lydia's spiritual ramblings

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Wet'suwet'en is just 3K away from their goal and they've had their link up since February please consider helping them cross the finish line this Indigenous Peoples Day.

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Hey yes hi, confronting antisemitism within Christianity is a deep passion of mine. Good on you for beginning the long work of uprooting supersessionist beliefs within yourself!

In short, alternatives to supersessionist views of Christianity and Judaism is to hold that

Jesus didn't replace the torah, and Christianity didn't "replace" Judaism -- Jesus cherished the torah and other Jewish writings as his own, letting them nourish and fuel his own ministry; and Christianity and Judaism are related but distinct religions that both faithfully relate to God; and

God's covenant with Christians doesn't replace God's covenant with the Jewish people -- both covenants are particular to particular communities, and can exist at the same time.

The rest of this post offers resources for learning and understanding these things.

My favorite resources on antisemitism and supersessionism within Christianity come from Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish professor who has dedicated much of her career to Christian-Jewish relationships. The core of what she hopes to teach Christians is this:

"Christian teaching need not malign Jewish tradition in order to make Jesus look good. I’m a Jew. I don’t worship Jesus as lord and savior, but I have spent my life studying him and being inspired by him and learning from him. He’s a splendid teacher! If I can see how profound and provocative he is without having to malign Judaism, surely Christians can do the same.”

Stuff from Levine:

My Amy-Jill Levine tag over on my other blog has some great quotations from her

This post full of resources for combatting antisemitism during Holy Week includes some from Levine that I highly recommend!

If you're able to read academic texts, her book The Bible with and without Jesus is also really cool -- but not the easiest read. Stick to lectures you can find for her online if you prefer stuff made to be easy for anyone to understand.

Other resources:

This article (link leads to google drive) about antisemitism in the Christian pulpit -- goes through the basics of how much supersessionist stuff gets preached even in "progressive" churches without people even noticing!

my antisemitism tag as a whole -- there's tons of good stuff in there, including commentary on the Pharisees as Pretty Cool, Actually, and Jesus's relationship to them

As you study, let me know if you have any further specific questions!

like i people don't INTEND to commodify or sensationalize us, but every time i see people hyping up cryptids i always get the unpleasant reminder that people only care abt my state for ~mothman~ or to conveniently stereotype in debates abt gun control. please please if you have spent any time learning abt cryptids, also learn abt wv coal miners, who work a dying industry because it's the only job a cycle of Incredible poverty makes accessible to them, have had absolutely no protections against COVID enforced, despite not only working in incredibly cramped, dangerous positions, but Already being at high risk for respiratory diseases like black lung. learn abt the governor who was reelected in the midst of all the other major politics last year, the only millionaire in west virginia, who at one point owed 7 billion dollars in fines for mine safety violations that he still hasn't paid and whose family STILL owns most mines in the state.

Holler Health Justice, a queer BIPOC-led nonprofit that provides access to abortion, free EC, and other mutual aid across Appalachia

Appalachian Mountain Advocates, which works across Appalachia to shift towards clean energy and end fossil fuels and fracking

Mountain Justice, which works in West Virginia to fight environmental damage, in particular mountain top removal

WV Free, a group that advocates reproductive rights in west virginia

Fairness WV, a group that advocates lgbt+ rights in west virginia

Foxfire  - in 1966, a bunch of high school kids in Southern Appalachia (Georgia) created a magazine featuring interviews from their family and community members about Appalachian culture and history. Now, not only has the magazine creation been passed down from generation to generation of high school students, but there’s an entire center and foundation for Foxfire.

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia - don’t read Hillbilly Elegy; read this book instead. It genuinely changed my life and my understanding of this nation. This is a “why didn’t they teach us THIS in school” book filled with important knowledge, defense of minority groups in Appalachia, dispelling of myths... seriously it’s such a good book.

How Half of America Lost Its F***ing Mind - this article is less Appalachia-centric, but it offers a pretty balanced look at why rural counties glowed red in 2016 and 2020 (note: this article was written back in early 2016, when liberals never fully believed Trump would get any votes, but the also liberal author of the article knew more than he thought he did). Again, one of the few articles on the Internet that doesn’t use “uneducated” as an insult.

Dyslexia Friendly Ao3 Skin (or at least an attempt at)

I've been slowly working at a dyslexia friendly skin following the design suggestions I've found in the British Dyslexia Association Style Guide.

You can find it here with all the instructions to install it

It is still a work in progress and I'm begging for feedback so that I can make it better for everyone.

