#turn around and argue 'I may not be jewish but I know I'm not being antisemetic“ after several Jews point out ”Yeah ya are.“

[former-leftist-jew]

"As a man, I don't think I'm being sexist..."

"As a white person, I don't think I'm being racist..."

"As a straight person, I don't think I'm being homophobic..."

But when it comes to Jews, ALL OF A SUDDEN hardcore leftists think they can determine what is and isn't antisemetic, even after dozens of Jews try to politely explain WHY such-and-such is antisemetic.

I mean….

[is-the-fire-real]

Posted without review

I feel less afraid now than I did in 2016.

No, I don't think things will be better or easier during a second Trump presidency. Yes, I do question whether or not we will have democracy as we understand it by the time 2028 rolls around. I am not naively suggesting that we Pollyanna our way out of this.

But in 2016, I was a trans man in a queer relationship with a disabled person. And I already knew from long, long experience that the vast majority of leftist spaces would not protect or save me. I knew the queer community really didn't think of me or my spouse as being part of it. I knew we weren't really safe with anyone. We were extremely alone.

And right now, I feel... well. Frightened sometimes. But I keep thinking about how I still have Judaism class tomorrow and I've got these prayers to memorize. And my report on Nachmanides to deliver. And that we should be going to the beth din in June of next year, if not sooner. And that I may be extremely pregnant when I get dunked, and therefore, my child will be born Jewish.

And... it's scary. It is. I knew this could happen, there was always a good chance of it happening.

But I don't feel alone.

I have never felt more immediately embraced by a community, and more unconditionally, than I have by Jews when I tell them I'm converting. I have private messages I still read and treasure from Jews telling me that my willingness to convert right now gives them hope for their people and the future.

Gays I've asked for help have turned me down and not shown up. Leftists straight-up enjoy my suffering and want me to die.

Jews who I ask for help just want to know what they can do for me.

And I think: well, it's very dangerous, and very frightening. But my answer to the danger, if I can figure it out, will probably be what I tell the beth din about how I will cope with antisemitism. It will have to do with being given times to grieve and times to celebrate while being permitted to do both at the exact same time, if the need comes. It will have to do with how bravery is really doing it scared. It will have to do with how much less scary everything seems, if only for a moment, when you look back on a long history of very scary things and share a meal about it.

It'll definitely have to be about how you see and experience suffering and pain and you cry and scream and argue with a G-d you don't really believe in, and then... you pray over the Shabbat candles and envision a different world.

Jews on my screen, I love you.

I know many of you are scared right now, and I won't tell you how to feel, but the fact that you exist makes the world a less frightening place.

[the-world-wont-listenn]

Marauders head cannons!!!

Lily draws hearts as the dots above her i's

James would say "I'm just being a silly billy!" then stick out his tongue (okay drake)

Marlene's favorite Taylor swift song was getaway car and she'd literally pick up dorcas and run around carrying her bridal style singing it at the top of her lungs

sirius made loads of thirst traps but really shitty ones and Marlene bullied the living shit out of him calling him a dumb bitch and that he looked ugly and that she could see all 5 of his chins from that angle

Remus is Jewish and to show his support James once ran into the dorm with a tiny kipper on his head singing god save the queen thinking 100% that god save the queen was 'the Jewish national anthem'

James had a lisp for a week cause of a prank that went slightly too far and lily took the piss out of it every time that they argued and she would just randomly switch to a lisp and say stuff like "oh does wikkle jamesie not wike dat?" and she'd purposefully make it so she spat on him

sirius watched bluey until peter and mary bullied him out of it

"I'm a big strong man I can win Evans heart over!" "James last night you wore a purple onesie with tiny green dinosaurs on it the only heart your winning over is a child's, fucking pedophile" - Remus and james

James wears the footies onesies and remus bullies the living fuck out of him for it

James and sirius lost at theme park:

"uhm can 'my little Remus moony sugar pie plum' come to lost and found we have a special present waiting for you" "honest to GOD I can't take him ANYWHERE"

‘this anyones kid?’ ‘yes that is actually my boyfriend’ ‘…how old are you two.?’

"wait where's sirius and James?" "LILY ESCAPE WHILE WE STILL CAN"

' lily look how about we go on the ferris wheel instead of finding those two’ ‘you have amazing ideas’

sirius and James would be at the top waving down at them with cotton candy and 2 of those massive arse teddies that cost shit loads to win

sirius would have a wolf one and James would have a unicorn

James was obsessed with pokemon and he bought harry a Pikachu onesie and himself a Squirtle one and lily had an Evie one

Snape watching anime

James and sirius did too but they stopped as soon as they found out that Snape watched It aswell

they definitely did the Naruto run down the corridors while Remus and peter slowly died from embarrassment

"we don't know them wdym I've never heard of a specky lad called James or an unfairly attractive boy that may or may not be my boyfriend before whatttttt"

"Remus, sweetheart, darling, baby, love, hunny, don't try and lie to me I'm not particularly pleased that the other one is MY boyfriend but at least I'm taking responsibility for my own actions"

James is obsessed with prime

Remus is obsessed with orange lucozade and milk chocolate

James makes harry try his prime

‘That dead nice!�� He says while vomiting 😍

"so, what'd ya think pringle?" "mmmm really nice" "JAMES STOP FEEDING OUR CHILD YOUR WEIRD YOUTUBE JUICE"

Pringle - sirius started it and now James calls him it

lily calls him cute things like sweetheart and stuff but James calls him pringle and big hazza

"oi hazza, help your old man with these won't you" "James he's 3" "so? when I was 3 I was building myself a doll house!" *sirius in the background* "AHA FRUITY MOTHER FUCKER"

Remus got tickled alot when he was he so when someone tried to tickle him he’d just do that slow turn around and stare and James tried to imitate him but with his prime and he just looked stupid

James would say let's skaddadle and buckle up buttercup when someone makes him angry

James called lily sugar bunny once and lily broke his finger

and once when he was trying to be sexy he said "buckle up buttercup, it's going to be a bumpy ride" and lily removed James off of her, looked him in the eye and said "I'll be back in five minutes so I can recover and we're going to pretend this never happened."

then lily told sirius and sirius called him buttercup for ages

‘Oi buttercup! Cmre!’ ‘Huh? U mean remus? He isnt here ‘ ‘no you fucking nob’

"hey you wanna" *lip bite and awful attempt at a wink* "you know"

James is afraid of the word sex

if they had the internet james would post ‘Christmas haul 😇’ and Marlene would join in half way through to take the piss and in the end half of Hogwarts was showing off James' shit that he got and at the end Alice and lily held hands, bowed then just walked off

James would watch 1000 pound sisters and dance moms religiously

they did a nativity one year

Remus was the donkey

sirius was the baby jesus

James was pregnant mary and sirius was inside James shirt for half of it until he fell out and fell off the stage

cracked his head open but still went on with it and he was bleeding severely but he was still the best damn baby Jesus out there

and Minnie was the in keeper and Marlene was the inkeepers wife but she went all out for her one line

Marlene's line- "sorry love, no room here, you can stay at the barn if you'd like?" but she made a song to go with it and a choreographed dance team - made up of Severus, Dumbledore and 3 elves from the kitchens

and Alice was Joseph and from then on called sirius her little baby jesus

sirius had the nickname jesus for ages afterwards

Elves had a rap solo each

one time James and sirius were arguing over the best Taylor swift song (james-love story, sirius-anti hero) and then Remus walked in with chocolate and an orange lucozade singing bejeweled and Mary and peter were singing shake it off

peter was literally everywhere. everywhere you looked peter mfing pettigrew was there, most of the time singing shake it off like if you go to the great hall at around 2:30 at night on a Tuesday peter will be on the tables singing shake it off

Sirius can't speak french but is 100% convinced he's great at it.

He finds out he's 1/4 french and walks into the dorm wearing a beret and a baguette in his arms with a fake twirly mustache.

Remus can speak french and uses it for his own benefit.

"es-tu un pervers qui tripote des vers pendant qu'il dort" - are you a pervert that fiddles with wormy while he sleeps

Remus would use reddit religiously

Remus and lily were childhood friends due to both growing up in the same area (tho Remus is Welsh and lily is Scottish) and dancing around to Abba is still their favorite hobby

Remus-welsh

Lily-scottish

James-scouse

Peter-scottish

Sirius-posh british but 1/4 french (assmued that meant he was fully french and 'turned french' for like a week

Regulus- posh british but 1/4 french (actually bothered to learn french to get in touch with his french roots unlike sirius)

Marlene-northern

Alice-northern

Mary-southern

Lana del ray would put James into a coma

Peter used a ketchup bottle as a fake guitar once

James would randomly grab lily's leg while she was say down and use to as a fake guitar (when they were dating ofc)

Remus loved Bowie more than life itself

Karaoke nights in the gryffindor common room

When Remus was pissed off with sirius he would call him tampon rather than pads

Peters favorite horrible histories song was Pachacuti and he had a full choreographed dance for it

James favorite flavour of chocolate was white chocolate because he couldn't handle dark chocolate and milk was 'too basic'

James is the type of guy to say 'me me me me me' when he's snoring

At least once James was angry at snape and was abt to fight him and he said "someone hold me back!" then literally no one did

Sirius would randomly quote the most random stuff when he was stressed, for example, when sirius found out that Reggie got the dark mark he quoted dance moms on 3 occasions

"I had not choice, sirius!" "I cut my finger on my mom's ring, I hope I can still dance!" "Sirius shut the fuck up."

