#saw one post saying that the US had such a 'problem with' Muslims that it killed people 'for oil'

[gothhabiba]

Another bewildering assertion I've seen floating around is that the United States of America deliberately destabilises West Asia and North Africa, murders millions of civilians, destroys towns and cities, arms militias &c. because of Islamophobia. I assure you that this is not true and that no one who is serious about understanding geopolitics or Islamophobia has this analysis. Islamophobia may have early modern or pre-modern instantiations, but in its current context it is very much a result of and a rhetorical and social justification for the geopolitical, economic, resource-driven exigencies of imperial capitalism. You're looking at a cart and insisting that it is pulling a horse around

[newnitz]

I saw your whole post about "Dominating the indomitable" and like no, it's that Jewish people act like they are literally the only group who have ever been oppressed, and how all other forms of oppression are actually antisemitism, and how as a result of this Jewish people can never ever perpetuate oppression against other groups. Horrible things have happened to Jewish people in the past therefore any criticism of the actions of Jewish people now is antisemitic, and even TALKING ABOUT the groups who were affected on a smaller scale during The Holocaust is antisemitic, actually. Jewish people, particularly in online spaces, demand solidarity with other minority groups but *insist* that your problems are the only ones that matter. And yet - False accusations of Antisemitism are constantly deployed en-masse, particularly with regard to Israel, to justify doing heinous fucking shit and to treat genocide as though it's in some way complicated. I'm from the UK, and for twelve years we had upper class asshole politicians saying every racist thing you could imagine about Muslims and literally nothing came of it. Then we had a left wing candidate for Prime Minister who criticised Israel ONCE, and the accusations of Antisemitism that followed instantly killed his career. While Antisemitism is real and is a problem a lot of Jewish people are perfectly happy to allow the Right Wing grifters who perpetrate Antisemitism to weaponise it in their name against people they don't like. You deny that you have ANY privelige relative to other religious minority groups and yet accusations of Antisemitism are the only kind that seem to be consistently taken seriously, even when they're overtly bullshit. But it's also the fact that as minority religious groups in the west go a LOT of Jewish people are rich white people, and the Jewish community as a whole refuses to in any way acknowledge the privelige that comes with that because "I'm not white I'm Jewish" as though you can't be both. Like literally right now, a nation of Jewish people are slaughtering a nation of Muslims on the grounds that being Jewish just makes them inherently entitled to the land those Muslims are on. We're seeing Jewish people commit horrific acts of violence and dehumanisation against the people of Palestine on the basis of their religion - we're seeing Israelis posing with dead or dying Palestinians, laughing at them as they bleed out in the street. But everyone in the west is willing to treat the situation as complicated specifically because the Israelis are Jewish and the Palestinians are Muslim - and yet people like you still feel comfortable acting as though Jewish people could NEVER possibly commit imperialism, could NEVER do anything wrong, could NEVER fall into the same sort of colonialist, bigoted attitudes as other groups, because unlike those other groups you simply know better. And Jewish people are STILL acting like they're the ones most affected by what the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians, like this is a bigger problem for some white American jewish person than the people actually LIVING in Palestine right now, because a few people are using the situation as an excuse to be Antisemitic.

So in this anon we have, in order of appearance:

"Jews talk about their oppression too much"

"Jews weaponize antisemitism"

Holocaust universalization

Holocaust inversion

"But whatabout the antisemitism on the right???"

"Jews are just a religion"

"Jews are white"

"Chosen people(derogatory)"

And you don't think there's a cultural antisemitism problem? Worst of all, you don't think you're part of the problem? You just exemplified it with this word vomit made of the copium you take as a culture to justify your millennia-long attempt to exterminate us. Because this shit did NOT begin with the Holocaust. It began with us being stolen from our land, with almost a million of our ancestors' brothers and sisters genocided in the attempt, brought to Europe as Roman slaves, then running from place to place to flee the attempts to finish us off, all the while your holy wars with the Muslims saw our tiny remaining population massacred and dispossessed under most management, with our ancestors funding their return to their own cities, with what little money they could scrounge up between their own escapes and expulsions, because no one else would.

Now, to deconstruct your rancid takes:

"Jewish people act like they are literally the only group who have ever been oppressed, and how all other forms of oppression are actually antisemitism" - That is factually, demonstratively false. Jews as a whole do not claim anti-Black racism or the genocides perpetuated against the indigenous people of Turtle Island are because of antisemitism, because while those two occurred concurrently neither fueled the other. They existed independently. The Holocaust was perpetuated primarily against Jews and Roma. No other group lost >50% of their population under that. Jews were more loudly hated because we greatly outnumbered and still greatly outnumber Roma. There was ethnic cleansing of Poles in some places but no concentrated effort of extermination, as those who cooperated with the genocides of Jews and Roma were safe. You cannot genocide an identity outside an ethnic group or race(which in most cases is a derivative of an ethnic group), but the crimes committed against queer people and political rivals were a much lower priority than the extermination of all Jews and Roma. The Holocaust IS about us and to say otherwise is both antisemitic and anti-Romani.

"how as a result of this Jewish people can never ever perpetuate oppression against other groups." - That is a fringe opinion, and there are massive intracommunity discussions about how we as a whole can and should do better towards other marginalized people, show solidarity unconditionally and so on. It's just not visible to you because the only time you engage with our community is as a threat to our existence.

"Jewish people, particularly in online spaces, demand solidarity with other minority groups but *insist* that your problems are the only ones that matter." Again you are factually incorrect. Jews have been overrepresented in the Civil Rights movement and have been part of the left for centuries at this point. We demand "solidarity" in not perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes, i.e not being actively racist against us so that we can feel safe backing them up as they combat racism against them, which should be the bare minimum. And we've been failed repeatedly as the left and right take on the same flavor of antisemitism.

"False accusations of Antisemitism are constantly deployed en-masse," Who are YOU to say which accusations are false? Which other minority group is assumed to lie about racism until it's proven beyond any shadow of the most unreasonable doubt to be telling the truth?

"particularly with regard to Israel, to justify doing heinous fucking shit and to treat genocide as though it's in some way complicated." There is no genocide. Killing tens of thousands of combatants and civilians in a 1:1 ratio out of a population of 2 million is not a genocide, it's a war. And considering the hellish medium of urban warfare, it's an exceptionally well-managed one. Most importantly, it's a war Israel has been actively avoiding for 17 years until the 7th of October.

"Then we had a left wing candidate for Prime Minister who criticised Israel ONCE" Jeremy Corbyn did more than that. He didn't "criticize Israel" he buddied up with Hezbollah ffs

"While Antisemitism is real and is a problem a lot of Jewish people are perfectly happy to allow the Right Wing grifters who perpetrate Antisemitism to weaponise it in their name against people they don't like." And you're pretending these grifters aren't called out? It's called a "broken clock", and every accusation of antisemitism needs to be investigated. Right now you're excusing your own leftist antisemitism with whataboutism.

"You deny that you have ANY privelige relative to other religious minority groups" - We are not just a religious minority. Jews are an ethnoreligious minority, with most Jews coming from at least one Jewish parent. Outside the US and countries with very small Jewish populations, most Jews come from two Jewish parents, and before the 60s it was almost all Jews. Intermarriage in the US only began with the state-led push towards assimilation following the end of WWII.

"and yet accusations of Antisemitism are the only kind that seem to be consistently taken seriously" Really? Because I haven't seen them being taken seriously by leftists.

"a LOT of Jewish people are rich white people" Whiteness is not conditional. Whiteness does not depend on passing yourself off as something else. Whiteness protects you from having your name, facial features or accent be a reason for lynching, being refused job offers or interrogated by security forces for going about your everyday life. Rich people of many other ethnicities are privileged in comparison to the rest of their community, and that doesn't make them "white". And do you even know how many Jews are rich and white-passing? Especially in countries where Jews didn't assimilate, didn't intermarry?

"Like literally right now, a nation of Jewish people are slaughtering a nation of Muslims on the grounds that being Jewish just makes them inherently entitled to the land those Muslims are on." Again factually false. Israel is counter-attacking the terrorist organization who invaded its territory, raped and murdered men women and children and took hundreds of hostages, and since said terrorist org hides among civilians civilians get killed in the crossfire. It's about religion from Hamas' side, which is what I referred to in the post. There's no "belief that we're inherently entitled", there's a fuckton of archeological evidence showing that we've been living in that land for thousands of years and we want the self-determination that was stolen from us, and Muslims, with their need to dominate the entire Middle East, don't vibe with that.

