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joannechocolat · 1 year

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Dear Mr X...

It’s hard to give up a relationship, even when it has become toxic. Even when it brings you no joy, it’s hard to accept the fact that you’re better off without it. To look at the time you spent building it, to write off those years and start again can feel like jumping off a cliff into a bottomless precipice. You start to think of all the things you’ll lose if the relationship ends; the good times, the shared friends, the laughter and the memories. Your heart sinks at the thought of trying to rebuild all that from scratch. The time. The work. The energy. It feels like a bereavement.

I feel like that about Twitter now. A relationship that began fifteen years ago, when I was someone different, and the platform was new and hopeful and designed for communication, rather than spreading division. Sometimes I still find myself mourning that time; the friends I made; the stories I wrote, the thousands of incarnations of the Shed. Some of my friends have been left there for good, their Twitter accounts frozen in time; their words all that remains of them. Perhaps that’s why I’m reluctant to leave, even though the bluebirds have flown, and even the logo is changing to something that looks to me a lot like a modified swastika – an apt comparison, given the way in which certain voices and political views have been given unasked-for prominence, while others seem to have vanished altogether from my feed. Feed someone garbage for long enough, and they start to sicken and die. That’s what happening via this site. I have watched it happening ever since Elon Musk arrived - a man so cartoonishly self-obsessed that it’s hard to even believe he’s real, except that no writer of fiction or game designer would dream of creating such a crass and substandard character.

X. What a choice of symbol.

X marks the spot for pirates in search of buried treasure. X is the mark of a person who is unable to write their name. X is the identity of someone who needs to stay anonymous. It’s a voter’s mark; an erasure; a mystery; a chromosome.

And it’s also an occult symbol, a rune: the rune Gyfu according to the Old English Futhorc, and Gebo in the Elder Futhark; both of which translate as “gift”.

The Anglo-Saxon rune poem that accompanies it goes like this:

ᚷ Gẏfu gumena bẏþ gleng and herenẏs, ƿraþu and ƿẏrþscẏpe and ƿræcna gehƿam ar and ætƿist, ðe bẏþ oþra leas.

which translates as follows:

Generosity brings credit and honour, which support one's dignity; it furnishes help and subsistence to all broken men who are devoid of aught else.

At first glance, this seems the opposite of what Elon Musk has done for the world. A man who sees social media as his own personal platform; a man who sees the cosmos as his own personal joy-ride.

The mistake we made was believing that Twitter was our playground. Elon Musk has made it his, and is currently in the process of breaking the toys, chopping down the trees and nuking the site from orbit, just to prove that play is overrated, and that only money counts. I can’t help feeling sorry for the little boy he must have been, and to wonder what he might have been like if he’d actually had any friends. But it’s time: and the change of branding makes it even easier to step away.

So maybe this is a kind of gift to the ones of us leaving Twitter. Misinformation, misogyny, transphobia, conspiracy theories and other kinds of social media poison have already made it increasingly difficult to feel safe there. (And fun fact, the word Gift in German happens to mean “poison”.) Perhaps the ultimate gift of X is the freedom from the toxicity that has built up in this most volatile of media; the gift of better mental health; of greater connection to our world; an escape from a toxic fantasy back into the open air.

I won’t leave altogether – Threads still isn’t open to Europe, and the jury’s still out on Bluesky - but I don’t want to give any more of my content to a man who values power and money over human connection. I’m @joannechocolat across all my social media - that’s Threads, Bluesky, Tumblr and Instagram – and I’ll still be posting stories on my ko-fi account at: https://ko-fi.com/story. But if you want to know what I’m doing, then sign up to my free newsletter on my website at joanne-harris.co.uk. I’m coming to believe that social media as I once knew it may have run its course for me: I won’t leave it altogether, but from now on I plan to invest more of my time and energy elsewhere.

And as for Mr X - I doubt you’ll be around forever. But while you are, my gift to you is this final story: written live on Twitter, as was, for all the little bluebirds.

There once was a boy who had no friends. His father gave him everything money can buy: toy cars, model aeroplanes, even rockets that really flew, but friends were impossible to buy, and the boy was lonely, angry, and bored.

One day, when he was playing alone with one of his expensive toys, he saw a group of children playing in a nearby park. They sounded so merry and carefree that the boy was jealous.

“Why don’t I have friends?” he cried. “I shall buy the park, and then everyone will notice me.”

And so the boy asked his father to buy him the park for his very own; and he settled there with his expensive toys, and put a notice on the gate, saying: Entrance fee, 8 shillings.

The children of the neighbourhood looked enviously at the empty park. Some of the wealthier ones paid the entry fee, but many of the children did not; instead, they waited outside the gates, and looked into the place where once they had all played together.

But still the boy was not content. None of the new children played with him. Instead they played their own games, and climbed trees, or played hide and seek, or lay on the grass watching the clouds. None of this served the boy at all, and he was sulky and discontent.

“If I have all the trees cut down, then maybe the others will notice me,” he thought.

And so he ordered his servants to cut down all the trees in the park. But apart from a few toadies and flatterers, the children still did not play with him, but mocked him secretly from afar, and fell silent whenever he passed by.

“How ungrateful these children are,” said the boy, getting angry. “I bought this park for them, and still they refuse to play with me! Very well, I shall cease to pay the groundsmen and the gardeners. The park will be overrun with weeds. Wild animals will roam there.”

And so the boy did as he had promised, and the park became a wilderness. No-one wanted to pay for it, and even the toadies and flatterers and children of wealthy families went elsewhere to see their friends.

The boy was very angry at this, but there was no-one to be angry with. All the other children had gone. And so he took out his rage on the deer who had begun to roam in the park, shooting them with his toy crossbow, and became known throughout the land as a mighty hunter.

#twitter #stories

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seresinsbabe · 2 years

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Conveniently Yours

Pairing: Jake Seresin x fem!reader

Synopsis: In a desperate attempt to pay for your mom's cancer treatment you take a job as a dancer at one of NYC's prestigious strip clubs where you meet Jake Seresin who just happens to need a wife.

Warnings: Allusions to cancer and cancer treatment, mentions of money, weddings mentioned, nothing really in this chapter.

Word count: 2.6k

THIS BLOG AND ITS FICS ARE 18+! MINORS DNI!

I do not consent to having any of my work shared on any other platform. If you see any rendition of my works on another site know that it has been posted without my permission.

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“Are we going to have to share a bed?”

There was a glint in Jake’s eye once the question had registered. With a laugh he shook his head. You let out a sigh of relief and watched as Jake’s face changed from amused to confused and slightly insulted. “Well don’t sound so relieved,” he murmured as he lifted a bite of chicken up to his mouth.

You realized how that must have sounded and your eyes immediately went wide. “Oh, n-no it’s not tha- I w-wouldn’t mind…” Another sigh left you but this was out of embarrassment and you saw Jake’s mouth twitching in an urge to smile. You let out a gasp, a smile tugging at the corner of your own lips. Without thinking you grabbed the napkin that had been spread across your lap and lightly tossed it at him. The little action caused him to let out a full belly laugh, his hand coming up to block the napkin. It was then that you really looked at him, noticing the way his eyes crinkled in the corner as he laughed, the way his chuckles gave way for deeper, longer laughs and the way his cheeks started to turn red.

He really was beautiful. In so many ways.

Silently you wondered how many other small details about him you would notice over time. Honestly you figure that might help you guys to play this whole thing off. That it would be more believable if you took note of all the little intricacies that made up Jake Seresin. Things no one would know or take the time to notice.

Jake handed your napkin back to you, still chuckling as he did so. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” He stopped himself before he complimented you on how cute you looked all flustered. It was heavy on the forefront of his mind, though.

“I’ll get you back,” you taunted. Perhaps you and Jake would come out the other side of this as good friends.

