hey, if my ask is insensitive or simply too much work/you dont want to give your opinion/energy thats ok, and im sorry for bothering you if it is. ive seen many jewish people say "from the river to the sea" is a dogwhistle/generally antisemitic phrase to use, but you used it in your golem art's text part(incredibly moving text btw.) im asking you bc you mentioned youre jewish and i thought you might have insight or thoughts to give on why you use it/what you think about the first statement about the phrase?

hi, yes, i would be glad to talk about my perspective on this! first of all, i do want to say that i think a lot of palestinian bloggers have already talked about this and their voices will always be what you want to seek out first when educating yourself. however, i do know the crowd of people claiming that "from the river to the sea" is antisemitic/genocidal has been very loud so i understand why you would want to hear a jewish perspective on it too. second, in order to explain why i think "from the river to the sea" is not antisemitic will involve me comparing it to actual antisemitic, nazi slogans and dogwhistles and talking about what they mean. so just a heads up for that before it comes up.

the full phrase is "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free!" i think a lot of times in accusations of antisemitism people leave off the second half of the phrase in order to claim it is calling for something else to happen from river to sea (like the expulsion or execution of all jews.) but that's just like, not, ever, a thing? that is said? you can tell the pieces of the phrase go together because they rhyme and also are said together by palestinians and allies near constantly. it's "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free." and i think all of the fearmongering relies on a good bit of ambiguity beyond that too. "what does a 'free palestine' mean? could it meant they want to throw all the jews into the sea?" - some zionist when i tried to look up the origin of the phrase in case there was anything really important i was missing that i should cover in this. there's like this idea that they can't really be asking for a free palestine, there has to be some kind of catch.

i think it's also important to look at the circumstances that this slogan was born under. the thing about modern day palestine and occupied palestine, on which israel tries to build itself, is that even though spatially the land stretches from river to sea, the people's experience of it does not. because of the apartheid system of checkpoints, ID-based restriction of movement, and blockades (in the case of gaza), there exist great gulfs in the land that are impossible or near impossible for people to cross. there can be a place a couple miles away, that due to lacking the "proper credentials", is more distant for palestinians living under apartheid than perhaps a destination a cross-country trip away would be for you. so i see the call for a free palestine specifically "from river to sea" to remove those gulfs and allow freedom of movement for everyone. i find very little of this has to do with jews, personally. the only connection is that the people who set up and maintain this system of apartheid happened to be jewish. and i hope that we would all agree that resisting one's oppressors- even if those oppressors are also marginalized and oppressed in other ways- is not a bad thing.

but it is true that many white supremacist/antisemitic slogans may focus more on the creation of a (white) nation than actually the jews themselves, since they have already established among themselves that a white nation has to mean no jews. so let's look at some of the more famous nazi rallying cries and how different they are from "from the river to the sea."

the fourteen words are most primarily known to be "we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." wow! i guess we could find some superficial similarities between this and river and the sea, like if we really wanted to stretch it. but personally, there's a ton of alarm bells in my head that this phrase sets off while river to the sea doesn't. the emphasis of "we" and "our" when used in this way really implies an us versus them narrative. and here the ambiguity really is present and malevolent! a "free palestine" is a palestine unrestricted by apartheid and colonialism. a "secure existence" and "future for white children" is uhhh, what does that Mean. like, we Know what that means right. but they aren't saying it. we can very easily find people saying what a free palestine means if we listen to palestinians. please, please listen to palestinians. there are so many people talking about what their idea of a decolonized palestine looks like, but the basics are generally one state, for all people, with equal rights for all, and the ability for those who were expelled from their homes in the nakba and all of the many long years following it, to return.

