🧑🏻🏫🌈📝📖🦹🏻🧶🪬🧿✡️🕎♿🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ He/him, they/them, or ey/em, 31, Jewish, genderqueer, bisexual, and engaged to the hottest lady imaginable (junebug93). Our tentative marriage date is summer, 2027. Currently getting my master's degree. I post about comics, social justice, bugs, animals, whatever strikes my fancy. On a personal quest to follow every jumblr blog. Header by @jewishsideblog. Profile picture from X-Men '97.
Free Palestine from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Give them democracy.
Woman Life Freedom. Free Iran!
Free Ukraine! Russia is a terrorist state.
Free Kurdistan!
Free Sudan!
Free Tibet!
Romani people are still oppressed.
ICE are murderers, and the US immigration system needs to be dismantled entirely.
Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary people are non-binary.
Intersex people deserve to be respected and given proper medical care. And intersex issues need to be discussed in their own context without connecting them to trans people.
Sex work is real work. We need to protect the people who choose to go into sex work while protecting the victims of trafficking. The only way to protect people who want to leave sex work is to protect people who want to be in sex work.
Vaccines are good and should be mandatory with rare, medical exemptions.
People know themselves best and can define their identities best. Don't tell people how they should call themselves. If someone isn't causing active harm, they're fine. Just let people live and stop worrying about he/him lesbians or whatever. Let people choose their own pronouns.
All human beings are equally valuable. All human beings deserve human rights. Yes, even those people.
i think hamas and hezbollah and the irgc and basically every terrorist organization hellbent on killing the jews makes a little more sense or is at least more morbidly interesting to look at when you view it under the lens of them being people who just don't know how much power they've lost. because the arab conquests happened so long ago that landback people refuse to acknowledge that colonization happened in the first place, and in that time across the entire world really there were basically zero consequences for oppressing jews. nul. efes. because sure there was that occasional pesky uprising but anyone but jews caring about antisemitism is a very very recent historical development. and at the end of the day these groups are religious extremists, and religious extremists more often than not are people so conservative they're basically stuck in the middle ages. so like yeah they're aware that the jews have a state and an army now and all that but just by the osmosis of the kind of culture they live in and absorb jews are still viewed as something very destructible. a century or two ago you could commit a massacre, you could commit many massacres against jews and walk away relatively unscathed. but now jews have actual agency in the world and we have the power to retaliate, retaliate hard even, and that simply doesn't register to the islamist mind. it doesn't compute.
a century or two ago you could commit a massacre, you could commit many massacres against jews and walk away relatively unscathed
Yeah, this is what really kills me when I look up things like the Hebron & Safed Massacre of 1517, 1834, and 1929, or the Jaffa Riots of 1921, Arab Riots of 1936-9, the Tiberias Massacre of 1938, the Farhud of 1941, etc.
If you don’t understand Hebron and Safed 1929, you don’t understand the conflict.
I've spoken with multiple Muslims from the Middle East who earnestly tried to explain (in what I think is good faith) that their "loss of land" in 1948 was super traumatic, and wouldn't you do the same in their shoes?
But when I pointed out things like the Hebron & Safed Massacre or the Farhud, they quickly scoffed and brushed it off, like, "Ugh, that again? Why do Jews keep using the Farhud? / When will Jews get over it?"
And I genuinely, earnestly, not snarkily, 100% sincerely believe that a lot of Middle Eastern Muslims are culturally used to attacking and killing Jews whenever the whim suited them, and then brushing it under the rug and pretending it never happened afterwards; and they're simply not used to Jews fighting back or holding them to account, and they genuinely think it's super unfair that Jews keep winning or bringing it up now.
They think, "Ugh, you're still on about that?" because they've gotten over it, so why haven't we?
They've never had to put themselves in someone else's shoes and walk around in it, so they can't put themselves in the Mizrahi Jewish dhimmi's shoes when on the receiving end of a pogrom.
To borrow the Leftist term, "To those accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression."
but now jews have actual agency in the world and we have the power to retaliate, retaliate hard even, and that simply doesn't register to the islamist mind. it doesn't compute.
Pretty much this. Under the Pact of Umar, Jews were not allowed to own weapons or raise a hand to strike a Muslim under any circumstances (not even in self-defense), so massacring Jews was SUPER EASY because Jews were, by design, an easy target.