“Alright, so we’ll leak the news of the engagement later this week, then a couple, two or three months down the road we’ll have the wedding.” Listening to Jake go over the plan felt surreal. It was almost like you were having an out of body experience. Like you were watching yourself from above as you sat in Jake’s office, his business partner and lawyer all situated with you.

It had been two days since you accepted Jake’s offer, but it felt like he’d already had everything planned out in advance. As if he just knew you’d say yes. Then again, maybe he was just used to having all of his bases covered.

Javy was the first one to notice the look on your face. Honestly you hadn’t even realized you were making a face. “Are you alright, Y/N?” He asked softly and you took notice of the ring on his left hand. No wonder he was the first one to notice. You didn’t see a ring on the lawyer’s hand and the only other man in the room was Jake.

“Yeah, I’m fine…” you trailed off softly, pulling your lip between your teeth. “What about my old job? I mean I-I assume it wouldn’t be good if word got out that Jake and I met because I was a stripper.” If that were to ever get out you were sure the media would be all over it and it would make things worse instead of helping Jake.

From beside you Jake let out a soft chuckle, his hand came out to pat yours. “We’ve got that figured out, just make sure anyone close to you doesn’t have loose lips.” You nodded slowly, digesting it all. There were only two things left to discuss and they were the two most nerve wracking items to discuss: the wedding and the money. Admittedly the wedding shouldn’t have worried as much as the money, but it did. You had no idea if this was going to have to be some big to do or if you guys could get away with staging a private elopement. You were hoping for the latter.

“For the wedding, how do we want to go about that?” It was Javy that asked. You turned to Jake, expecting him to take the lead and answer. Because ultimately this was his decision. He was the one that would be fronting the bill for it all. Only instead of him speaking, you found him staring back at you, nodding softly in your direction as an urge for you to speak. And you felt all their eyes on you, 3 pairs focused on you and wanting to hear what you had to say.

You picked at your nails nervously, looking down at them as they fidgeted in your lap. “I think something smaller, more private would make more sense,” you were trying to word it so that it didn’t seem like you were doing this for your own comfort. Even though you had never once put your own needs first. If Jake had spoken up and said he wanted a big wedding, you would have sucked it up and given him a big wedding. Not just because he was the one that could make or break you, but because it would have made him happy. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d done something for yourself. At the end of the day it had always been about what was better for everyone else. Not what was going to make Y/N happy.

“I mean, think about it, we’re going through the trouble of making it seem like thus far we’ve kept our relationship extremely private.” The plan was to make it out as though you’d been hiding in the shadows because you valued your privacy. And that all those times Jake was spotted with other women was to prevent the media from suspecting you existed and trying to snuff you out. And that the engagement was the reason you were finally stepping out of the shadows. “It wouldn’t make sense that we suddenly want to have this giant wedding.”

Suddenly your throat felt tight and your nerves shot up. Their eyes never stayed on you and you watched as Jake’s thumb rubbed over his bottom lip, pulling it one way and then the other. Whether or not they agreed with you, you weren’t sure of. The silence in the room only made your nerves shoot up more.

“I think she’s right,” Jake was the first one to speak, his hand falling down to lay flat against the table with a slight smack. “A big wedding would raise suspicion.” You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding and smiled softly at Jake. If he continued to act like this with you, so nice and accommodating then this wouldn’t be as awkward as you had originally thought it to be.

When you had done you recon on him you remembered seeing articles about how much of an asshole he could really be. About how he was upfront with women, he seduced them and then he tossed them. So far, you hadn’t seen that side of Jake. You were hopeful you never would, you didn’t want the image of him you had in your head now to be tarnished.

Javy and the lawyer nodded. “Alright, we can hash out the finer details of that closer to time.” Thank God. The last thing you wanted to do was take more time in this stuffy board room to plan out a fake wedding.

Your body tensed up again, because you knew what the final discussion was going to be. Going into this you knew it was about the money, but actually discussing it felt wrong. You’d been raised not to discuss money, that it was polite. Yet here you were, pretty much selling yourself to save your mother. A position you never once thought you’d find yourself in. Then again, did anyone really ever plan on having to sell themselves for something like this? No. ‘

Even knowing this was a purely financial transaction didn’t make it easier for you to talk about it.

The lawyer opened his folder and pushed a thick stack of papers towards you. The words Prenuptial Agreement headed the page. As far as you had been concerned prenups only existed in television and movies. They were never something you ever thought you would need. Simply because you had never envisioned yourself marrying a man that was rich enough to need a prenup.

Slowly you reached over, sliding the prenup all the way over so you could read through it. There were little sticky note tabs, the ones with the arrows that had SIGN HERE in all red on them, stuck in different places on different pages. Another wave of realization hit you and you felt your stomach do a flip.

Your eyes slowly scanned the pages. Reading it and trying to digest it all. It wasn’t that you were shocked or upset. It was just a lot. Everything laid out, of what you would and wouldn’t get. Of course, you honestly hadn’t thought you were going to get anything other than what Jake had offered already. So when you read the lines that stated you would legally be entitled to any residential real estate obtained by Jacob Seresin during the course of your marriage you felt your eyes grow wide. And then they grew even wider at the final term.

Upon the end of marriage, Y/N Byers will receive monthly alimony payments of 100,000.00 a month for the year following divorce.

You looked over at Jake, your finger sitting on the paper and pointing towards the dollar amount. Jake just shrugged in response as if that was pocket change to him. In reality, it probably was pocket change to someone as rich as he was.

Three weeks had passed since you moved into Jake’s. At first you were hesitant to leave your mother, but Jake had arranged for someone to come when you couldn’t. Besides, with all the free time you had now you went over as much as you could. Which was a little harder with the constant paparazzi you had hounding you the second you stepped outside.

The engagement had been leaked just as planned and ever since then things had changed drastically. You suddenly saw your face everywhere. On magazine covers, on tv, all over social media. Anywhere that people like Jake were discussed you were now spotted. It was hard not letting the things they said about you bring you down. It was as if they didn’t see you as a real human. Like you were just some character in their little fantasy world that they could poke and prod. Like you would never read or hear the mean things said about you.

Going into this you had some idea that they would talk about you. That they would compare you to the women Jake had been spotted with before. Half of the things they said about you, you had thought about yourself. That you were a little mousy, that you just looked plain. Your hair wasn’t shiny and perfectly styled every day. You didn’t have a perfect hourglass shape. Sure you had a decent rack and a half decent amount of ass, but you were no Emily Ratajkowski, or Hadid sister, or anyone like that. Yet, even though you’d said these things to yourself, it hurt that much more seeing them plastered somewhere for the whole world to read.

Living a rich life was something you were still getting accustomed to. True to his word, Jake had hired a stylist for you and the day after you’d moved in your closet was filled with clothes with price tags that made you flinch. Seeing yourself in clothes so nice was a learning curve and the second you stepped back inside the penthouse you were slipping the heels off and running to change into something more you.

What you hadn’t expected to be the hard part was the way that Jake had changed.

For the first week he was as nice as he had been. He was accommodating, helping you navigate things as you were learning. The more comfortable you became, the more distant he became. Then suddenly it was as if he didn’t want anything to do with you behind closed doors.

It wasn’t as if you had expected him to act the same at home as he did in public, but you also hadn’t expected him to completely ignore you. Every so often you would get a passing greeting, but other than that it was radio silence. At first you tried to play it off that he was nervous about his parents and the board buying the story. And admittedly, you were nervous about it too. His parents were off somewhere, you think in Europe or something, and they were due back someday this week. But you stopped believing that was it the first night some pretty heiress walked past you in the hall and headed straight towards Jake’s bedroom.

