Fluffy Ball of Doom

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Confirmation bias

"im doing a paper on antisemitism and it so difficult to find sources that aren't pro-isreal. They're all going on about how saying that Israel shouldn't exist is antisemitic. no how is thinking something should not exist if genocide is a part of its creation antisemitic? The Israeli state itself is antisemitic and has continuously failed to support its population of Holocaust victims.

any help on finding decent sources would be much appreciated."

When all of your references are telling you that your starting external point of reference is Antisemitic, that is because it is... You can't unpack your biases and unlearn them by searching for references that confirm your biases. Learn that your assumptions are likely bigoted and you need to learn what you don't know instead of seeking validation of what you believe.

To specifically address "saying that Israel shouldn't exist is Antisemitic", Israel DOES exist and more than 40% of all Jews live there, and no matter your opinion of its founding or the conduct of its government.... unless you intend to conquer Israel by force, and believe me it's been tried, it will not cease to exist by political pressure. So the expression that Israel shouldn't exist is tacit war mongering. There is more to be said on the topic, but that will come later.

More below the cut, very long

Over the years Hamas have been offered permanent peace options by Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and rejected them all because it means disarmament and ceding power in Gaza to the Palestinian National Authority.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-islamic-jihad-reject-giving-up-power-return-permanent-ceasefire-egyptian-2023-12-25/

After October 7 (when Hamas broke a permanent ceasefire during peace talks, to kill more Jews than ever in a single day since the Shoah) Israel won't make a permanent ceasefire with an armed Hamas. They certainly won't make a permanent ceasefire while hostages remain in the hands of Hamas.

Then you have the Palestinian Liberation Organisation who want territorial reintegration and political normalisation for a lot of reasons, but a big one is to and uphold the territorial integrity of the Palestinian National Authority so they are returned to a strong position to negotiate new expansions to the Oslo Accords. We could have had Oslo stage 3 in 2015, and stage 4 next year.... But, Hamas.

Not to mention the PLO and the PA at least take their duty of care to the Palestinians under their administration seriously and aren't launching enormous batteries of unguided rockets during supposed peace times that often (between 10% and 20% fall short landing inside residential Gaza.

The Uninformed Imperialist Saviourism of the Western Left

In typical fashion Westerners have shown up late to a conflict that doesn't involve them, unprepared, and full of zeal. The only thing they are ready for is a fight, and fighting your neighbours thousands of miles away is not going to bring peace.... And is certainly not going to help anyone.

You're here for misery porn, tragedy porn, and to compete for the spotlight by saying increasingly outrageous things. To have the most heartbreaking news even if you have to make it up....

And you, Western Left, allow this myth making and escalation because you read the truth of things with your emotions... You don't fact check what "feels true".

You saw someone post a screenshot of the headline of a news article, with no link to the source material and they even cropped the publication header, taking/inferring credit on behalf of American protestors for the results of talks between Israel, Hamas, Qatar and Egypt, which were partly facilitated by France... Where Biden as the American head of state urged a swift bilateral agreement on the ceasefire deal.

In essence urging Qatar and Iran to strongly suggest Hamas leaders put pen to paper as Israeli representatives have already agreed to do.

Biden expected a ceasefire by Monday precisely because Israel has already agreed to honour it. It certainly isn't the Western Protesters that made all these middle east players come together for talks.

Importantly your solidarity with Palestinians comes across as insincere, because you haven't given a shit at any time Palestinians really needed you before, and you abandoned the people you were marching for in Iran as soon as a shiny new cause came along.

You say things like this...

When the Leader of Hamas has a Wikipedia page and lives in a luxury Qatari apartment.

If you don't even know who the leader of Hamas is, how are any of you doing Palestinian activism in Gaza?

from @the-library-alcove) Realization I just had from this last interaction there.

So there's a pattern on the Right where they will attempt to target and delegitimize a perceived leader for left-wing, progressive, or scientific movements. You see this in attacks on Al Gore or AOC for environmentalism, or Bernie Sanders for socialism, or George Soros for any number of progressive movements, or, to go to an extreme but illustrative example, attacking Darwin as if that'll somehow disprove the theory of evolution. (And conversely, how Trump's legal troubles are seen as attacks on the MAGA movement)

Because that's how right-wing authoritarians work--the Leader not only is the emblem of the movement, they tell you what to think. And thus right-wing authoritarians cannot comprehend grassroots movements or scientific theories that are accepted on their own merits--to their minds, there must be a leader.

So why do I bring that up?

Because the belief shown by @r0semultiverse is the mirror opposite.

"Hamas is clearly a grassroots resistance movement growing out of popular sentiment, and doesn't have any leaders or formal command structure!"

They're projecting their own ideological framework onto another organization and assuming that it functions identically to their own.

