#Islamaphobia has no place here

[mylight-png]

This is going to be a little different from my usual posts, but here I go anyways.

It is rare, especially now, for online content to make me really and truly happy. But today I saw something that both made me really happy and also made me think.

I was scrolling through TikTok and came across multiple videos of the same kind. A woman wearing a hijab was finding other Muslim women and was helping them try on a hijab for the first time. These videos brought me so much joy. The hijabi woman's gestures were so kind and loving, she seemed almost like an older sister to the other women. The care with which she helped them put on the hijab was so sweet. And then there was the reaction of the women to wearing a hijab for the first time. There were before and after shots, and every single time, the "after" photos of them in the hijab were so happy. It was so pure to see women finding joy in dressing in a way that brought them comfortable.

But even more interestingly, it was a joy I recognized. The sisterly and caring gestures of the more experienced hijabi were familiar too.

The joy I saw in the "after" photos was reminiscent of my emotions when I first intentionally dressed tznuis (Jewish modesty). It was recent, and I felt so comfortable and safe in the clothes I was wearing, and I recognized that comfort in the faces of the women in the videos.

The sweet and caring gestures of the experienced hijabi reminded me a bit of my interactions with rebbetzins and other older religious women in various communities. They're always so sweet and kind (in my experience of course), and I noticed that they frequently try to connect through touch. You know, putting a hand on my shoulder or elbow. Hugs, of course. Using those gestures to make people feel heard and listened to.

And that made me think. We are so much more similar than the media gives us credit for. In fact, it reminded me of an interaction I had with a classmate just last week.

In one of my classes, we were talking about cultural traditions, and we were supposed to pair up and discuss family traditions we have. I mentioned that I love celebrating New Year's because my family doesn't celebrate Christmas, but due to them coming to the US from ex-USSR countries, they brought over similar yet secular and unique traditions for New Year's.

The girl I ended up pairing up with mentioned that she also didn't celebrate Christmas, because she was Muslim, and then she started talking about what her family does for Ramadan.

We ended up having a really nice discussion, connecting over having to fast for holidays, being surrounded by a majority Christian world, and other things we had in common.

And at the very beginning of the year, a Jewish friend of mine and I were complaining to each other about how lame it was that there were only two cheese pizzas at the event, and the rest were all pepperoni (and therefore not kosher), which led into a discussion of accommodating dietary restrictions. We unintentionally ended up sitting next to a few Muslim girls who heard our conversation and joined in, and we had the fun experience of bonding over the pork-obsessed world we all live in.

So yeah. We're actually not as different as the media and politicians make us look.

This is why, as much as I try to advocate about antisemitism, I still try to call out Islamaphobia in my day-to-day life.

There really isn't an excuse for hating an entire group. No excuse for awful and slanderous generalizations, which I've seen made about both us and Muslims. Just as antisemitism shouldn't have any place in these discussions, neither does Islamaphobia.

In fact, I think it would be amazing if we could set aside our differences and unite on this issue.

I know we may feel adversely towards each other in regards to the Israel-Hamas war and our views on it. And I'm not going to force anyone to agree/disagree on all the same things about it. Both sides are hurt. Both sides are accusing each other of genocide, and neither one (majority, I know extremist views exist on both sides, that's not who I am talking about here) actually hates all of the other side to the point of wanting to kill each other.

Yes, we disagree. Yes, our disagreement right now is serious and valid. But there is something we can, I hope, agree upon, and that's the fact that neither side of what's happening should employ Islamaphobic/Antisemitic rhetoric.

So here's a summary of what I'm trying to say:

We aren't as different as we are portrayed to be. We aren't "natural enemies" or whatever people think. We are all human, and we should all be united in the fact that generalized hate has no place on either side.

Both Antisemitism and Islamaphobia are rising right now. We may not see eye to eye on everything, but we are all human, and we should all do our part in dealing with that rise in hate. Not contribute to it.

...

Even though I am trying to speak against hate and division right now, I am certain that I'm probably going to receive at least a few hateful or negative responses to this. But you know what?

I don't really care anymore. Those hateful people are not anyone I could ever change or convince. So I'm going to try and remind myself to pick my battles and not waste energy on pointless arguments. Hateful responses to this post will be blocked and deleted.

However, Muslims of Tumblr, if I did say anything culturally problematic or inaccurate (for example, if the term "hijabi" or "experienced" in regards to being a hijabi is somehow a problem) (or like if comparing wearing a hijab at all to tznuis clothing is an issue) please let me know so I can fix it! I tried to not be culturally insensitive but I don't really know all that much so please do let me know!

...

#jumblr #jewish #judaism #jew #opinion #discourse #wholesome #positivity #unity #fight hate #antisemitism has no place here #Islamaphobia has no place here #antisemitism #islamaphobia

[sag-dab-sar]

Sorry i blocked u i was very upset at the hatred(miso) of synchretism i see on here. i’m jewish i don’t need their or anyone elses opinion on Open vs Closed. i don’t think nonjews need their opinions either. though you are keen to summon them. as a sumerian polytheist i disagree that Lilith has no place to be deified up from her demonic origins. I believe Inanna may forgive her for shitting up in that tree. I agree that pseudohistorical declarations are laughable but i dont think theyre harmful in religious context. We don’t go after the exodus lie, and shouldnt! Why any modern mythologies about lilith? Fraudulent behavior! Recreating christian persecution in a way.

I love lilith and to me lilith is as free as the chill of the swift starkissed winds! Despite our differences I pray may Peace be upon you :3

I have no problems with you blocking me, please block people like me if we upset you. My unease was being blocked after someone asked an open ended accusatory question—which I now realize you didn't do. I didn't realize that you used the word misosyncretism, I have dyslexia and misunderstood and thought you were saying I was a misogynist so I am sorry for that misunderstanding and will erase those tags.

🔹Not Needing Opinions🔹

If you don't need anyone's opinion on whether or not something is closed don't reblog a post saying a particular thing is open. You are inviting dissenting opinions— whether its from Jews or non-Jews— when you reblog someone else's post with your own opinion. If you don't want to discuss open vs closed then simply ignore posts that say Lilith is closed, block people who say she is closed, do whatever, but don't engage if it makes you upset.

People are going to have opinions and, again, my opinion is that Lilith is closed based on numerous Jewish voices I have listened to. I recognize not every person in a group is going to agree with each other because no group is a monolith, but I do my best to listen to the voices of a paticular culture and come to a conclusion.

🔹My Opinion🔹

Yes, I am "very keen to summon" my own opinions because its my blog. If I reblog and add to a post I'm giving an opinion... thats kind of the point of blogging.

My conclusion is that non-Jews worship Lilith as a part of cultural Christianity, an ahistorical mythology they refuse to admit is modern, ignore all open entities that still fit the bill, and I see a lot of antisemitism among them. As well as a lot of Islamaphobia & Chrsitophobia. It is a form of cultural appropriation for their own comfort because they cannot be bothered to learn actual history.

My observation is that the majority of Lilith worshippers don't actually care about Lil-demons, they use the demons as a tool to try and validate their worship as something rooted in a non-Jewish historical tradition, when it is not. Lil demons are a convenient excuse. In reality they cling to her because they see her as a feminist icon who stood up the the Big Bad Misogynistic Abrahamic God™.

There is no need for non-Jews to worship a Jewish figure ahistorically when there are plenty of actual Ancient Near Eastern Goddesses who are open.

Thats my opinion. Its what I'm standing by.

🔹Pseudo-history🔹

Now again, I'm not going to try and argue from the Jewish side it is not my place. But I can and will argue from a Sumerian Polytheism and accuracy in history side.

Lilith is not a member of the Lil demons, she is not Ardat-Lilî even if there are some similarities. I show information about Lil-demons here and they are not Lilith. Syncretism is not the problem that was common in the Ancient Near East— Inana, Nanaya, Ištar, Šaušga— as one example. There may be some connection between Lilith and Ardat Lilî: mainly influencing the characterization of the Hebrew Lilith in the Book of Isaiah, but there is no evidence they are one in the same. There is no evidence they were ever considered one in the same by any ancient people or traditions. The issue isn't syncretism its pseudo-history.

They were not syncretic in history. Lil demons come from Mesopotamian tradition which spans the 4th millennium BCE to the 1st millennium BCE; while the Sumerian language continued as a liturgical language for quite some time the Sumerian Civilization ended circa 2000-1700 BCE. Aside from the extremely minor mention in Isiah 34:14, the story most Lilith worshippers base her on comes from a midrash written at some point during the 1st millennium CE. This is a significant time difference and people just seem to wipe away time differences as if they don't matter, or they simply can't wrap their head around them.

Pseudo-history absolutely can be harmful and I absolutely abhor pseudo history and always will. I literally have an entire tag, #letsdebunk , for it and its been apart of my blogging since I started in 2017.

"We don't go after the Exodus lie"

Plenty do, plenty of Jews debate the historicity of stories in Jewish literature including the Tanakh, as do many Christians when reading the 'Old Testament'. (Also I would call it a myth not a lie). But whether or not Exodus actually happened in history is very different than making things up and claiming that it was a real religion and real mythology people once believed. Saying "Exodus is a story in the Tanakh and Old Testament and it says [insert story]," is different than saying "Lilith was originally a Sumerian Goddess of love and war," when she wasn't.

You are comparing apple to oranges. The fake history around Lilith is more akin to saying something like "Exodus is a story about how an ancient Egyptian God punished Egyptians for there bad deeds and Jewish slaves escaped while their was chaos and then they found a tribe worshiping a God named YHWH and adopted the religion of that tribe" <- that is not the story of Exodus its abunch of made up bullshit. Made up bullshit is what I consider most modern neo-pagan/left hand path/witch claims about Lilith.

Pseudo-history is used to culturally appropriate many things not just Lilith. It has many problems:

It's used to make bigoted claims against Jews, such as "the Jews killed Jesus" which is historically factually wrong and one of the most damaging sources of antisemitism in history.

Bigotry against Christians, by claiming their only role in history is oppression and the silencing of any Christian voices including POC the world over. Like the dumb St Patrick pagan persecution story which is listed as a false meme by Snopes but shows up as a real belief among neo-pagans. This is also extremely dangerous towards African Diaspora Religions that are syncretized with Christianity, as just one example of how Christophobia is dangerous.

Bigotry against Muslims, by claiming they have solely been a patriarchal oppressor that made no advancements to humanity and only offer "violent jihadism." Which is false and ignores actual Islamic history because real history is very inconvenient for the narrative

Its used to validate bullshit like the Burning Times, blood based witchcraft lineage, and a false sense of persecution among modern neo-pagans. A completely toxic belief.

Its used by feminists who claim a unsubstantiated matriarchal pre-historic religion destroyed by evil patriarchy. They use it to deny anyone who isn't a cis-woman from Goddess worship, witchcraft, and other neo-pagan traditions and claim transwomen and transfemmes are just another iteration of the evil patriarchy trying to taint there ancient Goddess faith. A faith that never existed. Pseudo-history as a tool of transphobia.

Its used by Wiccans and neo-pagans to ignore real Irish history. And add things like Ostara a made up holiday based on the Goddess "Ēsotre" of dubious historicity according to medieval historian Bede & Mabon's fabrication by Aiden Kelly based on the name of a Welsh folk hero.

Its used to fabricate stories about deities that may or may not be real, like Ēsotre mentioned above, and then connect her to the holiday of Easter, and then make a huge leap and connect that to real historical deities like Ištar. Which is also used as a false sense of persecution among neo-pagans.

It can be a weapon for racial/ethnic supremacists. For example, the idea that Hellenic Polytheism was a national religion unique to the Hellenes is pseudo-history used by the boarding on ethnic supremacist YSEE organization.

Not to mention all the horrific pseudo-history of the extremely antisemitic Satanism group that I won't name. That constantly claims Lucifer is a Sumerian God or whatever and spams the inboxes of neo-pagans/witches/polytheists.

Its used by new agers to validate their appropriation of traditions from Dharmic religions for their own inaccurate purposes.

Its used to support, often very racist, "ancient alien" claims.

I could keep going and going and going with fake history touted among neo-pagans, witches, polytheists, left hand path folk, occultists, and new agers that is dangerous but hopefully I've gotten my point across.

"Recreating Christian persecution in a way"

If its not abundantly clear from my above examples pseudo-history is used to fabricate a lot of Christian persecution claims that have serious negative impacts. I don't even know what you mean by this so honestly I'm not going to try arguing against it.

Bottom line: pseudo-history absolutely is harmful in a religious context.

🔹Sumerian Polytheism🔹

As for "deifying" her up in Sumerian Polytheism. No I am 100% against that. Don't deify up demons and claim its still Sumerian polytheism because it isn't— its modern demonolatry.

First, Lilith isn't Sumerian.

Second, demons have their place in Sumerian cosmology and I'm not going to deify them. If a demon was honored, such as Pazuzu, then I many honor them. But I will not view Sumerian/Mesopotamian demons as Diĝir.

Third, I am a revivalist with a heavy reconstructionist approach, I value the real history of Ancient Near Eastern religions, cosmologies, and mythologies with a particular focus on Sumerian times (Ur III and prior) for my own faith.