Jake paid no attention to you because he didn’t want to. And why would he when he had women that looked like they were worth more than gold spreading their legs for him every night?

You weren’t fooled into thinking that he was going to fall for you. That wasn’t even something you wanted. It just, for some odd reason, hurt when he would go from the doting and infatuated fiancé he would play in public to a man that could care less about your existence in private. Jake could at least act like he wanted to be around you.

Normally at this time you would have eaten your dinner and retreated to your room before Jake and his date for the night even came home, but tonight was a little off schedule. Your mom’s chemo treatment had taken longer than usual and when you got home to decompress you immediately started blaring music as you cooked.

Bootylicious was currently helping you zone out everything around you except for the task at hand. So much so that you didn’t hear the door open or the footsteps approaching until you heard an unfamiliar voice behind you.

“So is this the “fiancée”?” You jumped and turned around, eyes wide and a hand over your heart as you focused on who was here with you now. The first face you saw was Jake’s, one eyebrow raised as he took in your current attire: an old Oklahoma University t-shirt, oversized as it had been your fathers, your hair up in a claw clip, some of it falling out around your face, and a pair of boyshorts. Something you were sure he hadn’t seen a girl wear in years.

Instead of focusing on Jake’s expression and trying to read the impossible, you turned to look at who spoke. A curly headed brunette with a pornstache and a boyish grin on his face was drinking you in with honey brown eyes. He was a bit taller than Jake, but not by much and he was just as muscular. The way he was looking at you had your face blushing while you turned down the music.

“Bradley, but you can call me Rooster,” he shoved his hand out in your direction with a wink.

“Y/N.” His hand practically swallowed yours as you shook it. “You sure you want to shack it up with Hangman here? I’m available,” suddenly he was leaning in close, his mouth by your ear. “And you won’t have to fake it with me.” The hidden meaning wasn’t lost on you, but you didn’t have time to respond because Jake was quickly pulling Bradley out of the kitchen. Leaving you standing there blushing while Beyoncé sang about having a big ass.

@love2write2626 @cherrycola27 @chaoticversion @3in1shampooconditionerbodywash @alldaysdreamers @sexytholland @mishala005 @a-serene-place-to-be @emma8895eb @aemondssiut @averyhotchner @blairfox04 @realdirectionx @rintheemolion @xoxabs88xox @clancycucumber230 @inky-sun @ilovewhalesharks444 @gigisimsonmars @imnotcreativeenoughforthisblog @bl6o6dy @potato-girl99981 @emorychase @hangmandruigandmav @boltgirl426 @misshoneypaper @starkleila @mishala005 @a-serene-place-to-be

#jake seresin fic #jake seresin x reader #jake hangman seresin #jake seresin x y/n #hangman x reader #hangman x you #hangman x y/n #jake seresin x you #top gun au #top gun maverick

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milky-rozen · 2 months

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Hello Dear ❤️😊, 🇵🇸

With many followers and admirers, your platform holds incredible power. I reach out to you today with a heart heavy with both pain and hope, seeking your help to save my family from the horrors of war in Gaza. We are a family that includes women and children, living every day under the weight of fear and destruction. 🙏 I write to you because I believe that humanity and compassion are our shared strengths, and when we unite, we can achieve miracles. ❤️

Our story is not just our own; it is the story of every family living under the shadow of conflict and war. We are facing a real danger that threatens our lives and the future of our children. 🥹 Sharing our story could be the lifeline we desperately need. I kindly ask you to spread our story far and wide, so it may reach those who can offer help, and to remind the world that every soul deserves life and safety. 🌹

As influential bloggers with many followers, your voice could be the difference between life and death for my family. 🌺 A simple reblog of my pinned post on your account could amplify our plea and bring us the help we urgently need. 😊 We humbly ask you to be a beacon of light in this darkness, extending a helping hand in any way you can. We rely on your kind hearts and support to survive, and to provide our children with a chance for a safe and bright future. 🍉

Thank you from the depths of our hearts. 💐

With sincere gratitude,

🌹☺️🙏

I don't think I'm this influential, and I have no idea how someone can tell how many followers you have on Tumblr since, by default, you can't do that, there's literally no option to do that at all, but--

If this post is true and it's verified, and it's not made by any vicious bot which is taking advantage of the whole situation in Gaza to scam people, I will gladly share this with all of my followers.

I do not have the tools to determine if this is 100% reliable, but I still want to give it a try if it can help 🇵🇸

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beardedmrbean · 7 months

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TikTok star Montana Tucker has been using her platform to spread awareness about antisemitism in the months after the October 7 attack on Israel.

The singer, dancer and social media activist, who grew her social media following to 14 million by singing and dancing videos, recently made her Jewish heritage a bigger part of her content, she told Fox News Digital in an interview. Since October 7, she has recognized the need for more education about the history of antisemitism and Holocaust denialism among America's youth.

Tucker grew up in Boca Raton, Florida, with two grandparents who survived the Holocaust. They often told her about the horrors of the Holocaust and the importance of never forgetting the genocide of six million Jews during World War II. When her grandfather, whom she called Zadie, passed away at 97 four years ago, she felt compelled to continue his legacy by reminding people they should "never forget."

Tucker visited Poland where she filmed a docuseries called "How to Never Forget" that was released in 10 mini-episodes on her social media. The series included a visit to Auschwitz and personal stories about her grandparents, with the goal of educating America's youth about the Holocaust.

CHAMPION CYCLIST SAYS SHE WOULD SERVE IN IDF RIGHT NOW AMID REMOVAL FROM INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY EVENT

"Antisemitism has always been here, it has always been here," she said. "When I released that series, that was kind of the first time I introduced my followers really to my family's background. A lot of them never knew that I was Jewish. My name is Montana Tucker. My content, at the time, wasn't specifically Jewish content."

"Then a year later, with everything that happened on October 7, I felt that it was my responsibility, it was my duty to make sure that I share personal stories of what was happening," she continued. "This is my people, my grandparents didn't have a voice back during the Holocaust, and now I have a voice and I'm able to stand up for what I believe in and speak out for people who don't have a voice."

In December, Tucker went to Israel to meet with survivors of the October 7 attack and their families. She used the opportunity to spread the message of what happened and share their personal stories, which she said is of upmost importance given some have downplayed or denied certain aspects of the attack or attempted to justify it.

"When I always heard Holocaust denial, I couldn't believe it," Tucker said. "That's why, with what's going on now in the world with all the denial, even though we were live-streamed what happened on October 7, there's still denial about it or still denial of what is going on. I never understood that concept of people denying something that was so obviously shown with evidence of survivors, but now living in it, people denying what happened on October 7, it's really scary and it's even more of a reason why I keep using my voice."

Tucker also said she has heard from people in Hollywood who've thanked her for what she has done in speaking out for Jewish people since October 7, but explained it makes her upset that people are afraid to share or talk about what they believe in.

"I've had people in Hollywood come up to me that are, I'm here [motions down] and they're there [motions up], they're on a whole different level than me in their careers, and they come up to me and say, 'Thank you so much for what you're doing, you're amazing, you're really taking one for the team.' And I'm like, 'What do you mean? Like, have you shared anything? Have you posted anything?' And they said they did in the beginning [but] when they got so much hate from it and lost business, followers, whatever it is and now they're scared to post. In my mind I'm like ‘do hear how crazy that sounds?’"

"Especially when there are so many awesome, powerful Jews in Hollywood … I think people absolutely need to stop being scared," she said. "If you're going to lose business over you talking about being Jewish or you talking about innocent lives that were taken, then you shouldn't want to do business with those people. Point-blank."

Tucker pointed to social media as a huge reason why antisemitism has been allowed to proliferate, making it "popular to be anti-Israel" and "popular to be anti-Jew."