[gryficowa]

I'm going crazy, they want to strengthen this wall on the Polish-Belarusian border, they seriously want to kill everyone trapped on the border

I'm fed up with this country, it will destroy itself with its reborn fascism, it's clear that Donald Trump has played too hard on Polish politicians and I hate it

Why has bullying Muslims become so fucking fashionable?

Poland, USA, UK and Israel, and there's probably more and it pisses me off, but I'm powerless because I have ASD and social phobia, which means I can't even rebel like others, I'm not Greta, I'm someone who is terrified of crowds and I would die on the spot if I had to go on strike with other people in the real world

But I can't pretend that nothing bad is happening here, I'm not silent about the border, Poles, Palestine and other important things, just because I can't physically fight doesn't mean I can't show my frustration in another way

Why are all my attempts to publicize what is happening at the border abroad not working? Are these Muslims less important than the Palestinians and Sudanese?

People were deceived by Lukashenko that he would help them, they were imprisoned, the border guards from both countries abuse them, they do not allow help and they destroyed their phones so that they could not communicate, it is terrible, and the worst is that many right-wingers are supports (And the pro-life wanted to shoot these people)

I remember there was a post (or rather a tweet) about a woman with a cat who was trapped at the border, people laughed like today Israelis laugh at children dying from their bombs, it's terrible that we live in these times, although other leftists talked about the returning fascism and people laughed at them and it hurts

I saw how people attacked them and when they fled from the Taliban they took their children with them because it was irresponsible (Yes, you heard right, people are terrible)

I see the same thing with Israelis (specifically with Zionist views), laughing or attacking families because their child is not at home, or is at home because the Israeli army kidnapped him, people have lost the trait of empathy and it hurts

How many times have I heard that I am under leftist propaganda, or just stupid, because they treat "Bad illegal immigrants" as people + They spread propaganda that these people force you to cry, yes, they are so disgusting

If it turns out that these bastards supporting the border guard suddenly turn out to support Palestine, I will be disgusted by the hypocrisy of these people, I'm sorry, but I hate two-faced people and I say that straight

Yes, I'm fed up with this world, I'm fed up with people in my country using gashlighing to tell me that I'm wrong, that what's happening is wrong and shouldn't be considered normal, my country has been imprisoning people since 2021 borderline and I hate it

If not about Muslims, then about LGBT+ people, because they are not people, but an ideology, so they need to be expelled, I hate it all, this country, which was a victim, has a problem like Israel, and this says something about what is happening, being a leftist in a nationalist country is a challenge because everyone looks at you like you're stupid and laughs at you, although what you say is true, it is the worst in this world, fascism is back and it will be almost impossible to eradicate it, and probably in many decades it will resurface again and find new victims

Poles are like Zionists, they don't listen to anyone because they consider themselves victims, so you have to respect them (And then they go with a billboard saying "Poland for Poles" or other racist shit), it's depressing that a country that survived the holocaust does this the same as the Third Reich, and then he has the nerve to criticize countries for the same shit as himself, it's disgusting and shows how fascism has been reborn, being a fascist has become fashionable and is considered "your own opinion" and the worst thing is that we are powerless because no one listens to us and we are ridiculed for telling the truth, seriously, in such times we live in

The very fact that we are repeating the same history, even though we were supposed not to, shows that we, humans, want extinction, which is terrifying because we should strive for change, but instead we want to go full circle and then it will probably happen again that we should not repeat it X events and repeat them as Y

We are selfish, we play with human life and then pretend that we care about it, we destroy the planet and exterminate endangered species, because after all, "Humans are better than animals", when animals rarely kill for entertainment

Poles and Israelis, you fucking deserve each other

[aterimber]

Hi!

I saw your posts in the tags about deleting all reblogs! I went thru your blog to see what was wrong and it looks like Zionists have been harassing you about antisemitism until you stop talking about Palestine.

In so sorry about that and don't fall for it!!

To clear down things up: nativenews isn't antisemitic. They're pro-Palestine and support a decolonized solution which Zionists HATE and that's why they're saying nativenews in antisemitic. Zionists are calling ANYONE who doesn't support Israel or a 2state solution an "unsafe" person for Jews which doesn't even make sense.

That'd be like if Americans said "you're anti-american and unsafe to my well being because you think native Americans deserve equal rights. Natives obviously just want rights to get revenge on us, how could you possibly suggest supporting them."

That doesn't even make sense and it's obviously just a racist excuse for Americans to keep their privileges over natives right?

Same exact situation is happening.

Jewish Zionists like to pretend Israel is a Jewish state but it isn't. There are Christians and Palestinians and Muslims who live in Israel too. It isn't specifically anti-Semitic to criticize a government, regardless of it's population.

People criticize the USA all the time and who are the only people that get mad about it? Patriots and racists who want to ignore their problems, right? And should we stop talking about those things cuz they're uncomfortable? Course not. They are the Reason we talk about it, right?

Zionists are the same. And the doubt they are planting in you about your voice is their goal. One less voice speaking up for Palestine helps theirs get louder.

Please don't delete your reblogs.

Nothing you've done has helped out Jewish lives in danger JUST because they are Jewish. And that's what antisemitism is.

Antisemitism is not when you have opinions Jewish zionists don't like or reblog from people that Jewish zionists don't like, I promise.

Hi Anon!

Thank-you for the message!

Also, thank-you very much for that explaination. What you said definitely makes sense to me. As I've said, I'm not very knowledgable about what has been happening and was only attempting to help, which it had been pointed out to me that was not what happened.

I'm attempting to learn so I can make informed decisions going forward and listen to the people who I was attempting to help.

To clear things up: I am against murder. Period. (Yes this includes animals, but that's not the point of this post)

If you are pro-murder, I do NOT agree with you. Unfollow me, block me, whatever.

This is why I felt sick when I was told the post I reblogged from NativeNews could possibly get people killed. That is why I went to the extreme lengths of taking down every other post I had reblogged mentioning Israel and Palenstine and wrote the apology post.

I was trying to spread information to stop people from dying, not contribute to it.

[bookwormstarwarsfan]

A mad rambling about a certain fan community and a rare mention of politics kind of stuff from me, that I may regret, but thankfully only like 5 people will see it sooo

IF I SEE ONE MORE POST SAYING THAT THE PLANNED TERRORIST ATTACK AT THE VIENNA TS CONCERT WAS AN ANTI-TH FANBASE AND/OR MISOGYINIST ATTACK, I'M GOING TO BREAK SOMETHING

It's... it's... soooo.... I don't know... selfish? Definitely incredibly ignorant towards the topic of terrorism, but also a very good example of my problem with th fanbase. No, I'm not disliking you because you are women, no, not because I'm sexist, no, not because I don't like you seeing having fun, it's because this!

I'm a soon to be international relationship expert~political scientist, which is also my hobby and passion, so this is an extra sensitive topic to me, especially that I also lived through the maddening, frightening feeling of the European terrorism wave around 2015-2017.

I can't believe that I had to explain this terrible thing here. But ISIS and any other islamic fundamentalist groups are fighting a war that was born in their broken minds: they just want to kill anybody who is not muslim or the right kind of muslim according to them and making headlines with it. It has nothing to do with TS and nothing to do with the fact that the audience would have been mainly women, they just saw the opportunity to attack an event with a huge amount of people that will be also big news around the world. It's just feels so self-centered to instantly make it into a TS thing. I'm not saying that the attackers couldn't have had sexist motivations, but this would have been a fundamentalist terror attack, that's it.

I'm especially angry, since I'm barely over the shock that the Southport stabbing is also circulating as an anti-TS attack. I didn't even know it was a dance class to her music until I saw a post here talking about how the whole world just wants to murder the fanbase or idk. I'm not ashamed to say that I find disgusting that three children's death and many others' injury is used for this, to make it about themsleves. Could have been a madman who hates TS? Yes, although it's a low chance. Could have been a misogynist attack? Higher chance. But in this situation it's even more important than usual to not to make assumptions. Don't forget that there are violent, islamophobic, anti-migration riots going on in the UK because people made assumptions about the attacker and his motives. But in reality, we don't know if it was an extreme right-wing attack, an extreme leftist attack, a terror attack, a sexist attack, or if he just woke up one day with sounds in his head telling him to kill someone, anyone.

