#Nazis at the Center of the Earth | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

perfectlyvalid49 · 3 months

Text

Today is January 27th, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and I'd like to get some stuff off my chest.

First, I'd like to take a minute to point out that it is not Yom HaShoah, which is the day Israel (and by extension large portions of the Jewish diaspora population) uses as Holocaust Remembrance day. Yom HaShoah is on the 27th of Nisan, a date that was selected to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, centering Jewish resistance in our own story. That date was selected nearly five decades before the UN picked January 27th, which was selected to center our white saviors who came to liberate Auschwitz. This is utter bullshit. And no excuses for not being able to handle a moving date on the Gregorian calendar - April 19th would be the Gregorian equivalent, and it was not selected.

Having said that, given how many infographics I've seen over the last four months about how people are increasingly denying or doubting the Holocaust, I figure any day that acknowledges it is a good thing, so yeah, let's take two days to remember. I think it's worth it.

So given that this is the Holocaust Remembrance Day that centers our goyishe friends, let's talk about how our goyishe friends should observe the day.

1. It is likely that you never learned a lot of details about the Holocaust. Holocaust education usually boils down to, "and the Nazis put Jews in camps in order to kill them, and a lot of Jews were killed in gas chambers, and about 6 million died in all." Go learn some details. Read or watch an account from a survivor. Learn about the medical experiments, or the death marches. Learn some details about what the gas chambers were actually like. Try to understand the horror. Learn about the SS St. Louis or the Evian conference in 1938 where almost every country on Earth decided it was better to let the Jews die in Germany than to allow them into their own countries.

2. On that note, take the time to understand that anti-semitism neither began nor ended with the Nazis, and that even the "good guys" were incredibly antisemitic.Try to recognize that the antisemitism that was present where you live right now in the 1930s didn't just disappear, it just went into hiding. Think about where it might be hiding now.

Basically, because this is the Holocaust Remembrance Day for the goyim, I want to focus our remembrance of what happened on the goyim. What did they do? What could they have done to help? Why didn't they? We can come back in May for more Jewish focused learning, but the Holocaust could not have happened without A LOT of willing goyim, and I think we should spend the day remembering them and their actions.

And as a side note: if you happen to read this and you've chosen to spend the day engaging in Holocaust denial or Holocaust inversion, then know that my hope for you is that something happens in your life to teach you empathy and basic human decency. And I hope it isn't pleasant for you.

#holocaust remembrance day #antisemitism #I am expecting social media to be a NIGHTMARE today #it's going to be holocaust inversion all day long #and I'm not going to be surprised by it #but I am going to be infuriated #my hope is that this post reaches one person sometime in the future when the left has moved on to some other thing to be outraged about #and that it triggers growth in them - makes them take a minute to learn something about history #but I don't think that 2024 is gonna be the year for that #the jews are tired

435 notes · View notes

autismserenity · 3 days

Text

A Chabad synagogue in Pomona, New York, burned to the ground on April 17th, along with its three Torah scrolls.

Torah scrolls are hand-written, hand-made, and kept in elaborately decorated cases or wrappings.

Many of them have long histories; my synagogue has two, I think, that were smuggled out of villages being destroyed in pogroms or in Nazi attacks. One of them is the only remaining piece of that village on earth.

Sometimes, the Torah scroll doesn't even belong to the synagogue, but is on loan from a place like the Memorial Scrolls Trust:

There's an entire Jewish holiday just for taking them out and dancing with them: Simchat Torah, "The Joy of Torah."

In fact, that was the holiday on which Hamas's invasion took place.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by We Are Tov (@wearetov)

instagram

So it's a particular tragedy when a Torah is destroyed.

Chabad itself has a page about what goes into making just one Torah scroll:

"An authentic Torah scroll is a mind-boggling masterpiece of labor and skill. Comprising between 62 and 84 sheets of parchment -- cured, tanned, scraped and prepared according to exacting Torah law specifications -- and containing exactly 304,805 letters, the resulting handwritten scroll takes many months to complete.

"An expert pious scribe carefully inks each letter with a feather quill, under the intricate calligraphic guidelines of Ktav Ashurit (Ashurite Script). The sheets of parchment are then sewn together with sinews to form one long scroll. While most Torah scrolls stand around two feet in height and weigh 20-25 pounds, some are huge and quite heavy, while others are doll-sized and lightweight."

I learned all of this on Tumblr.

Once upon time, in people's "punch Nazis" days, I would've been able to find some mention on Tumblr of this synagogue burning.

There is none, so I'm posting about it.

And I'm going to quote Daniel Weiner, Rabbi of Temple de Hirsch Sinai in Bellevue, Washington, when his own synagogue was vandalized last November:

"It’s horrific and heartbreaking.... [Taking out your feelings about] what's going on in the Middle East by defacing a sacred space of a synagogue -- that’s the very definition of antisemitism."

I'm also posting about the Kehillat Shaarei Torah Synagogue in Toronto, whose windows were broken on Friday, April 19th, by someone who also tried to break the front door down.

And the April 15 graffiti outside a Bangor, Maine synagogue that said, "Nazi Israel 30K murdered," next to a crossed-out Star of David. The same synagogue faced pro-Hamas flyers plastered around it in November.

I was going to include all the synagogues vandalized over the past six months. But there are way too many. Several every week. Lots are swastikas.

I'll go back to just doing attacks on and near synagogues.

Someone has to talk about the 1-year-old who was stabbed outside Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (BZBI) synagogue, in Philadelphia, on April 13th.

The foiled terrorist attack on a Moscow synagogue on April 11th.

The man who, on April 9th, screamed at the rabbi at Moldova's Great Synagogue, "What are you doing here? How come no one has finished you off for everything you are doing to the Palestinians?" Just one week after people had vandalized a Holocaust memorial in nearby Soroka, and sprayed "Free Palestine" on it.

The Oldenburg, Germany synagogue that was firebombed on April 5th.

The Florida Las Olas Chabad Jewish Center, which on March 16 burned, but not to the ground. The Torah scrolls were safe, and no one was hurt, but the back of the building was severely damaged.

The planned-but-thwarted-on-March-7th ISIS massacre in a Moscow synagogue.

The stabbing of an Orthodox Jew in Switzerland on March 5th. (He was badly injured, but expected to survive.)

A man leaving a synagogue in Paris was beaten on March 3rd.

People set the courtyard of a synagogue in Sfax, Tunisia on fire on February 27th. Firefighters managed to put the fire out before it consumed the inside of the building.

The synagogue is no longer used; there are no Jews left in its area, and fewer than 1,000 Jews left in Tunisia overall.

(Thousands of Tunisian Jews were sent to work camps during the Holocaust. Antisemitism across the Middle East continued to increase rapidly for decades. By the 1970s, 90% of Tunisian Jews had fled to France or Israel.)

On February 18, an Orthodox Jew leaving Synagogue of Inverrary-Chabad in Lauderhill, Florida, was beaten by an attacker yelling racial slurs.

Someone deliberately chose International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, to smash all the windows in the front of Sgoolai Israel Synagogue in downtown Fredericton, New Brunswick.

On December 29, Turkey arrested 32 people linked to ISIS who were planning attacks on synagogues and churches.

On December 17, a man drove a U-Haul truck up onto the sidewalk between a barrier and the front door of the Kesher Israel Congregation in Washington D.C., got out, and started yelling "Gas the Jews." He also sprayed a foul-smelling substance on two people leaving the synagogue.

December 17 also saw 400 synagogues across the United States receive bomb threats.

On December 11, a man attacked an elderly couple on their way into a synagogue in Los Angeles, screaming, "Give me your earrings, Jew!!" and beating one of them bloody with a belt. (Happily, he chased the guy down the street, and caught him when his pants fell down.)

