Invest in your authentic self

[brehaaorgana]

I miss when I would get Tumblr asks that actually said things and weren't just digital panhandling scams.

[brehaaorgana]

If I was a sociologist, I would definitely be doing a study on the methods and language of charity scammers. Especially the use of emojis, and identification by copied messages vs stock phrases.

For example, these four are all the same, with only slight variation in #1:

(I actually have duplicates from some of the "self-identified" anons above.)

But these two anons share the same new stock phrases:

"days are heavy" / "days that feel impossibly heavy."

[brehaaorgana]

Fascinated with the random person who commented on this post saying they've reported me for "genocide denialism."

Not to put too fine a tin foil hat on it, but:

That is the kind of threat someone involved in these kinds of financial scams and the social engineering behind them *would* make! It's a threatening statement to the existence of my blog which usually means heightened fear/anxiety of the target, which makes people more likely to fall for a financial scam. Social shame and embarrassment are also heightened emotions! Bullying works! This would make an excellent social engineering counterpoint (if tugging on heartstrings doesn't work!) and might even be effective on many people!

Sure, you can search the supposed connected usernames those anons claimed and find out specifics that way — but not a single one of those screenshots I showed specifies what they're referring to! The IDENTICAL messages from four "different people" never actually mention what their "family's struggle" even is! There's zero fucking context in the space of those messages. They're all IDENTICAL. I literally cannot be committing denialism about anything specific because those asks don't actually say anything I could be denying. How does this person know that these anons aren't a recently impoverished Nigerian prince?

So now you're asking why don't I just click on the usernames and find out more details? Simple. Because they're fucking fraudsters who sent me the same message like, six times with 4 different usernames attached AS ANONS. Why as anons if they have their own blogs and could send the messages that way? SIMPLE AGAIN: because if they're not logged into the blog accounts, you could have whole teams of people copying and pasting these anon asks to various Tumblr users constantly, and you can probably just bypass the ask limits by changing VPNs or going incognito or something. This is a DEDICATED scam. Is it a bot? MAYBE! But that also would explain some of why it doesn't work *while logged in* to the blog accounts — because being anon probably makes it easier to focus on volume.

Anyways a fool and their money are soon parted.

[penrosesun]

While we're on the subject of the incredible gullibility some people display on these scams, I'd just like to remind everyone that most online scams these days are being run out of massive scam farms, which often employ human trafficking.

Falling for these isn't just an 'oopsy doopsy, you're out some money' sort of a thing. If you send money to obvious scammers and if you platform obvious scammers, you are very likely directly financially supporting modern day slavery. That's not an exaggeration, and I'm not being alarmist. Please read any of these articles on the subject if you don't believe me:

Human Trafficking’s Newest Abuse: Forcing Victims Into Cyberscamming

Tens of thousands of people from across Asia have been coerced into defrauding people in America and around the world out of millions of dol

7 Months Inside an Online Scam Labor Camp (Published 2023)

A man was abducted by a Chinese gang and forced to work in a scam operation. He gathered financial information, photos and videos and shared

Cambodia scams: Lured and trapped into slavery in South East Asia

Traffickers are forcing thousands of people from across Asia to work in online scam centres.

Trapped in Myanmar’s cyber-scam mills

Myanmar youth recount life inside a cyber-scam mill before a city’s fall brought the scheme crashing down.

This is what you are supporting when you send these people money. It's not a neutral act to give to these scammers; it's a horrible, evil act, because in most cases, it directly supports horrific exploitation. And if you really were fooled? If you gave to one of these scammers and you really had no idea what you were probably supporting? Then I'm sorry, but digging your heels in and insisting that the lies you were fed are the truth helps no one. Take your blinders off and face reality, and start doing better.

[ausefulblogforputtingthingsin]

Instead of messing up the UI for no reason, @staff could be working on ways to combat this. Like having a way for only signed-in users to send asks without us having to turn off anons. Make it a setting we can change. Or making it so you have to do a captcha or something every time you send something on anon (at least cut into the amount of time each scammer is actually sending scam messages) or countless other ways of addressing this. I don't even get excited when I see I have an ask anymore, because almost every time it's another scam message. I would actually like to be able to block any ask that contains emojis. Yes, they would just switch formats but it would give me a few days respite. Maybe even weeks

[trytryandtryagain]

Not to suggest tumblr shouldn't improve their anti-spam efforts, but you've needed to be a signed in user to send asks (including anon) since at least 2023, probably longer, and there is a limit to how many asks you can send per hour per account. The problem for us, if you're these scam farms and bot operators, is that you can register thousands of new URLs every day, so even if you can only send five asks per hour per blog, that's fine, becuse there are thousands of blogs, and none of them are operated by actual humans, they are automated ask sending machines.

[spacemancharisma]

I’m literally on thr verge of tears

[trytryandtryagain]

#please say sike

sike indeed, the film in question is Book of Clarence, and the actor playing Jesus is Nicholas Pinnock, who, among other things, played an unnamed shield dude in Captain America: The First Avenger. Cumberbatch cameos as a beggar who gets mistaken for Jesus, in commentary on "why the popular conception of Jesus holds him as a white man, when the film's Jesus, along with every major character in his circle, is played by a black actor."

