For those of you who were around for it - this is how it felt to be a leftist or even just a sane person during 9/11, right? Just watching everyone around you and in the media become consumed with psychotic bloodlust?
This is exactly how I've been describing this moment. I haven't been so lost in the world since that time. It feels like you can't even begin to dig through the hate and propaganda. Everyone around you is acting morally superior for wanting blood. People you thought were a little more level headed are just consumed.
It's deeply upsetting to be watching this play out again. It feels like living inside a trainwreck and you don't know how to help anything because it's already happening with so much momentum.
It also leaves you feeling deeply vulnerable. Like any day the world could pick you as a target, and everyone around you would cheer on as the world devoured you.
I've thought so much on post 9/11, especially the run up to the Iraq War. I hoped I'd never feel this way again, but here we are.
Take care of yourselves. Dunno what else to say.
I have seen more pro-Palestinian and anti-apartheid stuff than I thought I would. Obviously not from the usual shitheads like at the WSJ or NYT but just in online comments around spaces. Obviously the western news narrative is pro-apartheid so that part is very usual. The side commentary is not.
It was way worse than this. Like, many times worse. All the bloodlust but also blended with performative patriotism.
Nah shit was waaaaaaaaaaaay fucking worse with Iraq and Afghanistan openly calling people removed and open islamophobia and racism against arabs was perfectly acceptable, even commonplace in average conversation with basically any american. It was all over tv, it was everywhere. Things are definitely different now... Instead they're controlling people by tapping into performative morality and performative outrage as social signals people adhere to and all dance along like good little puppets.
what's shocking to me is how utterly bloodthirsty they are - basically advocating for the wholesale murder of all Gazan inhabitants. what the fuck? what happened?
was there some sort of manchurian candidate-style trigger phrase that turned all of these people into genocide lovers overnight?
they saw a pretty white girl get killed by the brown hordes, it shuts down all their higher brain functions and sets off the monkey signals that make them want to kill
Protecting white women from real or imagined violence by 
the other is and always has been a key element of white supremacism and often of fascism generally.
they saw a pretty white girl get killed by the brown hordes
Before 9/11, about 90% of Fox News' airtime was "missing wealthy young white woman" stories.
They did it after 9/11 too! I remember my shithead roommate always had it on and there was nonstop Natalie Holloway coverage for years.
Reminds me of when 9/11 happened and suddenly the hogs (and libs tbh) were all calling for saddams head and to "glass the place" like their trigger phrase went off.
bush had a 93% approval rating
Worth keeping in mind that;
1.) People who post online are already deeply weird freaks
2.) There are a lot of Zionists out there. Like not relative to the world population or anything, but Zionists have a very developed online propaganda system. Both individuals working alone or coordinating to push Zionist views, and official operations by the Israeli government and possibly allied governments. The use of sock-puppets has been documented in the past, and I'm sure they're making extensive use of bots these days to magnify and amplify their apparent numbers. It's a normal part of 21st century information warfare and you can see it at work by nationalists from most countries.
It’s because most Palestine residents are brown while more Israeli residents are white. Simple racism.
The dehumanization of Arabs generally and Palestinian's specifically has been ongoing for decades. A lot of westerners are very much primed for this.
I live in a reform Jewish hotspot. There is unironic usage of the term “kill em all” being bandied about 
Me and my sister are genuinely afraid to speak out about it because I seriously think I might get assaulted over it 
Discretion is often the better part of valor. It's not cowardice to avoid a fight you know you can't win. If you can identify other sympathetic people, though, it might be worth building ties with them with a view to making more open resistance tenable in the future. Some people will be emboldened just knowing they're not alone.
But that said, please do what you can to stay safe.
I’ve agitated to my close friends and about half of them are at least open to hearing my perspectives on it. Mainly the half that isn’t Jewish, to be honest. It’s always an uphill battle and I made to feel as if I am living in an entirely different world when I talk to my parents about this shit.
Someone in my class literally just approached me unprompted and said “Did you hear about the pro-Hamas protest on campus? Insane. I was at the counter-protest, were you there?” and I was just like 
Like yeah, a liberal arts college in the states clearly has—I don’t fucking know—a Wahhabist wing. Known factor. They used to show up every time there was an ISIS bombing to dance on rooftop—you know absurd that sounds, right? Are you fucking kidding me? You can’t be legitimately falling for this in its entirety 
I'm so deeply convinced that there's no hope whatsoever for the west until they experience deep and total humiliation and decades of poverty. Only then can they even start to grow a soul.
deep and total humiliation and decades of poverty
the ones who deserve poverty will remain in comfort and luxury and the ones already in poverty will die
it's nothing about individuals or "deserving" or anything moralistic. I mean that the west is fundamentally incapable of being progressive or class conscious or ending their imperialism until forced to and broken in mind and spirit. Like revolution is literally impossible until this pre-condition is met.
my partner who is in trade school right now was suprised to overhear a conversation where some guy was like "i used to support israel but.." and then had a bunch of good, pro-palestine takes. everyone there generally agreed with him. sure it's anecdotal but really makes me wonder how much of this is pure astroturfing and manufactured consent. also today my co-worker also felt me out a bit and then had good takes of his own about the situation.