I, like any other normal person, am fully against jokes about how TS fans should be killed or locked up, or any other humorous intended or serious ideas about violence against them, but let's not make it look like it's a niche community of 1000 pursued women around the world who are fans of some underappreciated artist who is in grave danger all the time because the whole globe is against her. Especially that a very big part of this fanbase is systemathically harassing people for various reasons.

Violent misogyny and aggression against people who like and do harmless stuff other's don't like is a serious problem, but doesn't give right to this kind of manipulation of events, and can't be solved by not having clear, honest dicsussion, and especially not by making things up.

[flowerwebs]

hi! I saw your post/answer about xiran and hui and I gotta say I absolutely agree as someone who's half hui and grew up muslim/in a hui household jklfdhfhg I've been meaning to post about it but I'm glad other people are pointing it out. Aside from the host of other problems in her work, her refusal to ever really bring up hui culture outside of when its politically useful while basically making Han Culture Bite Sized Lectures for a white audience has always really rubbed me the wrong way - and although like you said Hui is a diverse term and there are many ways to be Hui, her Zachary Ying book had some aspects to it that made me raise my eyebrows and didn't really ring true to the experience of being Hui diaspora. Especially the fact that there was a big fuss made in the books about the political repercussions of Zachary being Hui, but the rest of the book is about him being possessed by Qin Shi Huang and 'magic' and such (?????) which feels a lot like it's in direct opposition to Hui culture and beliefs... it leaves a really bad taste in my mouth that she strongly establishes his Hui heritage in order to write twitter rants abt politics at the beginning but then totally erases his Hui culture and makes him 'reconnect' to a Han Chinese culture :/ Hui have been in China for literally over a thousand years and there's a whole host of unique and diverse mixed cultures across China that are categorized under 'Hui' but his story doesn't even explore a single one... it's really disappointing, especially as she positions herself as Hui and a position of authority. Of course there are people with Hui on their birth certificates that don't practice Islam, but she goes beyond that by pulling it out for points while being so dismissive of the unique culture and context of our people. Anyways, I'm sorry for rambling in your inbox but I was really excited to see someone mention it when my friend linked me your post kfjldhgf

hi, ty for the insight! and yea like you said a lot of her stuff about being hui comes off as like pure exotification and sometimes dare i'd say orientalism...it gives off "i only have a supposed native american princess great grandmother so i call myself indigenous to people for brownie points" energy. xiran claiming she is hui when she is definitively not is erasing actual hui chinese voices and at its very worst is unfortunately her views of han ethnocentrism projected onto a chinese ethnic minority; even on the slight chance that xiran is actually muslim, she needs to repair a lot of how she poorly represents hui culture. (also narratively` making a hui muslim character happily assimilate to han chinese folk religious customs is fucking racist as hell can we talk about that?!) i actually despise how much she's spread possibly dangerous and very flimsy misinterpretations of hui culture to her broader audience...how tf is girlie a leading expert on chinese culture/history when by this she's no better than the racist white scholars who've ruined the east asian studies field to the point where its reputation is almost tarnished in leftist circles

[fromchaostocosmos]

Youtube had recommended to me Hasan and Ethan's podcast the leftovers episode on the current situation going in Israel.

I saw part of when it was live.

I had/have thoughts and I'm going to my best express them here.

I will be honest that I did watch the whole thing and I did not go back once the full episode was posted, which was 4hrs long, to watch it in total because I just did not have the energy.

I have seen stuff before that Hasan has said that I find to be not giving the full historical context, lacking details, or just missing information as to if it is on purpose or not I don't know.

Like he has talked about the Ottoman Empire and Jews before in way that I find just baffling because that is not example of what we call good times in Jewish history. Like just because there were moments that were not as bad as what the xtians controlled places were doing doesn't mean it wasn't still shitty thing going on.

In fact the Ottoman Empire predated the xtians in the forcing of Jews to wear marked clothing, especially the color yellow, to show they were Jews as well as Jew hats.

So within this specific episode of the podcast there was a lot calling Israel and Israelis colonizers, but it was hard to tell if this was for all them or just in regards to those who go past the greenline.

There was the familiar old line of British Empire gave British Mandate Palestine to the Jews which is 1) not true and 2) ignore the very long history of Jews always having some of us be in our homeland

There was a small acknowledgment that Jews come from there, but it was treated that our desire to want to return is not as valid as Palestinians desire and that our desire to return to homeland is something new rather than something we have been doing since the first time we were taken and have always tried to return.

Jewish trauma was again treated as less valid by Hasan and our fears of another Genocide and Ethan was trying to explain to him that Jews fear another Holocaust and Hasan was like Palestinians are currently going a Holocaust/ethnic cleansing (I don't remember which was used by him)

I don't think Hasan understands that Jewish trauma doesn't just begin and end with the Holocaust. That we have a collective trauma that is from multiple traumas that keep building on top of each other. That we never really have breathing room between each cataclysm. That we survived multiple genocides and ethnic cleansing.

He also taked about when ever Hamas does something reporters ask random Muslims to denounce the violence. I wonder if he knows that Jews around world as soon as we know to be Jews get asked about Israel and to denounce Israel by random people all the the time.

He also said that Muslims can't ever get a break. I'm not here to do oppression Olympics. I don't random Muslims should be bothered by reported nor do I think Palestinians who are trying to deal with the chaos of bombing that has just happened be bothered either.

I'm just curious if he knows is all.

He has also totally ignored the the not that old history of Mizhari Jews and the expulsion of their communities.

The fact is that there is only one country in the whole world that I can say with 100% confidence will never kill or harm me just for being a Jew.

Like the Israeli gov has got lots of problems and I'm not they wouldn't discriminate against me ever, what I am saying is just for being a Jew that won't happen ever in only one country for sure. I'm not sure anyone who is not Jewish understand what a big deal that is for us. How we have never had that before.

Hasan also brought up how this people with influence on policy making are saying horrific things how Israel should rid the world of Gaza.

It is vile for anyone to say that and I think it needs to be clear who the overwhelming majority of these statements come from and that is xtians politicians and people of influence. Because they don't see those in Gaza as human and the see Jews as tools to bring Jesus back and then we get murdered by Jesus.

To act like Jews have any overwhelming influence on what is being said is gross and false. Also I like to remind you we only make up .2% of the world population.

Also I really really hate how the world zionism has been taken away from us because it was all about the right for Jews to return to our Homeland and to right to not be killed.

Hasan also supports BDS which I personally can not understand how one can not see how that is pretty clearly antisemitic.

So as I said I had lots of thoughts. I hope I did my best to get them out clearly.

Please do not go harass Hasan. Do not think that my post is excuse to be Islamophobic or to right anything racist/gross/etc about Palestinians. Anyone who does so will not just be blocked, but they will be reported for hate speech.

[newsfromstolenland]

Ho there! I'm Jewish and queer, and I work with a former Baptist who recently converted to Islam. I love this girl but damn she shits on on Judaism all the time now, as she's been allegedly repeatedly told that "Jews killed Jesus". There's definitely more to it than that, and she's also starting to be the kind of person who thinks Jews own and run the world (and has the anti semitism downpat) Plus for some reason I haven't figured out yet she's become wildly homophobic, and says that was Islam tells her to believe. I'm wondering if she was always like this and just uses her new religion as an excuse to be open about it, because I know literally so many practising Muslims who absolutely do not feel or act this way (we had a queer mosque at one point in our city too)

We work with seniors who are very unkind about her recent conversion. I always correct them when they say something rude, because everyone deserves to be respected.

It's making work super toxic. My manager has never dealt with a Situation like this before and genuinely Doing her best but... It's not really enough. I can't report my coworker to HR without being seen as Islamophobic to my coworkers who aren't religious. I have a couple of VERY CHRISTIAN coworkers who are completely done with her shit and stick up for Judaism and LGBTQ when this other worker starts going off. It's horrible and I don't know what to do anymore. Islamophobia is a really genuine problem in Canada, but so is anti semitism and homophobia and I appreciate the post you made (and I'm sorry for my world vomit)

I've been following you for a long time and I appreciate all that you do❤️

yikes that sounds like a complicated situation

I can't tell you for sure what's making your coworker act like this, it's possible that someone at her mosque has been teaching her this bullshit (as a muslim I don't deny that stuff like that happens) or that she already saw things this way

in my experience, people who are bigoted will often use religion to justify what is really just their own harmful shit- including hating other religions

the antisemitic talking points you mentioned are not the ones that are sometimes spread by muslims, they sound more like the talking points of christian antisemites (especially the "Jews killed jesus" horseshit) which she could have heard in her upbringing or online

I wish I had an answer for you, but honestly in my opinion you're well within your rights to report her to HR, and if you're worried about seeming islamophobic just know that her religion shouldn't be part of your report. it's perfectly reasonable to say "this coworker is antisemitic and homophobic" rather than emphasizing her conversion as a contributing factor

I hope this makes sense!