[sandersstudies]

Hey remember that a boycott if actually MORE effective under capitalism if you profess you would actually end the boycott under certain conditions.

“Nothing this company does can make up for their bad actions, I will never buy from them again!” Okay so they’ve lost you as a customer and have no reason to try and get you back. You can HOPE to drive them into bankruptcy but Chic-Fil-A is evidence of how well that works.

“This company did something bad. I would not consider buying their product again, UNLESS, they publicly apologized and made up for it by … [donating money to a cause, promoting different content, offering better care to their employees, etc.]” This is actually MORE likely to be effective because if enough people say this, the company m sees them as potential customers of a certain demographic, and is willing to make changes to get those customers back and, long term, make money from them.

[sandersstudies]

A lot of people wildly “boycott” without any messaging for conditions to end the boycott. Agree on your demands! Specifics like “pay employees 25$/hr or more” and “make kosher/halal labels standard across your products” and “permanently stop financial support toward this political cause,” are clearer and more actionable than “do better.”

[saintrots]

prev get peer reviewed

[trytryandtryagain]

AND

the infuriating thing, to me, is that the chik-fil-a boycott worked? in 2012, after the first wave of bad press, they promised to stop donating to organizations with “political agendas,” ceasing donations to groups such as the AFA and FRC.

Following, there were further protest considering Chick-fil-A’s donations to other controversial nonprofits, like salvation army

and THEN, in 2019 chik-fil-a reorganized its donation policy to focus exclusively on “hunger, homelessness, and education.” They now donate over $5 million a year to food banks, college readiness programs and similar. Like. We won. This is SUCH a win. and yet, here we are, in forever boycott land where no improvement is enough, where there is nothing you can do to be forgiven your sins.

[sordidfood]

More Sortedfood Alignments

[annacaffeina]

Do you know what this is and do you own one

I know what it is and I own one (from the U.S.)

I know what it is and I own one (from Europe)

I know what it is and I own one (from somewhere else: Tell me where)

I know what it is and I don't own one (from the U.S.)

I know what it is and I don't own one (from Europe)

I know what it is and I don't own one (from somewhere else: Tell me where)

I don't know what it is for (from the U.S.)

I don't know what it is for (from Europe)

I don't know what it is for (from somewhere else: tell me where)

I would put vanilla extract in that

Voting ended onNov 19, 2024

[annacaffeina]

Ok, to prove to my husband that this is more a European device than a U.S. device I am going to need more non-US people to reblog this.

Do not reblog for science. No science will be happening. Reblog to help me prove a point!

(If I am right I will show him this poll. If I am wrong he will never know this happened)

[sigridstumb]

I am from the U.S. and I know what it is BUT ONLY BECAUSE my wife was raised in Europe!!!

[trytryandtryagain]

I am from Europe and I know what there are, but only because my american friend has one!

[discoursedrome]

listening to the pronunciation samples wikipedia offers of different types of consonants and you know what, I don't believe some of these are actually different sounds. I think this is some audiophile shit like gold-plated cables.

[kata4a]

someone's mad they didn't encounter more phonemically contrastive environments during their critical period of language development

[official-linguistics-post]

official linguistics post

[trytryandtryagain]

and for the record, gold-plated connectors do serve a genuine purpose (though admittedly, not in the audiophile sense of 'it sounds better'*)

gold-plating is more corrosion resistant, which matters a lot if your set-up goes through a lot of thermal cycling, or your set-up experiences regular high humidity, or you're a sound engineer, who connect and disconnect your equipment a lot for a variety of set-ups. it increases the transportation durability of your equipment, and maintains signal quality for longer making the cables have longer shelf-lifes.

*third hand, a degraded nickel connector will in fact have worse signal quality than a gold-plated one, and so sound worse than a gold one, but a non-damaged nickel connector sounds just as good as a gold-plated one.

[beta-lactam-allergic]

I accidentally deleted the ask that was asking me about Jordan Shanks. I don't know who he is, though I could tell from the ask that he is Australian & a political commentator. Could perhaps @hlmoorewrites, @beautifulpaxiel, @gehe-lihiyot-androgynos-varda, @queerble or anyone else who's also Australian answer this for me.

To the person who asked, sorry for not having an answer & sorry for accidentally deleting the ask when I was trying to answer. I can't even remember the specifics of the question.

[trytryandtryagain]

Not australian, but I do know who this is

Jordan Shanks-Markovina, under the handle friendlyjordies online. He's back on the internet after the firebombing of his house (alledgely linked to the Alameddine network, following an exposé linking Barilaro financially to them. Allegedly.)

Independent journalist, political commentator, stand-up comedian, and all the other news/politics/finance wonks on youtube have been hyping his return, but he's very focused on NSW stuff, so I guess there might be an international audience going 'who t f is this dude' about it?

