenous by the indian government. there are other Indigenous peoples that are not recognised and have no legal protections because of that lack of external recognition.)

how can you go to school if they don't speak your language? and if you do go to school - how will you perform? how will your parents be able to help with homework or be an active and engaged part of your education? what discrimination or bullying will you face at school? and then - how do you join the workplace?

I think it's easy for people from monolingual backgrounds or who have grown up in primarily monolingual environments to forget - but bear in mind that if you are monolingual, YOU are part of the worldwide minority. it's easy to fail to acknowledge linguistic privilege and how language is used as a tool for oppression, assimilation and control, if you've never even thought about it (and isn't that the greatest privilege there is?). it's easy, if you've never thought about it, to forget the extent upon which the language you speak at birth and the way you speak it have a huge impact upon your future.

but access to your mother tongue in a discrimination-free capacity is a universal human right. and it's one many people don't have.

so here are some questions for you to think about:

can you use your language to go to the doctor? can you use your language to fill out a form? can you use your language with your children, without worrying about how it will impact your future? can you use your language in public with your friends? can you use your language to get critical information on natural disasters like earthquakes? can you listen to the radio in your language? can you look for high-level jobs in your language? can you become a broadcaster in your language? can you attend court in your language?

if you can do all of these things, you have linguistic privilege.

accent-based discrimination might seem far less of a crime than government policy to exclude and assimilate an Indigenous population. it might seem funny - just a joke. but who are you discriminating against, when you discriminate against an accent? is it an immigrant population? is it a population of colour? is it a poorer, urban population? is it a rural population that has been historically excluded from opportunities?

it's not 'the same' as language policy that ruins people's lives and futures, or language bias that makes existing in that language unsafe. and any other axes of oppression you face will magnify that - if you're a rural, illiterate, monolingual speaker of a language, you might face more discrimination than a young, technologically competent bilingual in the city. but does that mean she doesn't face discrimination? claiming that would be absurd. and fundamentally they are manifestations of the same phenomenon.

'but it's just an accent!' 'it's just making fun!'

come on. you're smarter than that. if you can understand why making fun of an chinese french person's eyes is not the same as making fun of a white french person's eyes - zero history of racism, no minority group, no negative connotations - then you can understand this.

there's a difference between 'making fun of' my standard southern british, native speaker accent in english versus mocking the gaelic-accented english of my native gaelic speaker grandmother. she was beaten for speaking her language in school and refused to pass it onto her grandchildren out of fear. my accent signifies belonging to a majority group - mocking it doesn't have any consequences for me beyond, perhaps, me feeling slightly awkward. my grandmother's signifies her belonging to a group that was forced to leave its lands, forced to emigrate, forced to educate its children in a foreign language, forced to serve a foreign language-speaking elite from the south. if you mock that, for her - what does that bring up? what does that mean? what biases is it encouraging? what narratives is it cementing?

(check out Anti-Gaelic rejectionism and minority rights in Scotland | RACE.ED | RACE.ED showcases teaching, research and KEI in race and decolonial studies at the University of Edinburgh and Scotland Back in the Day: How the brutal atrocities of the Highland Clearances changed Scotland forever | The National if gaelic and its place and history in scotland is new to you)

it's the same as the distinction between making fun of any majority versus the minority. there's no such thing as 'anti-white racism', because it doesn't exist: there is no systematic, entrenched, silent and historical bias against white people anywhere in the world, even in places where they are the minority. you can 'mock' me for only eating 'white foods' or saying 'you dance well for a white girl! - but even if I'm uncomfortable, it's STILL. NOT. RACISM.

when you mock my standard british english accent or my whiteness, you're mocking a generalised idea of what my accent and skin colour represents - okay, it might not be fun sometimes, and it might be exposing bias and assumptions along another axes. ('white people can't dance' - ohhhh so you mean USAmericans not, say, the traditional dances of the armenians, say, who also literally experienced a literal ethnic genocide. cool, got it!), but mocking 'whiteness' is NOT perpetuating entrenched societal ideas and it has NOT, historically, been the basis for hatred, violence and segregation.

when you mock accents or languages or people or culture or customs that have been discriminated against historically and systematically, it perpetuates this. even at the smallest level, it shows - hey, it's funny that this person's poor!

do you think that? do you really think that? if you wouldn't outright mock someone's socioeconomic status or race or ethnic group or access to education - why are you mocking the way that they speak?