On December 10, a 16-year-old was arrested in Vienna for planning an attack on a synagogue.

On December 8, on the first night of Hanukkah, 15 synagogues in New York State received bomb threats. And someone screamed, "Free Palestine," and fired shots outside of Temple Israel in Albany, NY. Which has a preschool that was in session.

Meanwhile, the five Jews left in Egypt were canceling public Hanukkah candle-lighting at their synagogue out of fear of reprisals. Particularly after two Israelis in Alexandria had been gunned down by terrorists on October 8. (While Israel was still fighting Hamas in Israel.)

On November 15, a terrorist group set the only synagogue in Armenia on fire.

Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) has a history of working with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

(PFLP is part of Hamas's network of groups. Samidoun is their nonprofit arm - which is why Germany banned Samidoun last year, although it's still active in many other countries.

PFLP is also actively supported by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a diaspora nonprofit group, and Within Our Lifetime (WOL), an SJP spinoff in NYC.)

On November 11, halfway through Shabbat services, police asked Central Shul in Melbourne, Australia to evacuate "as a precaution" due to a "pro-Palestinian" protest that had chosen the neighboring park as its gathering place. Australia has seen some very outspoken antisemitism at protests, including the march shortly after October 7 that chanted "Gas the Jews."

Also on November 11, protesters targeted a synagogue along a march route. They sat in their cars, spraying green smoke and shouting at people leaving the synagogue. The march itself featured a record number of horrifying signs and chants.

On November 7th, Congregation Beth Tikvah in Montreal was firebombed, and the back door of the Jewish organization across the street (Federation CJA) was set on fire.

On November 4, protesters chanted "Bomb Israel," and burned an Israeli flag outside the only synagogue in Malmo, Sweden.

During October, there were 501 antisemitic acts under investigation in France in just three weeks, including groups gathering in front of synagogues shouting threats, and graffiti such as the words “killing Jews is a duty” sprayed outside a stadium.

On October 18, people firebombed a synagogue in Berlin after homes all over the neighborhood were graffitied with stars of David.

And also on October 18, hundreds of "pro-Palestine" rioters attacked the Or Zaruah Synagogue, in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in North Africa, while worshippers were inside.

Based on the video, they seem to have blocked the synagogue entrance completely, while screaming "Murderous Israel" and waving Palestinian flags. (Melilla is an autonomous zone belonging to Spain. It borders Morocco.)

On October 17, during pro-Palestinian protests, hundreds of rioters set fire to Al Hammah synagogue, an abandoned house of prayer in central Tunisia. They hammered down the building’s walls and raised a Palestinian flag on the building. Police did not intervene.

The Facebook page "Tunigate", which has around 88 thousand followers, published a video of the assault. So did "Radio Bousalem”, with 83 thousand users. The vast majority of comments on these videos welcome these acts. The building was severely damaged and almost completely razed to the ground.

On October 15, bomb threats were sent to many East Coast synagogues. Attleboro synagogue Congregation Agudas-Achim received one of the emails, which read, "The bombs will blow up in a few hours. A lot of people will die. You all deserve to die."

On October 8 -- again, while Hamas was still in Israel -- Madrid’s main synagogue was defaced with graffiti that read “Free Palestine” next to a crossed-out Star of David.

And on October 7, an assailant in Rockland, NY fired a BB gun at two women entering a synagogue. Later in the month, a banner at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in the area was vandalized with the words, “Fuckin kikes."

#if you have used “Free Palestine” as if it's a sort of verbal assault you can shout in comments or scribble over flyers #if you are unwilling to hear what the Jewish term Zionism means to the people who use it #if you cannot name one Palestinian human rights activist #and most of all if you don't know how Hamas abuses Palestinians and you still think it's The Resistance #then you. are. the. problem.#if you don't know people in gaza have been protesting Hamas and blaming it for deliberately instigating a war they don't want #if you don't know how often they've spoken out about Hamas stealing aid and selling it to them #and especially if you don't want to believe me much less find Palestinians in Gaza to listen to #also if you didn't know about any of the stuff in this post BUT you have taken it upon yourself to tell Jews that “it's not antisemitism”#like seriously everyone deal with your learned distrust of Jews challenge #wall of words #fire tw #guns tw #violence tw #Instagram

196 notes · View notes

somehow-a-human · 2 months

Text

GOOD OMENS SEASON 3 - Speculations/Predictions

DO NOT ASK NEIL ABOUT FAN THEORY

The GO brainrot is well underway, we’re only 7 months out of season 2 and I dont know how I will cope until season 3! But I have been ravenously consuming all of your lovely meta, fanfiction, and fanart and I have finally decided to add my messy ball of thought yarn to this hellsite!

Warning: this is going to be long and wild, I have no real life people to talk to about Good Omens, and I really need an outlet to gush about these ineffable idiots.

SO! Shall we begin?

S3E1 will open with the great war/the fall. The opening of the previous seasons have been Crowley and Aziraphales earliest meetings, it makes sense season 3 will mirror this. I’m hoping we will get more context of their relationship; had they become closer after S2E1’s ‘before the beginning’ ? Will we see them going to war, will Aziraphale come face to face with Angel!Crowley on the battlefield? Will Aziraphale search for him among the fallen?

Somethings up… with memory. The way I look at it, season 2 was meant to bridge the storyline gap between armageddon and the second coming. It’s there to set us up for another world ending plot and also to give us context for season 3. I think the introduction of the idea that memories can just be manipulated willy-nilly by the big boss, and Gabriels little vacation as Jim serve exactly to show us that this happens. It says: look heaven does this! they were just casually going to do it to the Supreme Archangel, no questions asked. Crowleys memory, in this regard, has been a topic of debate. I think the biggest clue that he indeed has suffered some sort of memory loss is when he’s talking to Jimbriel who says he feels like “an empty house”. Crowley later finishes Jimbriels thought with “I know, looking at where the furniture isn’t.” I think he is downright kind to Jim in the bookshop and chummy with him because they have some sort of kinship, maybe from when they were angels, but more probably because Crowley feels it through the loss of Gabriels memories. Maybe he understands and relates in a way to what he is going through. His not remembering Saraquael or Furfur could just be chalked up to Crowley being an asshole sometimes. I think Crowley has definitely worked on recovering his memory some if this is the case. He remembers Aziraphale though from their time as angels so what specifically might he have forgotten?

Crowley will be a Duke of Hell/Grand Duke of Hell. Not only was Crowley offered the position by Beelzebub, but the blocking in that scene, where Crowley leans across the dual thrones to be in the very center seems to be foreshadowing it. I’ve seen multiple people make this prediction and it makes the most sense to me. What is Crowley gonna do on earth wallow and mope around the bookshop? Look he’s a disaster puppy yes but he’s also in love with the new Supreme Archangel. In the final moments of S2 he is sad, but he also looks determined. He’s angry, but I don’t think he’s angry with Aziraphale. And if there’s one way to keep an eye on Aziraphale and all this second coming nonsense, being a high ranking member of hell seems like a good idea to me.

Is Maggie more than human? Nah I dont think so. Look Maggies got a lot of weird stuff going on sure but I think her most important role in S2 was to be Crowleys mirror (and deliver the gut punch “you never say what you’re really thinking” but we are skipping that). Forget the masonic and biblical imagery associated with her, maybe all the mis-spelling in her note was showing us was that the bubbly blonde is tied to the demon instead of the angel like you might immediately assume? Sure Nina is edgy and closed off, but she’s the one in a toxic relationship, and she doesn’t realize how Maggie feels about her, not until an awning full of water (1941 nazi bomb) is dropped on her head. Maggie is patient and supportive of Nina. She ‘saves the day’ by grabbing her an array of milks from the mini mart in Ep6, and most importantly she says she will wait for Nina. When Crowley goes to get in the bentley after Aziraphale leaves for heaven, he looks first at Nina. She gives him a little ‘goodbye’ wave, then he turns to look at Maggie, she’s asleep at the register, waiting. I don’t think Crowley is angry with Aziraphale, he would’ve driven off if he was. Instead he stands there watching, telling him he’ll be waiting.