[josiebelladonna]

i'm not on anyone's side—except for maybe the side of the people, the israeli, palestinian, jewish, and muslim people, all of whom didn't ask for this—but that's about it, though. (to assume that i'm taking sides is sick, tbh).

the problem is that, like the conservative nutjobs who are quick to slam palestine and kiss netanyahu's ass, those who are like “israel deserved it” are quite literally just as bad because those 600 people were civilians—and like i said, most of them weren't israeli, either. it's like when someone who claims to be pro life feminist tries to tell me that they're feminist because they think abortion “hurts women” (when we all fucking know it doesn't): it only makes you tone deaf because you failed to realize the real enemy here more than likely because of your own ego.

now, i had to read up (a bunch of times, no less) on the whole israeli-palestine conflict mainly because no one will give me a straight answer but also because i was born in the 90s, almost half a century after those two countries were started; of course i'm going to want to know some things, and i'm guessing most of you (that is, any gentile person under the age of 27) who are on the side of palestine here don't know about hamas—or you do, but you don't realize the threat they present to the world. they are extremely racist and anti-semitic (they deny the holocaust ever happened for god's sake). they committed this act. they killed those innocent people. the ones on the side of palestine who do know about them know exactly what i'm talking about: they are legitimate terrorists. the problem is that the media likes to conflate and distort the truth.

and herein lies the flaw with the newer generation in learning about these things. i actually have to go out of my way to read, but how many of you have? how many of you who are posting “i stand with palestine” know why you're posting it (aside from being against the ethnic cleansing that happens there)? how many of you who are griping about palestine being labelled as terrorists realize why they're being labelled that and that it's actually not them but hamas because this was the work of hamas?

listen, gen z. listen to the millennials, we're your older siblings. listen to gen x and the boomers (yes; even with our beef with the latter, listen to them for once), they're your parents and grandparents. they're the ones who saw this from the very beginning. we live in an era of extreme misinformation, and not reading up on these things, only taking them at face value and failing to realize that life isn't clear cut, only contributes to that.

you guys are supposed to be like magellan, making new “discoveries” and giving us new info and enlightening us, but really, i just see a bunch of 20-somethings who prove to me, time and time again, that you guys actually don't know shit and it really just looks like you're doing it to seem important. i'm aware i sound like an old lady complaining about the kids down the street, but these kids are careless—and at this point, i don't think it'll help to say “you'll learn” because knowing your egos and your level of resentment, you won't.

and saying israel deserved it, all because they're aggressors and their government is genuinely oppressive, saying those 600 people had to die, is genuinely despicable; when i really think about it, i honestly don't give a fuck how much you support palestine. you are quite literally as bad as the conservatives rallying around israel, the "maga" crowd who are treating this as if it's a game of risk (i dare you to look that up, too); if not, i'd say you're way worse because you don't see the violent antisemitism at work here (and i'm not jewish, either, so that's saying something). or you do, but you need someone like me to point it out to you because you can't read and think for yourself, that takes too many brain cells. i mean, holy shit, you guys are supposed to be the generation that told us sexuality can be gray and fluid for some people: you know that can be applied to life as a whole, right? you know nothing in existence is black and white... right?

ignorance comes with a price, and i know this because you preached it to me... and you guys are going to pay, if not now, then eventually.

[ramayantika]

Reflections

If you all read my previous post about loneliness, FOMO, feeling lost and alone as young teens and questioning if it's all gonna be worth it in the end or if you are actually in the right place now especially while preparing for entrances or just navigating through life as a high schooler and getting overwhelmed about life and the sudden changes it's throwing at you, this post is not going to be any gyan dena moment rather my own reflection over certain things.

I stay less online nowadays or even when I am using social media, it's to watch classical dance related posts or things related to women scientists, pharmacy and other bioscience subjects that I have interest in. No more random scrolling or reading two people debate in the comments be it on any xyz topic.

I began meditating again. I wish I would have actually done it before in my drop year. Perhaps I would have produced a better result due to a calm state of mind. Anyway, at least I started now. Each time I have meditated, I have found many answers to different things, be it about spirituality or questions related to my future. I have found the answers in those small moments of silence. I am no master at meditation, but somehow I have had many intense experiences which I don't post much often about because I myself doubt over it, but I can never forget those visions.

Let's talk about simple plain hate. I remember feeling rage over watching people hating on each other because the other person is from a different sex, religion, country, race and caste. Online or offline it happens everywhere.

Men hate women, women hate on other women, men hate other men and all of it pits one against the other. Hindus hate Muslims and Muslims hate hindus. The upper caste still looks at the lower with disdain especially some of our elders. Straights hate lgbtq and really want them to not exist. A colleague hates another one who got a promotion and inside the family someone hates the hater and literally prays for their downfall.

So?

This was from one of my early morning meditations. My mind drifted to news articles, podcasts by men saying demeaning things about women, and religious hate about both Hindus and Muslims where I saw some Muslims making fun of Hindus and Hindus taking pride in not having a single Muslim friend putting a jai shri ram status. It then moved to how people living in a single country, eating the produce of the farmers and being protected by the army still wrote things like what has been really given to us? Why to be proud of the Indian scientists (the chandrayan fiasco here on tumblr) and then to foreigners hating on India etc.

I remember the disturbance in my body, the blinding rage over how we humans have a problem with any person being different from us, and sometimes that problem leads to such anger and such hatred in us that we want them to remove them from existence or worse have them die a very bad painful death.

Some blogs write about oh how Indian culture sucks and how bad everything all is etc etc. I am not going to delve deeper into it and tbh I am not even worried if this falls into the feed of those same types of blogs. While meditating I found out how they themselves hated simple people who just had fun with their gods goddesses and spirituality. They were right to put awareness but wrong to make a assumption about oh yes they are too the same, they will hate and abuse other religions and stuff like that.

I have received hate anons which I always deleted but somewhere it used to be in the back of the mind making me fear about am I really wrong why would they write that for me?

And when i meditated that day it all became clear. Everyone, all of us, as we grow up, we are conditioned by the society, our family, school and media. Sometimes the influence is good and sometimes bad. Hate has existed in humanity since the start.

It only takes one single difference, be it ideology, caste, sex, and religion to trigger the hate button. And there you go we hate and hurt our own fellow beings.

We all have had various prejudices about various things. Maybe yes some weren't as vile as wanting tje other person off from earth but yes we all have had confused looks and questions thinking that what we believe and we say is right. The other person is always wrong in front of me.

And then vishnu gave me the answer. Detachment. Haan bhai ab kya moh maya se durr hone vala concept idhar bhi?

One has to know what is going on around the world. You will encounter articles, dramatic debates, blogs and people having their varied viewpoints. You can argue as long as you want and all those seemingly civil debates turn to abusive words, and hate messages.

The people online, those articles etc are just a fraction of people. Shit exists, bad things happen and ALL OF US ARE WRONG in many ways for many things. The simple lone knowledge of our dark thoughts for another person being different than us is enough to actually pull the reigns of the mind and to not give in to hate and ill will.

Now I still read news about how one community fought the other, look at the Twitter hashtags and just let it be. And for online apps, i scroll away from posts that talk about their own thoughts about the happenings in the country because it will be tempting to know what others think and ofc I will have problem in my head with another person if they go against than my belief. It literally happens to everyone sabko sabse dikkat hoti hai bas tum uspe kaam na karke usko buri baatein na suna dena na. Na uska soch badlega na tumhara.

And then at one point, the rage cooled down with a simple thought: I can't change anything. I am not perfect in thoughts and so does the other person.

Discrimination, war, poverty exists and we can never completely remove it. The least we can do is not hurt the other person if we don't like them.

I haven't seen a lot of life. I am still young but from my experience living in cities and amongst different sections of the society, this is what I learnt and the lesson got deeply engraved into me.