"With Gen Z and younger generations, we live in this day and age of what's trending, what's popular and if you look at popular hashtags on these apps ... #hitlerwasright was a massive trending hashtag on TikTok, #osamabinladen was a massive trending hashtag on TikTok, all pro-Palestine content was super trending, billions of views, versus Israel or anything to do with pro-Israel was like super, super low."

She said a lot of people discussing the conflict on social media aren't educated on the issues, so when an average user comes across a viral video with 30 million views sharing one person’s opinion about Israel or Gaza, "all of a sudden now it's a ripple effect of everyone that just saw that video now believes that because they don't know better."

Tucker said the impact of social media needs to be taken seriously, since it is where so much information is shared and news is consumed, allowing antisemitism to proliferate in the months following October 7.

"Even with October 7, think about if we didn't have social media nowadays, how different that could have been with what spiraled after," she said. "I think what happened on October 7 was the start, and now we're a hundred and how many days in, and it's only gotten worse with everyone's opinions and everyone's thoughts in these videos … being fed to people every single day [there is] so much propaganda that I see."

"Fortunately, I heard from survivors, but my grandma was 13 when she was taken to the Holocaust, and she's 95 [now], so in a few years, there are going to be no more survivors left," she said. "Imagine the denial that's going to happen then with literally no survivors."

Tucker said one of the ways to combat antisemitism is to teach America's youth about the Holocaust in schools.

"I grew up in Florida, which is one of the states that did have it, thankfully, and my grandparents used to speak at all the schools … But there are a lot of people who don't," she said. "It's hard to blame these kids that just genuinely don't know better because they weren't taught it in school."

"Then they come across this TikTok video that denies the Holocaust or says Jews are terrible … and that's all they're going to know and that's all they're going to believe," she said. "If their favorite rapper or their favorite athlete spews out antisemitic comments, they look up to that athlete, they look up to that rapper, they're going to say, 'That must be true.'"

Tucker encouraged Americans to do their own research and continue to learn about the long and difficult conflict in Israel and the Middle East. She also said people should be easier on each other because there is "so much hate" in the world and in the U.S., specifically.

#nunyas news

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0alanasworld0 · 11 months

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Always always always free Palestine

i ofc havent been active on here at all these past couple of months but i am online elsewhere and have seen the same horrific things as you have. i do make an effort on other platforms to share what i can and i do try to donate within my means as well.

i will always maintain the fact that this is not a war. it is not a conflict. it is an attempted ethnic cleansing of the INDIGENOUS palestinian people by a state founded upon the principles of settler colonialism and white supremacy. as if the past 75+ years of torment under israeli occupation havent been enough, the bombing raids since October the 7th have been reported to be the most brutal since it all began. the images and videos being shared across the internet are very real and beyond horrifying. the palestinian people do not have the time to grieve, they dont have the dignity of a proper burial. theyre forced to raise the bodies of their martyrs to the cameras and even then they're not believed.

the bombing raids alongside a complete blockade of any food, water and aid imports only solidifies what has been said from the very beginning. israel is constantly commiting war crimes on the palestinian people under the false pretense that they have a right to the land. Israelis have to steal palestinian homes because, "If i dont, someone else will" to quote one of them.

zionists constantly spread false information about palestinians and their resistance movements. some of the most blatant propaganda ever crafted and palestinians are still doubted regarding their plight. livelihoods are put at risk in countries that flaunt the principles of free speech. safety is jeopardised and palestinians and their supporters will always be villified no matter how careful they are with their wording.

there are no two sides. the attack on october 7th did not happen in a vacuum. its a culmination of 75+ years of corruption, vilification and gaslighting by israel and the west. you cannot condemn them without condeming israeli first and attributing fault to the vile regime.

as a muslim, my only comfort is that these people are incredibly strong in their faith. they are killed in their thousands but i believe that they will be among the very first to enter the highest levels of jannah. may their suffering not go in vain, may their oppressors be punished in the dunya and akhirah and may the people of palestine see justice in the dunya and akhirah and may allah help us all and grant us strength and protection from all evil as we stand with palestine. Ameen.

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rainbowtechnadrome · 1 year

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Thought for a minute the largest public platform that hosts CSEM of me was down maybe for good and was relieved .

But AO3 is still up. My hell is still written by my abuser.

It is shared in circles of those who enjoy kid’s suffering. I know other survivors with my same experience. Many who have tired to contact the platform without result.

CSEM is in spaces you don’t want to think it is. It is a non-zero chance that you by mistake may have read this thinking its yet another story. Especially when your platform may not prioritize survivors over absolute freedom of speech.

To clarify again the content describing how my abusers abused me as a child. Mostly one of them has made a name for himself in certain spaces by publishing retellings of the events for years and I’ve had to follow with take down requests every year since. And AO3 is the one of the only platforms not catered specifically to spread of CSEM that has been the WORST in lack of response.

Not an attack on you if you engage with the site but a warning I guess? My abusers publish under different usernames barely changing the events of time they hurt children changing their name ( sometimes not all the time)to random child characters at times that the person liked as a child as a form of control.

I started having to engage with this and not ignore it because I realized people with no connection to my abuser were incidentally finding the material and thinking it was fiction. People were finding it and sharing it thinking it’s just like anything else, reading my pain, often maybe engaging with it sexually unaware it is CSEM.

Maybe! I’d like AO3 to stop allowing the general population to access the Worst Time of my life for gratification. Maybe I wouldn’t like to see comments about it. Or even if I could confidently say no one so wasn’t setting out to read the contents of my police report from my abusers view not wanting to.

Sorry but yeah, I’m not fond of it! Or any platform that allows sexual content of minors, especially without a believe survivor’s first policy. And possibly if I see someone donating to AO3 I will want to scream.

I really am of the opinion that in order to prevent CSEM from being wildly shared, material for sexual gratification describing kids needs more HEAVY review. And if you’re not going to moderate it insanely well and prioritize survivors you don’t need to allow that content. Otherwise yes people with less than stellar goals will use it as a safe haven.

But yeah sorry. If you like AO3 maybe considering Just Not Donating, or engaging with sexual content involving child characters while their mod team is rough that’d be cool .

#tw csem mention #tw csa #tw grooming mention #anti ao3

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sweaterkittensahoy · 4 months

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I understand the need to fight back against anti semitism in this country, especially against people who don’t care about Palestinians, but are happy to use them to make people think their bigotry is somehow morally justified. But it feels like ultimately, people still don’t care about Palestine. Israel has a right to defend itself from Hamas. I don’t think they should just lie down and accept terrorist attacks happening in their country. But they don’t have a right to attack innocent civilians for the crime of being in the same place Hamas is located. And I’m having a hard time believing that people aren’t being as terrible towards Muslims as they are towards Jewish people. I don’t think they need an excuse to hate somewhere with a mostly Islamic population. But that doesn’t seem to be as huge a concern. I understand where you’re coming from in that some pro Palestinian platforms in leftist spaces are dancing in just being loudly anti Semitic or for whatever reason think that the terrorists have a point when they want to spread fear by mass murdering innocents for their “cause”, but the rising rhetoric that supporting Palestine means you hate Jewish people when Palestinian lives are being wiped out in huge numbers feels wrong to me. It shouldn’t be a fight of which innocent lives in which country matters more, but that’s what it’s starting to feel like.

It's not "rising rhetoric" that to support Palestine means you hate Israel. It's a huge fucking problem that loud antisemites have taken over the largest, loudest parts of the movement to support and bring peace to Palestine and unquestionably turned it into an antisemitic shitshow. The only fix for that is people who support Palestine and don't hate Jews is to get louder and clean their fucking house.