Sirius would play my singing monsters 24/7

If they were a band. Sirius is the singer. James is the guitarist. Remus plays the bass and Peter is the drums but Peter only knows shake it off so marlene stood in for him. Dorcas is the band manager and Mary and Peter watch rehearsal. Lily doesn’t bother with that crap but to support James she plays keyboard sometimes

James wanted to be the singer but sirius said he wanted to be it cause he'd be at "the front and he'd be the eye candy for the girls" Then he’d wink at remus

"the marauders and sirius" “no it’s Sirius and the marauders “ "sirius why do you need to be specifically mentioned" "because I'm special" Then him and James would argue over Sirius’s name being first "ITS SIRIUS AND THE MARAUDERS" "ITS LOVE STORY." "ANTI-HERO."

Go-to insults

Peter: fatty

Sirius: numpty, plonker

James: cheeky spaz, jizz face

Remus: idiot or something really personal

Reactions to someone calling peter fat

Remus: he's not fat he's just plus sized

James: he's not fat he's just big boned

Sirius: he's not fat he's just a big boy (whacks peters belly as he says big boy)

Mary McDonald:

- came from a caribbean single parent immigrant home

- helped raise all her siblings as the eldest daughter so had a complex about never having children

- was estatic about coming to hogwarts each year but constantly feels guilty leaving her mother to do everything on her own

- loved traditionally feminine things & was gryffindor seeker

- came off as brash & egotistical, it was really just a cover for her insecurities

- struggled to come to terms with her asexuality after immense racially targeted sexualisation from her peers

- looked out for people

- lit up a room with her laughter

- very funny

- fashionable

- spoke her mind & for that reason was stereotyped as loud & abrasive

- often felt separated from her culture so tried her best to embrace it & share it with her friends

- was very chill about realising she liked girls

- observant & emotionally intelligent, it made her scarily good at reading ppl & knowing what to say to hurt them when she's mad

- made it a point to not make the same mistake twice

- didn't join the order after remembering dumbledore's actions (or lack thereof) after her attack

- peters bff

Lily Evans:

- was petunia's "weird sister" for most of her childhood because of her quietness & lack of interest for boys & getting married

- craves their big sister's approval

- was anti-social her first year at hogwarts out of guilt for being there when her sister couldnt be

- stopped hiding in petunia's shadow at some point & reinvented herself as the noble head girl most remember her as

- projected an image of being perfect & hid the darker more selfish parts of themselves away as she feared everyone would leave her if they saw

- was not perfect

- often felt pressured by people's expectations of her to do the right thing

- struggled with depression

- always seemed so wise but never truly knew what to do

- considered going back to snape many times as they felt he was the only one they could be their true self around

- fought comphet valiantly

- was NOT overjoyed about having a kid in the middle of the war

- battled the urge to run away & leave everything behind more than once

- died hiding a huge secret part of herself so dumbledore could sell an image of a courageous matyr to the world

Marlene McKinnon:

- was friends with james & peter growing up

- had a completely innocent crush on effie as a child & teenager

- rivaled james in their love for quidditch

- extremely competitive and determined to best everyone in everything, takes silly games way too seriously but it's endearing

- struggled coming to terms with their sexuality & identity as they grew older

- often felt isolated from their female peers when they couldn't relate to them when they talked about boys

- struggled with feeling perverted when female friends would get comfortable around them

- fought more with not liking boys than liking girls

- their parents' relationship issues at home made them go through a dark phase in sixth year

- became snappy & temperamental, lost interest in quidditch, fought with dorcas alot

- started wearing leather jackets & dark eye makeup

- after years of struggling to identity crisis, they eventually found themselves

- they regained some of their brightnesw, but still kept their style, often traded clothes with sirius with how similiarly they dressed

- was eventually murdered by a long time friend

Dorcas meadows:

-despite her high status as a rich pureblood, she defyed slytherin stereotypes with her progressives views on blood status

- her dismissal of blood hierachy were partly shaped by her experiences as a black witch because being pureblood unfortunately didn't save her from racism

- she was conscious of her temper & presented herself in a practiced way, understanding how being dark-skinned & black could affect how she's perceived

- was elegant, poised & remarkably fashionable

- could cut ppl like a knife with her words without even raising her voice

- had a motherly nature to her & always looked out for first years

- even non slytherins respected & admired her

- it wasn't until marlene was kiIIed that she lost all her elegance & control & went batshit insane, no longer caring about getting herself dirty

Alice Fortescue:

-lily's role model

- herbology queen

- kind & loving but no pushover

- wise beyond her years

- talented at balancing being responsible & having fun

- more of a trouble maker than people gave them credit for

Pandora lovegood:

- grew up in the woods with her paranoid grandmother surrounded by more magical creatures than people

- had a tendency to ask sudden philosophical questions, only regulus could keep up

- polite but extremely detached from her social surroundings

- sweet to those she really liked

- had a comforting presence but was much darker than people assumed

- intelligent in a mad scientist way

- rules & concern for her life never stopped her from experimenting with dark magic

- had really thought she had the hang of it when trying to destroy the horcrux

- she didn't

Remus and lily had choreographed dances to most Abba songs and when they were played at her wedding they both still preformed them though lily was in heals and sirius and James were absolutely gobsmacked and just watched in amazement

Things that would send walburga in to a coma

-sirius' hair in poa

-either of her kids liking men

-james potter in general

-sirius dating a half-blood

-muggle-borns actually being good at magic

-lesbians

-marlene.

-remus being a werewolf

-gingers

-peter

-american girl dolls

-pirates of the caribbean

-jeggings

-james Corden

-ellen de generous

-barbie princess and the pauper

-that one scene in were the millers where they pretend that drugs are their baby (also the one where Kenny got bit by a tarantula)

-max stani

-raisins

-skinny jeans

-shark boy and lavq girl

-michael cera

-the barbie movie

-love actually

Peter is the BIGGEST 1d fan (rock me was his favorite)

James always has his feet out

Lily's favorite Christmas film was love actually

Dorcas' fav colour was orange/yellow

Alice and Frank as the olive theory but like not really cause they both loved olives but frank lied about it cause Alice was so happy when they fit the olive theory

James had a Lego collection

Sirius had a shit poker face

James once broke 4 bones trying to do a back hand spring (sirius did it perfectly first try)

Sirius can't stay still when he's sleeping ending in Remus with LOTS of bruises

All of them (the marauders + the girls + frank) played a massive game of hide and seek all throughout Hogwarts and peter went missing for three days

James but as the 'drakes the kinda guy' trend.

Marlene calls James her little white boy

Parental issues:

Sirius: issues

Marlene: mummy

James: mostly daddy but he's chill with both

Peter: single mum

Remus: daddy issues (mums dead)

Lily: sister issues

Alice: happy family

Dorcas: happy family

Mary: divorced parents but happy with both

Frank: closer with his mum

Mary and peter play hello kitty island adventure

James is a girl dad

Lily is a boy mum

Fav ts song:

James: love story (tv)

Sirius: anti hero

Remus: bejeweled

Peter: shake it off

Mary: Betty

Marlene: getaway car

Lily: paper rings

Alice: All too well (tv)

Dorcas: champagne problems

The girls did a ranking of all the boys based on looks and personality and they put James and sirius at the bottom to piss them off but just above James they put Snape to spite James. Frank and peter were at the top.

Fancasts

James: Aaron Taylor Johnson

Sirius: Ben barnes

Remus: Andrew Garfield

Peter: lewis capaldi

Regulus: Timotheè chalamet

Lily: Sophie Skelton

Marlene: bebadoobe

Dorcas: Janelle osei-tutu

Mary: Sofia Bryant

Alice: young winnona Ryder

Frank: Jim sturgess

Snape: Louis Garrel

Barty: young David Tennant

Peter is lactose intolerant but eats the most dairy

[liskantope]

With regard to the recent testimony of several presidents of major universities about their policies on antisemitic speech, my orbit seems divided into people who are ignoring the story entirely and people who have reacted to it with nothing but outrage and exasperation toward the university presidents. I also find the whole event and situation frustrating and disturbing, but I'm wondering if I'm the only one out there who can't help feeling some significant degree of sympathy with the university presidents and why they might feel like they're in a bind under that type of questioning.

(I haven't gotten my hands on a more comprehensive video that shows the hearing -- the only video I was able to find that looked it might contain this was 5 hours or something -- but this treatment by David Pakman contains about the most footage I've seen. Notice how Pakman, perhaps not deliberately, distorts the sense of the MIT president's meaning in her sentence, "I've heard chants, which can be antisemitic depending on the context, when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people" by seeming to rearrange the quote in his mind so that the phrase "calling for the elimination of the Jewish people" is placed earlier in the sentence implying that calling for the elimination of the Jewish people is only sometimes antisemitic. Which is not at all what she said.)