"blood and soil" is even vaguer. but thankfully(?), nazis were very enthusiastic about explaining what the phrase meant to them. "blood" is the superior aryan bloodlines and eugenic values that they wished to propagate and the "soil" represents the land of germany and the desire to "reject modernity and embrace tradition" by leaving urban life behind and living in the idealized countryside. (see we got a twofer here!) the only possible connection i could make to from the river to the sea here is the emphasis on the land but that on its own doesn't feel significant to me. land and the place where you live is very important to all kinds of humans all over the world. and i think another particular aspect of "blood and soil" is the emphasis of how you are living on the land. it's not just enough to be able to live in your homeland with freedom of movement and the ability not to be killed with impunity by occupying soldiers (lucky you!), you want to live there in a state of racial purity exemplified by eugenic values. in general, in nazi slogans, there is a particular fixation with a society shaped to represent these specific values. the call is not for freedom from repression, from an actual occupying colony, but instead from the considered bad actors and impure values coming from within their society. freedom from having degenerates sullying their perfect aryan nation. there is a plea to be able to get rid of those who do not match their view of a perfect society. the plea for a free palestine is, so much, a plea to be able to keep their family members, their friends, the friendly stranger down the block. that is not a fascist ideology, that is the will to live. and though i am referring to the ideology surrounding "blood and soil" in past tense because i am referencing the coining of the phase, these sentiments and slogans are obviously (and unfortunately) alive and well today. though, there is a particular irony to white american neo-nazis chanting it on stolen land.

"they will not replace us"/"jews will not replace us" refers to the "great replacement" theory, that jews are orchestrating a mass replacement of white people with immigrants (specifically non-white, often muslim immigrants.) i do not think this slogan has even any superficial similarities to from the river to the sea. you could definitely compare this sentiment to israel's attempts to maintain an artificial ethnic majority, since in many ways the potential "solution" to the "great replacement" would also need to involve creating/maintaining an artificial ethnic majority. (this is obviously not saying that israel subscribes to the great replacement theory, but that the tactic of maintaining artificial ethnic majorities is shared between zionism and great replacement theorists, since both ideologies rely on a specific ethnicity being the majority in their country.)

dogwhistles like 88, triple parenthesis, etc. rely on being vague symbols so that only those who know what the symbols stand for know what they mean. (88=HH=heil hitler, the triple parentheses representing the supposed (((echoes))) of jewish influence throughout history.) "from the river to the sea, palestine will be free" is a complete phrase that directly names its cause. people who say "free palestine" want you to know they stand with palestine. i guess if you wanted to be going for the most bad faith reading possible you could say "free palestine from what?", to which every palestinian and everyone who has been remotely paying attention to what palestinians are saying would shout: "from apartheid, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and currently, very open and deliberate genocide!" like, it is true that if you felt you did not glean every aspect and detail of what the people in the occupied territories are calling for, you would be correct! but they are answering this. they want to talk about it. the reason i do not believe from the river to the sea is genocidal or antisemitic is because i have been reading and listening to what palestinians are saying and none of them have said they want to kill all jews. they do not want genocide, they want to go home! they just want to go home. i don't know most of this was written pretty tongue in cheek because i was talking about nazi slogans and nazis are pathetic and even more pathetic when held up against a movement of people who are legitimately trying to fight against a great wrong that was committed against them, but i just get so sad saying this. they just want to go home. haven't you ever felt that way before?

in the end, words mean things, and even more importantly, the contexts they're said in mean things. and while it's true that antisemites do hide behind dogwhistles and vague statements for plausible deniability, the alternative meaning does have to actually be established somewhere for them to be effective. from the river to the sea lacks an established alternative meaning. fearmongering from people who refuse to listen to what palestinians are actually saying does not make sense to me as legitimate definitions of the phrase.

also!!!! i'm sorry this got so Fucking long, thank you if you actually made it this far! i intentionally used "from the river to the sea" in my artists statement because it frustrates and upsets me so much to see people making such a big fuss about it when actual antisemitism goes unpunished. like a lot of the phrases i talk about here were chanted at the charlottesville neo-nazi march in 2017 and while many people were deeply upset and angry at what happened, the jewish community was not rallied around even Close to as much as it right now. and with joe biden saying "if it weren't for israel, not a single jew in the world would be safe" at a fucking hanukkah celebration i just. i don't know. the push back against "from the river to the sea" has so much to do with backing colonial and imperial interests and so so little to do with our actual safety. the concept of our identities and safety is being weaponized against palestinians, and at the same time makes it harder to identify actual antisemitism. and that hurts.