1941 Pt. 3 minisode. Okay everybody wants this I know. What happened to the zombies? They definitely listed to ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ that night right? We know Aziraphale does the apology dance, presumably for 1. nearly getting Crowley shot by nazis, 2. blown up by a bomb, 3. caught “fraternizing” by hell, and 4. nearly making Crowley discorporate him himself with the bullet catch. Maybe they put on some music, and maybe they dance a bit together before Aziraphale remembers himself and says “angels don’t dance” or something to end it. In the Jane Austen ball scene when Aziraphale asks Crowley to dance, barring the subtitles are correct, Crowley replies with “you don’t dance?” not “WE don’t dance”. I think that’s an important distinction, that could point back to this night.

Book of life & Book of Love. Another thing S2 set up as cannon for S3 was the Book of Life. I have no clue what this could mean but I immediately thought of the Doctor Who episode “The Big Bang”. At the end of the episode, The Doctor doesn’t exist because wibbly wobbly timey wimey… stuff. But Amy realizes something isn’t right, that someone is missing. She ends up bringing The Doctor back through her memories, simply because ‘something loved cannot be truly forgotten’. What does this have to do with GO? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Just where my head is at, and I could see someone being erased from the book of life (one of our ineffable idiots for example) being undone in a similar vein. Love is the strongest force in existence, stronger than anything angels, demons, or God themself could understand.

Crowley will make a whale. Well, okay maybe that’s too literal of a statement? To be fair God never says to make a whale, Job says that's what he thinks she means. But look, he’s going to get to talk to God right? I think of the questions God asked Job. Did you set the constellations in the sky? Crowley did, S2E1 we watched him do it. Do you know the rules of the heavens? Crowley does, we even see him explain (gr)mavity to Jimbriel. Can you send lightning and get it to report back? Crowley can, we saw it after he got in his little argument with Aziraphale. Did you teach the ostrich to run? Maybe? Is this an allegory for telling Gabriel to go to Alpha Centauri? Or the peacocks to fly? Beez? Miss Sandwich? look its God okay not everything is going to be straightforward. Anyway, I think it’s clear our demon will get to ask his questions, he might not get answers, but he will get to ask the questions.

It begins as it will end, with a garden. Not the garden of Eden this time, but perhaps a garden at a cottage in The South Downs. Or.. maybe the Garden of Eden. If you've not read the short story "In The End" by Mr Neil Gaiman himself, please do, it's only a page long and it's lovely. I bought an extra copy of Fragile Things just so I could cut it out and glue it in the last page of my copy of Good Omens. Anyway, it's a brief but beautiful imagining of the last book of The Bible, in which God gives the Garden of Eden to humanity. I love the idea that human souls might return to Eden after their time on Earth. I also (and I know I'm in the vast minority) love the idea of Crowley and Aziraphale choosing to somehow embrace mortality to fully enjoy life on Earth with each other, and therefore themselves being able to return to the Garden of Eden with each other someday.

WELL! Did anyone actually read this? If you did, you’re insane just like me and I love you for it! Please let me know your ideas!

#good omens #michael sheen #david tennant #good omens meta #good omens art #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #ineffable divorce #ineffable idiots #help #its consuming me #i cant wait 2 more years neil #crowley #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale #aziracrow

140 notes · View notes

thebettercooleralubrick · 8 months

Text

I feel like nobody ever talks about Pips small speech about the people of London in episode 6 so I’m gonna ramble.

I think Pip is easily overlooked since he is by far one of the least overpowered characters when it comes to fighting in a show about the biggest juggernauts to have ever walked the earth.

So it’s perfect that he’s the one that reminds everyone that the people being murdered in London aren’t faceless nobodies. He talks about an old lady who guilt tripped him into eating greasy food he doesn’t like, prostitutes who were kind to him and his men, and a bartender that told dirty jokes. These are the people of London and they mattered.

A lot of people complain that episodes 6 & 7 were too different from the rest of the series without Alucard. And to be fair they are different. They show how the humans do on their own against the monsters we’ve been watching get basically effortlessly beaten down by Alucard again and again. Which is to say not great. But they stand and fight and eventually win against each individual enemy. The remaining mercenaries only survived because Seras became a true vampire but she wouldn’t have been able to if it weren’t for Pip (At least in that moment.)

Integra and Father Anderson’s group of Section Thirteen make it to the center of London for the final battle.

And Sir Penwood blows himself and the nameless nazi officer the fuck up.

#anyway #team human!#pip bernadotte #hellsing

127 notes · View notes

dostoyevsky-official · 2 years

Text

gorbachev’s funeral was a solemn affair kept purposefully small by an outsized police presence, ordered there by a regime that wants to distance itself as much as possible from his legacy but which cannot forsake something as momentous as the last general secretary of the ussr. at the same time, those in power hate the people who embrace gorbachev and what he stood for. therefore you have “elements of a state funeral,” a ridiculous amount of police, riot police, plainclothes police, military police, elaborate ways of making sure as few people show up as possible (gorbachev was supposed to lie in state until 2pm, but this was suddenly moved to noon; the burial was closed to the public, but it was actually open). one person was arrested for holding up an anti-war sign. surprisingly, many complained about putin snubbing the funeral due to “scheduling conflicts.” good riddance! who among those present really wanted to see him?

it was something of a quiet protest action against him and the war, even without posters. a pensioner at novodevichy cemetery told me as much: “this is the only way i can protest against what’s going on without getting arrested, and they know it. i couldn’t not take the opportunity.” but what is a protest if it’s sanctioned, quiet, and cordoned off?

at 9:30 am, crowds began to gather at the house of the unions in the city center, where all former soviet leaders were displayed in state. it was both larger than i’d expected and much smaller than i’d hoped for from moscow. from a city of 12 million, there were perhaps a few thousand people all together, many with red carnations. there were several gate systems to the memorial manned by cops who had orders not to let in more than 50 people at a time (i overheard one say so on his walkie-talkie). as with the the funeral procession later on, there was a good showing by the post-soviet generation and those who would’ve been too young to remember much of anything from the gorbachev years; there was also a fair amount of pensioners. the crowd moved fast—the cops didn’t want to let anyone linger for too long in any place—and after three security checkpoints and five gates, i was in the luxurious hall of pillars, though made austere for gorbachev. after seconds of looking at a man who embodied the twentieth century like few others, i was urged to move on as fast as possible. on the way out, a couple behind me, a man and a woman in their 50s, started crying. they were not the only ones.

across the street, a large “we will fulfill our mission” poster, written with the propaganda Zs and Vs, hangs on the scaffolding of the new bolshoi theatre, as if to put a period on what had already ended months, if not years ago. the crowds only became bigger when i left at half past ten. on my way to novodevichy cemetery, i ran into gennady zyuganov, head of russia’s communist party, and asked for a photo—why not. a smaller crowd of CPRF, left front, and other “left” parties gathered for some event near red square. later, i learned that he gave a speech celebrating the end of wwii with the victory over japan. zyuganov said that we must continue the fight and cleanse the earth of nazis, as russia is doing now. this, too, is part of gorby’s legacy, the shattered pieces of a massive, unfinished political project.

a few hours passed before gorbachev’s procession arrived to novodevichy, where the crowd was a bit thinner. i stood next to a young law student in his junior year who skipped his first day of classes to pay respects, chatting with him to pass the time. “how excellent that so many young people showed up,” he said. maybe a third of those gathered was under 30. “if we are here together, it means russia still has a future.” the police moved us around from time to time to “make space.” after finding my way to him again, i noticed he had two carnations instead of four: he gave two to a journalism student and exchanged numbers. a pensioner: “is she your sister? no? watch over her, keep each other safe.”