Here's the thing: accusations of antisemitism and particularly the use of the term "genocide"/"genocidal" in speech content are being thrown around quite loosely nowadays. The way the presidents squirmed around struggling to navigate how to answer the questions was cringeworthy to be sure, and made worse by the fact that they didn't explain what they meant by "become conduct", but it's kind of understandable that they wouldn't want to straight-up say "Yes, we have a no-tolerance policy towards all calls for genocide against Jews" knowing that will immediately be turned onto them the next time a pro-Palestine slogan which someone on the pro-Israel side might interpret as antisemitic is uttered on their campus. For instance, "From the river to the sea!" seems to take on a range of meanings depending on who you ask, from "Get all Jews out of that whole piece of land!" to (according to for example Robert Wright) "Let's have a one-state solution where Palestinians get equal rights throughout that whole piece of land!"; the former can certainly be argued to be genocidal whereas a lot of protesters will probably (perhaps quite sincerely) claim the latter meaning.

(It's like during that whole debate about whether or not it's okay to punch a Nazi: I think a lot more of us may have been comfortable saying that Nazi-punching is generally okay, if it hadn't been for the fact that there was a visibly large overlap between the people advocating Nazi-punching and the types who tended to wield very broad criteria for who qualifies as a Nazi.)

I don't really have the time or energy to try to develop a full-blown stance on where the boundaries of free speech should be on college campuses or anywhere else. My general inclination would be to draw the line at speech that advocates intolerance of groups that include people that would be on the campus. So for instance, speech advocating genocide of Jews as a general group (which would include Jewish students/faculty/staff on campus), let alone speech expressing hatred toward or otherwise harassing/threatening any individuals or subsets of Jewish students/faculty/staff at the university, should not be tolerated under university policy. Speech advocating removing Israeli Jews from the state of Israel (the most extreme interpretation of "From the river to the sea!") is pretty disturbing and frighteningly reminiscent of early Nazi policy, and Jewish students wouldn't be unreasonable to feel deeply offended by it and I don't feel great about allowing it, but I'm not sure if it crosses that line. I don't know. The policy position I'm suggesting could plausibly be what the university presidents were espousing, but it was hard to tell without further clarifications from them, and it may just be wishful thinking on my part.

I do agree with David Pakman and others that, almost certainly, if you replace "antisemitic" with "anti-black" or "anti-Asian" or "misogynistic" (or probably even "anti-Muslim"), those university presidents would have without hesitation sung a very different tune, and that is an issue that needs to be examined and reckoned with. I'm not sure I'd say that it's evidence that Jews are uniquely hated among marginalized groups exactly, but it's a reflection of the fact that this recent general turn of events has kind of broken the guiding lines of certain strains of US progressive ideology.

[writingwithcolor]

Hey, I have kind of hc'ed myself into a corner. I'm working on a oneshot based on someone else's art, which takes place at an office christmas party. Somewhere along the way I started hc'ing one of the chars as jewish tho. I went through your tags and it appears to me that it wouldn't actually be a problem for him to be at the party, as long as it's not overly religious? (Which it isn't. It's just a "christmas party" because of christian culture.) My main question is now, what would be good, small ways to keep the character noticeably jewish, esp in a relatively short story? My thoughts so far were that he'd probably object to someone putting a santa hat on him? And/or his colleagues might thank him for taking some extra shifts during christmas itself so they can stay home (in exchange for covering shifts for him during Chanukah? I know it's not a major holiday but around the same time so an exchange would make sense?) Mostly I'm just looking for every-day details, maybe something you guys would like to see more of? Thanks in advance!

Jewish character attending office Christmas party, also Chanukah

I like thanking him for working on Christmas — but working for him "on Chanukah" really doesn't make a whole lot of sense because you wouldn't be missing work. Recognition of the holiday is done mostly through lighting candles at night. If you want the exchange to be fair, they could always have traded just for him traveling at a different time — like oh, thanks for working for us on Christmas, now I'll work for you the following Tuesday — a day off is a day off.

Mileage may vary on the Santa hat. I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with someone putting that on my head if I was already at a Christmas party but someone else might, so I'm curious what our Jewish followers will say about this in the notes. 

He can maybe bring something traditional like rugelach or babka as his contribution to the party's dessert potluck... or if you want something specifically seasonal, jelly donuts (which are a Chanukah thing for some people.)

--Shira

I'll start with a caveat I've made before: Jewish people are varied. Our practices, views, and choices are manifold. 

All of that being said, there's no way I would go to a Christmas party. I know what you mean when you describe the party as not being overly religious but "Christmas because of Christian culture." From where I'm sitting though, you can take the Jesus out of it, but it's still a Christian holiday, Santa, trees with lights, caroling, Christmas music (even the heaps of songs written by Jewish people) are all still Christian culture. Christian being the operative word, and with my operative word being Jewish. 

Now, let’s say I went to a secular, winter-party. We'll imagine that there are no decorated trees, no gifts being given, just snowflake decor and mulled wine. If someone at that party (or any other), who knew that I'm Jewish, tried to put a Santa hat on my head, I would be immediately arguing with my fullest, deepest voice. Christmas is pervasive, it's music in the stores, lights on every street, public buildings closed, and everyone wishing you a "Merry Christmas," and then angry when you smile and say "thank you, but I celebrate Chanukah!" Even if you use your cheeriest voice, and your happiest smile. It's great that other people are so excited, and happy at the time, but it can be exhausting to have to be constantly reminded that I am largely forgotten, and when I am remembered, I'm expected to assimilate. Why would I put myself through an extra portion of that?

I don't mind one, or two examples of stories where Jewish people go and participate in Christian holidays, plenty of us do! But it's all the time, in books, tv, movies, comics... I'm exhausted by the premise, and frustrated as the overabundance of that particular story contributes to the broader culture's expectation that I should be willing to be culturally Christian for a night, a week, a month, or more. 

-- Dierdra

Like Dierdra, I have largely stopped going to these, but I would reiterate that there are many reasons why people would go. For example, being Orthodox, it’s hard enough not being able to join colleagues for drinks on Friday night or dig in when a manager takes pity on us and orders pizza. I don’t want to be that Jewish girl who never gets involved.

With this in mind, I would avoid using refusal to take part, or even getting annoyed at being forced to take part like with the Santa hat, as the parameters that define your character’s Jewishness. Especially at Christmas, where there’s already the common assumption that only the biggest killjoys refuse to celebrate.

Because of the seasonal aspect, this is one of the few times that I actually would consider Channukah to be one of your best options for introducing Jewish identity. Pre-Covid, I would often bring a dreidel and a box of chocolates to my very non-Jewish office during Channukah, and anyone who wanted could play with me at lunchtime. There’s no reason this couldn’t be taking place at a Christmas party, since it’s a very simple game to learn and most people find it fun the first few times. If you can, try slipping into the dialogue that this isn’t the only holiday the character celebrates though, since we are very tired of seeing that.

If you’re confident in your ability to write microaggressions, you could also create one or two uncomfortable moments for the character, because when people get drunk they often ask really weird questions about your religion and culture. For example, I was once at a work party where someone managed to get out of me (despite my attempts to dodge his invasive questions) that I was Jewish, and he immediately asked me why all the Jews in a particular ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood drove similar cars. The same night, my boss’s boss told me three times that he had loved going to Israel as a kid and thought of it as Christian Disney Land. You don’t have to get into microaggressions if this is just supposed to be a short, festive story, but I think it would feel very real and refreshing for a lot of Jewish people to see those experiences validated.

Other than that, I also like Shira’s suggestion of bringing Jewish food. I’ve turned up to many a ‘winter holiday’ party with latkes, even if I was the only Jewish person there. Covering Christmas day and getting a day back later is also very common, although I agree with Shira this wouldn’t be for observance of Channukah. It would either be a random day in the near future, or saved up for Passover, which is the next holiday requiring time off work.

-     Shoshi

[joshua-flipping-washington]

EllieDina Week - Day 7: Infinite.

Oh man, I can't believe that- Well, yesterday was technically the last day! But I still can't believe that the week is over. I had such a blast, getting to write something for an entire week. One thing for each day, it really brought back my motivation. And- It showed me how creative and talented the community truly is! I was introduced to so many phenomenal new artists and writers because of this event.

Rating: Teens and up.

°○•●

Ellie was stood up at the front of the church in Jackson, she grimaced at the feeling of her palms sweating and she wiped them off on her pants. She had no clue why she was so nervous, perhaps it was because she wasn't religious and she was going to marry Dina in a church? That couldn't be the reason, that would be dumb. She'd be over the moon even if their wedding was held in a dumpster, as long as she got to marry the woman she loved, it didn't matter at all.

They had been unable to find Ellie a SUITable tux for the wedding, so she was wearing her best looking flannel and a pair of brand new jeans. Ellie hadn't had the chance to see Dina yet, apparently it was some kind of rule before Outbreak Day. And for some reason, everyone in Jackson was insistent on her following that to a T. Ellie had grumbled under her breath, not to pleased about having not seen Dina in over sixteen hours.

JJ had popped by when Ellie was getting dressed, she had smiled upon seeing his arrival. " Hey, Spud! What have you been up to? " She said as she scooped him up and spun him around. He giggled and squealed in excitement, though he was happy when he was set down. Ellie reached out and grabbed his shoulder to steady him. He grinned and happily shared with her what he had been doing, and where he had been. " I was visiting Mama! Aunt Maria says you aren't allowed to know how she looks. "

JJ seemed very puzzled by the entire thing, but he had excitedly spent time with Ellie until he was called out to get ready for the wedding reception, he was going to be their ring bearer. And he had been taking the job very seriously, practicing all the time leading up to the date of the wedding.

Ellie tugged at the collar of her shirt, man was it surprisingly hot for the time of year it was. She turned her attention to the center isle, watching as some of the kids excitedly rushed up, tossing flower petals as they went. Stopping to stand on their respective sides.

