virginiadear

[virginiadear]

some more outside drawings! I went to LA for a while

[virginiadear]

Using the bathroom in general is a human right and should be enshrined as such and I'm not joking. Too many groups of people are denied bathroom breaks or the use of bathrooms entirely--disabled people, blue-collar workers, children, homeless people, prisoners, students, the elderly. I'm surely missing other groups. Not using the bathroom when needed can cause serious, long-term damage, not to mention death. Free, clean, accessible bathrooms should be available everywhere. It's fucking cruel to deny someone the use of the bathroom, regardless of the reasoning. I'd rather every student in the world goof off and every homeless person make a mess and every worker "steal company time" than let one person suffer because they're denied the right to fucking pee in peace.

[virginiadear]

Something about the idea that voting for president only matters if you live in a swing state, and that all the people in blue states or red states can indulge themselves in principled nonparticipation because the outcomes are preordained, strikes me as akin to playing with fire.

Is it really coherent to say "both sides are awful, write in Mickey Mouse or burn your ballot or just stay home and get drunk, unless you live in Pennsylvania, in which case maybe consider taking one for the team and compromising yourself by voting for the lesser evil?" Is that really the message that will lead to a preferable outcome?

What it sounds like to me is a sign that 1) you take your local electorate for granted, and 2) you see avoiding the worst case scenario as somebody else's problem.

I remember when Florida was a swing state. I also remember when Pennsylvania wasn't.

[virginiadear]

[virginiadear]

Conversation between me, and another high educated Jewish women whose opinions I respect

Her: What's missing here are the facts. If we stuck to the facts there wouldn't be so much intensity surrounding this issue. Me: But you and I are both highly educated Jewish women, and we can't even agree on the facts regarding the history of Palestine as a place name, ethnic identifier, and nation. If we can't even agree on those facts, how on earth can facts help anyone move forward?

There's the question. Not just for Jews, but for everyone involved in, or concerned with this conflict. How do we move forward if multiple sides of the room dispute the veracity of such basic statements as:

-Jews are a globally oppressed minority ethnic group, the hatred of which is deeply embedded in Western thought and rhetoric.

-The Naqba was a period of ethnic cleansing in which the government and military of the new State of Israel expelled Palestinian Arabs from their homes and property; a dispossession and a series of events which continue to traumatize and negatively impact the lives and livelihoods of Palestinians.

-The Holocaust was a traumatic event in the history of the Jewish people, the legacy of which is embedded in the psyches, world views, and collective trauma of the Jewish people, and invariably impacts how this group views global issues.

-Palestinian Arabs had a full developed sense of identity and statehood before the British Empire fucked off, and made their discomfort with increasing Jewish emigration clear to the British before the outbreak of the Second World War.

-Jews had nowhere to go before, during, or really, after the Holocaust; and the governments of many Arab States ethnically cleaned their own ancient Jewish communities in retribution for the creation of the State of Israel.

-The State of Israel does not exist because the Holocaust happened, or as an "apology" for said event.

THIS POST COMPRISES A SERIES OF RHETORICAL QUESTIONS MEANT TO MAKE US APPRECIATE THE DEPTHS OF THE DISCURSIVE PROBLEMS HERE; NOT A POST FOR "DISCOURSE" AND HATEFUL, AGGRESSIVE SHIT.

If you feel you have to do that, copy & paste into your own separate post.

[virginiadear]

Into the woods, Doug Eng

[virginiadear]

I think the part that feels the worst about the outpouring of hatred in response to the Israel/Palestine conflict is that... like... my country is responsible for genocide! I do live on colonized, stolen land! My money does go towards the mass killing of innocent Arabs!

... my country of course being America. Like, even just counting deaths due to being directly shot by US soldiers and planes, over 450,000 civilians died since 9/11. My house is literally built on unceded tribal land, of which so many of the indigenous inhabitants have been killed in a genocide that their entire culture group would not be able to fill my local neighborhood if they were allowed to return.

I don't want to downplay the level of humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza right now, but I have received dozens of death threats for being Jewish, and 0 for being American. I'm beginning to think it has more to do with hating Jews, and a lot less to do with defending civilians.

#exactly this #added to the amt of nuance white goy americans like to give their own heritage #and then compared w the myopic disdain and blatant misinformation they peddle abt israelis #oh brother

[virginiadear]

Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus Pileatus

#for m

[virginiadear]

GREECE. Naxos. 2003 Carl De Keyzer 

[virginiadear]

I’m begging of you even if you disagree with Israel (rightly so), do not fall into the enemy of my enemy is my friend mentality. Do not forget the atrocities that the Islamic Republic has committed and is committing against its own people, including children. Do not forget Mahsa Amini and Nika Shahkarami and the millions killed by the Islamic Republic.

Sincerely, an Iranian.

[virginiadear]

moths (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

[virginiadear]

[virginiadear]

I need my fellow Americans to understand that it is disgustingly cruel, absurd, and privileged to be celebrating ANY sort of military conflicts or wars, especially in countries destabilized and exploited by the US.

War is not a fandom or sports game for us to spectate from the other side of the world in homes that have never been at risk of being bombed or invaded by soldiers. You should not be "picking sides" to cheer on or boo without ever being affected.

These are real people whose lives are being destroyed, whose homes are being reduced to rubble, who are losing their loved ones to horrific violence, whose lives will never be the same. Real people digging through rubble to find their children's bodies. Real people being torn apart by bullets. Real people being blown apart by bombs.

Do you understand that? Can you comprehend that? That while you sit safe in a country that hasn't been touched by a real war since before your parents were born, real people are losing their lives in conflicts that you're making fanart for and using to get clout on social media?

[virginiadear]

I actually want to break with the Jumblr consensus on the casualty count coming from the Gaza Health Ministry. I know it’s incredibly tempting to dismiss everything coming out of Gaza as Hamas propaganda, but that's, well. Lying.

Death tolls provided by the GHM are created by medical personnel, not politicians. Their statistics are generally considered reliable by the United Nations, the United States, international investigative journalists, and even by Israeli intelligence. If the numbers are being intentionally skewed, they’re not being skewed beyond the realm of accurate probability.

Fighting the numbers isn’t honest or just. 30,000 people have died in Gaza. I wouldn't try to deny 30,000 dead any more than I would try to deny 6,000,000 dead in the Holocaust or deny 1,200 dead on October 7th. Take heed that you do not become the enemy you hate.

There are reasonable critiques to have with the GHM reporting. The numbers are presented with virtually zero context. They don’t distinguish between military and civilian casualties. They don’t distinguish between casualties due to IDF action and deaths due to friendly fire. They don’t make judgment calls or determinations of who caused the deaths or how they happened. They just count bodies. They’ve counted 30,000 bodies. Don't try to erase their deaths.

[virginiadear]

[Image ID: The poem “One Source of Bad Information”, by Robert Bly.  There’s a boy in you about three years old who hasn’t learned a thing for thirty Thousand Years. Sometime it’s a girl.  The child had to make up its mind How to save you from death. He said things like:  “Stay home. Avoid elevators. Eat only elk.”  You live with this child, but you don’t know it.  You’re in the office, yes, but live with this boy  At night. He’s uninformed, but he does want To save your life. And he has. Because of this boy  You survived a lot. He’s got six big ideas.  Five don’t work. Right now he’s repeating them to you. 

/end id]

[virginiadear]

art by mareykrap for ARTMS — BIRTH (2024)

[virginiadear]

Various ferns. The fern paradise. 1878.

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