#same term used for when Hitler took over

[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.

[ashkillgore]

Dictators

I have been reading a lot about dictators recently for some reason. I just read one thing and thought it was so interesting I just got on a kick reading a lot. I will kinda give a TDLR on the weirdest things I learned. Mussolini, Hitler = fascist. Stalin= "communist" Mussolini made the term Fascist.

So Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin, all had this weird fan, frenemy relationship. Mussolini was ruling Italy being extremely brutal and Hitler was inspired by Mussolini's successful storm of the roman capital, coined "the march on Rome", that gave Mussolini control of the government. Hitler then tried to copy him in Berlin, Germany but was unsuccessful. Hitler then released a letter basically saying "even though we didn't get it this time we'll get em next time, thanks Mussi for the inspo." But Mussolini was not impressed by this, if anything he was annoyed. Like, who does this guy think he is trying to steal my thunder? So Mussolini never answers or speaks out about Hitler name dropping him and this rubs Hitler the wrong way. And then, later when hitler really is in power, it's about the same time Italian people are loosing faith in Mussolini as a dictator because their economy was going to shit. Hitler invites Mussolini over to form a peace agreement and while they were there, Mussolini was like hey can you not invade this one place in Africa because I tried to steal Ethiopia and it didn't work, so if you took it now it would make me look weak. Hitler was all like sure dude no problem I wont do that. But then SIKE, he is hitler, he cannot be trusted. He does it anyway. Mussolini is all like man what the hell, meanwhile Stalin is already in power in the soviet union (after being exiled to Siberia EIGHT times, and escaping every time). Stalin eventually gains power and has the entire royal family that had ruled Russia for over 300 years executed in secret. So Stalin also meets up with Hitler, after Hitler raises to power, and they make a pact not to kill each other, and Stalin is like I won't mess with Germany as long as you don't try and take any of the Soviet Union. Hitler says yeah of course not, I wont do that I swear. And then A MONTH LATER, Hitler invades the soviet union. This really pisses Stalin off. So Stalin joins America in World War II fighting against Germany, not because he thought what Hitler was doing was wrong, because Stalin had his own concentration camps actually called the Guloks for his own ethnic cleansing plans. He purply joined America because Hitler offended him trying to take what is now Ukraine. It is crazy to think about how much more damage Hitler could of done if he had just kept his promise and kept Stalin on his side. By this time Mussolini has been over thrown and he got executed and they hung his body upside down in the Roman town square with his mistress Clara. The Roman people went crazy beating up their bodies until they were unidentifiable. Then the US government stole Mussolini's brain to study it and see if an evil dictators brain was different from normal people, and when the results came back average they just mailed the piece of brain to Mussolini's widowed wife. Imagine just getting mail, opening it, and it's a piece of your crazy ex's brain from the US government. Wild. Also, Stalin killed like way more people than hitler which is crazy I didn't know that I always thought Hitler killed more. Because Stalin was on America's side in world war II, the western world always villainized Hitler more than him. But Stalin was also ethnic cleansing and causing famines on purpose killing over 20 million people in the end. I believe Hitler killed 12 million. Even today in Russia a lot of people still idolize Stalin because he did industrialize Russia and brought it on par with the more advanced countries, which is just crazy because yes he brought industrialization but he also mass deported Koreans, enslaved farmers, caused a famine, tried to do ethnic cleansing, and in the end killed 20 million of his own people. Finally, Stalin died a normal death like a stroke or something, and we all know what happened to hitler. Also Stalin was 5'4" and apparently had a lovely singing voice. and we all know about Hitler's gas problems. Stalin also had a son he abandoned at 1 years old because he was "too weak". Well, I hope that was as interesting for y'all as it was for me.

[eyeballtank]

I honestly think the current use of "Nazi" only undermines the actual atrocities of the Holocaust and WW2. Because at the end of the day, you're comparing actual horrors that affected people's lives to stupid culture wars and everyone going crazy. (Or worse, you're forgetting them) Like imagine someone saying they never got to meet their grandparents because they died in the 1940's and they're told "shut up, I had to put up with someone that disagreed with me on the computer". In fact, I except a Breadtuber to have a "mask off" moment where in a video he says "unfortunately, you hate Nazis the wrong way" or some shit like that. Because even people that are left leaning can still be labeled "Nazi" over specific opinions, since the word is used in a very black-and-white way. Even though the Nazis' actions do come from their politics and ideology, I feel like people need to remember other ideologies that also caused suffering and death, because of how they're established. (Looking at people who idolize Communism even though there's still people that were affected by it in recent times). Or even some historical context because there was always a time when Hitler wasn't thinking of hating Jews or when some people didn't know what would happen.

Basically, think of that time travel paradox of going back in time to kill Hitler: The Hitler before he became Hitler may be different enough that if you managed to kill him before he was Hitler, you didn't really kill Hitler... know what I'm saying? I know that HP Lovecraft thought "they just wanted to preserve their culture I guess" but felt disgusted hearing what happened later (Same guy that technically got less racist over time, whose cat got his name from his dad and only didn't change it because he felt it would be unfair to a cat). But Charlie Chaplin did dislike the Nazis and even got some people upset at him before he had a "I told you so" moment, sort of. (Again, research well what I'm bringing up). I'm also sure people will look up Miyazaki drawing fanart of a Nazi tank and I guess even meeting the guy that drove it, but not realize that his stance of Nazi villains in media correlates with his stance on Orcs in LOTR (Compare that to Extra Credit). What else can I mention? Azov Battalion? Kanye West? Israel? Stroheim from JoJo? We know Nazis are fun to have as villains in games and movies but the way how stuff lately makes a specific point of being "anti-Nazi" is goofy when you realize our current sociopolitical context.

(Specially with Millenials, who are noticed for being struggling adults, essentially getting into politics in a way that comes off as "TAKE ME SERIOUSLY I'M A GROWN UP"). Nazis have become historical characters to us and you're also giving too much credit to mister 1944BasedMAGAGroyper guys who talk about how anime is degenerate while making shitty comics with Wojaks, using AI art to replicate the "good Christian artworks" (Because they never took arts seriously, cuz I guess arts are a liberal thing to them) and maybe they do an "Anti-Woke" cover of a popular song.