The kids of the town had been so excited about the news of Ellie and Dina getting married, so of course Dina and that big heart of hers couldn't say no to the children asking if they could toss the flowers. God, Ellie loved her with every fiber of her being.

Ellie's heart rate accelerated as everyone in the church pews began to stand up, her green eyes grow wide in awe and her jaw nearly drops, her throat feels raw with emotions as she takes in the sight of Dina, who is smiling brightly like the goddess that she is- Walks down the aisle, being lead by Jesse's father.

She's wearing a burgundy colored dress, with black and gold accents. Ellie had never even thought about that color combination looking so good, but seeing Dina in it convinced her. Dina was absolutely stunning, that sparkle in her brown eyes as she stops in front of Ellie says it all. " Hey. " Dina says softly.

Ellie cleared her throat and smiled at Dina. " Hey, I missed you, babe. You look- Fuck me, you look absolutely stunning. " Dina was the only one who could pull words like that out of Ellie's mind.

Dina smirked in amusement and teasingly winked at Ellie, finding absolute joy in the way her face grew flushed. " Oh, in a rush are we? We still have to get married, goober. But let's save that talk for later. "

They both grew quiet at the sound of their sons little feet, tearing up the isle with a string of giggles. The rings bouncing wildly as he comes to a halt in front of them. " Mama! Mom! I got the rings! " He announced in a delighted tone, earning a few chuckles from the congregation.

Dina laughs softly and smiles down at him. " Good job, bud! You are such a smart little guy. " She ruffled his hair, watching as he goes and stands where he was told, still beaming with pride.

The wedding commences right on time, the pastor going through the motions of what had been discussed with him. There is a mixture of Jewish traditions, like the breaking of a glass. And some things that were apparently common in a wedding back when people still had them.

Ellie crouches down slightly, taking the rings carefully from the pillow JJ was holding. She smiles as she hands Dina hers, her mind is racing and her heart is hammering heavily.

They both slip the rings on one another's finger when they were given the go-ahead, they didn't exchange any vows. Not in front of people, they didn't need to prove that they loved and cared about each other in front of everyone else. All that they had been through signified that, how far they had come.

" I now pronounce you, wife- And, uhh wife. You may now kiss the bride. " The pastor said, clearly not ever having married two women before.

Ellie chuckles softly, gently cupping Dina's cheek with her hand. She leans forward slightly, her breath tickling Dina's nose as she whispered. " Don't mind if I do. " She pressed her lips to Dina's, sharing a passionate kiss with her wife. Ellie wrapped her arms around Dina and dipped her, unable to hold back the laugh that escaped her mouth at JJ's enthusiastic clapping, his claps actually covered up the applause from all the others.

Ellie picked Dina back up, a fond smile on her lips, her arm wrapped around Dina's waist. " Y'know, I like him like this. He isn't yet disgusted by our love and affection for one another. "

Dina smiled and gently brushed her hand over Ellie's cheek, pushing a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. " Yeah, we are still lucky for now it seems. Unfortunately, he will probably grow out of that and get embarrassed of us. "

Ellie snickered to herself. " JJ is going to have a hell of a time bringing people around when he gets older, guaranteed. " She just meant that they would one hundred percent embarrass him with their love for each other when he attempts to bring a crush home with him.

Dina lightly slapped her wife's arm as JJ came rushing up to them, they both crouched down and pulled him into a tight hug. " You did so awesome, Spud! Proud of ya! " JJ beamed happily, his toothy grin brightening up their world. " Now we are a family. " He said softly, nuzzling his head against his mothers'.

《 》

The dinner and party that is held after the wedding goes on for quite some time. Everybody is laughing and singing, chatting and dancing. The music is soft, yet loud. And it reminds Ellie of the night her and Dina shared their first kiss. The same type of lights are strung up, illuminating the dance floor.

Ellie stands near the counter, her gaze almost blank as she stares straight ahead. Her mind begins to run as all the events that followed began coming to life in her mind. She dropped her head with a gasp, and placed her hands over her ears. No- She hadn't done this in a long time, this was supposed to be their new beginning, she was supposed to be making new memories.

Dina had been talking with Maria, JJ latched to her side like a little monkey. When she glanced around the room for a second, her eyes zeroed in on Ellie, hands clasped over her ears, eyes glazed over and wet with tears. She excuses herself and rushes over to Ellie's side. Gently placing a hand on her face. " Ellie, Ellie I need you to come back to me. Come back to me, El. Our son wants to dance with his mom. "

She gently brushes her fingers through Ellie's hair, whispering softly to her until she was able to pull her out of it. " El, you are home, babe. With me and JJ, we are here. We love you and you are safe. " She repeated this as long as she had to, until the light returned to Ellie's eyes and she dropped her hands slowly.

Ellie looked at Dina with guilt written all over her face. " I'm… I'm sorry, Di- I don't know what… I've been doing so good, that… Hasn't happened in months. " Dina can see that Ellie is on the verge of tears, so she gently takes hold of her hand. " Ellie, I'm not upset with you. These things- They happen sometimes. To the best of us, it doesn't mean you've undone every single ounce of work you've come through. I'm so proud of you, and I just want you to be okay. " She placed a gentle kiss to Ellie's lips.

Carefully pulling her by the hand, she leads her out of the church after saying a quick thank you and goodbye to everyone as a whole.

Ellie looked at Dina with confusion, she really had screwed things up. They were supposed to dance and enjoy the wedding party. " What are we doing? What about- "

Dina shook her head and handed JJ over to Ellie. The other woman grunts slightly from the sudden added weight. " Ellie, we can dance together as a family. "

It's hard to argue when your wife looks so excited at the thought, who cared if it wasn't in front of a crowd. Wasn't that how she preferred it, anyway?

《 》

They soon reached their humble little home, it was no farm house. But it had two stories, and was just the perfect size for their family of three.

Ellie set JJ down on his feet as soon as they stepped inside the house, the boy excitedly followed after Dina as she went to the record player and put on a record for them to dance to.

Ellie smiled faintly at Dina as she grabbed hold of JJ and started dancing with him. He was practically bouncing up and down in excitement as they grooved their way over to her. She gasped as Dina grabbed onto her hand and pulled her into a loving embrace, gently swaying to the music that didn't fit at all. JJ stood on Ellie's converse clad feet, and swayed with them. Her hands holding onto his small one's so he wouldn't fall.

The three of them danced until they couldn't dance anymore, and what that meant was they danced until it was time for JJ to go to bed.

" I'll put him down, babe. " Ellie said as she scooped up a tired JJ from on their couch, she carried him upstairs and helped him get ready for bed. " I love you, mom. " He said softly, drifting off to sleep easily, very worn out from the events of the day.

Ellie slowly walked back down the stairs, surprised to see Dina standing in the middle of their living room, gently swaying to the music and humming to herself. She smiles as she approaches Dina, and wraps her arms around her from behind. Swaying to the music with her, their bodies in sync.

A smile grows on Dina's face, and she turns around in Ellie's embrace. Bringing her own hands up and wrapping them around Ellie's shoulders, letting her head rest against her chest as they swayed to the music. Her brown eyes were filled with so much love for the girl in front of her. " I think that this- Right here, is the start to our forever. I love you, El. "

Ellie's eyes well up with tears and she laughs softly, pressing a quick kiss to the top of Dina's head. " I… I believe that you are right, this moment… And all the one's after. We are stronger together. I love you, Dina. Thanks for allowing me to prove myself, time and time again. "

[newcatwords]

approaching very old stories, stories from ancestors, stories from elders

inspired by the thread "How to Read Myths and Folklore" by Mythological Africans, i'm sharing my approach to very old stories, stories from ancestors, and stories from elders.

while i hope that this might be useful to any reader, the context here is that i'm a westerner who grew up in a western family with western values. i was educated in western schools with their values.

the mainstream white western relationship with very old stories is complicated. the abrahamic stories (judaism, christianity) are well-respected, but even most of the west's own old stories (norse stories, greek stories, little old village stories, etc.) are treated as myths (in the sense of "things people used to believe as true but that are generally no longer considered true because of scientific advances in understanding about the world").

among western peoples, most of what might be called "indigenous" culture (including stories) was suppressed & destroyed a very long time ago. christianity has been dominant in europe for so long that aside from things like the old religion of ireland, very little remains that's commonly known. specific national stories might be historical epics/legends, "fairy tales", & "mythology." often pre-christian beliefs in europe are lumped into a sort of generic "nature worship" and then dismissed.

the mainstream white western attitude is that there is little of value in very old stories for people today. newer knowledge is more highly valued. there are people who still study aristotle, etc., but generally, aside from judaism & christianity, there aren't many extremely old stories that western people value today. and many westerners are not religious & don't take their peoples' religious traditions seriously either.

