#protect armenians

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

1 ԿՈՐՆԹԱՑԻՆԵՐԻՆ 10:13 Ձեզի պատահած չէ փորձութիւն մը՝ որ մարդկային չըլլայ. բայց Աստուած հաւատարիմ է, եւ պիտի չթոյլատրէ որ փորձուիք ձեր կարողութենէն աւելի, հապա փորձութեան հետ ելք մըն ալ պիտի տայ, որպէսզի կարենաք կրել:

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it. — 1 Corinthians 10:13 |Armenian NT (ARMNT) and Berean Standard Bible (BSB) The Armenian (Western) NT Bible © Trinitarian Bible Society 2005 and The Berean Standard Bible is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God’s Word has been dedicated to the public domain. Cross References: Matthew 6:13; 1 Corinthians 1:9; Hebrews 10:23; 2 Peter 2:9

Read full chapter

How does God provide the way of escape from temptation?

[rodeodeparis]

i had no idea about the extent of armenian genocide denial in turkey/azerbaijan until embarrassingly recently and like. damn it really is just nakba denial on cocaine

[tlaquetzqui]

The slave galleys in Ben Hur are an anachronism. Romans, like most Indo-Europeans, did not use slave rowers, because ships were military and war defines the Indo-European freeman. If they needed slaves to row a warship, they freed them beforehand, rather than have to disgrace themselves by forcing slaves to fight.

No, it was Islam that introduced slave galleys to the Mediterranean—Islam that has a history nearly defined by slave soldiers, from Mamluks to Janissaries to ISIS making brainwashed Yazidi children into suicide bombers.

[kinsey3furry300]

There is an Old Armenian Radio joke...

An elderly Armenian man, beloved partiach of his family, is dying, surrounded by his children. Distraught, his eldest son ask him "Father, please before you leave us, please: one more peice of wisdom. How should I live my life? What should my goals be? What should I do once you are gone?"

Without hesitation the man answered "When I am gone, protect the Jews."

His family goes queit for a moment before his son answered "Of... of course father, but why specifically the Jews?"

"If they go, we're next."

This post is about trans rights.

[mariacallous]

It is over and everything is lost. This is the refrain repeated by Armenian families as they take that final step across the border out of their home of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In just a handful of days more than 100,000 people, almost the entire Armenian population of the breakaway enclave, has fled fearing ethnic persecution at the hands of Azerbaijani forces. The world barely registered it. But this astonishing exodus has vanished a self-declared state that thousands have died fighting for and ended a decades-old bloody chapter of history.

On Saturday, along that dusty mountain road to neighbouring Armenia, a few remaining people limp to safety after enduring days in transit.

Among them is the Tsovinar family who appear bundled in a hatchback littered with bullet holes, with seven relatives crushed in the back. Hasratyan, 48, the mother, crumbles into tears as she tries to make sense of her last 48 hours. The thought she cannot banish is that from this moment forward, she will never again be able to visit the grave of her brother killed in a previous bout of fighting.

“He is buried in our village which is now controlled by Azerbaijan. We can never go back,” the mother-of-three says, as her teenage girls sob quietly beside her.

“We have lost our home, and our homeland. It is an erasing of a people. The world kept silent and handed us over”.

She is interrupted by several ambulances racing in the opposite direction towards Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city of Stepanakert, or Khankendi, as it is known by the Azerbaijani forces that now control the streets. Their job is to fetch the few remaining Karabakh Armenians who want to leave and have yet to make it out.

“Those left are the poorest who have no cars, the disabled and elderly who can’t move easily,” a first responder calls at us through the window. “Then we’re told that’s it.”

As the world focused on the United Nations General Assembly, the war in Ukraine and, in the UK, the felling of an iconic Sycamore tree, a decades old war has reignited here unnoticed.

It ultimately heralded the end of Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian region, that is internationally recognised as being part of Azerbaijan but for several decades has enjoyed de facto independence. It has triggered the largest movement of people in the South Caucasus since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Azerbaijan has vehemently denied instigating ethnic cleansing and has promised to protect Armenians as it works to reintegrate the enclave.

But in the border town of Goris, surrounded by the chaotic arrival of hundreds of refugees, Armenia’s infrastructure minister says Yerevan was now struggling to work out what to do with tens of thousands of displaced and desperate people.

“Simply put this is a modern ethnic cleansing that has been permitted through the guilty silence of the world,” minister Gnel Sanosyan tells The Independent, as four new busses of fleeing families arrive behind him.

“This is a global shame, a shame for the world. We need the international community to step up and step up now.”

The divisions in this part of the world have their roots in centuries-old conflict but the latest iterations of bitter bloodshed erupted during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh Armenians, who are in the majority in the enclave, demanded the right to autonomy over the 4,400 square kilometre rolling mountainous region that has its own history and dialect. In the early 1990s they won a bloody war that uprooted Azerbaijanis, building a de facto state that wasn’t internationally unrecognised.

That is until in 2020. Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, launched a military offensive and took back swathes of territory in a six-week conflict that killed thousands of soldiers and civilians. Russia, which originally supported Armenia but in recent years has grown into a colder ally, brokered a fragile truce and deployed peacekeepers.

