#melanie accusations

[jellyarchived]

Hello everyone, I know that I should be on break but this is important, please watch this video.

Timothy Heller, a victim of SA returns to the internet after years and speaks about her experience with Melanie Martinez who is her rapist. I'm proud of Timothy for speaking up after years and I hope she gets the justice she deserves. I don't care if Melanie dickriders shit on me and try to prove me that Timothy is a liar. And even if she WAS one, would you really support a possible rapist instead of a possible liar?

I believe the victim, I always will. And even if you don't believe Timothy, keep in mind that Melanie has SA'ed other people and is a bad person in general.

[autistic-wolf-pack]

because the Melanie Martinez allegations are resurfacing…

DISCLAIMER BECAUSE ALL OF YOU FUCKING MEL SUPPORTERS REFUSE TO READ TILL THE END! I DONT THINK TIMOTHY IS A GOOD PERSON! SHES A RACIST AND HAS SOME ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HER, BUT NONE OF THIS MAKES MEL INNOCENT OR JUSTIFIED

Friendly reminder that:

-Mel’s first response was to say “Timothy never said no”, but then changed the story to “nothing happened”

-Timothy picked out the game, but didn’t consent to do anything farther

-Timothy only said it was that date because she was looking at the date of a photo which she saved in her camera roll multiple times

-Timothy has nothing to gain from making these allegations again, especially after they ruined her life the first time

-The crybabies hacked Timothy, doxxed her, sent hate, and Melanie thanked them

-Timothy never actually accused anyone else of doing anything, the posts were fabricated

-Timothy wasn’t the only one who made allegations against her

-By saying Timothy is lying because she messed up the date or didn’t give all of the details when she first made the accusations (left out the part about the games) you’re invalidating many, many other victims. -By siding with Melanie you’re telling every survivor in your life that you’re willing to side with the person who assaulted them if you know of the other person if they leave out any part of the story, don’t remember something correctly, etc.

If you support Melanie, get tf off of this blog. Our stance has never changed once since the allegations came out. As soon as Melanie said “she never said no” that should’ve been enough for you. (not to say Timothy is a good person, as she apparently has allegations against her, and is racist)

[n0nesence]

@anglebabia on YouTube has posted this on her community post and I believe that it truly speaks the truth on what is going on

They point out lots of key facts from the latest accusations

@neoxghoul @melaniemartinezmusic @crybabylipstick

Also: Everyone on twitter can stfu (they are saying shit like 'i hope Melanie dies etc etc')

Like honestly stfu, keep that shit to yourselves.

[servuscallidus]

I never liked Melanie as a person but was very intrigued by her as a character, since she's as deep and well written as any other on the show, (until fandom made me hate her). I'd forgotten though that the dislike was immediate + from her first appearance we get to know one of her most fundamental (and insufferable) traits, that is that she does exactly what Jon does, worse-ish* even, but she thinks she's better than him because, well, because it's her and she just is. Which will come back full force later on to such wonderful effects

[zestylemonsz]

mfs really be saying "believe all victims" until the one being accused of the crime is someone they like.

[theeverythingfanofeverything]

Not my usual content (especially since i haven't posted in months)

Bro i be hearing bout them Melanie aligations and im quivering in fear like idk which side to be on 😭 i believe in "believe the victims" but there are a lot of times "victims" lie about these serious things like the whole Kwite SA aligations last year. I want to side with melanie but like she hasn't responded with her side of the story and like some of her responses in 2017 are making my head hurt. I want to believe her but it's getting hard when people are making reasonable reasons why not to. On the other hand, i would love to believe the victim in all this but them bringing this up each time mel gets more famous with holes in her story are confusing. Im not saying im taking either side im just gonna remain neutral until we get a response from melanie. Cause at the end of the day, we dont know Mel or Timothy personally. We dont know what happened. I just hope this gets resolved in a reasonable matter cause doxxing is just fucking insane.

Anyways ima sleep now, this is just my personal opinion on this situation cause tho Melanie is my favorite artist, i kinda need her response in all this. WE need her response. We all have our opinions, dont immediately chose a side just stay neutral until we get more evidence, and weither you love or hate melanie, that's your opinion.