(i would argue that part of this skepticism comes from the triumph of science in setting itself up as the only source of truth. part of it also comes from the fact that most of the old stories are religious, from large, patriarchical, institutionalized religions that have abused the idea of "listen to your elders" to keep people down. by not being wise elders, they have made people not trust them and also not trust the idea that listening to one's elders is important. these elders tell women to submit, tell gay people they are going to hell, claim to be virtuous while abusing children, and all the other things that have shown them to be bankrupt. there is no trust.

even aside from religious elders and ancestors, other thinkers from europe's past (ancient philosophers, national heroes, etc.) were not good people who had all kinds of terrible ideas, including racism, sexism, support for imperialism and monarchy, support for slavery, support for exploitation of natural resources, etc. the western (liberal) story goes: "people in the past were barbaric and we are more enlightened now." because of the universalizing part of western culture, this is treated as true for all people everywhere, not as something that's specific to particular peoples.

in western education, we usually don't learn that among many peoples of the world, ancestors & elders are considered wise, trusted, caring, and had many gifts to share with younger generations. i believe it's important to understand this when listening to & reading very old stories. not to say that elders were *necessarily* wise, but to accept that people from different groups see their own ancestors and knowledge passed down from ancestors in different ways.)

after considering all that, here are some specific ways i approach very old stories, stories from ancestors, and stories from elders:

first, i think about the source of the story i'm reading/listening to. how did this story come to cross my path? who is telling it? are they telling a story from their own people? what are the conditions under which i am encountering this story? among many peoples, sharing a traditional story is not done lightly. as a listener, i understand that it's an honor to be an outsider hearing a story. i have to understand who i am, who the speaker/writer is, what is our relationship (are we a settler & a colonized person? are we an "educated" person and a person from the village? it makes a difference!) who is the speaker/writer's intended audience, what is the context in which i am receiving this story?

here is an example: i live on hawai'i island (i'm a white (but also jewish and immigrant) settler on hawaiian land). every year there's a large festival and competition of hula (traditional hawaiian dance) called merrie monarch. hula is an ancient art form, sacred to the goddess laka. hula is often accompanied by singing, chanting, and is a whole performance. there's a huge variety: hula can be for ritual, for entertainment, to tell/perform historical stories, to prepare for battle, to be playful, to welcome visitors, to welcome the birth of a child, and for many other purposes. there are similar dances all across the pacific, and usually groups come from all over the world to share the very best they have to offer. as such, it's an important event for hawaiians and for other pacific people.

here are some excerpts from merrie monarch 2019 to give you an idea of what it's like:

if i'm in the audience, or watching merrie monarch on tv, i have to understand that i'm an outsider spectator and that this event is mainly by and for hawaiians and other pacific people. i am an outsider who they have graciously let in to their culture in this way. i think it's important to understand all this in order to take the proper attitude towards old stories. see them as a gift from the speaker/writer/performer that one is being allowed to hear. the next thing to consider: who is the teller? in english (the only language i have experience reading stories in), we often get stories from non-western peoples as filtered through white westerners. i take all of these with a grain of salt. if at all possible, i try to find the story as told/written by someone *from the group* that the story is from. i mostly skip over retellings/interpretations by white westerners entirely. if the story is within an anthropology text, i'll try to get any historical context that the anthropologist provides, and then just read the story itself. white western interpretations of non-western stories are usually a garbled mess. translations can also be a minefield. here in hawai'i, anthropologists & folklorists have been "recording hawaiian stories" for over a hundred years. it's a complicated history of tellings of tellings, translations that have become canon, and more. (if you're interested in learning more, i recommend the excellent book Mai Paʻa I Ka Leo: Historical Voice in Hawaiian Primary Materials, Looking Forward and Listening Back by M. Puakea Nogelmeier. it discusses the formation of an english-language canon of a huge archive of hawaiian-language newspapers, which contain many serialized stories & legends.) although it may seem difficult, i encourage you, the reader, to learn about the complicated landscape around the story you're reading/listening to. in other words, how did this particular version of the story come to end up with you? the preface and introduction in a book can often provide a lot of background info on the text in your hand. you don't want to be reading the hand-me-down version of some white supremacist's version of the story, assuming that that's really the story of a certain people! if at all possible, try to get to the actual words of the people whose story it is. also, consider that like hula, "stories" are not just the words, but might include the dance, the music, the performance, how the words are delivered, etc. "the story" might be all of those things together. the listener/reader's understanding might only arise from having that whole experience...without it, you might not get the actual message the story is meant to give. a story that might seem violent and off-putting in text, it might turn out that it's commonly told around a campfire to entertain children, complete with fart sounds and jokes. knowing that is important. that kind of story is very different from a story told during a ritual, or a creation story. aside from the conditions under which the story is told/performed among a people, it's important to know how old the story is. i've seen anthropologists describe stories from the late 1800s as "very old." i would dispute that characterization. generally, the older a story is, the more carefully i listen. often the storyteller will tell you the age and context of the story. they might say "this is a story i heard from my elders. this story has been among our people for many generations." ok, so i am about to hear a story passed down for many generations...it's a story that people remember and a story that people think is important enough to pass down to their children, who in turn remember it and pass it down. how many stories do *i* have like that? exactly zero. so in my mind, when i hear "this is a story that's been passed down among my people for generations," i listen carefully because something important is about to be shared. the teller/writer will often also tell you why they're sharing the story or who it's meant for. i've heard things like "this story is important not just for

our people, or for indigenous people, it's important for people all over the world." well in that case, i better listen. sometimes they might say "we are recording this story for younger generations", to help their own people remember their peoples' stories. stories told to anthropologists can be a whole minefield. imagine you're minding your own business at home, when an anthropologist shows up and wants to ~record your stories~. why? just because they're interested and want to share them with their pals back home. now imagine that those anthropologists are of the same background and from the same people who have colonized your land, enslaved your people, driven your people from your land, and continue to marginalize your people. this anthro might claim they're "not like that", but once you've given them the story, maybe you never hear from them again and you never even see what they actually wrote in their book. it's important to remember that there's a story extraction history. white westerners have built careers off "harvesting" stories from non-western peoples. what have they given back? it's even worse when you consider that many white members of the academy are seen as "experts" on the culture they study (even if their understanding is poor!), while members of that culture are excluded from the western academy and can't get their works published. it's important to consider that history when reading stories in anthropology (and similar) books. many people have had generations of anthropologists come and go, all asking for stories. let's just say that i wouldn't blame them if they gave a silly or "fake" story to the latest generation of clueless white anthro. i have no way to know how common it is, but i've read at least one story that led me to wonder "is the person telling the story just taking the piss out of this anthro?" how many stories might subtly mock or poke fun at the westerner and the westerner doesn't even realize it? it's something to consider. which brings me to the next thing i consider: many meanings. oral traditions are often incredibly rich and nuanced. some stories are straightforward (maybe it's a story to entertain) and some stories have *many* layers of meaning, including historical, political, serious, humorous, and much more. you might have to hear the story or understand the tone the teller uses in different parts of the story to understand whether something is meant to be serious or funny. you may have to know a lot about the history, culture, and context of the story to understand all the layers. (for an excellent example from here in hawai'i, i recommend the book Ka Honua Ola: ‘Eli‘eli Kau Mai / The Living Earth: Descend, Deepen the Revelation by Pualani Kanaka‘ole Kanahele. she goes line-by-line in several important chants discussing the multiple meanings.)

anyway, these are the main things i keep in mind when approaching ancient stories, stories from ancestors, stories told by elders. i hope this helped you. if you see anything i've gotten wrong, please let me know! thank you for reading.

[sergeant-donny-donowitz]

Home for the Holidays

The Traitor & The Bear Jew Sequel: Requested by @svonschroeder​

I'm not Jewish, and know pretty much nothing about Hanukkah, I am so sorry if I fuck anything up, please let me know, educate me! :D <3

@owba-chan @inglourious-imagines @war-obsessed

Let me know if you wanna be tagged in these!

It was early afternoon. The pale winter sunlight drifted through the bare tree branches, over the glistening white snow beneath your feet as you marched toward the hideout.

When you, Hugo, and Omar left on your mission, the ground was covered in a blood red and golden carpet of leaves.

Each of the basterds had been divided among the whims of the wind that day, on separate missions.

You didn't know who, if anyone, would be back at the hideout in the middle of the forest by then. You really hoped everyone came home.

That was was made you most uneasy...

The idea of someone not coming home...

You couldn't wait to see him again.

You were dying to see Donny. You never wanted anything more in your life, other than to end the war with your own hands.

After what seemed like an eternity between Hugo's blaring silence, and Omar's goodnatured rambling, you made it back. Hugo may have been one of your oldest friends, but...that didn’t make him any less a basterd.

But, after that eternity, you made it. Your hideout in the middle of the freezing forest seemed almost like an oasis...

The only reason you knew it wasn't a dream was because, as usual, you could hear the boys arguing from a mile away.

You let your pack fall with a thud, stood with Hugo and Omar by Aldo, and raised your eyebrow in confusion.

"So, uh...what's going on?"

Aldo turned back, grinning, happy to see the last of his basterds had returned. "Wellll, from what I picked up," He took a sniff of tobacco, "Tonight's the last night of Hanukkah."

Omar gasped, "ALREADY?! I MISSED IT?!"

Before anyone had a chance to respond, he stuffed a handful of scalps into Aldo's hands, repaying his debts little by little like everyone else, and trudged to the rest of the basterds.

Hugo watched in silent, stoic amusement, while you turned to your lieutenant, "And they're arguing because...?"

Aldo shrugged, and commented, "Because they’re basterds, darlin’."

You smiled a little, "Good point."

Hugo smiled briefly. If you blinked, you missed it.

He would no doubt be annoyed with their ranting in a minute or so, but aside from you, the basterds were the closest thing to family he had. It had been well over a month...and it was nice to be 'home.'

"WE'RE USING MATCHES. WHY WOULD WE USE LIGHTERS?!"