But Moscow failed to stop Baku in December, enforcing a 10-month blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh, strangling food, fuel, electricity and water supplies. Then, the international community stood by as Azerbaijan launched a 24-hour military blitz that proved too much for Armenian separatist forces. Outgunned, outnumbered and weakened by the blockade, they agreed to lay down their weapons.

For 30 years the Karabakh authorities had survived pressure from international powerhouses to give up statehood or at least downgrade their aspirations for Nagorno-Karabakh. For 30 years peace plans brokered by countries across the world were tabled and shelved.

And then in a week all hope vanished and the self-declared government agreed to dissolve.

Fearing further shelling and then violent reprisals, as news broke several Karabakh officials including former ministers and separatist commanders, had been arrested by Azerbaijani security forces, people flooded over the border.

At the political level there are discussions about “reintegration” and “peace” but with so few left in Nagorno-Karabakh any process would now be futile.

And so now, sleeping in tents on the floors of hotels, restaurants and sometimes the streets of border towns, shellshocked families, with a handful of belongings, are trying to piece their lives together.

Among them is Vardan Tadevosyan, Nagorno-Karabakh’s minister of health until the government was effectively dissolved on Thursday. He spent the night camping on the floor of a hotel, and carries only the clothes he is wearing. Exhausted he says he had “no idea what the future brings”.

“For 25 years I have built a rehabilitation centre for people with physical disabilities I had to leave it all behind. You don’t know how many people are calling me for support,” he says as his phone ringed incessantly in the background throughout the interview.

“We all left everything behind. I am very depressed,” he repeats, swallowing the sentence with a sigh.

Next to him Artemis, 58, a kindergarten coordinator who has spent 30 years in Steparankert, says the real problems were going to start in the coming weeks when the refugees outstay their temporary accommodation.

“The Azerbaijanis said they want to integrate Nagorno-Karabakh but how do you blockade a people for 10 months and then launch a military operation and then ask them to integrate?” she asks, as she prepares for a new leg of the journey to the Armenian capital where she hopes to find shelter.

“The blockade was part of the ethnic cleansing. This is the only way to get people to flee the land they love. There is no humanity left in the world.”

Back in the central square of Goris, where families pick through piles of donated clothes and blankets and aid organisations hand out food, the loudest question is: what next?

Armenian officials are busy registering families and sending them to shelters in different corners of the country. But there are unanswered queries about long-term accommodation, work and schooling.

“I can’t really think about it, it hurts too much,” says Hasratyan’s eldest daughter Lilet, 16, trembling in the sunlight as the family starts the registration process.

“All I can say to the world is please speak about this and think about us. We are humans, people made of blood, like you and we need your help.”

[lappyisgaming]

November’s here! Just here to say once again, don’t stop talking about Palestine! Never stop till Palestine is free! That a ceasefire comes! That Gaza gets all the humanitarian aid it deserves! Be thankful that some of us are able to live comfortably while thousands are facing death and destruction! Not just in Palestine, but in other places too! Congo faces devastation from armed militias looking to do coltan mining for one example! Armenians are being pushed out by Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey! Please, let’s speak for all of them, as much as we can!

I recently reblogged a post stating frustration over how it seems situations like these seem to turn into fads to say without doing anything. I can go on and on about how sorry I am but that will not do anything productive unless I go out there and actually push for things myself!

So much is happening in the world! So many people are dying voiceless when there are people who can help! Who should help!

Let’s be their voices! Let their stories be heard! We have resources that they may not have right now! Utilize them!

Free Palestine! Stop the violence in Congo! Protect the Armenians!

Let’s keep fighting! 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇦🇲

[magnoliamyrrh]

god help the armenians both in armenia and palestine for everything they have endured. u know how ppl say growing up muslim they always hear about the plight of palestinians? and how all us muslims know and care? growing up orthodox in romania at least personally it was the same experience with armenians. i grew up always hearing of them, seeing their churchs, hearing of their plight from everyone, knowing they came as refugees in our country, hearing of our orthodox siblings who suffered so much. god keep and protect the armenians and palestinians may they have a time of peace

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

System of a Down - B.Y.O.B. 2005

Mezmerize is the fourth studio album by the Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down. The album sold over 450,000 copies in its first week, and immediately topped the Billboard 200.

The band went on hiatus in 2006 and reunited in 2010. Other than two new songs in 2020 in response to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War ("Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz"), System of a Down has not released a full-length record since the Mezmerize and Hypnotize albums in 2005.

"B.Y.O.B." ("Bring Your Own Bombs") was released as the lead single from Mezmerize. It was written in protest against the Iraq War, and questions the integrity of military recruiting in America. The song reached number 27 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the band's highest peak to date on the chart.

"B.Y.O.B." won a Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance.

"B.Y.O.B." received a total of 66,3% yes votes!

[folklorespring]

Jesus Christ statue being taken out of Armenian Cathedral of Lviv, Ukraine, to be stored in a bunker for protection. 2022

[artsyaprilmr]

Artsakh has been blocked for 2 weeks 100+ days already, 120.000 people are deprived of their human rights, many of them are children. Tomorrow is Christmas, and on this very special holiday consider supporting indigenous christian nation by donating to good causes.