the procession was headed by a downcast dmitry muratov, a massive portrait of gorbachev in his hands: one nobel peace laureate parting with the other. among those present for the funeral service were ambassadors, including john sullivan from the US, the south korean, french, and german ambassadors, and suzanne massie, a historian who served as advisor to reagan and allegedly introduced him to the russian idiom “trust, but verify,” with pavel palazhchenko, gorbachev’s long-time translator.

after the service, a 21-gun salute, the crowds thronging to the burial by raisa gorbachev’s grave. alexei venediktov (editor-in-chief of the now-dissolved echo of moscow, another glasnost creation) recently talked about how he went to novodevichy with gorbachev around 2010. gorbachev started crying, telling him that all he wanted now was to be buried with raisa. the love he had for her was immense. out of all the biographies and gorbachev/perestroika studies i’ve read, it’s only taubman’s that covers how profoundly he loved her with the space that such a deep, lasting relationship merited.

during the burial: “who do you think is next,” from one pensioner to another, two strangers. “well... you know.” “yes, let’s hope it happens soon.”

a last opportunity to pay respects at a grave heaped, heaped, heaped on with roses and carnations, and then the throngs dissolved. it was the best of who and what you could see in moscow, or, russia’s conscience—what’s left of it—on public display. i have no doubt everyone at the memorial and the cemetery was anti-war. the palpable depression of this crowd was alleviated only by the reinforcing mutual presence of everyone there, a silent solidarity drawn from an organization that hasn’t been seen on the streets since march. you understand what people feel from what’s not said—the looks—the tears—the efforts of men and women in their 80s and 90s to stand for hours, so long as they could say farewell.

the possibility of such organization, reluctantly allowed for the funeral and which was widely admissible in years passed, was the legacy with which we parted today. the defining feature of gorbachev’s rule was openness, glasnost, a gust of fresh air blowing through a hot, humid room, more than economic ideas that were a halfway house for the conditions the soviet state found itself in, and which he didn’t fully understand. yet he opened windows and doors. he returned memory to the people, he allowed memorial to form, he brought sakharov from exile, and yes, he then turned off his microphone during the congress of people’s deputies. gorbachev was a complicated, flawed individual who rose through the ranks of a bloody, ruthless bureaucracy to lead an imperial superpower whose continued survival was his overarching political imperative. he couldn’t have been gandhi. at one point, he nearly killed yeltsin with nothing more than a prolonged party criticism session; he was, directly or indirectly, responsible for the deaths of those on the imperial periphery.

but what could have been instead? nothing is precisely inevitable. had andropov been healthier, the soviet union could’ve been held together to this day by sheer force, or perhaps by prolonged conflict in azerbaijan, or mass-scale repression in the baltics. set in this context, gorbachev leashed the security institutions of the ussr, but didn’t properly dispose of them. thirty years later, his failure is zyuganov’s gleeful speech on denazification, the descent into a fascist society waging genocidal war. his success was thirty years of lost opportunity.

where do we go from here? the feeling of helplessness predominates, resonating through the said and unsaid perception of what could have been and what we have had. the crowd goes home, the opposition stays in jail, the war continues.

#here's the writeup people/mutuals wanted #lithuanian anon: consider this an answer #gorbachev

780 notes · View notes

creature-wizard · 2 years

Text

FAQs & Newbie Orientation (Updated April 24!)

“What do you mean when you say ‘New Age’?” I am specifically referring to forms of spirituality that revolve around the idea that the Earth is about to enter an actual new age, commonly referred to as the Age of Aquarius, Fifth Density, or Fifth Round. If a belief system doesn’t include this, it ain’t New Age, even if it did emerge in the 20th century, even if Barnes & Noble puts books on it on the New Age shelf. (A Wiccan can be a New Ager, but the idea of a new age not a central part of Wiccan beliefs.)

“Why are you so critical of New Age and starseeds?” The short answer is, it's a belief system built on white colonialism, Orientalism, eugenics, hateful conspiracy theories, and always has been.

If you want longer answers, check these out: The Deal with New Age, in a nutshell New Age beliefs that derive from racist pseudoscience A quick intro to starseeds Various ways the New Age movement is shitty The New Age concept of ascension - what is it? Why New Age is thinly-veiled antisemitism/nazism Why David Icke’s reptilian aliens are sparkling antisemitism Starseeds: Nazis in Space? (Not my article) What is the New Age to Alt Right pipeline, and how do you stay out of it?

I also recommend checking out the #new age to alt right pipeline and #spiritual eugenics tags.

Now I want to be clear here, I'm not saying that everything associated with New Age is bad simply because it's associated with New Age. Many practices are harmless in and of themselves - the problem is the conspiratorial, morally polarized framework they're practiced in. For more info, see Some things associated with New Age that aren't inherently bad.

”What do you think of reincarnation, in general?” I think it’s fine to believe in reincarnation so long as you don’t act like it gives you special knowledge or wisdom, or entitles you to tell other people what to do, or entitles you to appropriate and misrepresent other people’s cultures and spiritual traditions, or tie it in with a conspiracist worldview. (Starseeds do all of these.)

“What if I’m alienkin, or I believe my soul comes from another planet?” Nothing inherently wrong with that! The problem with the starseed movement is its politics - it’s founded on a bunch of racist, ableist, colonialist garbage. (It’s no coincidence that a number of starseeds are outright Nazis.)

“What if I want to call myself a starseed, though?” That’s like wanting to call yourself a Nazi. There is something deeply wrong with you if you do. “Why are you so critical of ancient aliens?” See Spencer McDaniel’s excellent post.

“Do you think it’s wrong to believe in alien life?” No, I just think it’s important to be critical of what you believe about it, and why you believe it. If you believe in aliens, question your assumptions about them. What are you projecting onto them? Why are you projecting that? Is that projection a bit self-centered, whether positively or negatively?

“Why are you so critical of conspiracy theories?” Simply put, because conspiracy theories are tools of reactionary violence. Most conspiracy theories are derived from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a known hoax created to demonize Jews and blame them for the world's problems while justifying a return to monarchy; or early modern witch panic and blood libel. BTW, I recommend Justin Sledge's video on the Satanic Panic. "But isn’t there a bunch of evidence?” 'Fraid not. All of it's either fabricated (EG, the aforementioned Protocols), taken out of context (EG, the Dendera “light”), extremely subjective (EG, someone’s mystical experience), based on absurd standards of what constitutes "evidence" (being a depressed teen who liked heavy metal and D&D was taken as a sure sign being involved in a satanic cult in the 80's and 90's), or produced through flawed methods (EG, so-called recovered memory therapy), or questioning vulnerable people until the interviewers or psychologists finally got what they wanted to hear. (If you want to get an idea of just how much of a mess this was, and just how unethical and irresponsible things could get, I recommend checking out the You're Wrong About podcast's episodes on Michelle Remembers.)

"Wait, do you have actual evidence that false memories exist?" Yep, you only have to peek in on the starseeds to see hundreds of 'em. See my posts hypnosis is unreliable for memory recovery, and this is one way we know and false past life memories among the starseed movement. You might also take a look at Abducted by Susan A. Clancy. Also read my post here’s the trouble with hypnotic regression for an explanation of why it's so easy to generate false memories.

“But aren’t starseeds part of ancient traditional beliefs?” Literally no one has been able to produce a single scrap of evidence that anything like the New Age concept of starseeds existed before the Victorian period. However, New Agers are well-known for bullshitting about the age and origins of their beliefs. If you’re going to assert that starseeds are genuinely part of some ancient tradition, you need to provide some real evidence.

