#and have still not acknowledged that it affects people who are Jewish

[theood]

To the anon who sent the ask about the show, I actively try to be aware of the media I'm consuming. I know what is wrong with the show, and how insensitive it is many times.

As always, I do my best to continue trying to educate myself and be aware of what content I choose to consume.

Most conspiracies are 100% tied to Jewish people and made to make them the bad guy, or explain how our government isn't doing this but they are, and I acknowledge the show, despite trying to play those as a haha funny thing doesn't often get that across, and how in real life (and in media) these kinda depictions do harm people. (There's other stuff in the show too that's not Great like saying the Illuminati is run by bunches of Famous people)

I also understand if this makes you uncomfortable, and you can chose to unfollow and block if that is what makes you most comfortable.

#i have some posts in my queue still. I try to listen to others about this. Both Jewish fans who like the show but hate how they portray #a lot of stuff and other Jewish people who don't. And as someone who isn't and isn't affected by it I'm always gonna have a bias bc it do #esnt hurt me or affect me and I acknowledge that #I hope this doesn't come across as me not listening I am. I do know. I'm not turning a blind eye #this post is abt Inside Job if it's not super obvious #condensed my response a little and typed it in a post so I write a response I hope reads well? All in all. I'm aware of the content of the #show + how it presents. And with anything I watch or read or consume I always try to make sure I'm aware of how it is in relation to real #life and how it portrays that

[wiisagi-maiingan]

I cannot actually believe I have to say this but older events are not irrelevant to modern issues when those events caused widespread damage to countless people and left permanent impacts on the populations targeted. Historical context, especially in the case of violent persecution and its lasting impact caused by bigtory and hate that are deeply ingrained in society, IS important and needs to be talked about.

The Trail of Tears took place in the mid-19th century, almost 200 years ago. The 13th amendment to end slavery was ratified in 1865, more than 150 years ago. Are those events suddenly irrelevant to current society because they happened so long ago? Is the expulsion of indigenous people from our lands no longer important? Are we supposed to forget slavery? What about things like European colonization that happened hundreds of years ago? Is that too old to care about?

Of course not, because we know the reality is that even if those events are "over" and have been for a long time, their impacts are likely to going to be felt forever and the bigotry that led to them happening in the first place is built into our societies and cultures and actively still hurting the groups affected. But it doesn't escape my notice that the "it happened so long ago, just move on" is being weaponized against Jewish people specifically, especially by leftists who would never even dream of saying that to any other marginalized ethnic and racial groups (and many other groups who AREN'T affected by generational trauma).

The Holocaust is still relevant. The global expulsions of Jews from countries all over the world are still relevant. The pogroms that devastated Jewish communities all over the world for hundreds and even thousands of years are still relevant. Acknowledging that doesn't mean approving of or justifying the Israeli government's actions, just like acknowledging other historical events doesn't mean accepting or justifying the bigotry and violence of other marginalized groups. It's not about justification, it's about understanding and remembering so that we can move forward without repeating that violence.

I'm just absolutely blown away by the callousness and cruelty I've seen from people and their absolute refusal to acknowledge the fact that antisemitism is a real and very active danger. If you think that people just talking about ongoing antisemitic violence is propaganda, then you have some serious and deeply-held bigoted ideals that you need to be acknowledging and working on.

#antisemitism #this is a vague yes. i don't care.

[4ft10tvlandfangirl]

You know what's incredibly upsetting? Seeing so many pro-Israel or pro-Zionist posts parrot that the only reason anyone could be pro-Palestine or call for a free Palestine is because they hate Jews.

I know what this tactic is meant to do and I know how making people apathetic, how discrediting their knowledge of a topic or questioning the genuineness of their empathy and other similar tactics are used to benefit the oppressive group but it's still pissing me off.

I am a descendant of enslaved people.

Our history lessons always begin with the slaughter & genocide of the indigenous peoples that were here first, primarily the Taino, who thankfully have a few descendants living in isolation along with the protected Maroon villages. It is normal throughout high school to take history trips to former great houses & plantations and see for ourselves the sites where our ancestors were brutalized and massacred; the weapons and tools of torture preserved and on display so that we knew but a taste of what they went through.

My university is built on the grounds of a former plantation. There are businesses and homes built on top of mass graves & on top of sites of slaughter. There is literally no escaping our colonial history because it touches everything. Our last names are not even our own! Most of us have English, Scottish and Irish last names given by the plantation owners to our ancestors. Or you know...because many children were the product of rape. We cannot accurately trace our true heritage more than 4-5 generations back because most families have no complete records.

A lot of you like to bring up grandparents. Cool. My great-great grandmother was the daughter of a mulatto free woman and a white Scottish sailor. She was white passing. Because land and work were hard to get here under colonial rule, she left the island for a better life with her husband who was a Cuban born mulatto and they ended up living in the US through WWII and after. They were considered an interracial couple (black & white rather than both being seen as mixed) and could not live in certain places because it was illegal. Papa couldn't find work, was treated horribly, because he had darker skin but Grandma found work passing as white and was treated much better. She worked 2-3 jobs to provide for them and their 5 children.

But, there were times when she would appear darker like if she was out in the sun too long or her curls would start to show and a Jewish neighbour/coworker suggested to her it might be safer to tick Jewish on forms rather than white if her race was ever questioned. I suppose due to that kindness the family formed friendships within the Jewish community where they lived & Grandma's eldest son actually married a Jewish woman. His kids and grandkids are all Jewish and they still live in the US.

I share this specific thing because I have very real concerns for those members of my family. But while I worry for them in this time of increasing anti-semitism and absolutely decry any verbal/physical attacks against them, I am still going to speak against things that are wrong. What Israel is doing is wrong. Of course as a non-Jewish person I can acknowledge I may misstep and if I say/do something that is genuinely anti-semitic I'll take the correction. But if your aim is just to intimidate me into silence it's not going to work.