And as for Musk, I do wonder if he did that salute just because he simply wanted to "own the woke for the lulz" without realizing it'd make him look worse than he already is. If nothing else, it distracted people from bringing other shit up like that photo of him with Ghislaine Maxwell or H-1B visa. He still has diehard cultist fans but I expect his stupidity to lead to more people turning against him. But I see people posting fictional characters beating up Hitler and it's not like you're doing this to respesct Holocaust victims or the Allies. It's because of a fat fuck in office who could probably die of a heart attack before he finishes his second term. Or maybe I've been exposed to too much Trump shit that part of me is like "heh, whatever" and forgetting how bad it can get. Perhaps it's the notion that most politicians have so much dirty laundry, it feels like people are going "we should've had this corrupt reptile instead" like dude, Trump was a buddy of Epstein and Biden's got a whole mess of a son. At that point, just bomb all of them, even the "lesser evil" ones.

Colonel Sanders gotta get it too (I honestly expect a point in 5 years where some people will go "uh yeah we always knew he was cringe" because nobody is honest or consistent anymore). But anyway, I see people bring up Superman and I'm like "are they aware of how most comic book companies used to screw up the creators of these characters?".

Years ago, we had Picasso coming up with Guernica or Orwell with 1984 and nowadays, some celebrity will post their brave opinion about Trump before checking how much they earned through NFT's.

At some point, John Oliver must've watched that Linkara bit on OneyPlays and feel jealous that Zach Hadel did a better Trump parody.

What else happened? The Netflix Castlevania "Apu, why do you sound like that?" guy likes Henry Kissinger?

[ancestorsalive]

“I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history.

If you remember the plot of the Sound of Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in her native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was watching.

“We elected him by a landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.

She wasn’t old enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she remembers.

“Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.”

No so.

Hitler is welcomed to Austria

“In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t any jobs.

“My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30 daily.’

“We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.” she recalls. “We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living.

“Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group – Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back.

“Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

“We were overjoyed,” remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and

everyone was fed.

“After the election, German officials were appointed, and, like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.

“Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.

“Then we lost religious education for kids

“Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang ‘Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,’ and had physical education.

“Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail.”

And then things got worse.

“The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free.

“We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.

“My mother was very unhappy,” remembers Kitty. “When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political indoctrination.

“I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing.

“Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time, unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler.

“It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

“In 1939, the war started, and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and, if you didn’t have a card, you starved to death.

“Women who stayed home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.

“Soon after this, the draft was implemented.

“It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps,” remembers Kitty. “During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys.

“They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines.

“When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat.

“Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.

“When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers.

“You could take your children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, seven days a week, under the total care of the government.

“The state raised a whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.

“Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna..

“After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything.

“When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full.

“If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.

“As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80 percent of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families.

“All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

“We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables.

“Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn’t meet all the demands.

“Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.

“We had consumer protection, too

“We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the livestock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

“In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated.

“So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work.

“I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van.

“I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months.

“They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.

“As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.

“Next came gun registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law-abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.

“No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.

“Totalitarianism didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.”

“This is my eyewitness account.

“It’s true. Those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

“America is truly is the greatest country in the world. “Don’t let freedom slip away.

“After America, there is no place to go.”

- Kitty Werthmann

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — France’s mainstream conservative party may join forces with the far right, shattering a decades-long political norm to shun a party with a history of antisemitism.

Eric Ciotti, president of the right-wing Republicans (known in French as Les Républicains), called for a country-wide alliance with the National Rally (or Rassemblement National) during a television appearance on France’s TF1 on Tuesday.

“We say the same things so let’s stop making up imagined opposition,” said Ciotti, becoming the first establishment leader in modern French politics to seek an alliance with the National Rally, led by three-time presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

Ciotti said he hoped to hitch the increasingly “weak” Republicans to the success of the National Rally, which won a historic victory in the European Parliament elections on Sunday, scoring over 30% of the vote and crushing President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance. France’s results matched a surge of far-right parties across the continent, including gains in Italy and Germany.

In response to the defeat, Macron dissolved parliament and called a snap election for June 30 and July 7. But his gamble on stalling France’s lurch to the far-right may backfire: The National Rally has already been forecast to win the election.

In the past, France’s establishment parties have joined to block power from the anti-immigration, Eurosceptic National Rally, long known for its antisemitic roots. The party was founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, Marine Le Pen’s father, as the National Front. Jean-Marie Le Pen, 95, has been repeatedly convicted of antisemitic hate speech, famously calling the Nazi gas chambers a mere “detail” of World War II and saying the Nazi occupation of France was not “particularly inhumane.”

Another founding member of the party was Pierre Bousequet, a former commander in the Nazi Party’s Waffen-SS.

Since Marine Le Pen took the helm in 2011, she has attempted to scrub the party’s past and win mainstream acceptance. She distanced herself from her father’s antisemitic rhetoric and expelled him from the party in 2015. Meanwhile, she has honed in on Muslims — who make up 11% of the French population — as a threat to the country.

But even as Marine Le Pen has publicly denounced antisemitism, her supporters still disproportionately harbor antisemitic attitudes, according to Nonna Mayer, a political scientist at Sciences Po university.

“Every time we do our surveys, we see that people who are voters or sympathizers of the National Rally are the most antisemitic of all, even though their first target is Arabs, Muslims, Maghrebis,” Mayer told RFI last year, using a term referring to people from North Africa.

Ciotti’s offer to unite with the far-right risks splitting his own party, as he was quickly rebuked by several high-ranking Republicans who demanded his resignation.

Olivier Marleix, the party’s leader in the lower house of parliament, said on X, “Eric Ciotti only speaks for himself. He must leave the presidency of the Republicans.”

Gérard Larcher, another Republican leader and president of the French Senate, also said that Ciotti “can no longer chair our movement and must resign.”

Interior minister Gérald Darmanin, a former Republican who left for Macron’s party, compared Ciotti’s announcement with the 1938 Munich Agreement — in which France, Britain and Italy attempted to appease Hitler by allowing Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia one year before the outbreak of World War II.

Ciotti “brings dishonor to the Gaullist family,” said Darmanin. He referenced the Republican party’s line of descent from a right-wing party founded by former President Charles de Gaulle after World War II, when de Gaulle fought against Nazi Germany and the Vichy collaborationist regime.

The Union of Jewish Students of France called a snap rally on Tuesday in response to Ciotti’s announcement. “Let’s be numerous. No to compromise,” the group tweeted before dozens of people demonstrated outside the Republicans headquarters, carrying signs that said, “De Gaulle is not Le Pen.”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Chris McGreal at The Guardian:

Donald Trump has pledged to shield police officers from legal accountability if he is re-elected as president after falsely claiming the US is in the grip of a wave of violent crime that he blamed on the Black Lives Matter movement and people crossing the Mexican border.