After 9 months of total blockade and after heavy shelling by the fascist dictatorship of Azer/baijan, the population of around 120.000 indigenous armenians had to flee Artsakh. Armenia is a small country, its population numbers at just a little below 3 million people - to accomodate more than 100k people, who left everything behind and need to find new places to live and work at, is a heavy task. Consider donating to the charities listed here.

URGENT:

Solar Haghorti - provide hot water to the Haghorti village in Artsakh

Sunrise in Artsakh - solar water heaters for Artsakh (please read the page, donation button is in the text, it's easy to miss)

Greenhouse Project - building greenhouses to overcome the challenges faced by Artsakh’s loss of land after the war as well as the blockade

Greenhouses and Beekeeping for Artsakhi Armenians - help Artsakh families to rebuild their lives in Armenia and create food secure and climate resilient communities

Supplies for Syunik and Beyond - fundraising for the Border Villages in Syunik

Legal Defense Fund for Jerusalem Armenians - help the Armenian Community of the Old City of Jerusalem as it stands in defense of its survival and security

OTHER:

Armenian food bank - food, clothing, medicine

VIVA foundation - doctors and medicine (25% of what I get from my winter commissions will go here)

Frontline Therapists - provides mental health services to Armenian veterans and others experiencing war related trauma

All for Armenia - support vulnerable populations, displaced families and border communities in Armenia

Kooyrigs - aid for those living in areas highly targeted by azer\\baijan

MIASEEN - stability for families in need

LGBTQ+:

Pink Armenia - serves community's needs, protects LGBTQ+ people's rights and pushes for the change of public policy around LGBTQ+ issues

GALAS - supportive network for LGBTQ+ people, promotes their personal empowerment within their communities and helps to build bridges between the LGBTQ+ and Armenian communities

Right Side - community-based rights defender non-governmental organization for the protection of transgender people and sex workers in Armenia

[mauesartetc]

A while back I got a comment that demonstrated a misconception as to what the character design process actually entails, and I thought it had real "teachable moment" potential. So let me make this perfectly clear:

Drawing a character is NOT the same as designing one.

Let's say I wanted to draw a guy. No backstory, no defined personality traits or preferences, no details about his current life, just doodling some random, generic guy who popped into my head.

That's just a drawing.

But what if I decided to flesh him out more? What if I wanted his appearance to reflect his lifestyle and inner life as well? Here's where the note-taking comes in.

And now for the visual research:

I thought the bodybuilding angle would provide a fun contrast with this guy's profession. The mental image of a huge, burly dude working on a clock or watch with tiny, precise movements just makes me smile. Perhaps I could give him small, nimble hands that would suit his line of work.

Now that I have a better idea of how Mikhail's face and body will look, it's time to establish a pose.

Of course, I never expected to employ all the personality traits I started out with inside this single pose; those were just a jumping-off point. No one drawing will ever be able to encapsulate every single facet of a character, unless they're extraordinarily flat and generic (see also: random guy I doodled at the start of this post). If I wanted to write a story with this guy, I'd have to figure out how all the traits play off each other and how they'd cause him to react to different situations. There would be a lot more note-taking and development involved, but for the sake of keeping this post (somewhat) brief, let's just focus on visuals for now.

On to color!

I decided to give Mikhail a carnation in his pocket (for its round shape), specifically a red one, which represents deep love and an aching heart. Thus, the flower needed to maintain its red color for the symbolism to come through.

For some reason I initially pictured this guy wearing a pink shirt (perhaps as an offshoot of the "romantic" angle), but I wanted to try some different colors inspired by the 70s catalog pages I found. I ended up really liking the contrast of the cool blue shirt with the warm red pants, and that option made it into my top three as a result. I lined them up next to each other to compare them, and in the end, blue won out over pink. I think it also reflects the "colder", more cerebral, less-emotional parts of his personality well (namely "systematic", "stern", and "callous"- one from each column!). Just goes to show that you shouldn't get too attached to your first draft, as better ideas are just around the corner.

I then lightened the blue of the shirt so it wouldn't compete so much with the rest of the outfit, and wouldn't be quite as loud and "in your face". Mikhail strikes me as a bit of an introvert, so the calmer, quieter blue is a better fit. I added a darker belt and watchband and de-saturated the flower just a bit to make the values feel more balanced, and I think we've got it!

Let's see the final result!

Y'all, I was not expecting this process to make me emotional, but there's something special about fully realizing a little guy you've spent hours working on. All of a sudden you look at him and go, "Oh my god, there he is. That's him." This man wasn't even a twinkle in my eye a couple weeks ago and now I'd protect him with my life.

And the thing is, the only reason I'm calling this design "done" for now is that I basically just brought it into existence to make a point. But if this dude were attached to a larger story, he'd be nowhere near finished. I'd have to make a ton more iterations and go a lot more in depth with my research than I did (especially with the Armenian cultural stuff). Overall, though, I hope this quick project properly highlighted the difference between a single drawing and a more fleshed-out character.

Later!

[zvaigzdelasas]

Today, on April 3rd, 2024 around 11 o’clock, an unlawful eviction was initiated by Israeli Police on the grounds of the Cow’s Garden located within the premises of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate said in a statement.