if you don't think that - then let's not do it. if you do think that. well.

linguistic rights are human rights. linguistic justice means justice for Indigenous peoples, displaced people, Black people, migrants, victims of war, victims of genocide - and also your neighbour, who deserves to go to the library without being mocked for the way he speaks. it's that big, and it's that small. and the good news about that is that you can start today.

what assumptions or biases or stereotypes do you have against people who speak in a certain way? you don't have to intellectually believe them; you just have to recognise this is an instinctual bias you have, likely formed by media or prevalent cultural narratives or a school system that doesn't teach certain things and prioritises other. recognising them doesn't make you a horrible person (unless, of course, you are). you might have even done horrible things, but everything starts with recognition. confronting your own biases. I have racist biases. I'm probably lingui-cist too. everybody has these split-second beliefs, even if you immediately go on to intellectually discount them - you can't exist in the world without them. being part of one minority group also does not make you immune to biases against other minority groups. I've known chinese people complaining about their treatment in the UK in one sentence, and saying incredibly racist things about indian people in the next. I know rich indian people who are furious about the lack of representation in western media and frustrated by colourism in bollywood, but have extensive and atrocious biases against the servants they hire to clean their homes from poorer castes.

it goes on and on. you can begin today by noticing some of your own biases. what assumptions do you make? where do you think they come from? that's the first step. it all rests on that.

I don't have any conclusion here, in particular. I encourage you to do your own research around populations and peoples that interest you, are relevant to you, or you didn't know about at all. I've left some links at the bottom. linguicism in general is an area which I wish more people were aware of. if you wish the same, please feel free to reblog and share it with others.

///

a few general resources:

https://www.coalitionforlanguagerights.org/ - a website and NGO dedicated to promoting language rights, esp for Indigenous and non-dominant languages around the globe

Linguistic discrimination - Wikipedia - overview on Wikipedia of linguicism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_imperialism - introduction to linguicism in the context of colonialisation and imperialism

un-adolescents-guide2013.pdf - accessible (colours, for teenagers, bright fonts etc) guide to the UN declaration of the rights of Indigenous peoples

‘You can’t even talk English, so don’t talk!’ How linguistic racism impacts immigrants in the UK - article on linguicism for immigrants in the UK

LanguageRightsLinguisticMinorities_EN.pdf - UN declaration of language rights for linguistic minorities

Statement on the International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2019 | OHCHR - statement by the UN on the importance of mother tongues for culture

[cainshitincorporated]

the thing about art being "right-wing" is that the global right, not even to single out the american right, is not concerned with normal things. that is to say, a piece of media depicting even the basest of stories is going to be left-leaning so long as it believes in ideals of justice, freedom, equality, fairness, or in any way subverting those things with purpose. i'm not saying these stories are even good, or that the primary takeaway is revolutionary or even especially decent. the fucking MCU is left-leaning if we are talking about its base messages, that people will stand up to protect the innocent and defeat those who revel in cruelty and brutality. i know that much of the mainstream media in the US has undertones of conservatism, of the police state, copaganda more broadly, blind fealty for the US military, and of course more recently being pro-israel. but im talking about the core morality at the heart of this basic storytelling, something that was at one point at least plausibly neutral and is at this point explicitly in opposition to the mission of the right

to make a piece of media that is explicitly and openly "right-wing" you need to be unabashedly hateful, your media needs to center on the powerful punching down. your stories need to be about inalienable biological and sociological truths etched into the fabric of humans, a rigid social order where the privileged few are rightly granted unfathomable wealth and power and the rest are spurned to be beaten by cops until they die in the streets. you can't tell stories about justice. you can't tell stories about overcoming odds. you can't tell stories about heroes. to tell an explicitly right-wing story, you must write of goliath beating little david into a bloody pulp

i've seen what happens when people who call themselves artists on the right produce what they call art. and you'll notice that the real creatives with right-wing leanings are subtle about it, they don't tell you their art is right-wing. it's still a story about overcoming odds, but the powerful elite are suspiciously coded and the underdogs are all conspicuously straight and white. but the ones creating art that is called "right-wing art," those are the ones who fascinate me, who cannot comprehend the contradiction at the heart of their title. they're politically motivated first and artistic second. and the art they create shows that it was never really about convincing anyone, about telling a story with a message. it was peacocking. it was reveling in superiority. it was an elaborate lengthy diatribe that boils down to "i think trans people are faking it." it's pages upon pages or hours upon hours of what must have been some effort to produce, of what is undeniably the product of labor, but is all the same utterly vapid, entirely empty. such lack of creative intent and originality that it is indistinguishable from AI. the product of an incurious mind parroting concepts from their favorite media, art created by a person with a soul