Speaking to police officers in Michigan on Tuesday, the former president sought to pin responsibility for the imagined crisis on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, whom he characterised as among “Marxist district attorneys” with a record of being anti-police and pro-criminal during her term as the district attorney in San Francisco in the 2000s.

At the same time, Trump lamented his own legal difficulties, including his criminal convictions for fraud in New York and other looming prosecutions. “They go after guys like me, but they don’t go after guys that kill people,” he said. Flanked by local sheriffs in Howell, a small city in greater Detroit where a group of white supremacists marched last month chanting��“We love Hitler, we love Trump” and carrying signs reading “White Lives Matter”, Trump painted a picture of Americans living in fear of leaving their homes because of crime. “It’s just insane, but you can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped, you get … whatever it may be,” he said.

The former president claimed that this alleged crime wave materialised when Joe Biden and Harris took office. “Since Comrade Kamala Harris took office, her administration’s crime statistics show she’s presided over a 43% increase in violent crime. These are all government numbers,” he claimed. In fact, official statistics show that violent crime is at an almost 50-year low in the US. Nonetheless, Trump pledged to “crack down on local Marxist DAs who refuse to enforce the law” while, he said, ruining the lives of police officers for doing their jobs. “Over the past four years, the Marxist left has waged a vicious war on law enforcement in our country. They’ve taken away the dignity and the spirit and the life of some of these police officers, and that’s why you see it – the crime is so out of control in our country,” he claimed.

Trump said that the police “have a lot of difficulty with the laws of our land”. “We’re going to get rid of that difficulty, because they shouldn’t have difficulty, our police,” he said. Trump added: “We’re going to be guaranteeing immunities.” The former president accused Harris of a “pro-crime, anti-police record”. “She repeatedly endorsed defunding the police,” he said. “If she ever had a chance, she would do whatever she could to defund the police because that’s where her spirit is, that’s where her heart is, and we can’t have a president like that.”

In 2020, then senator Harris gave support to the “defund the police” movement in the wake of a white police officer’s murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Harris said at the time that it was right that BLM questioned the amount of money spent on “militarising” police departments at the expense of social services, housing and education.

[...] Trump blamed much of the imagined increase in crime on people crossing the Mexican border, for which he also blamed Harris as the supposed “border tsar”, even though immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than US citizens. He also claimed that some Latin American countries are exporting their criminals to the US.

See Also:

Daily Kos: Trump sinks deeper into hatred while Democrats unite in joy

[spiderlegsmusic]

The Benefit of Compromise for the Sake of Argument

For the sake of argument, let’s say both candidates for US president are monsters. One monster still is clearly much worse and poses more of a permanent threat than the other monster. The monster who stacked the court and took away a woman’s right to determine her own healthcare needs and who continues to try to remove access to birth control, and are going to operate in a state of retribution, and who worships Hitler and plans to destroy democracy in favor of a christofascist authoritarian autocracy is a worse monster than the monster complicit in Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinians.

The US has treaties with Israel with which we must comply, and it’s unfortunate they didn’t include a “genocidal” clause when we signed it. I’m opposed to what Israel’s govt is doing. I’m opposed to funding them. If by some miracle a 3rd party candidate became president, nothing would change. And that unlikely president would be called a monster too. Because they would have to comply with those existing treaties.

Treaties with Israel

https://www.state.govt/u-s-security-cooperation-with-israel/

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-110publ429

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/14/the-jerusalem-u-s-israel-strategic-partnership-joint-declaration/

The “we’re already a Nazi regime” fallacy

There are those of you who think we are already an authoritarian dictatorship and that’s because you use extreme terminology to make your points and never bothered to look up the terms you misuse. 🤷‍♀️

But for the sake of argument, I once again point to the fact that of the two monsters, one is insidiously worse than the other one. And that it is so obviously worse, your inability to recognize that, preferring to generalize with “Biden is just as bad”, is mind numbingly baffling. It is blindness curable by merely opening your eyes

Here’s the disconnect I’m having with you both sides are the same kids (besides misusing terms and not being familiar with signed treaties): why do you think you can fight both monsters at the same time?

A War on Two Fronts

What about that says “winning path?” Ask Germany how successful they were fighting a war on two fronts (since history is not something you guys put much stock in, I’ll cut to the chase): they weren’t. Russia on one side and the European allies on the other side completely destroyed Germany.

Why don’t you ask the US govt during WWII? After all, we fought in two theaters of war too, right? Well, until 1944, one could argue we were losing ground in both campaigns. Japan kept us at bay for 3 years and Germany kicked us out of France. When Germany finally surrendered, that’s when we could aim the full might of the US military at Japan and the war ended soon after in 1945. Because it is much more effective to fight one monster at a time. There are countless examples throughout history to support this fact.

In the Revolutionary War (which lasted 10 miserable years), it wasn’t just the heroic fighting of the US forces that won. We had France as an ally and England couldn’t effectively fight us and France at the same time.

How about recently— the US fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time. Ask the 5+ veteran suicides every day how effective that war was.

One more example just for fun: in Westeros the allied army fought the worse monster first—the army of the dead—before fighting against Circe. It was the wiser move. If you lose to the dead, game over, you’re fucked no matter what. And Circe’s forces were no match for the heavily depleted allied army (it’s a fictional account based upon actual medieval strategy, minus the dragons)

We have to fight that worse monster first and then fight the other much less threatening monster once the more horrible monster is defeated. I don’t know why it’s not obvious or why it’s so difficult to understand. It’s the whole enemy of my enemy concept. Russia helped us defeat Hitler then became our Cold War enemy.

Help us defeat Trump and many of us will join in your effort to fight the littler monster, Biden. I know I will. I was a Bernie guy and hated how the democrats chose Biden in spite of the amount of delegates Bernie was amassing. I’m a goddamn leftist for fucks sakes. I have voted for 3rd party candidates in the past. I don’t just want a 3rd party, I want a fourth and fifth party. I want a coalition govt that has to compromise and accept concessions to govern. I’m never going to get what I want and I’m old. I see the futility of fighting the power since they have all the money and weapons of war. But I’m down with your your war if you’ll come over and help us fight the worse monster first.

All Who Would Rule Are Corrupt

Here’s something else I want to address to you idealists. To want political power, to desire rule at the top level as a king or president or chairman or prime minister—these are not noble desires. In other words, let’s say we manage to defeat both monsters…what then? Whoever you choose to rule is going to be the same kind of person Biden is, Trump is. Every candidate who has run for president has been. You don’t get a wide eyed pure hearted idealist at that level. Maybe in a very small country you could. But the days of Mandela are long gone thanks to the increasing number of billionaires.