“What’s your problem with the Law of Assumption?” See this post and this post. See also: The prosperity gospel, explained: Why Joel Osteen believes that prayer can make you rich. (The Law of Assumption is closely related to prosperity gospel.) Why you should know about the New Thought movement (another closely related movement) "If the Law of Assumption is fake, what about the success stories?" "This Law of Assumption practitioner posted photos, doesn't that prove something?" Was Neville Goddard really trustworthy? No, modern witchcraft and the Law of Assumption are not "the same."

"Is X spiritual person a conspiracy theorist?" See this post, Is the spiritual person a conspiracy theorist? A list of red flags.

"I'm trying to get out of a shitty situation, what can I do?" See my post, "I'm in a bad place and need to get out, what can I do?"

"Why haven't you posted anything about X? Probably for one of the following reasons:

My primary focus is right wing conspiracy theories, and the beliefs/narratives that surround them.

I am a forgetful fuck; things can slip my mind indefinitely.

I literally do not know enough on this topic to say anything meaningful on it at this time.

I have simply never heard of X.

I literally did (maybe even post about it semi-regularly), but you missed it.

Please understand that researching conspiracy theories takes a lot of time and can be pretty draining. There's an immense amount of media to go through, and that media is often some of the most hateful shit you'll ever find. Sometimes I need days to decompress from it.

“Do you recommend any resources?” Yup, over here!

#pinned post

897 notes · View notes

literallyaflame · 7 months

Text

we’ve beaten this dead horse into the center of the earth, i know, but it’s still so fucking funny when someone introduces their dni with weird, passive aggressive language. like “here’s my DNI….. if you even care…. y’all don’t respect these…” and the first items on the list are “nazis” and “turbo-racists” and “evil fascism apologists.” you know, famously normal and reasonable demographics. how dare those rat bastards not respect your tumblr dni

#me when i make a post #listen #I get it #it’s just a way to signal that YOU’RE not x y and z #more than anything #but tacking passive aggression onto it makes the whole thing deeply strange??

62 notes · View notes

zvaigzdelasas · 7 months

Text

[CBC is State Funded Media]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the decision to invite an elderly Ukrainian Second World War veteran who fought for Nazi Germany an "egregious error" that "deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada." On Wednesday, he offered what he called "unreserved apologies" on Canada's behalf for the hurt it caused. Many experts say they're skeptical about the prospect of Canada's political leaders and institutions learning something from the now-infamous episode that capped President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's trip to Canada. Many historians will tell you that what we've witnessed over the last several days is history coming back to bite Canada — specifically over its refusal down the decades to acknowledge or own up to the decisions that allowed Yaroslav Hunka, who served with the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), to immigrate to Canada in the 1950s.[...]

There was a reckoning of sorts in Canada during the 1980s. A public inquiry, headed by Justice Jules Deschênes, attempted to determine if Nazi war criminals and sympathizers ended up making this country their home and, if so, how many there were. The Galician division featured prominently in that investigation. Jewish groups, notably the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center, gave the inquiry a list of 217 former members of the unit who apparently had immigrated to Canada. (The Deschênes commission concluded that 86 per cent of those named never landed in Canada and "no prima facie case has been established against" the 16 under suspicion.)[...]

Trudeau, in his apology, said everyone in the House of Commons regretted "deeply having stood and clapped even though we did so unaware of the context." The old phrase "ignorance is no excuse under the law" might be modified in this instance to include the word "history." After almost eight decades, it would be easy to chalk this up to a history-challenged staffer working somewhere within the labyrinth of the House of Commons, or to failure on the part the now-former speaker Anthony Rota — someone simply ignorant of the complexities and grievances. That may well be part of the political calculation. With Rota gone and with the prime minister having apologized, the reflex may be to rebury the past and carry on to the next political crisis.

But one war crimes researcher and historian says the international stakes, given Russia's use of the event for propaganda, make a thorough investigation — and public airing — indispensable. "I think the Canadian government owes it to itself to determine how on earth this thing happened," said Efraim Zuroff, a director at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Israel office and a specialist in Nazi war crimes in Eastern Europe.

It's not just about how such an invitation was extended. It's also about the airbrushing of history — Rota's carefully worded tribute mentioned Hunka having fought against Russia, as though Moscow had been the enemy at the time. "People are so ignorant [of] that history, it's pathetic," said Zuroff. "People suffer from such ignorance when it comes to the Holocaust and other things as well ... And it's a complicated subject. It took place in many different countries and played out to a certain extent in different ways."

Aside from the list involving the Galicia division, Zuroff has personally submitted to the Canadian government another 252 names of other suspected Nazis — or Nazi collaborators — from Eastern European countries other than Ukraine who are believed to have come to Canada. Out of that entire list, only one individual was ever charged. Following the Deschênes commission's report, the Criminal Code of Canada was amended to make it easier to go after suspected Nazi war criminals. Much of that work came to a screeching halt with the failed prosecution of Imre Finta, a former Hungarian police commander who was accused of organizing the deportation of over 8,000 Jews to Nazi death camps. He was acquitted on the defence that he was following the orders of a superior. Zuroff said the Canadian courts that accepted that verdict are the only ones in the world that recognize that legal defence — and consequently, no one else has been prosecuted. Since that case was tried in 1990, Canada opted to go after war criminals through the immigration system.

Any meaningful reflection on the Hunka tribute must include an examination of how Canada has dealt with these cases, Zuroff added.

Beyond the legal context, a leading scholar at the University of Ottawa, history professor Jan Grabowski, said the country needs to acknowledge how people like Hunka — who fought with the Nazis for what he hoped would be Ukrainian independence — got into Canada in the first place. Britain and countries like Italy, where some members of the Galicia division ended up, were eager in the late 1940s to be rid of refugees and surrendered soldiers. Canada willingly accepted them and by 1950 had made a special accommodation for Ukrainians. According to the Deschênes report, the prevailing feeling in the government at the time was that these former soldiers "should be subject to special security screening, but should not be rejected on the grounds of their service in the German army."

The context of the time, said Grabokski, is crucial, because when the Cold War began, Canadians shifted to a totally different "frame of mind."

"Anti-communists were prized above everything else," he said. "So we need to understand that this was a totally different political situation and most of the time, the Canadian authorities knew that they were letting in people who were allies of Hitler. But it was not enough, let's say, to make them hesitate." The B'nai Brith demanded this week that Ottawa take this opportunity to finally open all Holocaust-related records to the public, including the second part of the Deschênes commission's report, which has been kept secret for almost 40 years. Instead of reflection, though, Canadians might be in line for more political theatre.

28 Sep 23

50 notes · View notes

kendrixtermina · 5 months

Text

Zionists SHUT THE FUCK UP

I'm not gonna be coddling Zionists no more because regardless of whatever was 100 years ago, right now theyre a privileged upper class better off than most americans.

The problem is that you still think the reason Palestinians are angry is because they somehow got some irrational hatred against you, not because of the brutalizing of their families & their homes.

You're not so special that everyone has it fucking out for you, you're not that special, you're not the fucking center of the world

Your stupid silly religion may tell you that you're oh so special, but you're not. Not any more than the Christians & Hindus & Conquistadores who did atrocities in the name of their oh so special religion.

My ancestors in europe had to learn the hard way that they're not the navel of the earth; You will learn it too with the crumbling of your backward evil state that's the last filthy bastion of apartheid & segregation enshrined in law.

I've HAD it with ppl whining about what happened to their grandma. There was hardly anyone in europe who wasn't oprphaned after WWII. My czech great-grandfather survived only by jumping out of a Nazi death train.