And trying to tell me 'well black people are not welcomed there or black people wouldn't get treated well in Palestine' as if that affects the cost of bread. Guess what? Black people face racism everywhere. Even among our own and colonialism has a lot to do with that. That same grandmother, I was fortunate to grow up with her in the latter part of her life after she returned to the island and every time I went out with her there were questions of whether my family worked for her. Or why was I, this little black girl with this little old white lady as if I meant her harm. She had to say proudly, "This is my granddaughter." How other people view me or treat me isn't going to stop me from speaking up for what's right.

With the history of my people I could never ever ever side with the oppressor. Ever. Whether its here in the west or in the east, whether it's happening to my fellow black people, or any other group of people, I cannot in good conscience stand with the oppressor. My ancestors were forcibly stripped of their humanity, called savages, animals, barbarians and all of that was brutally beaten into them. That same language and similar acts of brutality are being used against Palestinians today.

You think you can cower me into staying silent on that? With unfounded accusations of hate? I refuse.

N.B. - my use of the word mulatto here is strictly to provide the historical context of how my grandparents were seen/classified and spoken of. It is not a term we use.

#long post #vent post #palestine #pro palestine #free palestine #anti oppression #colonialism #anti colonialism #antisemitism #personal #genocide #anti genocide #social justice #indigenous people #taino #maroons #jamaica #i will not shut up about this #anti zionism #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #i stand with palestine #free palestine 🇵🇸

[notaplaceofhonour]

I understand and agree with pointing out that the Holocaust didn’t just affect the Jews that lived in Europe, and shedding light on the stories of Jews in other territories under Axis control. Every life lost or uprooted in the Holocaust matters and deserves to be remembered, not just Ashkenazim.

However, I’ve been seeing a bit of an overcorrection to the point that this valid & important point get twisted by some into the idea that Ashkenazim weren’t actually all that affected by the Holocaust at all and may have actually been safer than other Jews due to being White/European*, and I wanted to walk through exactly why that is so far from the reality and gets into really dangerous Holocaust Distortion.

The fact is that the vast majority of Holocaust victims were Ashkenazim. How do we know this? Well, first and most obvious without even getting into the numbers: the Nazis were most active in Eastern Europe, where most Jews were overwhelmingly Ashkenazi. Germany had colonies elsewhere and the affect the Holocaust had on Jews living in Africa and Asia is not any less important (and the fact remains that their stories are a genuine gap in Holocaust education that needs to be filled), but this doesn’t change the fact that the center of Nazi activity was Europe, and thus that is where their impact on Jews was most intense. But it’s important to not just go off of what seems “obvious” because what’s obvious to any given person is subjective and subject to bias. So let’s look at the numbers:

Estimates prior to the Holocaust put Ashkenazim at 92% of the world’s Jewish population (or roughly 14 million of the 15.3 million total Jewish population), meaning that it would be physically impossible for less than 4.7 million (or 78%) of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust to be Ashkenazim.

Even that number is only possible to reach by assuming that only Ashkenazism survived and literally every non-Ashkenazi Jew died in the Holocaust, which we categorically know is not the case due to the continued existence of Sephardim & Mizrahim, as well as other Jews. So the number has to be higher than 78%.

Additionally, the fact that the proportion of the world’s Jewish population that was Ashkenazi fell so drastically during to the Holocaust and still hasn’t recovered (from 92% in 1930, only recovering to close to 75% in the last couple decades) means that not only a higher overall number of deaths were Ashkenazim, but that a higher proportion of the total Ashkenazi population died than from other groups.

We also know that 85% of Jews killed in the Holocaust were Yiddish-speakers. The fact that Yiddish is endemic to Ashkenazi culture (and not all Ashkenazim would have even been Yiddish-speakers) due to assimilation means that at least—and most likely more than—85% of Jews killed in the Holocaust were Ashkenazi.

So, no, Ashkenazim were not some privileged subcategory of Jews who avoided the worst of the Holocaust. They were the group most directly devastated by it.

That doesn’t change the fact that the devastation the Nazis and their allies wreaked on other Jews is every bit as important to acknowledge and discuss, and must not fall by the wayside. The stories and experiences of all victims & survivors deserve to be heard, remembered, and honored, not just the most common or most statistically representative of the majority of victims. However, we can (and must) do that without allowing the facts of the Holocaust to be distorted or suggesting Ashkenazim were somehow less affected by the Holocaust or more privileged under the Nazis. The Nazis hated all Jews. Antisemitism affects all Jews. Period.

*without getting too deep into how categories like Ashkanzi/Sephardi/etc. don’t map neatly onto race like so many people seem to want them to. that’s a different post, but just pointing that out

#antisemitism #holocaust distortion #tw shoah #tw holocaust #ashkenazi #ashkenazim #minhag

[gandalfsbignaturals]

what is tme/tma? (sorry i’m cis)

they stand for transmisogyny exempt and transmisogyny affected. nominally they are supposed to label people who are targets of transmisogyny (tma) and people who are not targets of transmisogyny (tme), but in practice they are typically instead defined to mean "trans women, trans femmes, and (sometimes) gnc men" (tma) and "literally everyone else" (tme)

unfortunately, as i have tried to argue, this... isnt really how oppression works, especially considering the queer community necessarily resists hard categorization, and especially binaries

whats more, people who are supposedly tme are frequently the victims of transmisogynistic hatecrimes, something the proponents of the terms usually call "misdirected transmisogyny." i have gripes with this, though, because misdirected bigotry is... well, its still bigotry.