To Do List:

A dark mode is on the way. I'll post it on the link I've just posted, so if you find this post in a few months you'll be able to find it.

As soon as I can I aim to make the code more ordered, with lots of comments and a guide to change stuff for people who know nothing about css, so you can personalize it for your needs.

More color combinations.

AND DARK MODE IS HERE

I’m a transgender butch lesbian and communist organizer who’s been unemployed for almost three months straight now, and unfortunately I’m being hit with a lot of costs on a pretty constant basis. Even though I feel hopeful about my chances of getting another job right now, I’m still consistently worried about medication (that’s what I get for being on so many I guess) or food.

If folks are feeling generous today and want to make this TDOV a little easier for a struggling tran, I would deeply appreciate spreading this around or shooting me a couple dollars.

Venmo: @ riotdyke

Cashapp: $riotdyke

DM for PayPal 💕

1. after losing the war in 1994, the az government spent the next nearly 30 years on a) dehumanizing armenians, b) blaming armenians and losing the war for the terrible socioeconomic state of the people in this oil-rich country while president and his family steal all of the money their oil produces, c) pushing armenophobic propaganda on the population since kindergarten age, d) oppressing and humiliating the other ethnic minorities living on its territories, e) regularly violating the ceasefire of 1994 whenever the internal situation get tense and the ppl get angry, f) selectively sending the youths of said ethnic minorities to the bloodiest parts of the frontline whenever said ceasefire violations happen, g) suppressing free speech, arresting journalists, harassing and threatening those who dare to voice their discontent, etc.

2. in early 1920s, josef stalin, in order to appease the new turkish “republic” and its leader ataturk, with the hopes of using turkey as the base for spreading the communist revolution further into asia, passed artsakh (also known as nagorno karabagh) with its 95% ethnic armenian population onto the new created turkic azerbaijan republic (a country that did not exist before 1918, that’s what newly created means), despite the opposition from the people of the region in question and the republic of armenia.

3. during the 70 or so years that artsakh was part of the azerbaijan republic as an autonomous region, the gov of azerbaijan did everything they could to a) suppress the development of the region, b) change the demographic of the region by moving turkic population to artsakh

4. in 1980s, the people of artsakh, utilizing their rights stipulated in the soviet constitution, petitioned both moscow and baku to be allowed to reunite with armenia. as a response to this, the azerbaijan government started large-scale repressions against the organizers and activists of the reunification movement. arrests on made up charges, threats and violence followed (more info on all that in the link provided below)

5. the people of artsakh then held a referendum as was their right under soviet constitution, and more than 90% of it’s population voted in favor of seceding from the azerbaijan republic. the response to this were the anti-armenian pogroms in baku and sumgait ( https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-18-mn-305-story.html)

6. all this grew into the first artsakh war, which azerbaijan lost, as mentioned in point 1.

to sum it up: artsakh was never a part of the independent azerbaijan republic, during it’s brief 70-year forced az control its indigenous armenian people were oppressed via various government policies, the people of artsakh deserve to live a free and happy life in their homeland, free of threats and fear of annihilation that is sure to happen if azerbaijan takes control of the region

to them, it’s just a territory and they want that territory without the people.

for further reading, check out this comprehensive timeline of the artsakh history up to 2017( when it was written)

https://www.evnreport.com/spotlight-karabakh/spotlight-karabakh

then, this: on what actually happens to armenian lands and cultural heritage when it’s in azerbaijani hands

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-11-07/armenian-monuments-azerbaijan

while you are at it, read up on the armenian genocide and keep in mind that turkey, specifically for this war, moved syrian jihadists to azerbaijan to fight against armenia and artsakh. read up on the kind of internationally banned ammunition azerbaijan has been using against the civilians in artsakh capital, and then maybe make your judgement.

cardi b apparently made a post about it, talking about how there’s a genocide going on in armenia, and azeris started harassing her so she sort of backtracked and said something like “i didn’t know there was two sides to this” and like it’s not the only person they’ve done this to!

this video on twitter actually explains their tactics (the girl in the video is basically translating azeri post) how they target people who speak out in support of armenia and make them rescind their support.

so yeah. it’s important for us to fight against the misinformation. and i think i have no respect for any armenian person who chooses to not engage because the internet is our battlefield. this is where we fight because it’s the least we can do. (note i said armenian person, because i don’t think its fair to ask this of people who don’t have a personal stake in this war).

when we say we are being threatened by genocide, we are not exaggerating