Jewish Self-Determination and Nerdiness

IMPORTANT NOTE:if you are rude or insulting to me in reblogs or comments on my posts (or are just boring) I will block you—I don’t owe you my attention 36 year old Oregonian Jewish Pantheist Progressive Nerd Librarian White Male who believes in the right of all peoples to self-determination. Not too old to care, not too young to count. I oppose the murder of Jews for political purposes, and I reblog stuff I like.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

My instant block policy has officially evolved to include making arguments we’ve all heard a billion times that have counter arguments we’ve all heard a billion times. If you’re boring, you are not worth my time, and you’re getting blocked

[ja-khajay]

that one extremely homoerotic painting of a babylonian man listening to a babylonian twink playing babylonian harp. that one

[ja-khajay]

yeah

[theotherwesley]

this is my favorite painting full stop

[adulthoodisokay]

that “babylonian twink” is King David

[lunoki]

The baffled twink composing Hallelujah

[auxphono]

Please please please don't click those phishing texts

[auxphono]

[miriammagazine]

Your Antisemitism Is Probably From Medieval Christianity

A huge amount of modern antisemitism did not appear out of nowhere. Many of the ideas people repeat today, even in "secular" or atheist spaces, are just recycled versions of medieval Christian anti-Jewish beliefs.

"Jews kill children" / "Jews thirst for blood" / "Israelis harvest organs." This is the modern descendant of the blood libel, the medieval Christian accusation that Jews murdered Christian children for ritual purposes, especially around Passover. Modern versions include imagery of Jews or Israelis drinking blood, killing children for pleasure, or harvesting organs. USHMM: Blood Libel

"Jews think they are superior because they are the ‘chosen people.’" This distorts the Jewish concept of chosenness, which traditionally concerns covenant, obligation, and responsibility, not racial or moral superiority. Christian anti-Jewish polemics historically portrayed Jews as arrogant or spiritually obstinate for maintaining their covenant and rejecting Christianity. The modern "Jewish supremacy" version grows out of that older framework. My Jewish Learning: Chosen People USHMM: Antisemitism

"The Jews killed Jesus." This is the classic deicide charge. For centuries, Jews were collectively blamed for the crucifixion of Jesus, even though he was executed by Roman authorities. This accusation helped justify persecution throughout Christian Europe. USHMM: Antisemitism

"Jews are greedy / Jews love money / Jews control finance." Medieval Christian restrictions excluded Jews from many professions while pushing some into moneylending and commerce. Jews were then demonized for participating in the very economic roles they had been restricted to. This is the ancestor of modern "Jewish bankers," "Rothschild control," and "Jews run Wall Street" conspiracies. USHMM: Antisemitism in the Early Modern Era

"Jews secretly control governments, media, banks, or the world." Medieval Christian societies frequently portrayed Jews as an alien and conspiratorial group acting against Christian society. Later secular conspiracy theories kept the same structure while replacing religious language with political language. USHMM: Antisemitism

"Jews are disloyal to the countries they live in." Jews were historically treated as permanent outsiders in Christian Europe. This evolved into the modern dual loyalty trope: the belief that Jews are secretly more loyal to other Jews, Israel, or a supposed global Jewish agenda than to their own countries. ADL: Online Antisemitism Report Card

"Jews spread disease, poison people, or contaminate society." During the Black Death, Jews were accused of poisoning wells and deliberately causing disease. Modern conspiracy theories about Jews spreading pandemics, controlling pharmaceutical companies, or deliberately corrupting society use the same basic structure. USHMM: Blood Libel

"Jews harm or corrupt children." This overlaps heavily with blood libel. Medieval Jews were accused of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering Christian children. Modern claims that Jews deliberately corrupt, mutilate, sexualize, or indoctrinate children recycle that same imagery. ADL: Antisemitism and Conspiratorial Beliefs

"Jews are demonic, satanic, or uniquely evil." Medieval Christian art and literature often directly associated Jews with the devil. Modern descriptions of Jews or "Zionists" as inherently monstrous, demonic, or metaphysically evil descend from this tradition even when the speaker is secular. USHMM: Antisemitism

"Jews deserve exile because they rejected God." A longstanding Christian theological idea held that Jewish exile was divine punishment for rejecting Christianity. This contributed to the belief that Jews were supposed to remain stateless and subordinate. Modern hostility to the idea of Jewish return or Jewish self-determination can sometimes reproduce this older supersessionist structure. USHMM: Antisemitism From the Early Church to 1400

"Jews fabricate persecution for sympathy, money, or power." Modern claims that Jews invent antisemitism, exaggerate persecution, fabricated the Holocaust, or use accusations of antisemitism solely for political advantage build on older stereotypes portraying Jews as inherently dishonest and manipulative. USHMM: Antisemitism

The point: a society can become less religious without automatically shedding the prejudices that were created inside a religious culture. Many modern antisemitic claims are secularized versions of much older Christian accusations against Jews.