That being said very directly, I will be focusing the rest of my answer on this portion of your ask, which I think is the most important chunk because you are sharing incorrect and intentionally wrong information, and I don't think you realize that's happening. I'll also be answering about the rise in Anti-Muslim activity because I think it's important we don't ignore what Anti-Muslim activity looks like right now versus Antisemitic activity. Because it's all fucking terrible, but it's important to consider that getting dinged by a car turning a corner is bad (happened to me) and getting hit by a car doing 20 mph is really fucking bad.

But they don’t have a right to attack innocent civilians for the crime of being in the same place Hamas is located. And I’m having a hard time believing that people aren’t being as terrible towards Muslims as they are towards Jewish people.

Israel isn't aiming at civilians on purpose. Hamas put military targets next to civilian targets to be able to claim Israel is aiming at civilians when they're bombing. This is a very well-known tactic of Hamas, and calling it "Israel bombing civilians" puts the fault of the situation on Israel, when they aren't the ones who did it. Hamas doesn't give a fuck about civilians. That's why the military installations are next to schools and hospitals. So they can point at the plie of bodies and go, "Look! Look what Israel did!" and fuck up the narrative to "Israel bombed a school!" and not "We very intentionally put a military installation next to this school because we will do anything we can to discredit Jewish people even if it means causing the death of our own civilians." This is a war crime, by the way. Putting military installations in places where they are likely to cause civilian harm. The Geneva Convention considers this sort of action a war crime.

I looked up Anti-Muslim stats for 2023 and found this article from ABC news that discusses a rise in Anti-Muslim and Anti-Sematic bias and attacks since October 7. I think this paragraph breaks it down well: There were 11 confirmed anti-Muslim hate crimes in New York City from Oct. 7, 2023, to Dec. 30, 2023, according to the NYPD, and 26 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes over the same time period -- a total of one anti-Muslim hate crime every 7.7 days, and one antisemitic hate crime every 3.3 days. There were just five confirmed anti-Muslim hate crimes from Jan. 1, 2023, to Oct. 6, 2023, according to the NYPD, and 49 confirmed antisemitic hate crimes (one every 5.7 days) over the same time period. So, yes, there has been a rise in bias against Muslims, and that's fucking bad. They shouldn't be bearing the brunt of Hamas's choices any more than every Jew in the world having to answer for anything Israel does. But--and this is incredibly important to this conversation--While Muslims are facing bias, Jews are facing VIOLENCE, and it was happening at a noticeably higher rate than violence against Muslims even BEFORE October 7. They are being told they should be eradicated. They are being told they should "go back to Poland" (what an astounding statement to make to Israeli Jews especially). They are being threatened for walking down the street and looking Jewish. It is a false equivalency to say "Well, there's a rise in Anti-Muslim bias, and no one is talking about it." Because the difference is--as detailed by the article linked above--bias on the job and in education along with immigration issues--and constant death threats and attacks on synagogues and Jewish businesses. Both things are wrong and awful, but one group is being told they should be murdered en masse AGAIN, and the other is not.

#israel #palestine #antisemitism on the left #antimuslim rhetoric

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welcome-to-green-hills · 2 years

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Slow Activity…

Hello Everyone,

I do apologize for the inactivity here. I’ve been… reflecting. Please expect some relatively slow activity. I have rewritten this post quite a few times in attempt to articulate the exact words of how I feel. No matter how many times I’ve rewritten this post, I find that it’s become harder and harder to tame the explanation. The original intent of this post was meant to be an explanation how I wanted to leave Tumblr. That’s not the answer. Leaving isn’t an answer. In order to fix a problem, the problem has to be acknowledged.

A while ago, I used to be an AU/Ask blog that centered around Sonic and his family. It was a fun and happy little place that I could call my second home. Months after the blog was made and the first film came out, I’ve started receiving asks that proclaimed love and suggestive material. This made me uncomfortable. I had to block. When I added Knuckles to the AU, the asks (though always in the form of anon) became… violent. I had to stop RPing as my AU Sonic for the sake of my mental health and turn off anon.

I’ve shared in the past that I’ve been experiencing some concerns my end. These concerns and problems have been ongoing since 2020. Some have to do in the form of call-out posts, engagements with my friends, and violent asks sent my inbox. I feel that, perhaps, I’ve gained these asks, call-out posts, and harassment due to blocking an account years ago. I also feel that the harassments made to other SCU fans were made because of the block being taken personally.

A block is a block.

I should not have to owe anyone an explanation on why I’ve blocked someone. However, I can see that an explanation has been the demand for years. I can see that if I don’t supply an explanation now on why I’ve blocked you, then you will continue to harass my friends and others in the SCU Fandom. The only explanation that I can supply is this: the asks that we’re sent to me years ago made me uncomfortable. I’ve expressed that plenty of times in the past. I’ve shared this in posts since 2021. I do not owe you an explanation other than that. That continues to be my answer to this day.

A belief was fabricated that I’ve, somehow (?), “influenced” a movement of fans liking Movie!Knuckles and hating Sonic Wachowski. The belief was taken and made into a movement. I’ve seen it here and spread onto other social media platforms. Where this belief came from will forever be a mystery to me. I’m not sure of where these began. These posts on saving Sonic in the second (and upcoming) third film, the artwork, the harassments of other fans, the movie’s actors and writers… these are made out of anger of being blocked.

I understand that a block can hurt. I do. I can completely understand why you’re angry at me to this day still. And I’m sorry that it hurt. The block was made… and they were made to the other accounts that were made in attempt to follow me again. I can understand that the anger still exists to this day. You have every right to be angry at me. All that I ask is that the anger and frustration that lies within your heart is not directed at members of the SCU fandom anymore.

I hate creating drama. I do. But this post needs to be made public. I can see that blocking, reporting, an turning off DMs/anon is not enough anymore. I do believe that as soon as I publish this post, I will be selectively active here.

This needs to stop. This is not okay.

#And with that. I will be off of Tumblr for a week. I’ll see you all soon #mystery anon #off topic #The sad thing about this whole scenario is that I know that you still follow me #It doesn’t matter how many accounts you have and how many I block… you still follow me #Your anger and hatred towards me is fine. I respect that. But please don’t take it out on others. That’s not okay #Also—because I’ve seen the recent activity on your kinky blog—trans lives matter

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spankingtheatre · 2 years

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hey there! As a fellow writer, have you also noticed regressing reblogs on your stories? When I first started I had very few followers but my stories still got lots of notes. Now, I've gained more followers but still the reblogs get few and far in between. I'm interested if this is a me-problem and people just don't like my stories anymore of if it's a more global phenomenom.

I hope you have a great day! Love your stories and games and thank you for sharing them (I swear I reblog) :)

That is such a great question!

My answer is yes, I have seen a drop in engagement (reblogs and likes) since I started writing, even though I think the quality of my stories has actually improved, and the number who follow me has greatly increased (although one can never tell how many are bots!)

So I'd be very interested to hear what others believe is the reason for this, both creators and readers. Feel free to reply and add your own thoughts below.

Personally, I think the main reason is fewer people now engage with Tumblr regularly, especially given the hostile attitude to sexual content. Communities are fragile coalitions of people, hard to build and build and easy to shatter. Being a member of a community requires effort, and if we don't feel our interactions are valued, we stop commenting and curating, and become merely consumers.

I strongly suspect there are other contributing reasons too. One of my core mental principles is if I ever want to understand why something is the way it is, I consider whether it's due to the Matthew Effect first, (aka the principle of accumulated advantage).

Popularity begets popularity. Attention is finite, and people tend to invest theirs in the places with the highest social proof. We writers are the small independent bookshops in the backstreets, not the hot buzzy nightclubs. So we rely on people who share our taste to spread the word of our existence. Likes give content an algorithmic boost, helping newcomers discover new content, whilst following builds an enduring audience.