None of us are perfect. Let's try to learn to listen to one another and not go into blind anger. All those twitter tags, hate filled posts and articles are worthless.

100 baat ki ek baat. Sab badme marrne vale hai aur tum jisko hate karte ho agle janam usi community ya religion mein paida hoge just so you learn especially the damn soul to love everyone.

[musingsunderstarlight]

I think part of this comes down to, in regards to the race/culture piece, the fact that the experiences and voices of women of color have not traditionally been given the platform that they deserve in radical feminism (which is the branch of feminism that I’m assuming this post is referring to). Whether that’s the fault of anti-feminist media outlets portraying it that way on purpose or rad fems being racially insensitive themselves doesn’t change the fact that the voices and opinions of WOC have for a very a long time been missing in radical feminist discourse, although I do feel it’s getting better.

For example, I still see the term “honor killing” getting thrown around occasionally, which is used as a blanket term for any femicide committed by a Muslim person, but it’s never used for any case of femicide in the West. Like why is there no term for the murder that men here commit of their wives/girlfriends for wanting to leave them? Why is there no term for the murder that men commit when women turn down their advances? The term is not only racist, but it also dehumanizes the women of our culture specifically and makes them out to be passive actors in their own murder, and yet I still see it on rare occasion. The first time I saw a rad fem criticize it here though is when I started to feel a connection with rad fems as a whole and had some of my misconceptions dispelled.

The makeup thing is also a good one, along with shaving. I felt the same resentment in the beginning when I heard about the white feminists who criticized women for engaging in these practices without acknowledging that it’s women of color who suffer greater consequences for shunning them. I will be treated more harshly with my bare ethnic face and hairy legs/arms, and acknowledging that doesn’t change that misogyny is the reason for this disparity. Had I heard that reassurance more from rad fems early on, I think I would’ve considered myself a rad fem a long time ago.

To be clear, I’m not saying this isn’t happening already. Like I said, it could just be that radfem portrayal in the media is purposefully skewed to discredit it and portray it as “racist” as much as possible, but there are still some issues to work through in my opinion.

Ultimately, I think women of color need less criticism and more judgment-free open discussion of how misogyny is the root of the problems that they commonly use in arguments against radical feminism, along with active listening and centering of their experiences. And I think the more that we see of this effort, the less we will see of that kind of push back.

I really despise how people try to skirt around any kind of basic feminist praxis by saying their race or culture or other marginalized identity makes it different somehow. Yes, intersecting identities add nuance to feminist theory, not in the way you people view it. "Actually being feminine breedable and submissive may be negative for white women, but actually it is really empowering for black women." "It may be empowering for white women to work, but brown women have worked to long, we deserve to be dependent on men for a while." "It may be empowering to white feminists to be anti-makeup, cosmetic procedures and other frivolous female suffering for trends but black women NEED MAKEUP more an anyone else!" "Divorce may benefit white woman, but us brown women value family, and self sacrifice, so we counsel abusive men of color, so we can keep families together. They are always trying to breakdown brown families. We will not be calling the police when he beats her. We don't send another men of color to jail."

"Abortion may be for white able-bodied women, but my people are facing genocide so women of race/disability must keep the children they don't want, abortion for us is sterilization!"

"This lesbian pornography is actually very important to Queer culture! This lesbian porno was directed by a woman! And it stars actual queer actresses. So even though porn is usually bad, in this case, it is okay." "Controlling every aspect of a woman's life is wrong, unless it is my religion, then it is fine, atheist women may not approve, but my situation is different, a different kind of feminism but equal." "High heels are usually torture devices, but on a femme it just feels right, it is important to her femme identity!" We ain't never getting anywhere if women can just pull out a permission slip (race, sexuality, disability) to get them excused from practicing or honoring feminist praxis that will benefit ALL WOMEN.

[crystalsandbubbletea]

My trauma (Technically a vent post)

CW: Death threats, suicide mention, possible sexism, stalking, war, Islamophobia, racism, body shaming, kidnapping threat, Christianity, swearing, ableism, death

Never thought I would be making a post about my trauma yet here we are. I decided that I would divide this into parts.

My bully

I would say that it started around kindergarten, but according to my mom that doesn't count because I apparently lied about being bullied when I knew that I was being bullied, yet she didn't believe me because that bully was nice to her, so that meant he was an angel.

Instead, I'll just say it started around second grade.

In second grade, there was this new kid who moved, he wasn't in my class but we had a lunch and a recess together. I don't know why, but he decided to pick on me, he would constantly call me names. I dismissed it and thought that it wouldn't get worse.

I was wrong.

In third grade, he called me "Stupid and ugly" and even said that he bet I wasn't even related to my parents and that they only adopted me out of pity, and even said that he couldn't believe God allowed someone as ugly as me to live. I ended up crying to my parents about it and that's when they knew that this wasn't a normal case of bullying.

I should also mention that he would frequently stalk me at recess, and I would have to spend the entire recess hiding from him. I did have those few fortunate moments where he didn't seem to find me so I was able to enjoy my recess.

Things got even worse in fifth grade. He threatened to kidnap me, tie me up, throw me in the back of a car, then drive the both of us off a cliff.

I'm just glad he never knew about Enaya, I just know that he would have been terrible to her as well. Or maybe he did know about Enaya and I didn't know.

At some point he ended up going after another one of my friends and said "If you don't go on a date with me, I'll call the police!" And my friend responded with "They'll just arrest you, you creep."

Yeah, she didn't take shit from anyone, and I kinda wish that I could have been like her.

At some point, I was at a museum with my parents and siblings, and this museum had a planetarium, and I was hyped about it

Except guess who was there?

That goddamn blonde bastard, my bully.

He was being creepy to me the entire show, and I started crying at some point. I think at some point one of my siblings snapped at him and told him to leave me alone and that he just had a sad life, he just laughed in response and insulted them.

After the show ended, I told my parents that I didn't want to stay, and they understood, so we, along with my siblings, went home.

Note: Bully's parents saw what he was doing and enabled it, they said "Oh he just had ADHD" and "He just likes you! Just love him back!"

My parents and my fifth grade teacher (Note: This isn't very important but my mom and fifth grade teacher went to the same highschool together and had the same graduating class together, they were also good friends) did everything they could to make sure that I wouldn't get any middle school classes with him, except that backfired.

It wasn't just one class, nope, it was all of my classes. The principal knew how bad he was to me, and still decided that he would have the same classes I have.

My parents and fifth grade teacher bombarded the principal with a shit ton of emails, until the principal finally decided I would be the one getting a schedule change.

The reason? "[They] have ADHD and Autism, [they] would be too much for those teachers anyways."

Fortunately my sixth grade year wouldn't be as bad as elementary school, as the bully would move to another city. He was a different school system's problem now, so I ended up thinking that my middle school year would be great.

How wrong was I.

Enaya

I made a few posts about Enaya, even made a eulogy post once.

Anyways, Enaya was a very good friend of mine, she was Palestinian-American and the first Muslim friend I had. I remember seeing her around school and wanting to talk to her but really didn't until around either fourth or fifth grade during one of those fortunate recesses where my bully didn't stalk me.

It was that conversation between us that our friendship started.

She would tell me about Palestine, and Palestinians culture, and it interested me, but it also exposed me to how shitty the world was to Palestinians and Muslims.

I'm ashamed to admit it took me until sixth grade to realize that she was being bullied for being Muslim and Palestinian.

People called her a "Terrorist" and accused her of plotting another 9/11, they would even try to pull off her hijab.

Oh, and how could I forget? Those dumb fuckin' white girls who acted like they were feminists.

They said that she didn't have to wear her hijab at school, after all her father couldn't harass her for it, so she should just take it off. To say it made her uncomfortable would be an understatement.

I remember refusing to just watch those people harass her for her ethnicity and religion, and how I was told to "Piss off!" because it wasn't any of my business.

Fuck those guys, that was my friend, a friend that I now know that I loved as a sister, that they were harassing.

I remember her telling me that she had dreams of a free Palestine, and even said that maybe one day we could run through the cities of Palestine, or maybe even have Jaffa oranges.

To say I wanted that would be another understatement, I loved that dream, and needed it to become a reality.

I also remember that Enaya constantly talked about wanting to help people when she got older, and I told her that she would, and that I would also always be there to support her and that we would always be together forever.

I was wrong. Nothing lasts forever.

I was twelve, and it was after summer and the first day of school. I remember eagerly looking around for Enaya, as I wanted to know if we had classes together.