The eviction began with the destruction of Armenian Patriarchate property, and assaults on clergy and indigenous Armenians. The officer leading the eviction was Assaf Harel.

The group of officers were asked to present permits for the eviction, the destruction of property, and physical removal of priests and indigenous Armenians from the premises.

According to the Patriarchate, permits or court orders were not presented and they continued to protect and assist the representatives of Xana Gardens in their destruction of property. During attempts to stop the unlawful activity, several members of the police continued to state that they have come with permits without ever presenting them.

“We are here to defend the rights of the workers of Xana Gardens,” they said.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem is one of the Custodians of the Holy Land and overseers of one of the four Quarters of Jerusalem. We fully expect the due process that is purportedly granted to all within Jerusalem and demand answers from the Israeli Police and the Israeli Government for their participation in today’s events.

“It is clear that today’s provocations are an attempt to set a precedent against the Armenian Quarter and its lawful lands. We will continue to stand our ground and ask for Christians worldwide to spotlight these never-ending encroachments on the peaceful Armenian Christian community,” the Patriarchate stated.

3 Apr 24

A coveted plot of land inside the Armenian Quarter in Jerusalem has become the focus of a legal controversy between the Armenian community and an Australian-Israeli developer who intends to build a luxury hotel complex on the property, as reported by the Times of Israel. In recent weeks, the dispute over the property has escalated.

4 Apr 24

[serpentface]

I'm sure you've covered the bug situation at some point, but just because I'm curious and to ask more specific questions: what are the biggest insects one could ostensibly find? Are any insects kept like bees (are there just bees)? Any sort of cultural significance involved with insects?

The bug situation is pretty much earthlike, you aren't going to be able to find any insects bigger than can be found in the cenozoic.

There ARE indeed just bees, they haven't been mentioned a lot since most of my posting is based around Whitecalf's setting and beekeeping isn't heavily practiced in Imperial Wardin (the Hill Tribes are the only people in the region that beekeep as a core cultural practice, and their migrant progenitors May have brought the region's first domesticated honeybees with them) but beekeeping is very widespread. Silkworms are also canon.

The kermes insect and cochineal is canon, and species of both can be found in Imperial Wardin (the cochineal here is closest to the armenian cochineal specifically). Both produce a high quality red dye, though smaller quantities of cochineal are required to make the same amount of dye. A cochineal more akin to the Central American species (feeds on cacti) is found west and south across the seaway, (including parts of Bur), and is the most valued of all (has the highest dye output).

Some of the purely invented kept insects include:

Caviar ants, which are a type of domesticated leafcutter that has been selected for multi-queen colonies and massive egg production. Their eggs and larvae are a STAPLE food in a lot of qilik societies- qilik are primarily carnivorous (specifically insectivorous) and can digest a limited range of plant matter- this is a form of mass agriculture that most readily and cheaply feeds large populations. Caelin and delkhin societies also utilize them (though tend to depend more heavily on large animal agriculture), and some human/elowey societies have adopted them (though virtually never as a staple food).

Silk-orchard spiders, which are a species of colonial spider that can be reared for mass silk production with a stable enough food source. This silk is much costlier to produce than that of silkworms, but MUCH stronger, and is used to make ultra-lightweight armor (it's not going to stop a direct stab of a blade in of itself, but can be highly viable when padded and reinforced).

King locusts, which are domesticated grasshoppers selected to be big (about the length of a human hand), fat, slow, and flightless, and reared as tiny livestock (mostly by qilik).

Two decorative arthropods that are used in the Cynozepal/Ch'Chen regions primarily, which are brooch beetles (a mix of selectively bred and wild-caught beetles worn live as jewelry) and jewel ticks (colorful ticks that rarely transmit diseases to non-mammalian hosts, intentionally allowed to latch as temporary decoration).

(This old post goes into most of these in further detail ft actual illustrations here [x])

---

I don't have Many specific culturally significant insects established but here's what I've got so far:

-One deity in the Burri pantheon is the god of beekeeping (as well as a minor agricultural deity).

-Insects are VERY significant to the Chit-Sut-Susit qilik culture. Most in this group have converted to the Cynozepali Cosmic Dualist religion and do not worship their original gods (the chief of which was strongly associated with butterflies) but retain practices of ancestor worship. One facet of this is believing that each person has two souls, one that remains earthbound after death to guide the living, and one that moves on to the afterlife. Earthbound souls of ancestors take the forms of moths and butterflies, and these animals have a protected and sacred status. Butterflies in particular are associated with masculine beauty (which is primarily being delicate and colorful) and the garb of Chit-Sut-Susit drakes often mimics butterfly patterns.