Israel puts a huge effort into astroturfing, like really massive, and most major social media in the US either has former CIA/State Dept. goons in management or just directly work with the feds. I think internet takes on this are probably massively manipulated.
"The Palestinians are willing to kill civilians, so that gives us a right to kill them all."
Never will it be questioned whether this means the same thing about the Israelis. They fundamentally do not consider the Palestinian to be people. All the dead children in Gaza do not matter to them at all.
you see, when ukraine is full of nazis its OK because sometimes there are good nazis, but when you're pro-palestine you are a nazi which is always bad, because there's no such thing as a good nazi
I am very smart because I can hold these contradictions both in my brain and not have it melt into a puddle
yeah i dont know any poc personally supporting Israel and all the mayos ive explained things to, quickly give tentative support to Palestine. To be fair ive never had a productive conversation with a jewish person who wasnt already a communist, but maybe thats just not in my wheelhouse (i dont do well with people making purely emotional arguments, i just kinda shut down especially when people just start crying or spewing insults) , plus im trying to take a break from talking politics to white people but people keep reaching out to me to ask questions. its exhausting and feels pointless, but ive convinced/ further educated like 4 people this week.
To be fair ive never had a productive conversation with a jewish person who wasnt already a communist
I feel like I've met maybe one Jewish person IRL who wasn't pro Palestinian liberation. Even the Israeli dude I worked with wanted to vote out Netanyahu and work towards two states, which is admittedly liberal but like, a massive improvement over the status quo.
It's an uphill fight and a dangerous one, too.
I've rarely seen people around me this bloodthirsty before now, not since 9/11 anyway.
80% of Reddit is more or less a CIA controlled psyop now with mods going full mask off in support of fascism. Just got banned from r/news for telling off someone who was in support of Israel destroying Palestine because and I quote "whenever they're sent as refugees anywhere they destroy the country they got to so deserve what they get", anyway told them to enjoy shining their Hitler youth badge for their next rally.
-edit: oh and also someone just replied to my other comment on Israeli settler colonialism and it was legit just a complete 
"well actually sweety how dare you think Israel is filled with white settlers, it's a very diverse oppressive state conducting a genocide!". Really wish I could ask them what the fuck happened to all the Ethiopian Jewish women that immigrated in and got sterilized and how they feel about that.
told them to enjoy shining their Hitler youth badge for their next rally.
They're probably being applauded by the Canadian Parliament at this very moment.
I've gone full doomer on North America (minus Mexico) and Europe. The wave of Nazi apologia followed immediately by the wave of support for an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, is too much for me.
It angers me that when this is over, either way it ends, none of these assholes now demonizing us will ever even apologize for being on the wrong side of history, let alone be held accountable for it. Pointing out that they supported Israel or both-sidesed Palestinian liberation will have the same exact impact as pointing out Iraq War supporters has now, which is fucking nothing. They'll get to walk it off and move onto the next invented reality, and we'll get to see it happen all over again.
I think a lot of is rooted in American idea of colonialism, "Manifest Destiny", general Ann Rand style brain poisoning.
They see indigenous people as sub-human who aren't using the land they occupy properly. As such they believe its their right to take it from them cause they aren't "doing it right". Its our right to take from those we see as lesser. We have been doing in Africa and South America and much of Asia for decades. The American people see pretty much every non-western European nation as barbarians in the rhetorical sense. Uncultured savages who need to be either need to be broken or buried.
If some other people have what we want and they don't look some dude from the state of Maine we feel totally okay using every T-800 we have in our vast armory. Also no amount of capital vacuumed up for working people or the blood of the youth is too much to get it.
I also don't think people understand that Israel is client state, I also don't think most people don't understand what client state even is. Ukraine is my go-to example. Every single coin and bullet we have was sent to them no questions asked, and we will do the same thing to Israel. We will give them War Machine power-suits to destroy residential buildings and parks indiscriminately.
I really don't think people understand foreign policy at all. Nor understand that America is an empire and doing empire shit is bad. Pretty much every comfortable in the US is a warhawk the moment they understand its brown people or "The Reds".
This is one of those weeks when the internet is almost completely unusable.
I have a heavily curated internet experience in order to avoid being exposed to dogshit takes from Western liberals. Which means that large portions of the internet were already unusable for me. Tbh this is a great week to touch grass, if you can
I've mostly avoided mainstream news and social media since the attack started, and most of my social circle is other communists by this point, but even the stuff I've heard about secondhand has been horrifying. I don't envy anyone who's forced by social obligation to spend time listening to that shit.
and it's even worse when all my social media is filled with libs, cause i jettisoned all the conservatives a decade ago. ive already seen one dumbass post that being pro-Palestine is anti-semitic. literally suck on my fucking asshole, lib.
the past month has given me whiplash and I now exist in a permanent state of dizzy rage
this is why i don't go outside and i'm only engaging with the topic here and by watching hasan do coverage
All my lib friends and acquaintances are “standing with Israel” #Israelflagemoji
It’s gross. I have social groups (not friends even but other social settings) where my best bet is to hope the topic doesn’t come up or change the subject.
A local baker that I like posted the "I stand with Israel" screed and thats when I knew things were deeply fucked
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