This means I will always stand against pseudo-history, debunk claims, and defend actual ANE & Sumerian history. Ancient cultures deserve to be respected and not lied about. Pseudo-history is a lie.

🔹Last Thoughts🔹

Please do not pray to Lilith for me the mention in the ask made me feel uncomfortable.

Just like the "recreating Christian persecution" sentence in your ask I don't understand the "fraudulent behavior" statement so I can't really address it.

Tone clarification: The tone of this post is meant to be informative and explanatory not hostile and argumentative.

---

TL;DR Lil demons are not Lilith. Lilith is Jewish and I stand by my opinion that she is apart of a closed tradition. Pseudo-history is dangerous and I will always reject it.

EDIT: After reading their tags on this (x) and their rhetoric in the first reply to this post I think its better for me to not interact with this person. So I've decided to block. They've stated their stance and its literally just strawman arguments, many false equivalences, and whataboutisms; I have no time or patience for that. But this post is still useful as a rebuke against pseudo- history in our communities so I'll leave it up, I worked hard on it. I also deleted the original response post since it's redundant now. [Edit 2] The person has been extremely ableist towards me more than once, threatened me, tried to bypass my blocks, wished violent death on me more than once. I did report them and tumblr took one of their posts down... which is not enough but I won't waste my time trying to get tumblr moderators to do their job.

-not audio proof read-

#polytheism #paganism #levpag #lilith #cultural appropriation #letsdebunk #judaism #closed practices #disc horse #landof2rivers

[inkydreamzart]

why do you make art?  is what you make honest and true to your beliefs and values?  does your art center, or distract?  These are a few questions I’m thinking on after attending an artist teach-in for Pal3stin3 yesterday.  

I’ve been sitting with current events and processing a lot lately.  We are out here watching whole human beings being mass bombed and murdered every day, because the powers that be are fine with sacrificing entire family lines and destroying history and cultures for oil and land.  It’s soul-crushing.  The islamaphobia, orientalism, and casual anti-asian hate I’m seeing people in my life share on social media, is also soul-crushing.  as william faulkner once said, and as all my professors have always said, the past is never really past.  

when i see all this, i feel consumed by horror, and disgust, and anger. when i see our government continue to murder Indigenous people like it always has, it’s still jarring witnessing what has always happened, happen again.  Hearing my partner’s refugee family stories, and watching more people become refugees, is terrible.  I don’t understand why Pal3stinians need to do so much to prove their worth and humanity to others, and am equally freaked out how videos of their struggles are not enough for some to care.  But watching the homies continue to make art, share stories, share information, and build community through protests + teach ins, reminds me that people have always been fighting oppression, and always will– the past of our resistance continues to the now. I make what I make because it’s useless to just sit with my feelings and the facts, and take them nowhere.  I would also rather die than make dishonest work.  I hope that if I keep writing and posting about this, that you dear friends, will consider how much power your individual and group actions can have towards creating a world we can all live in.  Your feelings right now are important– they’re motivation to do something.  It’s a privilege that we’re able to sit with them.  If you’re unsure of what to do and are feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry–  I’ve got a list of things you can do right here.  

1) you can learn more!  If you don’t feel well informed enough to be sure that your actions match your intentions, you can check out @palestinianfeministcollective, or @bayareapym to sign up for a teach-in session with organizers and academics. You can also check out the readings & educational resources they have linked in their bios.  Ethnic studies and Feminist studies scholars from around the world have a lot of great stuff to say on these pages.

2) you can attend protests, and share info on protests!  @JVPLA is the LA branch of Jewish Voice for Peace, a great org that has been leading huge c3as3fir3 protests all around the world.  @bayareapym is also another great page to check out for protest information and political education.  If you are located near a school or university, you can also check out its branch of SJP (for example, @ucsbSJP), or students for justice in pal3stin3.  JVP, SJP, and PYM all have local branches all over the place, so see if your town or city has a branch you can get together with!  USCPR is also a great org that’s working to end US military support to 1sra3l.  Our elected officials are ignoring us when we ask politely for them to stop murdering, so going out and protesting will help make sure they hear us and actually represent our values and beliefs.  

3) if you don’t have money or time, there is also the power of boycotting!  Never underestimate the power of a “no”.  Check out the next slide to see how boycotts work to help defund the war machine, and save lives. Art credit for slide 2 goes to Mona Challabi.  Withholding your time and money from corporations that are willing to sacrifice people’s lives for resources will teach them through boycotts, that people are not down for mass murder for the sake of material wealth.  I definitely don’t want my tax or spending money going towards killing random people. if I can help it, I will make sure my money goes somewhere it will do good.

4) email or call your elected officials to tell them directly that the people want an immediate c3as3fir3!  Check out @woketeachers for info on what numbers to call, and some scripts if you need help figuring out how to voice your demands.  You can even use those phone scripts as a template for emailing your elected officials– I like to use it as a little outline before expanding it into a longer message.

Anyways, there are four powerful ways to take action instead of stewing directionless in feelings.  Please do something– your voice matters.

(photo credit from @/eye.on.palestine of a father saying goodbye to his child who was murdered by the occupation)

#my art #free palestine #palestine #falasteen #antti zionism #lgbtq #social justice #decolonize #land back #mutual aid

[iftari]

heres my personal question/reflection. growing up post 9/11 i rmr a lot (& i mean A LOT) of sentiment surrounding the concept of assimilating to the west, being the "good immigrant" and still being fucked by institutions. in line w that was a lot of feeling on how tiring that felt, how exhausting, n like, would we ever be accepted? this isnt an accurate timeline but i would say say this shit peaked in mainstream culture w yt ppl in 2016 (hamilton i think is acc a really great pinpoint of this) and then this energy i would say imo kinda died down throughout trumps presidency (which i personally think has to do w the fact that sm yt liberals were firing up for poc so arguably this was the time institutions were pretending to make "amends". actually. liberals & instutions were maybe trying to make 'ammends' a bit before 2016. maybe since 2014? timeline is rough on this but for sure they were Very Sorry during trump...)

anyway. 2024. in the imperial core of america alone i would say theres *at least* 4 genocides happening (& thats prob me undercounting !) simultaneously. there is currently a very overt livestreamed genocide of palestinians. it is VERY much impacting ppl in the imperial core in the sense that the facade of liberalism is so plainly falling away, institutions are very explicitly engaging in islamaphobia, antiblackness, n anti-palestinian sentiment, etc. and like i obviously think its important to document bc every form of fascism is important to note but i also feel like we're kinda back to convos we've had before of 'omg been SUCH good immigrants n *this* is how they treat us??? oh my!' n like i understand the feeling of betrayal but i wonder how much interrogating is going on beyond the betryal. to sum degree it feels like the way ppl engage w covid in the sense of...im wondering how much of what ur experiencing is actually radicalizing u that america even in its most liberal form should not exist - exactly like israel - n how much of what ur experiencing is like...shock that it could happen to u & the ppl u care ab (vs the....'unimportant/undesirable ppl). like yes its awful campuses are so blatantly engaging in islamohobia. but shouldnt we be reconciling more, as a community that we need to create a world w.o colleges n shifting the importance *away* from unis (esp in a time of shitty economy?) rather than reconciling w like...the betrayal of a institution preserving imperial interests? like how many times are we going to keep learning this? what are we benefiting from having this same shock over n over again? who is it serving to keep experiencing this? feeling similar to this campaign of voting 'uncommited' like who does this serve? dems dont acc care if they have office or not and theyre very clearly ok w losing. they dont need the presidency fr - if anything hey want to lose so they can punish ppl more for not shutting up. so like when we extend energy on the uncommited campaign, who is it serving? what purpose is it filling (& i do believe it is filling a purpose for some ppl. i think for lots of ppl it fulfils the very real emotional need to do *SOMETHING*, to move, to exert the tension n energy we're feeling n thats a correct emotional response! but how u spend ur energy DOES matter bc part of fascism is to literally divert energy so u DONT take up arms. like imo america is not at a place culturally for any sort of violent revolutionary resistance (organized or not) ! like we're just not! but the most explicit nonviolent form of resistance is not being uncommited to voting for a party that is relying on not having electoral offices but rather an actual coordinated strike. THAT has purpose no?)

#idk id k idk. im not trying to demonize any organizers or activists or anything #but really sitting w the concept of defanged movements that still are trying to pserserve liberal fascism #the thing ab liberal america n perserving it is the same as perserving liberal israel n its easy to criticise israel esp now bc theyre youn #but the parallels are there w america so explicit. if we cannot stand w something w isarel u fundementally cannot stand for it here in usa #ither #but i feel like so much defanging has happened to movements that the ppl left to pick ip the torch rn are like...younger inexperienced #activists who have a lot of aderanaline n little political radicalized compass n experience #n its like...showing #also i cannot stress enough how cruel it is to have taken away so many black organizers #to sum degree i also wonder n think ab nonblack cowardice n how its showing up here. like. almost waiting for black ppl to take the burden #of escalation so if it succeeds yay we as nonblack poc take credit n erase but if it fails they get blamed #idk idk i just think antiblackness is really so pervasive - obvi everywhere but i can only talk ab it here in the imperial core #idk. i just feel...idk. movements are defanged n i think the way its going to be inevitably escalated #is going to like...throw a lot of 'organizers/activists' off unfortunately

[papirouge]

Not sure what anon calling your racial slur has to do with anything but your whole argument is sending links from biased news sources and using caps lock. It’s travel with my wife yearly to Israel and her family does occasionally as well but we could not this year because of what happened. You’re entitled to your opinion and I could send you links from other biased news sources arguing the opposite of what you’re saying. I was trying to have a discussion with a person not a propaganda machine. I have my biases as well.

By that I mean that I am sickened by the casualties on both sides and while you blame whoever it is you want to blame I blame Hamas. The state I live in sends immense support to Israel and overall we don’t tolerate extremism here and the city is nice compared to places flooded with slacktivists. Some of us are just upset the protests are harmful to both Muslims and Jewish people. I worry about the antisemitism and the type of Islamaphobia we saw happen after 9/11.

The protests and the online wars are not helping bring Palestine and Israel closer to peace. It is causing division and hate. The ceasefire did not happen because of everyone spray painting swastikas and vandalizing the White House. It happened for an amount of time because Hamas was releasing some hostages. I truly hope for peace and I believe Israel has a right to seek justice for what happened.

I’ve seen footage from both the bombings in Gaza and October 7th and what I would say is it’s going to get worse before it gets better. America will continue to be a strong ally to Israel like it has in the past. Idk how you do it in France and I get that there’s a lot hate for Americans but I do love the country that I live in and the freedoms I have here. 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 🇵🇸. This is what I want. Peace and understanding for everyone. Your slacktivism isn’t going to change a goddamn thing no matter how many links you copy and paste. The people who really make changes don’t care about likes and reblogs.

First of all : miss me with your unasked for lecture about my typing style OR MY USE OF CAPS, THANK YOU. That's MY BLOG and I DO AND TYPE HOW THE HECK I WANT💜 You already walk on thin ice here so you better watch your tone. I'm not your friend and you're just lucky I chose to entertain your annoying presence on MY space.

Now. Here's the thing anon : there's no unbiased media source. EVERY media has a director of publication AND a financier who pretty much has the last say on the 'orientation' of that media. People like you pulling out the "unbiased" source card come off very unaware of how journalism work. If the same information is shared in several publications from a various of countries and political spectrum, blaming the information at hand as being "biased" is ridiculous. But hey, weren't Israeli officials saying the UN and Amnesty International was the pro Hamas ? 💀Just say you're mad at this information and go.

I mean, it's extremely revealing you're like "no matter how many link your copy paste" because it shows 1) you're not interested in educating yourself (and it shows) 2) you don't even value information for what it is. Those are just "copy past links" which ultimately explains why your takes are so stupid and uneducated. I wouldn't be surprised you're American bc you guys often have that wicked mix of arrogance and sheer stupidity.

Also a question : are you White? Because the way you use "slacktivism" shows you don't know the slightest what it actually means and think. I'm asking bc like you, Whites haven't shut up about woke so I ended up with the conclusion they just love hopping on internet slang and rehashing it left & right without grasping their actual meaning ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Here's a clue : you realize that people talking shit on the internet..... don't necessary claim the "activist" title right? Do you realize that Palestinians THEMSELVES ask us to TALK about Palestine, and that unlike entitled brats like you thinking they can lecture anyone about how they should correctly support Palestine cause, are just grateful we keep talking about them? So why should I acknowledge your opinion? You're not a Palestinian. You are foreign to the equation at hand. Shut up.

"the protest and online wars aren't bringing Palestine and Israel closer to peace" .....but bombing Gaza will? Are you out of your mind? Do you realize you're literally breeding a new gen of radicalized kids who will hate Israel for wiping off 95% of their lineage? On what multiverse are you living??

Slacktivism doesn't kill people and yet you're more mad at it than the actual bomb killing civilians... Insanity.

And protest do work ; there's been a ceasefire. (Not because of sprayed swastikas). Funny how you act like it didn't happen. I thought you wanted peace; as a "peace lover", I think you'd be more appreciative of that🙃

And TBH we in France we ain't checking for America like that. I know you guys have a weird main character syndrome but the USA definitely aren't on french people's mind like that. I know you guys aren't the brightest bulb of the building but we have our own continent (Europe) to deal with first (which is a lot).