[copperbadge]

A newsletter has a regular feature going down the list of Notable Sandwiches on Wikipedia. This week's is the hot dog. The writer emailed 30 professors. I commend everyone for the well-thought-out answers, especially the grad student who produced graphs. buttondown(.)email/theswordandthesandwich/archive/notable-sandwiches-89-hot-dog/

What a fun feature overall! I haven't reviewed the entirety of the Hot Dog Document yet, but I feel like now I want to do a bunch of back reading, too. I like reading about sandwiches, even if I'm fairly picky when it comes to them myself.

I will say, and perhaps this is populist of me or perhaps it's even more ivory tower than the academics, but as we all know I have a longstanding solution to all of this "is a hot dog a sandwich" nonsense, which is this:

"Sandwich" is not a noun. It is an adjective.

I don't mean that literally, like I haven't found some weird archaic dictionary that tells us so, but "sandwich" as a word is not used as a noun but rather as a descriptor of a thing, ergo, adjective. An object is a sandwich if you must apply "sandwich" to the end of the noun in order to properly identify it. It's like how many different kinds of dogs can be "brindle" but that is not a breed of dog and doesn't stand on its own as a classification.

Now, I have no objection to anyone saying "a hot dog sandwich" because that's simply a redundancy and if they wish to, that's their prerogative; it sounds fun and old timey, like saying "a hamburger steak". But we need not classify a hot dog as a sandwich simply because you don't need to say "hot dog sandwich" for the person you're speaking with in order to make yourself understood. Much as you would not generally say "Italian beef sandwich" even when speaking to someone who might not know what an italian beef is. You say "an italian beef" and then elucidate.

There is a possible exception to the rule, which is the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, commonly referred to as simply a Grilled Cheese despite taking a very sandwich-like form, but there are three arguments one can make regarding this:

It SHOULD be called a Grilled Cheese Sandwich to distinguish it from Halloumi

It is technically a "melt" which like a hamburger is distinct from a sandwich (ie, a Tuna Melt or Patty Melt) in the classification of "sandwich-like objects that need not be called a sandwich"

The grilled cheese is the exception that proves the rule and this is right and just, because grilled cheese sandwiches are the best and should be considered special.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk; I will not be taking questions at this time.

[trytryandtryagain]

I like the 'sandwich is an adjective' solutions,

but I strongly disagree with the 'hot dog sandwich' is a redundancy that neither helps nor hinders understanding because a hot dog sandwich is clearly this object:

which is clearly something different from a hot dog.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Ever since October 7th, the amount of misinformation and disinformation about Jews, Israel, Judaism, and even just like, basic facts about reality have been so intense that it's really dredging up a lot of my gaslighting trauma.

(No, not in the memic sense that it's been distorted into, but the kind of gaslighting that leads you to detransition and think it was your choice despite drowning in dysphoria, the kind that warps and changes and erases memories, and makes it so that you dissociate for literal months at a time to escape the pain. That kind.)

And I recognized this because I keep finding myself arguing facts and trying to reason with people who say that they're part of the compassionate left and care about working on antisemitism but yet spew the kind of antisemitism that would be totally at home on Stormfront.

It's that first arguing stage of gaslighting, where the abuser keeps saying outrageous, untrue things and you're still fighting to try and get them to empathize with you and seek mutual understanding. This:

A gaslighter does not simply need to be right. He or she also needs for you to believe that they are right. In stage 1, you know that they are being ridiculous, but you argue anyways. You argue for hours, without resolution. You argue over things that shouldn’t be up for debate — your feelings, your opinions, your experience of the world. You argue because you need to be right, you need to be understood, or you need to get their approval. In stage 1, you still believe yourself, but you also unwittingly put that belief up for debate.

(bolding mine) (source)

This is a pattern I recognize in myself in personal relationships and even within communities, but what's happening right now is a lot bigger and more diffuse. It's not one abuser or even a shitty cohort of abusive people who are monopolizing a community space. This is being encouraged in a frighteningly large number of non-Jewish progressive spaces. In the same way that stochastic terrorism adds up very quickly, this type of cultural gaslighting and stochastic emotional abuse feels like a deluge.

But if you look at history, this is not new, for Jews. This is but the latest version of a very long game of Why Won't You Just Give Up and Assimilate or Die that Jews have thus far prevailed on at great cost to ourselves.

Anyway I'm done arguing with goyim about things that absolutely should not be up for debate: Jewish history, Jewish culture, what certain religious concepts in Judaism mean, Jewish lived experiences, what is and isn't antisemitism. If you aren't willing to engage in a genuine way that seeks mutual understanding, I'm not interested. I'm done.

You are engaging in violent behavior and lying to yourself about it and calling it activism. Well I am no longer going to participate. You can lie to yourself all you want, but you are a bad person and I don't forgive you, and you can do that alone.

You are acting from a mob mentality and a mob cannot be reasoned with. You are drunk on your tiny bit of power and social capital, and years down the line you'll lie to yourself and pretend that you cared about us.

You didn't. And deep down you know it, too.

Instead of arguing with people who refuse to see facts or reason and put our experiences up for debate, I am going to work on compiling a resource for people who want to actually learn.

Everyone else can fuck off.