If you are still so fucked up because of your grandma, imagine how the Palestinians are suffering when for them, the terror NEVER ONCE STOPPED since their grandma's generation. They're still in it,

I've spent the last few weeks reading & watching documentaries and i can say confidently that the zionist apartheid state and zionist army are the most evil, most filthy thing on this world right now except for maybe north korea (which terrorizes its citizens far worse, but also doesn't affect much outside its borders) and unquestioningly a force for evil. It's making everything worse.

The rest of the western block is super rotten too, but Israel is making IT worse with its influence.

Don't get me wrong: This is not the fault of all its people, especially those who never voted for the current government.

But that's precisely the thing: There's no country that never did atrocities; It's when you pretend that it's perfect that you get a problem. It's when you make your country your whole identity to the point that you can't hear its leadership & institutions criticized that we get a problem.

#israel #zionism #free palestine #palestine #gaza #idf #iof #zionism is fascism #free gaza #west bank

24 notes · View notes

this-is-a-nice-show · 6 months

Text

I adore any and all Supernatural and Good Omen crossovers because On one hand, you have a show comprised of at least 60% male brooding and emotional heart to hearts with jarring, nonsensical, violent plot points almost always with a devastating season finale.

And on the other hand, you have a show featuring an unlikely pairing who constantly bicker but also would die for each other in a heartbeat exclusively in the most stupid, chaotic, and unnecessary way possible.

They both have extremely established lore in their universes that do not line up whatsoever. My favourite part is someone trying to combine the lore or totally disregard the rules of these universes like a prophet who has heard whispers of the word of god/Chuck directly and is communicating their word to us. And they are beautifully creative every time. Every take is completely different on how the lore is combined and I'm still like "You're so damn right. Cheers, I'll drink to that."

But ignoring the biblical themes of both shows they have so many similarities...

A vintage car is kept in pristine condition and is almost exclusively the main method of transportation. "Get in the car, angel! Alpha Centuri!" - Crowley (2019, colourized). Okay, were you planning on driving to Alpha Centuri??? "Hop in the car, Sam. Time to go on our day-long road trip for the second time this week." For fucks sake, you have infinite money. Buy a plane ticket.

We listen to One Song. A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square. Carry On My Wayward Son.

We will extend our musical selection To A Certain Extent. Queen only. No modern music.

Angst.

Weird Haircuts.

Zombies, Nazis, Witches. Unclear definition of what the capabilities of witches are in both universes. Dean killed Hitler, Crowley killed three nazis.

Female love interest? Ehhh... No, thank you.

Male love interest? Ehhh... No, thank you. I'm rolling with genderless Crowley/Aziraphale. But don't worry because Castiel is happiest when he says he loves Dean. If that doesn't say platonic male friendships, I don't know what does. /s

Dumbass Behaviour. "Yes, I am playing detective searching for Clues for Archangel Gabriel. No, I did not inspect the Clue that he showed up with." "Yes, I have many, many contacts throughout not just Earth but also Heaven and Hell. No, I will not contact anyone for help."

Pornography and Sex Workers.

Risking death and destruction for others. Crowley rescues Aziraphale in France, Aziraphale saves Crowley by getting the photo back from the Nazi zombies. In Supernatural wtf, where to start...

The line between 'good' and 'evil' is virtually nonexistent. However, humans are regarded as 'closer to evil than good' or 'more likely to be evil than good'.

Found Family. "Hey hellspawn, you want two dads? No? Well how about a Nanny and a Brother Francis?" & "Hellspawn #2, tell your dad to fuck off and then bing-bang-boom, adoption complete. Adopted parents are just parents." "Hey hellspawn, you want three dads? No-oh wait, you do? Great."

God/Chuck is treated as a neglectful parent. They still seem hopeful that they'll receive help at some point but understand that they are required to fend for themselves and that can include going up against god/Chuck. It is cannon in Supernatural that all beings project their daddy issues onto Chuck.

They drink an extraordinary amount of alcohol and can sober up quickly. Good Omens is self-explanatory. But I've never met a person who can shotgun four beers back-to-back and shoot dead center. They have to be sobering up in between these activities.

They only own One Outfit. Coat/trench coat, waistcoat (optional), tie/scarf (optional), one or more layered shirts, jeans/slacks, and shoes. And of course, you have the accessories. Dean's necklace and Aziraphale's ring + watch. And it is cannon that in Supernatural, the characters (not the actors playing the characters, but the actual characters) wear a full face of makeup. And you can see Crowley/Aziraphale's makeup. Their lip colour changes pretty frequently. The angels in Heaven wear gold lipstick iirc.

Both of their main 'bases' are filled with books. The bookstore (for obvious reasons) and the Winchester's bunker has their hunter's manuals and the fucking Supernatural books.

The actors that play the characters canonically exist in their universes as well as thier characters. Dr. Who exists in Good Omens -> David Tennent exists in Good Omens along with Crowley. There is an episode of Supernatural where the main 3 exist in the 'real world' -> those 3 actors also exist in Supernatural. (There are multiple episodes where this happens without Castiel, but there is only one where Misha Colins plays himself.)

The most glaring difference between the shows is: one is developed starting with the characters and one is developed starting with the plot. Sam and Dean are inserted into a plot that they had no control in creating. Their father placed them into situations, and they were forced to find a way to survive. Crowley and Aziraphale literally started the story. They should understand the concepts of anything that happens in the plot (to a certain extent). As in, unlike the Winchesters, they don't need to do copious amounts of reading to foil nefarious plans.

Dean, Sam, and Castiel are pessimistic and dismissive of help. Other beings have to prove themselves worthy of their trust and usually not the other way around. Crowley and Aziraphale are optimistic and see the good in humanity. They enjoy the simple everyday joys of being human and they had the trust of Hell/Heaven for 6,000 years, up until Michael found the pictures of the two on Earth.

But would Crowley/Aziraphale drink bargain bin beer? Go to the greasiest diner imaginable? Directly commit murder? Participate in hand-to-hand combat? Would the Winchesters/Castiel drink a fancy, expensive wine? Go to the Ritz? Analyze their thoughts from a different perspective? Read a book for fun?

NO, and that is why I love you fanfiction writers and artists. I appreciate everything you do. <3

Something a little sad under the cut

I think the reason why I haven't been able to see more fun? silly? (idk how to describe it) fan fiction of SPN without crossovers is because Good Omens has never made fun of its audience or belittled how much effort goes into making content. When you know that you're actively being mocked by the show you like, you have to be on your Best Behaviour and Don't Fuck Up.

I remember that they were upset that the show attracted an audience of teenage girls. They made multiple episodes making fun of cosplayers, what I can only describe as an "obsessive fan girl", and destiel.

It feels like the people involved in Good Omens actually care about it and give a shit and that feels like putting lotion on a sunburn. Y'know?

#sorry for bringing up Supernatural in the Satanic Year of 2023 CE #but its my blog and i get to make the questionable posts #cringe culture is dead #and i'm snorting up the ashes from the crematorium like cocaine #good omens #go #crowley #aziraphale #aziracrow #gomens #my post #long post #azicrow #crowley x aziraphale #supernatural #destiel

28 notes · View notes

somethingusefulfromflorida · 5 months

Text

I understand that it is reductive to think of geopolitics in terms of "good guys" and "bad guys," but it honestly feels like the good guys are losing everywhere on Earth. There doesn't seem to be a single country where common sense and compassion are baked into the fabric of their society deeply enough to prevent the rise of the worst human beings you could possibly imagine. Every single time I read about a supposedly progressive country, it turns out they're run by fucking sociopaths who consistently lose elections to Nazis. Are there any places that are not backsliding right now? Anywhere at all? If a country sounds good on paper, there's always some horrible catch! Every month I hear news like "this country has the best healthcare on Earth, but the ruling Social Labour Worker's Party (center to center-left) just passed bipartisan legislation with support from the National Purity Alliance (far-right) to allow secret police to abduct and sterilize anyone they suspect to be disabled."