But choosing to share on social media is a very personal choice, since you're effectively putting the words of others on your own blog. My Tumblr blog is a showcase of what I create, rather than what I curate, so I don't share much to avoid confusion. Whereas my Twitter feed does include content I retweet from others. People use different platforms in different ways, and that's OK.

So, in answer to the original question, I wouldn't take the drop in sharing personally. Sometimes great things go unseen.

I know I could get far more likes and reblogs if I "marketed myself properly". But I'm a modest guy at heart, who's uncomfortable shouting for attention. I just want to write, and excite the minds of those who read me.

The marvellous Maya Angelou once said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”. I've never been motivated by popularity, I write because it's agony not to write.

But we are social creatures, and validation still matters. Any performer who walked off a stage as the audience sat in silence would feel terribly anxious and insecure. That's why we have the social convention of applause. and why social media has likes.

So thank you to everyone who applauds what I do, it helps me feel so much less weird, especially when I write about weird thing we all do.

#writing #personal #creative writing #social media #reassurance #reader questions #encouragement

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teaveetamer · 2 years

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genuinely, do you think maybe you should step back and take some time and think on what this whole situation has become, what should’ve just been standing up to harassment and telling people to block and move on has become a vitriolic and toxic space. since this whole thing started ive seen people use the antisemitic lizard rhetoric to make jokes, ive seen people imply edelgard and the empire is comparable to nazism, make ignorant comments on japan, and people compare real world events and problems to this game, all within the community you interact with or interacts with you. maybe you should reassess what you and people around you have been saying and if you want to continue this whole thing or maybe let it end.

you should step back and take some time and think on what this whole situation has become

Friend, I didn't make the situation anything. I called out harassment, and now I'm back to doing what I have always done: talking about Fire Emblem and other media. Frankly, this situation wouldn't exist at all if certain individuals in this fandom didn't feel empowered to come and bully and harass. Most of us have done basically everything in our power to avoid having people see our content, even going so far as to come up with custom tags and censor character names, and still we've literally had these people come here, take screenshots of our blogs, and repost them to their blogs or spread them around on other social media platforms for months to point and laugh and mock and encourage harassment. Many of my mutuals have been getting harassing messages in their inboxes for months. Harassers have been stalking our blogs looking for things to get angry about and bring back to their friends. And we've been very kindly ignoring it and hoping it goes away. But it's very clear that it hasn't stopped and that it's getting worse. And it's not even just the "bad" takes they're going after. They're going after people expressing the most milquetoast stuff, like saying having character flaws makes a character more interesting.

So what do you want me to do, exactly? Because I've honestly tried. I didn't tag any of my posts for years (I do now, specifically so if people don't want to see the discourse they can blacklist it). I block and mute or simply don't engage with people who are getting on my nerves, except in some very specific exception cases like calling out the harassment that has already, again, been going on for months. So what's the next logical step? Stop talking about a game series I love? Stop having opinions that other people don't agree with, no matter how mild? Do you really think that's a reasonable solution?

ive seen people use the antisemitic lizard rhetoric to make jokes, ive seen people imply edelgard and the empire is comparable to nazism, make ignorant comments on japan, and people compare real world events and problems to this game, all within the community you interact with or interacts with you.

Not sure who you're referencing here specifically, since I haven't seen anyone I follow say this kind of stuff as of this moment in time. Don't you think it might be a bit more effective to take your grievances directly to them instead of hiding behind anon on a blog two steps removed from anything being said? Firstly, because I honestly believe that people deserve the opportunity to look at their own behavior and decide for themselves if they need or want to apologize or make corrections. Secondly, because what, exactly, do you want me to do about what other people are saying? If there's a specific post of mine that seemed to trigger this kind of discussion then you haven't pointed it out. If there's something I've said specifically that you find objectionable then you didn't share it. You haven't even given me the names of the people saying these things so I can investigate for myself whether or not anything I've said might have influenced them, or ask for clarification, or talk to them about the things they've said (or even know if what they've said is as bad as you're implying). There's nothing actually actionable here.

Anyway anon, I'm sorry you're upset about the fandom situation. I understand how it feels to log in and see horrible things being said. I mean, I also don't browse the general FE tag or even some character tags because there are also people going around saying stuff like "Abyss is a concentration camp", "Dimitri is delusional and needs to be put down", people making fun of "those nasty fujos", calling Dimitri "manpain Biden", comparing Dimitri to right wing zealots or "blue lives matter" or homophobes or whatever other BS. Just do your best to curate your experience. Blacklist, block, and use tags properly.

#Edelgard discourse

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perfectdreamlandbird · 2 years

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I think life is such a beautiful GIFT !!! God is wiser than you think he has a plans for you, things to experience, people you haven't met yet, happy moments to live, I've seen someone on TikTok 2 days ago!! he was talking about his experience with suicidal thoughts and how he tried multiple times to commit it but he couldn't do it he already prepared for killing himself he wrote goodbye letters to his family and friends and designed the way he's gonna die !!! but luckily he stopped for some reason that's GOOD happy for him I'm glad he still here and he shared his experience with on public platform to spread awareness, cuz I can feel him I've struggled with mental breakdowns and depression since I was 16 I got this thoughts too sometimes but I'm a believer I have faith in GOD firstly and life secondly, life is beautiful even though with bad days and sad moments they all go by time they say time will heal everything be patient enjoy every moment of your life cuz we've got one life don't waste it;!! we're on earth for reason I'm hopeful great days are yet to COME !!!!

#notebooks #awareness #tumblr feed

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90363462 · 2 years

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Kanye West Tweets Pic of Kyrie Irving Amid NBA Player’s Antisemitism Controversy

West reposted the image on Twitter after featuring it earlier this week on his suspended Instagram account.

Gil Kaufman11/3/2022

Kanye West attends the 2015 CFDA Awards at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center on June 1, 2015 in New York City. Taylor Hill/FilmMagicnone

After getting locked out of Instagram again earlier this week for violating the site’s policies, Kanye West re-posted an image from his suspended IG on Twitter early Thursday morning (Nov. 3) of controversial Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving in what appears to be the embattled rapper’s latest provocation.

The timing of the tweet by West (who now goes by Ye) came after Irving released a joint statement with the Anti-Defamation League and his team in which the point guard and the Nets each pledged to donate $500,000 to “causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance” after Irving was widely criticized last week for sharing a link to an antisemitic movie on his social feeds.

The since-deleted tweet linked to a video posted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones which promoted the antisemitic 2018 movie Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America. The post by Irving drew widespread condemnation at a time when Ye has been deplatformed and seen his once-formidable fashion and music empire greatly diminished after repeatedly spreading antisemitic hate speech.

Like Ye, Irving steadfastly defending his right to spread such rhetoric in a post-game press conference on Saturday at which he said, “In terms of the backlash, we’re in 2022, history is not supposed to be hidden from anybody and I’m not a divisive person when it comes to religion, I embrace all walks of life. So the claims of antisemitism and who are the original chosen people of God and we go into these religious conversations and it’s a big no, no, I don’t live my life that way.”

The NBA, Nets owner Joe Tsai and the ADL strongly condemned Irving for spreading antisemitic speech, with ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeting, “The book and film he promotes trade in deeply #antisemitic themes, including those promoted by dangerous sects of the Black Hebrew Israelites movement. Irving should clarify now.”

After initially defending his right to post on his personal accounts and vowing now to “stand down on anything I believe,” Irving reversed course and said in the statement, “I oppose all forms of hatred and oppression and stand strong with communities that are marginalized and impacted every day. I am aware of the negative impact of my post towards the Jewish community, and I take responsibility.”