Being atheist does not make someone immune to repeating Christian antisemitism. Sometimes the theology disappears, but the trope survives.

[arandomshotinthedark]

A couple of these are actually far older prior to Christianity. The Greeks, Romans and Egyptians held some very fucked up views on Jewish people to the point that Josephus Flavius wrote Against Apion to counter the 'claims' made.

Also look at Tacitus and what he said on Jews (some quotes because holy shit, this guy HATED Jews)-'Moses, wishing to secure for the future his authority over the nation, gave them a novel form of worship, opposed to all that is practiced by other men. Things sacred with us, with them have no sanctity, while they allow what with us is forbidden. In their holy place they have consecrated an image of the animal* by whose guidance they found deliverance from their long and thirsty wanderings. They slay the ram, seemingly in derision of Hammon, and they sacrifice the ox, because the Egyptians worship it as Apis. They abstain from swine's flesh, in consideration of what they suffered when they were infected by the leprosy to which this animal is liable. By their frequent fasts they still bear witness to the long hunger of former days, and the Jewish bread, made without leaven, is retained as a memorial of their hurried seizure of corn. We are told that the rest of the seventh day was adopted, because this day brought with it a termination of their toils; after a while the charm of indolence beguiled them into giving up the seventh year also to inaction.'

*Tacitus is claiming Jewish people worshiped a donkey in the temple.

'This worship, however introduced, is upheld by its antiquity; all their other customs, which are at once perverse and disgusting, owe their strength to their very badness. The most degraded out of other races, scorning their national beliefs, brought to them their contributions and presents. This augmented the wealth of the Jews, as also did the fact, that among themselves they are inflexibly honest and ever ready to shew compassion, though they regard the rest of mankind with all the hatred of enemies. They sit apart at meals, they sleep apart, and though, as a nation, they are singularly prone to lust, they abstain from intercourse with foreign women; among themselves nothing is unlawful. Circumcision was adopted by them as a mark of difference from other men. Those who come over to their religion adopt the practice, and have this lesson first instilled into them, to despise all gods, to disown their country, and set at nought parents, children, and brethren. Still they provide for the increase of their numbers. It is a crime among them to kill any newly-born infant. They hold that the souls of all who perish in battle or by the hands of the executioner are immortal. Hence a passion for propagating their race and a contempt for death. They are wont to bury rather than to burn their dead, following in this the Egyptian custom; they bestow the same care on the dead, and they hold the same belief about the lower world.'

'Quite different is their faith about things divine. The Egyptians worship many animals and images of monstrous form; the Jews have purely mental conceptions of Deity, as one in essence. They call those profane who make representations of God in human shape out of perishable materials. They believe that Being to be supreme and eternal, neither capable of representation, nor of decay. They therefore do not allow any images to stand in their cities, much less in their temples. This flattery is not paid to their kings, nor this honor to our Emperors. From the fact, however, that their priests used to chant to the music of flutes and cymbals, and to wear garlands of ivy, and that a golden vine was found in the temple, some have thought that they worshiped father Liber, the conqueror of the East, though their institutions do not by any means harmonize with the theory; for Liber established a festive and cheerful worship, while the Jewish religion is tasteless and mean.'

[chutzpahchesed]

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'There are too many of you': Video of antisemitic rant by French Alps store owner ignites anger

Video of stall owner at the Les Deux Alpes resort complaining about the presence of Jewish summer vacationers has gone viral, sparking heate

A short video circulated on social media has sparked an uproar in France after a business owner at the Les Deux Alpes resort in the Alps was seen complaining to a customer about the presence of Jewish vacationers at the site. According to reports, she refused to sell products to Jewish customers. The 22-second video went viral and drew angry reactions, the website of the French newspaper Le Dauphiné Libéré reported Saturday.

In the video, the woman, who owns a food stand near the resort’s summer toboggan run, is seen saying at the start of the conversation: “There are too many of you.” The customer asks her: “Who is ‘too many of us,’ ma’am?” She responds explicitly: “The Jewish community. There are too many of you.”

“And then what?” asks the man filming the conversation on his cellphone. “And then what? At some point, it’s too much for people,” the woman replies.

