Falsettos Fanatic

My Chemical Romance portraits from Rock Sound Magazine’s new January 2011 rewind issue. Photographed by Steve Bright.

okay fandom. 

here’s a hard truth that y’all need to grasp: YOU’RE ANTISEMITIC.

which fandom? doesn’t matter. it’s all of you. it really is. xmen? yeah. marvel? yep. dc? YEP. Star Trek? THE WORST. 

let me give you a heads up on some quick, easy ways to stop being trash.

stop “forgetting” jewish characters are jewish (cough, Spock, cough) 

listen to jews when we tell you shows like the ray are inherently antisemitic

don’t make jewish characters christian in fanfic or fanart

STOP. DRAWING. HORNS. ON. SPOCK. 

if you write a holocaust au, you’re the worst kind of trash (y’all know who you are)

cherik fans, please don’t support people who portray Erik as a priest or a fucking German soldier 

do not make Jewish character demons like please understand history and how that comes into play 

don’t be racist 

do your fucking research 

i have a whole tag on fandom antisemitism if you want to go and see some things of what not to do 

please understand that when actors that are not Jewish play Jewish characters this is whitewashing

it is still whitewashing if fancast a Jewish character with an actor who is not Jewish

do not write Chanukah as if it is xmas just for Jews. Chanukah is not like x-mas at all. 

If you reach out to Jewish people and ask for help to make sure your fanart or fanfic or whatever is not antisemitic we will help so reach out.

Don’t be an asshole if antisemitic shit is pointed out

Don’t harass Jewish people for pointing out antisemitism in your fave show book movie comic whatever

Don’t ignore said pointed out antisemitism either

-Same with vampires

-And goblins

-And witches

-WW2 “AUs” where one character is a Nazi and the other is a Jew is antisemitic. There is no enemies-to-lovers when one person is part of an oppressed group and the other is an oppressor.

-Do at least a little bit of research before writing Jewish characters. Jews aren’t just “secular Jew who is Jewish only for comedic relief” or “ex-Charedi Jew with trauma.”

-Lizard people characters are antisemitic.

-Illuminati/Secret Society of Elites conspiracy theories and plotlines are antisemitic

-“Outsiders who kidnap children for blood rituals” is antisemitic

-Jews who talk about the antisemitism in your favourite media aren’t “party poopers”. Media antisemitism has real world consequences.

-Don’t expect every Jew in fandom to be your educator. Some of us are happy to educate you, but others just want to enjoy fandom and not have to educate goyim on the fact that antisemitism is real.

you've seen the jokes. india is "dirty", indians are "everywhere", why don't they fix their own country. ok. let me tell you why, and what's happening right now while nobody's watching.

first, the history you skipped: britain ruled india for two centuries and drained it. economist utsa patnaik's research estimates around $45 trillion in today's money was taken. the india that got independence in 1947 was one of the poorest countries on earth. every "why is india like this" question starts there. you don't get to profit off a robbery and then mock the crime scene.

now, what's happening RIGHT NOW:

in may the question paper for NEET leaked. that's the national medical entrance exam. over 2.2 million students took it. cancelled. years of studying, families' savings poured into coaching, gone overnight because someone sold the paper. students died by suicide after. these were kids who wanted to be doctors.

and out of that came a protest movement. a gen z group called the cockroach janta party, started by a 30 year old named abhijeet dipke, got 22 million instagram followers within DAYS. they've been doing a sit-in at jantar mantar in delhi demanding education minister dharmendra pradhan resign.

and then there's sonam wangchuk. if you've watched 3 idiots, he's the real engineer the character was based on. built solar schools in ladakh. invented ice stupas so himalayan villages have water. spent his whole life on education. he's 59 and he's been on hunger strike for 17+ days now. reporters went to see him this week and he was too weak to talk. and the troll armies are calling him "anti national" and "foreign funded". a man starving himself for other people's children. that's the thing here, anyone who asks a question is suddenly a traitor.

it's not one incident, it's everywhere you look:

• infrastructure worth thousands of crores failing within months of the ribbon cutting. tunnels collapsing in regions where heavy rain is a guarantee, not a surprise.

• youth unemployment near 10% for ages 15 to 29, 13.6% in cities. in a country of 1.42 billion where more than half the population is young.

• only about the top 3% of indians earn above 10 lakh a year. meanwhile billionaire wealth keeps ballooning and the headlines celebrate it.

• manipur burned for over two years. an ethnic conflict, tens of thousands displaced, and the prime minister barely said the word manipur while it happened.

• journalists raided. critics' houses bulldozed. activists sitting in jail for years without trial under laws like UAPA. our press freedom ranking has cratered.

• even the petrol is a fight now, ethanol blending pushed through while drivers complain about their engines and get no straight answers.

and through all of it, the PM, who came to power on religious polarisation (americans, sound familiar?), travels abroad for photo ops and has not held one single open press conference in over a decade. not one.

what i'm asking:

if you're not indian: share this. our media mostly won't cover any of it because the big outlets are owned by the same billionaires the government serves. the only reason wangchuk's fast is getting any coverage is people refusing to look away.

if you ARE indian: speak up even if you're comfortable. especially if you're comfortable. join the protests. add to this, correct me, translate it. staying quiet is a choice when nothing in this post touches your life.

india is not "dirty". india was robbed, and it's being robbed again, from the inside this time. but it's also the country where a 59 year old will starve for strangers' kids and 22 million young people will rally behind a party literally named after cockroaches, because cockroaches survive everything.

we can still save her. but only loudly.