when sikhs (and whats more, any brown person who looked a certain way) were facing a monstrous amount of misdirected islamophobia in the wake of 911, the muslim community did not come out and say "well, they arent really muslim, so the islamophobic attacks on them dont count." nor did the sikhs and others use it as an excuse to attack islam! instead, they recognized that the bigots didnt actually care about the specific labels of the people they were attacking. all they cared was that someone was brown, and that they practiced a foreign religion, and that was enough.

likewise, when gentiles are attacked by antisemites for defending or associating with jewish people, those jewish people do not say, "you are not jewish, and therefore this doesnt count." instead, they acknowledge that, once again, the bigots in this instance dont actually care about the specifics of the lives led by those theyre attacking. i cannot imagine a jewish synagogue denying aid to a victim of an antisemitic attack, even if they are not jewish.

similarly, when a queer or gnc person is attacked by a transphobe for performing gender wrong, that transphobe doesnt actually care what particular label or lifestyle the person theyre attacking subscribes too. a trans man with some stubble in a dress is the same as a non-passing trans woman to them. a burly woman with higher than average testosterone going into the womens bathroom is the same as a non-passing trans woman to them. a masculine black woman in baggy clothes is the same as a non-passing trans woman to them. and they will attack accordingly, and no matter how the victim protests that they arent a trans woman, the bigot will not care.

this is all glossing over the fact that, by advocating that people disclose their tma/tme status in their blog description or carrd or whatever, you are effectively asking them to out themself. if you define tme as "not a trans woman," and someone has a trans flag and he/him pronouns on their profile, and you ask them to also include tme on their profile... well, then youre asking them to publicly state what their genitals are. while tma and tme are not defined exclusively based on genitals, it is undeniable that in combination with other readily available information, they can be easily used to determine what someones assigned gender at birth is.

when applied to trans people, tme/tma is just another false binary. it is a poor attempt to categorize a human experience that is simply not divisible into neat little categories, and especially not a binary.

#this is a long answer but i tried to be thorough in my definition

[gartenofbanny]

Hello! I am currently trying to make a document including all evidence of Viv's problematic behaviour, and since you're quite popular in the critical community, I wanted to ask your opinion on the structure of it. If I missed anything feel free to correct me!

Vivziepop is a horrible person

I-early signs

-Nazi sausage party ocs (inspred by doctor Mengele, following a nazi blog

-drawing Kesha and glorifying her illness

-Zoophobia (contains the Addison drawings, Mirage being depicted as goofy when she's a pedo, Sahara and Latika designs

-supporting blaire white and Shoe0nhead (her too since Shoe has recently been revealed as a neo nazi)

-transphobia (discord messages)

-drawing Mimzi as a caricature/stereotype of Jewish people

II-Spindlehorse & twitter

-Raphielle shipping valangel, saying their a proshipper and still working on SH

-Following multiple proshippers, including someone who used audios of REAL kids for his digital CP and someone who actively ships Rick/Morty

-allowing and encouraging the harrasment of people who critique her shows to the point they are forced to come out or receive rape threats

-Blaming A24 for the lack of competent advertisement on Hazbin Hotel and replacing the voice cast

-encouraging harassing Erin Frost and Kendraw for coming out with their experience with her

-Studio reviews revealing the nepotism and abuse in the SH studio

III- The shows

-finn/ cole was made cis when he was originally trans

-sally mae only regarded by the fandom as a trap or futa, sexualised in every piece of her merch with her dick being emphasized to the point the fandom fetishizes her

-alastor being made creole or mixed as an afterthought, when Viv had already used real life voodoo symbols, very clearly inspiring alastor from Wendigos without any research, made him white as paper and depicted him as the 100th " asexual and aromantic person is an evil murderer!".

His asexuality and possible aromanticism is always ignored by the fandom in favor of shipping, and inclusive Vivziepop even said to do as they pleased with his sexuality for shipping.

-forced positivity, pushing the idea that even murderers, abusers and horrible people can change hazbin hotel

Depicting abuse (Crimson hitting Moxxie, the whole Valangel tag existing) and sexual assault (again woth Moxxie and angel) as funny jokes or sexy

-Noticing a pattern, Viv tends to promote M/M relationships a lot but depicts them as overtly sexual, predatory and toxic, and seems to have a problem with having "twink" characters abused sexually in a yaoi-ish way (Addison, Moxxie and Angel, Vox. Stolas/blitz too.)

-the only two people of color that are confirmed are Alastor, Velvette and Valentino. Velvette's color is very ashy and she is often infantilised (this might have more to do with her being a woman in Vivs eyes) she presents no POC features at all, neither does Valentino who is a stereotypical black man who is a pimp, abusive (sexually too) and has a short temper.

-using "it's hell " as an excuse to make horrible characters to glorify and depict as the true victim while doing nothing to become better. (Ex. Stolas is a rapist , Blitzo Sexually harrasses his co-workers and is very toxic, Alastor is a serial killer.) Depiction is not glorification, but Viv actively makes it seem like all of it is okay to do and has a show who has a very negative message that affects the viewers and fanbase into excusing disgusting shit.

-disrespecting religion by not accurately researching the demons she talks about

-Sexist writing in helluva and hazbin that favores males(Loona,Millie,Stella, Verosika)

-ableist language by Blitzo, refusal to acknowledge this and even joking about not being able to say a slur

-collaborates with Brandon Rogers,whose work is clearly sexist,racist,homophobic and ableist

-making fun of eating disorders (Moxxie)

-involving kesha in her show while she is trying to get justice for being abused and trying to recover, making the character she voices based on all the things she hated about herself

-included famous voice actors, pays thousands for them but actively underpaid and overworked her staff

-No trigger on an episode that contained Blitzo vomiting

-Barbie wire grooming a teenager is considered a joke (and the tweet doesn't count, we should be able to tell if the teen was actually older by his design or any line of dialogue, if those who don't have twitter won't know it means it's a problem)

-various incest jokes hinting at proshipping (Moxxie/Millie, and a rumor +dialogue cues hint at Andrealphus and Stella being in a relashionship)

-merch of almost all female characters being somewhat sexual

-depicting the Woman/Man as the only healthy relationship (Moxxie/Millie) while the queer couples are toxic (Chaz/Moxxie Blitzo/Stolas)

Holy shit that's a long read, I suggest you make that into a blog post or something. The only portion I can assume that you got correct is the third section. Most of the first two sections are spot on to me, but I am not sure if they're both completely correct because I'm not really aware of what Vivziepop did in the past, just what she has been doing since like last year. Sorry to disappoint, but it is pretty great from what I'm reading.

