lilyliveredlittlerichboy:

lilyliveredlittlerichboy:

me a few years ago: its so weird how right wingers always wanna blame the “elite” given that alot of them are in the global 1% of wealth and therefore almost by definition the same “elite” they claim to hate. weird right? lol right wing logic makes no sense

me now: oh my god they mean Jewish people. its always been Jewish people. and the insistence of online leftists to use words like “elite” and “cabal” (to refer to a handful of ultra rich people who dictate a lot of how our lives are run) kinda makes them sound like antisemites too. maybe this whole idea that the world is run by a select few is a gross oversimplification which only serves to reinforce antisemitic stereotypes… oh no. maybe i have a lot of shit to unlearn. maybe i need to start vocally defending Jewish ppl. also local community building is the only way out of this

This post has been making the rounds on jumblr and I’ve had a few different reactions so I just wanna weigh into some things here.

First up:

Jews I love you and I’m so glad that this little thoughtramble I wrote a month ago resonated with so many of you. I hope it helps with educating some people on just how widespread and insidious antisemitism is.

Secondly: I’m a gentile so I’m by no means an authority on these things. But a couple fellow gentiles in the notes are saying stuff along the lines of, “but can’t we criticise billionnaires?”

To which I say, watch where you step, cus you’re on thin ice. I’ve learned a litte the past few years and here’s my conclusions:

• Of course a lot of stuff a lot of billionnaires do is reprehensible. On the left we should absolutely be criticising them! The best way to do this while avoiding antisemitism is to be specific about who you’re criticising, and what for.
• E.g. “The people running Exxon, Shell and BP have been sweeping climate change under the rug for decades while actively contributing it, they think their profits are more important than sustaining life on earth and that’s abhorrent. We need better laws and processes to stop them from poisoning the planet.”
• E.g. “Elon Musk is a ridiculous manchild who’s ruining Twitter and endangering people with his self driving cars and stupid ideas. He’s an entitled dickhead and his wealth is mostly derived from colonial exploitation that his parents did. He does not pay enough taxes on what he earns. We need better inheritance laws and to close tax loopholes that allow him and people like him to hoard wealth.”
• E.g. “Jeff Bezos exploits his workers and has an unfair monopoly over online shopping and other convenience services. He needs to pay his taxes and pay his workers more and we need better monopoly laws to stop businesses from being able to control the market like this.”

Also, please consider your motives:

• Are you trying to make a positive difference for, e.g. Amazon workers? Go ahead, raise awareness of their plight and push for unionisation.
• Are you just trying to find a group that is acceptable to hate? Stop right there and reconsider. No matter how privileged or powerful that supposed group, you’re wayyyyyy too close to bigoted talking points.
• Are you just making sweeping statements in order to rile up emotions and get people on your side? That’s fascist tactics. Please don’t.

And especially,

• If you find yourself wanting to say, “I’m not antisemitic, but–” Please just don’t say whatever you were going to say. If you have to make that qualification, there is an extremely high probability that what you’re about to say is, in fact, very antisemitic. Compare to “I’m not racist but-” or “I’m not transphobic but-” followed by the most vile bigotry you’ve ever heard. Don’t be that person.

Lastly I want to highlight these as well:

Absolutely correct. The amount of times I’ve come across online bigots who are like “George Soros is funding BLM!” or “LGBTs are elites trying to plunge this country into immorality!” This is all antisemitism. In general just be wary of anyone wanting to blame “elites” or “rich people” (yeah even that one cus historically Jews are stereotyped to have money!!! and also not all rich ppl are inherently evil!!!!) or “shadow government” or “globalists” or “lizard people” or really, literally anything that seems to imply that a small, select group of people is secretly running the world: That’s antisemitism baby. It’s all antisemitism. It’s disgustingly common.

By all means, criticise billionnaires. But be specific. It’s one of the best ways to make sure it’s not veering into antisemitism. We know who these billionnaires are, for the most part; we know their names and we know their crimes. Talk about them specifically.

