my voice is my weapon of choice

all the pretty things i like, and moaning about the things i don't.

[debigotizer]

hi, i'm sorry if this has been asked but in your powerpoint you said that the tumblr sj community is guilty of antisemitism. what kind of things has it done? also, i love your blog!

I’ll take this one since I’m the blog’s resident Jew.  Oy vey, where do I start…

SJ community loves to police Jewish identity and silence actual Jews when they talk about their own identities.  This usually happens in context of either “Are Jews White?” or “Jewishness is just a religion” conversations.  In reality, Jews are an ethnoreligious group that ethnically originated in the middle east, and while some ethnic Jews have light skin, it’s actually due to centuries of forced assimilation in European and Slavic countries through rape, which is a big reason why Jewishness is matrilineal.  Furthermore, there exist Jews who do not look white at all.  There are black, brown, and asian Jews who are all ethnically Jewish, and these conversations erase them.

"Jewish privilege".  Fact: It’s not a thing.  It’s actually a very common anti-semitic trope that says that Jews run everything so they are not oppressed.  Jews are oppressed, and face anti-semitic violence.

"Anti-semitism is not just about Jews, there are other semitic people." While yea, there are other semitic people, the term "anti-semitism" was created by Germans in the 19th century to refer specifically to the hatred of Jews because it sounded more scientific.

Blaming anti-semitic violence in Europe on the actions of Israel.  I see this literally every single day on this site, and it’s very upsetting.  Jews that live in the diaspora are not responsible for Israel’s actions, and especially should not be suffering at the hands of white people in Europe under the guise of anti-zionism.  

Finally, and this is a big pet peeve of mine.  The only people I ever see reblogging posts about anti-semitism are other Jews.  Even a lot of my non-Jewish followers will reblog posts about racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. but ignore posts about anti-semitism, and that as a Jew makes me feel unsafe. 

That’s enough for now.  If you’re interested in learning more about Jewish identity and anti-semitism, you are welcome to check out my personal blog: yochevedke.  I discuss that stuff a lot.  

-Yeva

[returnofthejudai]

Another Jew reblogging about anti-semitism. I’ve seen some increase in concern about this from goyim, but it’s been slow going. Hopefully we’ll pick up a big head of steam soon.

[challahbee-deactivated20190831]

"The only people I ever see reblogging posts about anti-semitism are other Jews. Even a lot of my non-Jewish followers will reblog posts about racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. but ignore posts about anti-semitism, and that as a Jew makes me feel unsafe."

the amount with which this point in particular resonates with me is unreal

[in-catz-we-trust]

[feitclub]

It’s a katakana font (named “ゴウラ”) designed to look like Olde English fancy print

This must be the Japanese equivalent of that “asian” font you see on Chinese takeout boxes

(via a friend-of-a-friend on Facebook. hat-tip to artofemilyo)

[allthingslinguistic]

The comments on the Language Log post about Gothic katakana are also interesting, including a link to The Structures of Letters and Symbols throughout Human History Are Selected to Match Those Found in Objects in Natural Scenes. 

[sodomymcscurvylegs]

Being an adult is realizing that $5,000 is a lot of money to owe and very little money to own.

[darkalleysunflower]

this is real

[showslow-deactivated20180412]

[showslow-deactivated20180412]

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter of special British denizenship.

Born in Dronrijp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there. A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in fabulous marbled interiors or against a backdrop of dazzling blue Mediterranean Sea and sky.

Though admired during his lifetime for his draftsmanship and depictions of Classical antiquity, his work fell into disrepute after his death, and only since the 1960s has it been re-evaluated for its importance within nineteenth-century English art.

[basicallykerry]

<33333 pre-Raphaelites.

[doctorgaylove]

Homophobes who say “but the gay lifestyle leads to depression and higher risks of suicide”.

Like really? And why is that? Whose fault do you think that is?

[sugaryumyum-deactivated20170907]

Argentina: doing it right. After passing a groundbreaking gender identity law on Wednesday, Argentina, which became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage, now leads the entire world when it comes to trans rights.

The new law, which was passed by 55-0 and is expected to be signed by president Cristina Fernandez, grants trans people the right to legally change their gender identity without having to get approval from doctors or judges–and, importantly, without having to change their bodies at all first. Not having a valid ID that matches your gender identity is a huge barrier to access to education, employment, health care, you name it. As Kalym Sori, an Argentinian trans man said, “This is why the law of identity is so important. It opens the door to the rest of our rights.”

[basicallykerry]

Well done you, Argentina.

[clockworkgate]

Death threats drive Anita Sarkeesian from her home

[basicallykerry]

Anita Sarkeesian, whose excellent Tropes vs Women in Video Games series is an important contribution to the discussion of gender and games, has been driven from her home by enraged male gamers whose stalking, and explicit, credible threats of sexual violence against her and her family convinced her to go into hiding.

In so doing, these men have ably demonstrated the point Sarkeesian sought to make all along: that gaming is riddled with misogynistic violence, and that this violence reflects a real-world misogyny rampant within the gaming world.

Trolls drive Anita Sarkeesian out of her house to prove misogyny doesn’t exist [Adi Robertson/The Verge]

... No, you don't do this. Some people are so effing disgusting.

[basicallykerry]

And the butterbeer recipe is... a success! omnomnom :9

[haydenrodgers]

[basicallykerry]

whizzbees:

Currently drinking: The best Butterbeer I have ever tasted.

I SHOULD MAKE THIS POST-HASTE.

[kushandwizdom]

Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.

Carl Jung (via kushandwizdom)

[lb-lee-deactivated20180415]

8 Comics for Folks Who Don't Like Comics

I adore comics, but I’ll be the first to admit that they can be hard to get into.  US comics are mostly known for superheroes, constantly changing writers and artists, and decades of continuity that could crush an elephant.  I meet folks, and they ask, “Where do I start?”

Well, I’m here to help, with a totally biased list of ten comics that I consider absolutely fantastic, easy to get into, and short.  All of them are in print, at most three volumes.  I’m trying to have a wide range of genres and characters.  Let’s get started!

Read More

[wtfduolingo]

Almost a third of the exercises in this lesson were variations on this sentence. Now I’m a bit paranoid about what Duolingo is doing with my personal data.

[thetides]

[learningthrougherror]

Once again this goes from a history textbook to a poorly-written D&D campaign.

From George Thompson & Jerry Combee, World History and Cultures in Christian Perspective 2nd Edition (Pensacola: A Beka Book, 1997), 144.

[prettyclever]

Justin Mezzell on Colabs

(via Design Work Life)

[quoted-books]

In a world as wrong as this one, all we can do is make things as right as we can.

Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees (via quoted-books)