Modify it to what you think is best so that people will read from it and test read it yourself in case you got something wrong. I suggest you use Grammarly for grammar or spelling issues because even though English is my first language I still struggle with those

#helluva boss #vivziepop critical #helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop #helluva critical #helluva boss critique #vivienne medrano #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel critique #hazbin critical #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism

[jewreallythinkthat]

I think I've worked out part of my issue with a lot of the antisemitism from the performative allyship for Palestinians and that is the disingenuous patronising way these people will talk about October 7th.

This isn't about those who deny it, it's about the people who say "of course I condemn October 7th..." And then try and change the subject because that way they can fully avoid actually acknowledging the level of trauma that was caused to Israelis, and the worldwide Jewish community, that day. It allows them to say to themselves "I am a good person" because they have acknowledged that this happened and now they can say whatever they want, no matter how bigoted, or simply untrue, safe in the knowledge that they can point to this one line and shut down any discussion about the actual details of the atrocities which are still coming to light.

To borrow a phrase so many people like to use to justify the butchering of innocent civilians in Israel, what is happening in Gaza "did not happen in a vacuum". That is not to say that what's happening is acceptable, but it is unbelievably important to preface any discussion about the situation as a whole with the fact that there was a actual caesefire in place on October 6th which was broken by Hamas in the most vile, horrific ways that wouldn't even make it into a horror film because it is unfathomably awful.

To acknowledge the events of October 7th, you MUST talk about the grizzly details of what happened, you must be willing to engage with people who are still coming to grips with losing family, and friends and never feeling safe again because all they have seen since is unbridled glee at the thought of their death. Frankly, I'd never want anyone to be able to empathise with how I have felt as that would mean that have actually experienced the fear that someone will actually kill you because you see people hunting you down in broad daylight because I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

To flippantly say "of course that was awful, but anyway now I want to talk exclusively about the other side..." When someone Is trying to discuss October 7th itself is just trying to shut up Jews, Israelis, and anyone else who is trying to actually have a productive conversation.

What is happening in Gaza at the moment is a catastrophe and an horrific loss of life; an event which will leave lasting scars of trauma for generations. This doesn't mean it was unprovoked. And saying it wasn't unprovoked is also not saying that it is deserved. This is the fallacy of the argument. Multiple thing can be, and are true. If you only want to consider one, without the others, you are deliberately changing the situation and spreading misinformation.

The whole situation, and in fact the entire history of the middle east is one of the most complicated around the planet. But you cannot pick and choose where to count from just to make your argument work. If you think the only way to engage with people with different opinions to to infantilise, patrinise, and belittle, then you are not doing anything to help anyone. You are cementing yourself as a narrowminded fool with no ability to think for yourself.

If you genuinly think someone else's human rights should be taken away because of something they have done, they why shouldn't yours? It's a slippery slope.

If your opinions are not actually productive and you only get your news from one source, you are genuinely part of the problem. This is not meant to be a call out, it's a plea to actually do genuine research and read what people who disagree with you say with an open mind. You do not have to agree with them, but you have a duty to at least understand other people's point of view if you think you're important enough to be involved in the discussion - especially if it doesn't affect you personally in any way, shape or form.

#jumblr #antisemitism #i/p #shower thoughts tbh #the number of people who habe claimed they are acused of antisemitism to shut them up #and then immediately used this line to shut down any jews talking is insane

[arromantica-lucha]

i got a lot of thoughts about loveless by alice oseman and if this post seems very one sided well thats just how it read to me. my opinion isnt the end-all and i value how everyone interpreted and was affected by this book. this isnt a closed topic lets talk about it

gripes with loveless by alice oseman

took a while to actually explain that ace and aro are two separate identities and still not that well. it makes aro seem like a subset of ace which is entirely false. its cool there was an aroallo character involved but still

the book title 'loveless' is a real term and identity and the entirety of the book kinda shits on it by enforcing the ideal that its still okay to be aspec cause platonic love can be experienced and any type of love is required or at least better than "not feeling anything and being alone forever"

it was weird for her friends to forgive her over gestures that had nothing to do with apologizing before georgia actually apologized and explained but that may just be more of a personal thing that i didnt like. likewise the story being about platonic love it kinda sucks her deepest connection is with her roommate and not the people shes known for years and wronged

kinda sex negative. i mean rooney says she doesnt dislike casual sex but then that whole thing becomes the reason she hates herself and a reason to cope with being "unloveable" and its kinda lame. you can tell that story without making it seem like casual sex is just a means of devaluing yourself. and you can be sex repulsed and still not do that. it just feels unfair to aroallo people especially who are told they are monsters for enjoying and only wanting casual sex when this book is supposed to be about aromanticism too

(can we also be done with harry potter references??? lets stop hurting trans and jewish people thanks)

basically particular identities' stories shouldnt come at the expense of others and other ways of life. its great and important to write different experiences because no one is gonna relate to them all but no one has to replace romantic love with ANY type of love to feel good about themselves and be human. loveless and aplatonic people shouldnt have to read something that uses rhetoric against their identities within a book about aspec people

things i like about loveless

i didnt relate to it personally but the experiences felt very genuine. internalized aphobia, being hounded by aphobic comments, finding it hard to portray love even in a fictional or artistic sense, etc.