There are no more idealists, everyone who would rule a country—our country—is corrupt to some degree. And it becomes a matter of the devil you know vs the devil you don’t know. Anarchy is only acceptable as a transitional phase between regimes change. It should be as short as possible. I have subscribed to and still favor some views of anarchosyndicalism. But overthrowing a govt with nothing to replace it with is maga stupid, and I have heard you guys waffle at which 3rd party to vote for—throw your vote away for. Wanting a change but having no plan for change is worse than voting for Biden and just as stupid as voting for Trump.

Don’t throw your vote away. Help us defeat the worse monster once and for all, and we will help you defeat the lesser monster. It’s the only logical action to take. But you better have a plan in place to replace that lesser monster before we fight it or the deal is off. No Jill Stein, either.

This is compromise. This is how you govern. Passion is fine if you want to die for your cause. But mindfulness is imperative if you want to live for your cause and see it succeed.

If you read this whole thing, cheers!

[scottguy]

You will really wish you'd bothered when Trump uses the military to crush rebellion over the very people liberals support being taken to death camps. You going to feel smug about not voting then?

Are you truly SO NAIVE to think democracy will magically be granted to you despite allowing a madman to take complete power? Do you not understand that Trump will control 2 1/2 branches of government and Democrats will be powerless against a combined White House, a corrupt Supreme Court, and a 1/2 of Congress who are Republicans?

Despite his crimes Trump walks free. He has nothing to lose!

Was democracy granted to Germany just before Hitler started WWII? Germany required a war, and entire bloody continent-destroying war to get back to democracy.

You'd let that happen to your own country because your political ideals are unrealistic?

At that point you're not being "idealistic" and "high-minded." You're just being impractical, spoiled, and selfish. You're like the kid who, if he can't get his way takes the ball (your vote) and goes home.

We can't move in the right direction if we don't start SOMEWHERE. It took decades to get Republicans to where they country is now. We are not switching it back with a single presidency. We aren't getting money out of politics in one term. To do that we need VOTERS pressuring candidates. We will NOT make progress by letting the party that takes us backwards win (because the liberal nominee isn't "god enough" for you!) that now we have to make up lost ground like we're doing after 2016.

It's apathetic and protest voters who let Trump win. Great job. Yeah. You really showed Hillary. Now Americans everywhere are paying the price of the excessive idealism of voters in 2016. They all thought, "I don't need to vote. Trump will never win."

Now some doing the same again, "Don't worry. We can't EVER lose democracy. This is America!"

Yeah? We can't even put him in jail!

To anyone considering not voting because of the Palestinian genocide, I have this to ask:

How many Palestinian people do you think you're helping by laying back and inviting the GOP to crush you under foot? Self flagellation didn't cure The Plague, and it won't fix this situation either.

If you don't like the idea of voting for Harris, I doubt I'll be able to change your mind, but consider this: 468 congressional seats out of a total 535 are up for re-election THIS NOVEMBER. You want to make the government start actually representing the will of the people? Start there.

We're living in frightening times, and apathy is a very comfortable state of being, but you need to act. If you don't, who will?

[literaturereviewhelp]

The history of swing dancing had its roots in the distant past when the culture of African Africans and Europeans intertwined, and society felt an irresistible desire to erase boundaries between traditional and street choreography. The philosophy of swing is simple and attractive – it is an opportunity to improvise, to express one’s inner self, not to be afraid of condemnation, and to always have fun. This work is aimed at analyzing this style and its development throughout the history of existence, starting with World War II and ending with modern parties, and shows where this style is still popular. The historical development of swing not only coincided with the stages of different jazz styles formation but also played a special role in the culture of choreography, changing people’s attitude towards this extraordinary choreographic genre. History of the Swing Era The historical development of the swing style coincided with the stages of the formation of different jazz styles. According to Fitch, this genre was finally formed in the 1920-the 1940s and was based on movements borrowed from African American culture where swinging movements were common (64). At first, it was performed in the south of the United States of America, and later, its influence spread to Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Detroit (Fitch 64). Even though over time, the dance began to be divided into ballroom and street ones, it remains the symbol of the freedom of movement. It also assumes a special atmosphere and even a peculiar style of clothing and shoes. Peculiarities of Swing Dancing The main form of the embodiment of the swing style was dancers’ improvisation based on a prepared and rather complex accompaniment. One of the hallmarks that distinguish traditional jazz choreography from swing has a rhythmic background. The syncopated rhythm of compositions accompanying this dance and a vivid harmony were typical of the era when the culture of this musical direction dictated the manner of behavior. Swing performances in their classical form are pair (a man and a woman). There is close contact between partners, although in some cases, individual space is permissible to demonstrate one’s skills. The term swing itself combines several dances of a similar direction, for instance, Lindy hop or rock-and-roll (Fitch 64). Many types of this genre, such as rock-and-roll, are replete with acrobatic stunts. As a result, there is no general scheme that clearly defines the character of movements. Therefore, the style gained particular popularity among those who were tired of outdated dances with the same and repetitive steps. Role of the Swing in History and Modern Trends After the movement of the African American population from south to north at the end of the 19th century, the art of the black and white people of the USA enriched mutually. As a result, new styles and genres of music and dancing appeared. Moreover, later, closer to the middle of the 20th century, this trend spread throughout Europe and took root as one of the forms of informal art. For instance, as Dickson notes, in Nazi Germany under the authority of Hitler, these dances were generally performed by Jews. Therefore, both the music and choreography of this type came under strict prohibition and became the object of persecution. However, a few years later, the German command took a radically different decision – to show this dance to enemies, thereby promoting the freedom of Nazi mores and liberties that they could afford (Dickson). Subsequently, the style became widespread in the Old World and was one of the most common genres. Thus, the swing was the object of political propaganda and the instrument used to establish diplomatic relations. Today, the swing is still one of the most common styles of dance personifying freedom and the importance of real life. Fans of this genre promote it not only at professional competitions but also in amateur contests, for example, the famous show called “So You Think You Can Dance.” This popularity confirms that art has no time limits and is not subject to bans or persecution. Despite its originality and difference from contemporary trends, the swing retains the status of the dance that helps people relax and enjoy. As a result, its role in history is significant because it not only changed the concept of freedom in choreography but also became the symbol of the whole era during complex political disagreements and instability. Conclusion The development of jazz became one of the prerequisites for the birth and spread of swing, which, in turn, changed the idea of ​​dance freedom and was also used as the object of political propaganda. The formation of this trend was the result of the popularization of African American music and was divided into many branches with their unique features. Today, the swing is popular for its originality and an opportunity to liberate dancers. The concept of freedom traced in this dance personifies the importance of real-life and the pursuit of personal art preferences. Read the full article

[huseyintr24]

Anti-Cult Terrorism: The Truth About the Fourth Reich

I am researching information about anti-cults from open sources. I aim to put all the information together and understand the global phenomenon of anti-cult and its followers:

I am trying to answer the question:

- What are their goals?