Simon shrugged, "I DON'T KNOW! THEY’RE JUST EASIER TO FIND!"

Donny rolled his eyes, "HOW do you light a LIGHTER, with ANOTHER LIGHTER?!""

"Look, " Wicki sighed, rubbing the inner corners of his eyes, completely tired of the boys being...well...boys. "Use a lighter as shamash, and then-"

Donny sighed, "Genius, old man! I said that fifteen fucking minutes ago."

Michael scrunched up his face, "No you didn't!"

"Yeah, I fucken did,” Donny crossed his arms, and turned to Omar, “tell him, Omar!" Donny did a double take, "Omar?!"

Omar grinned, "Hey, boss!"

If Omar was home, that meant Hugo was home... because Hugo promised Aldo he’d take care of the youngest basterds if anything happened to him...

And Hugo wouldn’t come home without his best friend.

So you were definitely back.

"Y/n?!" Donny ran to you.

He wrapped his arms around your waist, lifted you up, and swung you around, burrying his face between your shoulder and neck.

He'd never quite held you like that before, never so desparately, and lovingly...

He would never admit it, but for a few hours he was genuinely terrified.

 You, Hugo, and Omar were the only ones that weren't back yet, and until he saw your face, he was able to breathe again.

You, on the other hand, were literally being smothered with  his love. You also had a recent run in with some nazis, in which you bruised a rib or two... (It was the same reason Aldo stared in awe at the sheer amount of scalps that Omar had thrown into his hands moments before...It was also why Hugo was so pleased with himself at the moment...)

You wheezed, "Donny, let go! I can’t breathe!"

He set you down, smiling, not having caught on.

You clenched your teeth through your pain until it subsided. You would never let him know he hurt you, even unintentionally... He didn't know. It was ok. 

His first encounter with you, he almost killed you, and you knew he still hadn’t forgiven himself for it. It was a misunderstanding, nothing more and nothing less... But Donny would never forgive himself if he ever really hurt you, and you knew it.

Besides, you were so happy to see him, the pain seemed to be drowend out by your happiness...

The basterds often teased him for being soft around you, but he didn't care. You were home, and that was all he could ask for...

Now that everyone was home, the real fun began.

So much so, that Aldo had to tell everyone to quiet down some, or else "all 'em nazi's over the goddamn Alps gon' know where we are!"

You...were still somewhat clueless.

"So...what's...what's all the fighting about, Donny?"

"Well, uh..." He sighed a little, embarassed that that had been the reason he didn't notice you were back earlier, "We haven't seen each other in weeks, what do you expect, doll?

You nodded, "Uh-huh, and you called Wicki 'old man' because...."

Donny pouted his lip a little in frustration, knowing that unlike the boys, you had some respect for your officers.... Still, he tried to argue, "He wasn't listening! And Mikey over there-"

Michael perked up, stepping away from the ongoing argument, and attempted to defend himself, "

"Look, in the heat of the moment, lighters just sounded like_"

Hirschberg rolled his eyes,  "Question..."

Simon crossed his arms, "Yeah, do you even have a lighter?"

Aldo sighed, "Oh boy..."

You were visibly confused... Donny noticed that, and took you in his arms as everyone else was busy either arguing or laughing. "It's the last night of Hanukkah, doll."

"Oh..." You nodded, as you witnessed the pending battle of wits unfolding before you, “Cause that explains everything...???” 

Smitty was laughing, and then realized you really didn't know a thing.

Aldo was amused, having witnessed the same exact argument a year before.

Hugo was....Hugo...

You were clueless. 

Donny smiled a little. It wasn't often that he knew something you didn't....

Moments like this were ones he waited for.

"You know what it’s about, right?"

You nodded tentatively...

All the basterds started to shut each other up, about to be more amused by you than each other's insults and rants.

Hirschberg glared at Omar, who was just starting to get into the argument, "Do you ever shut up?!"

"But I-"

"The goy's gonna some somethin' shut up!"

Omar huffed and rolled his eyes, "Fuck you, Hirschberg."

The basterds looked to you for an answer, and you murmnured "....Oil???" That was all you really knew.

You knew it had something to do with candles...which the basterds didn't have on hand...

Your one word answered seemed to fuel the basterds' argument like the oil itself.

Wicki, Omar, and Hirschberg started going back and forth...

Omar nodded, defending your answer. "Yes."

"...no.."

"yeah!"

"no."

"nope."

"Yeah?!"

Hirschberg smirked, holding up his gun, "It's about war!"

Smitty stopped playing with his lighter, and stepped in for a moment, "It's....it's both..."

All three basterds looked to the youngest basterd, "Shut up, Uti!"

He looked down, pressing his lips together, forcing back an entertained smirk, "Ok..."

Andy emerged from the pit where the basterds often carelessly chucked supplies into... He seemed to have missed the entire thing.

He smiled when he saw you, then looked back at the seemingly annual argument. He distinctly remembered that after the last year's...spat....Wicki bought candles for this exact reason....and forgot.

There was a reason Donny called him ‘old man.’

Being too amused by the distant squabbling, Andy went off on his own to find them. A quieter, but strategic basterd, he stood by you, watching in awe at how long the squabble had gone on at that point.

"Hey Andy." 

"Hiya, kid." He smiled and waved,  a bundle of candels in each of his hands.

Wicki caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye, cursing himself for not remembering earlier.

The debate died out into laughter just in time, as the sun began to fall beyond the bare trees and grey clouds.

You stood with Hugo and Aldo, arms around each other's shoulders, in solidarity with your Jewish brothers. The three of you weren't Jewish, but you were all in this war together. Being caught celebrating Hanukkah that night was a death sentence thousands of miles around...

It was more than just a war then.

Hugo normally never would touch anyone until you seemed to come back from the dead. And...yet, it was unlike him. But there, you were all soldiers. Basterds. 

Brothers.

The rest of the basterds each lit a candle, oldest to youngest....

Almost without any incidents.

But of course, you were the basterds...

And somehow at the very end...Omar’s hair almost caught on fire.

As the laughs faded, and the prayers ended, the candles burned down, and the campfire started, you all sat around, eating together as the basterdized family you were...

As every other night, canned, processed meat and stale bread was passed around. It was the usual food you had together, bland, barely edible. But somehow that night was special.

It was nice to be home...

Even if it was cold, and the middle of war, somehow it all felt warm and safe.

You were huddled together around the fire, the burning alcohol, smooth with the sounds of laughter and crude but funny soldier’s stories.

Donny sat by you. His cool hand slipped under your coat, wrapped around your waist without any of the basterds seeing...

Or so he thought.

As everyone else carried on with the jokes, and told stories of the past few weeks, he explained what "Real Hanukkah would be like, back home...Back in Boston..."

You smiled, not understanding everything completely, but still hoping that some day every one of them would see their homes again...

It made you happy when he mentioned people, neighbors and old friends, clubs and shops from his hometown. He told you so much about them before, it was almost as if you could picture it.

After losing the land you once knew, it was almost like his home was yours...

And Donny knew that.

He hoped telling you all about it would bring you some kind of hope for a future...and maybe a future with him, "Usually we have stuff like latkes and sufganiyot." Donny was amused with your kind but helpless smile.

He knew that shy, slight purse in your lips and almost unnoticeable arch in your eyebrow: You had no idea what he was talking about.

And he loved it.

Usually, it was the other way around. Especially when you said something to Hugo and inexplicably made the man with stone cold eyes laugh...

Anyway, Donny was absolutely melting at how confused you seemed.

He smiled a little, leaning slightly into your side, "They're kind of like donuts, they’re fried-"

Omar noticed that softness in Donny's eyes.

No one ever saw it before you came along...

And they loved jabbing him about it, "Get it, y/n? Cause oil..." And Omar, arguably loved inciting arguments more than anyone else in the camp.

Aldo knew him, and knew what that basterd was up to. He narrowed his eyes as he took a bite from his sandwhich, and turned to him,  "Omar...Keep your fuckin' mouth shut."

"But-"

Aldo smirked a little, leaning a bit closer to Omar so you and Donny wouldn't hear. He'd noticed that look in Donny's eyes. It was subtle, but he knew his men well enough to know Donny was in love.

They may have been in the middle of nowhere, in the dead, blistering cold of winter, but when he was with you, Donny was home.

Aldo knew that.

He smiled warmly as he glanced at you and Donny, then back at Omar as he warned him, "Let 'em kids have their moment."

He took another bite, still smiling fondly.

There was no telling how long the war would go on.

But for that night, Aldo felt like they were all somehow home...

And in that moment, Donny's eyes fell upon the dimming light of the candles. He looked around at his brothers in arms. There was a stack of scalps carelessly strewn on the snow. Everyone was still a bit grimey, bruised and bloody from the long, divided missions.

But that was war...

And sometimes, the war made Donny wonder if miracles really existed...

By chance, a few months before, you happened to fall right into his arms.

"By chance..."

Donny looked at you.

He smiled, his grip around your waist tightened a little, clinging onto the brightest light in his life.

"Yeah," He nodded slightly to himself, thinking, "miracles do exist..."