I appreciate the references to race and intersectionality that come with being queer even if they were minimal. so few times is it actually acknowledged that there is privilege when it comes to being understood, coming out, being accepted, etc. the references to that were nice to see because too often intersectionality being brought up is brushed off and blatantly ignored or people pretend like they understand

it was written by someone who is aroace even if there are some things that can be less isolating within the aspec community with the language being used. someone being open about their identities and how they choose to define them in the mainstream world is how we get more peoples voices in there

it has helped people discover their own identity though id still recommend further research on the actual identities being named and ones not named. these stories are the first introduction of aspec identities in mainstream and that hopefully means itll start to expand to other identities within that community that have not yet had representation

this should be the start of developing more rep. the first takes are not gonna represent everyone and its a good thing it exists to tell a few peoples story. but that doesnt mean it should be free from any criticism because thats how we make them continuously better. i hope to see an aroallo character soon. i want the term loveless to be properly used in media and expressed for what it is. i want to stop pretending like ace is the umbrella term for all aspec identities. i want amatonormativity explained as the sociological term it is that harms all life not just aromantic and polyamorous people. i want a polyam aspec character and polyam characters in general. i want disabled and ethnic aspec characters where the intersectionality is just as important to the narrative. i want a whole lot more and to stop prentending like any of that should be unreasonable

#loveless #alice oseman #osemanverse #aromantic #arospec #aspec #aroace #aroallo #loveless aromantic #loveless aro #queer #lgbtqia #made this sideblog specifically for this post

[blazingstar29]

Top Gun and War

I just wanted to touch on something in the Top Gun fandom quickly.

CW: Discussion of WW2, Holocaust/Shoah, the Cold War, Vietnam War. Mentions of the AID's cris and WW2 related generational trauma

Preface/disclaimer: I'm no historian. I have studied 21st century history from causes of ww1, causes of ww2 and politics, up to the causes and consequences of Vietnam and American politics in the 60's. I am not an expert. However, I care about history/historical accuracy and have found this century to be of particular interest despite the horrifics that occured. (Any jokes about 'why do you like ww2' are not invited. What happened is real and it still hurts people.) I also say 'we', this is because I'm not targeting any specific person or fandom trope/trend. We includes me. But I also know people are writing these topics so please know i’m not pointing fingers saying that no one is doing this.

Some quick numbers.

Top Gun is set in 1986. Forty one years after World War 2 ended, twenty one years since the Vietnam War ended and the closing act of the Cold War. These are not entire life times. Even today, this is very recent history. Older family members, teachers, professors, bosses remember this time. I own a protect and survive pamphlet from the 70's that has remained in my family. It has only traveled one generation since it was distributed.

Maverick's family history with Vietnam is covered - to an extent. We as writers tend to look at his father, and rightfully so, his father is a massive part of his characters motivations.

But I believe we need to be more conscious of the era in which we right in. I am not saying you need to become a historical expert and make politics a central part of your story. But maybe we need to be aware of it. Even within yourself, even if the fic has nothing to do with politics and it's icemav rawdogging it in the locker rooms. Even if we acknowledge it and don't write about it, I just feel that we need to do that at the very least.

The character that's most obvious when it comes to this, is Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky. It's not rare to see the Jewish Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky tag, or to see him written with immigrant grandparents or great grandparents. He was born 14/15 years after WW2. That is no time at all. Do you look back remember how young you were at 14/15? That's how little time has passed. I cannot even begin to express how pain like that doesn't go away within a decade and a half, and how it affects multiple generations. But that is a topic where my voice is not the one to amplify. Please listen to Jewish voices.

This isn't even accounting for what it was like living post Vietnam and the Cold War. I know someone who grew up horses riding across Salisbury Plain in the UK and had Hercule's planes flying over and military drills. It was still real. This is still recent and in effect during the events of Top Gun.

I know that queer issues and the AIDS crisis are frequent fic topics because it is occuring at the time. And of course these topics deserve to be represented. I am not for one second saying that one issue must be diminished in order to amplify another. As a queer person I know it's also easy to write about them. It's where I'm comfortable because I'm more knowledgeable. Writing things we don't know about is intimidating. I'm drafting an icemav fic where Ice is Jewish and which more significance to the fic than what i've ever written before and it is intimidating because I'm scared of doing it wrong. But so long as I educate myself and discuss the fic with Jewish people who are willing to have that conversation, I can try and do the right thing in my writing.

Write what you wish, it's not for me to say what that is. Every fic is a gift to read and we have the choice to read what we like and the topics we like in such a big fandom. But after reading a phenomenal fic I became aware that I don't really see how the characters, particular Jewish characters like Iceman are affected by the post war era they live in. I am guilty of this. I have written 97 top gun fics and not once have I addressed the global political climate of the 1980's in any real depth.

These topics are hard to write responsibly and tactfully as well as with your own emotional capacity. I'm not trying to guilt anyone for not writing fics about war and politics. Writing is an escape and I don't want to change that for anyone. I am in a privileged position that I do have the mental capacity every so often to think about the harder topics when I write. I love history and studying it, but there are topics I can't wrap my head around, so I do understand when things don't make sense in your head.

You don't have to write it. But let's be aware of it. Let's talk about. Even the smallest of references to a Cold War conflict or post WW2 can add valuable context. Just some food for thought ig, i hope i'm not saying anything outrageous or offensive.

Amplify minority voices, listen, respect, reflect.

#top gun 1986 #top gun maverick #top gun discourse #tw #trigger warning

[magnetothemagnificent]

14, 15, 33?