If i sound weird just know im running off of no sleep god help me

[bigfreakinfrog]

Ok so I’ve been thinking about this for a while about Elias’s imprisonment.... So generally when people are accused of a crime they get a trial. and it must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty. Now: the only evidence that they had was the tape where Elias admitted to the murder of Gertrude and Lietner and possibly the tape where he actually killed Lietner? Unsure on that one. Yes both of those tapes could be prettyyyy damning evidence but you can’t really find someone guilty on just that. Elias could deny it was him on the tape or it was altered and I have a hard time believing he could actually be charged on both their murders based on tape recordings. Obviously AI voice wasn’t like it is today back in good ol’ 2017 but it probably wasn’t far off and I’m sure the defense could claim that the tapes were digitally altered. (You can make an audio file and record it onto a tape recorder pretty easily). So here are my theories:

1. Elias threw the trial and just admitted guilt. He wanted to go to prison anyway to get out of having to be around Jon and to instill Peter at the Institute. However, I think this is the least likely scenario since it’d be more difficult to get out of should anything go wrong (aka if Jon actually decided to die and he had to go to a backup plan). He probably also wouldn’t want to ruin his reputation by being found guilty. Sure being accused of murder isn’t a great look either but... lol

2. The trial keeps getting delayed due to bureaucracy/Elias’s meddling and while he’s awaiting trial they decided he was possibly too dangerous to be free. I did look it up and you can be imprisoned before trial in the UK if its determined to be necessary.

It’s possible that he organized something through blackmail to allow his court date to keep getting postponed. Also he could simply have organized with the police to simply hide out in prison without any charges (this is kinda like... a fourth theory but it wasn’t too different from the second so i didn’t make a whole new bullet point). The whole thing just for show. He literally didn’t need to be in handcuffs he’s just being dramatic

3. There *was* more evidence.

“All the evidence” does imply more than just the tapes. Perhaps they had fingerprints they could match on the pipe. Again with the tapes, Elias could argue they were spoofed and refuse to sign any confession. He also already is able of producing counter evidence through manipulating the cameras in the Institute. Fingerprints would be harder to dismiss but then... Jon’s fingerprints would also be on the pipe.

-

Anyway in my person theory number 2 is the most likely scenario. In MAG 122 we get this line from Basira:

Notably she doesn’t say he was convicted or charged. So if theory 2 is correct he really could just leave anytime he decides/speed through his trial and be found innocent should anything go awry. I find it interesting to speculate on how many backup plans Elias had going at once. Obviously all the marks were meticulously planned out, but even the best laid plans fail sometimes. It doesn’t make sense for him to allow himself to be proven guilty when Jon could kick the bucket and then he’d be stuck in prison delaying his ritual.

... Ultimately none of this really matters to the plot of the show I just thought it was interesting.

[medufasa]

Alt female singers are my everything

[plaqying]

’and since the lord forgot my gay awakening’ I FUCKING LOVE HER

[jellyarchived]

Explaining and (hopefully) proving Melanie Martinez is a bad person in general and shouldn't get supported !!

I want to start off strong and say that no, I don't support Timothy's actions and they shouldn't get justified for the things she has done. Want I do want, is for Timothy and other victims to get justice on their SA case or other. (SA is not a joke, believe the victims!!)

This post has multiple sections and will cover (almost) everything from top to bottom, take some of my words with a grain of salt as they took me months to find and even provide. Of course, if you do have any more information I couldn't find myself, I will look into it once mentioned and update this post eventually.

1. NFT's

This was pretty well known if I remember correctly, Melanie sold NFTs featuring a crying elephant, a duck looking into a mirror, a claustrophobic teddy bear and a flying cow that was..well, lactating. (Oddly it seemed sexual too which is yikes!!)

Those NFT's still exists and can be viewed right here.

The only reason I'm mentioning this is to bring it back up again, even with how minimal is may seem to other allegations, it's best to bring up past behaviors and what not.