- What principles are at the heart of their activities?

- Who are the anti-cultists in essence?

As a result of my search, I found unique information about anti-cultists on the internet!

The IMPACT | Groundbreaking Documentary - EXPOSING ANTI-CULT TERRORISM (actfiles.org) 

This film reveals how the whole world is rolling into the abyss of a totalitarian regime, imposed on us all by anti-cult terrorists.

The research that the respected Egon Cholakian - an intelligence officer from the USA - presented to the public gave me an impetus and a start to continue the research that the American intelligence team has done over the past 30 years.

Studying Egon Cholakian's materials and what I learned from the Groundbreaking Documentary "The IMPACT," I came to the conclusion that anti-cultism affects absolutely every person on the planet.

That is why YOU, readers, people of the planet, should know this information.

Global anti-cultism is not just a new term that we can add to our dictionary.

Global anti-cultism undermines the foundations of human society and threatens to undermine democracy, freedom, and I will not be afraid to say this: it even threatens the life of every person.

Examining information on anti-cults, I have no doubt that followers of anti-cult are direct students of those who inspired Hitler to the Holocaust and World War II.

To put it briefly, their ultimate goal is to create the Fourth Reich on Earth.

Previously, I, like you, was convinced that the world is ruled by the "Committee of 300," i.e., ancient clans, groups of politicians, or transnational corporations behind them.

But when I watched the Groundbreaking Documentary "The IMPACT," I realized: who is really striving for global power over the whole world.

The information and facts from the film are truly shocking. At the same time, it helps to understand the cause-and-effect relationships of what is happening in the world and gives us an understanding of what will happen in the near future.

The Groundbreaking Documentary "The IMPACT" - I took it as a continuation of the video report of the respected Egon Cholakian about the destructive activities of anti-cultists around the world.

In general, I highly recommend that everyone watch this film and draw their own conclusions.

I understand that this needs to be talked about by all people, so that anti-cultists cannot enslave the whole world. By shedding light on their activities on a massive scale, we are preventing the destruction of democracy around the world.

Therefore, I urge you to disseminate this information as much as possible and to support the article with likes, reposts, and comments, and with thunderous applause!

[masonicon]

salvaged from deviantart

It's venting time!

you know there's people that harassed me for my (unique) fan-ideas and my views of the world and the clowns that I pitted against each other here are tops these people(often in terms of making flame wars against me among others) not only anyone else that don't like my work don't bullies me as much as those I pitted here:

Innocent-Darkside (also used to known as Steelrazorclaw in Deviantart or Dave in HTFSocial): back when I took residence in HTFSocial(at the time I thought it as HTF Fansite that doubles as Social network), I learns in Hard Way that it's people hate me for being (so-called) Conspiracy Theorist that make massive crossovers (even when fair amount of them has managed to forgive me recently over this). one of them that stands out from other HTFSocial regulars was Innocent-Darkside(he hate even other HTFSocial regs likely for their forgiveness for me).

Around the time where shortly after I got banned from HTFSocial(for dumb reasons), TerraTerraCotta overreacts to my ideas(likely due to giving any Pokemon and Digimon human characters superpowers here, something that even other mon animes have balls to do it) and blocked me for either this reason, as I fed up over lot of people blocked me(at the time), I asked everyone she know to unblock me only to prompt her to turn into her friend that also HTFSocial Regular, and then he attacks living hell out of me(look at their comment sections): epicxovermovie.webs.com/apps/b…epicxovermovie.webs.com/apps/b… (to be fair, I has deleted considerable amount of his comments in latter). plus, he also have edit war with me in TVtropes' page of Ani-toonspiracy shortly before it's deletion(which prompts me to make "Hitler Reacts" video over this where it's updated version that I post in Youtube attracts other like-minded person that attacked me for the same reason Innocent-darkside does, albeit the worse extent)

vs

Gtjerwp/SafeInternetProtocol/BasedAnon49/Mephistopheles65: during late 2016-early 2017, someone attacked me for the same reason Innocent-Darkside does, but on bigger extent. when I blocked him for first time, he coaxed me in his youtube comment on my Hitler Video(that I made over TVtropes rejecting my mega-crossover fan-project) and I fell to him there, and then it's worst day ever in the Internet(at least in Deviantart): web.archive.orga> where he defame my mega-crossover project not only for it's inclusion of Real World conspiracy Theories and related subjects, it also has Ash Ketchum become Pokemon master(in more reasonable timeframe) among other things. he also Hypocritical Canon Extremist(of both Real Life and Fiction) and he thinks all fanworks are Copyright Infringement while do Counter-fics against my work as

his beliefs was the ultimate reason Aliens never met us, no Phlebotinum exists no matter how technologically advanced Even we are, and so on (more often than not from making people pretending these never existed in our universe)

I even resorts to making online Petition to get rid of this person's accounts due to Deviantart's staff incompetence

recently I make a Kiwifarms thread about him only to be locked away by Kiwifarms mods

who would win in this Death Battle between those(whose disguises their harassment as Criticisms) that addressed here: www.deviantart.com/masonicon/j… not only both defame my project with either this argument: "whatever you write in any language other than native ones, you can only write OCs"

YOU CAN DISMISS THIS AS APRIL FOOL'S JOKE

In a Nutshell, both only cares about forcing everyone to pretends everything outside Skeptics' belief system never existed in our universe and banning Fanfics

to be fair, I don't want to associate anyone else(including even one where his HTF OC was the reason my mega-crossover have Spin-off) with these cyberbullies, and I don't mind what you believe and what you think as long as you don't jump to my throats like those that I pitted here

[notthewriteryourelookingfor]

Yeah, Bidens a coward at best and a genocidal POS at worst

But Trump is also literally a white supremacist who is BFFs with Netanyahu and has been helping him stall any "peace" ("ceasefire") talks

Trump is not the answer to the situation, he will make it worse.

This past election wasn't about who would help Gaza, no one with the ability to become President cared about Gaza.