-The periodical cicada is a symbol of esoteric knowledge and enlightenment in the (pretty major) Eterhimhamdli religion, which is the dominant religious practice east of the Blackmane mountains across many cultural groups (and is a religious minority in Imperial Wardin, mostly brought by Yuroma migrants). This religion's core doctrine recognizes no deities and no individual soul (rather believes that personal experience is a facet of a collective consciousness/oversoul) and the primary goal of its priesthood is accessing hidden knowledge obtained by freeing the mind from the body (through meditation, trance, psychoactive drugs, and trepanation) to tap into the oversoul, and achieving enlightenment through completely freeing oneself of the body's illusions and attaining full experience of the oversoul. The cicada's cycle of 'sleeping' beneath the earth for years, then emerging as one in unison is used as an analogue for enlightenment and the return to the collective. (The Scholarly Order of the Root is a sect of this religion)

-Horseflies are admired by the Tho-Tykoso people (north of the Viper seaway, adjacently north of the central Royal Dain kingdoms). They are noted for being small yet difficult to kill due to their agility, and capable of inflicting great pain and wearing down much larger beasts. Their warrior culture is based mostly around mounted archery using small, nimble khait, and they seek to emulate these qualities. Horsefly symbols are common on khait tack and the clothing of warriors.

[fairuzfan]

(This got soo much longer than I meant for it to be omg... sorry about that!!)

American Holocaust by David Stannard is a flawed book with some dated language, but of everything I've read, I think I like its explanation/argument against this weird sort of... competitive genocide stuff. I'm gonna butcher it a little by cutting out a LOT in order to not nuke your inbox with a super long ask, but:

[…] To say this is not to say that the Jewish Holocaust-the inhuman destruction of 6,000,000 people-was not an abominably unique event. It was. So, too, for reasons of its own, was the mass murder of about 1,000,000 Armenians in Turkey a few decades prior to the Holocaust. So, too, was the deliberately caused "terror-famine" in Stalin's Soviet Union in the 1930s, which killed more than 14,000,000 people. So, too, have been each of the genocidal slaughters of many millions more, decades after the Holocaust, in Burundi, Bangladesh, Kampuchea, East Timor, the Brazilian Amazon, and elsewhere. Additionally, within the framework of the Holocaust itself, there were aspects that were unique in the campaign of genocide conducted by the Nazis against Europe's Romani people, which resulted in the mass murder of perhaps 1,500,000 men, women, and children. [...]

Each of these genocides was distinct and unique, for one reason or another, as were (and are) others that go unmentioned here. In one case the sheer numbers of people killed may make it unique. In another case, the percentage of people killed may make it unique. In still a different case, the greatly compressed time period in which the genocide took place may make it unique. In a further case, the greatly extended time period in which the genocide took place may make it unique. No doubt the targeting of a specific group or groups for extermination by a particular nation's official policy may mark a given genocide as unique. So too might another group's being unofficially (but unmistakably) targeted for elimination by the actions of a multinational phalanx bent on total extirpation. Certainly the chilling utilization of technological instruments of destruction, such as gas chambers, and its assembly-line, bureaucratic, systematic methods of destruction makes the Holocaust unique. On the other hand, the savage employment of non-technological instruments of destruction, such as the unleashing of trained and hungry dogs to devour infants, and the burning and crude hacking to death of the inhabitants of entire cities, also makes the Spanish anti-Indian genocide unique.

[…]

A secondary tragedy of all these genocides, moreover, is that partisan representatives among the survivors of particular afflicted groups not uncommonly hold up their peoples' experience as so fundamentally different from the others that not only is scholarly comparison rejected out of hand, but mere cross-referencing or discussion of other genocidal events within the context of their own flatly is prohibited. It is almost as though the preemptive conclusion that one's own group has suffered more than others is something of a horrible award of distinction that will be diminished if the true extent of another group's suffering is acknowledged.

Compounding this secondary tragedy is the fact that such insistence on the incomparability of one's own historical suffering, by means of what Irving Louis Horowitz calls "moral bookkeeping," invariably pits one terribly injured group against another […]

Denial of massive death counts is common--and even readily understandable, if contemptible--among those whose forefathers were the perpetrators of the genocide. Such denials have at least two motives: first, protection of the moral reputations of those people and that country responsible for the genocidal activity (which seems the primary motive of those scholars and politicians who deny that massive genocide campaigns were carried out against American Indians); and second, on occasion, the desire to continue carrying out virulent racist assaults upon those who were the victims of the genocide in question (as seems to be the major purpose of the anti-Semitic so-called historical revisionists who claim that the Jewish Holocaust never happened or that its magnitude has been exaggerated). But for those who have themselves been victims of extermination campaigns to proclaim uniqueness for their experiences only as a way of denying recognition to others who also have suffered massive genocidal brutalities is to play into the hands of the brutalizers. Rather, as Michael Berenbaum has wisely put it, "we should let our sufferings, however incommensurate, unite us in condemnation of inhumanity rather than divide us in a calculus of calamity."

The whole thing is available to read on the Internet Archive if you're interested. (This part starts on pg 149, if you'd just like to have the full context without the parts I chopped.)