NFT's are bad, they're harmful for the environment, buying, creating or even selling NFT's can cause pollution or e-waste, they're unnecessary.

2. CP (Child Porn)

This allegation has recently been outed, Melanie has been doing CP with none other than her own character Crybaby. I have seen that others made fun of it too (which honestly, isn't funny! Don't make jokes about child porn even if it's a fictional character!! Most things that happen in fiction happen often in reality).

Melanie has posted a "work in progress" drawing featuring her character topless, A CHILD, topless. Drawing a child (Crybaby) even if it's a fictional character (albeit, it also did count has Melanie's weird persona) anything of a child drawn sexually can legally count as CP, which is absolutely disgusting.

I would mention the coloring book too, but as I didn't see all the pages I shouldn't comment on it much. But from what I have seen, it's worth to mention it in this section too.

3. Pedophilia

A strong word but it's worth to mention. I'm sure Melanie's theme about "infants, children" and whatnot are obvious. Those childlike songs with a undertone of sexual stuff can be easy to ignore if you don't listen to the lyrics.

Melanie Martinez's whole theme revolves about her character, Crybaby, who goes through stages of life while growing up featured with sexual stuff. I want to still mention that Crybaby is a CHILD. It's unnecessary of Melanie Martinez to make a child appeal sexually even (cough, Pacify Her music video, Training Wheels lyrics and music video).

Another thing I wanna mention is K-12, a movie and album once again revolving about children. The movie was bad (and, if I remember correctly, even she worked with a pedophile on set while aware which is a big yikes!!), as far as I saw, everybody has seen that the "Teacher's Pet" song and scene was unnecessary to add (considering the character was also nude in that scene, it's once again CP).

While the characters don't have a specific age, they're in high school!! HIGH SCHOOL, they're still children for crying out loud.

In short, Melanie has shown pedophilic behavior in albums and songs.

4. Bad Treatment towards friends and Co-workers

While it isn't as, "well known" per say, it has been said by Gina Frey (i deeply apologize for the bad quality in that image! Finding this was very difficult and I can't seem to find one with one that was more readable) who was friends with Melanie back then has said she dealt with Melanie Martinez's awful behavior and treatment towards her, I want to add that Allison Balchi had shortly mentioned she didn't get the best treatment either.

Stella Rose (she will once again be mentioned in a different section) also appears to be on the same boat as Gina Frey And Allison Balchi.

While I am not sure with what exactly has also happened with the artist of the Crybaby coloring book, the artist has mentioned that they don't want to do anything with Melanie anymore and won't return to her either (from my choice, it was best to add it here since the artist not wanting to do anything with Melanie anymore can count here).

5. Rapist Allegations

Before you go and mention "well!! Innocent until proven guilty!!!" This won't work, it's GUILTY until proven innocent. If you were brought to court you would not even be near innocent but counted as guilty.

I think we all know this has resurfaced (and thank God it did! This allegation is not a joke do NOT shove it aside), but it's also obvious which side people are on.

Timothy Heller has returned to the internet to speak about her SA case once again, while negativity has returned, a fair share took Timothy's words seriously and drove away from Melanie. Even with the mention of it being "debunked, Timothy lied Melanie innocent yippie!!" That is false.

Timothy didn't lie, Melanie has out right stated that it did happen, too.

A lack of no doesn't mean yes. And, even with some extra words added, she never said no stands out the most. Melanie made two tweets, one admitting the situation and the other THANKING her fans for bullying Timothy off the internet. How do you people not see anything wrong with that??

"Timothy got the dates mixed up!! Oh and the pictures don't add up either!!" I will be blunt and say victims of SA wouldn't remember the dates, that would be the LAST thing a victim would care about. And about the pictures, Timothy's gallery was bugging out, someone else who had the same type of phone Timothy had said that they had also have something like that happen.

Some screenshots about messages Timothy had sent were fake, edited, made up by Melanie's dickriders to silence Timothy.

Allegedly, when Timothy first said her statement about Melanie back then, one of Melanie's fans hacked her account, changed everything around it and left it with a laugh. Which should also say enough about Melanie's fans.