[homeboygirl]

my collection of "weird social practices that are too funny to be considered rude"

[naamahdarling]

Okay but why did they have to pay the museum back? That is, and I cannot overstate this, actually art. They chose to exhibit it, they knew what it was. They shouldn't be allowed to go back on that. Especially when it's art.

[trytryandtryagain]

He was asked to give the money back because it wasn't his payment, which he got to keep without any argument, they agreed it was funny commentary and they'd display it even though he didn't deliver to spec*, he was however also LEANT approximately $70k in cash to make the collages with, as materials, always supposed to go back to the museum.

They agreed it was art and exhibited it, so he got to keep his comission. However, the 70k were never his. Those 70k were not the comission, they were the materials, and were supposed to be delivered alongside the canvases. He didn't. That's why he had to pay the museum back. Because it wasn't his money.

*the comission was for two collages made of cash, one for the median salary of the first quartile of danish salaries and one for the median salary of the fourth quartile, something something commentary on income disparity and inequality, and I'm not sure he delivered to spec, and I'm not sure I would've faulted the museum for going 'very funny, but not what we ordered' about it.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

Genuine question, do you believe messianic Jews are valid? Do you believe they are not just Christians? I am a messianic Jew, and it’s actually a long story on how my family ended up this way, but I don’t feel like dwelling. I saw one posts that said messianic Jews were just Christians who appropriated Jewish practices, and tried to trick Jews into following Jesus. I obviously don’t believe that is true, but please give me your opinion.  

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

That's not just one post, Messianic Judaism was formed by Christians in order to trick Jews who were disconnected from their religion into converting to Christianity. Over time it became more popular with Christians who appropriate Jewish practices and twist Jewish traditions. Most of "Messianic Jews" today have no Jewish connection at all.

On a cultural note, it's a terrible thing that Christians took advantage of Jews who were escaping places of intolerance and persecution in order to trick them into doing what force and coersion could not.

On a religious note, Christianity and belief in Christ is incompatible with the very core beliefs of Judaism. Those who fell for the trap no longer follow the Jewish religion in any form other than some outward misused trappings.

If your family was once Jewish and you would like to become Jewish yourself, reach out to a Rabbi. You would be seen in a sympathetic light and as the family member of a victim. They'd be thrilled to help you go through the process of conversion studies so you could return and be Jewish yourself.

If your family was once Jewish and you don't want to become Jewish, that's perfectly fine too. Everyone should be free to follow the religion and gods they want. Just because your family was once Jewish doesn't mean you have to be. The problem with Messianics is not that they are Christians but that they are Christians claiming they are Jewish. If you want to be/are a Christian. Be a Christian.

If your family never had Jewish members but you want to become Jewish, that's cool too. You'd probably be met with some suspicion in the beginning (because of the Messianic "Jew" history), but conversion studies are allowed for the general public, not just those who are from families that were Jewish once. Again, You'd do this by reaching out to a Rabbi, explaining your situation and describing your desire to become Jewish.

And if your family was never Jewish and you want to stay Christian, that's perfectly fine too. There are many different branches and movements and sects out there for Christians. I'm sure you could find one you jive with to be your new home.

So, in short. There are lots of valid ways to exist, and many paths open to you to move forward. However, Messianic Judaism was deliberately formed by Christians as a tool of cultural violence. As long as you stay affiliated with Messianic "Judaism," you will not find welcome or a home among pretty much any Jewish community. Not even the welcome that your typical Christian would receive.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Hi OP,

If you're curious about the underlying history and theology at work here, I strongly encourage you to read these posts from a person who was raised messianic and converted to Judaism as an adult. He explains the predatory nature of the movement and its true origins, and many of the problems that are rife within it:

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Ultimately, however, it is deeply appropriative of Judaism and violates the most basic tenet of Judaism - one of the only three that we are commanded to die rather than commit - which is avodah zarah.

Christianity inherently worships different gods than Judaism, and is fundamentally polytheistic from a halachic perspective. While Christians may claim that the "Father" is the same god as ours, the problem is that the moment you divide G-d or try to add distinct elements to G-d, you have articulated a fully distinct god-concept from Judaism's god-concept. The most baseline belief in Judaism is stated in the Shema, which is:

"Hear O Israel, the Lord your G-d, the Lord is One"

It's worth noting that the utter intensity with which the Oneness of Hashem is meant is captured only in the Hebrew word "Echad," the final word of the Shema.

(It is worth noting that actually the concept Tawhid in Islam is very similar and likely accounts for why Islam is seen as a Noachide religion, while Christianity must first be declared shituf before a gentile practicing it can be said to be a Noachide)

While one could argue in good faith (ha) that the Holy Spirit is an evolution of the concept of the Shechinah, it is 100% impossible to argue that Jesus, as conceptualized by Christians or anyone else who holds him as Divine, can be "part of" G-d without destroying that unity. There are numerous problems with this: Jesus is said to be 100% human and 100% God. The fundamental condition of humanity is that we are not G-d. Therefore, no human could ever validly claim or be said to be G-d without adding a fully distinct entity to G-d. You not only have the problem of "dividing" or "adding to" G-d, but you also have the problem of trying to make something human into an idol.