The nominally left-wing party is led by some incompetent right-of-center choad who is razor-narrowly elected against the worst caricature of a cartoon strawman supervillain you could possibly imagine, and the choad's party spends the entire term spitting in the face of every single person who voted for them by passing horrendous legislation with single-digit approval ratings, only to be swept out of office by the supervillain and their handpicked toadies. You could set your fucking watch to it, it's so regular.

15 notes · View notes

masha-nikita · 1 month

Note

Do you do readings with other Nazis? Eg: Himmler, Göring, Goebbels, etc.

I would love for you to do a reading on Albert Speer! I really enjoy your posts!

My apology that I my blog is more WWII military-centered, so viewers actually find very few (to none) posts that are about Nazi party members proper.

But, tomorrow is Mr. Speer’s birthday, so I’ll make some comments on him as a happy birthday gesture.

This person has a powerful Neptune nearly exact conjunct Ascendant. This Neptune is as powerful as Fedor von Bock’s Uranus. Fedi’s Uranus conjuncts ascendant on the 1st house side (linked towards acute self-awareness), whereas Speer has his conjunction located at 12th house side (linked towards profound self-unawareness). This person dissolved himself in his life’s work; he practically has no self left.

This placement facilitates extreme psychic ability. You may say, oh, then, Speer is another Rudolf Steiner whose life’s work revolves around mysticism, esotericism, the occult, and also sculpture and architecture. No, Speer does not even has an ego-structure for that, especially with a Mercury-Neptune hard square. At least half of his brain does not live on earth at all. He is pretty bad at taking care of his own mundane daily life, and uninterested in mundane subjects such as political debates.

You do often observe in occultists (ie, Rudolf Steiner, Mme Blavatsky, Aleister Crowley etc) a strong-willed dedication towards whatever work they’re doing (that’s why non-secret occult societies tend to fall apart), but for Speer, there is no dedication- dedication implies an act of dedicating the “self” towards something, but basically Speer just melts in his "works" like water; and like formless water, he relies on ideological structures to give himself form. Without a rigid ideology or at least a protective figure, he would be lost or very easily taken advantage of; but with one, he probably would be led astray just as easily. Either way.

This Neptune gives him an unique ability to design things THAT SEEMS TO BE INFINITE, beyond any human scope. His Neptune breaks down Mercury’s logic with a hard square, so he has to manage to “realize the illogical”. The highly abstract and "illogical/not-mundane logic" part of quantum mechanics and mathematics probably suits his heart better. When it comes to architecture, what Speer really attempted to make real as a concept, is probably The Oldest House from the video game Control- a clusterfuck of none-logic that encapsulate infinity, since Speer has no “ego-container” to restrict anything down.

Speer’s is not even a case where he lets his imagination goes wild; you have to have a “self” to allow your ego to imagine things. You look at Rudolf Steiner’s architecture, you would be aware that “it is a work of an accomplished mystic, yet, a mystic is still a man”.

Steiner's design-

On the contrary, Speer’s work would look something like “the collective unconscious of a hundred thousand man” if built properly. Note that a collective unconscious is more often than not an awe-inspiring and an dark place.

Astrologers would say a powerful Neptune renders the natives all daydreams and no practical work, but I can’t even say this Neptune is so impractical that Speer really amounts to nothing- because that is plain wrong. I’ll say this- the way he does work, that would not be out of any practicality or concrete knowledge, but rather he directly transplants an ISEKAI or some kind of superior parallel universe to this 3 dimensional world where he doesn’t even fully live in (and the misery thereof, he hardly ever grasped). It is a "spiritual" genius instead of a brain genius.

Take that as you will how you interpret his role in the Nazi party.

#3rd reich #reichblr #albert speer #astrology

9 notes · View notes

autolenaphilia · 1 year

Text

Aesthetic conservatism is inextricably linked with political and social conservatism. By aesthetic conservatism, I basically mean anti-modern art. It’s an aesthetic doctrine. Music should be tonal and melodious, instead of atonal. Paintings and sculptures should be figurative instead of abstact. Storytelling in film and novels should be simple and direct. It upholds the traditional forms of (western) art as superior to modernist ideas. This is not some innocent “aesthetic preference”.

This naturally takes the form of a kind of anti-urbanism, as the industrial city is the site of modernity. And an accompanying romanticization of rural life and farming, agrarianism. It’s also of course anti-intellectual. The anti-modernist art narrative goes that intellectuals and artists in the big city, because of their unnatural technological lifestyle have lost touch with the common people and indeed reality. The common people who do physical labor and work the earth are in touch in that reality.

Of course, the common people in this narrative are rural white gentile cishet people. And this is where anti-modernist ideas show their true face. The city in western countries are often more diverse than rural areas. It’s where jewish, black and queer people tend to live.

The urban intellectuals who have lost touch are often jewish.. Anti-modernism is often anti-semitism. In the US, this kind of anti-urban discourse is centered on New York because of its large Jewish population.

Thus anti-modernist thinking is intimately tied to anti-semitic thought. The negative reaction to Arnold Schönberg’s atonal and twelve-tone music is deeply tied to his jewish identity and anti-semitism. There was a scandal about how this jewish composed worked within the austro-german tradition, yet dared to make his own innovations to it. He was seen as “perverting” and “degenerating” that tradition.

It’s also homo- and transphobic. The unnatural “lifestyles” in such anti-urban discourses are often queerness. LGBT people tend to move to cities and form communities there. It’s no accident that the modern LGBT movement was essentially born in Berlin, or that the Stonewall riot happened in New York. And this is baked into anti-urban discourses. Since at least the 1920s, “the unnatural results of technology” condemned by anti-modern discourse is frequently medical transitions. The concept of degeneracy which I’ve written about here is closed tied to both this kind of homo- and transphobia and anti-Semitism.

Of course the kind of romantic anti-urbanism and anti-semitism existed in the 1800s, prior to modern art music and literature. Yet such discourses lead naturally to an anti-modernist ideology in the 1900s. All these ideological currents were often tied together with a romantic nationalism. The white gentile common people were of a specific nation, a specific ethnic and racial breed.

And in anti-semitic thinking, the point of the conspiracy of Jewish intellectuals is to weaken and control those white gentiles. In anti-semitic thinking, queerness is part of a Jewish plot to weaken the genes of various white peoples. Queerness is not viewed as something natural, but something induced by modern society, something you are recruited into. This is what the concept of “degeneracy” refers to.

And modern art was part of this conspiracy. Traditional forms of art are associated with traditional Christian values. So modern art becomes another Jewish conspiracy to weaken the mind of gentile white westerners and turn them away from these healthy Christian values.

This romantic nationalist and anti-semitic ideology originated in the 19th century and in the 20th century developed into fascism. As Umberto Eco put it “The first feature of Ur-Fascism is the cult of tradition.“ And “Traditionalism implies the rejection of modernism.“

The nazis drew upon the anti-semtic romantic German nationalism of the Völkisch movement, extolling the virtues of “blood and soil.” They praised the simple German farmer who worked that soil and had pure German blood in his veins, and put him against the degenerate Jewish socialists in Berlin.

The nazis put the ideology I described into action when they came to power in 1933. In Berlin they destroyed the first modern LGBT movement, which was centered in Berlin. The nazis destroyed Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexology, where the first modern medical transitions were performed. They banned modernist art, and put on mocking exhibitions of “degenerate art” And of course, initiated a persecution of the Jews that culminated in what is probably the worst genocide in history.

All of these things are connected by the same romantic nationalist and anti-semitic ideology, of which nazism was just one particular variant.

So why I’m writing all this historical context? It’s because these ideas have not gone away, but in fact grown stronger with a fascist revival. Modern fascists trumpet this idea from their government offices.