Instead her brother Soroush approached me.

That's when I found out that Enaya had killed herself.

He told me that there was a note left for me in her suicide note, and she had written "[Rian], I want you to know that there wasn't anything you could have done, and that I was very happy to know you, you were a great friend and I'm glad that you decided to talk to me that day. Please don't blame yourself, please continue to live and be happy not just for me, but for yourself as well."

How could I have not blamed myself? I felt, and still feel like, that if I had just been there more for her, if I had just fought harder for her, then maybe, just maybe, she would still be here.

I also felt bad for her family, her parents and brother were angels, and I can't imagine the hurt and pain they were going through because of Enaya's suicide.

I ended up trying to suppress her memory, acted like she didn't exist.

Until last year around November. That's when I realized that I hadn't forgotten her, after all, who did I base (one of) Alex's sister(s) off of? And who did I name that sister after? And what about her personality? And why did I ask her family if they would be fine with me basing a character off of Enaya?

And how else did I get my Prolonged Grief Condition and PTSD from? After all I was twelve.

Or maybe she was half of the reason, and the other half was my girlfriend.

Alina

I only recently talked about her, I didn't mention her name.

Alina was my girlfriend all the way in Ukraine. Her and I met on TikTok when we were both fourteen. We at first talked over DM's before deciding to give each other our Discords. And soon we were talking way more, even calling each other sometimes.

One day though, one of us confessed. I don't remember if it was her who confessed or if it was me. But I do remember that we were both very happy.

I remember that I would tell her about Ponca culture, and that she would tell me about Ukrainian culture, we even taught each other some words.

I also remember at some point we swore we would meet up when we were both eighteen in Seattle. I don't know why we picked Seattle, was it because we thought it would be romantic to run through the streets? Who knows..

Happiness doesn't last forever though.

February 24, 2022. I wake up in the middle of the night due to my phone buzzing from messages, and I saw that Alina wanted to talk to me. Not wanting to wake up my brother, I took my phone and walked into my bathroom. I asked Alina what was up, and she asked if she could call me. I said yes even though I was tired and had school in the morning.

That's when Alina told me that Russia had invaded.

I remember constantly praying to my gods and goddesses to spare Alina and her family. I was praying to my goddess of fate more though, after all, she had already taken Enaya from me, I didn't want to lose Alina as well.

Cue January 1, 2023, I ended up getting a call from one of our mutual friends, Faddei was his name. Faddei informed me that Alina and her parents were killed.

I don't remember much, but I remember that I was home alone, and that I hung up before dropping my phone and screaming and crying. I didn't tell my parents about what happened.

All those plan, gone...

I still haven't recovered from Alina, my first love..

... I wish I could post more, but I'm crying now..

Dammit, why do I still cry for those who are already dead..

[beyondicelebrities]

Compassionate Leadership WEEK 3

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became a Prime Minister at a considerable young age. During her almost 6 years as a prime minister she showed how empathy and respect are the answer to many challenges we face on a daily basis and around the world.

Ardern faced challenges in personal and political aspects such as sexist questions made by journalists, being a mother, and having a important position in government but also the horrific massacre of 50 Muslims at two Christchurch mosques and the COVID pandemic. Despite the challenge, she showed how strong and confident she was, translating confidence and comfort for all. The Prime Minister also defended herself in a very light and respectful reaction to journalist nonsense questions, showing how we shouldn’t give ears to that. And besides all of that, she also showed empathy for all the people, especially after the mosque shooting. She supported all of the families who lost their loved ones, made sure to honor their lives, and addressed change regarding gun violence not only in New Zealand but around the world. She made us think and emphasize the topic, always bringing it to a personal level of taking care of people.

To finish, she knew when was the time to step out of the Prime Minister's post, and in my opinion, this is also a huge sign of a compassionate leader. She had no greed for power, she gave her best and once she recognized it was time for a new person in charge, she let go of something that was very important for her, but saw a bigger purpose than she could offer at the moment.

How would you define compassionate leadership? Can power and empathy coexist?

Compassion “Compassion and empathy both refer to a caring response to someone else’s distress. While empathy refers to an active sharing in the emotional experience of the other person, compassion adds to that emotional experience a desire to alleviate the person’s distress” - following this definition which I agree, compassion is an act of care, which someone times implies putting other before you, and go out of your way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others. Leadership on the other hand has an important aspect of power over others or with others.

With that in mind, I think compassionate leadership requires understanding the audience, listening to them, and knowing that you wouldn’t be able to solve all their problems, but you will try accommodating the majority of them. Being a compassionate leader also requires working together with people instead of demanding them to perform as the leader wishs. Besides all of that, a compassionate leader in my opinion always aims for peace.

On the other hand, it can be delicate and a challenge for some leaders once they see themselves with the power of making decisions. Thinking about everyone is not an easy task, and there will always be someone not satisfied with the choices made by the leader. In other words, I believe that it is possible to have power and still be empathic with your surroundings, but I think it is impossible to achieve a 100% rate of satisfaction.

Does the world need more female leaders? How could this change the world?

I think so, it is very good to see women in important spots in politician and companies, women tend to have a more compassionate way of developing ideas and topics, as Jacinda Ardern mentions “as a mother” they are thinking about the next generation, and trying to take care of others.

However, we can not generalize the topic saying that men can not be as compassionate as women when leading. We had great examples in history, some mentioned in discussion this week, that dedicated their lives to justice and social changes.

Greta Thunberg

born in the Swedish capital Stockholm in 2003, Greta Thunberg is only 1 and a half older than me. During her journey in this life, she paid serious attention to the biggest problem we have in the world: climate change. She started studying the topic more deeply and as a representation of our generation, she started questioning important leaders about their actions and impacts on climate change nowadays. She used her power of speech to enhance a movement for change, moving thousands ( maybe millions) of people around the world to make nowadays leaders take more actions to save our mother earth from burning down. I chose her not only because the environmental cause is an enormous topic to be discussed, but also because she reminds me that even at a young age we can create change and be listened to. Maybe I won’t lead a worldly movement, but something in my neighborhood that can create a difference in people’s lives. She is an example for our generation, for future generations, and past generations.

“Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.”

[santaclausdeadindian]

Ah, a communist, charming...

uhm...

"boycott china in general"

that is your gotcha, me being hypocritical, lol?

btw, if you would scour my posts a little harder, you probably could find me doing that in a post or two

you might be surprised by this, I have seen people here having problem with the concept of a linear timeline and people changing opinions and attitudes about stuff they learn more about or getting exposed to

in short, while I always saw those three as great evils, their rankings have shifted in the last few years

I was not crying crocodile tears over the genocide, nor do I question it, I merely pointed out to commies like you that it is indeed happening.

I do not care at all, anymore.

In fact, I rank communism as a lesser evil now, not that its less evil, mostly on account that it will inevitably collapse anyway, while islam as the most successful death-cult in history, seems to be the greatest threat to everything else. Communism will not last in china forever, one day they will overthrow the regime or it will collapse under its own weight. In the long run, they will be fine.

You do have a point technically, in those two example you brought up, Sudan is mostly muslim against black muslim, yes, should have put it that way, but they do genocide the very few remaining christians, but sure, that is more on a racial level, because, surprise, islam is also racist as shit, and the arabs in particular are extremely racist, like hold my beer china racist. So I was inaccurate about the primary target of the muslims who are committing the genocide. As per usual.

On the other hand, the ethiopian conflict (I mean this latest one) is against the tigray people to my knowledge and those are christian while the PM is called Abiy Ahmed and is an Oromo, who are muslim majority... I did turn out to be wrong, he is pentecostal, so this one can go to you, I suppose, not that it really make a dent in my overall point that

islam is genocidal, always have been and always will be.

And I have no problem saying that India is doing the same (actually, they do not to the same degree, but are on the trajectory).

So what? Hinduism is also horrid, but unlike the aforementioned evil ideologies, they never really bothered anyone, other than their fellow indians with it. Like literally, India is the one civilization that just sat on their asses for millennia, did they ever went forth to conquer? Not to my knowledge.

They also tend to integrate reasonably well into western societies and apart from some mildly annoying to gross stuff they do on occasion, they pose no problem in my experience. The other three are outright in opposition with it.

So in short, you made no point with this.

And to the final point in this Gaza nonsense. It is not a genocide.