Before his latest Instagram suspension, West posted a smiling pic of Irving on Sunday with the caption, “There’s some real ones still here.” Ye posted a different snap of Irving on Twitter Thursday with no comment just hours after the athlete’s mea culpa. In the wake of the Irving controversy, the Ye post was the latest provocation in a month-long spree in which the rapper has repeatedly made antisemitic remarks that Forbes reported has resulted in him losing his billionaire status as most of his high-profile fashion, music and sports marketing clients have fled his now-radioactive brand.

West had his Twitter account temporarily restricted after posting in early October that he was going to go “Death Con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” The Irving post marked Ye’s return to the platform a week after self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bought the site; a new studyreported that homophobic, racist and antisemitic hate speech on Twitter dramatically spiked in the hours and days following Musk’s takeover.

The amplification of anti-Jewish tropes by such high-profile figures also comes just months after the Anti-Defamation League — which tracks anti-Semitic behavior nationwide — reported a 34% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in 2021 (to 2,717), which averaged out to more than seven such incidents per day.

Check out Ye’s tweet and the Nets and Irving’s statements below.

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insidethis4head · 2 years

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Just like emo, blogging is not dead. People just like short videos a little more

Lolen's head :As someone who will go around ranting to everyone close to me that I just grew up in the wrong time solely because I love emo rock, I am just a little mad that I did not get to experience emo rock at it's peak around the 2000s ( I was literally just brought to the world)

Anyways the big topic for today is : Is blogging dead in the water? To keep it short, yes, kind of. Thank for reading this post.

I kid. So I am going to start with giving my own take on what blogging is. I myself was not active in social media when Tumblr was the big social media platform but in my eyes, it was a big spread sheet that you can just vent out all of your ideas and frustrations. It was to me like a Twitter that gave their users every tool to share their beautiful minds.

In the dawn of 2022, Gen Z's have been swarming into the use of Tumblr having 61% of their new users being under the age of 24 (Teng, 2022) This shows that they are still new users coming into the most popular blogging space, Tumblr.

So why do I say its kind of dead in the water? Well comparing it to the mega titan of social media, TikTok, Tumblr looks like it has been run down for ages when it still gets new users as early as 2022. Revenue has also grown by 55% since July 2021 (Teng, 2022)

In my honest opinion, I just feel like people just do not like to pay attention to anything that takes time to understand. Something like a goldfish. In fact, there are many sites in the internet that suggest that a teenager's attention span is 8 seconds compared to a goldfish's 9 second. (Rogers, 2020)

This is why I feel like no one can compare Tumblr, where a platform gives you no limits with word count and endless ways to edit your profile and post, can just not compare to social media which utilizes the trendy short attention spend tactic and give users an almost infinite amount of 10 second videos that they can just scroll throughout the day.

BUT, there is a big but here. You can see this in Twitter where users will use multiple post attached to each other to explain something that needs more explanation and is limited by the 140 words limit per post. This is where I feel that people are just blogging in another platform. It is funny because people can just do these hot takes or big ideas in 1 post in Tumblr but are just too comfortable with another social media like Twitter.

My final thoughts are : Blogging is not dead, people just don't really like to sit down and listen to you more than 10 seconds and its okay! I believe there are people out there with the kindest souls that would listen to your bright ideas and I expect them to be here on Tumblr.

This is Loren's Beautiful Mind, thank you for staying in my dangerous place. Peace ✌

REFERENCES Teng, J., 2022. Tumblr is making a comeback. [online] Quartz. Available at: <https://qz.com/emails/quartz-company/2139456/tumblr-making-comeback/> [Accessed 3 October 2022].

Rogers, A., 2020. Attention in Teens: Teenager vs Goldfish - BrainLeap Technologies. [online] BrainLeap Technologies. Available at: <https://brainleaptech.com/2020/08/24/attention-in-teens-teenager-vs-goldfish/> [Accessed 3 October 2022].

#mda20009 #blogging #emo is not dead

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loveforalexzverev · 6 hours

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Thank you for your answer! It’s much appreciated❤️

If you sure you don’t mind, I’d like to know more about your reasoning behind not believing the accusations. Though I hope you won’t get any anonymous hate for answering!

Hi again Anon,

I'm sorry for the late reply. Thank you for your concern, but it's okay, anyone who comes here spreading hate gets instantly blocked. I've always made it clear that I want my page to be a positive space for supporting Sascha. I'm not a contentious person and I don't want to waste my time arguing with hateful people. Thank you for being thoughtful though ❤️

I've tried to outline my reasoning based on evidence / analysis. It's fairly long, so I've put it beneath the cut. I hope it answers your question:

First of all, I want to make it clear that I absolutely abhor domestic violence, I think it's disgusting and any perpetrator of it deserves to be in prison. Though I've been a fan of Sascha's for years, as soon as I heard about the allegations, I made it my duty to research the case and become properly informed. No matter how much of a fan I was of someone, I would never stand by and support them if they were a domestic violence perpetrator. Equally, I was not going to go along with whatever the general public opinion was on social media and immediately treat him as though he was guilty. Instead, I chose to research and form my own opinion.

With the first allegations, I read both articles Ben Rothenberg wrote thoroughly and found inconsistencies / elements in the claims that were logically implausible. My dubiousness from examining both articles was only heightened when considering that Rothenberg wrote them. He made his name writing about tennis, but has since used his platform from this to spread gossip on Twitter. Moreover, he has a track record of starting false rumours about people which ruined their lives. Most notably, he was the main orchestrator behind Doug Adler being fired after he falsely accused him of racism.

It should also be noted that Rothenberg has a specific, historic record of trying to tarnish Sascha's image which pre-dates any abuse allegations. He started a Twitter thread accusing Sascha of using his phone to cheat during a match at the 2019 ATP Finals:

The ATP released a statement clearing Sascha as they knew he was a diabetic and was checking his blood sugar monitor. At the time, he hadn't publicly announced his diabetes because of the horrific bullying he suffered as a child because of his condition. It took a while for him to feel comfortable coming forward with it, but the ATP always knew about it and thus defended him against the rumours.

So even back in 2019, before any domestic violence allegations were made against him, it's clear that Rothenberg already took a dislike to Sascha and was purposefully trying to ruin his name. And again, despite being proven wrong, he never apologised, never admitted fault, he just sat back and let Sascha get attacked unfairly. Worse still, when others suggested that his health is private and he shouldn't be forced to divulge things he isn't comfortable sharing, Rothenberg ignored any right to privacy, instead continuing this narrative that his behaviour is still suspicious and that he has every right to speculate (I've blanked out the accounts of the people he was retweeting for the sake of their privacy):

And of course when the ATP cleared Sascha as having not cheated, he simply posted a screenshot of their statement. Just as when Adler was cleared of any wrongdoing, Rothenberg never admitted fault for spreading false accusations about Sascha, nor expressed any remorse for any damage caused by his actions:

This then made Rothenberg's intentions with writing his articles clearer than ever to me. He didn't write those articles out of defence for women's rights. Instead, he used Sharypova's allegations as a means to further his continued pursuit to tear Sascha down. It was less like a journalist helping a woman share her story, and more like a desperate man with a vendetta finding common ground with someone: a shared interest to paint him in the worst light.

Further proof that those articles were not written because he cares so greatly about highlighting alleged domestic violence perpetrators in tennis: other ATP players have faced domestic violence allegations, and not once has Rothenberg ever conducted an in-depth, tell-all interview with any of their ex-partners. He didn't interview Basilashvili's ex-wife, Kyrgios's ex-girlfriend, Seyboth Wild's ex-girlfriend. It was only ever about Sascha. And all those cases were far more serious than his; they all involved the police, unlike Sascha's case. But Rothenberg never cared about them, he fixated on Sascha because he had a vested interest in targeting him specifically.