In another part of the conversation, published on social media, the man who filmed the video makes clear that statements of this kind cannot become routine, and reminds her that France has laws punishing discrimination and antisemitic remarks.

The video, which was posted among other places on X, formerly Twitter, was forwarded to France’s interior minister and justice minister, as well as to the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said: “The National Gendarmerie has opened an investigation in cooperation with the prosecutor’s office. The woman involved will have to answer for the remarks that were made, which I strongly condemn and which have no place in our republic.”

Le Dauphiné Libéré reported that no police complaint has been filed at this stage. However, French police investigators are expected to soon carry out checks in an effort to verify the video and obtain the business owner’s version of events.

The incident occurred at Les Deux Alpes, a popular mountain resort in France that also operates during the summer months. The video sparked a broad online debate about the treatment of Jewish vacationers and the rise in antisemitic remarks in France.

[smhmyheaddude]

well how can i refuse if it came straight from an orc

[foldingfittedsheets]

I feel like I told this tale previously but I cannot find any record of it and so here is the story told once again of the time my betrothed lost sight of their humanity.

I joke sometimes that my betrothed is really a superhuman hiding their secret identity. It honestly tracks based on how often they forget how strong regular people are. They accidentally hurt me just moving around and often overdo acts of strength. I’ve always been pretty waify so it’s bewildering to me.

On this occasion I was sitting calmly on our couch. Our kitchen has a cutout counter so you can see from the kitchen to the sliding glass door on the far side of the room. Between those two points, I lounged on the couch.

“Hey,” they said to me from the kitchen. I looked up.

They held up a mandarin orange, a small inoffensive fruit that didn’t deserve the fate what was about to befall it.

“Catch.”

Now, a gentle underhanded toss could have easily brought the orange to me from where they stood in the kitchen. It could have plopped gently onto my lap if I failed to catch it.

But I think you know that’s not what happened.

Instead, they cocked their arm back for an overhand throw and launched the orange toward me with enough force that I heard it whistle past me. It flew in a blur at high enough velocity that it exploded into a mess of juice and dismay against the glass door.

Not only had they launched the orange fully across the room but there was no conceivable universe that they were even aiming at me, as it’s trajectory was easily two feet away from my placid couch body.

I stared in shock at the wrecked fruit and slowly turned to stare at my betrothed, who was equally stunned. I looked back at the orange juice dripping down the glass, the sad husk of its corpse laying burst and spent on the ground.

“Wh-…. Why?”

They couldn’t say. They had no idea what happened. They honestly thought they were doing a nice toss to me before they committed citrus crimes. But I know they just forgot to put on their human disguise and revealed their superpowers.

[psych-is-the-name]

[icarus-star]

I do love the color of the sky! (Thank you Tumblr for cutting off this post so it doesn't actually kill us all)

[dispassionedgrace]

mamdani is an antisemite but please, by all means, make him your blorbo. whatever i dont even care anymore

[pagecommando]

You can tell the cultists because they use first names like they know the people personally. "Bernie. Abdul. Hasan. Zohran." The funny part here is it's mostly men that get that benefit. Ocasio-Cortez is "AOC" and not, say, Alexandria/Alex/Sandy. Maybe the only crossover there is "Tulsi" but they're pretending she was never on the whacko populist left or a Sanders Institute selectee.

[pepperoni-oni]

Visit Original Link

[bakersfield-row]

Can’t get this on any other social media

[pukicho]

I have animalized you. Now, roam free:

[heebyjeeby-doesnt-do-anything]

mgrrrroaaaaaahhg

[pukicho]

Go on, don’t be shy

[swanjolras-blog-archive-deactiv]

when i find myself in times of trouble

terry pratchett comes to me

whispering sam vimes once arrested a motherfucking dragon

you are capable of literally anything

[worfsgoldspeedo]

Sam Vimes once arrested two opposing armies to end a war.

[pasiphile]

x

[mage-pie]

Sam Vimes fought an ancient mind-controlling spirit and won. Sam Vimes killed a werewolf with his bare hands. Sam Vimes happily wears the awful lumpy itchy socks his wife knits him. Sam Vimes causes traffic jams in order to be home in time to read his baby a bedtime story. Sam Vimes fought at the barricades— twice. Sam Vimes waited until his interviewee had left and then put his coat over his head so no one could hear him laughing hysterically at her silly name. Sam Vimes is my hero.

[witchylana]

Sam Vimes overcame a crippling alcohol dependency. Sam Vimes examines and confronts his internal prejudices. Sam Vimes lived in poverty because he was giving his salary to the widows and orphans of fellow officers. Sam Vimes cleaned up a corrupt police force and made it inclusive of the different ethnicities in his city.