But Timothy wasn't the only one, Madeleine Carina and Stella Rose have also said something when Timothy spoke up about her situation, which by surprise got ignored as Timothy was at the center of everyone's attention.

I want to say on Madeleine's statement that she was peer pressured into saying yes to sleeping with Melanie, which is once again, NOT consented.

Getting pressured to say yes even if you DON'T want to COUNTS as a form of sexual assault and it flies over everybody's heads. I hope the victims get justice, it's sad to see that millions of people would rather believe a potential rapist (with oh so many allegations on her back already) than a potential victim.

I want to once again say, believe the victims! It's scummy of people to be well aware and still brush it off when it's right in front of their face (and seeing how people on TikTok act with wanting Melanie to rape them instead is fucking repulsing).

Melanie isn't a great person, her silence on the current situation says a lot, even going as far to ignore them. I hope this is her fucking down fall cause she honestly had it coming, she does not deserve her fame.

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

Okay a couple weeks ago I started this post trying to keep track of all the stuff going on in order to help remind us of everything that’s happened when the next election comes around. Well, because there’s just so much going on, I’ve realized trying to cram it all into one post isn’t going to work. So I’m going to do a new post every month and include links to the previous ones.

So here goes…

January 2025

February 2025

Donald Trump has enforced his tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. [x]

Donald Trump has put Mexico tariffs on hold for one month. [x]

Donald Trump allowed Elon Musk to begin dismantling USAID. [x]

Congress is voluntarily giving up its power and allowing Trump to make unilateral decisions. [x]

Darren Beattie has been made Under Secretary of State. [x]

Everything that Donald Trump has done so far lines up with Project 2025 [x]

The White House is drafting an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education [x]

Elon Musk, who nobody voted for or elected, has, essentially, hacked the government. [x]

El Salvador has agreed to take US deportees of any nationality. [x]

US Representative Andy Biggs is proposing a bill to abolish OSHA. [x]

Pam Bondi has been confirmed as Attorney General [x]

Donald Trump doesn’t think Palestinians should return to Gaza. [x]

Donald Trump says he’ll use US troops to “take over” the Gaza Strip. [x]

A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship. [x]

Donald Trump has banned trans women from women’s sports [x]

Donald Trump sanctions the International Criminsl Court. [x]

A judge has paused the federal “buyouts” [x]

DOGE: Member of DOGE resigns [x]

DOGE has been given access to the Department of Energy. [x]

Miscellaneous news about Elon Musk [x]

DOGE is using AI to infiltrate the Department of Education [x]

Russell Vought, author of Project 2025, has been confirmed as Director of OMB [x]

Democrats in Congress have introduced the Taxpayer Data Protection Act [x]

Donald Trump has flagged the words “women” “diverse” and “historically” from studies done by the National Science Foundation. [x]

New Mexico Representative Melanie Stansbury has introduced the Nobody Elected Elon Musk Act [x]

Democratic Congressional leaders have introduced the Stop the Steal Act [x]

Donald Trump has called for a review of funding for the United Nations [x]

Federal agencies are barred from celebrating Black History Month [x]

Donald Trump has frozen aid to South Africa and accused the South African government of racism against white South Africans [x]

Donald Trump wants to use Leavenworth Prison as a migrant detention facility and have it run by a for-profit company known for its numerous human rights violations. [x] [x]

Trump has told the Treasury to stop making pennies. [x]

Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) proposes the E.L.O.N. M.U.S.K. Act (which stands for Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy) [x]

Employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau were told to stop all work and are now being told to stay home. [x]

Trump will impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. [x]

Trump says Palestinians won’t be allowed back in Gaza if the US takes it over [x]

Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed as director of national intelligence. [x]

Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA) has proposed a bill to change the name of Greenland to Red, White & Blue Land [x]

The DOJ has dropped the corruption charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams. [x]

An AP News reporter has been banned from the White House for using Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America in its reporting. [x][x]

Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Angus King (I-ME) are pushing for a tax credit that would encourage businesses to offer paid family leave. [x]

Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA) has introduced the Protect US National Security Act [x]

The State Department (taxpayers) is paying Elon Musk $400 million for cybertrucks. [x]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as HHS Secretary. [x]

Trump is conducting a mass firing of the federal workforce. [x]

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is creating a list of all the ‘woke’ science he wants to get rid of. [x]

References to transgender have been removed from the Stonewall National Monument. [x]

A 71 year old refugee living in Thailand has died because of the USAID freeze. [x][x]

Trump’s proposed tax cuts will add trillions to US debt. [x]

Trump is defying the court order to reopen USAID. [x]

Trump has stopped the CDC’s flu vaccine campaign. [x]

Trump is suing Brazil’s Supreme Court because of Brazil’s battles with Elon Musk over Twitter/X. [x]

Kash Patel has been confirmed as FBI director. [x]

Trump orders FEMA to stop their work with making homes better at withstanding natural disasters. [x]

Kash Patel will be named chief of the ATF [x]

Trump has tried to make independent agencies no longer independent [x]

$200 million of taxpayer money was used on a pro-Trump anti-migrant ad [x]

The House of Representstives passed a bill that gives more than $4 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts the budget for Medicaid by 80% [x]

Here’s a summary of Trump’s executive orders so far [x]

The Trump administration has issued travel bans for trans athletes [x]

Trump administration is telling federal agencies to prepare for more mass layoffs [x]

Elon Musk joined Trump’s first cabinet meeting. [x]

Trump is offering “gold cards” to wealthy foreigners [x]

Kash Patel names Dan Bongino as Deputy Director of the FBI. [x]

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has proposed legislation for the US to leave the United Nations [x]

Judge rules mass firings of federal workers is unlawful [x]

The Pentagon orders all transgender people to be removed from the military [x]

Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN) was going to vote against the budget bill that would cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid; then she got a phone call from Trump who apparently screamed at and threatened her; she then voted yes on the bill [x]

Trump administration has cancelled boot camps for women training to become Wildland firefighters [x]

Here’s a link to the Project 2025 Policy Agenda that Donald Trump claimed he didn’t know anything about.*

*He only claimed he didn’t know anything about it after it proved to be deeply unpopular with the general public.

I’m also including directories for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. That way, if you’re so inclined, you can also track the individual actions of every Senator and Representative.

Miscellaneous News

Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) repeatedly uses a transphobic slur on the Congressional floor. [x]

Clarence Thomas is…being Clarence Thomas *sigh* [x]

Donald Trump fired the Chair of the Kennedy Center and named himself as the new Chair [x]

Trump said that no group of people in the history of America has been treated worse than the way the January 6th insurrectionists have been treated. [x]

Some people are impersonating ICE agents and harassing & assaulting people of color [x][x]

Trump’s mass deportation is hitting a wall [x]

The Trump administration’s incompetence is coming back to bite them. [x]

Target has been facing backlash for rolling back its DEI initiatives. [x]

Donald Trump Has Already Spent $10.7 Million Of Taxpayer Money Playing Golf [x]

The Kennedy Center cancelled a performance of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC [x]

21 DOGE employees have resigned [x]

Musk’s new conflict of interest [x]

Trump posted an AI-created video about his plans for Gaza [x]

Here’s a Washington Post story about the migrants sent to Guantanamo Bay and the conditions they’re facing [x]

Trump supporters are calling for “processing camps” and private militias to go after migrants. [x]

Representative Cory Mills (R-FL) has been accused of assault and the Department of Justice is refusing to investigate [x]

A child has died in the measles outbreak in Texas [x]

China and Russia are trying to recruit disgruntled federal employees [x]

Elon Musk is trying to force the FAA to get rid of their contract with Verizon in favor of a contract with his company, Starlink [x]

Elon Musk makes $38 billion in government contracts [x]

Trump thinks that Andrew Tate is a totally okay guy [x]

The director of the Defense Health Agency abruptly retired [x]

March 2025

Once again, please feel free to let me know about anything I’ve missed. With this era of constant news we live in, it can be easy to forget so let’s give our future selves a little help!