They send texts to every phone in the areas they are about to attack. How the fuck is it their fault that Hamas uses meat shield tactics? Also, why the fuck would I take Hamas by its word? I do acknowledge, that Israel does a lot of evil shit. Happy?

To be perfectly honest, I do think judaism is also has a shitton of fucked up and evil shit in it. There is also like what, 20 million of them? yeah, they do have a ridiculously oversized influence and yes it is a huge problem, but not on the same scale and they also tend to be problems that can be solved legislatively, even if it is hard, because of the aforementioned influence and I do kinda had the notion lately that at least some jews are very much fine with flooding Europe with the dregs of the shittiest societies available, but knowing full well that it is gonna be biting them in the ass, hell, it already does, I just dont see that as anything else, than the usual brain melt that has been plaguing the west.

hope this cleared it up for you, buddy

AHEAD OF THE United Nations Security Council action to consider the Palestinian Authority’s application to become a full member of the international body, the United States is lobbying nations to reject such membership, hoping to avoid an overt “veto” by Washington. The lobbying effort, revealed in copies of unclassified State Department cables obtained by The Intercept, is at odds with the Biden administration’s pledge to fully support a two-state solution. In 2012, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution granting Palestine the status of a non-member observer state. The diplomatic cables detail pressure being applied to members of the Security Council, including Malta, the rotating president of the council this month. Ecuador in particular is being asked to lobby Malta and other nations, including France, to oppose U.N. recognition. The State Department’s justification is that normalizing relations between Israel and Arab states is the fastest and most effective way to achieve an enduring and productive statehood. While clarifying that President Joe Biden has worked vigorously to support “Palestinian aspirations for statehood” within the context “of a comprehensive peace that would resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” a diplomatic cable dated April 12 details U.S. talking points against a U.N. vote for Palestinian statehood. The cable says that Security Council members must be persuaded to reject any proposal for Palestinian statehood — and thereby its recognition as a sovereign nation — before the council’s open debate on the Middle East, scheduled for April 18. “It remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors,” the cable reads. “We believe this approach can tangibly advance Palestinian goals in a meaningful and enduring way.” “We therefore urge you not to support any potential Security Council resolution recommending the admission of ‘Palestine’ as a U.N. member state, should such a resolution be presented to the Security Council for a decision in the coming days and weeks.”

[swordgayist]

cultural appropriation in ATLA (hinduism edition)

i’m sure there’s already a ton of posts about this, but whatever, i’m still making one idc. 

ATLA’s cultural appropriation, everyone knows about it, the white people don’t speak about it, and the asian and indigenous people get ignored. we know the cycle. but i wanted to come here and highlight some of the most prominent examples of ATLA abusing hinduism, as i am kinda sorta hindu (i was raised in a hindu household, i go to chinmaya mission, that kinda shit). i might forget some things so keep that in mind.

this is gonna be divided into 3 main sections, since there are different ways that they disrespect hinduism that i don’t wanna lump together.

and i’d say i know a lot about hinduism but that doesn’t make me an expert, obviously, so if other hindus have anything to add and/or correct then please do !! and if anyone else wants to share how their cultures were appropriated then please do that as well !!

so let’s get started shall we?

appropriating hinduism

1) the avatar

we’ll start with the most obvious example: the avatar itself

i know that there are parts of the avatar mythos that are taken from other cultures as well but the idea of the avatar itself is primarily from hinduism.

basically in hinduism, the term dashavatara refers to the 10 reincarnations of lord vishnu (the god of preservation), with avatar(a) meaning form or incarnation in sanskrit, and das(a) meaning ten. it was said that whenever the world was out of balance, lord vishnu would come down to earth in a certain form to restore balance. Each reincarnation is considered a different life with a different story. the avatars of lord vishnu are often considered the saviors of the world.

so basically, the central idea of the show and the actual name of the show is largely based on hinduism.

2) chakras

many different indian religions have a concept of chakras (chakra meaning wheel or circle in sanskrit), but hinduism is the one that primarily preaches the system of seven chakras, the version used in ATLA.

chakras connect the physical body to the ‘subtle’ body (referring more to the spirit and the psyche) by connecting parts of the body to aspects of the mind. the idea is that through different forms of steady meditation you can manipulate the different chakras and allow the pure flow of energy through the body.

the whole idea of chakras on ATLA is that aang has to unblock them all to let the cosmic energy flow through him so that he can go into the avatar state at will. so yeah, pretty much that whole idea was taken from hinduism.

3) terminologies

these are just a few terms that were taken from hinduism. i’m pretty sure there are more that i can’t think of right now but yeah.

“agni” kai 

i’ll be honest i don’t know where the ‘kai’ part is from, i don’t think it’s from hinduism but if it is well fuck me i guess.  ‘agni’ in hinduism is the god of fire, so the creators used it in ‘agni kai’, the name for a firebending duel.

“bumi”

this is in reference to the hindu word for ‘earth’, which is bhoomi. this is also in reference to our goddess of earth, bhoomi devi. also this doesn’t really bother me but i wonder if the creators knew that bhoomi is a name typically used for women (as are most hindi names ending in ‘i’/‘ee’).

in general, concepts like having multiple complex gods (the spirits) who are capable of good and evil and the reincarnation cycle are prominent in a lot of asian cultures, including (and arguably primarily) hinduism.

mocking hinduism

now we get into the mockery of hinduism in ATLA, because it is very much there.

1) whoever the fuck that baboon guy in the spirit world was

now what the fuck was this.

i mean i wouldn’t say this is the most egregious example of them making fun of brown people but lord why did this even need to be there? this random guy from the spirit world has an indian accent ? and is fervently chanting ‘om’ for some reason, and it’s clearly meant to be seen as comical. also portraying brown people as monkeys....... really.

2) combustion man/sparky sparky boom man

when rewatching ATLA in 2019 i actually had no idea that this was a thing, because the last time i had watched it was as a kid and i didn’t finish it.

so lord was i in for a surprise when i saw...

now... now what.

if you didn’t know, combustion man’s ‘third eye’ is designed to replicate the hindu god of destruction, lord shiva. right down to the vibhuti on his forehead (referring to the three line markings around the third eye).

in hinduism, lord shiva’s third eye is used to reduce people to ashes, though as far as i can recall, not very frequently. the primary significance of the third eye is that it represents the ability of higher spiritual thought and higher consciousness.

the ATLA writers take the ACTUAL significance of the third eye, throw it out the window, and then take its destructive abilities to make a super duper cool and dangerous new firebending technique.

and if that wasn’t bad enough, the actual person who uses this technique, and is meant to emulate a GOD who is PRAISED, is a scary, burly, half metal man who is a villain and an assassin. not to mention the design of his facial hair replicates that super duper scary “terrorist” depiction of brown people, particularly of muslims, that white people are so thoroughly terrified of for no reason. 

this is a parody of a god, and they portrayed him as this terrifying, maniacal fucking assassin who, along with p’li, the combustion bender from LOK, is constantly referred to as a “third-eyed freak”. i’ve made this analogy before and i’ll do it again, this is like making jesus into a hitman.

now onto my favorite example...

3) guru pathik

ah, this motherfucker.

i don’t really have any problems with him as a character, i mean hell, must’ve taken a fuck ton of patience to handle aang’s “why would choose cosmic energy over katara” bullshit.

but we all know it, we see it plain as day, don’t even try to deny it.