Conclusion : the people who really want changes aren't there submitting stupid anons on a rando inbox. You want peace through war? Enroll into Tsahal or shut up forever. People like you thinking war will ultimately fix things while not be on the frontline of that ✨peacemaking war✨ disgust me.

Yall told yourselves the same lie for decades already and it didn't work. Do you know how are called people doing the same thing while thinking the result will end up different? : CRAZIES.

PS/ learn to read: me bringing up like & reblog was about the person saying nobody was reading my lengthy response posts.

#answered

[placedupon]

I’m getting pretty tired of the phrases “stop asian hate,” “anti-Asian hate.” I know a lot of people mean well when they say them, but they’re just terms that have been appropriated/stolen from Black liberation movements, and they obfuscate the real racism that Asian people face.

The phrase “stop asian hate” is pretty obviously modelled after “Black lives matter,” and it gets more obvious with the phrase “anti-Asian” racism. The thing is, there is no global anti-Asian racism. There isn’t!! The term “anti-Asian” is stolen from the term “anti-Black.” “Anti-Blackness” functions completely differently than any kind of racism against Asian people, and it’s disrespectful to pretend that they’re in any way the same.

What we are seeing today is much closer to sinophobia (the hatred of chinese people) and islamaphobia. The shooter who killed multiple Asian women in Atlanta was making posts on facebook about how much he hated china in the weeks before he killed those people. He was motivated by misogyny, whorephobia, and sinophobia. Today, if you go on any major western news site, liberal or conservative, you will probably see at least one article talking about how China is threatening the US in some way.

Additionally, the demonization of west Asians and Muslims isn’t “anti-Asian hate”-- it’s islamophobia. This is because Asia is much too big a place for there to be one type of oppression that affects all of us. Whereas anti-Blackness has it’s roots in colonialism, enslavement, and white supremacy, racism against Asian people has a lot more to do with the specific countries and culture we’re from.

There is not a global “anti-Asian” movement, and there never has been. What does exist is imperialism, and the invasion and murder of countless Asian people (this too isn’t unique to Asian people-- the United States has also invaded and murdered people in Africa and South America, which can be seen more here). I made a post about this already, but hate crimes against Asian people have almost always happened when the United States is at war with, or wants to go to war with an Asian country. This is why hate crimes against Japanese people went up in the 1940s, as well as hate crimes against Vietnamese people (or people seen to be Vietnamese) increased in the 1960s and 70s. This is why west Asians, as well as Sikhs (who were mistaken as Muslim) were assaulted and killed after 9/11.

So many of the racist things we’ve seen against Asian people we’ve seen lately-- from the phrase to blaming China for covid (think terms like “kung flu,” “china virus,” and conspiracy theories about China making and leaking a virus), to both Biden and Trump saying that the other is a shill for China, to the many articles and movies dehumanizing and demonizing China (as well as the DPRK)-- it is happening because the United States government views China as a threat to its power, and it is trying to dehumanize Chinese people so as to justify war in the future. This is what happened with Japan, with Korea, with Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos. It also happened (and is happening) in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and so many other countries. I’m really hoping that it doesn’t happen again.

#stop asian hate #stop asian violence #anti asian sentiment #anti asian discrimination #anti asian hate #asian hate #using these tags for reference #imperialism

[dragynkeep]

honestly these two responses to our ml critical posts sum up exactly the apologism that allows astruc to get away with his islamaphobia in regards to the show & how french society can be incredibly disgusting towards religious people at times. so let’s break this down.

1. christmas is absolutely a christian holiday, despite the pagan traditions that were stolen by the catholic church to further their dominion over europe. it is a celebration of christ’s birthday, that is the long & short of the holiday & it’s had such a widespread reach that even other religions have had minor holidays take prominence around christmas time due to the christian centric mindset of these countries. jews & hanukkah is one; this was a minor holiday that rose in prominence due to it’s closeness to christmas & the incorrect views from misinformed goyim that it’s “8 days of christmas & presents.” also, the dominant religion in france is christianity, specifically catholocism. non christians celebrating christmas, however they choose to do & for whatever reasons, doesn’t erase the religious aspect of the holiday. my brother & i celebrate christmas with our christian family, however we are still wholly jewish, observant & agnostic. sounds like the only one here who needs to educate themselves is you, wmowl.

2. featuring religion in a show is not religious propaganda, you sound like a 4chan atheist neckbeard. there are religious people all over the world, including in a country as backwards & oppressive towards these people as france. the second most practiced religion in france is islam. there are religious children & there is nothing wrong showing the reality of children being raised in religion when this show has given a breadth of storylines including ones about ecoterrorism, abuse & brainwashing. your issue isn’t about protecting children otherwise they wouldn’t even be allowed to watch the show in the first place; it’s that you have an inherent discrimination against religion & religious people & revel in france’s own backwards mentality towards minorities in their society. it’s repulsive & you are no different to christian conservatives who wail & scream to ‘think of the children’ whenever queer material is present in media. it’s pathetic.

3. you should probably learn what propaganda is. hint; it’s not people just existing. again you’re borrowing an awful lot of mentalities from conservative christians towards other marginalized people & isn’t that just interesting.

#miraculous ladybug critical #owl.txt #discourse #islamaphobia / #discourse for a show we dont even watch yet FDSJFKSDJFK #we on x games mode

[cygnetofthesea]

Moments: Elite Fanfiction

This is a silly, goofy, bit I wrote while I was making tea yesterday. Sometimes I have an elaborate process and it made me think of how Nadia would have to teach Guzman his way around a kitchen since he grew up with a chef and maid and he needs domestic lessons lol. Will be part of a series of one-shots with GN domesticity. Warning, this is ridiculous af and a big stream of consciousness, hope you guys like it anyway! oh also some mild references of racism and islamaphobia

"You know when I asked you how to make tea, I didn't realize I was signing up for a science experiment."

Guzman looks on with wide eyes as Nadia pulls out a pot, filling it with water while grabbing a measuring cup. She smirks and winks at him as she pulls out a can of evaporated milk from the fridge.

"Hey, you said you wanted to learn how to make my favorite tea," she says with a shrug. "This is how."

Guzman eyes the supplies Nadia laid out on the counter and points at the can. "And what's that?"

"Milk."

He balks at her. "Milk? I've never seen milk in a can before."

Nadia snorts at his bewildered expression and rubs his shoulder affectionately. "Oh you poor, rich baby. Let me teach you. This is called evaporated milk. It’s usually used to make desserts but I like putting it in my tea. Makes it smooth, thick and delicious."

Nadia hums in delight at the thought of the delicious tea and Guzman can't help raise an eyebrow suggestively. "Smooth, thick, and delicious, huh? Sounds familiar."

She gasps, scandalized, and shoves at his shoulder. "You're such a pervert. Don't ruin the moment."

He tickles her waist, teasing. "I thought I was creating the moment."

Nadia fixes a stern look upon him, eyebrows raised, even as she fights back a smile. He sees her trembling lips and wants to tease her some more but instead pretends to be properly chastised.

"Yes ma'am," he says solemnly, his hands clasped together in supplication. "I promise to behave."

"Good," she says with a nod and misses how he mutters "For now," under his breath.

Nadia takes out a glass measuring cup, different from the other ones she had pulled out, and fills it with water.

"Wait, what is that for?"

"This is a measuring cup," Nadia answers patiently. "I'm using it to measure out four cups of water."

"But you already have those measuring cups," Guzman says, gesturing at the smaller, ceramic ones.

"Those are for dry ingredients, this one is for wet ingredients. Like water."

Guzman scratches his head. "This is way more complicated than I thought."

"We haven't even begun! Really, it's simple, just pay attention." She pours four cups of water into a small pot with a wooden handle."

"Wait, why are you putting it in a pot?"

Now it's Nadia's turn to look at him with bemusement. "Where else would I put it?"

"I don't know, in a kettle or something?"

"I told you, I'm making stove-top tea. Kettle tea is fine, but doesn't work as well for what I'm trying to do."

"Oh ok," Guzman says as though he understood even though he didn't. He watches her set the pot on top of the stove attentively, leaning against the counter. "Continue."

Nadia shoots him a teasing look. "I'm going to turn on the stove now. Will you be able to behave near the flame? No hanky panky."

Guzman lunges toward her, wrapping her up in his arms. "Well since you gave me a warning, I'll take advantage of the moment now, thank you." He smacks a kiss against her cheek.

She doesn't struggle out of his grip, instead slaps at his hand on her hand as though calling his attention. "If you're going to goof around, at least pay attention."

"Ok, ok, I'm paying attention." He rests his chin on her shoulder, looking over to see what she was doing. "When does the tea part come in?"

"Oh my god, Guzman!"

"Sorry, sorry, go ahead." He squeezes her bashfully to alleviate her ire.

She heaves a deep sigh. "Ok so as I was going to say," she says pointedly. "Let the water boil for a little bit before you put the tea in."

"How come? Why not just throw it all together?"

"Because the water isn't hot enough to steep the flavors out of the leaves. The leaves will just sit there but the flavors aren't being activated. Only the heat can draw it out, especially if you want the tea to be strong, which I do."

Guzman nods like an attentive student, Nadia's curls brushing against his cheek. He can't help but lean into her more, rubbing his cheek against hers. "Right, that I knew. Now I know to keep the leaves in longer when I make it for you."

"Exactly." She smiles and lightly caresses his ear with her free hand. "So, once you see the bubbles on the surface like that, it means…?"

She waits for him to fill in the blank and like a good student, he says "It’s ready for the tea leaves?"

"Good job!"

She actually sounds genuine when she says that and Guzman, like a dork, feels his chest swell with pride. Hah! He got something right. There was hope for him yet.

She steps away from him and gestures to the loose tea leaves. "Would you like to do the honors? Remember half a cup of the leaves."

Guzman nods eagerly, reaching for the leaves and the measuring cup when Nadia abruptly halts his movements. "Half cup, Guzman!"

He looks at the measuring cup in his hand, confused. "Isn't this half a cup? It looks small."

"Honey, no. It's labeled, see? That's a whole cup. We don't want me dying of heart palpitations."

Guzman whips around to look at her, wide-eyed. "You get heart palpitations? I didn't know that. Are you ok?"

He moves closer to her but she soothes him. "It's ok, it's nothing serious. I've just been over-caffeinating lately because of classes. I should probably slow down on it," she says, rubbing her chest absent-mindedly.

He places his hand against her heart, a frown on his face. He feels the steady thump and he relaxes a little. "How long has this been happening?"

She sets her hand over his. "It's ok. Life of a college student who's double-majoring and with a minor," she says with a wry smile.

Guzman's frown deepens, bordering on a pout as he pulls her into a hug. "You work too hard."

"It's all I've ever known," she says with a shrug, chuckling when he squeezes her tighter.

"It's a good thing I'm here, then."

He hadn't fully grasped just how much stress she was under. He knew, logically, that she had a lot on her plate with school and even a part-time job on the side. She had sent him a copy of her course schedule and her work schedule so that he knew where she was and could coordinate calls accordingly. He remembered opening up the email and balking at how packed it was, his own stress level rising on her behalf. But whenever he would talk to her, she was dismissive and said it was normal.

Nadia was always good at shielding stress sometimes to the point where she wasn't even aware of it herself and it worried him. But he was here now and he would take care of her.

He presses a kiss to her forehead, pulling away softly. Just then he sees the water bubbling over and as though they were in sync, Nadia's eyes widen and she whips around.

"The water!" they shout in unison, rushing to lower the heat.

They watch the bubbles fade until it's just a low simmer. Nadia sighs, shaking her head. "Yeah, that's not a step. Let's not repeat that."

Guzman salutes her and turns back to the measuring cups, taking care to look at the label on them to make sure he picked up the right one. He was definitely not trying to send his girlfriend to an early grave, especially not now that he finally has her.

"Ok, I got it!" He brandishes the half cup proudly, checking to make sure she saw. She shakes her head affectionately at his boyish excitement and claps again, the gesture genuine.

"Nice."

He carefully pours the leaves into the cup, glancing at the water to make sure it didn't bubble over again, but the heat was low and it was sage again. He gets a good whiff of the leaves and is pleasantly surprised by the smell.

"Whoa, what kind of leaves are there? Where do you get them from?" He looks up from smelling them and grins at her. "You know, since they're a staple for you."

"There's a middle eastern café not too far from here with live music and good food. They have a little shop at the back where they sell tea and all kinds of other snacks. Ooh we should go this Sunday night. I think that's when they're having their special and a performer who's supposed to be really good."

Guzman brings over the tea leaves, his grin widening at her excitement. He can't help but beam at her happiness, every time she smiles so brightly or gets excited about something.

"Definitely. Anything you want." He gestures toward the now boiling water with the cup of leaves. "Is it ready?"

"Fire away!"

Guzman looks at her, cautious, before his eyes flit to the open window. Nadia rests a reassuring hand on his shoulder knowing where his mind had gone.

"Don't worry," she says.

Guzman grimaces. "I've heard New Yorkers are crazy and assholes. Especially after what happened here all those years ago."