Additionally, Carrol Kakel's book The American West and the Nazi East, while imperfect, too, is also very useful in getting at the core issue with these arguments and what makes them harmful--regardless of intent. I'm gonna spare you and not quote too much from this one, but the general gist of what it's about and argues in favor of is summed up like this in its conclusion:

In the case of the Holocaust and its contexts, the new ‘optics’ helps us see that – contrary to the prevailing image of ‘industrial genocide’ – many aspects of the Holocaust are akin to earlier ‘colonial genocide’. It is worth noting (and emphasizing) that the distinction I make between ‘colonial genocide’ and ‘industrial genocide’ is not to suggest some type of crude and arbitrary ‘partitioning’ of the Nazi Holocaust; it is, rather, to suggest and reassert the (settler) colonial roots, content, and context of the Nazi project in the ‘Wild East’ – a content and context linked, in Hitler’s and Himmler’s ‘spatial’ and ‘racial’ fantasies, to the ‘North American precedent’. And finally, the new ‘optics’ also allows us to understand that the ‘genocide and colonialism’ nexus holds the key to recognizing the Holocaust’s origins, content, and context; that the Nazi Holocaust is not a copy – but an extremely radicalized variant – of earlier ‘colonial genocide’; and that ‘holocaust’ is not a separate category from, but the most extreme variant of, the blight on human history we call ‘genocide’.

One of the more infamous examples of someone trying to argue against comparison (at least in the NDN circles I run in, anyway) was Deborah Lipstadt claiming that "[What the United States did to Native Americans] was not the same as the Holocaust" because, she says, "The Native Americans were seen as "competitors" for land and resources. There was, therefore, a certain logic-horrible and immoral as it was-to the campaign against the Native Americans."

Just for context, the full paragraph from her blog post:

What the United States did to Native Americans was horrendous. I have not studied it closely and it's not my area of expertise, however, it seems clear that the treatment of the various Native American tribes was revolting. However, it was not the same as the Holocaust. The Native Americans were seen as "competitors" for land and resources. There was, therefore, a certain logic-horrible and immoral as it was-to the campaign against the Native Americans. [Please note: I am NOT justifying the attacks.] The German campaign against the Jews had no logic and was often completely illogical. People who were "useful" to the Germans were murdered or exiled, e.g. slave laborers in factories producing goods for the Wehrmacht and scientists who were producing important technological advances for the Germans. In a prime example of illogic, in June 1944 at the time of the landing at Normandy, when the Germans were truly on the defensive, they used precious ships and men to go to the Island of Corfu and deport the 1200 Jews who lived there. They ended up in Auschwitz. Approximately 100 of this old Jewish community survived.

This is obviously a repulsive take, but the bizarre rationalization of abject evil isn't what I think makes this such a good example of the big issue at the heart of the constant emphasis on "uniqueness." There are plenty of people who hold these "exceptionalist" beliefs without taking it that much further and dismissing other genocides altogether. No, the thing that makes this such a perfect encapsulation imo is the very first sentence, where this historian, this professor of "Holocaust Studies," this woman who's ostensibly spent most of her entire life studying genocide openly admits she's never really bothered to look into what, exactly, happened to all those Indians way back when.

This is ultimately what I, personally, see as the main issue with this line of thinking. The harm doesn't necessarily come from holding the Holocaust up as "worse" than any other genocidal event, though that way of thinking definitely has its own problems, but from holding it up as fundamentally different.

It's the way this view holds it up as completely separate, in its own little bubble of history where we can study it and analyze it and teach about it all we want... all without ever having to broach the subject of colonialism. You can have entire classes where you study every single minute detail of this one specific genocide without ever having to mention or--god forbid--criticize the system that's driven pretty much every other instance of it.

Deborah Lipstadt has spent the better part of a century learning everything there is to know about the Holocaust, but in all that time, she's apparently never felt the need to look into the events that its perpetrators openly and repeatedly referred to as their inspiration.

This is what makes this sort of framing so dangerous imo. You can spend your entire life educating yourself about genocide, but if it's only in the context of one genocide and the belief in the uniqueness and incomparability of that single event is core to your understanding of both it and your worldview as a whole, you will still be completely incapable of recognizing the signs when it starts to happen again.

this is a really informative ask. thank you so much for sending this in (love the citations haha) i think it adds a lot to the overall discussion.

[vampiefemme]

i’ve pushed myself to read more sapphic literature this year, so here are some of my favs:

mistakes were made by meryl wilsner - spicy! age gap! secret relationship! this was one of the best books i read this year, i devoured it in just a few days. delicious smuttiness

sorry, bro by taleen voskuni - bi girls in love <3 super fun, lighthearted read with beautiful armenian representation.

we do what we do in the dark by michelle hart - this one is a lot heavier and, ahem, darker. another age gap and some angst but there’s a happy ending!

when katie met cassidy by camille perri - this one is about first-time sapphic revelations which i loved, really easy to read too.

one last stop by casey mcquiston - if you look past the occasional cringy millennial quip, this book is so fun and heartwarming. kinda sci-fi too?

honorable mention for the priory of the orange tree by samantha shannon - not strictly dedicated to a sapphic love story (it’s a giant fantasy novel first), but so worth a read. one of the queen’s handmaidens is an undercover sorceress sent to protect her and they fall in loooove.