[n0nesence]

I'm honestly so confused about that Tiktok Timothy made about the r@p3 allegations. In November of 2017, Timothy tweeted "what if I have my own story of ab*se but I'm scared to ruin the persons life and I still love them in a f*ck*d up way and the public really loves them and most probably wouldn't believe me" (talking about Melanie) And on December 4, 2017, Timothy publicly accused Melanie of s*xual assault on Twitter. She alleged two nights during which she "repeatedly said no" to advances from Melanie, claiming she kept secret for years and describing how Melanie had performed s*xual activities on her without her consent. Melanie replied to the accusation shortly after claiming Timothy's allegation was false, and stating "she never said no to what we chose to do together". Melanie further affirmed: "I understand how hard it could be to see my side of the story, considering no one with a heart would want to invalidate anyone speaking up about this topic I would never be intimate with someone without their absolute consent" and then In an interview with Newsweek, Timothy claimed that Melanie tried to contact both her and her boyfriend around 20 minutes after publishing the accusations through text and phone calls. No evidence to back this up was ever shared. In the aforementioned interview, Timothy went on to say that Melanie's dismissal of her account "says it all": "First of all, I did say 'no,' multiple times, but even if I hadn't, that doesn't mean I wanted it. She dug her own grave saying, 'she didn't say no'. That's not consent." I'm so confused, because Timothy said this and then she had changed the story multiple times in that year ect. and now she's talking about it again after so many years, why didn't she go to the police ect. I don't know, her Tiktok is confusing. Like, why would you make a Tiktok instead of going to the police? (Also, I'm not picking sides or anything I'm just saying because this is really confusing) anyways, I hope the truth is revealed, idk.

(Just wanted to share my thoughts about it and the information I had because I've been a fan of Melanie since 2012 and I have seen the 2017 tweets Timothy had said and I have them screenshoted after years and everything)

Exactly, the story is getting changed left right and centre. There's no clear story

Also, Timothy's friend has actually revealed that in 2017 when Melanie actually tried to call her to understand what was happening with the accusations, Timothy just laughed at her and said nothing before hanging up (you can find it here)

Timothy also isn't that good of a person anyway, she's been caught saying the N word, lying about being trans for money from a rapper, and getting a person in junior high to create the banner for her Only Fans 😬 (she's also been seen only letting her minor-aged fans access to her private Instagram...)

I feel like there's much more to this case than what either are speaking about (not that Melanie is speaking at all)

I guess we'll just have to wait it out just like in 2017 (just like the saying: history will always find a way to repeat itself)

Also please either send or post those screenshots! I've never actually been able to read them fully, just been able to read the ones that aren't fully true yk?

[contemplatingoutlander]

Rep. Melanie Stansbury: Welcome to Modern Day McCarthyism

This video is well worth watching! It is about H.R.8706 - Dismantle DEI Act of 2024, which Stansbury refers to as "just the start of the President-Elect's purge."

PARTIAL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

REP. MELANIE STANSBURY: But what is particularly peculiar about this massive bill that's been introduced--and I want to note that the co-sponsor of this bill or this primary sponsor of this bill in the Senate is Mr. J.D. Vance our vice president-elect—is it literally, as the title says, is about dismantling diversity equity and inclusion programs in the federal government. It revokes executive orders, it amends the Civil Rights Act, and it amends other parts of the federal code that protect our federal employees. And then it has this peculiar section that the ranking member talked about, which is actually essentially creating lists of federal employees and contractors that would never be eligible to work for the federal government again. Now we have a word for that in common parlance. We call it “blacklisting.” And blacklisting comes from the 1950s, when here in this House of Representatives there was a Committee on Unamerican Affairs that was convened under Joe McCarthy. The purpose of that was to purge the federal government, and to accuse federal employees, and blacklist them from future federal employment. So I'd like to say: Welcome to the New House Committee on Unamerican Affairs and to the New McCarthyism because we have arrived here today! [emphasis added]

Laurence Tribe: Excellent!