2 Peter 1:3 (NLT) - By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.

how to the ro's sleep with and without mc? thank you (:

river: without mc, river sleeps on their stomach (sometimes on their back), haphazardly sprawled across their bed. also tends to reposition and toss and turn quite a bit. they've had a few incidents where they've either woken up at the very edge of their bed or woken up on the ground with their blanket tangled around them. with mc, river is a clingy sleeper. whether they're big spoon or little spoon, they will be wrapped around mc like a vine. favourite sleep position with mc is probably spooning or any position where they're intertwined.

a romano: without mc, sleeps strictly on the right side of the bed. avid side sleeper, can never fall asleep on their back. tends to have a lot of nightmares when sleeping alone and doesn't have a good sleep schedule to begin with. with mc, would need some space (they get overheated easily and they're a bit touch averse) but would want some kind of reassurance that mc is still in bed with them. this might look like a gentle hand on mc's back, one leg hooked over theirs, etc. without being pressed right up against each other.

k hussain: without mc, k sleeps in a fetal-esque position. piles on blankets and pillows and adores being cocooned like a burrito. they always need to have a lavender misted spray on their pillows to get a good night's sleep. with mc, k usually prefers to be in an intimate position at the start of the night (spooning or cradling mc) but would ultimately prefer to sleep facing one another or facing away from one another with little to no contact. they like to maintain their independence even in bed and doesn't want to wake up sore/in discomfort.

teresa: without mc, teresa sleeps on her back with one arm near her head (close to her gun in a bedside table drawer) and the other arm at her side. she's a very light sleeper but has no trouble falling back asleep after being woken up. has a great internal alarm system that makes sure she's awake at exactly 07:00 each morning. with mc, teresa is more laid-back and not as stiff. her favourite position would probably be lying on her back with mc's head on her shoulder or chest because it makes her feel like she's protecting mc.

shadow pal: doesn't need to sleep and is also with mc nearly 24/7. favourite nighttime position is a dark corner of mc's room behind their desk. mc should not wake up in the middle of the night and look towards that corner unless they want to jump out of their skin.

Faith and Assurance

1 Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot see. 2 God accepted our ancestors because of their faith.

13 All these people died having faith. They didn't receive the things that God had promised them, but they saw these things coming in the distant future and rejoiced. They acknowledged that they were living as strangers with no permanent home on earth. — Hebrews 11:1-2 and 13 | God's Word Translation (GWT) The Holy Bible, God’s Word® Translation Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Cross References: Genesis 23:4; Genesis 47:9; Exodus 2:22; Leviticus 25:23; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalm 39:12; Psalm 119:19; Romans 8:24; 2 Corinthians 4:18; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 3:14; Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 11:7

Received from RUSSIA on 16th of January 2024

It's okay. You get used to people wanting to lick you after a while. <:) There there.

~ @heavensentofficial

you WHHAT!!!!!!!!!!! :((((

Do denizens metamorphize instantly, like pokemon, or is it more like real metamorphasis, where changing from one stage to another takes time and requires intermediary stages, like tadpoles that have grown legs, but still have tails? Is there a slow growth before a sudden metamorphasis, like if a tadpole slowly grew legs and it's tail shrank, but then suddenly transformed into a frog all at once?

it's a gradual metamorphosis! the "its metamorphosis can be recognized by..." segment of the lifecycle on denizens that can metamorphosize is meant to describe how those gradual changes manifest over time. the intermediary stages do mean its a little subjective when a quartzlet has become a rhineshine for example, but that's often how science is- subjective. the charmers have different names for the different forms that denizens take but they truthfully exist more on a gradient than a binary.

whats ur new oc idea 😋

OHOHOHOHOHOOHOHOH.