It doesn’t help if you just swap out “elites” with “billionnaires” or “the 1%” if the rest of your rhetoric remains the same. It sounds exactly the same to antisemites, and they will feel empowered. In truth, it is much more complicated than “billionnaires are running the world and fucking us all over”; some billionnaires are using their fortune for good, and they don’t directly cause our problems - they may exploit a system that was set up long before they were born, sure, but your problems are also caused by Sue from accounting and your neighbour ratting you out to the authorities and that kid across the road yelling slurs at you. Your problems exist because society lets them exist, and that includes everyone. The system makes it hard to fight this, and sure, most billionnaires don’t help the issue. But again if you’re just looking for someone to hate on, it’s very likely you’re actually reinforcing oppression rather than “punching up”.

Sweeping statements are dangerous and a lot of your talking points have been used to justify genocide in the past. Just cus the world’s been a lil less overt about its antisemitism post-Holocaust, does not mean antisemitism has disappeared, far from it. And it’s being revived at an alarming rate just now so please, Gentiles, pay attention to what the dogwhistles look like and don’t reinforce harmful stereotypes.

Thank you.

PS: A few blogs that have helped me unlearn and unpack antisemitism are @spacelazarwolf, @hadeantaiga and @gehe-lihiyot-androgynos-varda with a special shout out to @softness-and-shattering for being very patient with me rambling about jewish/antisemitism related stuff in dms. Youre all soooo great n I appreciate you soooo much <3

There’s also lots of Jewish ppl in the notes of this post, I’m sure a lot of them have lovely blogs to follow.

There’s some reading recs in the notes as well:

• Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel,
• People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn,
• The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees

I haven’t read these books myself, I’ve read a preview of Jews Don’t Count and it’s on my list of books to order when I have more money, but basically, go look at what actual Jewish folks have written on the subject, I’m just a random Gentile who doesn’t like bigotry so don’t take it just from me.

writeouswriter:

atwaterism:

crocheting or knitting with a friend is literally parallel play because you can’t talk when you’re counting for two hours straight and i think that’s why autistics love fibre arts

nnineteen84:

© ckiw_

neuroticboyfriend:

i love you disposable and reusable straws. i love you sippy cups. i love you cups and containers with handles. i love you tiny utensils and toothbrushes. i love you ergonomic art supplies. i love you lap desks. i love you wireless electronics. i love you cushioned surfaces. i love you automatic and press to open doors. i love you wide seats and high weight limits. i love you adjustable clothes, furniture, mobility aids, etc etc. i love you accessibility and comfort.

jabberwockypie:

amtrak-official:

weirdness-is-good:

This is just more proof of the far better safety record of Trains

People die when they are killed.

crazycatsiren:

parasprite:

question for cane users

do you guys have any tips on carrying things when you need a cane? cause its pretty much impossible for me to carry both a drink and a hot dog into my cinema screening and im constantly asking my friends to hold stuff for me. if i’m alone i’m dropping shit everywhere. i’m wondering if i maybe need a big shoulder bag to put things in or if i maybe need to upgrade to a rollator with a wee basket on it… i’m trying to come up with ideas

so how do you deal with this? let me know lol

I apologize if this is not an answer you’re looking for, but I thought I’d share my personal experience: having been a cane user for almost 2 years now, I’ve come to accept that it’s simply a reality now for me to always be down a hand when I need to walk with a cane out and about.

I do have a backpack that goes with me everywhere. It fits all my stuff (being autistic, I have quite a few necessities every time I leave my house). But when it comes to having to carry things, what I can’t carry in one hand, goes to my husband or anyone else I’m with at the time. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. And the people who care about you, will want to help. My husband and friends are all quite used to it actually.

eosofspades:

i didn’t have “i’m broken” teenage asexual angst i had “i’m literally being the only reasonable one about this concept and the rest of you are behaving like fucking freaks” perception issues