Really American: WATCH Rep. Melanie Stansbury issue a fantastic, full-throated repudiation of Trump's mostly unqualified clown car cabinet, and Republicans' attempt at modern day McCarthyism. No, the gentlelady will NOT yield. 🔥🔥🔥

[sabertoothdeer]

JON: Have things been… Well? With you?

GEORGIE: [she takes a breath, sounding tired] Eh, they haven’t been… Great. But they’re not terrible. I’ve been focusing a lot on my podcast lately.

JON: You started a podcast? GEORGIE: Yeah, it’s called ‘What The Ghost?’. I started it a few years back. A little while after we… [she trails off, taking another breath before resuming with a bit lighter tone] But it’s been going well! We’re getting pretty deep into this one story about an old town graveyard and it's pretty exciting.

JON: Th-that's great!

GEORGIE: Yeah, and with you?

JON: Uh, I accepted a position at the Magnus Institute around, erm… Four years ago now.

GEORGIE: Oh! You did?

JON: Yes. I was appointed to be the head archivist.

GEORGIE: That’s awesome, Jon! And that’s been alright?

JON: Oh, ah, it's fine. Things have been fine.

Potential dialogue for after Melanie’s statement in MAG 28:

[cell phone dialing]

[ringing is heard as we wait]

[the phone is picked up]

GEORGIE: Hello?

JON: Georgie, hello, it’s Jonathan.

GEORGIE: Jon! Hi! It’s been a while!

JON: Um… Yes, it has.

GEORGIE: How have you been?

JON: Ah, actually Georgie, I was calling to ask if you have any further information on Sarah Baldwin? [we heard GEORGIE let out a sigh] Melanie King came in to record a statement and—

GEORGIE: Seriously, Jon? The one time you call me in—well—years, and it’s about work? Not a, ‘Hi! How are you doing? Sorry I haven’t bothered to pick up the phone in a damn long time!’ No, of course you’re calling because you need something from me.

JON: Georgie…

GEORGIE: Sorry for trying to be optimistic, for once.

JON: …

[a few moments of silence pass]

[mariacallous]

On Boxing Day pro-Palestine demonstrators met customers at the Zara sale in the Westfield shopping centre, in Stratford, east London. They were not there to wish them the compliments of the season.

‘Bombs are dropping while you’re shopping,’ they chanted, as police stood by to make sure the protests did not turn violent. ‘Zara is enabling genocide,’ their placards read.

Quite what they wanted bargain hunters to do about the Israeli forces bombing the Gaza Strip, they never said. Lobby their MPs? Politicians are on their Christmas holidays. Join the Palestinian armed struggle?  It was unclear whether the shopping centre had a Hamas recruitment office.

But on one point the demonstrators were certain: no one should be buying from Zara. Even though the fashion chain has not encouraged Israel’s war against Hamas, earned income from it, or supported Israel in any material way, it was nevertheless “exploiting a genocide and commodifying Palestine's pain for profit”.

Zara, in short, has become the object of a paranoid fantasy: a QAnon conspiracy theory for the postcolonial left.

The Zara conspiracy is an entirely modern phenomenon. It has no original author. Antisemitic Russians sat down and wrote the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the early 20th century. There was an actual “Q” behind the QAnon conspiracy: a far-right activist who first appeared on 4chan message boards in 2017 to claim that a cabal of child abusers was conspiring against Donald Trump.

The Zara conspiracy was mass produced by social media users: an example of the madness of crowds rather than their supposed wisdom. The cause of the descent into hysteria was bizarre.

In early December Zara launched an advertising campaign featuring the model Kristen McMenamy wearing its latest collection in a sculptor’s studio. It clearly was a studio, by the way, and not a war zone in southern Israel or Gaza. McMenamy carried a mannequin wrapped in white fabric. The cry went up that the Spanish company was exploiting the suffering of Palestinians and that the mannequin was meant to represent a victim of Israeli aggression wrapped in a shroud.

The accusation was insane. No one in the photo shoot resembled a soldier or a casualty of war. Anyone who thought for 30 seconds before resorting to social media would have known that global brands plan their advertising campaigns months in advance.