I don't know what possessed me so strongly to do this. But.

A character who lost someone important to them and never ever got through it. This loss impacts them so tremendously in their day-to-day that they've become someone else in avoidance of it. They are always stuck grieving. They are forever driven by this loss in such unhealthy ways.

On 12 December 1901, the first transatlantic wireless transmission was received on Signal Hill by Guglielmo Marconi in an abandoned fever and diphtheria hospital, which has since been destroyed by fire. The transmission, in Morse code, originated from his Poldhu Wireless Station, Cornwall, UK.

Any chance you'd release the plotmon petz design for public? theyre so cuteee

hi thank you so much! i was planning on making all of my breedfiles public once i had my website up but it seems like it's going to be a bit.... if i had access to my computer i'd put them up on google drive for you but i don't =(

i wish i had a better answer but they will definitely be available someday! life circumstances have separated me from my petz computer so it may be a bit, though.

Thinking about when one of my favorite chnt artists reblogged my sydney art with this

how can I tell people in my own home that they need to stop buying Pepsi products? How can I encourage boycotting without being seen as a “killjoy���? I just want Palestinians to live

hi there! i don't really know if what i have to say about this is more relevant than any other random person but since you asked i can share my thoughts =)

first if you are in a precarious living position (minor or otherwise dependent on the people you live with to have a home) and you aren't sure how they would respond if you keep pushing the issue, don't push it. this is just a disclaimer basically but getting kicked out of your house helps no one and puts you in a crisis situation where you won't be able to affectively advocate in other places because you will be too busy trying to survive. your personal safety has to come first.

assuming you've already informed them about the genocide in gaza and 75 year occupation in palestine as much they will allow you to and they still don't seem to care, there's still a few things you could try. mainly, boycotting for the right reason is great but boycotting for the wrong reason still has essentially the same effect on the companies financially.

reasons they might want to stop buying pepsi other than because they want to support palestine and boycott israel:

because it really matters to you and they care about you and what you think don't they?

wouldn't it be healthier to stop drinking pepsi all the time? (i hate the whole assigning morality to health and food thing but if it's something they tend to care about it could be worth it)

wouldn't you be able to save money if your household stopped buying pepsi drinks?

etc.

i think if you live with these people you know them best and you would know what would be most likely to convince them to boycott pepsi with you.

1 Peter 2:10 (NLT) - “Once you had no identity as a people;    now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy;    now you have received God’s mercy.”

What are the ROs love languages?

(i hope you don't mind me taking some liberties with the love languages)

river: offering to casually (and sincerely) kill anyone who dares to breathe at you the wrong way, liberal usage of "idiot"/"dumbass" and "asshole", absentmindedly having some kind of physical contact with you at all times (fingers brushing your leg, elbow against your arm, foot against your own), even when speaking with someone else

a romano: determinedly avoiding eye contact with you and fiddling with their glasses, picking up your favourite treat/beverage when having scheduled meetings/marking papers with you, letting you store food in their beloved mini fridge

k hussain: begrudgingly walking you to your boarding house every time when the sun is no longer lighting the way because they "don't want to become a suspect if you get murdered", only using your first name in an intense/intimate moment, getting heated on your behalf when anyone questions your capability/intelligence

teresa: instinctively protecting your head with her hand when you're about to hit a wall or sharp edge of some kind and barely needing to look in your direction to do so, sitting down and helping you finish work/study with no complaints despite the reports she has to write, not sleeping like a statue that can wake up at any given moment and allowing you to draw her close

shadow pal: watching over you when you're sleeping (aka acting like a sleep paralysis demon in the corner of your room in case your safety is compromised), threatening to consume your essence (affectionate), slithering across walls and ceilings to scare creepy crawlies away from you

Remain In Him

But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. — 1 John 2:27 | English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Cross References: Proverbs 28:5; Jeremiah 31:34; Matthew 13:11; John 6:45; John 14:16-17; John 14:26

Received from U.S.A. on 30th of March 2024