[traincat]

so i was looking at that laundry gifset you reblogged and came to think that may allows peter to have secrets (as we know she cannonly does? with his spider-identity?) because she and the whole family have secrets? (((this sounds a bit dumb of a discoverment when i type it out but i'm just grasping on these concepts (pls correct me if you need to))))

i just, peter is just such a lousy liar?? “the American flag” “it’s just underwear” i mean the CHIMNEY scene??? (same anon)

So I have a couple of different takes here. I think that, despite or maybe because of the movie being built around People Having Secrets (Peter, his parents, May), TASM’s Peter is just a less secretive character. He reveals to Gwen that he’s Spider-Man, whereas in 616 Mary Jane finds out on her own before she ever even meets him. (He did unmask to Felicia, but it wasn’t right away.) Gwen knows George is metaphorically and literally haunting him (“It’s my father, isn’t it?”) – okay possibly he just doesn’t lie to Gwen. 

While the movies never outright state that May knows, I think it’s pretty obvious that she does, especially in the second one. He turned the laundry blue and red! The light swinging when she enters his room (him having previously been on the ceiling). To quote from the first movie: “Where do you go? Who does this to you?” and “Secrets have a cost, they’re not for free.” Her pleas for him to tell her might be more a request for him to just admit it than an honest question. Sally Field’s delivery of “even from the people they love” when talking about how people keep secrets is particularly on the nose, and then there’s her saying that it’s a shame Spider-Man’s disappeared and that “it seems like everyone really needs him” when Peter’s quit being Spider-Man after Gwen’s death. (There’s also a deleted scene with Gwen and May where they seem to both be playing the “I know but do YOU know and more importantly do you know I know” game.) Here’s a gif set about it! I think it’s safe to say that if TASM!May doesn’t know, she strongly suspects. So yeah, I think you’re right – it is her letting him have his own secrets, while simultaneously letting him know there will be greater consequences for keeping them.

(None of this applies to 616 Peter, granted, who very successfully kept Spider-Man a secret from May for upwards of a decade. The scenes where May finds out and confronts him – Amazing Spider-Man v2 #35 and #38 – are really, really great moments.)

On the other hand, not to continually make Spider-Man about the Jewish identity, but 1) it’s so easy, 2) Andrew Garfield did specifically play Peter as Jewish  – listen, I have had this exact argument model, with the kind of escalating ridiculousness of “I was washing the American flag” except my version of it included my kid brother yelling at the top of his lungs that OF COURSE he could get a whole roast suckling pig into a movie theater if the cooked pig was wearing people clothes and possibly in a baby stroller. The raised voices! The shouting over each other! This scene takes place in Forest Hills! I don’t know how intentional this was, but to me it just feels like such a home-y argument – and when I have these my goal isn’t necessarily to sell my side, just to wear the opposition down through sheer tenacity. “Back off, eat your breakfast.” Point to Team May. (Sally Field is not Jewish, but she was married to a Jewish man.) Personally, I like to contrast this scene against the argument Peter has with Gwen when he’s supposed to meet her family for dim sum – she keeps trying to argue with him, and he keeps saying “wait, wait,” until ultimately she stops talking, giving him room to steamroll the conversation – they’re speaking two different languages in the form of how they argue, they’re not on the same page, not the way Peter and May verbally spar in the laundry scene. tl;dr I love these movies! I love how people talk to each other! One day I’ll actually make a proper post about all this stuff but the last time I tried to write out my TASM feelings I wrote 5000 words about 5 minutes. 

They were the movie’s first five minutes.

[prolifeproliberty]

I need advice for witnessing to an unbeliever, and I'm not sure who to ask at this point. I used to try to witness to people when I was 14 and always butchered it, and I'm a little traumatized by how it turned out. I'm super scared of pushing people away--to the point where I haven't even tried in years. My unbelieving friend is good-hearted and sweet, but vulnerable and depressed right now. I only know him online, and we only started chatting recently, but we're already close friends. (cont.)

(cont.) One question I'd like answered is, is it okay if I don't hide the fact that I'm shy about having this conversation (because of how these conversations have ended up in the past for me?) I've heard that you "absolutely have" to sound confident, but I want to be genuine, too. We're very genuine with each other and having this kind of talk is out of character for me, even as necessary as it is to have it. I know I can't be embarrassed about sharing my faith but it's difficult not to be. (c.(cont.) I'm not an inexperienced Christian and I am reading up about this, but any advice you can give would help, really. And if you think someone else would have a better answer, by all means redirect me. For the most part, if you can think of ways to start the conversation that wouldn't sound awkward, that would be lifesaving ;-; I just think God is pushing me to save this guy (who i'm also unfortunately starting to get a crush on, not that that's relevant) and I'm so so scared of messing up.(cont.) I didn't have room in my last ask, but thank you, by the way. This is really important to me if you couldn't tell. I'm tired of feeling like a fake Christian for being too scared to be a witness, since I fully understand how important it is ;; It's bothered me a lot for years now. So thank you in advance for helping me.

Thank you for reaching out!

First, know that you cannot save your friend. Only the Holy Spirit can create faith in someone. You can’t argue or debate your friend into believing. 

So before you do anything else, pray. Pray for the salvation of your friend, and pray for the help of the Holy Spirit in your conversations with him. 

Second, absolutely be genuine. Relationship is crucial in apologetics, as is your friend believing that you are being honest with him. If he thinks you’re putting on an act or trying to sell him something, he will shut down. 

Third, don’t expect conversion in a single conversation. Most people who convert to Christianity as adults only do so after years of exposure to the Christian faith and many people “planting seeds.” You might be only one of several people the Holy Spirit uses to save your friend. Don’t put it all on yourself, and don’t push for a dramatic conversion story. And, as I’ve said and will keep saying, all glory for someone’s conversion goes to God. 

There are many different thoughts and theories on the most “effective” ways to witness to someone. Ultimately, all you really need to do is speak the truth in love. 

However, there are some good tools to have on hand to help you do that. 

“But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you [g]are blessed. And do not fear their [h]intimidation, and do not be troubled, 15 but [i]sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a [j]defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and [k]reverence; 16 [l]and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.“

(1 Peter 3:14-16)

Your first step is to know why you believe. Is it because Christianity makes you feel good? Is it because your parents raised you that way? Is it because you “just do”? If you’re thinking any of those, you need to take a step back to reexamine your faith before trying to make the case to your friend.

“12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. 15 Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified [f]against God that He raised [g]Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

(1 Corinthians 15:12-19)

The central fact of the Christian faith is that Jesus died and was raised from the dead. Without this fact, Christianity is meaningless. If someone could prove that Jesus was still dead and buried, I would walk away from the church right now. Seriously. Christ’s resurrection is the ONLY reason to be a Christian. 

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become [a]united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be [b]in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old [c]self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be [d]done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is [e]freed from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, [f]is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

(Romans 6:1-11)

If we are baptized into Christ but Jesus is still dead, then our faith is meaningless. But if we are baptized into Christ and He is alive, then we too will be raised from the dead and be united with Him in that resurrection. That is the central hope of the Christian faith for which St. Peter tells us to be ready to make a defense. 

If someone asks you why you are a Christian, the basic answer is: 

“Jesus lived a perfect life in my place, died to pay for my sin, and was raised from the dead after three days and ascended into heaven to secure my eternal life with Him in paradise after I die. Someday, Jesus will return and raise all the dead, and both living and dead will be judged. Having been baptized into Him, I am clothed with His perfection, and so I will not be judged on my own merit but on the merit He earned for me. That same clothing is available to all who have faith in Him.”

But how do we know that Jesus rose from the dead? The simple answer is that: 

The Resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact recorded by four different authors who either were eyewitnesses themselves or who recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses. 

These records were written, copied, and distributed within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses. 

We know this for multiple reasons, including that absolutely none of them mention the destruction of the Jewish Temple, a major geopolitical event prophesied by Jesus which occurred in 70 AD, about forty years after the Resurrection. If these records were written or even edited after 70 AD, the destruction of the Temple would have certainly been included as further proof that Jesus knew what was coming. 

Those same eyewitnesses traveled the known world sharing their story, and faced poverty, rejection, imprisonment, torture, and death for doing so. 

They received no earthly, material benefit for their testimony, and yet continued to insist on the truth of what they saw. 

These same records name other eyewitnesses and encourage the reader who lived at the time of writing to go and ask these eyewitnesses themselves. 

We know that we have accurate copies of these original records because our first copies date to within two centuries of the original writing. Compared to other historical documents written around that time or earlier, this is incredible. 

These records refer to historical events that can be independently verified by other secular sources, including those hostile to the faith. 

If Jesus died and then rose from the dead, we have much more reason to believe Him when He claims to be God, performs miracles, and promises resurrection for those who trust in Him. We also have reason to take Him seriously when He refers to Old Testament Scripture as the Word of God and quotes it in debates with the religious leaders of the time.

If we then believe both the Old and New Testament as the Word of an all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present God, we can see from those writings that God loves us, sent His only Son to die for us, and wants us to live eternally with Him in paradise. We also see that we do not deserve any of that, as we are all inherently sinful and corrupt. We cannot remove that corruption ourselves, any more than a dirty rag can clean itself. However, as I said above, Jesus’ perfection can and does cleanse us and make us able to stand before God with confidence in our salvation and in our Savior. 

There are several excellent books that I recommend to help you learn about defending your faith:

History, Law, and Christianity by John Warwick Montgomery (Makes the historical case I just made, and goes into more depth on how we can trust the four Gospels as historical documents)

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All? by James W. Sire(The first half describes what makes a good foundation for believing anything, and then the second half applies that to Christianity)

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel(Lee Strobel is a former journalist and the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune. As an atheist, he investigated Christianity intending to prove it false, and ended up doing the opposite. In this book he makes a case for the Resurrection based on the same kinds of evidence that a court would use to reach a verdict.)

I especially recommend the first two. I’m a little biased in favor of Montgomery, as my Christian Apologetics professor in college was his protégé. All three of these are excellent explanations of why Christians believe what we do and how to explain that to nonbelievers.

Also, if your friend or anyone else tries to attack your faith by attacking the Bible, saying it was assembled by people who arbitrarily decided which books to keep and which to throw out, or tries to use non-canonical books to dispute the Scriptures, check out this one:

The Canon of Scripture by F.F. Bruce

With all of this information in mind, remember that honesty and love are going to be your guiding principles in any apologetics discussion, led always of course by the Holy Spirit. Use the information I provided as it’s needed, and don’t try to bury your friend in information. 

Be sure to start by asking him what he thinks about Christianity and why he doesn’t believe that it’s true. Try to answer the particular issues he is facing first. Make sure you listen to what he has to say, and make him feel heard. Emphasize the grace and love of Christ for all human beings, including him. Make sure he knows he is welcome in Christianity.

If he brings up the problem of evil (a.k.a why God “allows” evil in the world), let me know and I can get into that (that’s another long post). Also, if he does express interest in the faith and needs help finding a church in his area that will preach Jesus’ death and resurrection as the central fact of Christianity, I’m happy to help with that as well. 

I hope this helps, and please let me know if you have any questions!

[distantwitness]

Repost: #KillAllMen Is Feminist Liberation Through Satire

This blog is purely about my research into visual depictions of human suffering, but because I am being personally attacked on a medium I use professionally I feel it is appropriate to share here. 

Please distribute as you see fit and nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Originally posted at Laywers, Guns and Money.

Trolls aren't just after me, they're after your rhetorical tools in speech against oppression

Days after my twelve-hour suspension from Twitter ended, the trolls have returned under the same absurdly bad faith humanitarianism. 

The first lockout was annoying but it ended before I knew it. An evening spent on a romantic date with my very male husband made the time pass easier. 

This time I'm locked out for seven days, and when I'm a writer who depends on Twitter for contacts and research this is no minor inconvenience. My husband and I can't eat out at nice French restaurants for seven straight days, Groupons have some pretty strict limits.

On March 19th I lampooned a Federalist article, penned for the purposes of the gun control debate, proclaiming that all men are born violent. Well if that's so, then the only logical response for women, the disproportionate victims of men's violence, have no choice but to #killallmen. 

To interpret this joke of mine, which is quite clearly a joke, as an endorsement or threat of violence is stupid. Even more stupid is that the joke was banned even as it floated above an article with quotes like, "A man’s nature cannot be repressed...Men were made for the intentional use of force and power." Whatever your thoughts on Punch RockGroin's parenting advice, the response of "#killallmen" cannot be seen as a serious and to do so is either profoundly stupid or profoundly dishonest. In order for "#killallmen" to be a credible threat, it has to have some basis in reality. Spoiler alert: It does not.

An Unreal Hashtag

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that #killallmen, at least in my use, is just a joke. It is satire, and as I am currently teaching satire in world literature to British secondary students, let me tell you satire is deadly serious. To be a satirist is to identify oppression and to take power back by upending the dominant narrative. I can't claim to be the inventor of #KillAllMen, but allow me to explain the way I use it. Feminists and their male allies are constantly calling out abusive behaviours of men to stop, whether it be street harassment, unequal pay, dictating reproductive rights, etc. The response of anti-feminists is frequently to say that we are trying to end masculinity, that we are weakening men (see the Federalist article cited above), that all our desired policies will be the death of men. 

Turn of the century anti-suffragette postcard and their imagined women's violence against men. Plus ca change...

A Men's Right's Activist created meme featuring feminist video games critic Anita Sarkeesian.

It is ridiculous. So what does a satirist do when faced with an oppressive ideology that is in fact quite ridiculous? We mirror it. We say, "Yes, Kill All Men!" Because it is an absolutely ludicrous conclusion to draw and the louder you say it the stupider it sounds. We are echoing stupidity not to imitate it, but to mock it and strip it bare. 

I don't particularly care if anyone thinks I'm good at satire, all that is subjective. What I do care about are readers interpreting the function of my satire correctly. You don't have to laugh but you also don't have to phone up Interpol. Just imagine I'm a white male stand up with a beer belly on Comedy Central and change the channel when I'm not funny.

The "Threat" Against Men 

What makes "#KillAllMen" a non-serious threat where "#KillAllJews" or "#KillAllGays" are much more dangerous? The simple answer is reality. We know that there are armed groups out there with the intent, opportunity, and historical record of killing Jews and gay people. Nothing similar exists when it comes to male identity. Is there an organized armed group out there with the stated mission of eradicating all XY genes?

No.

There are however armed groups, like the military in Myanmar and the government in Chechnya, who wish to wipe men from specific ethnicities or even sexual orientation off the face of this Earth. But these threats are typically carried out by other men, and there is plenty of evidence to show the perpetrators are happy to carry on killing and assaulting the women associated with the victimized men. Women from the same group as those engaging in the violence may even show support, but they do not do as individual actors autonomous from the men running the murder show. Are men more likely to be targeted for assault simply because of their gender identity as men?

No.

Men whose physical appearance marks them as members of an out-group are absolutely uniquely targeted for violence. Black men, Latino men, Jewish men, Muslim men, gay men, men who dress in traditionally female clothing, all of them have been victims of one hate crime or another. The FBI doesn't keep statistics on the gender of the attackers in hate crimes, but individual reports of women engaging in violent physical confrontation solo against men are rare if not unheard of. Nowhere is there any evidence that men are under attack by women simply for their identity as men. 

Are men more likely to be victims of domestic violence or sexualized violence? No-ish.

Men, as well as young boys, are absolutely victims of domestic violence. No serious advocate would try and tell you otherwise. Men in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships can experience physical abuse at the hands of a partner. Male children are also vulnerable to abuse from mothers and not just fathers. However, there's a difficulty in assessing whether they are more likely because of the stigma around reporting. Women are simply more likely to report intimate physical abuse. 

It is my own personal opinion that men and boys have a much harder time coming to grips with physical and sexual abuse and might very well need more support in the short term. Women are absolutely guilty of abusing men with prejudice against race, religion, sexual orientation, or even disability. But there is no epidemic of women's violence against simply for being men. That is the paranoid fantasy of the Men's Rights Activist.

Comedian Donald Glover explaining the difference between telling "crazy ex-girlfriend" and "crazy-exboyfriend" stories to friends.

Even if we gathered all the data showing how men can be victims of violence with different motivating factors, women are always disproportionately more vulnerable and are therefore are in greater need of protection.  

Satire Is A Power Move

The Alien was female, but Ripley certainly had to mow down a lot of men standing in her way that tried to use the Queen as a bio-weapon.

If Jonathan Swift's initially anonymous pamphlet A Modest Proposal were shared on Twitter today without the historical distance, I have no doubt one of his many enemies would be arguing Swift is actually calling for us all to #EatIrishBabies. The hashtags #RoastAllBabies #YumYumYum must clearly violate Twitter's policy against hateful conduct. No one living today could argue in good conscience that Swift was actually advocating for frying up the chubby little cheeks of infants born into poverty in order to control the population of urban, and predominantly Irish, poor. So why would he argue that poor women could get themselves off the street by skinning their toddlers to make into gloves for fine and elegant ladies? Because the people Swift is ridiculing, the upper classes so concerned with these poor and lazy souls in the street, have had their humanity so far removed as to believe it. Only an idiot or a dishonest philanthropist could be so credulous of A Modest Proposal at face value.

This Isn't About Me

I watch friends and colleagues like Reza Aslan, Jillian C. York, Hend Amry, and Talib Kweli (just to name a few) get trolled all the time. I shout back at the trolls or offer public support to them when I can just so they know they're not alone. 

I am white, I am straight, I am married, and I can take nice photos because my chosen appearance is traditionally feminine.I have a lot of privilege which has protected me thus far from the sorts of abuse many of my out-group and female friends have received online. I have a body of published work out there that demonstrates my serious commitment to human rights and my ability to write compassionately about victims. I'm not terribly worried about any professional losses, simply the threat of chronic inconveniences. I'm not angry for my own sake. 

I'll get back on Twitter sooner or later and I'll be fine. We need to think about what tactics the trolls are learning to silence so many others with views similar to mine. Buzzfeed reporter, and white female, Katie Notopoulos was locked out for ten days after trolls reported her for joking "kill all white people". Granted I think my satire is a bit more sophisticated than Kate's, our tweets have the same function and we shouldn't be banning satirical speech based on a subjective judgement of its value. 

Women, of all types, are at the most risk of abuse online. Amnesty International has researched this subject pretty thoroughly and finds that women are disgusted by Twitter's response to harassment. Twitter knows it has a problem but seems unable or unwilling to fix it. Last year at The Root, Monique Judge looked at how race and gender correlated with harassment on Twitter. The list of studies and articles on the subject go on and on.   

Meninists will probably always exist, but there's no reason Twitter should take our attempts to laugh at them so seriously.  

Extra Fun: My Prezi for Year 10 and older students on Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". Created for my job as a Tavistock Tutor.