"It's not anything more or less different than what I've dealt with before." Before he can say anything else, she nods toward the pot. "Toss the tea in before it boils over again."

Guzman knows that he'll always worry about her and about people being hostile or worse, violent, toward her just because of her appearance, her beliefs. But it wasn't because of her, Nadia wasn’t the problem. It was others and what others perceive her beliefs to be. He knew all too well how radical racists could be, creating their own narratives. He knew because once upon a time, he was among those assholes.

He never resented Nadia for her hijab or religion, but he certainly didn't discourage other people's narrow perceptions. Not until he got to know her and learned that all the stereotypes that ignorant people perpetuated were complete and utter bullshit. If he could beat up his past self, he would but instead, he would fight for Nadia. She was no damsel that was for sure, but he would be right by her side, fighting alongside her. Fight for her beliefs, her rights, her freedom. He would spend the rest of his life righting his wrongs and making sure those that did wrong her, would soon learn not to.

But now was not the time for dark thoughts because his girlfriend was looking at him expectantly. He had wanted to learn how to make her favorite tea so that he could make it for her whenever she wished, he wanted to be able to bring her some small piece of comfort when she needed it.

He steps closer to the stove and pours the tea in. He watched in fascination as the boiling water rose to engulf the leaves, turning the once clear water a thick, dark sludge almost.

"Wow, this really is a science demonstration," he murmurs. "It looks like wet mud actually."

Nadia snorts. "Yeah, I suppose so." She looks at him with sparkling eyes, the amusement shining bright. "Your fascination with the simplest thing is both hilarious and cute."

"My parents always drank coffee and even then I never saw them actually make it. Probably because they never actually made it themselves," he adds.

"Well, allow me to humble you," Nadia winks. "Ok now stir with the wooden spoon."

Guzman obliges, stirring the boiling, dark water carefully. The sludge had looked thick on the surface but as soon as he began to stir, the smooth liquid gave way to the spoon.

"Nadia, you humbled me the moment you blackmailed me at that party."

"Hmm I think it took a bit more time than that. Ok so you're now going to let the water boil with the leaves. Then you're--"

"What? There's another step?" he asks, astonished.

Nadia gestures to the can of what he now understood to be evaporated milk. He made a mental note of the size and appearance of the can for future reference. "Yeah, what did you think that was for."

Guzman stammers. "Well…I guess, I don't know, I thought that's supposed to be the last step? Isn't that how the British do it?"

"And when exactly did I become British. Moreover, when were the British deemed to have dictatorship on tea-making?"

"True," he concedes. "I guess I didn't realize there were so many ways to make tea, especially ways that took soooo long."

Nadia shrugs with a grin. "You want quality tea, you have to put the work in."

Guzman couldn't help the broad smile that broke across his face. "Sounds familiar. I had to work really hard for you, didn't I? Worth."

He considers this a moment as Nadia pulls a box from the cabinet. They've been together for awhile now and living together for three months already and still, Guzman had moments where he couldn't believe they were truly together. How many times had he fantasized about running away with Nadia? Too many to count and yet he had never envisioned this particular scenario. The reality was so much sweeter than anything he could have imagined.

"Glad you think so. And I'm grateful you were patient with me." She pushes the open box toward him after kissing his cheek. "Ok now you're going to grab the other measuring cup, the one that's labeled two thirds."

Guzman looks between Nadia, the box, and the simmering pot of tea.

"Nadia, are you making tea or a potion?  Are you secretly a witch and this is your way of telling me?"

"Hey, it wouldn't have taken so long if you didn't keep interrupting with your commentary. You talk a lot." She flicks his ear lob teasingly. "Now hop to it."

"Yes, master."

Guzman takes care to find the correct measuring cup this time and scoops the white granules from the box. "And what is this?"

"Sweetener."

"I thought that was the sugar." He gestures at the shaker labeled azucar. Nadia was so organized he never had trouble finding things even when he first moved in.

"It is, but this is sweetener. It's a good substitute for sugar sometimes, especially for me since I drink too much tea."

"This doesn't have your label on it though."

Nadia twists the box to the side where the brand and logo is presented with the word sweetener on it.

"Oh."

Guzman pours in the milk then the measured amount of sweetener, watching the color change into a pretty brown color, resembling a light chocolate.

"This is cool actually,  I feel like an important scientist. Look what I just created."

"You are an important scientist. My scientist, you did great work."

She rubs his back in that way that's become familiar to him.

Living together, he saw another side of Nadia, one that made him fall in love with her even more and he hadn't thought that was possible. He loved the way he stretched as she woke every morning, the way she put toothpaste on his brush automatically, the way she hip-checked him to spit into the sink before he could, the way she always served him a heaping helping of food like she thought he had been starving for a month, the way she rubbed his back or neck or hair as she passed by him around their apartment. These small moments meant everything to him, these casual but intimate touches that told him she loved him and was thinking about him, kept him in this perpetual state of contentment and he never fails to return the touch.

He does so now, pulling her to his side and kissing her temple and he watches her turn off the heat. He's taking note of everything she's telling him and showing him so he can surprise her with her favorite comfort drink.

"Is it done now?" he asks eagerly. He wanted her to try it and he was excited to see if he had managed to replicate the delicious way she makes it.

"Almost. We have to strain out the leaves."

"Ah shit."

"We should definitely cook more often," Nadia says in amusement, pulling two glasses down from the cupboard. "Forget take-out, we're cooking. I get dinner and a show."

Guzman takes the small strainer from her, taking care with the steaming pot. "Hopefully not burned dinner. I just pour the tea into the cups now? Through the strainer?"

"Exactly and then we're done."

Once Guzman pours out two glasses of tea, he sets them in front of Nadia with a flourish. It's silly but he's still proud especially when Nadia hops excitedly.

"Done?"

"Done"

Guzman watches anxiously as Nadia takes a careful sip, waiting with baited breath for her final verdict.

Nadia sighs in contentment. "Perfection."

"Really?"

"Really."

Nadia sets down her cup to return his enthusiastic embrace. "I know how to make tea now! Who would have thought?"

She pulls away and takes another sip, smirking over the rim of the cup. "Definitely not me."

He sticks his tongue out at her before reaching for his own cup. Nadia was right, it was perfect.

"You know I'm going to expect this to be a regular thing now, right?" Nadia says, her smiling lips pressing against his.

He pulls her close, letting their glasses clink lightly. "Anything for my girl. That's why I wanted to learn. So I could make it for you whenever you wanted."

And he kept that promise for the rest of their lives. Even when they were old and graying, Guzman made sure the love of his life had warm tea ready with a kiss.

#Guznadia #Guzman x Nadia #Nadia x Guzman #Nuzman #Netflix Elite #Guznadia Fanfiction #Guznadia Fanfic #cygnetofthesea writings #cygnetofthesea edits #cygnetofthesea graphics

[dylantidprssnt]

16 Years ago today...

I was deployed in response to one of the worst terror attacks on United States soil. 

I was stationed at Langley AFB in Virginia and I was working in the Pre and Post Anesthesia Care Unit with an Airman and a Major that were from New York City. By 5:30 PM we had orders to move. We were to set up the EMEDS in New Jersey, and we had 72 hours to do so. We had it up and operational in 48 hours. 

We were supposed to be overflow for casualties. We saw no patients and we knew how bad things were. 

That being said, I did not hate Muslims after this. Some of the coolest people I know are Muslim. I hated the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but Muslims were not responsible for this. It was a small group of fundamentalists. 

Religious Fundamentalists of any sort, who twist the their religion to allow cruelty are the types of people that we should be laying blame on. 

#remember the fallen #Islamaphobia has no place here.

[eak1mouse]

Forgiveness in Midnight Mass

This post contains spoilers for all eps.

Midnight Mass, Mike Flanagan's third Netflix horror series, revisits themes common to his other works. Strained family ties, grief for both people and opportunities lost, and the inevitability of death. This time, though, the show focuses on faith and the ways it can lead people down both good and bad paths. The people of Crockett Island provide rich material for an examination of community and the church's place in it.

I mostly enjoyed the show, but was frustrated by the ending and particularly how the show deals with its antagonists bystanders. I think it weakens its theme of redemption and forgiveness at the very end and I lay out my frustrations here.

Played initially with the same effective jump scares and unsettling eyeballs where there should be none, the mystery of what is happening on the island is blown wide open at episode 5. Riley, turned involuntarily into a vampire when he surprised the creature providing the communion "wine", is the catalyst for others to find out what's really going on.

I thought, as Erin did, that their nighttime jaunt out on a rowboat for storytime was a way to isolate her for the change. Instead, in a moment of sacrifice, Riley separated himself from the island and all its temptations. As he burned in the sunlight, convincing Erin of the truth, he met the young victim of his drunk driving accident, finally whole.

Erin brings her tale to Sarah, the town doctor with her own suspicions, and Sarah's mom. This trio comes up with a plan. This is a disease, so they need to warn others and get help. The doctor does her best to warn the sherrif, but he is constrained by the racism and islamaphobia of the island. Still, they move forward, trying for the ferry. As they are hemmed in and herded away, kept from the ferries and the boats by mayoral authority and Sturge's mechanical interference, and unlikely to convince others without proof, they find their choices narrowing.

And they choose to stay. To stay for the people they love, in the hope of averting disaster. To go to the mass and hope to protect someone.

Here is where, in a different genre, in a different story, it would become an action movie. Where these women would lock and load and show up guns blazing. Instead, this is a show about community, about the people they love and know and serve and see every day.

So they go the mass unarmed, and as the congregation is offered poison they smack cups out of hands and plead with people. The sheriff, Hassan, shoots the priest and pleas with his son. Sarah's mom shoots the vampire, and when that fails, they haul each other to safety and they run.

From here on out, they are actively trying to protect not only each other, but also the world. They know how dangerous it would be if any of the changed humans made it to the mainland. So the adults prepare to do what it takes to contain them all, sacrificing themselves for people they'd never see. They arm themselves that they may have more minutes, more seconds to do what must be done.

They are active in their love and in their faith and in their sacrifice. Riley's mom steps forward to give them time to get away, cutting her own neck to lure the hungry vampires in, that her last son can escape. Erin uses her last moments to destroy the membranes of the vampire's wings, cutting off its escape. Hassan and Sarah spend their lives destroying the last shelters that the vampires would find no refuge, no way to survive the sunlight. Their sacrifices are meaningful. Filled with hope and love for a future they will not see.

So I am frustrated at how forgiveness is offered here at the end. The priest, who brought this horror to their home and called it an angel, the one who as been drugging them for weeks, he looks on what he has wrought and he denies it. Weakly he says, no, no, we were wrong, we are wrong, but too caught up in his failed desire for a new life he lets Bev pull all leadership from him.

As he leaves his flock of wolves, he finds his daughter, preparing to burn the church down. Good, he says. I'm so proud of you.

But the inattention has a cost and his daughter dies in front of him, killed by Sturge in an effort to protect the priest. Though he tries to kill Sturge, he is called off by his former lover. Where they move instead to grieve over their daughter's body, the daughter who denies this dubious and unethical second chance at life as a vampire. Grieving, they do not seek to finish her mission, only walking away without further protest.

This priest who spoke of ending death, who has proffered these tainted miracles, who knew, who knew, how far a vampire can travel abandons the people of his parish, the people of his island.

He knew what would be unleashed when the doors were opened to allow the vampires to attack any others on the island. He saw the horror. This is monstrous, he said.

And he did nothing.

Deprived of shelter, the remaining vampires gather to sing a hymn, holding even now to their faith and each other. And yet there is no reckoning. Many have killed their loved ones. Some made others into killers.

And some, some have engaged in a long campaign to bring the others to this failed end, and a failed effort to infect the world. Yet there is no accountability beyond the sunrise that burns them all.

Riley said to Joe that for people like them, who had sinned, it was about who you became. That if they worked hard, it would feel different.

Riley, in sacrificing himself to protect others, found absolution. Riley had done the work, internally, in his dedication to attending AA meetings as part of his parole, in his efforts to make true amends with his family, and when he was most pressured, most tempted. He was a flawed man, but he rose to the occasion.

In the midst of chaos and slaughter, his dad comforts his mom by revealing that the vampires have some control over their desire to feed and to kill.

So where are my changed heart vampires? Why did no one try to protect any humans against other vampires? Why did no one try to stop Bev or Sturge? Or wrestle the guns away or render aid? Why did no one try to protect the children vampires from the sunlight?

Erin, Sarah, Hassan, Leeza, Riley's brother. They were fighting for minutes, for seconds, for a nebulous and precious world outside.

And Father Paul was uselessly regretting his actions in the church. Sturge was willingly turning his friend away with only the barest words of comfort. The vampires seemed to be turned to milling bystanders when they were violent actors 5 minutes before.

God's forgiveness may be absolute, but when the stakes are placed this high, it is no longer about the individual soul. It is about our connections to the people and the world around us. And that path to redemption, to forgiveness, begins with doing the work.

I am struck by how much it resembles how people react when called out on socially unacceptable actions: racism, homophobia, xenophobia. The way that guilt and shame, that recognition that they were wrong is where some journeys end. And perhaps as Riley told Joe, that showing up is enough, at least at first. But it isn't enough forever. We have to be braver.