conservatives at their very core cannot create art. and so they go on fox news and they rant and rave about the liberal film industry, the hollywood elite telling us how to live our lives. they do this not because it's true, not because the creatives at work in the industry today are at all leftist or even close. plenty of them would happily even claim the title conservative, and another significant chunk is making deeply conservative media without a clue. as i said, much of the contemporary art in this country is utterly in love with authoritarianism and fawning over the state of neoliberal decay. but they see these people who know how to create art, not just to attack and harass and degrade. and to them, that is left-wing. because anything to the left of triumph of the will must be leftist. because any art that has anything to say at all cannot be considered

[foxymoxynoona]

As an extremely white American, I would say wearing shoes inside is less about feeling bare feet are dirty and more about the formality of the situation.

In my own home, I usually take my shoes off when I get home just because it's more comfortable for me, but I'm not opposed to walking around the house in my shoes. Especially if I'm in the kitchen, I'll often put shoes on to protect my feet from hot things that could spill and crumbs that will inevitably get on the floor as I cook. It also depends on how familiar and formal the situation is. If I went to my friends house or I had friends over and we were posted up on the couch watching movies, I'd probably remove my shoes. If I went to a dinner party at someone's house or was hosting one myself, having someone over I didn't know well, or generally in a dressier situation I would wear my shoes inside. Being barefoot around someone or in someone's home is more of a sign of comfort level?

And then yeah, to your point, I don't really think of wearing shoes inside as being dirty and it's probably because we don't use our floors in the same way (ie sitting or eating on the ground). I also agree that it's also probably due to cultural differences in terms of germ tolerance. Even post pandemic, I don't think we are as cautious or wary of germs in America. We didn't mask before the pandemic and I think most people hardly mask now. But of course that's also because we live in a privileged country where being more lax about germs doesn't mean I'm putting my health at major risk. Sometimes when I watch old BTS videos and they are wearing masks it strikes me that if I had discovered BTS before 2020, it probably would have seemed foreign to me to see them in masks all the time, whereas post-pandemic I am used to it.

I feel like hard floors vs. carpet makes a difference too! Like it's more normal to be wearing shoes in the kitchen on tile or wood, but then take your shoes off in the living room that has a carpet. Or like when I lived in a bigger house growing up I would wear shoes more often downstairs in more common and formal areas, but take them off to go upstairs to the bedrooms and personal spaces.

That's just my two cents but also I am respectful of anyone else's preferences and if someone asks me to take off my shoes at their house, I will happily do it without comment. I really don't care! If someone does have a reaction to it, it's probably more about their own xenophobia/prejudice to things that are different or the American aversion to being told what to do in general lol. People will look for any excuse that someone else is infringing on their "liberty".

The formality! Yes thank you, I know there were probably some rationales I was forgetting. So I grew up in a place that has much more stringest ideas of etiquette and formality and it would definitely be considered impolite to be bare-foot around others, that's what i was sort of getting at with the feet thing but you're right it's not necessarily a belief that feet are dirty. It's just in the bucket of I was raised that it's something rude to do. In contrast, my husband expects all shoes off and has no issue telling contractors they need to take theri shoes off to come inside etc haha, which they then sometimes have to explain they can't because of insurance purposes or whatever, and then it's not a big deal, or if a guest says they'd be uncomfortable that's fine.

I do think we also have a great deal of privilege in terms of the diseases we can catch (or rather lack thereof), at least for those who aren't immunocomrpomised, and that leads to some laxity in germs. This is another thing my husband is way more particular on; I'm tidier, he's more concerned with germ management.

Thanks for these additions!