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Despite people literally lying... Horrible things have genuinely happened in this war, many children have died, it won't stop just because of outrage fuel, this is unfortunately a reality of urban warfare.... There are only two conditions that Israel cannot compromise on. For the war to end Hamas needs to return the hostages (and if they are dead their bodies) and disarm. Everything else can be negotiated.

To support Palestinians and Israelis who have lost loved ones to conflict and are seeking to build peace out of pain, please consider The Parents Circle.

Where were you when the Palestinians of Syria needed you?

Unfortunately this isn't the first time this kind of total devastation has happened... However you didn't seem bothered about Palestinians back then, the old "when it's not (((The Jews))) there is no news".

In Syria the Palestinian majority city of Yarmouk, once considered The Capital of the Palestinian Diaspora had a population of 1.2million Palestinian residents though only about 137,000 were registered with UNWRA in the city at the start of the Syrian Civil War.

Daesh and the forces of Bashar al-Assad levelled the city, it was called "The Worst Place In The World" at the height of the Syrian civil war. There was nobody donning keffiyeh in Parliament or marching in their thousands for the Palestinians of Yarmouk. I am asking.... Where were you when Yarmouk was destroyed, and its people forced to flee or die?

I have had to report pictures here on Tumblr of Yarmouk Palestinian children who I remember from the 2010's who were murdered by the Assad regime's Sarrin Gas Attacks being passed off as casualties of the current Israel-Hamas war. Having to dig through old articles to find a source... Because of "activists" with no respect for the dignity of Palestinian children when they don't suitably serve the current narrative.

Where was your outrage then, because I don't remember seeing/hearing any of you... And I've been at the work of advocating for Palestinian Liberation and Statehood for over 10 years. I wonder how many of you have even met a Palestinian.

You Want To Help Palestinians As A Westerner? A step by step guide.

Identify the most immediate and actionable need. (At the time of writing in Gaza this is food and water)

Identify how that need can best be remedied and by whom.

Take action to fund non-state entities and contact state entities based on that information (call/email your representative and tell them that you want food and water sent to Gaza, donate to relevant charities...

As the situation evolves.... repeat. If you're competing to be the most correct, or have the most radical opinion instead of competing to provide the most food, the most temporary shelters, the most quality building materials, the most medical supplies, etc.... you're not helping anyone, this is true of every humanitarian cause.

ilya is so fucking worried about him, because he still doesn't quite believe that depression can get anyone. in his mind, he's lazy and lacks self control and deserves the ugly, awful feelings that pin him to the mattress every other month. but shane is discipline personified, so structured and controlled that the fact he hasn't gotten out of bed for three days is enough to have ilya calling his parents and the team doctor and rose.

and then he crawls into bed with him at the end of the fourth day and kisses his shoulder and says please, sweetheart, why are you crying, what's wrong? what can I do? and for a second he thinks maybe, because shane rolls over to face him, cheeks all splotchy and eyes swollen and he looks so fucking sad, but at least he's looking at him.

but then shane says "I think you've made a really huge mistake," and Ilya's stomach drops through the fucking floor, because-- what? what mistake, what is he talking about?

shanes face crumples and he's sobbing again, words spilling out about how I've ruined your life, Ilya, you can never go home, you're tied to me now and I'm clearly fucking cursed or something, your career, everything, and soon you're gonna realise that and I don't know if I can take it, I've lost so much already, Ilya, they just threw me away. they were so happy that I was leaving. I built that fucking team.

and ilya doesn't interrupt, because he's never seen shane like this, and clearly he needs to get it off his chest. but he does pull him as close as possible and squeeze him and kiss his head and say it's okay, sweetheart, you could never ruin me, they did not deserve you, I love you, I love you, it'll be okay, you can cry, sweetheart, it's so much and you are so strong until his breaths even out and the sobbing subsides

A baby is never doing something to upset you. They don't act up to piss you off. They act in the only way they know how, and yes, sometimes the behaviour they're drawn to isn't great! That's why you guide them and comfort.

Happy birthday to Mexican-American wrestler Saúl Armendáriz!

Born on 20 May in 1970, Saúl was one of the first openly gay luchadors (wrestlers) in Mexico. Saúl’s wrestling identity was Cassandro - an exótico - a luchador in drag, as evidenced by these amazing photos!

And that this is actually a really fun, low cost way to not only access news and larger cultural magazines, but also to get free patterns for many different crafts that you can screenshot if need be and that lower the financial barriers to entry for trying new things

From my experience working in both academic and public libraries, many libraries are use it or lose it funding-- I have to say this because a lot of patrons feel guilty for how much they use the library and how often they're using it funny enough, but the worst thing you can do for libraries is not try out new features and not use what's already given to you as much as possible.