Whether or not he was the Messiah is a whole other issue, but the bottom line is that the Jewish criteria for what makes someone the Moshiach are not met, at all, by Jesus. No matter what, though, Moshiach was never meant to be a divine figure and never to be worshipped as a god alongside Hashem.

Think about it like this: if someone came along and tried to argue that because many of the ancient Israelites also worshipped Ba'al and/or Asherah, that we should create a Jewish trinitarian religion based on these these three entities, would you still describe this new sect as either monotheistic or Jewish?

Well, even if you might, I can promise you that no Jew actually would. It's not some special hatred or disdain for Jesus or Christians; it's the idolatry.

Edit: I also wanted to second what @rose-in-a-fisted-glove said above and in the replies - my own personal Jewish community has had several folks who left messianism for Judaism and we welcomed them with open arms. It's not your fault that your family was preyed upon, and you are always welcome to return to the kehilla if you sincerely wish to convert. And if not, that's also totally fine! There are a number of really wonderful churches out there that I'm sure would welcome you as well.

[thatveganwhiterose]

TLDR No, messianic Jews are not Jewish. They are Christians that prey upon Jews and Judaism. They’re a lying disgusting antisemitic cult.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

No offense theveganwhiterose, it may have started like that, but that’s not how most Messianic Jews see it. Also most messianic Jews I know, are ethnic Jews who converted. They are not evil old white man Christians.

[thatveganwhiterose]

I’m not interested in being nice to a concept that wants to see my family and I dead. Antisemitism is antisemitism.

While I do sympathize with people who have been pulled into a cult, I don’t sympathize with the concept behind the cult.

Antisemitism, like all other forms of bigotry and hatred, is evil. And fuck me I guess for being tired of always having to be the kind, understanding Jew that has to put my personal well-being and comfort aside for offended Xtians.

If someone wants to believe something for themselves, great. But messianic Judaism is evil and dangerous.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

Okay then call me a Christian Jew, I’ll take that title. But I still consider myself a Jew. My family still had Jewish traditions, and I was raised to know I was Jewish despite religion or beliefs. You are an atheist Jew, and still a Jew.

Then I can practice Christianity and still be Jewish, if most Jews don’t believe that then okay, they are allowed not to, I’m going to mad at them.

I grew up with a different point of view if the Jewish community, religious and non, I still love it. I still thick it is a lovely community.

If you have that view okay, that is not my experience with it. As I mentioned most ‘messianic Jews’ or at least the ones I have met and grew up with, were religious Jews who just converted. Not white supremacist Christian who looked to end the Jews.

Things change and evolve. Maybe not everywhere, but some places.

[smallswingshoes]

I want to point out to OP that being an atheist Jew is not the same as being a Messianic Jew. Messianic Judaism specifically conflicts with Jewish halacha while being an atheist doesn't.

We don't have to believe in a god in order to be Jewish. We're an orthopraxy (about the practice), not an orthodoxy (about the belief). It has even been said that practice will beget belief, but that belief is not required. There's even a sect called Humanistic Judaism that is definitely a legitimate forn of Judaism that doesn't believe in a god.

But Messianic Judaism believes Jesus is a messiah and the son of God and part of God, which explicitly and specifically conflict with Jewish laws. The two cannot coexist.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

I never meant to insult Jewish atheists. That was just how I was taught to look at it. When my grandmother ‘converted’, she kept Jewish traditions, that we still practice in our family today. That’s how she was able to agree to Messianic Judaism, was being able to keep Jewish practices.

[the-catboy-minyan]

ok listen, I'm not an expert about the whole religious aspect of Judaism or what Messianic Judaism is, but some of the people who replied to your post were just so fucking mean about it??? like just because a larger religion is "problematic" doesn't mean op is evil or trying to cosplay as Jewish for nefarious reasons???? people please can you just have a little patience and trust that others aren't trying to be hostile and that some people actually ask stuff genuinely?

op I'm under the belief that we shouldn't discriminate or exclude people based on their religion, even if Messianic Judaism isn't Judaism (which seems to be the case according to reblogs), and even if you weren't ethnically Jewish (which you are according to what you said), you're still welcome in Jewish spaces in my eyes. (that's with the obvious disclaimer of like being normal about Jews existing and not using/falsely claiming Jewish status to spread misinformation)

I usually try to stay out of things I don't understand but seeing people being mean for literally no reason when op just asked for clarification infuriates me.

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

Seeing you say this is kind of funny to me. I was just thinking that this is the kindest, most compassionate post with 600+ notes that I've ever seen on the topic.

We've been pretty clear overall that we view OP and her grandmother as victims of the situation and of the predatory group, not as evil or having nefarious purposes. It's not OP's fault that they were lied to their whole life by the group they belong to. There's been a lot of recognition of that in particular. And it's going to be even harder for OP to decide what to do given this information now that they know the truth. None of us envy OP that.

I was going to make a post about how proud I was that we managed to stay on topic and very non-judgmental overall given how evocative the topic is. I only didn't because I thought it would be condenscending towards the others.