[elbiotipo]

I need to share what I had to witness in the Youtube comments section of a video about the pros and cons of living in the US and Europe, which had me thinking "I wonder what elbiotipo would think of this": there was an Argentinean saying that he moved to the US 10 years ago (he didn't state how old he is now), and claimed that he knows the "European way of life" due to growing up in Argentina (???), so he really made it look like he knows what he's talking about and can say which of those places are better to live, then saying he prefers the US. I think what made this even funnier is that another user replied to that guy, one that grew up in Netherlands and moved to Argentina, and added that Argentina is not like living in Europe at all and there's no such things as an European way of life since we're talking about a whole continent, unlike the US. Now I knew Argentina has this bad fame of being perceived as "European" but that's probably the first time I see one that genuinely believe they're the same. It reminded me of some of the gaúchos we have in Brazil but that guy was being a bit more extreme about it

There are a bunch of assholes (mostly upper class people in my experience) in Argentina who believe they are Proper Europeans unfortunately Cursed to be born in Latin America and they want to Escape From Latin America and go back to Europe, or if that fails, to a "proper country" like the US (I'm sure you've heard of these guys, if gaúchos in Brasil are any similar) That guy sounds particulary unbearable. Like I'm imagining him talking and I want to tell him to go shit himself.

And yes, there are many sections of Argentine society that are proud of their "Europeaness", after all, it was the Eurocentrism encouraged during the XIX-early XX centry administrations to "civilize the country". The truth is that Argentina does have a majority of inmigrant descended people, and this has been considered -especially by the Porteño elite- the core of the country, dismissing all the other people who make this country. This is the core issue with racism in Argentina; the belief that European inmigrants (we never tak about Asian, Middle Eastern ones...) built this nation, and the rest are just useless people, or even aren't there because all Argentines came from Italy and Spain (this is why you find people saying Black Argentines or Indigenous Argentines "don't exist", which you can see is patently untrue the moment you walk through any street). I'm not mincing words here, this is how racism expresses itself here.

In some cases, it has expressed itself as a rejection of the country itself, like "this country is shit, I wanna go back to my grand(grandgrand, usually)parents home in First World Europe". The funny thing is that comments like that Dutch person show the truth: for all their eurocentrism, they are still Latinos born and raised here and their idealization of Europe or the US makes no sense, because they have no idea how's life there; they BELIEVE they do because they're white and wealthy, but they don't. They're basically highly privileged assholes who want to shit higher than everybody else, and since money isn't enough, they start claiming cultural/racial kinship with a First World that doesn't care about them.

You can't escape from Latin America if you're not a Latin American first.

[phoebosacerales]

Mundane Astrology USA #2 - Foreign Policy 2024

*See the last post on USA-Mundane Astrology-July 2024

Another thing we see in the Aries ingress chart is the strong position of Jupiter, even stronger in angularity than Mars and in the 7th house, which deals with the relationship with other countries, allies or enemies. Jupiter is ruling usamerican economic and military resources (2nd house), which have been largely invested in israel and the Palestinian genocide for decades but particularly this year.

Israel or Netanyahu can be seen as Venus exalted, in sect, in her joy, and in a mutual reception with Jupiter, the usamerican money. This is how strong of a chuck-hold israel seems to have gotten the usamerican Congress in. Venus isn't always the good guy, especially if she's oriental with Saturn. We tend to think of Mars as usually representing strong military power, but Mars is usually representing the losing side of a war and all its side-effects as ruin, famine, plagues, genocide etc. Venus on the other hand can well represent the protected, walled and privileged way of living of zionists.

I've already said how in the last lunation chart we could see the rise of Kamala in Venus' heliacal rise. Biden also gets better, because he's still the president and represented by the Sun getting stronger, and and in this chart he's also Mars, the ruler of the MC, just getting out of its exile.

Venus overall stills rules the 7th for this year and it'll always be important to keep in mind its original significations in the Aries Ingress. So, at the same time, something or someone from a foreign country were bound to rise in the news during this time entering the space of the usamerican power (10th house). However, in this lunation chart, the matters of the 7th are ruled by Saturn in the 8th.

This is the chart for Netanyahu's repulsive speech in the american Congress this last wednesday (July 24), where he got multiple standing ovations. The Moon passes through Saturn, demonstrating the focus on israel this day, but in this specific chart Saturn is the opponent of power (4th) and the Moon demonstrates the revolt of the protests outside, invisible from the 10th house. Here we have the same ascendant as the Aries Ingress chart and Venus is right up there in the 10th in her heliacal rise. The Sun even losing its authority, already cadent, as the whole Congress look like a bunch of cucks. Mercury is also present as the Congress itself (11th ruler), but we can see it also as a representation of the speech, because it's Mercury. It's is in the heart of the Lion, Regulus, which can manifest as overwhelming displays of power and ruthlessness.