And a kind of anti-intellectual and anti-modernist discourse has thrived outside of explicitly fascist environments. The idea that modern and non-figurative art, literature and films is too weird, too inaccessible and meaningless, created by (urban) intellectuals who have no connection to the concerns of ordinary people in the real world are ideas that you can find here on tumblr in spades. People will uncritically share whining about modern art from some “traditionalist” account on social media, it is worrying. Again, you don’t have to for example listen to atonal music, but this anti-intellectual dismissive attitude is not some innocent aesthetic preference.

And identifying as a leftist is no antidote. When the Soviet Union turned to romantic Russian nationalist ideas under Stalin, it lead to a cultural policy dictating a traditionalist and figurative and tonal aesthetic (called socialist realism). And it was tied to anti-semitic campaigns against “rootless cosmopolitans.” The campaign against atonality (so-called “formalism) under the Zhdanov doctrine and the anti-semitic campaign against foreign influences and “rootless cosmopolitans” were part of the same idea.

And since the 1960s/70s, the hippies have uncritically recuperated romantc anti-urban, anti-industrial and agrarianist ideas, and given it a leftist sheen. How shallow this leftism can be when you witness the many cases of seemingly leftist New-ager hippie turning to a q-anon conspiracy theorists.

And of course a lot of this nonsense comes under the heading of ecology or environmentalism. Not that I’m against ecology or environmentalism, I’m a eco-socialist. But romantic environmentalism ought to be distinguished from a political, scientific and rational approach to the present ecological crisis.

Derrick Jensen and his radical environmentalist group Deep Green Resistance becoming extremely transmisogynist was honestly no surprise to me, such ideology was implicit in Jensen’s romantic anti-industrial and anti-urban rants all along. Of course his romantic idealization of the natural excluded trans people as unnatural products of the industrial and urban society he hates. Nothing else makes sense in Jensen’s ideological framework, anti-queerness has been part of anti-urban ideology since the 1800s. It’s part of the ideological tap roots of such romantic environmentalism

Of course TERF ideology in general is a similar example of 70s hippie ideology giving this romantic and traditionalist idealization of the natural a false leftist and feminist sheen. Cis women’s womanhood is natural and biological and thus good. Whereas trans women are the products of a “frankensteinian” science gone wrong, as Mary Daly put it most clearly.

Radfem ideology has basically the same view of what is acceptable femininity as fascist traditionalists. Modern “sexualized” femininity, high heels and make-up is wrong and degenerate, whereas the feminine ideal of women as mothers is seen as good and natural.

This all might piss off all the groups I described in this from M-Ls to deep ecologists to radfems to people who just virulently dislike modern art. But this is just pointing out the ideological taproots of this form of thinking in 1800s romanticism. And that is not an innocent tradition. The idealization of the natural or agrarian in contrast to the degeneracy of modern urban living is not an innocent idea. It’s tied to racism, particularly anti-semitism, it’s tied to homophobia and transphobia, and ableism (the disabled lives which are reliant on modern medical technology are seen as another modern degenerate aberration).

And I say bollocks to all that. I’m happy to live in a city now. I used to live in a tiny rural town of about 300 people, it was miserable. Having my own apartment in the city, away from my father and the judgemental eyes of my neighbours enabled me to realize I’m a trans woman and transition. I’m happy that I have access to modern medical technology. It’s actually awesome that I take synthetic hormones that enable me to change my hormonal sex and I’m currently undergoing electrolysis to remove my facial hair. I hope to get surgery soon, so I could complete my frankensteinian transformation. Being an inhabitant of a degenerate modern industrial city far away from the judgements of narrow-minded racist and transmisogynist small towners is good, actually.

And I enjoy the art us urban intellectuals put out, even if it’s weird and noisy. Again, it’s all connected. Atonal and serialist music started with a Viennese Jewish composer, Schönberg. It’s no coincidence that perhaps the most important modernist novel, James Joyce’s Ulysses, celebrates a city, Dublin, and features a Jewish protagonist, Leopold Bloom. His “cylcops” in the book’s analogy to the Odyssey is an anti-semitic romantic Irish nationalist, who loses his debate with Bloom.

This continues in the modern day. Present-day Transfem musicians infamously tend to make industrial music and noisy hyperpop. Probably the best guide to this is the fantastic essay “A Sex close to Noise.” by Leah Tigers. It’s a great essay that maps the affinity trans women musicians have for “noisemaking.” She draws attention to Throbbing Gristle’s slogan “Industrial music for Industrial people.” And notes that trans women are “for better or worse, industrial people. Often, we make industrial music.“

And that gets to the central thrust of this text. Hatred of industrialism can’t be separated from a hatred of “industrial people”, like trans women. Hatred of the urban can’t be separated from the anti-semitic, racist, homophobic and transphobic horror that the city contains jewish, black, and queer people. And a hatred of modern art can’t be separated from that legacy. Condemning modern music as just “noise” can’t be separated from condemning the jewish people and trans women who cause all that noise.

#my writings #anti-semitism #transmisogyny #anti-modernism

37 notes · View notes

dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year

Photo

A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. ‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

― Robert F. Kennedy, Day of Affirmation Address, University of Capetown, Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966

[h/t Robert Scott Horton]

#RFK #quotes #Robert F. Kennedy #Robert Scott Horton #political #inspiration

22 notes · View notes

vergess · 6 months

Note

Americans really believe that??? That sounds like cartoon villain shit there ain't no way.

I know, right, it sounds so fucking unhinged you'd think it has to be fake!!! But nope!

1 out of every 3 Christians in the USA unironically believes Israel only exists to fulfill an End Times Prophecy.

This is what we mean when we say Americans devalue the lives of Israelis in specific and Jews in general.

We are literally a BLOOD SACRIFICE TO THEIR GOD and they expect us to be GRATEFUL.

And yes!! It does sound cartoonish!

That's why I keep saying there is a clear cut, easy villain in this conflict.

It's the imperialists who literally want to sacrifice the middle east to their death cult to destroy the world.

But even among the majority of US Christians, the other 2/3?

Support for Israel is very strong for one other reason I haven't mad e as clear today as I usually do:

White Supremacy.

See, "exterminate the Jews in hellfire" isn't as popular a talking point post WW2 as it was in say the 1870s.

So what are you to do when you want to cleanse an ethnicity from your society, but it's uncouth to kill them?

Why, you take the filthy mongrels, and you push them over there!

It worked great for the US forced relocations of Indigenous people in north America, and for the forced removal of former slaves to Liberia! (Don't pay any attention to how many people died horrifically of the permanent damage done to global geopolitics and regional ecosystems or the way local political frictions between the forcibly relocated and the already present lead to endless generations of bloodshed. I'm sure none of that will be relevant.).

By having a handy shelf to put Jews on, white supremacists get to send us to one of the most politically unstable places on earth, with much of that instability literally caused by the US directly, and let two problems solve themselves. Jews AND Arabs killing each other, without the white people lifting a finger!

Do you have any idea how many Nazis LOVE the existence if Israel? It's a "proof of concept" that the US can create and sustain an ethnostate even in a very unstable region, AND it's an easy place to send Jews to go die! Wow! A two for one deal!

And let's go ahread and remind everyone while we're here:

ISRAEL DOES NOT ARM ITSELF. ISRAEL'S WEAPONS COME FROM THE US AND EUROPE SPECIFICALLY SO THAT ISRAEL CAN BE USED AS A FORWARD OPERATIONS CENTER IN THE REGION.

Anyway, the US wants a few things:

The destruction of jews

Access to holy lands

Access to oil rich regions

Creating, arming, and sustaining Israel gives them all 3.

#Asks #Answered asks #Anonymous #IP main

8 notes · View notes