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Cake day: August 17th, 2024

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  • wpb@lemmy.worldtoPolitical Memes@lemmy.worldNot an excuse
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    2 days ago

    Code Pink, Jewish voice for peace, Norman Finkelstein, Gabor Maté, Ilan Pappé, Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler. These are some of the Jewish folks opposing settler colonial Zionism. There is a strong Jewish tradition of being on the right side of history. Sure, Judaism is not a monolith, and sure, maybe (and this is a really big fat maybe, and I’d love to see actual data either supporting or refuting this, which is conspicuously absent from this discussion) the majority of Jews support Israel’s actions, but there is a sizable portion of Jews worldwide that oppose settler colonialism, and and even larger portion that opposes the ongoing genocide.


  • I had a hard enough time accepting it* for myself, and I can’t expect a stranger on the internet to do so quicker than I did. I hope that some day you can reflect back on this conversation and realize you’re being a bit of a dick about this.

    [*]“It” meaning the inability to shape my social life the way “normal” people do it, and simultaneously live a happy and healthy life, and that this is not something that can be medicated or exercised away








  • As a cis man who is only tangentially acquainted with transgender issues, and as a person who isn’t particularly eloquent, I cannot do this topic justice myself. You’ll have to trust me when I say that the image of “just any bloke can call himself a woman and go into the bathroom and assault women” is language that is deeply colored by propaganda, and has no basis in reality. When you indulge in language and ideas like that, you are doing harm. Similarly, the “men doing women’s sports” idea is harmful to both cis and trans women, and has, again 0 basis in reality.

    If you are truly interested, and not some right wing troll who’s “just asking questions” (we get a lot of those on .world, it’s like the instance attracts them), please, please give these YouTube videos a watch:

    https://youtu.be/EmT0i0xG6zg https://youtu.be/qfUsuQ8rfu4

    The shorter one is from a cis man, but it seems to me that he explains the idea very well, at least behind the sports thing. And I promise that the longer one is worth it. It will help you understand a deeply marginalized segment of the population much better, and you will be a better person for it. I think that’s worth 2 hours.


  • The art does not reflect the beliefs of the author.

    It really does though. The moral universe of Harry Potter says a lot about J K Rowling as a person, and there are many parallels with her own life. Morality in the Harry Potter universe is not inherent to an action, but to an actor. Is bullying bad? Depends on who does it. If a bad guy does it (for example the Dursleys), then it’s bad. If a good guy does it (Hagrid), then it’s good! There’s a parallel with the abolition of slavery about half way through the series, and it’s only one character doing it, and they’re the butt of the joke. And of course there’s Cho Chang and Blackie Shackleslave or whatever she called the one black character. The work speaks volumes about her, and vice versa. And you’re depriving yourself of this deeper level of analysis. You’re missing out.

    There’s a YouTuber called Shaun who’s done a thorough analysis of her work and its parallels with her dealings with nazis and fellow transphobes. It’s worth a watch.


  • You’re probably joking, but know that there’s a subset of us that gets pathologically anxious and confused by small talk. Autistic people for example. Different folks, different strokes. Not everyone deals well with talking about the weather, and that’s ok. There’s billions who do deal well with it, and that’s ok too! Be a mensch and talk to them instead.


  • It is important to separate art and artist.

    I completely disagree, both on a subjective selfish aesthetic level, and on a moral level.

    On the aesthetic side, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice by making this separation. You’re missing out on this whole other dimension a piece of art has to offer you; namely the context that the author operates in. Star Wars gains this whole other rich level of interpretation if you consider the fact that George Lucas lived through the invasion of Vietnam and other forms of US imperialism and completely opposes it, for example. You’re missing out by ignoring the author.

    On the moral side, the argument is more obvious, I think. By ignoring the author you’re denying yourself the opportunity to spend your money and support folks in a way that aligns with your own morals. In my case, I consider trans people people, and think they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Since I know J K Rowling completely disagrees, I know that if I spend money on her, I will be putting money in the pocket of someone, and platforming them, who actively works against my morals. And I’m thankful for being able to know that spending money on her goes counter to my own morality.