“guru” literally just means teacher or guide, so i don’t really know why pathik needed to be referred to as “guru” so distinctively from aang’s other teachers and guides, but that’s just extremely trivial compared to all the other issues with this character.

first of all what is this character design? what is he even wearing? if they’re trying to replicate the clothes of swamis and priests and stuff this is already wrong, realized people don’t dress like this. and why the fuck does he have an indian accent? and why was this indian accent done by a non indian (brian george)?

once again, the poor but extremely heavy indian accent is clearly meant to be mocking, if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t’ve gone out of their way to get a non indian person to DO an indian accent, and instead they would’ve just gotten an actual indian person to play the role. 

and oh yeah, the onion and banana juice. because hindus just eat weird shit right.

whether it’s actually weird or not, the show certainly portrays it as weird. and as far as i know no hindu actually fucking drinks onion and banana juice.

ironic because brown people can absolutely destroy white people in cooking. but i digress.

i know what you’re all waiting for. because the guru apparently didn’t have enough fun with guru pathik, so they just had to come back to him in book 3:

where do i begin.

so this is obviously john o’bryan’s super funny and hilarious depiction of pathik as a hindu god.

usually when a god has multiple arms it’s to carry an array of things, from flowers to weapons to instruments, and one hand is typically free to bless devotees (ie. goddess durga and lord vishnu respectively):

but of course white people see this as weird and so they make fun of it, hence guru pathik having multiple arms just flailing about aimlessly (save for the two that are being used to carry the aforementioned onion and banana juice).

then there’s the whole light behind pathik’s head which is usually depicted in drawings of hindu gods to show that they are celestial.

also what the fuck is he holding? is that supposed to be a veena? because this is what a veena looks like:

and i assume the reason this was added was to mock the design of goddess saraswathi, who carries a veena:

but that right there in the picture of pathik looks more like a tambura than a veena. 

and it also just kinda looks like a banjo?

but i guess the animators just searched up “long indian instrument” and slapped it on there. actually no, that’s giving them too much credit, they probably didn’t search it up at all. 

and then the actual scene is pathik singing crazily about chakras tasting good or something while playing the non-veena and it’s all supposed to be some funky crazy hallucination that aang is having due to sleep deprivation. just some crazy dream, just as crazy as talking appa and momo sparring with swords or tree-ozai coming to life.

our gurus and swamis and sadhus and generally realized people are very respected in hinduism, they’re people we look up to and honor very much. and our GODS are beings that we literally worship. and the writers just take both and make caricatures out of them for other white people to laugh at.

4) other shit

before we move to the next portion i just wanna mention there are also smaller backhanded jabs that i can’t really remember now, but one example was when zuko was all “we’ll be sure to remember that, guru goody goody”. or when a character would meditate and say “om” only when the meditation is supposed to be portrayed as comical or pointless. or in bitter work when sokka was rambling on about karma. small things like that. but moving on.

south asian representation, or lack thereof

now i finally get to the “losing” hinduism part. by this i mean the lack of actual representation there is of south asians (the region where hinduism is primarily practiced) despite the fact that hinduism plays such a big role in the show’s world design.

i think it’s safe to say that broadly the main cast consists of aang, katara, sokka, zuko, toph, azula, iroh, mai, ty lee, and suki. 

a grand total of none of these characters are south asian. the writers don’t even attempt to add any south asian main characters. 

there are characters with dark skin, like haru and jet, but a) they’re not confirmed to be south asian and don’t have any south asian features or south asian names, b) they’re side characters, so they don’t count as representation, and c) even if they were south asian and main characters, jet wouldn’t even count because he’s portrayed as a terrorist.

the ONLY truly south asian character we get is fucking guru pathik. so yeah. not representation.

i don’t get how the creators of this show rip off of hinduism (among many other south asian cultures they rip off of), mock indians, and then don’t even have the decency to HAVE a main character who is south asian.

i’ve never gotten a chance to compile all this, and this definitely isn’t all the creators have done, but i hope this was somewhat informative.

[magnificent-nerd]

Muslim Supervillains: a tired stereotype

Image description: Supervillains clockwise from top left, Iron Man 1 (2008), The Boys TV (2020), Batman vs. Superman Dawn of Justice (2016), and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). Please note the frequent use of Yellow Filter.

I decided to list all the times Muslim and Muslim background actors and/or characters (also referred to as SWANA and/or MENA, which stands for South West Asia and North Africa, and Middle East and North Africa) have been given the role of 'supervillain' in live action superhero movies.

Spoiler: it's a lot.

It's also more times than any Muslim actors have appeared as 'good guys' in a superhero movie which, obviously, is really bad typecasting and overt racism.

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In chronological order:

Iron Man (2008)

The Ten Rings, a terrorist group made up of multiple MENA and Muslim groups, led by pantomime-level villain Raza (actor Faran Tahir), and also including actor Sayed Badreya among the supporting villains without names.

Sayed Badreya commented on being typecast and always killed in Hollywood movies in this GQ article: "I die in Iron Man," says Sayed Badreya. "I die in executive decision. I get shot by everyone." (x)

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Batman vs Superman (2016)

From the theatrical cut of the movie we have an unnamed African 'General' and some rando mercenaries/terrorists that Lois Lane interviews in Nairomi, Africa, referred to only as "the desert" throughout.

All reference to the General's actual name are only available in an extended/deleted scene. So, all in all, a very shallow depiction of these characters and merely used as a prop for the Lex Luthor angle.

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Venom (2018)

There is one baddie for the entire movie and he's played by Riz Ahmed, a British actor (just like the lead actor, Tom Hardy, is also British).

Riz Ahmed plays Carlton Drake, a somewhat stereotypical supervillain doctor who has basic and forgettable world domination goals for reasons.

Despite the fact Ahmed gives a great performance, and the fact that at least here is a MENA supervillain that isn't dressed or presented in any of the stereotypical ways these movies usually present MENA and Muslim supervillains, he is still a Muslim actor playing a one and done bad guy, and it's pretty two dimensional.

Technically he plays two supervillains in this movie, being the voice actor for his symbiote, Riot. He still dies, though.

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The Boys (2019 - 2020)

Alright so The Boys is a TV show, but I have to give it an honorable mention for such a spectacularly racist depiction of a Muslim supervillain character, who is not only badly written but barely appears onscreen for more than a couple of minutes in total at the end of season 1 (2019) and the first couple of minutes of season 2 (2020).

See my post on Naqib here.

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Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Arguably the most cartoonish and racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims as generic villains and baddies (since The Boys TV) with no motive other than to 'bomb stuff' for 'reasons', set against a generic White Savior narrative. (Yikes.)

I honestly don't think there is anything redeemable about this movie either, and I'm pleased it got fair drags from critics upon its release for multiple issues, not just the overt racism and Islamophobia. (x) (x)

But the fact that Warner Bros thought this racist depiction of Arabs and Muslims was okay to release in 2020 really says a lot about the racist state of Hollywood generally (but that's another post).

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There we have it!

That is a full list of Muslim supervillains (and in the case of Venom, a supervillain played by a Muslim actor).

And sadly that's also it for Muslim character representation in live action superhero movies. They are all bad guys!

(Wow, who saw that coming /sarcasm.)

Read on for side notes, and how upcoming Disney Plus show Ms Marvel isn’t going to automatically fix this industry wide problem when it has its own casting problems:

Side note: there has been a fleeting glimpse of a nameless background character here and there, but only once in a movie and twice in TV shows.

A couple of fleeting glimpses from nameless extras hardly makes up for all the Muslim supervillains we've had to see over the years.

For example, it took Marvel/MCU/Disney 13 years to show any Muslim characters onscreen at all, from Iron Man in 2008 all the way up to Disney Plus show Falcon and Winter Soldier (2021). Please see my post about how badly Disney failed at good rep for these nameless extras.

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Now, before anyone pipes up with 'but Disney Plus is bringing in Ms Marvel soon!', let me inform you that many of us are wary of and upset with Disney for their casting decisions, and many other problems to do with the Ms Marvel show (x) debuting in 2022.

One stand out problem is the casting choices which further perpetuates colorism.

Colorism means favoring white, light skinned, and western features in actors, therefore affecting the casting and depiction of SWANA, MENA, and Muslim characters, lending a distorted, white-washed, western, and Orientalist lens to SWANA and Muslim representation.

What we've seen so far with the Ms Marvel supporting cast (not the lead herself) is a cast made up of way too many non-Muslim and non-Pakistani actors to play Muslim and Pakistani characters.

Brown people are not interchangeable, yet studios (especially Disney) rely on the ignorance of western audiences to get away with this blatant colorism.

The Ms Marvel show also has light skinned, biracial, and even Christian actors cast to play monoracial, brown skinned, Muslim characters. That is not okay!

Yet of course, when it comes to the one character who will likely be the villain on the show (as he is in the comics, Kamran) the actor cast to play him, Rish Shah, is quite clearly darker skinned than say, Aramis Knight, also cast in the show to play another love interest to the lead, Kamala, and general good guy. This is colorism; brown skin = baddies, light skin = goodies.

Casting white and more western actors for the good guys, but brown and Muslim actors for the bad guys, is typical colorism and Islamophobia at play within the industry.

So, no: the Ms Marvel Disney Plus show won't 'fix' Islamophobia in superhero movies.

We still have a long way to go.

~*~

Have you spotted any Muslim, MENA, and SWANA characters in superhero media lately? Tell me!

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