This all changed under the British Mandate, when Jews were allowed to own weapons and build militias, and suddenly Jews who embraced British colonial changes (like the end of Muslim dhimmi status) were no longer easy targets.
On ‘Nakba Day’, we should recognise that the man who conceived the idea was describing the inability of the Arabs to stop the establishment
The guy who coined the term "The Nakba" completely railed against Arabs who talked big about crushing the "Zionist" opposition, but then quickly turned heel and fled the second the enemy started to fight back, embarrassing them all.
The thing is, in 1948 the British and Americans imposed an Embargo against the baby-state of Israel when the seven surrounding Arab nations (Egypt, Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon) attacked in 1948, so Jews had to smuggle weapons from Czechoslovakia. The second Jews were able to fight back, the Arabs who were used to to slaughtering defenseless dhimmi whenever they felt like it were unprepared and quickly fled when their own lives were in danger.
I think Jews being able to own weapons or raise an army or para-militia is a fairly recent development in Middle Eastern history, ever since the British Mandate taken from 400+ year Ottoman rule, so I think a lot of Israel's enemies are stuck in the 1300+ year mindset of, "Jews are weak and easy targets," and then they're shocked, appalled, and flabbergasted that Jews can hit back... and think it's super unfair to them when we do.
Again, not trying to be rude, just... trying to unpack the human psychology behind the seemingly nonsensical endless attacks against Israel, even though Israel keeps winning.
I was thinking about the whole "fandom moves on to something else" thing and it made me think about my annual picnic. Every year, I have a big picnic in early November and invite a bunch of people. I rent out a pavilion at a local lake, have people bring food that I grill for them if they want, have some games for the kids in the group, and just generally hang out.
Now, the way this goes is that I have everyone show up around 4:30pm. People show up, it's a big crowd, it's pretty warm out because the sun is still up and the mingling is great. People eat, share food, the kids run around in the trees and check out the lake, and we all just generally enjoy ourselves and catch up. Then the sun starts to go down.
People start getting under the pavilion, it starts getting a little chilly, and maybe those with really young kids start to pack up and say good-bye. This is usually when I light up the fire in the pavilion's fireplace and people will begin gathering around there. I let the grill burn down and sit down with everyone as everything gets a bit more mellow. Maybe we make s'mores or have cookies or something but this is usually were you start having more people say their good-byes and head out. That's how it goes for the next couple of hours, little dribbles of people winding up and heading on home until it's 9:30 at night and there's just a few people left in the pavilion in the woods sitting around a little fireplace quietly talking.
You know what? That's the best time at these things. Some years we'll be out there until almost midnight, just chatting quietly and staring into the coals. You learn things about people then, you hear interesting things, and you just feel closer.
So what does this have to do with fandom and moving on? Well, I see it like this. The show is still on, that's the early part of the day. Plenty of people around, lots of activity where art gets made, headcanons and meta fly fast and furious, and tons of fic gets written. Then the show ends, people are still creating but a few peel away, they have other things they have to do or just aren't interested in sticking around. Slowly but surely it goes until it's just a few people left.
That's when the interesting things really start coming out. You still have the other stuff but you start to get off the wall headcanons and wild meta, you get odd art, you get fic the person finally decided to write, and it's good. And hey, every once in a while, someone shows up late and you grab some food out of the cooler for them and warm up a burger for them over the coals while others grab a chair for them and you get them up to speed on the conversation and maybe show them some pictures from earlier in the night and they get to have some of that glow from earlier even if they missed the original.
That's fandom to me. As long as a person is still sitting around that fireplace late into the night, ready to chat, the fandom is never dead.
Btw, that idea that privilege makes you morally evil and suffering makes you morally good is just repackaged versions of the Christian concepts of the evils of luxury and the holiness of martyrdom. Hope this helps!
Step one: use hall bathroom instead of master bathroom, notice that Builder Beige switchplate is horrid with lovely new purple walls. Take it down and wash it thoroughly.
Step two: dig out stash of old seed catalogues saved for this purpose. Get super crabby because you can't find the Mod Podge anywhere. Give up, then have daughter find it immediately, in the "glue box" you forgot you created.
Step three: decide on a color scheme, and start cutting. I asked @phantomtheraccoon if we should coordinate or contrast and she cleverly said both.
Step four: collect your flowers and fiddle with layout.
Step five: paint item with Mod Podge, place your images, and paint them again. Leave to dry, which honestly doesn't take long.