So to hear you say you thought people were "fucking mean" is very suprising. Unless, of course, the tone has drastically shifted while I was at work today.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

If I’m being honest, I don’t think you were really mean, but there definitely were people who came off very crude and mean.

They dismissed my experiences with the people I grew up around, because of their own bad experiences. Don’t get me wrong what some of them have felt is bad, but to call everyone who practices Messianic Judaism, antisemitic and Jewish cosplayers, despite most having Jewish background and culture, does come off mean and hurtful.

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

I mean, the practice and existence of Messianic "Judaism" itself is an antisemitic act. So, by definition, everyone who is part of Messianic "Judaism" is antisemitic. There's no real way around that when talking about these things. Just because you grew up around people who were nice/good to you doesn't change that. Although, it is good that you grew up around people nice to you who treated you well, for the record.

Calling it cosplay though is both unproductive and more hurtful than educational. We can recognize that it's appropriation through and through without using demeaning terms like that.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

How do you define antisemitism? I mean most of the time it is defined as prejudice and hatred against Jews, of course there are more layers to it, but how is everyone who practices messianicness antisemitic?

Also I am not saying me growing up around nice people, takes away from the bad, what bad is clumping all together and claiming there all white evil Christian nationalists. You can hate Messianic Judaism, but you can’t clump the practicers together with the leaders.

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

Unbidden Yidden explained a lot about that in their post and in the links provided. I suggest you take a look at the educational material that's already been provided to you.

As far as lumping the practitioners in with the leaders, we do recognize, generally speaking, that a fair amount of them were victims themselves, but everyone who practices it and follows it is involved with the disregard, disrespect, and attempted degregation of Judaism. Just, some are more active and aware of the harm they are involved with than others. And some were themselves victims of others drawing them in while also later perpetuating the harm.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

Okay, I get that, but most of the antisemitism is unintentional antisemitism. To put it simply. Are there people within it, who are intentionally antisemitic, most are not. So if you’re going to call everyone within it antisemitic at least acknowledge that a large bit of it is unintentional.

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

You see, intentional or not, it doesn't functionally change anything. The harm is still being done, the antisemitic actions are still occuring, the disregard, disrespect and attempted degeneration of Judaism is no less just because people don't notice, or care to know in some cases, that's what they're doing.

The practice and existence of Messianic "Judaism" is inherently antisemitic.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

I unfortunately that the practice of Messianicness can be inherently antisemitic, but I don’t know to be it still feels to call out followers antisemitic.

I understand that we come from a different background and a different view of it. I understand where you’re views are coming from, and I understand how the history of it makes in antisemitic.

But I also understand that are different backgrounds and the people we know, will influence how we see the antisemitism in it.

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

If the practice is inherently antisemitic, those who practice it are being antisemitic. There's no way around it.

I can only imagine it feels horrifying to realize you are engaging in an antisemitic group and continuing antisemitic practices.

People like to think of themselves as good people, so it can be hard to come to terms with doing such harmful behaviors such as being involved with Messianic "Judaism".

I think that's why the reaction tends to be to say "I can't be involved with doing the bad thing, therefore it can't be bad" instead of having to deal with all the fallout involved.

[leviackermansjewishwife]

Listen, to me it just feels insulting to call these people antisemitic, especially since many are doing it involuntarily. That is just my personal opinion that it feels insulting, and I hope you will respect.

I can admit that it can be antisemitic, but I haven’t said the practice is bad because I am part of it. I have seen things and seen it is bad. I defending people who are unknowingly in it, I stopped defending the actual practice. The only things I have defended are people who are unknowingly and my grandmother.

I will allow you to call them all antisemtis, hell you can call them all Nazis, maybe the leaders at the top are. But once again it just feels insulting to me. To me it just feels insulting to call them all terrible antisemits for stuff they do unknowingly.

I am not going to stop you from calling them all horrible antisemtis, that’s the beauty of free speech, but doesn’t I have too.

I can admit the practice is antisemitic, I can admit people are unknowingly antisemitic. That is my personal opinion, I hope you can respect. I repeat yours and see where your coming from.

[trytryandtryagain]

Time to bring out the Step on Foot analogy

You step on my foot. It hurts, I say ouch.

Then I say, 'you stepped on my foot, that hurt.'

If you intentionally stepped on my foot, you're an asshole.

If you stepped on my foot by accident, you still stepped on my foot. My foot still hurts. You, because you're a good person, say sorry and remove your foot from mine.

You don't say 'I didn't mean to' and leave your foot there. You don't say 'only people who INTENTIONALLY step on feet have to apologize'. You don't say 'it is insulting to say I stepped on your foot, becuase I didn't do it intentionally'. You don't say 'how do you define feet here?'. You apologize and remove your godamn foot. Because it doesn't matter that you didnt mean to, you still stepped on my foot. I am still in pain because you stepped on my foot. My foot is still hurt.

My willingness to forgive and move on and not hold a grudge is way higher, because you didn't mean to step on my foot, it was an accident. But you still stepped on my foot!