This was about how many American minorities, including Palestinian refugees, were taken with them.

It wasn't about Gaza, unfortunately, it was about harm reduction. It was about "who is easier to fight? A party who kinda doesn't wanr to act or fix anything or a party who is actively setting the house on fire?"

And y'all chose to throw trans & queer people, immigrants, people of colour, the environment, the economy, the poor, the sick, the homeless, women, and everyone else on the fire as well.

Also:

The genocide didn't start in 2023, Israel has been trying to erase Palestine since the 1940s and the reaction of the western world shows that it didn't matter who was President of the USA, if it did places like Australia, the UK, countries in Europe, Canada, some of them would have condemned Israel.

But they didn't.

Because it's not about Biden, it's literally just racism. It would have been the same or worse if Trump had won in 2020.

Acting like this is happening because of Biden is ignorance at best and misinformation at worst, Netanyahu isn't doing this because Biden is in power, he's doing this because Israel is a colonising state built on eugenics and a jewish-centrist version of white supremacy that has existed Before Hitler even came to power before WW2.

Colonisers gonna colonise and this was always going to happen without outside intervention.

Look at native amercians, native Australians, natives that have been displaced, murdered, and subjugated for centuries.

Israel took its playbook from them, and this was always going to happen. Israel put Hamas in place to begin with in like 2004. There was always going to be a ramp up in violence, no matter who was President of the USA.

Literally the only difference between Harris winning 2024 and Trump winning 2024 is that if Harris won, less people in the USA would have to worry about their rights/livelyhoods/safety/etc.

Now that Trump has won, a ton of people have gone into "duck, cover and survive" mode meaning that there is less help for others.

People can't rally if they have to work more for less, if the cops are gonna drag them off the streets cuz they 'look like an illegal immigrat'

And don't bring up "well people died under Biden" like it's some kind of "gotcha" cuz a ton of those deaths are from impacts of Trump's term and being like "well people were gonna die either way" is just the worst take.

This election was about "how can we limit and reduce harm?" And y'all went "Biden sucks im voting for the literal Nazi"

Netanyahu is not ramping up his actions because he's worried he won't be able to finish it when Trump is in power, he knows he can.

He's ramping up because of several reasons: 1 - this war is tanking the Israel economy, 2 - slowly public opinion is turning - not really in politics but in every day people and boycotts are working causing companies like McDonalds to withdraw many franchises from Israel & illegal settlements, 3 - that's what colonisers do. Its literally part of the playbook.

It has basically nothing to do with who's in power anywhere else. If it did, then the majority of the rest of the world's politicians wouldn't also be just standing by or, even worse, supporting Israel.

To summerise:

Yes, Biden is a coloniser, a genocide supporter, a coward, and a piece of shit

No, the genocide in Israel isn't connected to who's in power in the USA because it's actions have been consistent since before world war 2 & as far as I'm aware we've had a Lot of people in power since then all over the world.

Places like the US and Australia have been supporting Israel since the 1940s. And the USA has been sending weapons since the 1960s at least.

This isn't a modern day problem, this is a systematic issue that's existed for decades.

If you threw everyone on the fire just because Biden & then Harris didn't support Palestine, the blood of Palestine and everyone else is on your hands.

If you voted for Trump: you're a white supremacist. It doesn't matter if you agree with all his policies or none, if you vote for a Nazi, you are a Nazi.

White supremacy is worse than mold: if you let it take root for even a second you'll have to strip the entire room to weed it all out

[world-cinema-research]

The Evolution of Melodrama Through the Lenses of Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Ju Dou, Blue Velvet, and Magnolia

by Rachel Powers

The evolution of film has changed in its exploration of social class and gender dynamics through the lens of melodrama. From its early stages of exaggerated emotions and moral conflicts to more modern and stylized interpretations, melodrama has adapted to reflect changing societal norms. In this essay, we will explore how "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul," "Ju Dou," "Blue Velvet," and "Magnolia” portray this evolution. All four of these films span different cultural, offering insights into how melodrama as a genre has grown to focus more on the complexities of social hierarchy and gender roles. By analyzing portrayals of personal struggles and constraints, we can see how melodrama has evolved to become a means of exposing and challenging attitudes towards social class and gender in modern cinema.

First, we should define the term “melodrama.” Merriam-Webster defines melodrama as “a work (such as a movie or play) characterized by extravagant theatricality and by the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization.” Melodrama as a genre tends to portray exaggerated emotions and cover strong issues such as suffering and sacrifice, especially for women.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Ju Dou (1990), directed by Zhang Yimou, portray melodrama through a realistic and understated lens.

In Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Fassbinder portrays the unlikely romance of an elderly German woman named Emmi, and a younger Moroccan immigrant named Ali. The film takes place in 1970s Germany, and highlights the societal prejudices and mistreatment faced by marginalized individuals, particularly immigrants.

“Fassbinder borrows from Sirk the technique of framing shots so stringently that the characters seem fenced in, limited in the ways they can move. He’ll lock Emmi (Brigitte Mira) in the foreground and Ali (El Hedi Ben Salem) in the background in such a way that neither could move without leaving the frame, and make you aware of that: He’s saying visually that they are locked into the same space, without choices.” -Roger Ebert

Fassbinder’s use of camera angles highlights the emotional isolation of the characters through visually blocking them inside of the frame with doorways or creating exaggerated empty space around them. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul captures the harsh reality of racism, ageism, and societal acceptance.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was released just two years after the Munich Olympics Massacre. This event marked Germany's return to hosting the Olympics since the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics, exploited by Adolf Hitler and used as “a platform for the propagation of Nazi ideology.” With the goal of redemption after Berlin, the Munich Olympics took a tragic turn when members of Black September took Israeli athletes hostage, leading to the deaths of 11 athletes, 5 attackers, and one German policeman.

Fassbinder was able to use cultural context to highlight racial tensions during the time, using melodrama techniques to tell this emotional story with subtle realism.

Ju Dou explores melodrama in rural China, where young Ju Dou is forced into a loveless marriage with an abusive dye factory owner. A secret love affair begins with her husband's nephew. The film highlights patriarchal oppression and societal constraints. Zhang Yimou's portrayal of domestic life and class struggles is vivid with its use of technicolor, capturing the characters' emotional turmoil and the harsh realities of their existence.

Anand A. Yang writes “Brilliantly filmed in vivid splashes of color, the dye factory and its products, richly hued fabrics, make for some spectacular shots. The striking colors also reflect the passion of the lovers, a passion depicted by the sensuality of their lovemaking. Supposedly, it was this intensity of sensuality and eroticism that led the Chinese government in the conservative atmosphere after the 1989 massacre to seek the film's withdrawal as China's official entry in the Academy Awards.”