[id in alt]

(8 and 24 already answered)

7. Are you the "token" queer person in your family?

Nope, my first cousin once-removed was out as a lesbian and dating a woman while I was still a baby gay haha

14. How do you think other factors like neurodivergency or upbringing have impacted your identity?

Oh they've affected them a lot. More in the sense of how I express my gender. I don't do things like binding because of the discomfort from my fibrocystic breast tissue and autism. I express my gender through Jewish gender expression, and not so much the Western American expression of masculinity.

15. How has your identity changed over time?

Well, I went from cis bi to cis lesbian to cis butch to nonbinary lesbian to straight trans man and now to bi trans man, where I feel most at home :)

18. How old were you when you got to attend your first Pride? Who did you go with?

Hm, probably like...13? I attended a Pride event by accident, I was with my homophobic grandfather and his sister and our car got stuck in traffic because of the Pride festival, so my grandfather and his sister were like "ooh haha let's get out and look at the homosexuals haha" and bought me a rainbow flag as a joke. Little did they know I was a little closeted queer kid and was having the time of my life lmao. I still have that flag somewhere.

25. What queer discourse frustrates you the most?

The discourse of whether trans men face a unique form of oppression or not. There's people saying trans men can't face a unique form of oppression because men don't face a unique form of oppression, and yeah, sure, cishet able-bodied white men don't, but oppression doesn't act on a single axis. The misogyny a white woman faces is very different from the misogyny a black woman faces, for example. Men and boys of colour are treated very differently and face unique forms of violence by virtue of their gender. Jewish men and boys face unique forms of oppression by virtue of their gender, etc etc. I've talked about the stigma and vitriol towards circumcision a lot on this blog, and that's actually an example of the specific oppression Jewish and Muslim men face. It's a gender-based prejudice. And it's got nothing to do with women. It's not "misplaced misogyny". I don't know what word you want to use for it, but it's a specific gender-based axis of oppression. Quite frankly telling trans men that the specific gender-based violence and discrimination we face is just "misplaced transmisogyny" or "plain old transphobia" or "just misogyny" is abhorrant. I don't care what you want to call it, discoursing over "oh but so and so invented this word so we can't use it", etc, is a waste of time. We're wasting time discoursing about which words to use and not use. I don't care what you call it, call it "gobbledeegoop" for all I care, but acknowledge that it's real and let trans men speak on their own oppression. And also for the love of god stop sending death threats to anyone on either side of the field, trans men are allowed to have complex feelings and don't deserve hate just because they use or don't use certain words.

33. What about your LGBT identity do you feel proud of/ want to recognize/celebrate?

All of it? But honestly shout out to woefully single bi guys :/ Let's normalize having no one to kiss at Pride haha

Thanks for the asks!

#pride asks

[tired-fandom-ndn]

ok so I got into some beef with some other proshippers before I realized they were hella racist, so I don’t want to continue the convo with them bc I don’t their opinions now lmao but- is it bigoted to say that due to stuff like white supremacy not all white people experience the full benefits of white privilege? like white jewish ppl being affect by white supremacy bc of antisemitism, but still acknowledging they have white privilege. and the same with black and/or trans men and male privilege

The thing people don't seem to realize about privilege is that. . . the ones who decide who have access to privilege are not the ones who are the victims of it. You can argue about whether an ethnic group or white passing people of color have white privilege all day, but are they treated as white by actual white people? Are they granted entry into white society by white supremacists?

Or are they seen as invaders? People trying to infiltrate good white communities to corrupt them?

A lot of the time, white privilege for marginalized groups is conditional. Someone is white when it's convenient to paint them as either oppressors or potential allies against another group, but then they're not white when it's time to paint them as a danger to white society or victims for someone else's narrative. People who exist in that liminal space are simultaneously white and not, dependent entirely on who's talking about them and why.

So yeah. In discussions of privilege, it's always important to think about who really has the power and who they deem worthy of sharing it with and why.

#Anonymous

[bi-leth-eisner]

Sorry if this is not welcome! It’s a topic a lot of people don’t really want to touch, which is why I’m on anon. Feel free to ignore. But your post about dehumanization towards the Nabateans is spot on. I’m Jewish and as I’m sure you are aware there is so much of this rhetoric still today about Jews not being human, or Jews being basically christian, just erasure of the ability to exist as a race or culture for one reason or another. What people say about the Nabateans(in universe and in real life) actively parallels real life antisemitism and for some reason everyone thinks that’s not okay to point out. Blows my mind.

hello anon! of course this is welcome! it's really important to just acknowledge the fact that rhetoric like that is actually super harmful to people in real life. sweeping it under the rug only makes the problem worse.

sometimes i think people who spew out shit like "Rhea isn't (seen as) human so it's okay to kill her actually" have to be white americans, or at least white. they were never properly taught about the atrocities that happened to people of colour or people who have different beliefs just mere years ago, some of which still happen today. they never stepped back and thought, "is this harming anyone who isn't me?" and never will even if they get banged in the head with that realization because they're so stubborn and think they HAVE to be right. so they either ignore it because those things never happened to their ancestors or they act like it wasn't "that much of a big deal" because they were taught by racists who hold those harmful beliefs or not taught properly enough because again, they were taught by people who ignore it. it goes on in a vicious cycle where people affected by those atrocities get their voices drowned out. and that's even IF they were taught.

let these voices be heard. let Jewish people speak. let people of colour speak.

#asks #getting really tired of the Rhea hate

[thirdmagic]

ah, yes... i dont know if it is people we share on our following list and I am not even sure if i was mutuals with them or if they unfollowed at some point before this but there were a few people, from fate fandom, people that i at least have been following for years and years, who put some stuff on my dash on the day of october 7th that. well. i jumped ship pretty much instantly because it sure was something to see after being woken by sirens and spending most of my day running between my apartment door and the bomb shelter and then seeing what was happening on the news. but yeah i havent seen a lot of it, like two-three people but i also know just enough of tumblr fate fandom to know how insular it is that i can pretty much extrapolate what must be going on in other blogs and what you must have seen. so i clearly ran away right on time lol

i don't even know if they've even forgotten some of these parts so much as they never learned about them or never knew. or maybe they haven't forgotten but need their specific easy narrative and to project their own familiar political issues on it so badly that they willingly remain ignorant. i also think there's just such an issue where the only antisemitism that registers as such in many people's minds really is just the shoah and the idea of a jew as a tragic victim of the shoah is the only one they can work with, so they just compartmentalize that from any kind of currently living, breathing, existing jewish person who is not so easily perfect-victim-ized.

but honestly, i think none of us here realized how bad it was too. i had a feeling something like this would happen one day eventually inevitably but it seemed to me like the next moment of devastation had to be way more far off and also that people would obviously do at least the bare minimum of caring and acknowledging that it's bad that it happened and to at least be a little compassionate because that's normal to expect, right. again, not a high bar, surely, right. and well. you know how that worked out.

and to you both: thank you for your kind words and your compassion and understanding. i am pretty much as safe as i can be, there has been rockets and attacks in the areas around where i live and smaller individual instances within it but nowhere near the scale of what's been going on elsewhere. emotionally i've had a few very rough days and very, very low points this past week, i won't lie, especially since i've spent the first week just kinda absorbed in following the news, but i'm doing much better than i used to and figuring out ways to deal with it and to cope, i've had a lot of people willing to listen and talk to, and i managed to find community in several different places to bond around this and work through it together

and you know for all the awfulness and all the ways people have been horrible about it online and elsewhere there's also been a lot of goodness, many, many people reached out to me personally in support, and i treasure and appreciate every single bit and every single effort you can make. and honestly it's especially valuable coming from gentiles and in general everyone who isnt affected or involved, i understand the risk it carries for you all to go against the grain and how much easier it would be to just go long with the narrative that refuses to listen and understand. so again, thank you. this stuff kinda helps me get through the day, even if it's just thoughts, words, or reblogs, it is still valuable to me and others.

[carousel-of-souls]

Gotham New Orleans Backstory Infodump: Harley

Warnings: parental death, golden child syndrome, manipulation, child abuse

Harley is Jewish. She goes to synagogue services a few times a month mostly to be in the same room with her estranged dad, he won’t even acknowledge her existence. She still observes holidays. She doesn’t keep kosher anymore.

Harley’s mother died in Katrina when Harley was young. This really messed with her father and started an abusive dynamic where he was pushing Harley to be an accomplished doctor like her mom. She chose to go into gymnastics because she was interested but her father soon tainted that with his perfectionism as well. Harley never had time to make friends or have relationships with people.

Her young life was totally robbed by what her father wanted. She ended up going into psychology since she wasn’t really interested in other medical fields. She’s always been a very good student, even when she didn’t care about what it was.

She was employed at Arkham shortly after Joker was caught and committed for the first time.

They got along well during their sessions, enough that Harley started forgetting how dangerous Joker was. She got too comfortable around him. He saw her being undermined by some of the older male staff. During his time as a high school teacher he had a lot of students with parental issues and he’d become a father figure for many, he usually doesn’t totally remember things before the acid but still has that instinct and used it to manipulate Harley by becoming the trusted supportive figure she needed.

Eventually he was able to convince her to help him escape. They went to ace chemicals and Harley jumped into one of the vats of acid except, Two Face steals acid for his criminal activities and replaces it so no one catches on, Joker doesn’t know about this. Harley jumped into the fake acid and was confused but Joker lied and said it was just to see how much she trusted him and he would never put her in harm’s way like that. Two Face has ledgers of when he’s stolen acid so Harley could very well find out Joker was planning for her to be in real acid. There was still chemicals in there of course which affected her but no skin bleaching happened.

She and Joker’s relationship here has never been and never will be romantic. It’s also not abusive in the way other media is. Joker is a coward and will throw Harley under the bus and end up getting her hurt but he does not beat her or kick her out of windows or verbally abuse her like other versions.

Harley was living in Joker’s lair for a while but an abandoned Six Flags isn’t very comfortable. She got an apartment but was having a lot of trouble because the landlord obviously had an issue with her two hyenas. Selina was needing a place to live during this time and overheard Harley and the landlord fighting and Selina decided to threaten him into selling the building to her. Ed ended up living with Harley later and Selina is their landlord. Harley and Ed share an apartment in the building. Selina lives in an apartment above them. Other people don’t really move in once they realize their neighbours are rogues. It’s a small building anyways.

She met Ivy when Ivy took a bunch of people hostage in effort to force the city to deal with hazardous waste properly instead of dumping it in the swamp. Ivy didn’t know who Harley was at the time so she thought she’d just captured another civilian, little did she know that civilian would be chasing after her for the next few months until they started dating.

Ivy has been Harley’s first relationship and things have been going very well.

Additional info:

Harley makes sculptures, she picked it up in Arkham.

She gets sad around holidays, especially Hanukkah because she cant celebrate with her dad and she has trouble keeping relationships with non criminals so she has become detached from the Jewish community. It makes her feel lonely. If they’re both out of or in Arkham at the same time around the holiday she can celebrate with Abner Krill.

She feels insecure when her hair is not in braids but Ivy has gotten her to feel more comfortable with her natural hair sometimes.

She’s very good at riding mechanical bulls.

She can ride a unicycle.

#Harley Quinn #gotham new orleans #Au info #harleen quinzel

[martian-martian-martian]

Okay but no, it's actually really pissing me off that in all the years of the entire Star Trek canon, we can have several GAY KISSES in the 80s and 90s, as well as a literal god-entity who can bring a whole mariachi band on board the Enterprise-

But in 2022, there is not a single hijab on any Federation starship.

Islam is the second-largest religion on the planet, and it's the fastest-growing by far in THIS century.

We've had Christian characters, quotes and iconography. We've even had a few Jews, (though I think there could DEFINITELy be more representation for all that Jewish folks have contributed to Star Trek - Hanukkah in Ten-Forward anyone?)

But not a single Muslim presence onscreen.

"Star Trek exists in a post-religion future"

Major Kira is a devout religious character who in no way is seen to be less-than because of her beliefs. We see them challenge her and affect her in real life. We see both the corruption and the beauty of Bajoran religion tackled in a beautiful and nuanced manner.

I'm not even asking for a storyline like Kira's. I understand the allegorical nature of Bajoran religion as a METAPHOR for real religion, and the role that science fiction has in ALLUDING to real life without the bluntness of addressing it.

But I think it would be nobler to show us a future where all religious practices are ACCEPTED and accounted for, and coexist, rather than a religionless world.

Religion has caused untold harm and foul cruelty and violence in ths world. Every religion has within the capacity for hate, murder, and complacency in suffering. But it's up to the humans who practice them to give them value. And whether you want to admit it or not, religion is a cultural cornerstone.

Saying your utopia has "eradicated' religion is just cultural genocide and erasure under an altruistic label.

Not saying that Star Trek has said this!

I'm not even Hindu, but the reference to Diwali in 'Data's Day' really touched me. But I think we still have a little ways to go.

I can't speak for everyone who identifies as religious, but if I were out on a voyage into the inky black uncaring void of space, if there's one thing I'd want to take with me, as just one small human in a vast universe, it would be my connection to that comforting presence I sometimes happen to call God.

The meaning it has- just acknowledging that every one of us can have a place in the future without cutting peyes, changing names, hiding crosses or magen david or items that bring us spiritual comfort. That world peace and harmony without forfeiting the beliefs our ancestors cherished for centuries is possible.

I don't need to see a plac eof worship or prayer on the Enterprise. Hell, I don't even WANT to see a place of worship, or people praying on the enterprise. I enjoy the idea of a society that isn't FIXATED on religion, especially fundamentalism, as much as any other peace-loving leftist hippy.

I'm only asking: Let Ensign Ahmed take Eid off.

#star trek #essay #is this nonsense #im agnostic #btw

[pandesalmonster]

is bernie sanders pro-israel as of october 2023

Ok so I saw this tweet from Michael Tracey (a journalist who is both right wing and left wing at the same time according to my google searches - mind you i am literally southeast asian. i do not know these people).

This tweet claims Bernie Sanders (someone I rooted for president in 2016 and 2020- damn 2016 was 7 years ago... - because all the cool guys I follow on Twitter like him. and also he is anti-establishment and a guy who has a clothes hanger chair. from the news that I saw about him)

In the extended youtube cut released by Senator Bernie Sanders, he says Israel has a right to defend themselves against Hamas quoting "the youths killed in a dance party and the babies killed". But says also that this anger should not be taken on the Palestinians because half of them are children.

And now people on Twitter are quoting this saying ohhh I'm so disappointed in him, we should never trust politicians, what do you expect from a jewish-american guy who stayed in israel for a few years. That last statement I had to look up.

So yes, he is Jewish-American, and yes, he stayed in a commune in Israel in the 60s.

This is the commune he went to, so yeah that's Israel:

And then the reply to the tweet: He also voted for it yesterday. His crocodile tears mean nothing. I'm so mad about that tweet. What do you mean by that? What did he vote for? You can't just drop that bomb and not add context!

Fortunately I calmed down and clicked on her page. "He voted for it yesterday"- was referring to all US senators voting to pass resolution in support of Israel.

I understand her disappointment (you should not vote to support Israel, if you're against Israel bombing Palestinians, and Sanders is against that. Even if you're Jewish, as lots of Jewish-American people have been speaking out against Israel, and Bernie should not have voted for that, if he really is against Israel bombing Palestine. )

I also understand why Bernie would vote for a resolution supporting Israel (for one he lived there + he's an old Jewish American, I think older people would find it harder to disavow Israel).

The resolution in question is linked here as an article (mind you, on a SENATOR'S HOMEPAGE, news articles did not link to it, not even the pro-Israel ones) and pdf from another US Senator's page here. (with the additional clause that "it should not be in any way be viewed as authorization for use of military force in Israel or Gaza")

This is what the resolution that Bernie voted "Yes" on says:

Basically it says, yes we support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas (without acknowledging what Israel may have done to build up Hamas). It is lacking. And Bernie Sanders, known progressive US politician worldwide, voted for it along with everyone present (2 Democrats and 1 Republican was absent)

So am I disappointed in Bernie? Yes, somewhat. Do I still root for him? Yes, somehow.

Maybe I'm not yet ready to accept that he is a politician. I'll just look at him with a side-eye. Idk. I think I need to read more to decide. Why should I care? Because US policies affect everybody? Because I'm on Twitter all the time and hear about how US politics is shitty and now I feel like I have to have an opinion on it too because oh no what if I accidentally retweet a post that if I study further is actually not good? Why do I have to be right all the time on the Internet? Why do tweets go viral when all these thought processes, nuances, and research (which are still not enough to cover the whole topic), is not enough to fit in 140 characters??

And why did Twitter have to be the site where you can BOTH immediately interact with ideas and people AND have these limited takes go viral? And idk I'm just rambling now.

Mind you he is 82 years old! The US (still a global superpower) should not depend on 80-year old men to lead progressive movements in the senate! Yall need younger people! AOC is 34 years old! We need more 34 year olds in the senate!