Guilt is no longer enough. Wallowing is not enough. Sometimes, you show you love your community and the world by taking up any of the super handy candleholders and stabbing some vampires.

Even little steps. If Sturge or the mayor had refused to hide Joe's body. Or not even refused, but warned the congregation gathered behind them. If they had left ways off the island. If any of the vampires had lured others away from humans. Or held each other back. If the priest had stopped Bev at the last moment and saved Hassan's life. It would have been worth something.

Instead the sun rises and the world does not end and it is from enormous sacrifices by a handful of people whose stories will not be told, whose bodies lie mauled and bloody under the open sky. And the others have lost their chance to atone in this life. When they have so willing washed themselves in their neighbors' blood, what kind of offering have they truly made their God? All their life and potential and faith burned out in the light. Forgiveness without accountability, without reckoning of harms done, feels weak. Not the grand majesty of redemption offered even at the darkest moment, the choice to turn away from an evil path always open until the final breaths, but this tepid comfort that heaven is only a death away. And a lack of consequences for one's own action. Forgiveness turned to a reason for inaction, to a petty excuse.

#midnight mass spoilers #midnight mass meta #midnight mass

[hxlyhead-harpies]

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hi! my name is emmy and i am 18 years old! i’m a hufflepuff, an infp, and a leo. I write mlw and wlw reader inserts as well as jily and wolfstar fics. i love music and most of my inspiration for writing is found in songs. you can find my spotify here. 

along with writing i love to read, paint, and watch movies. i will be attending film school in the fall so if you ever want to send me an ask or a message about films don’t hesitate! my current favorite movies are scream, lady bird, dead poets society, little women, jennifer’s body, booksmart, first reformed, frances ha, and the obvious child. 

some random facts about me: i love chocolate, i’m allergic to cats, i love caramel iced coffee, i’m lactose intolerant, i drive a punch buggy named lucy, and my favorite animals are sharks

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this blog is a safe place for BIPOC and for the LGBTQIA+ community. homophobia, transphobia, racism, anti semitism, islamaphobia, and ableism will NOT be tolerated.

please do not interact if:

you support and/or defend jk rowling

post or consume sexualized content for characters that are minors

ship toxic, pedophilic, or incestual ships

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[pocmuzings]

hello hi , it is g , ur friendly local neighbourhood hindu indian ( as in south asian  ) ! so a few people requested that i just make a guide-esque sorta thing on hindu  indian characters ! im not really good at guides , so instead , these are just little things i’ve noticed or picked up on that could really potentially strengthen the next indian character u ( pretty please ! ) pick up ! 

disclaimer : i am writing this from my perspective and it is NOT definitive , nor do i speak on behalf of all hindu indians  ! i am a 23-year-old bisexual cis female hindu indian , with one older gay brother, and a Train Wreck middle brother . my mother is from new delhi , and my father is from nairobi but has indian heritage ( not sure which part of india bc he’s an Engima ) . i have extended family in india and have visited india about 10-15 times throughout my entire life .

so firstly , im so glad u all are here and want to write more hindu indian characters ! please please do so !  i hope this helps , encourages u , and isnt too confusing !! 

psa : i need everyone to know that this is a very basic ‘ guide ‘ and theres a lot it DOESNT touch on or address bc i didnt want to get too Extensive and Detailed and have people Turn off and not Read it . this is just written in the terms of hopefully helping build  character / be relevant to characters a bit better that ive employed into writing my OWN hindu indian character creations !  but if u have any other questions pls reach out to me or any other indians in the rpc and im sure we’ll try our best to assist u !

FCS: 

one thing i’d really like to say is that its great to see fcs like dev patel  , deepika padukone and avan jogia picked up every now and then in rps , but there’s actually a LOT of other indian fcs you could be and should be using ! the main reason people don’t seem to know them is because they’re not ‘ hollywood ‘ stars per se ( it was a super big deal when pr*yanka broke out of bollywood and into bollywood but we don’t talk about her on this Blog ) . they’re usually bollywood stars and i don’t really see bollywood discussed that much in the rpc ! 

if you’re after MORE indian fcs , i have a tag of indian females here , and indian males here . the fcs on my blogs are also not ALL that exist . there are plenty of other blogs out there that post indian fcs , such as sonamhelps &  bollymusings !!! there’s also some really great faceclaim directories out there that include a LOT of indians with resources !

 unfortunately , i do not know of any trans indians or nonbinary indians but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist . indian cultures and beliefs are still quite Old School and not super progressive . india only just had it’s first wlw mainstream bollywood film released last year . lgbtqia+ issues are NOT really spoken about in india or within indian families at ALL , and if they are - they’re usually dismissed or reacted to Very Very Badly . ( again this isnt definitive and im sure and hopeful that some indians have had GREAT coming out stories and been accepted by their families but this has not been a common thing ive seen or witnessed from my cousins my age , indian friends , myself and my brother who are lgbtqia +  ) 

FOOD : 

we do eat with our hands and we eat like PROS with our hands . we can shovel it so easily and quickly . i don’t know how to describe it but you use the first three fingers of your hand to place the Food there , and then use your thumb to kinda scoop it off and into your mouth . this is NOT unhygienic because indians wash their hands very regularly and most of the time we aren’t actually touching our mouths to our hands ! 

indian food is MADE to be eaten with your hands for the most part . it is literally NOT practical to eat food with a knife and fork . here’s a really great article explaining things more in depth re: indian food and using our hands !

cows are seen as Very holy beings in hindu indian culture , and for that reason - there isn’t a lot of beef being eaten or consumed. sure , some indians DO eat beef but i don’t think its super common, but in my personal experience as a non-beef-eater this results in A LOT of me asking ‘ oh ,  sorry what sauce does that pasta come with ? ‘ ‘ oh those are beef sausages ? sorry i can’t eat them ‘ etc etc . beef is in a LOT of things , and this makes me very very careful and almost pedantic about what i do eat and ask about , food wise  !

indian food is seen as stinky by a majority of white people . it has a very very strong smell as im sure u know , and opening ur lunch box as a little kid to a Curry or Dal ur mum has made u ? one way street to being bullied . i also remember a time a real estate agent continuously told my dad nobody was interested in buying our house bc it smelled too much like curry,  despite my mum not having cooked curry in Weeks ( just say what u Really mean ,  bitch ! )

 indian curry exists but so does dal / daal . this is curry-like dish that is usually made out of lentils . so if ur going to talk about indian food and u know curries and samosas . . pls also bring up dals . and sabji ! ( sabji is usually just boiled vegetables plopped together . a lot of potato usually )

desserts are what we call Indian Sweets  . this is stuff that is usually very VERY sugary and a bit of an accustomed taste . theyre very colourful and LOOK beautiful but even i , for one , can not eat many indian sweets bc they are a Lot of Sweet and Sugar    . examples of indian sweets that u can google  : gulab jamun , burfi , rasgulla , jalebi etc . here’s a great link for more !

give me spiced food or give me death . literally . . put some cumin in . . put some garam masala . . put some chillies . . flavour ur Food for my Indian Taste Buds 

FAMILY : 

if you are the oldest son of an Indian Family . . congratulations . you are now the Head of the family and must carry every weight and burden alone . it is extremely isolating and taxing on you ( my dad is the oldest indian son , and also - so is my eldest brother , obvs ) . there is a LOT that is expected of you to do . you are expected to quite literally run the family and be the ‘ man of the house ‘ by yourself . 

if you are a daughter . . . even BIGGER congratulations ! you are basically a maid to every male or guest who EVER comes over to your house . you must be a Hostess , you must be in the kitchen cooking , serving snacks, bringing tea , and then washing up and basically waiting on Hand and Foot . you will not be included into a lot of dialogue or engaged in a lot of conversation and TRUST ME ! THAT WILL GRIND UR GOD DAMN GEARS IN THE 21ST CENTURY ! 

if you are a boys’ boy ( aka straight and Sporty ) , then congrats ! you get it the easiest : you are the favourite of every social event . the uncles and cousins love talking to you and dude-ing it up with you , and the aunts fawn over you and think you’re the Best Thing since sliced bread . sit back , put your feet up , and expect to be treated like a God. you can do absolutely no wrong . ( my middle brother is this to a T and listen . . he’s been in and out of jail for physical violence and ab*se for over 5 years . and family still FROTH over him . my teeth are gritted to dust thinking of this again ) 

indian aunties are lethal . they gossip like teenage girls . they will find out everything . they will bitch behind your back . they can NOT be trusted .

everyone is ur uncle or aunt, sister or brother . literally everyone . ur cousin ? no. thats ur sister . ur dads friend ? no , thats ur uncle . you will call them as such . EVERYONE is family .  

family is in general a VERY BIG THING in indian culture , too . ‘ what will it Look like to everyone else if we don’t all arrive together ? ‘ my dad usually asks dskjdfjn . it’s all about Looking Right and Standing As A United Front  . that being said , indian family has undying and unwavering loyalty for one another , they just show it in a very Weird way .

FASHION: 

female hindu indian formal  clothes are usually really embroidered to hell and back and this makes them very scratchy , uncomfortable, and HEAVY . you aren’t running anywhere anytime soon in a full blown lehenga or saree 

most ‘ modern ‘ hindu indian women do not wear full Indian Clothes all the time . some do , but usually it’s a lot of wearing a kurti tunic with jeans , or just normal everyday clothing . again , this is going to be different based on which parts of india your character is from , though ! 

usually , older women and married women  wear traditiona hindul indian clothing quite often . i know my mum wore a sari AT HOME everyday when i was growing up, until i was like 13 and took her shopping with me to get something Else to wear . 

bindi’s just stick right onto ur forehead but they do fall off a lot , especially when ur wearing makeup or sweating . again , you don’t need to wear a bindi everyday , unless thats ur preference . i usually only wear them for festivals . ( festivals means indian celebrations , not like . . coachella  ((which u should not be wearing a bindi to , if ur not indian fyi )) )

male formal clothes are usually just literally anything Formal and buttoned up for the most part , and u can get away with that , or you can wear a really nice kurta

indians wear white at funerals , not black  ( not sure if this should go in the fashion section but this entire thing is being organised into a Mess by now anyways ) . you CAN wear black to a funeral of course , but its common to wear white !

DATING ( tw’s for islamaphobia ): 

modern day indian / desi fuck boys exist and my god they are Something Else . hasan minhaj did a really good piece about this and explaining them to a T ( starts at 1:43 )

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT WILL MENTION ISLAMAPHOBIA AND HOMOPHOBIA ! ) basically according to Older  indians , ,  ur dating options  in 2020 go like this ( if ur a cis female like me ) : hindu indian men are god tier , white men are Not Okay But I Guess So Bc We Have To Accept They’re Everywhere , females / being lgbtqia+ is not Taken Seriously , and muslims are literally not even close to being an option or Accepted  . again this isn’t definitive but based on a lot of  indian media i’ve consumed and seen how they portray muslims in general as well as Dating Options , as well as talking to other indians  , both who are older / traditional and hold these ideals , whereas Younger gens generally do NOT hold these ideals  / actively are Against these backwards ideals.   i remember when i was in year 6 and had my first boyfriend . . he was a muslim and my dad FLIPPED the FUCK out  . it’s not even that i was dating someone / young / his only daughter . . it was mainly because i was dating a muslim . again , this is a very OLD SCHOOL and traditional way of thinking and it is NOT CORRECT .  pls don’t take this as a note to be islamaphobic if u write an indian character bc . . thats literally the opposite of what im trying to tell u here . 

yeah arranged marriages are definitely still a thing for us , even now in 2020

YES if u are an unmarried / single indian ( ESPECIALLY if ur a woman ) about to enter ur 30s . . ur in DANGER and u are the black sheep and theres probably something Wrong With You bc why are u still single ?