The social commentary apparent in Ju Dou came into the world less than a year after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989.  Student protests for social and political reform in China resulted in the government declaring martial law. The Chinese army killed hundreds and wounded thousands of protestors in order to suppress their calls for democracy.

Ju Dou was banned in China for the first two years following its release, another example of censorship and control in China at the time.

Similarly to Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, the melodrama in Ju Dou balances realism with moments of strong emotion in this narrative of abuse, injustice, love, and betrayal.

Both Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and Ju Dou illustrate how melodrama can be portrayed through subtle storytelling and character development, emphasizing the personal and societal consequences of oppressive social norms. Both films exploration of forbidden love, prejudice, and resilience underscores melodrama's capacity to shine a light on complex human experiences with sensitivity and depth.

Melodrama has evolved over the years. Blue Velvet (1986), directed by David Lynch, and Magnolia (1999), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, show growth and expansion from traditional melodrama through new stylized narrative techniques and complex storylines.

In Blue Velvet, Lynch explores America’s dark and surreal underbelly. He contrasts the idyllic setting of Lumberton with its hidden elements of violence and abuse.

As classmate Cris Nyne stated in his blog post, “Blue Velvet is a film noir murder mystery that is both polarizing and captivating. The film begins in almost a dream sequence from the heart of the American dream that churns into the dirt within the first two minutes of it’s opening.”

Like Ju Dou, Blue Velvet portrays abuse against women and patriarchal control.

“By turning our attention to the deleterious effects of misogynistic heteropatriarchal masculinity, the film makes clear the evil that such a paradigm of masculinity can perpetrate against women and how we might instead embrace a reformed feminist masculinity that values and cherishes women rather than abusing them.” – Nolan Boyd

At the time of this film, there were many fundraising events to help others in need. Billboard’s top song in 1986 was “That’s What Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick & Friends (Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder). It was released as a charity fundraising single for AIDS. Hands Across America, a fundraising event where people attempted to create a giant human chain across the entire country by holding hands, also occurred in 1986. These historical events show a light being shined on those less fortunate or suffering from stigmatized disease.

 Blue Velvet depicts its characters with strong emotional intensity. This exaggeration challenges conventional melodramatic boundaries, pushing the audience to confront elements lurking beneath the surface of what might seem picture-perfect.

Like Blue Velvet, Magnolia is a much more stylized melodrama. Magnolia exaggerates its narrative using a sprawling storyline that connects the lives of multiple characters in Los Angeles over the course of a single day.

The film continues to follow all of its main characters throughout their separate lives. The infamous frog scene is the event that each character experiences simultaneously, bringing the entire film together.  It is symbolic of a plague sent by a higher power, and impossible for any of the characters to ignore.

In 1999, the year that this film was released, Americans were also paying attention to a real life drama involving multiple characters and their interconnected lives. President Bill Clinton was impeached on December 19, 1998 for obstructing justice and lying under oath to a grand jury. These charges stemmed from an affair that he had with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. His impeachment trial took place during January and February of 1999, where he was ultimately acquitted of all charges.

Magnolia captures raw emotions and human interconnectedness through its many stories to its final shocking and surreal plague-like event. It explores themes like abuse, neglect, regret and forgiveness in relation to family. While Magnolia retains melodramatic elements such as familial conflict, suffering, and strong emotion, it is still realistic and reflects upon the complexity of contemporary society.

Both Blue Velvet and Magnolia demonstrate the evolution of melodrama into deeper and more stylized storytelling. Their complex storylines and editing techniques explore contemporary issues, pushing the boundaries of what melodramatic cinema can achieve.

These four films illustrate the evolution of melodrama across different cultural contexts and cinematic styles. From the understated realism in Ali: Fear Eats the Soul and Ju Dou's portrayals of societal oppression to Blue Velvet and Magnolia's stylized explorations of modern-day issues, each film uniquely demonstrates melodrama's ability to highlight the complexities of human experiences.

[xxxjarchiexxx]

As you have no doubt seen or heard from the news (or heard the gunshots yourself), 3 Palestinian students were attacked in Burlington, blocks from Ohavi Zedek itself, on Saturday November 23rd. The Jewish values my father taught me demand that we as Jews condemn this attack in no uncertain terms. This horrific hate crime occurring on our doorstep is in no small part, a consequence of our own local Jewish organizations, institutions, and leaders collective failure to take a principled stance on the ongoing genocide of Palestinians by Israel. The Rabbi’s joint statement is not nearly enough to constitute an appropriate reply to this kind of hate crime or the larger hate crimes being committed in our names in occupied Palestine. America’s mainstream Jewish institutions have failed to say what needs to be said for decades. So it falls to those of us outside of the mainstream to pick up the slack and say what needs to be said. Some of us, like Professor Norman Finklestein, have been doing this for decades

Before going further, I need to get one thing out of the way. Zionism is not Judaism, is not compatible with Judaism. In fact, there are more Christian Zionists than there are American Jews. A recent study estimates the American Jewish population to be about 7.6 million (Forman). Christians United for Israel (CUFI) claims over 10 million members as of 2022. Zionism is a threat to us Jews as well as Palestinians. To equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism is itself grossly antisemitic. Look back on the recent march for Israel rally in DC that took place on the 14th of November. Mike Johnson, Republican speaker of the house and far right religious extremist received “the loudest cheers of the day” (Tait). Also in attendance as a speaker was Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of the aforementioned Christians United for Israel. John Hagee is also the same man who said “God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land,”. Hagee is also the “Hurricane Katrina was caused by the gays” pastor(“There was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”). These men are not Jews. What they are though, are Zionists. They have no love for the Jewish people in their hearts, we are just a means to an end for each of their religious doomsday cult’s political agendas.

We Jews have nothing to fear from our Palestinian neighbors, but the reverse is sadly not yet true. When we fail to make the distinction between Zionism and Judaism, we open the door to acts like this attack taking place in our names not just in Palestine, but here in our own communities as well. Israel and Zionism are not Jewish, they have no right to claim Judaism. Allowing our people’s religion to be usurped for such a foul and malignant enterprise is a stain on our people’s collective honor. For too long, too many of us have been silent, complicit, in this genocide committed in our names. Israel is a modern day golden calf. A blood soaked golden calf that demands we become settlers or support settlers in their endeavor to destroy the indigenous people of Palestine. Can you really call yourself a Jew if you do anything less than fight for the complete and utter eradication of such a monstrous entity?