In the next lunation (August 4th) we'll see Leo rising again and this time, Venus seems even stronger and it also rules the MC, while being conjunct Regulus. The New Moon brings beginnings, especially in the 1st house and with planets in heliacal rise. Remember Leo is the 10th sign of the Aries Ingress. This could be Kamala stepping up even more and taking authority because that's what Leo and Regulus do, or by some miracle, Biden takes a very authoritative position on something. I fear this could be explosive and big. I hope it's nothing about israel.

Until next year, that very well dignified Venus on the Aries Ingress represents how safe is the place of israel in the United States' interests and support, and in that matter I can't be optimistic about the future, both astrologically and realistically. But something about Saturn there makes me wonder if we can hope for more anger from the people or some kind of damage to this relationship. Because everything has just been completely soul shattering, and all of us are losing with Palestine, all countries suffering under imperialism lose with Palestine.

[magnoliamyrrh]

theres something deeply disingenous abt how whenever some issue gets brought up let's say abortion for example ppl on this website wanna pretend like white american women have nothing to say on it and wont be impacted and as if white american women have experienced like, no opression in america. as if till VERY RECENTLY they had no right to vote, to say no to sex in marriage, own a bank account, get abortions - hey, remember too when white women literally had to kneel in front of their husbands and beg their sins to be forgiven, and when they put those god awful mechanical cages on their faces to force them to smile?

yea. listen. i have my issues w many of them too for sure. but this sort of attitude is detached from reality

are we still aware Many white women exist in this country who are poor? like, poor as shit. who will Most definitely and Have Already Been impacted by the abortion laws bc they dont have the money to simply leave the state to another one to get an abortion (and also, bc the governments have made it illegal to do so). Can we not pretend that there arent white women who live in grueling poverty, especially in the rust belt and other such places where there are entire communities forgotten by everyone in deep poverty? can we not pretend white teenage girls dont get raped and forcibly impregnated? can we not pretend many of them dont come from very conservative families which either never gave them the education to know about sex and abortion, or would not allow them to get one? can we not pretend that white women arent still experiencing domestic abuse and rape and other forms of male violence in this country, also, one of them being being killed by men the moment they find out theyre pregnant?

even like "rich white women" in which case the conversation stops actually being predominantly about race but is now Actually about class status and yes, there are minority women w money. even rich women and them rich white women and Girls are susceptible to domestic abuse, rape, and violence, as well as having insane conservative families which would flip their shit if they found out they had an abortion. And yes, many of those conservative families Wont make an exception for their daughters and will absolutely force their little girls and teenagers, wether it be rape or consensual, to Not get an abortion and carry out a pregnancy till the end. Also, theres plenty of cases in which higher class women are so not because they have their own independent money but bc of their husbands money, which again makes the idea that they can just willy nilly skip town to another state for an abortion easily unrealistic and detached from reality. Yes. there Are Definetely cases in which economic status means a women in a place which has banned abortions will still b able to get one, absolutely. but its more complicated than what ppl make it out to be

like, this website going on for weeks about how american white women have like nothing to say on abortion and it being banned was insane and the peak of dumbass identity politics being taken to an extreme. the other part of this too people going "the handmaidens tale is so stupid blah blah there will never be a time when white women will be used as broodmaids" like..... yall are fucking stupid and have no idea, like clearly absolutely no idea of the history of america like At All, and because you live in a liberal area youve got no idea what conservative and rural america is like in the current day either

-_- this is way past the point of complains about white women. this is just stupidity and frankly fucking privilege lmao to not understand a series of things and its also another example of identity politics taken to a stupid level, being used to divide women, not being an Actually productive conversation, and also the erasure of class

[koheletgirl]

me talking about my feelings about things that happened on tumblr a month ago

you know, since the beginning of this and until very recently, i felt like i needed to justify still being here. and not out of some irrational sense of guilt; people were saying this. very loudly. "if you're still in israel, i don't care what your position is. i don't care if you're not a zionist. i don't care if you want to leave. die. die violently, even." and i have spoken about the "there are no civilians" rhetoric before, and about tumblr's twisted perception that israeli blood is allowed. i don't think it matters what my position is, i don't think i have more right to live bc i'm a jew with "the correct opinion". but anyway, what i want you to do is think for a sec about why you made me feel so guilty about existing. me wanting to leave is one thing, you demanding it from me is another. i can't leave babe. i don't have the money. it's literally that fucking simple. i'll obviously miss my family, and i'll have to live the rest of my life as an immigrant, and i'll have to raise my kids in a country i did not grow up in. i've made my peace with that long ago, for multiple reasons. right now i simply do not have the money. do you? can you move to another country right now? another continent? how would you feel if i told you you had to or you deserved to die?