TRADITIONS / BELIEFS / SUPERSTITIONS :

idk if its just me and my family but we are SUPER superstitious . if you say anything like ‘ he hasnt gotten sick in years !’ immediately , everyone knocks on wood or their head . if you were planning on leaving the house and sneeze ? thats bad luck , stand and wait for five minutes then u can leave . we have a strong belief in drishti , or  alternatively : The Evil Eye  , and making sure we don’t invite it into our lives . a lot of our prayers are about warding drishti away .

the evil eye is kinda Complicated but basically its an ill-wishing upon an unsuspecting person . if somebody is jealous of you or angered by you , they may wish upon you or cast upon you the Evil eye ( or even just glare at u whilst ur not looking and thats Big Bad ) . 

a lot of older indians , like older people in general i guess , are not super progressive or Open . this isnt ALWAYS the case but older indians can be very very stubborn in their beliefs in what is Right and Wrong , Normal and Not Normal 

theres a LOT of hindu indian festivals and events ! tbh too many for me to even keep up with . but without fail at least once a year ill say to ONE of my friends ‘ oh sorry i cant make it . i have an indian Thing on that day ‘ and its usually about a festival , so pls be aware that there are a LOT of indian festivals and if ur writing an indian character , its perfectly understandable and Relatable for them to say they can’t make it to a party or hang out with their friends that night , for that very reason !

the main / most popular ( ? ) festivities  that i personally do celebrate every year without fail are : 

diwali ( the festival of lights , celebrating goddess lakshmi roaming the earth . in my household this is usually turning on literally every single light and lighting candles and fireworks / sparklers and saying some prayers , and eating a formal dinner all together !  )  

holi ( the festival of colours . celebrating victory and love . again personally for me , this was usually celebrated at the temple with all of us Kids running around throwing paint on each other ! ) 

rakhi / raksha bandhan ( a day of sisters celebrating their brothers . you tie a rakhi which is usually a bracelet / holy string around your brothers wrist , feed them some food , pray for their wellbeing and in return they gift you something . in my case, i usually get money from them ) .

navratri  / durga puja ( 9 nights and 10 days of celebrations but tbh u don’t have to do all the days . or i mean . . i don’t . i fast one day from morning to night and then i slide on over to boogie and dance dandiya which is literally the MOST FUN dance ever bc its based off some Historical Fight and u go faster and faster and keep going until ur absolutely SPENT bc u dont wanna lose ur place in the circle )  

there are SO MANY HINDU INDIAN GODS too . and so many prayers to all of them and to just general Life Wellness . chances are that ur character will know at least ONE aarti / gazal / prayer off by heart and have sung it at least 30 times in a monotone voice . the ones i know off by heart bc ive had to sing them 3000 times ? om jai jagdish hare , & the gayatri mantra 

GENERAL LIL THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO CATEGORISE ( tw’s for skin whitening , colorism and classism ) :

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT NEEDS A TW FOR SKIN WHITENING AND COLORISM  ) lets hold indians accountable right now : we advertise SKIN LIGHTENING CREAM  . i think they finally stopped that earlier this year / due to BLM ( i’m not entirely sure / could be wrong ) , but thats literally how bad it is , that we would openly advertise and encourage people to literally bleach their skin rather than look darker . 

( THIS IS THE POINT THAT NEEDS A TW FOR COLORISM AND CLASSISM ) colorism is a BIG thing in india and usually linked to class . generally speaking , the people who are Darker Skinned are usually people who work outside / labourers or homeless even , and are therefore seen as lower class / bottom class . the lighter skin you have , the more privileged and advantaged you are bc ur seen as working a Good job out of the sun and having a home . it’s incredibly classist as well as just generally Fucked Up . why am i telling u this ? mainly so u understand the importance of using a dark skinned indian fc vs a light skinned indian fc which i know is hard , bc a lot of darker skinned indians arent in hollywood / have resources , but its still something to Think About .  

i have a long Ethnic name . literally my first name is 10+ letters , which i know doesnt seem that long Necessarily but its also a Super Ethnic name with e’s and and j and n . it Flows and Sounds very clearly different from a christian name . it is VERY important to me that my name be said Correctly because i’ve spent so much time having it said incorrectly or Westernised . i also know a lot of indians my age who ( like me ) have had to dramatically shorten their REAL first name ( which is usually also pretty long . not always , but it is Common ) , to fit their name into white people’s mouths better . please put some thought into ur indian characters name !

not all indians speak hindi ! hindi is one of MANY dialects within india . there is also tamil , urdu  , bengali , punjabi , telugu and SO many more , so pls research which part of india ur character / their family  is from bc hindi won’t always be the default language for them !

not every indian is hindu ! of course ur character doesnt have to be religious at all , bc if im being honest IM barely religious but my FAMILY is and this is smth u should think abt bc religion is a pretty big thing for indians . so even if ur character isnt hindu , they were probably raised with SOME religious beliefs . have a think about which religions they would have been brought up with ! there’s a very large percentage of practicing muslims , sikhs and buddhists too ! and even christianity !

WRITING WISE / CREATING AN INDIAN CHARACTER WISE :

the first step should be to consume indian media ! listen to indian music . watch bollywood movies ! theres SO MANY  out there on everyone’s netflix . if u want some recs , let me know and i can try my best to find smth for u ! if u want smth thats Hollywood-indian . . . Hasan Minhaj is great to watch , especially his episodes on indian culture / politics , and Never Have I Ever on netflix was rlly good / relatable for me personally as an indian growing up in a western society !

i would really really love to see more indian rep in general , but i’d also like to discuss the Stereotypes that ive seen indians portrayed as in mainstream hollywood media :

indian women as soft spoken and subservient beings who are abused by their husbands and have no say in anything 

heterosexuality within indian relationships and indian dating 

indian men as sleazy 

indians in general not being seen as Sexy or Sexual beings with any sex drive at all 

Stumbling , Stuttering , Nerdy awkward messes of men who don’t know how to interact with anybody they find sexually appealing

an indian character that everybody ( usually white ) finds Uncomfortable and Weird and is seen as usually the Butt of the joke .

 i think those mentioned above could be helpful in how to plan your next indian character and think about how to SUBVERT a trope theyre often portrayed as , or create an indian thats not stereotypical !

so what and who SHOULD you write ? 

an indian character who is proudly and openly gay , or bi 

a trans or nonbinary indian ( PLEASE ! ) 

an indian character with really super accepting parents and family 

an aromantic indian 

an indian who is focused on their career first and not their dating life 

a fuckboy / fuckgirl ( honestly . . i’d love to see it )

a indian character who is a party animal 

an outspoken indian female who takes no shit and is strong in every sense of the word

a confident , smooth talking indian businessman who is Sexy and Lusted After ( not in a gross christian grey way but just . i’d love to see indian characters seen as Sexy . not in a fetishy way , either , but just because it’d be a nice change in pace ! )

a character who IS traditional / religious but also very progressive and forward thinking in their beliefs 

honestly just any character that isnt whats mentioned above

#guide #writing help #rph #rpc #islamaphobia tw #colorism tw #classism tw #idk if this is any good and i was very uncomfortable putting in the part abt how a lot of older indians feel abt muslims #but i mean . . lets just call it the fuck out bc its Gross Behaviour so lets call it out and work to change it #anyways every trigger is tagged super clearly in every point that talks abt it #i kept those parts Brief and as Direct and Honest as possible #pls let me know if u need me to tag anything #and lastly . . . pls write indian characters !!!!

[holly-mckenzie]

bitch! since no one asked you, I'll ask you myself! What is happening to your version of Sana, Noora, and whoever else you have done an absurd amount of research + written an entire essay about

wow its almost like I sent this message to myself! thanks “anon”

I know, I know, you’re probably thinking... Erica, how are you going to tell your version of Sana in an Indian, Malaysian, and Turkish context (especially because all of ‘em countries either are Muslim Nations or have a Muslim community...) to which I say: BEHOLD! 

9. Introduce us to your version of Sana

GERAM (SKAM Malaysia) : Kalifa Ahmed (name subject to change)

So, here’s the thing... Making Geram!Sana Malaysian makes absolutely no sense, especially because of the overall Muslim population. So I figure that there are three versions to do it 1) make her of another faith (which is tricky), 2) Make her not be Muslim enough, (she doesn’t wear her Hijab, interacts with dogs, has gay friends etc...) 3) or three which is the option I will be going with.

Kalifa Ahmed is a Somali-Malaysian (I haven’t decided if I want to make her half-Malay, half-Somali, or a Somalian who has emigrated to Malaysia). Kalifa, much like Sana is super close to her family, especially her mother. Kalifa enjoys playing the football/soccer and is the member of the group that says it as it is (think SKAM NL Imaan). She’s a bit rough around the edges from all of the things she has faced in life, however, she is super sarcastic and funny. She is super independent, so a thing that I want her season to focus on is her friends realising that she is more than the “strong-Black-woman” and does need help. 

Kalifa constantly feels ostracised from the Malaysian population, due to the large anti-Black sentiment that is rampant in Malaysian. Thus, as a product, Kalifa is very close to her family, due to all the racism that they face on a daily basis. This includes ”racial preferencing” when it comes to apartment hunting, to people avoiding them in public, and constantly hearing racist comments made towards them. 

Before the show starts, Kalifa had a close friend in the character of Jamila. Jamila would probably either be a character that Kalifa met in the apartment that she lives in or to the refugee school that she went too (in Malaysia refugees aren’t allowed to attend national schools and must attend refugee schools). They became fast friends, bonding over their shared experiences of facing racism on a daily basis. However, Jamila feels betrayed by Kalifa for “leaving” her to become friends with the Girl Gang. Jamilla is incredibly hurt by it, especially because Jamilla thinks that Kalifa lets GERAM!Vilde gets away with being casually racist. However, Kalifa, feels pressure because though she does speak out about the racism she faces, she knows that she could face backlash for it. Especially since if you are a foreign worker in Malaysia, you can face deportation for speaking about the injustice. This is one of the reasons that both Kalifa and Jamila don’t like  Geram!Vilde, because Kalifa feels like the prejudice that Geram!Vilde has, goes against their shared Islamic faith. 

An aspect of this that I would really want to touch on is the fact that Kalifa doesn’t face the same sort of “tension” that og Sana faces between having to choose between the secular world and Islam (because that makes no sense in Malaysia. Also, I thought the love triangle was stupid, so it won’t be happening.). Instead, Kalifa is torn because, she feels finally “settled” in Malaysia, however, her family, in particular, her brother, wants to go back/seek refugee status somewhere else (This is my version of the Sana-Yusaf-Noora love triangle). However, this all comes to head when her brother is attacked when he is going to the Mosque (which will replace the whole Elias punching Isak plot). With this we will see, just how ingrained into Malaysian culture anti-Black sentiment is. This will end, with her parents deciding, really deciding to seek refugee status somewhere else (which will replace the Yusaf leaving plot). 

* tw for the season : pain/angst, racism, hate crimes, Islamaphobia

** additional notes: Kalifa is probably really close to Nor (my version of Noora) and they are super cute (e.g. - they fix each other’s Hijab and stuff... it’s ducking adorable). Also, the show will focus on Ramadan (though that’s boring I know)... However, instead of having Kalifa invite the girls to Hari Raya, Nor’s family invites Kalifa’s to their house. (You get the idea that because Kalifa’s family is so ostracised from the community, that this act is super important because they are finally being invited in... Also, Nor’s mom tries to cook Somali food and it's hella cute). Lastly, Geram!Yusaf, is a Sabahan Muslim. He volunteers at the refugee school that I mentioned earlier (hence his whole being good with kids thing). He is also lowkey an activist and is thus, really educated in racism and stuff. One of the reasons that Kalifa falls for him, is because he doesn’t put up with the casual jokes by his friends, and instead corrects them. 

Okay, so I haven’t actually thoroughly throughout the rest of my Sana’s... Partially, because I’m not well educated on the countries/religions etc. So here’s a brief summary:

Mó Bafão (SKAM Brasil): Monica (name subject to change)

Monica is a young Afro-Brasileira (Afro-Brasilian) woman. Monica practices the religion Candomblé, and thus faces a lot of prejudice from her peers for firstly, being Black (because racism and against Black people is a thing in Brasil, regardless of what Josh Boone may think). However, the other prejudice comes from the facts that her peers are mostly Christian and Catholic and see Candomblé as a heathen religion. Thus, due to that belief, many of her peers have grown up learning to avoid signs of the Candomblé faith (e.g. - orange coloured strips of fabric near a tree, or a specific arrangement of "ingredients" or tools). Much like Sana, Monica feels torn between two worlds. However, unlike Sana what it really comes down to is colonialism. Monica has really seen how the Christian/Catholic faith has affected Brasilian society, and how Brasil is still very much facing the consequences of colonialism (the post-colonial hangover is a real thing guys). 

SKAM TURKÏYE : Sera

Sera is Turkish-Armenian. Sera comes from a family where her family is super supportive of all of her dreams and goals. She is the mom friend of the group and constantly wants to care for everyone. She is Armenian and thus the prejudice that she faces is largely tied to the denial and recognition of the Armenian genocide by her peers and schools. Due to this, Sera is very much an advocate for the rights of Armenians, as well as Kurds and Jews. She faces a lot of backlash from her fellow peers who would rather keep the status-quo and not believe that there is something wrong about the world. Much of the season will discuss what it would mean for Sera to live in a modern Turkey and whether that would mean assimilate to the culture or to stand up for her people and her beliefs. Also, I just think it would be neat if we made Turkïye!Yusaf Kurdish. 

7. Introduce us to your version of Noora

Mó Bafão (SKAM Brasil): Grace Lee

At the start of the show, (Marie Vitória Silva’s (Mó Bafão!Eva) season), Grace Lee is a new student at their school. Grace is  Korean-Brasilian, and though her parents offered to send her to Colégio Polilogos (a South Korean international school in São Paulo), she chose to go to the school that she currently goes too, where she meets the Girl Gang. Grace is a super interesting character because though she grew up in Brasil, she also lived in Korea and the States, before moving back to São Paulo. Thus, Grace has curated her own cultural experience, which accounts for the fact that she doesn’t drink, smoke, party, have a boyfriend, or subscribe to traditional beauty standards. Grace would probably be considered fat/thick by most Asian (and Brasilian) standards. She is also quite tall for an Asian and doesn’t have the fair skin that is associated with Asian beauty standards. Grace kinds walks to the beat of her own drum, and because of that, Marie really admires Grace, which is one of the reasons for their tight bond. However, Mó Bafão!Vilde discounts this, believing that Grace’s decision to not drink, have sex, or conform to the standard of beauty is due to the conservative Korean culture or Grace’s family’s religious values. I think an important aspect of Grace’s character that I would like to point out is the place of privilege that Grace has, because she grew up over-seas she hasn’t had the same societal pressures in regards to beauty, partying, or sex that the rest of the girls have had, allowing her to be the character that stands up against it. Grace also is a total foodie and her Insta posts are entirely made up food. She also, posts these really cute Meokbang’s where she and one of her friends go out and try different foods in São Paulo. 