[yanderesimp2000]

Yan Adam x Fem reader Chap 3/5 someone else DARES TO FLIRT ON YOU !MINORS STAY AWAY

CHAP 1 https://www.tumblr.com/yanderesimp2000/745338401920860160/extreme-yandere-adam-x-fem-reader-chap-15-start?source=share

CHAP 2 https://www.tumblr.com/yanderesimp2000/745426251094818816/extreme-yandere-adam-x-fem-listener-chap-25?source=share

Tags, Cuddles, kisses,protective, 9 feet size diff , wing snuggles, daiquiri?!, RIBS?!!,horny listener

TWS, Manipulation, Violence (not on you), someone trys to SA you (NOT ADAM), Alcohol, Yanderery, Adam being a incel and misogynist, blow job, and brainwashed reader

btw this takes place in a universe where Adam won the Battle of Hazbin hotel and killed all the main hazbin hotel cast also PLEASE GIVE ME REQUESTS

my english might be bad I'm from Armenia

BTW RUSSIAN AND ARMENIAN TRANSLATIONS COMING SOON

it been about 3 days since your little "illness" stopped affecting you Adams gonna back to work making your lonely he's only here at night so he cant give you the attention you desperately crave "like a little fly to soda" Adam described your attention craving

His mansion he keeps you locked up in is cool to live in it had 5 floors and everything you could want like,pools a huge kitchen and dinner room, multiple living rooms a indoor theater but it's never engough your just counting down the days Adam dosnet have to do first man stuff for 7 whole days strait and you will get all the attention and love you want

as you sat on your bed watching Tv some reality TV show you here someone unlock the front door "what upppp Baby" It was Adam you rushed over to the door and he gave you a hug "ughhhhhhh today was soooo boring sera was being a bitch again something about You cant banish random people to hell because you dislike them like bitch? im fucking Adam I can do whatever I want I'm god first creation and his favorite so you can go eat shit" the way Adam described sera just made you hate her all you could think was is "how could she disrespect him does she know who he is you should be lucky to be in his presence" but you just said "yeah I know seras a bitch I know I know" Adam was happy to hear that at said "well atleast someone understands even lute is on Sera side"

adam groaned before Slumping down and laying down on the couch before saying " hey babe do we still have so raw ribs in the fridge" he said You then said "I'll check" before opening the fridge to see the rack of ribs he brought home one day you then said "yeah do you want me to make them" you said in your soft caring voice adam LED mask lit up and he said " YES YES YES FUCKIN MAKE THEM" Like a ecstatic puppy when you bring out his food

you then start to cook them Adam always thought that It was your job as a women to do the house work and cook and clean for him and you agreed since for some strange reason you could not remember what you life was like before he Married you so you just blindly agreed to everything he said once you were done seasoning the ribs you put them on the slow cooker for 2 hours before laying down on the couch with him like you always do

he started to snuggle you before telling you the same story's he always tell you "did I tell you about that one time this bitch girl that was Lucifer daughter came over and took me to court over the extermination it was sooooooo annoying then we killed them all and it was fuckin great" he said proud of himself "yes babe youve told me" you said Slightly annoyed

Adam then said "ugh this couch is too small were gonna go to the bed" he then picked you up with one hand like he always does and just carried you over the the bed and placed you on it before also laying down on the bed " your my little teddy bear y'know that small helpless... weak you have to rely on me for shelter safety and protection and that's Just the way I like it" he softly and gently cooed "and the world is dangerous their would be sooo many creeps that would try to take advantage of you and take you away from me so you should never try to leave its too dangerous" he said gently but very firm and something about it your mind just agreed with him " he was right you should stay with him" was all your little brain could think as you nuzzled into him

when you nuzzled into him he was surprised but loved it "ohh someones a little love bug today" he teased before starting to kiss you on your forehead his wings starting to wrap around you two creating a soft little fort as you two were snuggling you noticed some knots and dirt on Adams wings which just bothered you so much you started to clean and prune them this surprised Adam but he just giggled a little "sorry my wings are a little dirty but its always nice to know someone can take care of them for me" you walked out of the bed and grabbed the brush to brush his wings like the good little wife you were he giggled and cooed over this you just dropped everything to clean his wings as you were doing that he felt your wings " if only I could take care of myself like you do I'm a fucking mess" a complained "your wings are so sleek and soft they always look like its your first day in heaven and mine are dirty and rugged" he groaned "but hey I have you and your such a good wife you just clean them for me" he laughed

when you were done cleaning his wings he praised you like you were a toddler "wow I look so pretty, what ever would I do without you, Their so sleek and shiny just like yours,how could you do all of this so quickly" this coddling was interrupted by the buzzing of the oven that had the ribs in them " fuck yeah' he yelled before jumping out of bed and running towards the kitchen as you followed behind him to take them out when you took them out Adam just grabbed one of the burning hot ribs and shoved them in his mouth you looked at him shocked but he said " fucking delicious thanks babe" you heard the ribs FUCKING SIZZLE WHEN HE PICKED THEM UP

Besides that concerning discovery the dinner was pretty good he talked to you and seemed to enjoy the ribs a lot making your heart happy he then groaned "welp that was nice time for bed" you weren't tired and said "w-wait" but I was to late he picked you up and walked to the bed and threw you guys down on it " I said it was time for bed" Adam growled ignoring your protests as he feels asleep you were forced to sit their smushed in-between his arm and his chest For another 3 hours before you finally fell asleep against him