Step six: trim edges add cut out holes. I didn't actually cut out the screw holes; I just cut little X's there for the screws to go through. Worked fine to put it up, we'll see someday how it survives taking it apart again.
Step seven: coat everything with Mod Podge at least one more time, paying special attention to edges. Dry elevated on something (say, the top of the Mod Podge bottle) so it doesn't stick down.
Step eight: okay, wow, that's awesomer than expected!
Ooh, yes, I should decorate my light switch plates here, even if I can't bring myself to do all the painting. I used to have a Lumos/Nox one I made very hastily when I was first renting and it made me happy every time I used it. Light switch plates are such an easy, cheap way to decorate when your space is temporary (they're like a dollar at home improvement stores and very simple to replace with the original when you move out), highly recommend this kind of craft.
Yes to this addition. They're so cheap! Just do something, and then you will enjoy it every time you use it! Do something crappy! You can redo it later. This is such a low-risk/high reward project.
They had us do this in Girl Scouts! It's such a wonderful activity for kids too, and a great way to have them contribute to the house. My mother still has my sister and mine up and in use.
I know that fascist attacks on "obscenity" and "pornography" are a very dangerous threat to queer people and art, but the idea that all expressions of all kinks must be treated as default value neutral, or even good, as a result is absurd. porn is art, and so it is open to criticism.
you cannot have it both ways. if porn, kink and obscenity is worth protecting, and I believe they are, that means you can't whine and cry foul when it is criticized and analyzed. your desires, like everything else, exist in larger contexts, and sometimes they are homophobic, misogynist and racist.
the idea that all expressions of human desire are equivalent, and exist free from any larger historical, cultural, artistic or interpersonal contexts… that is absurd. why would desire alone be unique in that way? why would kink be different from every other human expression? ridiculous.
I am not swayed by accusations of "puritanism" made in defense of straight men's corrective rape fantasies or white peoples' racist roleplay. I do not believe such accusations come from a sincere desire to protect filth, a noble pursuit, but from a childish fear of judgement. from discomfort.
[The above are stills of Lisa Diamond talking. Transcription follows: "Often, our fantasies involve things that are taboo, things that are forbidden, things that we feel that we can't express in everyday life. That doesn't mean you actually want it in your everyday life. But there's a lot of variability in sexual fantasies, and they don't tell you anything reliable about you. If you have fantasies that disturb you or scare you, and you wonder what they mean, they don't mean a lot. So, don't worry so much about them." ~Lisa Diamond, feminist psychologist.]
The thing is, the "criticism" the person in screenshots is talking about is not criticism. It's censure. They cherry-picked some of the kinks and fantasies that they knew would cause an immediate emotional reaction in their audience, that would cause a knee-jerk disgust, and relied on that to support their argument. They're appealing to your disgust.
Pornography is art, but they're not talking about art when they say "fantasies" and "roleplay". Those aren't art. Those are people's private thoughts and private bedroom activities--which are NOT, actually, open to criticism. You don't get to criticise what people do in their private homes OR the privacy of their own thoughts, because it doesn't involve you.
Be VERY attentive to the words here. Be very attentive to the motivations behind the choices this person is making in their word-choices. They're being VERY sneaky and using several tactics to make it seem like what they're saying is just common sense, that it's NOT fascist, because they've lampshaded fascism in the opening sentence to make you think what they're talking about is Different. They take care to be saying "art" and "pornography" several times to get you nodding along, before suddenly switching to "fantasies" and "roleplay", BUT using words that are an Easy No and immediately provoke strong disgust emotions in the target audience drawn in by the opening sentence, and so tries to get around you noticing they've switched from the word "art" to the words "fantasy" and "roleplay". Pay attention! Do not let your emotions drive the car and that includes Disgust!
This is sneaky and underhanded and it's how the whorephobic Neo-Hays Code fascism pipeline starts! You are being recruited!
Your FANTASIES? Private thoughts that affect only you.
Your ROLEPLAY? Private activities that affect only you and other consenting partners.
These are not "pornography" these are not "art", and therefore other people who are not involved do not get to have an opinion. It does not matter how "uncomfortable" you are with the idea that literally anything and everything is someone's kink--that's a you problem.