The stepping on my foot here is practicing, supporting, giving legitimacy and financial backing to the evangelical christian offshoot called Messianic Judaism, a movement that is inherently and to it's core antisemitic. Doing it unknowingly doesn't make my foot not stepped on. Saying that you stepped on my foot isn't an insult, it's a statement of fact.

[sprinkledsalt]

Evidence points to systematic use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas in 7 October attacks

Guardian aware of sexual assaults for which multiple corroborating pieces of evidence exist

I'm not going to include graphic descriptions here, but be warned that they're in this article. I'm just posting this here as a reference.

Remember: if you cannot condemn violence against women that's inconvenient for you, you are no better than right-wingers who vehemently defend rapist politicians like Donald Trump. All sexual violence is wrong. No one has to listen to you if you deny or defend rape.

[trytryandtryagain]

They do indeed not know what misinformation is, citing mondoweiss, whose factual reporting is 'mixed' and credibility rating is 'low'.

(not to say sexual and gender violence isn't a problem in conflicts across the board or that this specific mondoweiss piece is false. HOWEVER. Vetted news media is vetted news media and it MATTERS if things have editorial standards and factcheckers and a reputation.)

[chutzpahchesed]

I just saw some more of the videos from NYC and London today with the newly enthusiastic Houthi stans and I'll be honest, I really cannot wrap my mind around what we're witnessing in real time. put aside their rabid antisemitism, what was done to the Jews of Yemen, their "curse on the Jews" slogan and flag. put aside "death to America." clearly these people aren't concerned about that and if anything are happy to support it, it excites them. but the AUDACITY of them pretending to care about human lives is what gets me. (Jewish people don't count here, obviously.) the Houthis are quite literally violent rapists and slavers. not from the 18th century. NOW. TODAY. their people are starving. they subjugate and terrorize them. they have killed them. and no one ran to the streets to protest that. no one went out to advocate for innocent Yemenis. AND THEY'RE STILL NOT!

and three months ago, those of us who watched what happened so quickly, what sparked like a fire, with the leftists openly supporting Hamas after they slaughtered, tortured, raped, pillaged, and kidnapped innocent people warned about this. we said, no, please don't support murderers. please don't support an oppressive regime who wants nothing but death. if you don't care about, or even if you hate, Israelis, at the very least you cannot support Hamas and a free Palestine, because the concepts are antithetical. no one listened. they screamed "by any means necessary" and called them "freedom fighters" and quickly became justifiers of infanticide and rape apologists.

and then they decided to lose their minds and celebrate Osama Bin Laden, and we said, please don't do that, and they didn't listen, despite the fact that his vicious homophobia and misogyny and racism should defy every principle they claim to stand for.

and then they tweeted about how Hitler had a point and wasn't totally wrong and he was a humanitarian actually - things we only used to see from virulent neo-Nazis coming from the "progressive" left.

what's next? I'd assume open ISIS stanning, but hey, people have already been taking ISIS flags to rallies, like they've been doing with swastikas for months. Putin support? we've seen that too. (especially if it can be linked to demonizing Zelensky, because you know, he's a Jew). an embrace of Assad despite the scores of his own people - and Palestinians!!! - that he's brutally murdered?

make this make sense. who is going to be freed by literal extremists? how are leftists supporting groups that are opposed to EVERYTHING they've ever fought for - equal rights, due process, anti-racism, religious freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, feminism, animal welfare, education, children's welfare, anti-war, anti-slavery, anti-rape culture, the list goes on - every. single. stance. that progressives claim to have. is what these terrorist arms of the IRGC stand against and want to tear apart. what is happening here. they cannot simply hate the Jews this much.

[homochadensistm]

https://x.com/persianjewess/status/1741515536134221972?s=20 the way the entire Western world pretends they cannot see or hear this.

like I said a couple months ago, 99% of the Israeli bleeding heart leftist soul got thanos snapped out of existence on October 7th, and its going to sign the palis economic death sentence

[david-goldrock-deactivated20240]

On the death of Israel's left wing security:

The movement reached its peak in '95. There was a sense in Israel, that still exist in the world, that a 2 state solution is possible

Terror attacks are rampant, people die in the streets, but "there are sacrifices for peace", so that's alright

Yig'al Amir assassinates the prime minister, and with him, the movement as a whole. First nail in the coffin

Benjamin Nethanyahu, son of Benzion Nethanyahu and the brother of Yoni Nethanyahu, is elected as prime minister for the first time.

Adopting the language of his time, his message is "making a secure peace". Still a 2 state solution, but one that does not allow Israel's security to be sacrificed. He signes a few more agreements, and get dethroned by Ehud Barak, the progressive, who's renegotiating with Arafat

He suggests over 90 percent of the west bank and the whole of Gaza to be a Palestinian state. Arafat doesn't even give a counter-offer, he just makes another intifada. In the words of Barak: "he refused to accept negotiations, he believes his country will only rise on blood". Second nail in the coffin

Ariel Sharon, the right wing politician, rises to power in '03, and in '05 he disengages unilaterally from Gaza. Giving a wide area called "Gush Katif" to the PA, and ripping thousands from their homes. Three weeks later, rockets are shot from Gaza for the first time in a while, but not the last. In any normal country, this would be the final nail in the coffin, but there is one more

2008, Ehud Olmert is in office, Arafat is already dead, and the right wing prime minister approaches Mahmood Abbas (Abu Mazen), the head of the PA, for a final negotiation. He suggests the entire west bank and Gaza. It is refused.