Okay, so here’s where he run into a lot of trouble. Because, I hate the whole Magnusson brothers plot in the original show, and I much prefer what eskam did in that regards. However, I also know for fact that Brasil has a huge sexual violence problem, so... I feel like, I would *really* need to be *way* more educated to be able to tell a beautiful and honest storyline that deals into ideas of consent and what not in the Brasilian context, and I am just not there yet?

* tw for the season : sexual violence + slut shaming + fat shaming ** additional notes : Okay, so I would really enjoy is Grace lived at home with her family and you get to see her interacting with her family. In that scenerio, the Mó Bafão!Eskild would probably be a family member/family friend that lives with them. However, another option would be to make Grace be living in a homestay situation with Mó Bafão!Eskild being the host of the homestay. Another aspect that we could potentially go into is intimate partner violence, with Mó Bafão!Miquel being this super charasmatic dude, who buys Grace clothes to wear that she doesn’t like (they are tight + bright colours she doesn’t like) and encouraging her to diet, all the while talking about how much he likes her for not being like the other Brasilian girls. Mó Bafão!Mique would totally have a TikTok account where he would post one of those TikTok “pranks” that’s straight up emotional abuse. This is sees through Grace’s socials because she stops posting her foodie content and Meokbangs. However, the last social you see from Grace (at the end of her season) is a tiny Meokbang again (maybe with Mó Bafão!Alejandro).  

SKAM India : Nana

Nana’s is from Nagaland, though her family has been staying overseas and have just moved to Bangalore. Nana is super close with her family, especially her father, who is her number one supporter. Nana’s family knows one of Anjali (my version of Eva) extended family. Nana and Anjali are really close. To some degree, Nana’s peers are a bit taken aback by her because she’s from the Nagaland, and there are some misconceptions about whether she is actually Indian. Nana is super smart and a bit of a know it all, which gets her in a lot of trouble at school. She is also super hardworking and lowkey the mom-friend of the group and just wants everyone to be okay. Due to this, she always wants people to be comfortable and treats them with kindness (which is great when it comes to India!Isak, but not when it comes to Kabir (India!Miquel).

So, I don’t know if you have already picked this up, but I am a huge fan of the way that eskam dealt with the Magnusson brother plot and the Miquel vs. Alejandro plot... And obviously, India has a huge issue with romanticising toxic relationships(looks pointedly at Arjun Reddy) and sexual violence.

So, that being said, in the first season we get an introduction to Kabir (my version of Miquel), who is this Delhi boy. He is a shameless flirt and flirts with everyone until he meets Nana. When she doesn’t reciprocate his affections, he focuses all of his attention on winning her over. For the first season, we see scenes of Nana and Kabir talking and it is all framed as harmless and funny, with them having a back and forth about how she doesn’t want to date him. We see, how annoyed she is by his advances, but it is pictured as almost romantical. However, when we delve into her season, we really see into just how much Kabir’s advances affect her, especially because she (though she is friendly with him) doesn’t want his advances, and he keeps playing it off as her “playing hard to get.” Due, to this, he continues to push Nana, whether it is to touch her against her will (hug her, attempt to play footsie with her, touch her face) or insert himself into her life (introduce himself to her family). Due to all of that, plus the fact that Kabir comes from a good family, Nana’s family and friends think 1) she is pretending to hate him (because she actually likes him) so they discount her words and 2) she is making a big deal because nothing actually happened (he didn’t actually “touch”/r*pe her). However, with the encouragement of her friends, India!Alejandro (if he exists) and her grandparents, she is able to stand up against Kabir and pushes him away.  

* tw for the season : sexual harassment + victim blaming ** additional notes : Okay, so in the scenario where we establish India!Alejandro, I thought it would be *really* fun to kinda do a flip on what eskam established. Instead, of establishing Alejandro in the first season, and introducing Miquel later. We establish Kabir in Season 1 where we see their “love” unfold and what not... Then we see India!Alejandro in her season... And he is just so much of the opposite of Kabir, he is patient, and is always waiting for her to make the first move. They, also have a fun back and forth (that’s very reminiscent of the Pakistani film Cake), and when she tells the “Girl Gang” and India!Alejandro about Kabir, he immediately believes her and wants to help in any way (get in contact with his family friend in order to press charges). 

GERAM (SKAM Malaysia) : Nor 

Nor is Malay-Muslim, and would probably be what my Aunt would call a Modern Day Muslim, and what the government of Malaysia would call heretical. Nor, doesn’t always wear her hijab (only when she wants too), but is deeply religious and goes to the Mosque and prays and what not. She also helps out in the animal shelter with dogs (’causing a lot of her friends and family to believe that she is un-Islamic). She is a total activist and is constantly talking about the evils of conversion therapy (a thing that can be forced on gay Muslim folks in Malaysia), the treatment of Orang Asli, foreign immigrants, and the Indian community in Malaysia. At the start of the season, Nor has just moved back from New Zealand, which has created a lot of hub-bub in her friend group because they see her as totally fancy and such. Nor, is really close with her family, who she lives with. Nor and her mom were especially close when Nor was younger, but because of Nor going through the classic teenage drama stuff, their relationship is not as tight as it could be. Nor’s cousin (who is an out and proud gay man) and Nor’s maid combined become Geram!Eskild. Nor, kinda has that rich popular girl thing going for her (think the energy and vibes that Tina has in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai). She is kinda outspoken, which causes her a bit of drama because she sometimes (all the time) says things that get her into trouble. In Geram, I won’t be playing around. Nor, is constantly being harassed by this boy. To the point where it gets really depressed and causes her to lock herself in her room. Her maid Geram!Eskild, finds out about the assualt and tells Nor’s mother. Nor’s mom, finds out and presses charges against Geram!William.

* tw for the season : sexual harassment + victim blaming

** additional notes : Okay, so I have two things to say. I know that most versions of Noora focus on the fact that she doesn’t want to have sex/drink. However, I’m going to subvert that by having her not do that, but instead being such an activist and being willing to talk about “controversial” things thus causing people to give her the label of un-Islamic and slightly heretical. Additionally, victim-blaming is going to be a huge focus this season, with randoms blaming the assault on the fact that Nor doesn’t always wear the hijab + wears that red lipstick, or the idea that she its punishment because of her views. I also, know that most seasons focus on Noora dealing with her issues by herself... however, I really want Nor to have to lean on her family in this time. Lastly, I would probably combine both Magnusson brothers into one person, and have them be Eurasian, making all the girls want him (because of that white-worshipping). Additionally, because he is a rich he tells everyone that Nor wanted it, and frames it as her asking for it. However, everyone that is important in Nor’s life believes her and knows that he is an idiot (even as he posts defamatory things about her on the socials).

#skam #skammaker #skam malaysia #skam india #skam brasil #SKAM TURKÏYE #someone ask me about my versions of Yusaf #or William

[imagitory]

*exhales heavily*

Okay...I don’t usually go off the deep end in political essays that often. If it’s a quick thing like “f**k Neo-Nazis,” then sure, fine, that’s easy. I don’t have to explain why Neo-Nazis -- especially the cowardly ones that try to label themselves as the “alt-right” in a vain attempt to seem more acceptable to modern society -- can go screw themselves. Everyone already knows they’re awful -- or at least, everyone should already know they’re awful. If you’re the sort of person that wants to try to “teach” me about how the alt-right are not Neo-Nazis, then this post isn’t for you, so kindly don’t interact and keep scrolling.

This post is instead for my Democratic followers, whether you support Bernie, Biden, Warren, whatever. Please feel free to skip over it, though, my dear followers -- I know this whole political season has been very draining, and I have a lot more positive posts on my blog that you can consult instead. If you do want to read my thoughts, though, here’s a cut.

Hi, guys. How’s it going? We really dodged a bullet with Bloomberg dropping out of the race, didn’t we? At least now no one should be able to say Democrats and Republicans are alike, right? The Democrats kicked their racist, sexist, obnoxious, out-of-touch billionaire accused of multiple sexual assaults to the curb, while the Republicans made theirs president.

On that note, though...we still have the Republican version of Michael Bloomberg -- the one and only Donald Trump -- in office. We all remember how he got there...Hillary won the popular vote, but thanks to the ridiculously outdated electoral college rules and Russian interference, the electoral votes went Trump’s way. We could conjure up multiple reasons for Hillary’s loss, but at least in my opinion, I would say we learned a few lessons from the 2016 election that I think we should keep in mind. (Alongside making sure Russians butt the hell out of our elections and fact-checking all the rampant misinformation from our media outlets.)

1) We Democrats have more things in common than we might think, sometimes.

Clinton was infinitely closer to Bernie, politics-wise, than Bernie was to Trump or Gary Johnson. Yet there were those who were so upset about Hillary’s nomination and the role Democratic Party officials had in coaxing  delegates to support her that they protest-voted against Hillary, even if that vote wasn’t in their best interest. We don’t have a system that lets us rank who we want for office from most to least, so sometimes we have to accept a bird in the hand rather than reach for two in the bush. You might feel good about voting your conscience in the short term, but you probably won’t when it results in your vote being a drop in the bucket that doesn’t prevent someone like Donald Trump from winning. We’ve already seen this happen not just in the Trump-Clinton election of 2016, but in the Bush-Gore election of 2000.

2) Despite that first point, if we want unity, our Democratic candidate must be aware of how diverse our party is.

Even if we do end up having to settle for a less liberal candidate in order to win an election, that candidate MUST acknowledge that we are not like the Republican Party. We will not march lock-step with people we don’t agree with just because they’re in our party or we agree with some things, and we will certainly not be satisfied with simple pacifism. The Republican Party has been tilting farther and farther to the right over the last three decades, to the point that their policies now involve mass internment of Mexican immigrants and family separation, directly paralleling plans carried out by the THIRD EFFIN’ REICH. We cannot keep begging for civility and peace and trying to reach a compromise -- you cannot compromise with this kind of extremism without sacrificing all of your principles, because those kinds of people do not make concessions.

I remain convinced even after four years that Hillary should’ve chosen Bernie to be her running mate -- if she had, the rift between the centrist and more liberal branches of the Democratic Party might have been healed enough that we could’ve looked at our ticket with excitement and hope, as we had for Obama and Biden back in 2008. Instead Hillary chose Tim Kaine, an inoffensive centrist Democrat who added absolutely nothing to her presidential bid. He couldn’t even help Hillary out by boosting the campaign with youthful energy or natural charm -- Bernie would’ve both boosted morale among younger and/or more liberal voters and lit a fire under those who were anxious about what a Trump presidency could lead to. The same could’ve been true if Bernie had been chosen to be president -- if he’d chosen Hillary, she could’ve better appealed to moderate voters intimidated by the thought of voting for a Democratic Socialist and run on her international experience as Secretary of State.

3) In order to make any difference at all, we must vote, and we must win.

I’m the first person to acknowledge that I hate voting against my convictions. If the Democrats had chosen Michael Bloomberg, I would’ve probably been ready for whole-scale revolution, right then and there. But let’s be frank here -- in 2016, we got complacent. We assumed that Trump would lose. We assumed that America wouldn’t choose racism, or Islamaphobia, or sexism, or Nazism. BUT WE DID. In the end, our country -- like many other countries before us were -- is more afraid of the promise of social change than we are of the threat of fascism. Yes, I called Trump’s vision of the country fascism, and I stand by it. Fascism is defined as far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial authority, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy and often supplemented with government-sanctioned racism -- and yeah, given that Trump clearly wants to do whatever he wants whenever he wants without facing any consequences for his actions, persecute any so-called “enemies,” make money for himself while in office (even using his office and political power to achieve that end), and scapegoat minorities, I think my point is made. And so I will state it again -- America is more afraid of the future and the progress that could come with it than it is of the cruelty, bigotry, and tyranny of our past. It’s an absolute tragedy, but it’s true. Americans were absolutely terrified of Obamacare until it actually became law and people saw how cool it was, not to be booted off your care for preexisting conditions and stuff. Once that happened, Americans were ready to bite off the hand of any Republican who made any move toward repealing it. If it’s something we’ve never done before, it’s beaten back like the plague, but once it’s something we’ve become accustomed to, you can tear it from our cold, dead hands.

In the 1930′s, Germany had a choice between three political parties -- the Communists, the Democratic Socialists, and the Nazis -- and in the end, the reason the Nazis got power was because the Communists and the Socialists could not band together to stop that greater threat. The Nazis were able to paint a pretty picture to the German people of returning their country to its supposedly long lost, mythic greatness, and they won power, even if they were still not the majority when Hitler got into office. And as soon as the Nazis got power, they never let it go and went out of their way to destroy both Communists and Socialists, just like they did with Jewish people, the Romani, and the rest. We are at such a crossroads now. I am deathly afraid that the Republicans will try to find some way to keep power even if Trump were to lose, but we cannot let that happen. We must stand together, strong and united.