Sam Vimes is my hero too.

[cosmictuesdays]

He turned to leave, then seemed to have a thought. “Sergeant Dorfl!” he said, turning back. “D’you think you’ll believe in gods now?”

Every eye in the Watch House turned to the golem sergeant. “Not Gods, Yet.” said Sergeant Dorfl. “But Always Sam Vimes.”

- Mister Vimes’d Go Spare

[kiss-my-aspergers]

do it for the vimes

[discworld-heritage-posts]

Discworld Heritage Post

[prokopetz]

Being into it ironically, in the sense that my appreciation is sincere but it's ironic that I'm into it.

[hymneminium]

#oh my god did gallagher just discover the term dank this is so exciting #does he know it's a weed thing?? there's no way right

Of course Peter Gallagher knows that "dank" is a weed thing. He also knows that "in heat" is a sex thing and that when aliens "probe" someone it's in the anus.

These are words, not things. Heathcliff is a comic about symbols.

You're never going to get a comic where an alien actually probes someone any more than you're going to get a comic where the Man-Eating Giant eats a man. You're just going to get a dozen comics where aliens like the word "probe".

Heathcliff wears the ham helmet because it's the helmet you wear when you eat a ham. You can tell it's that helmet because it says "ham" on it. The helmet's function is determined not by its form but by its label.

summer = beach = sand = desert = mummy and thus there is the Summer Mummy. Because of symbolic associations that do not otherwise cohere.

Robots don't wear clothes but the mere act of labeling them "nude" makes them nude. And once a painting is a nude painting there has to be a fig leaf because a "nude" without a "figleaf" is "indecent".

A "ham" is a ham even when it's a car. A yam can be a ham can be a car because "yam" sounds like "ham". Symbols have overtaken things.

[dark-magician-girl-meets-world]

This is certainly true, but it's important to note that the fundamental act of a Heathcliff comic strip is for a character to remark on the fact that the symbol has overtaken the reality. The meat store invites the existence of a meat container, which invites the meat tank (tank both the vehicle and the bowl) which invites the enthusiasm of children for powerful mechanical objects. However, the gesture of the strip is not complete until the human identifies the irregularity which has occurred and states it aloud for us. The human does not question it, but they do name it. "Children love the meat tank"

It's important that Heathcliff is not the one speaking. Heathcliff is the character who dives the furthest into symbols, but he does not have a voice to speak of them. He is the avatar of the symbols and he is only spoken about. We must imagine the speaking characters in Heathcliff strips as the rebellious voices of the material crying out against the tyranny of the symbolic. At every moment once we've stepped into the treacherous world of Heathcliff, we are at risk of being pulled away by the tides of free association and similarity. However, the voice calls us back. It shows us when we have slipped too far, names the distance between us and the particular and specific which we have nearly lost. Symbols in Heathcliff are powerful; they can take you almost anywhere they want to go, but that power can be revoked simply by identifying what has happened. By explaining it. Heathcliff reassures us that the physical can win out, if only we are wise enough to perceive and to speak it, against the encroachment of the symbolic. Once we stand together and name the world truly, Heathcliff is merely a cat.

[prokopetz]

If your fantasy or sci-fi tabletop RPG doesn't have any playable archetypes for which "batch-siblings" is an intelligible concept, what are you even doing?

[prokopetz]

The way some people react to the Monty Hall problem is a good illustration that correctly identifying that you're being tricked and correctly identifying how you're being tricked are two separate skills. Some folks immediately intuit that there's a statistical sleight of hand in play, but because they have no insight into how it works, they interpret any attempt to explain what's really going on as further trickery. It's like showing someone that the rabbit was inside a secret compartment in the hat the entire time and having them respond "haha, you won't fool me that easily!"

[prokopetz]

(And, of course, while hypotheticals like the Monty Hall problem are a relatively harmless way for this to happen, they underline a very important fact: going in against a scammer without fully understanding how the scam works can easily have you doing exactly what they want you to do while totally convinced that you're beating them at their own game.)

[prokopetz]

Look, I understand that you're going through some shit, and you know I'll always support you, but I just had to fight your shadow-self in the kitchen. Yeah, I was getting breakfast and the enfleshed eidolon of your existential alienation was shooting, I don't know, some sort of beam.

[prokopetz]

It banished the Froot Loops to a far and sunless realm. I really wanted those.

[froxictog]

#also i recognise that the self that walks in darkness is not inherently any more true than the self that walks in the light#but i've gotta ask: is there something going on that i should know about#like#pronoun-wise?