It was since then that Benjamin Nethanyahu was almost the only PM of Israel. The Israeli left wing died. Nobody can justify striving to peace when the other side's base demands are that you cease to exist

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

I’m not anything even close to an expert on the laws of war, but from what i am gathering from people who seem to know what they’re talking about the laws involving where armies can and cannot target revolve around 2 principles (well, more than 2 but these 2 are important):

1) areas where there are children, medical sites, and religious sites should not be targeted

2) because of the obvious ways that point 1 could be misused, anyone who thinks they’re a clever boots by using the above areas for military purposes has committed a warcrime and also removed said areas’ protection

A lot of people seem to be investing a lot of effort into either pretending point 2 doesn’t exist or in using point 2 to entirely invalidate point 1. It’s frustrating.

Also, if anyone sees this who actually is a scholar of the laws of war, and you think I missed something important or got something wrong, please respond with your corrections

[daughterofstories]

So there’s also

3) If a civilian site loses its protection, but is also still being used for its intended purpose, the attacking army does have an obligation to take the civilian lives into account and weigh the harm that will be caused to civilians against their military objectives.

The thing is, while 1 and 2 are objective measurements (a site either is protected or not, it is either being used for military purposes or not) 3 is much more relative and complex, and therefore entirely unsuited for #internet discourse.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

Ah yes of course that is a very vital point which I was aware of but had forgotten to mention!

[trytryandtryagain]

Continuation on 3, whether damage to the civilian infrastructure counts as something that needs to be weighted with regards to the military objectives depends on which set of legal interpretations the attacking army is relying on. The civilian lives are never exempted from the proportionality assment, but the buildings might be.

[freepalestinefromhamas]

Just wanted to share with someone that I always thought the "The American people are not intellectual, to put it mildly" reaction picture was funny until I looked it up earlier to grab the image again and realized that woman is a Holocaust denier. Suddenly became extremely not funny and I wonder how many people know about Nagwa Younis and what that interview the screenshot is from is about. Maybe you knew this, but I only ever saw that meme used in the silliest most trivial contexts that never had anything to do with anything that serious or even political, so the idea that someone watched that interview and decided to make a joke out of it... and so many people use it... Scary to see how normalized and prevalent that stuff is and people don't even realize or think to check.

I didn't know that.

Reminds me of the moment I was forced to learn that the "Change my mind" meme is Stephen fucking Crowder and the original sign said "Male Privilege is a Myth, Change My Mind".

[onceagainarchived]

All of the Memri TV memes feature violent, disgusting antisemites and anti-Israeli racists. They have hosted Yahya Sinwar, and a variety of other terrorists, along with platforming really horrid rhetoric and disinformation.

Pretty much all Arab broadcasting channels will host terrorists, call for the death of Israelis, and promote antisemitism, among other gross shit like genocide denial. Because all of them are hosted in Arab nations, none of which have laws around journalistic integrity, they aren't obligated to hold their staff to specific standards or even vet their stories for accuracy. Most of them are there specifically to disseminate state-sponsored propaganda, like Qatar's 'Al Jazeera.'

So, just keep that in mind whenever you see the names of organizations like Memri TV pop up on someone's blog, whether they are just posting memes or if they are using these orgs as news sources.

[trytryandtryagain]

MEMRI stands for the Middle Eastern Media Research Institute, they are a US based organisation who do translations of (mostly, but not only) arab media, specifically as a response to the issue of arab leaders speaking out of one side of their mouth when talking english to a western audience, and the other when speaking arabic to an arabic audience.

They are not a media organisation and have not hosted Yahya Sinwar, they are a monitoring and research organisation and have translated media who hosted Yahya Sinwar.

[starlightomatic]

honestly if you're surprised b'tzelem exists it's cause you've dehumanized israelis to the point you see them as some sort of bloodthirsty hivemind

[trytryandtryagain]

this is a VERY secondary point to the whole entire argument, which, good post OP

"#v true lol about it being silly that they're in eurovision in the first place cause they're not european"

neither is Azerbaijan or Armenia, who do compete in ESC

and neither is Egypt or Jordan or Morocco or Algeria or or Tunisia or Lebanon or Libya - all of which are entitled to compete, no application and special dispensation (aka Australia) needed, they just refuse because EBU won't ban Israel. (and maybe a little bit because ESC competition is expensive)

'Eurovision' is a naming convention holdover for all of the Across The Cooperation Area Broadcasts, named for one of the founding networks of the EBU, the european (public service) broadcasting union, and, quote membership is for broadcasting organizations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area, as defined by the International Telecommunication Union, or are members of the Council of Europe, end quote. Israel isn't in Europe, but they are in the European broadcasting area.

The Olympics tend to also be, at least partly, eurovision broadcasts.