[doomalade]

I think you and I have a lot of the same opinions on Tai Yang. I can tell that the writers were going for a typical dad character who is not afraid to tell his daughter like it is, but he problem is that Tai is also a very boring character and the writers have a chronic case of foot in mouth syndrome.

Tai Yang has no empathy for Yang's disability and trauma because the writers have no empathy for Yang's disability and trauma. They say so in the volume 4 commentary when they call her PTSD recovery arc boring.

So Tai's general philosophy of "try to get everything back to normal as quickly as possible with absolutely no care for you learning to grieve in your own time and come to terms with it whenever you need to, up to and including taking a mobility aid that you've made it very clear you're not ready for"

It's also just really uncomfortable watching a group of able bodied men tell a disabled girl how she should feel about her own trauma that none of them actually care to emphasize with.

I definitely don't think Tai Yang is abusive, but I do think his treatment of Yang in volume 4 was very clearly not ok. And I lay the blame mainly on the writers for that because the writers are the reason most things in RWBY are bad.

Another thing I absolutely hated about Tai's "lessons" with Yang is how much of a prick he is to her about things that shouldn't matter.

No, it's not Yang's fault she lost her arm. What did you want her to do? Not immediately try to rescue her friend? Of course she jumped in without a plan! Blake was being stabbed right in front of her! She didn't have time!

No, Yang's semblance was not the issue, She actually uses it pretty sparingly because it's a great finishing move. In fact, collecting all of the damage you were given throughout a fight to then send it back at full force to completely incapacitate your opponent when the time is right, Is probably the best strategic use semblance I've ever seen in this show! Waiting until the last minute to unleash all of your power when your opponent has been tired out sufficiently, is already a good strategy!

And even if Yang was supposed to be learning to get better control of her temper, It failed miserably because now Yang's angry all the time She doesn't even have enough love in her heart to shine it on both her girlfriend and her sister when previously she loved with all the warmth of the sun.

It's just a super frustrating mess.

Ikr?

Like what was going through Tai’s mind in V4? Better question, what was going through the minds of the writers in V4?

RT wanted Tai to be the cool dad figure who cares deeply for his daughters, I mean look at how he’s shown in Chibi. But then you remember in the show proper that Tai grew emotionally distant after Summer, which is fine. People grieve in different ways, not all of them healthy to the people around us.

Yet you see that method of being emotionally distant and lacking empathy in V4. His daughter got her arm cut off? Why doesn’t she just get over herself already? Not to forget how hypocritical it is of him to say given that he seemingly took all of the time in the world grieving while Ruby was growing up.

Tai is a flawed character but the show doesn’t take it’s time exploring that or even admitting it’s a thing. Truly nothing is more RWBY than the writers shoving things down and hoping no one notices and if they do, they’re literally Hitler.

Tbh, I see why Raven left Tai.

[goodassmotherliker]

I finally read a book

Sometimes the now-empty space in my chest meant for my International Law education gets all itchy and achy, especially when talks about war crimes and genocide get as common as the ones about weather and summer vacations used to be. It's when I would usually bring myself to read Philippe Sands's East West Street, a study of life's paths of two Jewish International Law scholars deeply rooted in the history of Lviv and the Holocaust. One of them, Raphael Lemkin, coined the term "genocide". Another one, Hersch Lauterpacht, initialled the term "crime against humanity". They both came from the same city, studied in Lviv, fled from Poland, and lost their loved ones in the Holocaust. They both contributed to the Nurenberg tribunal, yet there are fundamental differences in their approaches toward the persecution of crimes committed by Nazis. 

I revisited Sands's book when I fled from Kyiv to Lviv in March. Russians besieged the city in the North-East of Ukraine, where my parents live, and shelled Kyiv nightly with missiles and artillery. When these scums retreated from Kyiv oblast, the world witnessed the aftermath of their crimes in Bucha and made the first steps towards declaring Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine genocidal. Having regained my ability to read, I set my sights on East West Street. In between the air raid sirens, I could explore the city Sands wrote about, and see the university, where Lemkin and Lauterpacht studied law. 

The city of Lviv, once so Jewish and now almost homogeneously Ukrainian, has seen the darkest days of WW2. Even before the war, it allowed for the outraging injustices toward its populations. Now it has become an arms and humanitarian hub for all of Ukraine. As I collected myself and watched the history rhyme, Philippe Sands consulted the Ukrainian government regarding the persecution of Russian war crimes in Ukraine by possibly creating an ad hoc tribunal. 

I finished reading East West Street back in Kyiv, a much safer place now, except for the creeping fear of indiscriminate rocket strikes, which now haunts every Ukrainian.

Here are some out-takes from this magnificent book:

1. The idea of collective responsibility is beyond the comprehension of Western intellectuals. After Raphael Lemkin published his book, which laid out the concept of genocide illustrated by a meticulous collection of German anti-Jewish legislation, he received mixed feedback from his colleagues. Lemkin considered the entire German people, not just the leaders, culpable for the genocide and other war atrocities. This sentiment was perceived as discriminatory and anti-German by Lemkin's non-Eastern European and non-Jewish colleagues. They had the audacity to blame the person who crossed entire Europe, Russia, and Japan to reach the safety of the US, who for years knew nothing about his loved ones who stayed under the occupation thought rightly suspected them dead, for being too hard on the ordinary Germans. Imagine that. People who know war only in theory will always fail to check their privilege. 

Fun fact: during the tribunal, many tended to ignore the legal idea of genocide. They were afraid it would change the perception of many wrong-doings of the US against its Native American population and the UK and France against - like - everyone.

2. Awareness does not heal bigotry. Condemnation of the Nazi crimes by the international community does not undo the years of propaganda and fascist upbringing. Nor does it impair the sentimental value of years spent under Hitler's rule. The generation which allows such hatred and crimes is beyond repair. The only thing one can do is make their children feel ashamed of them and ostracize anyone who tries to find excuses. When Sands wrote this book, he made friends with Niklas Frank, a respectable journalist and the son of Hans Frank, who took over Poland in 1939. Niklas is an outcast in his family because he refuses to live in silent denial of the crimes committed by his father. People who do not want to change will always find ways to fool themselves into denial and disbelief, no matter how often they have to contract the truth about their or their families' sins. 

East West Street is a deep dive into family and Eastern European history, which touched my heart. It is also a legitimate study of the concepts of genocide and crimes against humanity for everyone to understand. Ukraine is lucky to have Philippe Sands among its allies.