i was reminded of this earlier when i saw that post claiming there are no leftist israelis in israel. and i don't want you to misunderstand – my ability to leave on my own terms when i can afford it is a privilege. it's a huge privilege. especially in the face of everything. but i'm done apologizing for existing to a bunch of americans on tumblr. yeah i live here. i didn't choose this. no one in my family did either, they fled here when they felt they had no other option. it doesn't change the fact that israel shouldn't have existed in the first place. and i'll leave when i can. but fuck you for wanting me to dissappear.

[germiyahu]

And if you really want me to examine why people in the global south also have such an animosity to Jewish sovereignty in their historic homeland, and seem to give Palestinian Resistance a carte blanche... well I'm definitely not as qualified but fine! I have some theories!

A lot of the Global South are Westerners, kind of. This is especially true for Latin America, and they hate to see it, but a huge proportion of those societies is descended from European settlers, their cultures are heavily influenced by Western cultures. A lot of these countries, especially Latin America (and South Africa too interesting) have also had their own substantial Jewish populations. So if it looks like kind of like a Western society, and it treats its own Jews like a Western society... need I go on?

A lot of the Global South, actually most of it, including the countries that fall in category one, was occupied violently by the West. This created another avenue to transfer Western values onto subjugated populations. And no, don't shake your head at me. You can't claim the GS's homophobia was forced on it by the West and then act like the same wouldn't apply to antisemitism? A lot of the Global South never had significant Jewish populations, that much is true. The concept of antisemitism might feel frivolous and remote to them; why is that our problem? See my own anon. All the same, they were colonized by Jew Haters. At the same time they'd lack exposure to say, Holocaust education, and also have exposure to say, the idea that Jews are overrepresented in global finance.

Even in areas where Western influence was never high historically, even when there are not significant Jewish populations, we live in a modern globalized world where Western culture is a commodity and that commodity makes people money. And people in the Global South consume it. Their conception of the average Jew is probably either an Israeli soldier in some news story about Palestinians being harassed, or a white(ish) American who seems the epitome of privilege to them. They use social media, they see what Americans and Europeans say about Jews. It's very easy to conform to whatever opinions are the loudest and most prevalent.

So a lot of Global South Denizens probably are used to persecuting Jews, expelling or killing Jews, and also dealing with colonial masters who were constantly telling them how Jews cannot be trusted. And for a lot of them, if Jews were present, they were there helping the occupying power, as many Jews were imperial citizens and were present in colonies in various occupations. The Imperial Powers would not have passed up the opportunity to pass the buck to Jews where it was convenient. I see a lot of Algerians excuse their cleansing of Jews as "The Jews were made the middle man by the French colonizers, and they reveled in turning their backs on their Algerian brothers." This excuses violent ethnic cleansing in their minds. Why? Because Western propaganda primed the gun they were already loading.

In essence: I'm not surprised that the Global South is "crying out" for Palestine. All they know about Jews they learned from the West, or they have their own history of violently oppressing Jews. Should any of us be surprised? If you picked anyone in their camp and pitted them against a Jewish state, anywhere in the world, they would still see Jews as a foreign arm of Western Imperial Power, sent by the Man to keep them down. Or the Jews would themselves be the Man I guess. Except then the Jewish claim to indigeneity would not only be more tenuous, it would be ludicrous and false on the face of it.

It's the same reason a lot of people of color in the West identify with Palestinians and the Palestinian struggle. I don't say they do so in error. But I wholeheartedly believe they and a lot of people in the GS are projecting their own societal trauma onto Israel. Obviously Israel is very much doing bad things, so this isn't coming from nothing. But if the vitriolic reactions to Israel and the blind support for literal fascists seem extreme, maybe that's why. They don't care to see the difference between an Israel and a Great Britain or a France. And I'm not saying they have to, but when Jews themselves are also a historically oppressed and nearly wiped out persecuted people, it can come across as fairly gauche to say there's no difference between Israel and Germany, to say that Jews just flat out don't belong in their historic homeland.

There you go, there's my unqualified opinion. Are you happy now?