When he published his second article, he took it upon himself to stalk Zverev fan pages on Instagram to see their reactions to his articles, purposefully taking screenshots (with account names unredacted) of fan pages who chose not to believe the accusations immediately:

Firstly, it's extremely patronising to assume that the admins of these fan pages are "young and female". And saying that their decision not to believe his articles is a demonstration of their "support for their idol" is simply disgusting. He is not only assuming the age and gender identity of these admins, but also condescendingly misconstruing them simply questioning the veracity of these articles - a valid thought given his history of propagating false accusations - as them being clueless fangirls who refuse to consider their "idol" could do anything wrong.

And moreover, if Rothenberg genuinely thought the people behind these accounts are underage and impressionable, why exactly did he not think to redact their account names? Why did he take screenshots with their display name clearly visible? By his own admission, he believes them to be vulnerable, underage girls. And yet he saw no problem with making their profiles known to his followers, practically inviting hate their way. Because he cares about women's rights.

Crucially, in response to the allegations detailed in those articles, the ATP conducted a 15-month, independent investigation which involved interviewing Sascha, Sharypova and 24 other relevant people, as well as examining her evidence of alleged abuse. The investigation concluded that there was "insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse". Thus, by their findings, he is innocent.

Rothenberg claimed that this verdict does not prove Sascha's innocence, but that it "neither confirmed nor refuted Sharypova's accusations". He argued that the investigation's findings don't disprove her allegations, even though the statement explicitly states that they "were unable to substantiate [her] allegations of abuse":

By falsely claiming that the ATP's ruling doesn't confirm or deny the allegations, Rothenberg implied that the findings suggest Sascha could still be guilty, just not guilty enough to punish him. It's very important to note that this is simply untrue; having "insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations of abuse" means that evidence was provided, but through examining it, it was found to not prove that he is guilty of domestic violence. There's no such thing as not being innocent, but also not quite being guilty enough to face consequences.

He also continued to just openly bend the truth with Sascha's statements any chance he could, again, just to make him look bad. He wrote this about Sascha's episode of Break Point:

I can't state this enough: that's not what happened. Here's the actual scene he's conveniently recalling incorrectly:

That year, Sascha was returning to the ATP circuit for the first time since his injury. He was seeded outside the Top 20 for Roland Garros. He was defending semi-final points from the previous year and was due to meet Medvedev in an early round. As it happens, Medvedev lost in Round 1. In Break Point, we see Sascha catch the end of this match playing on a television as he walked through a hallway. Despite Rothenberg's claim, his applause was for Seyboth Wild's "ballsy" performance, not Medvedev's failure. When discussing this match, Sascha explicitly states: “Medvedev is one of the best players in the world, so, of course, it helps not playing him at an early stage” - a clear compliment which is interestingly missing from Rothenberg's recollection of this scene.

Sascha went on to say that, at the same time, he believes in karma, that “if you wish bad upon someone, then the bad is gonna come back to you”. In other words, even if Medvedev losing early would help him, he'd never wish bad on him as he believes that wishing bad on people brings bad back to you. That's what he actually said. The "karma" comment was about himself, but Rothenberg purposefully made it sound like Sascha vindictively celebrated Medvedev's early loss and called it "karma". That never happened.

And in case you were in any doubt about Rothenberg's professionalism: a clear example of how his personal feelings clearly outweigh everything else, even the preservation of the rules of the sport he chose a career in writing on, this was his take on the outcome of this year's Roland Garros final:

He is referring to the moment in the fifth set when Alcaraz double-faulted on break point, officially confirmed by Hawkeye, and yet the umpire insisted it wasn't a double fault. He didn't give Sascha the break back, and Alcaraz proceeded to win the Roland Garros title. People who call themselves "tennis journalists" should, by the very nature of their job, maintain a certain level of objective professionalism with regards to commenting on the sport.

Regardless of what you think of a player, seeing them fall victim to a clear flouting of the rules of tennis should not be encouraged like Rothenberg did here. As a tennis journalist, surely above all else he should want to protect the integrity of tennis as a sport and condemn any instances where its rules are openly violated. But no, he happily accepts - praises, even - cheating being allowed in a match so long as it's against someone he doesn't like.

The allegations were dubious in themselves to me, but knowing they were documented in articles by Rothenberg really cemented my disbelief. He has always disliked and unfavourably depicted Sascha, the allegations were just one of many things he clutched to as part of this.

As for the second allegations, I think the biggest issue with the case was the wide-scale misreporting done by the media concerning what the case was and what its conclusion actually meant.

Patea filed a penalty order application against Sascha, citing physical harm. Penalty orders are exclusive to German law: they are a means of people being criminally pursued for alleged unlawful offences without the complainant going to the police. In deciding whether to grant a penalty order application, the public prosecutor's office examines the evidence put forward by the complainant ONLY (in this case, Patea's evidence). At this stage, they do not hear any defence from the accused (in this case, Sascha). If they think there is sufficient reason to believe the alleged crime probable, they grant the penalty order and impose the relevant legal consequences.

The penalty order application was granted against Sascha and he was provisionally given a €450,000 fine as a result. He appealed the decision, and in German law, this appeal takes the form of a public trial. That's why his case was in court, he was never "on trial" in the conventional sense like the media portrayed, that's the only way you can appeal a penalty order. And again, only in this appeal could he give his defence, bringing forward evidence to disprove the allegations against him.

When the trial began, Sascha's lawyers outlined all the detailed evidence they had which proved that he could not have harmed Patea as she was alleging. German news articles described the evidence his legal team presented in more detail, I've posted links and translations to some of the relevant sections below:

In counter to Patea's accusation that Sascha strangled her, one of his defence lawyers, Alfred Dierlamm, outlined:

(Source: X)

Among his defence's expert witnesses was a renowned, forensic doctor in Germany named Michael Tsokos who has frequently worked in violence protection:

Another expert witness proving her allegations to be medically impossible:

You might have heard that the trial never formally concluded and that instead, a settlement was reached. It's really important to know that, despite what people say, it wasn't an out-of-court settlement, he didn't pay Patea to drop the case. When Patea took to the stand, she crumbled:

(Source 2: X)

After having contradicted herself, stuttered during her testimony and been proven to have lied multiple times, she withdrew the allegations. This then meant that the public prosecutor's office revoked the penalty order, which in turn means, legally, Sascha's presumption of innocence remains intact. Again, anyone saying "that doesn't mean he's innocent" is misinformed. There was no verdict of guilt / innocence because the case collapsed, Patea withdrew the allegations which meant that there was no case to give a verdict on.

As Sascha is the one who brought the trial, its conclusion meant that he had to pay court fees: €200,000, €150,000 going to the German state treasury, the remaining €50,000 to non-profit organisations. This is standard procedure. It is not the fine he was provisionally given for the penalty order, it was court fees, and not a single cent went to Patea.

It's also important to note that Sascha only accepted the settlement to end the case sooner for the sake of it not affecting their daughter:

Moreover, following this outcome, he was legally within his rights to sue Patea for defamation, but chose not to. Again, for the sake of their daughter:

He was never interested in a vindictive back-and-forth with this case. All he wanted was to clear his name against the accusations of abuse and maintain his rights to see his daughter. Legally, he has achieved both.

So those are my reasons for not believing the abuse allegations against him. I hope that answers your question. The facts are that there is a lot more evidence indicating his innocence than his guilt. Ultimately, the people who still call him an abuser already decided he's guilty from the start, they won't consider anything other than that, despite how much evidence there is pointing to the contrary. They're entitled to their opinion as I am to mine, but one thing I will never tolerate is people conflating me not condemning Sascha from the start as an abuser and opting to research and form my own opinion with me being an abuse apologist.

Thank you for getting in touch and for being polite, sadly it's quite rare to see these days, so I appreciate it.

Please take care 🫶🏻

#zverev #alexander zverev #alexanderzverev #sascha zverev #saschazverev

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