The more liberal of us must acknowledge that radical change cannot be put into place quickly. Our system is broken and falling apart thanks to the Republicans’ on-going sabotage, and we cannot hope to remodel our house until our foundation is secure. Even the Republicans were not able to destroy our country in so many ways these last four years without dismantling a lot of other things first -- corrupting our elections with money thanks to the Citizens United ruling -- sparking two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that drained us of money and added to the backlog of veterans that have yet to receive their deserved financial support -- intimidating political officials away from substantive gun control legislation -- chipping away at abortion rights nation-wide -- stacking the courts, both local and Supreme, with unqualified, strongly right-leaning candidates -- gerrymandering districts like crazy so as to split Democratic-leaning areas and puff up Republican-leaning ones -- even spreading misinformation through shows on their own private so-called “News” network. It will take time to repair all of the damage the Republicans have wrought, but we must first win if we are even to have the chance to try.

On the flip side, the more centrist of us must acknowledge that we cannot go back to the way we were because the way we were was WRONG. We might have nostalgic visions of it being more civil and peaceful, but the tremors of war were still rippling under our feet. The Neo-Nazi rats that elected Trump were gathering under us, and we let them. We let them gain enough confidence to come out into the light in large numbers and we stood by, assuming that they wouldn’t succeed in their goals. We ignored the rampant spread of anti-immigrant rhetoric and Islamaphobia -- we downplayed the racism, the homophobia, and the sexism. Sometimes it was due to arrogance, and sometimes it was due to flat-out indifference, because those things didn’t directly affect us. We should know by now that that rosy view of our past was not how things were -- just as many of our Founding Fathers were still slave owners, and America interned our own citizens in camps during World War II, and the supposedly great Ronald Reagan turned a blind eye while thousands of Americans died of AIDS, our country saw the signs of racism, xenophobia, and ultranationalism coming out in full again and didn’t fight back. And now that racist, xenophobic ultranationalism is in control of the Oval Office. If we have any chance of stopping them, we can’t simply go backwards -- we must charge ahead. We can’t simply pretend like everything can go back to normal -- we must accept responsibility for what we’ve done and pursue justice in making things right. We must fight back against these far-right, tyrannical policies and we must pay restitution to those our country has hurt. I do not want the Mexican families we have destroyed to be treated the way our Japanese American brethren were after they were released from the internment camps in the 40′s -- dismissed and forgotten, with our flag figuratively slapping them in the face every time some stupid guy crowed his head off about America being the greatest country on earth. I may have hated Trump’s immigration policy -- I might not have voted for him -- but he still represents my country, and therefore me, to the rest of the world, and even if he’ll never apologize for a single damn thing that he’s done, I want my country to make things right.

Maybe once a Democrat -- even if it’s a centrist like Biden -- is in the White House again, we’ll have the chance for real change -- good change. We certainly won’t get it as long as we’re stuck on the outside looking in.

Now of course, even when this whole presidential thing is done, we can’t rest on our laurels. We must get out in force for local elections too -- we must take back the Senate and keep control of the House. We must pressure our lawmakers to get the money out of politics, and fix gerrymandering, and restore environmental protections, and hold corporations accountable, and tax the rich, and abolish the Electoral College, and put term limits on Congresspeople, and impeach Brett Kavanaugh, and fund dismantling the backlog on VA benefits, and cancel student loan debt, and implement universal health care, and pass gun control legislation, and do all the other things we need done.

I really hope that whichever candidate we end up with -- whether it’s Biden (*sighs begrudgingly*), Bernie (*smiles*), or Warren (*wiggles in glee*) -- that candidate will strongly consider choosing a Vice President who is either more centrist (if they’re more liberal) or more liberal (if they’re more centrist) and filling their Cabinet with those other ex-presidential hopefuls who still have something to offer. Kamala Harris was Attorney General of California -- why not have her become Attorney General of the United States next? How about Tom Steyer as Head of the EPA, or Cory Booker as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development?

Here’s the thing about us being more diverse in thought than the Republicans -- it means we have a great swath of very different members with very different skill sets, as well as the ability to learn, critique, rationalize, change, and improve. And if we are to defeat an institution like Trump’s that demands lock-step, mindless obedience and praise, it seems to me that’s something we should use to our advantage.

#excuse me politics coming through #personal #hopefully I won't get too many of my followers upset with this #feel free to ignore this if you're not in the mood for politics I get it #democrats #republicans #i just republiCAN’T #donald trump #joe biden #elizabeth warren #bernie sanders #opinion #oh boy here i go

[divorceddanneel]

( Part 1 of 2) Diane’s homophobic Twist and Shout post

I’ve satirized this bullshit already but I want to hit it head on rn while I’m ill in bed and have some down time. I don’t usually want to run up a diane-sized word count on this blog, but so much of this post reflects common discriminatory claims and bias, I intend it to be a long one.

Notes on bias: I read T&S in 2014. Its not a favorite, but I considerate significant in fandom history.

————————

Diane hasn’t actually read Twist and Shout, and she’s years late to any discussion of it

Please keep in mind, Diane is very homophobic and biphobic. She insists on saying Misha is straight even though he is (albeit quietly) bisexual, and has said as much, and is/has been polyamorous. She believes Misha actively encourages the fetishization of gay men by straight women. She believes most women in fandom spaces are straight. She’s also attacked queer tumblr users, particularly those who are bi.

Diane isn’t a gay man, she isn’t American, she’s a 45ish year old Indian South African Muslim. Yet, she’s trying to speak for all gay men and all Americans, here. Yikes.

She claims Twist and Shout is the next 50 shades. This is one of those particular clues that makes it clear she hasn’t read T&S. The first chapter on AO3 is actually a Q&A that confirms the authors are disgusted by the for-profit offers they have received. The fic’s popularity surge was, after a point, incredibly unfun for these writers who put a lot of love and care into writing it.

Another clue Diane hasn’t read the work: T&S was not written by straight teenage girls. It was written by two queer women.

Notice that Diane generally only sees queer people if they are male and convenient for her rantings.

“Let the gay men get their hands on this” is the way homophobic and racist people talk about marginalized groups, (especially if they are old as balls like Diane).

Diane’s little summary of gay history only focuses on death and homophobia. Another clue as to how she really feels about gay men when they aren’t convenient for her false narratives.

I guarantee she has never even met a gay American who was out before and during the aids epidemic. If she has, she owes him an apology for writing this trash heap.

Any queer person is going to be more insulted by someone like Diane reducing them to morbid stats than they are going to be insulted by Twist and Shout. More on that later.

Out of context of actual America, Diane makes it sound like everyone was talking about AIDS and queer people, during this era of America. They weren’t until it really started to affect white straight people and even then, it was hush hush or misinformation. That was part of the problem. More on that silence later.

Diane’s paragraph about Vietnam is again, reducing it to stats and presuming that even an American audience doesn’t know Vietnam really happened or that it was really fucking horrible. Everybody in America knows someone who was affected by that war. The veterans are still alive, for fucks sake.

Diane, despite being obsessed with destiel fandom, clearly thinks fic is only masterbation material, especially slash. (And she clearly thinks masturbation is dirty and wrong! Lol)

“Couldn’t they make up a war instead of leeching from history” ....what. literally no one says this about historical fiction.

This is uncomfortable to write but No American wants to be told what to say or what not to say about 9/11. A large chunk of Americans would be angry at hearing that from a foreign Muslim, because racism and islamaphobia are well entrenched here. (Does that mean Diane can’t talk about 9/11? No. More on that later.)

9/11 and post-9/11 as slash fic is not an offensive concept. Post-9/11 islamaphobia, racism, conspiracy theories, hate crimes and war profiteering are much much more offensive.

Queering 9/11 narratives is actually a really good idea. Most mainstream media about 9/11 and post-9/11 panders to far right “patriots”, who in addition to being islamaphobic, are frequently homophobic as well.

“Why not leave out war and ptsd because these are not tropes” from a deeply deeply personal and painful place in my heart, fuck you. More on that later.

Diane goes from criticizing T&S aestheticism to saying war and mental health shouldn’t be written about because...not tropes? Another example of how she flip flops according to her need to hate things

Okay, time for the “More On That Later” section...

#go away diane #godianewinchester #twist and shout #antis #homophobia #vietnam #9/11 attacks #fanfiction discourse #slash discourse #spn fandom trash

[jeanjauthor]

I post things that are well-said because I admire language that reaches in, clasps your heart, and either massages it...or crushes it.

Today...this is heart-crushing, heart-wrenching.

I am going to post Vianna’s thread in essay form, because the impact of her words, of her daily experience, should not be broken up by character limits.

This message has the right to impact us all.

https://twitter.com/GoodwinVianna/status/1106412865408385024

While you're still horrified by the mosque shooting, I'm going to share something I don't normally share.  Because tomorrow, it won't be so fresh, and that feeling you have right now, where even a small, kindhearted country like NZ isn't safe won't be filling your heart the way it is right now. 

That feeling?  That fear?  That is the feeling that many of us feel every time we set foot in a Mosque.  I used to attend one of the larger Mosques in San Diego.  It was beautiful and was one of the few places I felt at peace.  I took my young niece every week, and she couldn't wait for us to don our hijabs and drive to the Mosque for Friday services, community, and a meal many of us would share together. 

Then the hate started.  I won't share everything that happened, but one day, someone duct taped firecrackers two the underside of several cars while we all prayed.  Luckily, they didn't cause the cars to explode, but it changed everything.  More things happened, forcing us to hire security guards around the clock to keep us safe.  Things began to happen to me outside the Mosque, and One day, someone saw me driving with my hijab on and ran me off the road with a toddler in the backseat.  I realized that exercising my freedom of religion and practicing a religion I had practiced in rural KY without issue was putting my family in danger. 

I stopped wearing hijab and I started parking really far from the Mosque and walking down the winding streets, stopping to cover my head just before I entered because I was so scared.  Not for myself, but for my family.  As time went on, things only got worse, and there came a point where I couldn't listen to the Khutbah any longer without watching the door, and wondering if today was going to be the day that they would stop trying to get us in our cars and attack us when we were sitting ducks. 

I moved to Texas, and the haters were even more vocal here.  My middle child came home crying because the World Cultures teacher told the class that all Muslims were terrorists no matter what we said to try to hide who we were.  My children were bullied for who I was, and I withdrew even more.  Then the shootings and the fires started. Nowhere was safe.  Not school, not houses of worship, not my own car.  

It took a while to find a Mosque here.  They're not as bold here, tucked away in small communities.  I have been to the Mosque here.  It is beautiful, and the people are friendly. But every time I step foot In the Mosque, my anxiety skyrockets and I feel like I'm going to die.  

I've been in two active shooter situations in my life.  I have been spit on, shoved and cursed out.  And once, a man with a gun on his hip turned to me and said something that made my blood run cold. Because in his mind, he was the good guy with the gun, despite his t-shirt that clearly proclaimed to "shoot 'em all, and let G-d decide" with the dead bodies obvious Muslims.  Nowhere is safe. 

And this feeling that you have right now, this is how some of us feel every time we leave our homes.  Because every Friday prayer could be our last.   Today, families went into Mosques in NZ, ready to sit with loved ones and pray and they were slaughtered.  The current climate allowed this.  

This isn't about some unhinged loner in his parents' basement.  When Islamaphobia is normalized, this could be anyone.   Because people are afraid to stand up, or if it doesn't affect them, maybe they "mind their own business".  Anytime you hear Islamaphobic remarks (and antisemitic remarks because Jewish Americans are not safe, in this climate, either) and you say nothing, you are letting them know that their words mean nothing.  You cannot be an ally if you shy away from confrontation.  When your family members and friends joke about stereotypes and you avoid conflict, you feed the beast.

We need you all to speak out. We can't be the only ones to stand up to the hate. This is the time when allies make a marked difference. We need you to stand up. To say that there is no such thing as a harmless joke or a funny stereotype. Don't say that your father/brother/ grandmother/boss didn't mean "regular Muslims".  You can't just let this stuff go, because it grows and it builds up until there is nowhere safe for anyone to worship. Or live. Or breathe. 

My daughter deserves a world where my heart doesn't skip a beat every time she comes out of school wearing a hijab she snuck in her backpack.  On holidays when the kids can come to Khutbah, I shouldn't wonder if "Thanksgiving Massacre at [name] Mosque" is going to be the next headline.  To be forgotten a week later. 

This is our daily life. 

When the headline Is replaced with another tragedy & memories of today fade, we will still be in danger in our homes, spit on, yelled out, our Mosques burned, vandalized, and our women unsafe because of a piece of cloth.

Don't just speak up today.

Don't think a hashtag dedicated to the victims makes you an ally.

Speaking up anytime you see something, boycotting celebrities who spread antisemitism & Islamaphobia, & educating your family is how you show your allyship.

We need you.

Your voice matters. 

Please, speak up and don't stop until this world is safe for us all.

...~twitter@goodwinvianna