Zara said the campaign presented “a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”. The idea for the studio setting was conceived in July. The photo shoot was in September, weeks before the Hamas assault on Israel on 7 October.

No one cared. Melanie Elturk, the CEO of fashion brand Haute Hijab, said of the campaign, ‘this is sick. What kind of sick, twisted, and sadistic images am I looking at?’ #BoycottZara trended on Twitter, as users said that Zara was ‘utterly shameful and disgraceful”’.

To justify their condemnations, activists developed ever-weirder theories. A piece of cardboard in the photoshoot was meant to be a map of Israel/Palestine turned upside down. Because a Zara executive had once invited an extreme right-wing Israeli politician to a meeting, the whole company was damned.

Astonishingly, or maybe not so astonishingly to anyone who follows online manias, the fake accusations worked. Zara stores in Glasgow, Toronto. Hanover, Melbourne and Amsterdam were targeted.

What on earth could Zara do? PR specialists normally say that the worst type of apology is the non-apology apology, when a public figure or institution shows no remorse, but instead says that they are sorry that people are offended. Yet Zara had not sought to trivialize or profit from the war so what else could it do but offer a non-apology apology? The company duly said it was sorry that people were upset.

“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created,” it said on 13 December, and pulled the advertising campaign

That was two-weeks ago and yet still the protests in Zara stores continue. On 23 December activists targeted Zara on Oxford Street chanting , 'Zara, Zara, you can't hide, stop supporting genocide', even though Zara was not, in fact,  supporting genocide. On Boxing Day, they were at the Stratford shopping centre.

Zara has apologised for an offence it did not commit. There is no way that any serious person can believe the charges against it. And yet believe them the protestors do. Or at the very least they pretend to believe for the sake of keeping in with their allies.

Maybe nothing will come of the protests. One could have argued in 2017, after all, that QAnon was essentially simple-minded people living out their fantasies online. Certainly, every sane American knew that there was no clique of paedophiles running the Democrat party, but where was the harm in the conspiracy theory?

Then QAnon supporters stormed the US capitol in January 2021. Will the same story play out from the Gaza protests? As far as I can tell, no one on the left is challenging the paranoia. I have yet to see the fact-checkers of the BBC and Channel 4 warning about the fake news on the left with anything like the gusto with which they treat its counterparts on the right.

To be fair, the scale of disinformation around the Gaza war is off the charts, and it is impossible to chase down every lie. But when fake news goes from online fantasies to real world protests, from 4chan to the Capitol, from Twitter to the Westfield shopping centre, it’s worth taking notice.

Sensible supporters of a Palestinian state ought to be the most concerned. No one apart from fascists, Islamists and far leftists believes that Israel should not defend itself. And yet the scale of its military action in Gaza is outraging world opinion. Mainstream politicians, who might one day put pressure on Israel, remain very wary about reflecting the anger on the streets.

They look at the insane conspiracy theories on the western left and see them as no different from the insane conspiracy theories that motivate Hamas, and they back away.

The Palestinians need many things: an end to the Netanyahu government, and an end to Hamas. But they could also use allies in the West who do not discredit their cause with dark, gibbering fantasies.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The railway line owned by CN connects Montreal to Halifax, where protesters claim goods are shipped to Israel.

Local Longueuil police said that they received a 911 call at about 10:05 a.m. They asked protesters blocking the tracks at the intersection of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Seigneurial boulevards to move. According to police spokesperson Melanie Mercille, after protesters refused to move, the police’s emergency intervention unit broke up the barricade an hour and a half later.

Police say four officers were struck by their own pepper spray and four people, both men and women in their 20s and 30s, are facing charges ranging from obstruction to assault.

[...]

In a press release, a group called the Ad-hoc BDS Direct Action Collective blamed CN Rail for helping transport goods to Israel, which they accuse of genocide in its conflict with Hamas. According to the release, the blockade was meant to “temporarily interrupt trade by shutting down a vital artery and draw attention to Canada’s material support, and inspire further boycott, divestment, and sanctions direct action.”

Continue Reading

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland