#whether it be the genocide of people to take their land

[madamepestilence]

"The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools."

- Thucydides

"The Good War on Terror" written by Christopher Hayes.

I will be producing a print 'zine of this in the coming months. Join my Monthly 'Zine Club to get the first copies automatically sent your way!

[fromgoy2joy]

I have been… biting my tongue from saying things. 

Partially because I’m not “really Jewish” (on the way to it via conversion), and because I didn’t want this blog to be political. 

But I realize I want this page to be a safe space. If anyone takes issue with what I’m about to say, I don’t want them on this page. 

I joined the college jewish community very shortly after 10/7 and was immediately welcomed in. There was no separation between me and the girl who had gone to orthodox shul all her life and was the head of the state youth group. I was told explicitly  “you are one of us. And together, we are mourning. We have lost our people and so have you.” 

Still I felt no authority to speak on things as insidious as antisemitism until recently. But how many times do you have to experience an antisemitic incident until you get to stand up? 

Six. The answer is six. 

Since explicitly aligning myself with Jewishness, I have lost friends who told me I have “dual loyalties” in so many words. I’ve been ostracized in events because we were singled out . I’ve been followed back to my dorm room from events by people hurling genocide accusations at me- white girls wearing keffiyahs who don't know anything about the Nakba when I try to connect with them about how awful it was.

My face was used in a local “fight jew hate” campaign” where I’m in a group of people with clearly middle eastern descent. But what circulated around my campus was my blonde hair and blue eyes, with people using laughing emojis.

“This is who we’re supposed to be defending!? Bitch please! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣” 

(Which is perfectly ironic because they singled out the person who wasn't ethnically Jewish and focused on her. )

Campus security and the disciplinary office knows me quite well from all the reports I've filed whether for me or other people.

I leave campus for breaks. Even though I’m returning to my highly Catholic conservative family, I breathe a sigh of relief. I don't have to look over my shoulder constantly or check myself in the surroundings I'm in. I already feel the dread about returning in January.

What hurts is the blindness- the lack of nuance- that is being given. Every single Jewish person at my school is not a self described zionist, other than that they acknowledge Jewish indignity to the land, and that there was a reason for the creation of Israel- not even justification in the current state or the matter it came about.

But they- and we- shouldn't have to prove ourselves. We shouldn't be debating if we should fundraise for Gazans (we are) in case someone accuses us of "lying about our intentions" or if we'd be pointed out as "the good jews!" They shouldn't have to have a tab open on their computer for Israeli passports, even though they desperately don't want to leave the United States. I shouldn't have to wonder whenever I'm at a synagogue "If I get killed here in a terrorist attack before being immersed in the mikvah, will I get a Catholic or Jewish funeral?"

But that never mattered. Our voices never did. Unless the antisemitism came from a high school dropout neo-nazi with a shaved head and swastika jacket, it's never going to matter.

I will never forget- even as I advocate for Palestinians, call for a ceasefire, and donate. Or any other cause where I'll be marching besides these activists I can never call well meaning.

I could go on and on about it. But I won't be able to write it out in this post.

All I know is when the counsel of rabbis ask me if I'm ready to be apart of an unpopular group, I'm going to have to fight myself from laughing at the question

[matan4il]

Out of curiosity, what does the UN actually gain from keeping the terrorists in power? Obviously antisemitism but way do they materially gain?

Anon, don't be so quick to dismiss antisemitism. It's a really powerful motivator, for some people even more than money, because it is often to connected to a person's views of themselves, their society and the world. As such, antisemitism can be linked to issues of self-worth or hope for the future. And the place where someone's self-worth depends on demonizing Jews, or their future hopes depends on the notion that their society will be so much better, if only a Jewish collective (whether the Jewish religion, race or state) will be dismantled, they are emotionally invested in ways that can be far more crucial to them than money.

So I personally do think that antisemitism played a big role in how the UN has acted regarding Israel for decades.

For example, the UN sets up a special agency to help Koreans in Dec 1950 (UNKRA). By Jul 1958, less than 8 years later and 5 years after a ceasefire was achieved between the two Koreas, the agency was seen as having served its purpose, and was dismantled. Since then, if there are ever Korean refugees still in need of help, it goes through the general UNHCR (established 1951. It replaced the UN's temporary agency IRO, established Dec 1946, which itself took over from UNRRA, established Nov 1943), the UN refugee agency that takes care of ALL refugees in the world... except the Palestinian ones. Their agency (UNPRP) was established by UN resolution 212 in Nov 1948, and later became UNRWA in Dec 1949.

Now, take a second to consider how there was NEVER any UN agency dedicated specifically to help about 1.5 million Jewish Holocaust survivors at the end of WWII, which is May 1945 (with many of them still being murdered after the end of the war, in places like Poland in Jul 1946 or Libya in the Nov 1945 and Jun 1948 pogroms). No special agency for them, no intervention to protect people who had literally been through and somehow survived the worst genocide in human history, and were still being targeted and killed after it was done, even though the UN had a talent for establishing plenty of refugee agencies just fine during those years. But there was a special agency set up for the Arabs in the Land of Israel, even though they were the aggressors in the 1947-1949 Independence War, and it still operates to this day, unlike UNKRA, which was set up later than UNRWA. Why? What reason is there for treating Holocaust victims worse than the Arabs who declared a war of extermination against Jews in Israel? Or for treating Palestinians better than any other group of refugees in the world, even though other groups often need the help much more?

I can only see one thing in common when it comes to all of these illogical, counterintuitive decisions, and that is antisemitism. Dislike the Jews? Deprive them of getting their own agency, even while others get one. Hate the Jews? Dedicate special resources to the refugees who can be used as a political pawn against the Jewish state, while still counting them as refugees even after being resettled with citizenship elsewhere, unlike every other refugees group.

And never forget, the UN's voting "democracy" (where antisemitic abuse is not penalized in votes) IS inherently vulnerable to the tyranny of the majority. There is only one Jewish state at the UN. There is a block of over 20 Arab countries, another of over 50 Muslim ones, and when they're told a lie such as the one invented by Amin al-Husseini in 1929, that the Jews are attacking the al-Aqsa mosque, then it's easy to recruit all of them against Israel without even much effort. Then add countries which have vested interests in keeping the Arab and Muslim countries on their side, or who have issues with the pro-west, pro-democracy countries (and Israel is not only one of them, it is closely allied with the US, which is the leader of that stance) and basically the one Jewish state has close to no chance.

But over the years, in addition to being invested in keeping the issue of the Palestinian refugees going as a tool against Israel, to present the Jewish state as uniquely oppressive, the UN has also become invested in the jobs that the conflict produces for its members. UNRWA alone employees over 30,000 people and is, by the UN's own admission, one of its biggest employers.

On top of that, the UN also has other workers who deal specifically with the conflict (and therefore are employed thanks to it), such as OCHA oPt. OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) is the "humanitarian arm" of the UN and oPt is its branch that takes care specifically of the Palestinians. WHY is there even a need for this, if the Palestinians already have (UNIQUELY!) an entire UN agency dedicate just to them? And then on top of that (yes! A redundancy on top of a redundancy!) they also have a Palestinian branch for the OHCHR (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights).

Having so many employees dedicated to this specific conflict does make the UN financially invested in keeping it from being resolved. Also, it's probably easier to get donations for the UN when talking about this falsely over-hyped conflict (here's a recent example, a report shows there's no famine in Gaza, the UN has known this and kept it quiet), especially when the hype is fed by so many antisemites happy to spread libels about the Jewish state. Some of the antisemites are likely very rich and happy to donate to any organization targeting Israel (I can even name some very wealthy governments happy to continuously donate to the UN and UNRWA, when they're also known for their antisemism, like financially sponsoring known antisemitic professors at US universities).

I do think the antisemitism is what enabled the creation of the financial aspect to the UN's anti-Israel bias, and interest in preserving the conflict, but now I'll mention one more factor. It's also one that IMO was preceded by the antisemitism and financial interest, but now it adds its own fuel to the fire. Since 2007, when Hamas violently took over Gaza, in order to keep its programs running there, the UN has been collaborating with Hamas. Because that's what happens in an actual dictatorship, which has absolute power over its people, and doesn't allow for any civilian liberties. If you wanna run a UN agency in North Korea, you will HAVE to collaborate with Kim Jong Un's dictatorial regime. And if you want to run a UN agency in Gaza post Jun 2007, you will HAVE to collaborate with Hamas. So that's exactly what the UN has been doing in Gaza. In doing so, it has been collaborating with a genocidal, antisemitic, radical Islamist, terrorist organization. And as has allowed Israel to enter Gaza and gather evidence, we have more and more proof that the UN is complicit in Hamas' crimes. That is NOT something the UN wants the world to realize. So it's trying its best to stop Israel from fighting in Gaza, to prevent the gathering of further evidence, at the same time that the UN is doing its best to screw over Israel's credibility. If the UN can vilify the best witness against it, who will believe the evidence about its complicity anyway?

I hope that helps answer the question!

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[cappucosmic]

https://www.thepalestineacademy.com/

https://www.tumblr.com/mauesartetc/760247867108720640/palestine-fundraisers-with-easily-achievable-goals?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/mauesartetc/758800771241459712/palestine-campaigns-with-under-a-thousand?source=share

May Palestine's tears bury you,

And may its laughter bury the memory of you.

[gothhabiba]

An Appeal to Our Food and Hospitality Community to Take Action Now for Gaza

Dear Industry Friends, 

We have come together as chefs, farmers, media makers, business owners, beverage professionals, and food workers from across our industry to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war crimes. We must break the silence around the genocide in Gaza. As of today, more than 7,000 Palestinians have been massacred in less than three weeks. Nearly half of them are children. Over 8,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza, killing a Palestinian every 5 minutes. After hospitals run out of fuel,  the death toll will rise exponentially. Every second we choose to stay silent, without demanding that our government stop arming Israel with billions of our tax dollars, we allow another massacre to take place. 

We can prevent this violence by refusing to allow our government to fund and arm Israel’s decades-long military occupation. History has shown us that peace and safety for all in the region cannot come from the violent subjugation of Palestinians. We grieve the loss of all innocent life. However, violence begets violence, and we know this latest eruption did not occur in a vacuum. For 75 years, Palestinians have been killed, imprisoned, tortured, and robbed of their land and homes. In Gaza, 2.2 million people — more than half of whom are children — have been living under an inhumane siege for almost 17 years, and are cut off from the world, without access to water, food, or basic amenities needed to live a dignified and healthy life. For those living in Gaza, the last decade has been a slow genocide. 

As cultural stewards in this country, we have the power to counter the dehumanization of Palestinians. Israel has long weaponized food, erasing Palestinian people while claiming their cuisine. Here in the U.S., the appropriation of Palestinian foods as “Israeli” has led to more than Israelis profiting off of Palestinian culture; it is an erasure that has had real implications for Palestinians. It allows us to negate their cultural currency, and turn our attention away with more ease when we see Palestinian death. 

We must join our voices with Palestinians pleading for justice and protection right now. The situation is dire, and no amount of media coverage has discouraged Israel from its policy of ethnic cleansing and land theft as the U.S. government continues to protect Israel from global pressure for a ceasefire. We have been called upon by Palestinian civil society to join their struggle for freedom by joining the global movement for divestment and cultural boycott of Israel until it ends its horrific human rights abuses.

We ask our fellow food and beverage community to take a stand against genocide and ethnic cleansing and commit to three actions with us:

Call your congressional representatives to demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to unconditional U.S. funding of Israel. 

Divest from products, events, and trips that promote Israel until it dismantles its apartheid system and military occupation. 

Invest in events and projects that promote justice for Palestinians, whether connecting to a local organization to learn how to support, or amplify Palestinian voices and support them to share their food and culture on their own terms.

We recognize that this may be difficult given the frightening pressure put on us to remain silent. McCarthyist tactics cannot marginalize and divide us – we know we are not alone as the whole world is rising up against injustice and genocide. Thousands of artists worldwide have publicly endorsed BDS and the cultural boycott of Israel, including musicians, DJs, filmmakers and actors, visual artists, Black artists, Latin American artists, and countless others across all fields and continents. This is in spite of efforts made by Israeli government-linked lobby groups to suppress this solidarity. 

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We are all in this industry to affirm life and dignity for everyone. As those who care for others, it is our moral imperative to actively contribute to the care that Palestinians need right now as they struggle to survive and get free. Food and beverage colleagues – it’s time for our community to extend our hospitality and join the movement for a Free Palestine.

Add your name – sign the pledge

[bitchb0ybunny]

LONG READ, BUT WORTH IT!!!

COD FANS, PRO-PALESTINIAN PALS, LISTEN TO ME FOR A SEC. I know this might be crazy, but hear me out. Just for a moment, I promise it'll be worth while. I thought for like 5 minutes on whether or not I should post this, but I say fuck it. My account isn't big, I'm not popular, but I know this will at least get on one persons page and get one persons attention and that's what matters.

THIS MAN! THAT MAN UP THERE ^

COD besties love him, some people might not know who he is. His name is Johnathan Price, he's a fictional character played by Barry Sloane in the Modern Warfare 2 Remaster. Friends, take a close look to that thing around his neck.

Some of y'all think it looks familiar, right?

Me too. I might be slow on this, some people might've pointed it out on different platforms already, but I'm bringing it to attention anyway. It looks like a Kuffiyah. (Kuffiyeh? Kuffiya? Keffiyeh? I'm still a little confused on which spelling of the name is correct, so I'm using all of them). I might be crazy here, but it looks like one to me. If you don't know, a Kuffiyah is a Palestinian garment that, in very simplified terms, symbolizes their culture and freedom. I'm sure everyone already knows that that freedom has been threatened and that the people of Palestine are currently being slaughtered like cattle, no matter their age, sex, gender identity, etc. It's pure bloodshed of innocent people, a genocide, a holocaust if you need more terms.

I have a very simple theory that I don't think is hard to believe, but first let me show you what a Kuffiyah looks like for those who don't know.

Protesters at University of Michigan in the US, this month. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

The black and white garment these people are wearing is a Kuffiyah. You can find numerous videos on TikTok and other platforms showing up-close images and videos of a Kuffiyah and explaining what the pattern symbolizes.

Now, if you need a second look at that scarf-like garment Captain Price is wearing around his neck, you can scroll back up. There also should be a video below, a clip taken directly from the game, that shows that same garment at different angles if you need a better view.

Now back to that talk of a theory.

Farah Karim, another Icon from the Modern Warfare games. Again, some of you might not know her, here's an image of her.

She's an occupant to a made-up Arabic country called Urzikstan that is located near the Black Sea. She's a solder, and leader, of the Urzikstan Liberation Force, which is an army that fights against the occupation and invasion of her country. In this case, Russia. Farah Karim and John Price are close and, in the games, team up to fight common enemies often. If you look at the country of Urzikstan on the map, in the COD universe, I believe it looks like the same area Palestine should be located on a map if it weren't for Israel's 70+ years of occupation and colonization on Palestinian land.

According to the games lore, the invasion and occupation of Urzikstan from Russia started in 1999, and I'm not sure if its confirmed but I believe it's at least once it's alluded to Price having helped the ULF (Urzikstan Liberation Force) fight off the Russian occupation and free the country.

By this point, I'm sure at least one of you incredibly intelligent people reading this post have figured out what my theory is exactly:

Urzikstan is Palestine in the COD Universe. Or, at the very least, is modeled after and has its history inspired by the very real horrors Palestine has been facing since around 1947 when one of the first/the first attack(s) on Palestine took place on December 31st (Here is an article you can read about that, and there are plenty of similar articles from that outlet). Some of you probably have stopped reading, or think I'm crazy, or something along those lines, but hear me out for a second.

That Kuffiyah that Captain Price is wearing, remember that? People who are in support of Palestine are buying and wearing those to help financially aid Palestinians who can still sell their goods and show their support. I believe that is exactly what Price did, and why he's wearing it.

Now, I raise a question to those who weren't in support before. If Captain Johnathan Price can do something so basic is show support for a population and help fight for a countries freedom, why can't you? It's not hard to reblog a post, or sign a petition, or attend a protest in your area, or at the very least educate yourself on the matter. So, if you aren't, why? If someone who I know most, if not all, of the COD community here on Tumblr loves can do it, can go to war and fight for it, then why can't you do something that's real?

Free Palestine, and have a nice day/night to those of you who actually read all of this to the end.

[psychotrenny]

I really do think this is the end for Israel. The beginning of the end at least. They're essentially a relic of an earlier time, a time when, through a complex confluence of factors, the military power of Europe was so far beyond the rest of the world that it could openly keep the world in shackles. The Imperial powers of Europe could do as they wished and respond to any resistance with overwhelming violence that, no matter how costly in money or lives or how many years it took, would eventually force open resistance to come to a (temporary) end. You saw exceptions of course, such as Ethiopia's successful repulsion of Italian invaders in the 1890s (although even that victory is somewhat undercut but Italy's more successful invasion about 40 years later), but in the majority of cases even the most brave and intelligent of resistance fighters would see themselves worn down and defeated. Just off the top of my head you have figures like Samori Toure, Omar al-Mukhtar, Samuel Maharero; all inflicted numerous defeats on their European Imperialist enemies but in the end couldn't overcome the sheer force that was arrayed against them.

Of course such supremacy was never absolute even at it's apex, and this height was so very short lived. Resistance never fully stopped; outbursts of violence were frequent and various forms of passive resistance like migration, tax evasion and industrial slowdown were ubiquitous. Resistance movements learned from past failures, acquired the weapons of modern war and soon proved a credible threat to the Imperialist forces that by the middle of the 20th century had exhausted themselves through in-fighting. Whether evicted through direct violence or choosing to leave under the inevitable threat of it, the European powers largely ended their direct domination over the colonised world. That's not to say Imperialism was over, far from it, but it mostly took on subtler forms; more soft power with only the occasional resort to hard. Imperial domination is now more than ever exerted through various local proxies and the broader forces that keep them in check as direct subjugation just isn't especially viable.

In the parts of the world without substantial settler populations this withdrawal was accomplished smoothly enough; most of the Europeans present either left without a fuss or found some sort of niche under the new order of things. But the liberation of colonies with large settler populations was a longer and bloodier process; just compare the French withdrawal from Indochina to that from Algeria or the fate of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). A large number of Europeans were heavily entrenched in these colonies and had both their material wealth and sense of pride tied to the maintenance of white supremacy. Many politicians back in Europe were less willing to abandon such settler colonies, while with or without support from back home the colonists engaged in their own bloody wars of oppression against indigenous people.

But in the end they all fell. Algeria, Rhodesia, Angola, South Africa, the list goes on. Even as these places continue to suffer under the yoke of less direct Imperialism they can take pride knowing that the scourge of direct setter subjugation was defeated. Exploiting people is one thing; there are many ways you can accomplish this without the exploited truly catching on. But the sort of violence it takes to brazenly steal control of a people's land, settle yourself on it while keeping the original inhabitants as second class citizens is going to engender the fiercest resistance no matter what. The only remotely stable settler colonies are those where the indigenous peoples were already decimated by disease before being subjected to centuries of genocidal policies, reducing their current population to a small minority of the nation. And even then the survives continue to resist fiercely. In places where the settlers remained the minority there was simply no chance of such regimes surviving for long.

Israel as a state is among the last of its kind, and I see no reason why it shouldn't meet the fate of all other such colonies. The way I see it the end of Israel is inevitable. The only question is just how much bloodshed and suffering it'll take. The struggle has been ongoing for so very long. I truly hope that we're seeing the final stages of it, but I suppose only time can tell. All I know for sure is that from from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free

[k-koriikorner]

A day's never truly over -Snippet

Author's Note: I was inspired by @deadghosy's Dogday reader oneshots. Reader is gender neutral, has Dogday's appearance but no alluding to eye color, hair color, body type or height to help the reader immerse themselves into the story as much as possible. Reader is a Dominion! Angel, who overhears Charlie's conversation with Adam about the hotel. Adam panics about reader telling everyone about the exterminations so they throw you out of heaven. You aren't a fallen angel because you weren't banished to hell but you currently have no way to get back to heaven.

Warnings: Gender Neutral Reader, Angel!Reader, Swearing

Word Count: 1,744

You are a dominion angel, essentially the mediator for the highest ranking angels to carry out the plans to the lower ranks. Your class of angels are considered heavenly governors, attempting to strike a balance between matter and spirit, good and bad. You receive orders from seraphim and cherubim, then dish out duties to the "worker bee" angels of the lower orders. Your main purpose is to make sure that the cosmos remains in order by sending down power to heads of government and other authority figures.

You were eavesdropping on Adam, Lute, and Charlie’s conversations but you were originally in the office to deliver some papers to Adam. You overheard the conversations and were trying to be quiet but you accidentally stumbled into the room during Adam’s song. You face planted into the floor, a small arf escaping you. The music stopped abruptly as Adam stopped playing his instrument, and all eyes turned to you as you slowly got off the floor, papers scattered and brushed yourself off. You locked eyes with Adam, a relatively sad expression on your face.

“Are-are you really supporting genocide? I-i actually think her idea could save people’s lives, why-why does anyone have to get hurt?” Your ears drooped slightly in sadness at the thought of all the lost souls. Adam and Lute look at you like you’ve caught them red handed and before you can speak again Adam begins singing about moving up the extermination to six months, and grabs you and Charlie’s arm before throwing you both out of the office.

“Wait-!” Charlie tries to move back towards the door, at least to ask for a second change but she stumbles and she holds her leg in pain. You stay in your place, where you landed, a horrified expression on your face as you take in everything that just transpired.

You slowly rise to your feet, and take small caution steps towards the door. You raise your right paw, orange fur and paw pads connecting with the door. Charlie looks up at you, partially forgetting you were beside her, but curious as to what you were doing. You summoned a small amount of your angelic power and noticed that a divine seal was placed back on the door so there was no way for you to get back in, not without the castor’s permission.

Your ears flattened again your head, as you held your head down in shame. Your shoulders shake in anger as your wings flair up and your ears pin back. You look down at Charlie with a determined look on your face, "We have to prove them all wrong."

----

As you and Charlie made your way to hell, you had the chance to properly introduce yourself. She talked to you and explained her plans to rehabilitate people through her hotel. Since you were an angel, and a higher ranking one at that, she believed that they'd have a much higher chance of success with you on their side.

“I had no idea they were doing this, regardless of whether or not these people ended up here because of their actions…every soul is valuable and should be cherished.” You frown, your ears drooping for umpteenth time today. “That’s what I tried to explain to Adam, if we could save even a few souls down here…shouldn’t we try?” Charlie turns to you, a sorrowful yet determined expression on face.

“No one in history has even succeeded once they’ve given up, if we can show them that your plan could save even one soul. They’d have no choice but to back you up!” You jump in the air, your wings fluttering slightly. You enjoyed helping people, that was your whole purpose and you wouldn’t make it any different being down here. You fully believed in Charlie’s cause and wanted to see it succeed in helping people more than anything.

“That’s the spirit!..Hey, I-i’m really sorry that you got kicked out of heaven, but I’m really happy you agreed to help me.” The tone between you both becomes somber, as you take the time to really understand your situation. You place a paw on Charlie’s shoulder, a happy smile on your face.

“It may not have been under the…best circumstances, but I’m happy that I have the opportunity to help you in your quest to help more people.” Charlie looks at you with teary eyes and she pats your hand which still rests on her shoulder. You both made it to the hotel, a hopeful smile on your face as you decided to try and stay positive.

The white haired woman gasped at the sight of you. Two pairs of cloud white wings, and the white robe with golden accents, no one could deny that you were unmistakably an angel. "Charlie...they listened, I'm so proud of you!" The woman pulled Charlie into a hug, not paying attention to the nervous expression on her face.

"Yeah, um this is [Name], they're a Dominion Angel who's agreed to help with our cause!" Charlie turned to face you, a wonky smile on her face. While it wasn't an absolute lie, you were glad she hadn't flat out said that you were unofficially kicked out of heaven. "It's nice you meet you, my name's Vaggie. Oh come here, we have something exciting to show you!" Vaggie greets you briefly before pulling Charlie further into the building, with you in tow.

The group of people sitting in front of the television turns to look at you all entering the living room, and you couldn't pretend to not see the baffled expressions on some of their faces."Holy shit, she really did it!" Angel Dust comments, not fully believing that an Angel was standing before him, and a non-exorcist one at that.

"Well would you look at that," Husk comments, a barely noticeable smirk on his face. Charlie and Vaggie stood beside you as you greeted everyone, "It's so nice to meet you, I hope I can work hard and help you all make it to heaven!" Charlie smiles at you in appreciation before she and Vaggie pull you towards the couch to watch their commercial. "Alastor pulled some strings and it's about to air."

"I pulled a few limbs too, hahaha!" Alastor interjects, a proud smile on his usual smiling face. Charlie looks at Vaggie, a surprised look on her face. "Wait, the commercial? You all made a new one?" You both look down at Angel Dust, who's sitting on the floor beside your legs, a confident expression on his face as he boasts."Yeah, one of my better performances if I do say so myself." Charlie beams brightly as she's nearly brought to tears by the knowledge that everyone had put in the work to make a new and improved version of their ad.

"That's... that's amazing." Angel raises an arm towards her face, prompting silencing her, albeit slightly rude in your opinion. "Sshh, it's starting." You turn your attention to the television in front of you all, as you see everyone in nicer clothes and standing at the entrance of the hotel.

"Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel-" Vaggie on the television is abruptly cut off as the tv turns to the news. Everyone in the room except to Alastor and Nifty groan and complain, Vaggie and Angel in their respective languages. A frown pulls at your face, and your ears droop at the sight of the channel being changed before the commercial even started.

A spider demon with a blond bob cut, and another demon with a face mask on, seemingly news anchors show up on the screen. The names 'Katie Killjoy' and 'Tom Trench' under the respective persons as the woman begins to speak. "Breaking news in Hell today! We have just received word from the Heaven Embassy that the next Extermination is happening sooner than ever before. Do you know what that means,Tom?" Although the woman is smiling, you can sense the sarcasm in her voice and the seething rage in this woman's soul.

You frown lightly, hoping that she's one of the people you can help be redeemed. "No, what does that mean, Katie?" He asks, shaking his head mockingly. Katie places her hands onto the desk and leans closer to the camera, her left eye twitching in irritation. "It means we're all royally fucked!" The sounds of screams fill the rooms from the tv, making you shrink into the sofa, as the countdown goes from 358 to 176. Angel seems to be the only one able to speak as everyone else is either stunned into silence or unbothered, "Wait, what? Why?!" Angel scoffs and raises his hand in the air, clearly exasperated.

[Cuts to Adam and Lute]

“And what do we do about the [Name] situation?” Lute turns towards her boss, after their discussion about the dead exorcist. Although she was somewhat disapproving about sending you down to Hell, she knew that they couldn’t risk you telling anyone else about the Exterminations. Plus she knew it was either that or killing you, and you both had a relatively cordial relationship.

“Who the hell is that?” Adam asks, promptly not paying attention to the conversation anymore, too busy scrolling on his phone.

“[Name] sir, the Dominion Angel who came in on the meeting earlier? Who we threw down to hell to prevent the secret getting out.” Lute keeps a level voice, sometimes she just couldn’t with her boss. Adam’s face flashes in realization as she remembers tanking your arm and throwing you out the office with Charmander or whoever that girl was.

“Ohh that bitch…tell anyone who asks that she’s gone on a spiritual retreat to Neptune, it’s what that little asshole gets for eavesdropping. Oh, and get Josiah to replace her, he may be a cuck bitch but he’s the closest we’ll get to [Name]’s standards.”

[arunswild]

These kinds of comments really bug me because it's so clear how confused the person who wrote them is.

So let me clear this up for you, @nagashii

Israel has not stolen Palestinian culture. Of all the ridiculous claims you could make, this one is probably the most silly because it's absolutely meaningless. I'd love to hear what cultural things you think we "stole", but I'm just letting you know that whatever you think it is, you're wrong. I'm not gonna bother elaborating

You're making a very important distinction between Jews and Israel, which is great except you screwed it up. You are assuming that the existence of Jews is not dependent on the existence of Israel, while ignoring the fact that the REASON Israel exists is to protect the Jewish people. Even if there's a very Jewish person who has no interest in Israel, Israel has helped them in more ways than you can imagine. Israel gives money and aid to Jewish community and it's also gained the right to prosecute people who commit antisemitic hate crimes in other countries. So you can say that Jews are okay but Israel needs to die, but you're basically saying Jews need to die, which is, obviously, antisemitic and disgusting.

Israel doesn't have genocidal ideals, don't be idiotic. If Israel wanted to commit genocide, believe me, there would be no humanitarian aid, no warnings, no attempts to evacuate gazans. The IDF has absolutely no interest in harming anyone who isn't part of Hamas, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The fact that Hamas uses its civilians as human shields makes this incredibly hard. I know people who are currently fighting in Gaza. Trust me, killing more people is the last thing they want. Obviously there are some morons who want to kill everyone and take Gaza back, but they're idiots and nobody really gives a shit what they think because they're being childish and narrow. Those few people do not represent Israel.

The Jewish people are absolutely and completely entitled to have a country of their own, and the fact that Israel was the land chosen has not only Historical and Traditional but also Legal reasons. I'll reblog this with links to useful explanations. As I said, Israel is essential to the continued existence of the Jewish people which means that yes, we are entitled to it. Absolutely. Whether or not all the actions of the Israeli government are okay is a completely different story. The botton line is that Israel must and will continue to exist.

Hope this helps.

[zahraaziza]

a call to action for everyone who is passionate about palestine:

i have no idea who this message is going to reach, but for the little time i am on this platform, i will amplify the importance of partaking in raising awareness for the palestinian cause.

since i haven't been on here for a long time, i was honestly shocked to return to a ton of informative posts, reblogged in high numbers by my mutuals, on what is happening in palestine.

this current movement on social media, the fact that people across generations are, slowly but surely, waking up to the 76 years of torment, land theft, occupation and genocide the palestinian people are subjected to, has never happened before.

it was about damn time.

everyone, let it be a die heart zionist, a willingly ignorant person or the "people" that are in charge and have all the buttons below their fingertips that could get them to put an end to all of this-

they are never ever going to stop at making you feel insignificant. they are going to downplay your efforts as an activist. they are going to make you question your integrity. they are going to bring up seemingly unrelated issues, in a deplorable effort to make you feel like the "load" that we, as activists and people that are trying to raise awareness about palestine, carry is too much of a burden, to keep going.

they'll tell you things like:

"what is my contribution going to change? we're all doomed to die anyways with how things are going"

"what could a singular dollar/ euro, that i spend, possibly do to support israel? i don't wanna miss out on (xyz item)"

"well if you're so adamant about saving the world, then why don't you go to gaza yourself?"

"yeah right, if that's the case then i would have to also care about (xyz historically oppressed group of people) and i would have to do this, this and that to raise awareness on (xyz historically oppressed group)"

never ever let these individuals in. never ever let them see you doubting your own self or your efforts as an activist.

when i tell you that standing on business has never been more crucial, you can take my word for it.

as someone who, due to the communities i belong to, has practically grown up defending this cause, i can tell you that the tides have not once started to turn the slightest bit in favor for the palestinian cause in the publics perception. most especially in the west.

now is the time to get up on our feet and make room for palestinian voices, not the seeds of doubt planted by zionists.

anyone that still genuinely believes that one, they can't do anything to bring about any change

two, believes there is any legitimacy in the existence of an "israeli state",

or three, denounces and dares to critique the forms of resistance coming from the oppressed palestinians, after five whole months of the ongoing israeli operation to annihilate them to move closer to the achievement of the "greater israel" project, is immediately disqualified in any discussions on the palestinian fight for freedom.

don't ever give your time to zionist apologists or people that try to infiltrate the pro watermelon movement, in order to gain an outlet, in which they can voice their sympathy for core ideas of the zionist movement (a right to israels existence, pseudo self defense argument, pseudo the people are not the state argument, pseudo not all israelis are settlers argument) without further notice.

now is the time of focus. partake in all the activities you can. do your part. do what is achievable.

palestinians, whether it be in the diaspora or on the ground in gaza and the west bank, don't have time for our inconsistencies.

try to control your spending habits as much as you can, try to control the pop culture (tv, music, film) you consume as much as you can. that is the very least we can do.

also, a teeny tiny, but crucial note, we all need to internalize is the fact that we need to decenter ourselves from the end goal, which is the liberation of palestine and land back to the palestinian people.

the people that are going to free palestine aren't us.

palestinians are going to free palestine. the palestinian resistance is going to free palestine.

our obligation is to facilitate that to happen. we partake in the bds boycott, put pressure on representatives of our countries and take to the streets and social media to make the voices of palestine heard.

looking inward and coming to that realization is utmost important for us as non palestinians to know our place in the bigger picture, so we can move on, organize and operate from there.

by no means am i a representative of this cause. but i am human. so i hope that you could all take something from my message.

from the river to the see, palestine will be free!!!

[hussyknee]

it’s rare to find a sinhalese person (online atleast) who is supportive of tamil self-determination. genuine question: among leftist circles in sri lanka, how common is such a stance?

I don't know whether I'm a reliable source to answer this question because I'm very jaded about this in general. A couple of days ago, someone on the Sri Lanka Reddit started up discourse about Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's choice to reject identifying with the country that tried to genocide her people, which I'm still chewing wire about. I'm a very isolated person with a very small social circle of like-minded leftist friends. They're mostly not SinBud and anti SinBud nonsense, but none of them are Tamil and I'm the one who really convinced them about Eelam I think. The people I learned from, who are out there doing the work of building inter-ethnic dialogue and overturning Sinhalese propaganda, might have a more hopeful view.

Thing is, there's no one "leftist" faction here because "left" doesn't mean the same thing as it does in the West. The Rajapaksas' party SLPP is socialist, a legacy of their ancestor the SLFP who was the party aligned with the USSR. They and their voters and their saffron terror acolytes (Buddhist priesthood) are all for public infrastructure they can rob blind and central government they can use to crush minorities, and build on the nationalist fervour of genocidal Sinhalese Buddhism that's served both major parties independence. There's quasi-communists, descendants of the ethnonationalist Marxist JVP that rose in opposition to the class corruption of ethnonationalist USSR-aligned socialist SLFP and enthonationalist US-aligned neoliberal UNP. They've since distanced themselves from their ethnic myopia, possibly due to suffering much of the same state terrorism as minorities via militarisation and policies like the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act. They're the most vocal about the abolition of the executive presidency, the defunding of military and police, and restructuring and executing the long-mismanaged socialist infrastructure. These are usually the working class and university students, but their base has been growing in other demographics too, since we "held our noses and voted" for the Yahapalana government in 2015 and it ended up fucking us over. But despite their sympathy with the suffering of Tamils and Muslims and favouring the devolution of power, most still cling to the idea that Sinhalese majoritarianism is a fair result of democracy.

The kind of pro-LGBT, anti-racist, feminist liberals that would pass muster with the western left otoh, are a minority of urban, English-speaking professionals. Their panacea for enthofascism is voting for the neoliberal party, whose idea of reducing corruption and increasing efficiency is privatizing everything, are against racism because it's bad for tourism, and coasts on the promise of never actively feeding ethnosupremacy, even if they won't do anything about it either. Both these groups hate each other but are equally deeply uncomfortable with if not entirely resistant to the idea that the North and East are Tamil lands colonized by the Sinhalese. Both groups are aware of the corruption and complicity of the Buddhist priesthood and are prepared to do exactly nothing about it.

What I'm trying to say is that Sinhalese Buddhist ethnosupremacy is baked in to the Sri Lankan political fabric. "Left" means jack shit when it comes to whether Tamils have rights, in much the same way that the western left agrees on everything except Palestine. It's a political no man's land everyone tries not to look at.

The fundamental problem is that Sinhalese people who know enough about 1958, 1983, or the full scope of genocide perpetrated against Tamils during the last push of the war, let alone all 26 years of it, are very much in the minority. It takes a particular education to understand that "Sri Lanka" is a post-colonial invention that took over from "Ceylon", which was nothing but a construct for the ease of British administration. As far as I know, this education is confined to activist organizations and whoever followed my sociology program. So my kind of anarchist leftism that calls the war a Tamil genocide with their whole chest and the priesthood saffron terrorists and recognises Eelam is, afaik, vanishingly small.

To be honest, I never really questioned the propaganda and narrative we've been spoon fed myself until I went to Canada when I was 23 to complete my anthro degree (became disabled and dropped out after). One thing that struck me was how racist the Sinhalese diaspora was. I was raised SinBud, my school didn't admit any non-Sinhalese, half my uncles were in the military, but these people that had left the country decades ago still hated Tamils and Muslims in a way that nobody else I knew did. I wondered whether this was what it had been like when it had all started; whether this hatred that seemed to have been preserved in amber was a true taste of what had ignited Black July. Suddenly the attitude of the Tamil diaspora towards the Sri Lankan government and Sinhalese people didn't seem so unreasonable.

Then, later in the same uni term, I went to an art exhibition of a white artist who travelled the world collecting information about their genocides and made art about them, and found a painting depicting Sri Lankan Tamils in 2008. Promptly had a meltdown. Went to the lady and told her tearfully that it was all propaganda, we didn't really hate Tamils, not even my uncles in the army hated Tamils, it was a war, the LTTE had terrorized us for my whole lifetime. Bless the woman, she didn't fight me, just let me cry at her and patted my hand and pretended to take me seriously. This made it easier for me to really think about what I knew once I'd stopped wailing and stamping. It prompted a years-long self-interrogation and fact finding that made me unearth how much brainwashing had been done to us by everyone, from our families to our school textbooks to news media. It's like the air we breathed was propaganda. And I still didn't know a fraction of what life had been like for Tamils (or Muslims) and the scope of atrocities perpetrated by the Sinhalese until I began my Society and Culture degree at the Open University when I was 30. The first year textbooks were only broadstrokes facts, but at last I found out about Gnananth Obeysekera, Prageeth Jeganathan, Stanley Thambaiya, Malithi DeAlwis. Their work on nation-making, ethnicity, historical revisionism, genocide and ethnic conflict and state terrorism...everything I should have been taught as a child. The chapters on the rapes and murders and shelling and war crimes and IDP camps were..indescribable. That was what properly radicalised me about Tamil self-sovereignty, because there's clearly no possible way the Tamil people will ever be safe and safeguarded under a Sinhalese majoritarian government.

I had to drop out of that programme too because of my health. But during the mass protests against the government in 2022, I learned even more about Tamil indigeneity, the extent of JR Jayawardena's crimes, and the persecution of Marxists and victims of the '71 and '89 insurrections. So much of the protests and their encampments were directed and galvanized by social media, that organised online and in-person lectures, teach-outs, and live discussions that anyone and everyone could attend right alongside the protests. I've never seen that kind of truly democratized, free, egalitarian civic education and discourse before. That was the very first time I saw academics, survivors, refugees and human rights activists being given a respectful platform, the masses hearing firsthand accounts from people of the North and East and witnesses of Black July. April to July 2022 was a truly golden bubble of time where I saw people finally start listening, believing, and challenging all their convictions. It was the closest we ever came to realising the hope that things could be different; that we could, as a society, understand how Sinhalese ethnosupremacy had been the black rot killing this country from the first, stop being racist Sinhala-first cunts and actually hold any of these murderers accountable.

Teach us to hope, I guess.

But I suppose it's no small thing that I learned about the Tamil resistance and struggle and taught all my friends about it. I'm sure they're informing their own circles in small ways too. These tendrils are hard to see, but they exist and grow. Especially with the fall of the Rajapaksas and their Bhaiyya contingent, more people can see ethnosupremacy for the grift that it is, and the younger generations are less defensive, more willing to listen and eager for justice and change. So I guess the answer is: not very common, but less uncommon than it used to be.

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

since zionists are coming to whine in my dms that I’m so mean for supporting Palestinians who “had it coming for being terrorists” (yeah, zionists are definitely not racist, huh?), let me make this very simple.

Let’s say your great-great grandparents built a home on some land. They built it by hand, and your family has lived there for generations, fixing it up as old things needed renovations or just stopped working or they just wanted to make it compatible with new things like electricity when that came out. You grew up there, your parents grew up there, and your grandparents grew up there, and now you have children of your own starting to grow up there too.

You loved that house, it’s the only home you’ve ever known and years of loving care had made it beautiful, it even has a garden that your great grandparents planted olive trees in, and of course by now it’s a flourishing orchard. Your family are the only ones who had ever lived in that house, but your family had become quite diverse throughout the decades as children grew up and married, some new family members looked and lived quite like you, and some looked and lived differently, and you thought little of it because, why would you?

Then one day a stranger comes by with a feed to your family’s home, claiming the government had settled a deal that since this stranger’s great-great-great-great grandparents first owned that land and were forced off of it by people who looked a bit like you. The stranger gives you an ultimatum to leave the land immediately because they consider it to rightfully belong to them, or die. Some of your family flees, you don’t blame them, but you stand your ground as best as you can, but the stranger has guns, and strong friends to supply them. They kill your mother, blind your father, kidnap many of your siblings and cousins and so you take your children and anyone who’s left and flee to the far side of the property, on the half still allowed to them by the government’s ruling. For a time it’s fine, but the stranger wasn’t satisfied, and finds you again in the new home you were building. See, the way the stranger sees it, their ancestors had originally owned ALL of that property, so they figured that was what they were owed. You plead with them to let you stay, or even just to not hurt your family. Your pleas are denied.

This time they killed your children. They killed your cousins. They killed most of your siblings. Your family and your home, all gone in front of your eyes.

Do you think you would still care whether or not the stranger was right about who owned that plot of land first, or would you perhaps care more about what they just did to everything you held dear?

Zionists like to say “well hamas should have never ever taken hostages” and feign ignorance as to why hamas is gaining support at an exponential rate.

It’s not that complicated. If your options are stand there and get shot or get a gun and shoot back, are you really going to pretend to be confused by most people going with the second option?

No. You aren’t. You want to spin the narrative that people calling for a free Palestine are terrorists who want to see the death of all jews and some nebulous “scary muslim takeover”, but I know you’re not that dumb. I know you've seen videos posted by the IDF’s own beating, kidnapping, and killing civilians. I know you’re not stupid enough to honestly believe those are all terrorists, even the children. I know most of you aren’t even under the delusion hamas is just like ISIS.

This is deliberate. Genocide is easiest when the aggressor plays victim to try to say it’s self defense, but here’s the thing—

It doesn’t matter how many times you claim otherwise, hind did not deserve to die. If she was the ONLY child the IDF killed intentionally, that would be unforgivable, but given there are tens of thousands of children that have lost life or limb at the hands of the IDF, it’s indefensible. It’s murder. A child trapped in a car with her family’s bodies after the IDF attacked being used to lure out aid workers and kill them all at once is just evidence you have lost your humanity. I hate that I even have to only talk about the children because you think every adult in Palestine is secretly an evil terrorist, it’s a lot harder to say that about a child with an age in the single digits, but many of you still try to anyway.

Racism is a hell of a thing, and some of you are a little too drawn in by the idea of killing all the brown people in a region so you can build beach resorts and theme parks.

If Palestinian land is so sacred and divinely promised to the Israelis to the point the Israeli government considers all rain fall to be explicitly property of israel, why are you taunting it with the blood of the innocent and desperate?

I don’t know, I think if anyone but a Zionist tried to justify bombing hospitals and dressing as aid workers to kill as many of an ethnic group as possible, people may be a bit reasonably against that, but for some reason it’s fine as long as the group committing the genocide has enough oppression points stocked up from previous incidents.

[joelsdagger]

i’ve made and deleted this post quite a few times over the last couple of days. and at first, i wasn’t going to say anything because this doesn’t even cover what i wanted to say by even a little, but ultimately, seeing a few others make similar posts encouraged me, and i really just need to get this off my chest, and if it resonates with one person, then i’m happy. this is not coherent at all, but like many, my brain is mush, so forgive me, and here we go...

as a (closeted) queer palestinian american woman, a daughter to immigrant parents, living in a fairly conservative state, i’m fucking terrified. i don’t have faith my rights are protected here. i don’t have faith that my parents and my sisters will be safe every time they step out of the house (in true typical arab fashion; i am white passing, they are not). my family has been targeted and met with violence numerous times since october of last year, and it's only going to get worse. which brings me to my next point.

i also don’t have faith that the genocide in gaza (that has now expanded to south lebanon and syria) is coming to an end, an end where palestinians can live and thrive in their native land anytime soon. and seeing people turn on us — so fast, spewing hate in saying “fuck palestine”, “fuck boycotting” and “you don’t care about my rights, so i don’t care about yours,” is incredibly saddening, disappointing, and infuriating. my grief, anger, and anxiety are at their peak and have been at their peak for well over a year now. and i don't have the brain capacity to say what i really want to say about the hatred and misplaced anger being directed towards arabs, but for now i will say this: 

now is not the time to turn on one another. now is not the time for infighting within marginalized groups. now is not the time to be selfish. to care about yourselves and not others, makes you no better than them. that is why this country is so divisive in the first place. that is how we got here. having that mentality — that ideology is dangerous and destructive. you are doing the work for white supremacists. you are perpetuating white supremacy. and it isn’t going to serve any of us because essentially our struggles as oppressed groups are deeply interconnected. we need to look out for one another. take care of one another. it will get worse before it gets better. and we’re only at the tip of the iceberg.

the fight isn’t over; we’re just getting started. and i know you’re tired; i, for one, am at my breaking point. but we cannot let them win. so let yourself feel whatever it is you need to feel right now: grief, anger, sadness, hurt, whatever it is; it's all valid, and believe me, you are not alone. take the time to feel it. and then let it fuel you and your ambitions.

i also want to reiterate that this is a safe space for all. except anyone who believes trump is a good man and voted for that racist, fascist, rapist piece of shit. y’all can fuck right off. the rest of you: disabled people, chronically ill people, queer people, aro-ace people (i’m specifically pointing you out because i know how we're treated in queer spaces, and it is not fair nor is it right), trans people, women, people of color, sexual assault survivors — if you're reading this and you're unsure of your place, please stay. i need you. i care about you. this place and this world are better with you in it. you are welcome here. you are safe here.

i’ll be here for anyone who needs it, whether it’s to chat about silly little fandom things — it’s imperative we protect this space and continue to encourage the creation of art around here. it’s imperative we stop normalizing the censorship and policing of fandom spaces (because that's another reason how we got here). fandom spaces are communities, and very often they are the only spaces where people feel safe. for most (myself included), it’s all we have left — or whether you want to vent about how much you hate the state of the world — you'll always have a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on in this tiny little nook here. seriously. my inbox and dm's are always open. 

hold each other close. protect one another. the only way we’re going to get through this is if we stand together and continue putting in the work, because it’s times like this when the real work begins.

i’m sending you all so so much love. forever and always.

noelle xx

[bellepeppergirl]

The Pthumerians

The Pthumerians were/are an ancient race of humanoids who lived deep below ground in Pthumeru Ithyll, or the Chalice Dungeons. It is unclear if they always lived down there or if they merely moved down there and then evolved into their current form from one that looked more human, but what is known is that they were the servants of the Great Ones. Not just servants, but likely a slave race whose sole purpose was to care for the Great Ones and expand the Chalice Dungeons endlessly.

Regardless of whether or not the Pthumerians originated above or underground, descendants of them can be found in both orientations. It seems an ancient branch of Pthumerians, or perhaps several branches, eventually breached the surface and subsequently created Yharnam and Cainhurst. There could be other locations in the world of Bloodborne that were created by the Pthumerians as well, as we don't know just how far the tombs sprawl beneath the surface, and it is very likely that some of their descendants could have simply traveled to new locations as well.

The Executioners are said to be from a foreign land, and among their ranks are the likes of Martyr Logarius, who is notably very Pthumerian in appearance. This could mean that there are more Pthumerian-descended civilizations out there, or that Logarius was simply a member of the Healing Church, which also employs (or really seems to enslave) many of these people themselves, and Logarius was simply appointed by them to lead the Eexecutioners during their siege and genocide of Cainhurst.

I mentioned Logarius having a very Pthumerian appearance, but what does that mean exactly? Throughout the game, we can encounter many Pthumerians. Each of these individuals have incredibly pale skin, straight up alabaster in color in some cases, with sunken, black eyes and somewhat strange mouths. Build-wise, Pthumerians have a number of shapes they can take, with some being rather tiny and frail, but most of them seem to be quite large, with their height being anywhere from slightly taller than a hunter, to almost twice as tall, to being literal giants. The variations between these Pthumerians could indicate that there are different branches, something like humans having once had homo sapiens, neanderthal, and denisovans, but they could also simply just be prone to intense levels of diversity, or even be affected by arcane arts or the influence of the Great Ones they serve.

The arcane arts seem to be a very important thing to the Pthumerians, as the tombs they live in are full of items and alters for ritual. Not only that, but we can find many Pthumerian witches who will assault us with magic. The Bell Ringing Women, who also seem to be Pthumerian, can also summon enemies to attack us. I am inclined to believe that the enemies they summon are the spirits of the dead and that the Bell Ringing Women act as necromancers, though it is also possible that these enemies are from different realities as well, similar to how player invasions work. Another point towards necromancy however is the fact that, within the dungeons, we can find several Pthumerian giants who are labeled as being undead. They look far different from the living ones we see above ground and are often adorned with candles, making them look like walking ritual alters. We can also find the occasional ghost wandering the dark corridors of the tombs.

I mentioned earlier that the peoples of Yharnam and Cainhurst are descended from the Pthumerians, but how do we know that? Well, for Yharnamites, it is much more obvious. Yharnamites have a distinct look about them. It isn't quite the same as that of the Pthumerians, but it is still quite different than the average person, like the hunters we meet from foreign lands. Yharnamites are tall, lanky, with seemingly mismatched proportions. These traits could be chalked up to the affects of beasthood and the Old Blood, but it seems odd that characters seemingly unaffected by the plague, such as the old woman or distrustful man we can send to Oedon Chapel still have these characteristics. On top of that, the city of Yharnam itself is named after Yharnam, the Pthumerian Queen.

"Yharnam" has been posited to be a name passed down from queen to queen. I think this is likely true and that the name is a thing of power and ritual. When a Pthumerian woman becomes queen, she also becomes Yharnam. The city was thus eventually named after the Pthumerian queens, though its possible its people have forgotten the origin of the name, especially with the Healing Church's take over and the burning and abandonment of Old Yharnam - Old Yharnam having an aesthetic and culture that seems much more in line with those below ground than those of Central Yharnam and the Cathedral Ward.

Old Yharnam is home to many statues that are bestial in nature and, while other parts of Yharnam aren't exactly strangers to fucked up looking statues themselves, Old Yharnam's still feel much more in line with what we find underground; much more archaic and dark. On top of that, the most damning evidence is the Church of the Good Chalice, where we can find the first Pthumerian Chalice on an alter. We can also find ritual blood on a separate alter. These two findings offer a direct link to the tombs, and thus to the Pthumerians, and paint the other oddities of Old Yharnam under a much more suspicious and Pthumerian-themed light.

But what about Cainhurst? Cainhurst's connections aren't as clear cut, but I believe the clues are there. For starters, the people of Cainhurst, the Vilebloods, are even more Pthumerian in appearance than the Yharnamites are. The people were see have drastic changes in sizes, some being short and hunched over little goblin men, kind of like the Pthumerian leg witches we see in the tombs, while the ghosts of victims we see are rather tall. These ghosts are also incredibly pale like the Pthumerians, but they are also ghosts, so who knows which is the cause.

Queen Annalise, on the other hand, is not a ghost, yet still bears these traits. Her skin is pale and grey, and almost shiny. Now, Annalise being a queen who isn't named Yharnam could be a flaw in this theory, but the people of Cainhurst and the people of Yharnam are enemies, so it makes sense that they wouldn't keep the same name. On top of that, some have posited the idea of a Pthumerian civil war, as thousands of corpses and ancient sets of weapons and armor can be found underground. These could all be from explorers, but the sheer number of these corpses and items makes it seem unlikely that they are JUST from explorers, possibly indicating that the split between Cainhurst and Yharnam was a lot further back in time.

Other possible links to the Pthumerians are the fact that we can find gargoyles and blood lickers in Cainhurst. Now, blood lickers can be found in other places as well, such as in the Hunter's Nightmare, as the creatures are simply attracted to blood. Blood lickers very well could be some form of interdimensional beings who just seek out blood, since the ones we encounter in the Chalice Dungeons mainly come out when we kill an enemy via visceral attack, but the fact that in the base game, these were the only two places we could find them could still be a link.

The gargoyles on the other hand are not found in the DLC, nor anywhere else. They can only be found in the Chalice Dungeons and Cainhurst. The gargoyles are rather humanoid in nature, so it is possible that they themselves are another form of Pthumerian. Alternatively, they could be beasthood afflicted Pthumerians, as beasthood affects people in a number of ways and the people of the dungeons did commune with the Old Blood. These beasthood afflicted Pthumerians could have been subsequently used as guard dogs, seeing as they tend to wait in inconspicuous places to jump out and grab any intruder who passes by.

Another potential connection is the fact that, when we arrive at Cainhurst, the courtyard we first enter has a strange hole. A sloping path leads down into the ground but seems to dead end. I personally believe this is, or was, an entrance to the dungeons that has since been sealed off and possibly where the branch that would become the Vilebloods first ascended. We can find a similar location in Yharnam, that being a cave below Iosefka's Clinic and the Forbidden Woods that is full of poison water and Pthumerian Giants who do not seem to be under the control of the Healing Church. Notably, these two locations also features the annoying worm enemies, which can also be found within Loran Silverbeasts where killed. Loran Silverbeasts can be found within the dungeons, and within the nightmare, and could possibly link Loran to the Pthumerians as well.

It is also interesting to note the fact that the streets of Yharnam are filled with coffins. This very well could be due to the plague that is ravaging the city, but it could also be one of the few remaining remnants of Pthumerian culture that hasn't been fully abolished yet; that connection to death and necromancy. The School of Mensis in Yahar'Gul seems to use necromancy themselves, as we can find abominations like wolves made of corpses, or the Cramped Caskets that are sentient masses of limbs that are fused together and inhabiting, well, cramped caskets. Yahar'Gul is also where we fight the One Reborn, a failed attempt at creating a Great One, or a vessel for a Great One, who is also made up of corpses and aided by Bell Ringing women, who I already discussed the connections to necromancy and Pthumerians. Yahar'Gul is also where the Snatchers reside or bring victims to, Snatchers once again being very clearly Pthumerian in appearance and located within the dungeons.

So that was my random ramble about Pthumerians and the culture likely descended from them. I may have missed some aspect that I wished to talk about since I got carried away a few times, and maybe some of this stuff is pointless, already well known, or simply not cared about, but I enjoy rambling about Fromsoft lore, especially my precious baby, Bloodborne. To anyone who read this, thanks! Would love to hear any thoughts.

[edenfenixblogs]

Hi, I have a question and you seem like a really balanced person, so here goes: I want to join a drag king collective, and I’m so excited about it, but the king leading it has some Interesting views. It’s the kind of thing where it’s constant “fuck Zionists” and what feels like extremely performative activism (Palestinian flag in bio but no actual fundraising/peace efforts, posting misinformation/irresponsible rhetoric etc.) I’m scared that if I join it I’ll be treated different, and even more scared that my friends will think the antisemitism justified (they aren’t great at understanding what antisemitism looks like these days). Idk what to do about the fear of someone being antisemitic because I don’t want it to stop me from doing what I want, but I also know it’ll devastate me if it does happen. If you can offer any insight I’ll be very grateful.

Hi friend!

I'm really glad you reached out to me. Not because I pretend to know all the answers, but because I love that we can all rely on each other during this time.

Unfortunately, whether you sign up for this is ultimately a matter of your own personal priorities and how you are prone to handle confrontation.

Personally, if it was me, I would join. I'm not afraid of defending myself (but I very much used to be, so no shame if you're not there yet). If I wanted to explore my gender identity through performance (if indeed that is what you are doing. I've never been personally drawn to perform drag, so I cannot pretend to know exactly why one might start. But I don't think I'm out of line to assume that it involves some kind of exploration or critique of gender both personally and societally) I certainly wouldn't let antisemites be the reasons I didn't go for it.

If the Anti-Zionist jerk starts coming at you, you can simply say "OK, great. Real quick question: What's a Zionist?" And watch him squirm to say anything real or substantive other than "a Jew." He might say, "They're basically Nazis!" or "They're people who want Palestinians to suffer!" or some other confidently incorrect hyperbolic statement. If he does so, you can say, "Oh! Well, then that's definitely not what I am," and move on.

If he says something slightly more substantive, like, "They're people who think Jews should get to take land from Arabs/Palestinians in order to have a Jewish ethnostate!" You can use the same response as above. But you can also say, "Oh, weird. That's definitely not what I thought it was. Which Zionist Jews have said this, exactly? Cuz I heard it was something completely different." Remember, their goal isn't actually to educate you or help anyone or even to provide limited but factual information. The goal is to shame you into aligning with their self-righteous point of view. That is not an effective tactic when you respond with QUESTIONS instead of outright CORRECTIONS. Making people explain themselves is a great way to defang a bad faith accusation like that.

Finally, they might say, "It's someone who supports Israel." In this case, either of the above methods will work. Or you could question even further. Here's an example of a chat:

You: Supports Israel how?

Jerkface: They want Biden to use our tax dollars to fund a genocide!

You: Oh, well then I'm definitely not a Zionist.

Jerkface: No, you don't understand! It's people who think that Jews can only be safe in a settler colonial apartheid ethnostate that justified its existence by crying about the Holocaust.

You: Well then I'm still not a Zionist. I don't know why you're assuming these things about me. But people should generally cry about the Holocaust. It was really bad thing that people did to Jews. Do you not think the Holocaust is a big deal?

Jerkface: Of course I think it was a big deal. That's why we all have to condemn THIS genocide. The Jews are the Nazis now.

You: I don't know. I don't think that' show Nazism works. But I definitely don't like genocide. If liking genocide makes a Zionist, then I'm definitely not whatever you're accusing me of.

Jerkface: No! I'm just saying that Zionists don't want a ceasefire. They're trying to kill all the Palestinians.

You: I don't know what to tell you then. Because that's still not me. Of course I want Hamas and Israel to both stop bombing each other.

Jerkface: No, Palestine is JUSTIFIED in bombing Israelis because of the oppression.

You: I think its weird that you're conflating Palestinians with Hamas. Are you saying that Palestinian civilians are bombing Israel as as a protest tactic? I thought for sure that Hamas, a terrorist organization, was the group responsible for Anti-Israeli violence. Personally, I've always though that most Palestinians just want to live in peace and don't support terrorism and violence. I don't know why it would harm Palestinians to suggest that both Israel and Hamas should end this conflict diplomatically rather than with violence.

Jerkface: Right! That's why we need to tell Biden to call for a ceaseefire!

You: OK, but I still don't know if you're saying Israel should just stop firing or that Israel and Hamas should stop bombing. I definitely want everyone to stop bombing each other. But I'm not really sure why Hamas would care about what Biden says.

etc...

I call this the "Rabbi method," because when you go to a rabbi, they never really give you an answer to your question. They answer with other questions designed to get them to see their own answer.

Either Hamas is a terrorist group unfairly targeting Israeli civilians and launching bombs into civilian territories--something that is clearly bad and which makes average Palestinian civilians innocent victims (this is the truth btw) that require both Hamas and Israel too lay down their arms. OR Palestinians and Hamas are interchangeable terms and the ongoing oppression of Palestinians have driven them to violent, offensive, armed resistance--which you may or may not agree with as a revolutionary tactic (To be clear, this is NOT TRUE OF PALESTINIANS. PALESTINIANS ARE NOT TERRORISTS AND DO NOT DESERVE TO BE BOMBED). Palestine IS NOT HAMAS. Hamas is bombing Israeli civilians.

Israel is retaliating with extreme force and prejudice against a terrorist organization in a way that is devastating the lives and futures of Palestinian Civilians, who very much deserve for all sides to lay down their weapons and address their mutual grievances diplomatically and responsibly. What is occurring right now is a messy, ugly, brutal war that is killing and traumatizing all civilians in the Levant. And a one-sided ceasefire leaves the side that ceases firing dead. A ceasefire means that EVERYONE must cease firing.

Unless Jerkface has a plan for how to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians from Hamas that also includes Israeli safety from Hamas, asking for Israelis to simply lay down all their weapons without any guarantee of safety is asking for a nation of mostly Jews to die without putting up a fight. And wanting Arab Israelis and also Jews not to die is not what Zionism means. It's not even what pro-Israel means. That's just called not being violently antisemitic, actually.

Israelis aren't mindless Zionist Nazi Monsters who get off on killing Palestinian babies. Palestinians aren't Noble Savages who have never done anything wrong as individual people and who are inherently morally superior to every single Israeli because they were born Palestinian. Both Israelis and Palestinians are complex, global micro-minorities who have both perpetrated tremendous harm to one another over the course of several decades, and neither group is going anywhere. Neither group deserves for its people to die. Neither group is only "worth helping" if western onlookers categorize them as "innocent" and "good." If someone's activism isn't geared toward respecting the inherent dignity of Palestinians and Israelis regardless of either group's history, then that person is not engaging in activism. If someone is asking you to support that cause because their chosen cause involves perfect cinnamon rolls being targeted by pure evil enemies, then they are not asking you to join them in activism. They are not even asking you to join them in a political reality. What they are asking is for you to join their toxic fandom.

And reducing this conflict down to simplistic fandom rhetoric is not going to help anyone and is frankly offensive to all Jews, Israelis, and Palestinians--all of whom deserve to be seen for the traumatized, suffering, imperfect people they are.

People don't earn support by being good. They inherently deserve support, because they are people.

All that said, maybe it's not emotionally useful for you to engage in this group. Maybe this type of conflict is too much for you. That's OK, too.

And while I would never let antisemitism take away an opportunity for me to fulfill a dream, I will say that my experience of Antisemitism during this time is 100000000% responsible for making me realize that the dreams I had before this experience need to evolve. I no longer wish to be in the town where I live. I wish to be home with my family closeby, because when the chips are down, that's who matters. The idea of moving back to my home state was unthinkable to me before October. Now? I cannot get out of here fast enough. There's nothing I want that is exclusive to my current location anymore. The community I thought I'd built for myself is gone. And while antisemitism didn't take them from me, it sure as fuck showed me that I never had it in thee first place.

If you're going to join this collective, be sure its worth the fight. And if it's not worth the fight, then look for a place that is. Exploring your gender identity freely should not come at the cost of living your ethnic and religious identities openly. Ever.

Don't trade one closet for another. You deserve more than that. We all do.

hope that helps @kit-chaos-doodle

[notaplaceofhonour]

Hey, sorry if this is like an offensive or bad question, I just saw something and wanted to ask someone who I know knows more about this than me. /Nfta if it's like uncomfortable or anything ofc, I'm asking this in good faith.

Can someone who is not Jewish be zionist? Like could a white, Christian american be zionist? I know obviously that the term has been warped and made into something it is not at all by people who are, well antisemitic, and that the original definition isn't at all what people who say "zionists dni" mean, but can someone who is goyim be zionist under the more correct definitions?

Not at all bad or offensive!

To start with, I want to clarify that I’m a non-Zionist, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. However, the reason I’m not a Zionist (the way I would define it) is relevant to answering your question, so hopefully it helps.

Some Jews may define it differently, but to me, Zionism—in the political sense—is not merely the belief that Jews should have national self-determination & safety in Israel (though that is the core of all Zionism movements), but a movement characterized by political action to that end, which is actively involved in the development or enrichment of Jewish communities & national identity in Israel. I don’t live in Israel; I’m not a member of any Zionist organizations; I’m not really involved in Israeli politics beyond Having Opinions™️ about the parts of it that are relevant to my community, offering critical support for their peace camp, or debunking misinformation; and I’m not in any way responsible for cultural or national development/enrichment in Israel. Thus, I’m not a Zionist.

(And obviously I am not in favor of any of the evil things goyim seem to think Zionism “actually” means: I’m not anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, pro-Israeli expansionism, pro-ethnic cleansing, pro-genocide, pro-colonialism, or Jewish supremacist, and I am every bit as in favor of Palestinian self-determination & safety as I am in favor of the same for Israelis. So I’m not a “Zionist” even in that warped & inaccurate sense.)

Goyim who aren’t actively involved in Zionist political action likewise wouldn’t be Zionists, but I do think it needs to be further clarified that—because Zionism is at its core characterized by Jewish self-determination—any goyish movement or organization that calls itself Zionist while sidelining Jews or subverting Jewish self-determination is not actually Zionist.

For instance: a lot of Christian Zionism, especially the Apocalyptic “End Times” Prophecy sort, is actually about “philosemitic” fetishization of Jews for American political & Christian religious purposes, based around the certainty that Jews will convert to Christianity & Israel will be a Christian theocracy, not actually about uplifting Jewish self-determination. I would not consider “Christian Zionist” lobbying from organizations like CUFI to be authentically Zionist.

That doesn’t mean Christians & other goyim can’t be Zionists. But the test of whether they are is whether they’re actively putting material support behind Jewish self-determination & not, say, simply trying to trojan horse themselves into controlling the land.*

Something that might help is to think of it along similar lines to the word “feminist”. The Feminist movement was started by women to address issues that most centrally affect women. Men can be feminists, but their feminism is contingent on their support for women’s freedom, equality, and self-advocacy. A man who simply thinks “yeah sure women should be equal” but does nothing to make sure women in his life or broader society are, or who only does/says all the right things to exploit women, isn’t really much of a feminist.

A couple complicating factors are that a) Zionism, as a national movement for self-determination, is much more specific than Feminism, a general movement for women’s equality, and b) the goy/jew ratio (98.8% vs. 0.2% of the world’s population) is a lot more skewed in goyim’s favor than the male/female one (which is nearly 50/50). Both of these add up to my personal opinion that it’s even more crucial to be more selective in who gets called a Zionist than a Feminist.

but TL; DR: Ultimately, if someone’s genuinely supportive of Jewish national self-determination in Israel, I don’t see a reason they shouldn’t be allowed to call themselves a Zionist, as long as they aren’t trying to dictate what that should look like to Jews. But I’m not Zionist myself, and opinions may vary, so I’d ask some Jews who self-identify as Zionist.

*Lest this be misunderstood as a “No True Scotsman”, I’d like to clarify even further: I’m not talking about merely being ineffective or failing at delivering on the promise of self-determination, or failing to be good allies, I’m talking about instances where the goal is to exploit Jews and actively opposed to Jewish self-determination, such as the goal of making Israel a Supersessionist Christian Theocracy.