Once something becomes art that is public, you are allowed to offer up criticism, analysis, and commentary. But merely offering moral censure--because to be clear, that's exactly what this is--is not even all that valid to do on art. You can, of course; it's just you getting angry at the art, and saying it offends you and then sometimes it means saying it SHOULD also offend everybody else. But that's just your opinion at that point. Until you actually do real criticism, "this is bad and you should feel bad" is still only at the level of analysis as "well I hated that picture". Okay you're allowed. But it's not critical analysis, it's not commentary, it's not applying any kind of actual real critical thinking to the art.
Stay vigilant, especially when you feel outrage, disgust, or someone starts off a rant with the line "I know it's fascist to attack porn but" or anything similar.
Asking because I want to understand, but this part made me raise an eyebrow and I hope it can be clarified:
You don't get to criticise what people do in their private homes OR the privacy of their own thoughts, because it doesn't involve you.
By that logic, does that mean if someone has racist, misogynistic, or pedophilic thoughts in the privacy of their home, we shouldn't critique them or call them out? Is there something I've misunderstood here?
Yes. Because you are not entitled to know what someone THINKS in THEIR OWN HEAD. You don't know and aren't entitled to know what someone's thoughts are. You CERTAINLY aren't entitled to know what someone's thoughts are in their own head, in their own HOME.
TBH your hypothetical situation is ridiculous because YOU WOULDN'T KNOW. You wouldn't KNOW what someone was thinking in their own home unless you were in their home and they TOLD YOU. And then it wouldn't be a thought anymore.
Everyone has had thoughts, fantasies, and ideas that are “problematic” one way or another. You simply can’t measure character in a heap of synapses.
You measure it in meaningful choice. Uncoerced choice.
For what it’s worth, I disagree that fantasies aren’t about very much. I think it’s really normal to have fantasies about heavy shit just like it’s normal to watch media of heavy shit.
Rape fantasies? So, so normal, especially in a society that tells people that everything they do and think is wrong. Rape fantasies aren’t to glorify being raped. They’re a fantasy about having access to sexual experiences without the responsibility of pressured choice in a culture that judges every action — and every thought, apparently!
When you start thinking of it that way, a lot more types of fantasies make sense. Some are pressure release valves for omnipresent racial tension. Some are about struggling or playing with bodily autonomy, about letting out a more visceral and primitive side, about freedom and catharsis.
I’ll critique media (porn) all day long, but I’m reminded of this quote from the West Wing:
“President Bartlett, if children can get porn on the streets for five dollars (I can’t remember the specific amount), is that too high a price to pay for free speech?”
I think in the context, Lisa Diamond is speaking to people who fear that their fantasies "mean" they are bad or want those things in real life.
I agree that they mean something psychologically to you personally. They do not, however, define you. They are as you say, a way to explore or react to things.
I know people who have the kinks they have because those kinks turn the parts of their disabilities they hate, the parts that take their ability to function, into something their dom wants.
I have a bunch of my kinks in response to not having enough to eat for the first 30 years of my life. I have others because they're me acting out the fantasy of being attractive and perisex. And I even have the very, very, very, VERY common element of rape in a lot of my fantasies, because of the exact same reason a lot of women do: because I was raised with the idea that "good girls say no and don't like sex" while having a libido and all the associated shaming and censure of my actual body I could not control the shape or size of. I have a medical kink because it helps me take control of my medical trauma, which I have a lot of.
But also?
People don't need to have "a legitimate reason" to have a kink. They don't. Your fantasies don't HAVE to mean anything at all other than you wanna noodle around with this idea for a while! They don't need to be justified because they're your private thoughts.
There is a very real problem that has been seeded, fanned, and spread by the SAME small group of moral police since the 80s that people's private lives should be morally censured, that fantasy is the same thing as reality. I watched it happen with the late-stage Satanic Panic and Livejournal Strikethrough of the 00s. I watched it snowball into FOSTA-SESTA and HORRIBLE regression of feminism. I watched it shut down fandom to almost nothing and make everyone feel like they have to Be Good 24/7 and police their every thought.
You can't control your feelings and random thoughts. You can't. Your brain is gonna do stuff.
The only thing that matters is what actions you take that affect other people, and what words you speak or type to other people. That's it. Your toys don't have feelings. Your private thoughts are private. Your sketchbook and your personal documents are private. What you do in your own home by yourself is private. When you get together with another consenting adult and both agree to play the same game together? That's also private and nobody's business but you and whatever other people are playing with you.
The idea that people's private lives should be subject to ANY outside and especially governmental scrutiny and control IS FASCISM. That's literally the definition of fascism!!! In conclusion:
