the dogs^ name is Steve

He's 100% right. People do think you're stupid if you have a speech impediment. Everyone laughed and called you a cringe lib or a "Biden deadender" if you pointed out it was pure, ugly ableism that made people think the normal symptoms of a stutter were indicative of cognitive decline, but yeah, it really was ableism the whole time

I mentioned before that I don't have a stutter, but I had another kind of speech impediment as a kid. Speech therapy helped a lot. I still trip over my syllables if I'm talking fast, nervous, upset, etc. I had to sit and watch people both online and irl who I'd previously respected throw all sensitivity and progressivism out the window because "lulz old man braindead because he talks funny." It made me realize that people still probably think a certain type of way about me when I need to stop and restart my sentences.

"Breathing heavy": do you mean panting? Coughing? Reverse sneezing? Labored abdominal breathing?

"Not moving": does the animal not *want* to get up but physical can and will if you pester it? Is it conscious but truly unable to get up? Are the hind legs specifically not working? Is the animal limp/unmoving when you pick it up?

"Has a wound": is this a superficial scratch or did the animal tangle with barbed wire? Are all pieces of the animal still attached? Also, did this happen today, yesterday, last week or 3 weeks ago?

"Limping": is there a subtle hitch in their giddyup? Are they bearing weight at all? Are they toe-touching or holding it up entirely?

"Difficulty walking": are they able to walk *at all*? Are they dragging a leg or legs? Are they walking like they're drunk? Are they circling to one side?

"Not eating": do you mean just their regular food but will eat treats? Are they eating less? Eating slower but still finishing it? Or are they refusing to swallow even their favorite food?

There are two great problems with what happened to Margaret (and that her parents are trying to do to Juliet). One is easy for modern people to spot (but was also a common response back in her own day). And that’s the moral implications of what was done to her. She was too young to be married, and it was horrifying that she was forced into it so young. Every one of the adults around her either acted immorally or failed to protect her. They were wrong. This is what modern people see, and it’s important to remember that people back in her day mostly agreed with it. You’re supposed to think it’s fucked up! When girls were married that young (and it didn’t happen often!) it was a formality 99% of the time. It was for dynastic or financial reasons (the girl has lots of money and/or land and/or a title that her husband wants), but the “couple” don’t consummate their marriage for years. And it’s not just that they would have separate bedrooms. They might not even live in the same country until the girl was in her late teens and physically and mentally mature enough to bear and raise kids. Hell, a lot of times they didn’t even meet until the girl was older! They had this thing called “proxy marriage” where you would have two separate ceremonies, in two separate places, with each party saying their vows separately, one in one city and the other in a different one. So, yeah, sure, the girl was technically married at 12, but she didn’t actually meet her “husband” in person until she was 17 and they didn’t start sleeping together until she was 20. That was a thing they did.

The other problem, the one that modern people don’t notice, is dynastic. See, marriage wasn’t generally because you loved someone. It was because you had the resources to support a family, and you or your family wanted to pool those resources with someone. It’s about “our family has these resources, and we want that to continue.” It’s about continuity across generations. It’s about making sure that your children and grandchildren have the best possible resources to survive and thrive, whether those resources are land or a trade or a title or money or whatever. In order for this to work, you have to have kids! The family and the family’s resources depend on the married couple having children. If the couple doesn’t have children, the marriage is a failure. And that failure affects not only the couple, but both families. This is a really big problem. And you can’t have just one kid to pass on the family name, because half of all kids die in early childhood. If you want to be safe, you need several kids, to be sure at least one will survive to adulthood (when they can marry and pass on the family name and resources.

You know what happens when a girl has her first pregnancy too young? She is very likely to either die in childbirth, or have complications that destroy her future fertility. Just like Margaret Beaufort. Just like Juliet’s mother. In other words, the marriage is a failure, not just for her, but also for her family, and her husband (who can’t divorce her, it’s not allowed except in extremely rare circumstances), and her husband’s family. So even the people who didn’t have a moral problem with adult men having sex with pubescent girls had a practical problem with girls married too young because you are very likely to destroy the entire purpose of the marriage by doing it. As Shakespeare reminds us in the play through Juliet’s mother having been married too young and only having one child.

another thing i noticed, the year my local community shakespeare theater did r&j, and i made the costumes so i got to watch the show every night: part of why capulet is telling paris, take your time, get to know each other, no rush, is that he still has his nephew tybalt as his heir. as long as tybalt is in the picture, there is no pressure on juliet to go further with paris, than get acquainted. once tybalt is killed, then suddenly capulet needs an heir, he needs a husband for juliet, now, this week. (the role of capulet is best given to the actor in the company that can do over the top apoplexy, you need to believe his urgency comes at least in part by how clearly he could drop dead any moment from giving himself a stroke)

i feel like this play is often taught in middle schools as if it was somehow relevant to, or about, teen hormone storms. really it's got more to do with the social structures around family and inheritance. leaving that context out makes it confusing, why is capulet suddenly flipping from nice dad to evil dad?

Some people in mental hospitals now are crazy. Some of us are psychotic. Some of us are aggressive. Some of us are a danger to ourselves. Some of us are a danger to others. And we are still humans, who deserve human rights, which we legally do not have.

Some people in mental hospitals now are crazy. Some of us are psychotic. Some of us are aggressive. Some of us are a danger to ourselves. Some of us are a danger to others. And we are still humans, who deserve human rights, which we legally do not have.

They have a worldwide network of shlichim (emissaries) who establish Chabad Houses in different cities and towns. The Chabad Houses serve as synagogues and as bases of operations. Many college campuses have them as well. They host Shabbat dinners and other programming.

Some of them go in public and ask people if they’re Jewish and have them do mitzvot. The ones mentioned in the screenshot are:

- Laying tefillin (they only offer this to men)

- Shaking lulav and etrog

- Listening to shofar

And some other things that weren’t mentioned were giving out candles for Shabbat or for Chanukah.

You might ask what the point is of this if it’s not part of a sustained observant lifestyle for the person. I think one answer is that they believe it could spark that, and another is they see every single mitzvah done by a Jew as a metaphysical positive thing, and also that we can bring Moshiach by doing lots of mitzvot.

Executive dysfunction comes from a lack of available dopamine. Common advice is wrong. You need to provide your own dopamine before you can start. Otherwise you're trying to run your car on empty.

"But what if I still don't do it" well you already weren't getting it done anyway. Now you have a little treat. Try again later.

You deserve kindness and care even when you aren't being productive.

I usually suggest this technique as a "Reverse Pomodoro." In the original Pomodoro, you work for 25 minutes and then take a break for 5 minutes (the times vary, but that's the essential ratio). People with executive dysfunction often find this insurmountable, and they get even more frustrated, and then the task seems even more difficult. So instead, flip those times.

FIRST, spend 25 minutes doing something energizing and engaging that you like to do. Not scrolling social media passively, not watching tv, not napping. Try something like colouring, doing yoga, running/walking around the block, talking about your favourite tv show with someone in real time, playing with the dog or cat, making and eating a lovely sandwich, hula hooping, something active. Having a little treat absolutely falls in this category!

(on the subject of little treats: refusing yourself food until you do work is for fucking Puritans and you can be kinder to yourself)

Then, after 25 minutes (or however long it takes to eat the sandwich or finish the yoga routine, it doesn't have to be exact), spend 5 minutes writing (or doing whatever you're struggling to start). Most people can coax themselves into doing something they find difficult for five minutes, if they have already filled up the joy/energy/engagement bucket. You can put a timer on for the 5 minutes if you want, or if you find that annoying, just work for as long as you like.

The other key is: don't push yourself to keep going when you're frustrated or tired—that will just reinforce the negative belief that you already have, which tells you that this task is painful to do, and needs to be avoided. If you've commonly had to force yourself to do this kind of task, that's likely part of why you think of it as painful and have trouble starting it now. Also, you should just, at a basic level, try not to put yourself in pain for the sake of productivity. So just do it till the good feelings run out. Then start hula hooping or colouring again for another 25 minutes. When the tank's refilled, try another 5 minutes of work, if you can. Adjust times to taste.

there's this thing people often say, when you bring up an incident motivated by bigotry, they say 'yeah, but that's just a small group of people that's exceptionally loud. most people don't actually believe that.' what they mean is that nobody (well maybe some people) is gonna make a really big racket just to say 'hey, im normal about this group of people'. most people do not actually support the hateful things the exceptionally loud group of people does. they might have biases but they won't go on a rant about how a certain group of people should be killed and if you asked them they would condemn the hatecrimes committed.

And the thing is, I get why the silent majority is silent. I know how difficult it is to speak up. When you feel like you don't know enough. When you feel like you can't change anything anyway. When friends or family are the people you would have to speak up against. When you know you'll get hate for speaking up. When you know people will assume things about you that aren't true because you speak up. When people connect your speaking up about one thing with also picking a side in an at most only tangentially related conflict. When speaking up means arguing against people who actually claim to support the same cause as you.

It also took me a long time to find the nerve to speak up. Even though I was disgusted and horrified by the things people said immediately. Because the people weren't just random strangers, they were people I thought of as friends. Because I had seen the way people who spoke up about the antisemitism got relentlessly harassed. Because I was afraid of people's reactions. I was afraid of losing friends or getting hate or saying something wrong.

Sadly while in some conflicts staying silent is a way to stay neutral, in the case of a group of people spreading hate and bigotry silence is complicity. Not intentional, but unintentionally. Yes, there may be the silent majority who doesn't support the actions of that small, loud group of people spewing hate, but if the silent majority doesn't speak up, they just give this group more power. If people can go somewhere and spread conspiracy theories and hate speech and prejudices unchecked. When no one stands up and corrects them. Then their numbers will grow, because there will be people who believe them, there will be people who get radicalised, cause no one ever tried to combat the conspiracies and misinformation and prejudices. If no one gets up and protects people who are getting attacked and harassed, then the attackers will just get bolder, they will be able to claim they have the support of the masses. And one day it will be too late. Because then staying silent means condemning your neighbours to death. And speaking up just means you'll die side by side with them.

So this is my plea to everyone who has been afraid to speak up these last few years: I'm pretty sure you are aware of the rise of antisemitism in these past few years. If not then I urge you to inform yourself. There are people both on the left and right who get bolder everyday. The spread misinformation and conspiracies, they harass Jews just for existing. Especially leftists claim to do this under the guise of helping palestine and are fast to denounce anyone who points out their antisemitism as a 'genocide supporter'. I understand how difficult it is to speak up against those people. The suffering in Gaza is horrifying and I wish I could just end it. And knowing I can't feels awful, being helpless feels awful. If then people come to accuse you of not caring or being evil or being everything you don't want to be, that hurts. It hurts so damn bad. And that is exactly the intention of those people. They are trying to emotionally manipulate you. They are trying to isolate you by marking you as an 'enemy'.

This is bullshit. If people are willing to turn on you because you try to raise awareness about antisemitism they unwittingly shared, then those people are not your friends. I know it's terrible to hear, but it's not you who is 'destroying the friendship'. If you politely point out someone elses mistake and they react with hate, then that is not your fault. Speaking out against antisemitism does not at all say anything about anyone's stance on the war. These are completely separate things. The suffering of the Palestinians does not justify antisemitism and people spreading antisemitism in the name of Palestine are not helping in any way. It is totally okay if you don't want to speak out about the conflict because you don't feel informed enough. It is indeed in my mind much better than sharing misinformation or reducing the conflict to a black-and-white, good-vs-evil type of thing. You are not obligated to speak up and form an opinion. Donating to an organisation that brings aid into Gaza helps much more than posting slogans on social media. Voting for people who actually have both Palestinians and Israelis best interests in mind helps more. Supporting the Israelis protesting against their current government, maybe even coordinating peaceful protests with them helps more.

i have gotten quite a few new followers recently due to the post about the phantom worm breaking containment and kinda expected a lot of them to immediately unfollow me as soon as they realised i regularly post about antisemitism - something that me and lots of other people have experienced in the past. i was thus positively surprised that as of yet that does not seem to have happened. with this post i wanted to explain to new followers why i speak up so vehemently and ask them to maybe also share posts about antisemitism and inform themselves so that the situation doesn't got worse than it already is.

i once said im not above begging people to listen to Jews and and speak up when someone says something antisemitic, no matter whether intentional or not. that hasn't changed. my pride is infinitely less worth than the lives that can be saved by stopping this rise of Jewhatred.

so this is me begging on my knees to everyone who sees this to take a moment to inform yourself about the thing Jews have to deal with, about the harassment and hate and violence and isolation they face everyday. to read up about antisemitism, especially leftist antisemitism, about what Zionism actually means, about ways to advocate for Palestine while simultaneously staunchly standing against antisemitism.

there are a lot of people hurting and killing Jews out there in the name of 'activism'. these people are no better than nazis. because it doesn't matter what your motive for a hate crime is, it is still a hate crime.

so please, please, please, think twice when someone calls for the death of all Zionists, or for the destruction of Israel or spams 'free palestine' or other slogans in the posts of Jews talking about their culture. twink twice and then SPEAK UP.

[Image ID: A cropped screenshot of two anon messades. The first says 'Hope you get beheaded and raped shiltib'. The second one says 'If it was ww2 i would have 100% led jews straight to their deaths'. /End ID]

LOOK AT THIS