3 days later

it was finally the day were Adam got 7 whole days off no doing angel stuff he promised you guys would go do something and now you were he was dressing you up looking thur dresses while he was in his classic robe attire you guys were going to his favorite club for a date and you were so excited 1 because it was your first time out of his mansion in 2 months and 2 he was actually taking you on a date

adam then showed you a nice baby blue dress that fir very tightly on you he then said "yes yes that's the one so everyone will know how fucking smoking hot you are and THEY CANT HAVE YOU because your alllllllllllllllllll mine" the dress was very tight but you said it was okay because he said it looked cute on you so it had to

He then said "okay were both ready so lets go" you two walked out the door and heaven was just a pretty as it always was the huge building all the gold and marble and just everything as you two walking you heard people mumbling "how did Adam pull that girl" "must of bribed her or something" "wow shes hot shit" but you didn't humor them ignoring them and just focusing on Adam as you two walked to the club which he always talked about so you knew it was gonna be a lovely experience

as you two rounded the corner he said "prepare to be blown out of your fucking mind" then you saw it big flashy signs and a bouncer that said "come in sir" when he saw you and adam" when you two walked in you were seated in one of the best seats in the club were he ordered himself a large daiquiri and you a small red wine you guys drank and talked and listened to music as he blabbered his head off about story's that he told you a billion times but you didn't mind at all and you were with him it was all fine

Adam started to get a little drunk and started to get even more touchy and affectionate then he already was "nice t-t-tits bitch" he said words slurred "T-thank you" you said felling flattered but a little insulted at being called a bitch " can I have my rib back" Adam said before erupting in laughter "its okay even though you came from my r-rib your m-much fuckin hotter then in" he teased again before saying "when we get home I'm gonna fuck ya hard yeahhh gonna knock ya up give ya babys make ya all round gonna baby trap ya then you could Neva leave me" he said words slurred you were slightly annoyed by this and said "Adam having babys would be wonderful but I would never leave you, you know that right?" you said trying to reassure him "yeah yeah I fucking know I was just fucking around bitch" Adam said laughing a little before saying " I gotta fuckin piss I'll be right back" before standing up and leaving

you sat their fiddling with you thumbs waiting for adam to return when an angel came up to you he was unattractive in your standards so you didn't bat an eye that was until he said "hey baby you could do sooooo much better then him you know that" you tried to ignore him but he persisted "he treats you like trash right yeahhh I bet he does I would treat you like the queen you are" you get angry and said "fuck off I'm not going out with you or leaving him" the angel looks offended but then says well then I'll just give it a little sample then before punching you to the ground holding you down before trying to touch you private area he didn't even seem to notice Adam walking over to the stall

2 seconds later he was ripped of you and adam had never looked so angry before "YOU DARE TOUCH MY WIFE IN MY CLUB EVEN AFTER SHE SAID NO" he said in-between punches "Scum like you have no place in heaven" he said before snapping his fingers opening a portal to hell "wait no no no no no no please I'm sorry please nooooooooooo" he said before being sucked in before the portal closed Adam was panting looking like a rapid animal everyone in the club was looking at him " lets go babe" he said before grabbing your hand and flying out of the club back home

When you got home Adam said "fucking scum trying to hit on you I'm sorry you had to see that but he deserved it" he said still fuming "it's okay Adam" you said gently trying to calm him down but God he was so hot when he was angry it just brought out his dominate side which you found so hot he then walked over to the couch and sat down to watch his favorite show

this was your chance you thought he always was the one to ask to fornicate so it was your turn but you were to nervous to directly ask him from Adams perspective he was just sitting on the couch watching his favorite TV show when all of a sudden he felt something you... you were sitting on the floor in-between his legs rubbing your face against his soft bulge looking up at his longingly he was surprised and that well you were asking to fuck he giggled and said "that's one way to ask if you can suck my dick" before taking his underwear revealing his 35 cm dick complete erect he then teased "hope ya don't choke" before grabbed you by the hair and putting your mouth against his dick you gladly opened it and started to suck on it purring and playing with the soft tip arousing Adam even more 'good good girl" he said "I hope ya dont chock on it although that would be cute" he said in a low purr you were to preoccupied to listen and you just kept sucking him off rubbing your tongue against the veins bulging through and the gentle tip tickling him he then said "going all the way in" then shoving his whole dick down your throat you were surprised you did not gag maybe heaven does not have a gag reflex you thought while sucking it "that's it baby this is your dessert after all those drinks" he said as the bead of precum went down your throat it was so nice to have all his love and affection and to pleasure him it was just an addicting feeling Adam then blurted out " are you ready for you dessert " before pulling his dick partially out before cumming all onto your tongue letting you taste it "don't you dare spit it out" Adam said firmly as more ropes of cum went into your mouth. by the end your mouth was filled with his sticky salty cum you started to gulp it down as he cleaned himself up he laughed and said "Ya like your dessert because your gonna eat that EVERY DAY" before saying "its getting late lets go to bed

BONUS BC I LOVE YOU

as he was sleeping your played with his bulge it was soft and warm kinda like a pillow he was enjoying it as he blurted out "ugh yess" once and awhile it was just the perfect pillow you finally rested on his bulge using it like a pillow and fell asleep