Only time will alter your vision

Over The Waves by Setsuko Matsushima

Except my phone unexpectedly broke shortly thereafter, and I lost those pictures forever. It’s been like 15 years, and I still think of that little wall hanging quilt and feel a little sad that I’ll never see it again.

A few months ago, I was on a tram when I met an Afghan woman speaking Persian. Since Persian is my first language, I joined her conversation. She shared her hope that one day Afghan women will be able to protest against the Taliban, just as women in Iran have done.

Today, Afghan women are showing incredible courage by standing up against policies that try to control their bodies and their lives. These policies, introduced since 2021, have included restrictions such as revoking access to education and limiting women’s presence in public spaces.

Khamenei is dead, but the IRGC has been attacking Persian Gulf countries and Cyprus, and maybe more. What I have been feeling is that their ideology is obsessed with the wish for martyrdom — they love and are proud to be killed by the US and Israel. The IRGC themselves are enemies of “life.” That’s why they killed Iranian people in 2022 when people were in the streets saying “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

They're killing and want to be killed someday. They don’t listen to anyone, don’t care, and aren’t responsible toward people. They build a school on military sites and then shoot it themselves to play the “Israel killing children” card. Oh, those poor children — and those poor people who have to hear the sounds of strikes now and don’t have access to the internet because there is a chance the Islamic regime will put people in front of strikes and sell its propaganda to those white leftists who only learned about Palestinian concepts in the last six years.

But this is war, and Iranian people are going to be traumatized if, after the war, the IRGC still exists. I don’t understand the IRGC’s language. When they talk, it feels like it’s not even Arabic, Persian, Kurdish, or Turkish. It’s the language of ideology. They're alienated and want to kill everyone, as they support Hamas because of ideology — proud of it and wishing to be killed by the US and Israel — not for Gaza’s people to live.

What can you do? Just don’t share false narratives and propaganda in the first place. The IRGC isn’t protecting Iranian people (they can, but they don’t). Instead of blaming Iranian people who are happy or who "want war," listen to Iranian people's narratives about war and revolution. if you’re not historically context-sensitive and aware and truly concerned about imperialism, maybe you should have convinced your own people not to vote for Trump or other power instead of educating us about it:))).

Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real: Nature.com

They killed someone with the same name as me.

They killed someone in my favorite place, in the city where I lived.

They killed my friend’s father.

They killed my friend’s sister.

They killed a friend of a friend.

They killed a friend.

They killed brave people with dreams.

People who loved life.

I wish I could write a poem.

I wish I could write all their names.

I wish they could have their tea on the morning of freedom.

1. You probably dont suck at your craft as much as you think you do, I bet a lot of people are amazed at what you can make, and

For years after 9/11 we were constantly told “NEVER FORGET” and the idea was basically “keep feeling sad and afraid and especially ANGRY forever; don’t let time dull your emotional response like it’s naturally supposed to; continue to justify the injustices by feeling this way all the time.” And the 3000 deaths were constantly pointed to as this huge deal that justified any lengths to go to.

And then Covid hit. And there were several points during the height of the pandemic (because fun fact, according to the actual definitions of a pandemic, *it’s not technically over yet!* ) where we were having a 9/11’s worth of deaths every week or so. And suddenly 3000 deaths were not a big deal at all. Instead of being enough reason to go to war far away and strip us at home of many rights too, they weren’t even enough justification to make people wear a damn piece of fabric over their face.

3000 people died once and now the government can legally wiretap anyone without a warrant, and hold people at Gitmo under suspicion of terrorism (no need for due process)… 3000 people dying every week but we should all still be going out to brunch and concerts and who cares about the disabled and immunocompromised?

me: sweet hit me with the good stuff

media: so there's this marginalized underclass of people, right?

me: okay

media: and they're like, stigmatized for something that's mostly an aspect of how they are born, or where they're from, or they're badly misunderstood, right?

me: yup, got it, I'm with ya

media: so these people are rebelling against the current social order, because it's the instrument of their suffering

me: oh good great sure

media: but also they're violent and deranged and need to be stopped

me: ...what

media: yeah they're going too far, they're trying to overthrow the system and assassinate the nice cop trying to help them and also they burned down an orphanage

me: ...why? would they burn down an orphanage??

media: extremism is bad

me: still not seeing what this has to do with their fight though???

media: also now they've shot a dog. oops they shot another dog

me: what?! why? I though their motive was to overthrow oppression??

media: yes but their suffering has also made them evil

me: ...???

media: don't worry though, the good guys will defeat them and restore the status quo

me: the status quo that's been killing people?

media: well it turns out it was only killing the kinds of awful people who burn down orphanages and shoot dogs :)

me: oh. this is actually a pro-authoritarian story, isn't it?

Remember the sixpencee child slave thing? What happened there, exactly? Was the kid freed? No? They were just run off the website? OK so what good exactly did that do?

Remember the bone stealing witch? What exactly did that witchhunt accomplish? The person got arrested, oh that's great, the american justice system surely rectified the situation

And again, those are instances where the accusations were true and involved real substantive harm to another person. We used to joke on here how callout posts were shit like "receipts below: [several paragraphs of petty fandom drama] [three paragraphs of petty interpersonal drama involving cheating on partners or stealing food out of the fridge or something] [fabricated evidence that the person is responsible for the murder of JonBenét Ramsey]"

And that was back in the 2010s. The meta has changed. Callouts used to be a tool people used to point out actual harm a person had done, rarely, and more commonly were used as a means of bullying somebody over petty drama. Nowadays they're used to manufacture outrage and harassment against marginalized populations. They are a weapon bigots use to turn us against each other. A few manufactured accusations here, some out of context or clipped screenshots there, and people who should be standing in solidarity with each other against white supremacy, patriarchy, cisheteronormativity, are instead devouring each other.

It's sinister as shit, dude, and people will still share these accusations without a second thought. So, why? What is the point? What's the best case scenario here? Raising "awareness?" what the fuck is that supposed to accomplish? Will we get the oh-so-trustworthy authorities involved? Are we hoping for an arrest? A conviction? Throwing a queer or poc person in prison so they can be abused and assaulted and humiliated behind bars? Is that who we are?

Callouts and the like don't serve any real good in the world. At a macro scale they divide us when we should be standing together, and at a micro scale they result in deeply traumatic never-ending harassment and threats and doxxing and worse to a person who almost definitely does not deserve it. And again, for what? A sense of "justice?" this is not justice. This is retribution. It is punishment.

W. Somerset Maugham, Sheppey (1933)