i think the main issue in arguing with zionists is that, well, they believe in zionism! if israel did deserve to exist, then the genocide and injustice in palestine could be argued for (not like it should be, but it certainly could) -- and zionists believe israel deserves to exist.
i, unfortunately, have a large amount of experience interacting (personally) with zionism and zionists. most of those i've talked to feel for the palestinians, and the violence they are facing, but they fail to realize (or they staunchly deny) the very, very active part israel and the IDF have had in that -- and how it's representative of what the nation has always done.
at the same time, they focus more on israeli hostages than palestinian ones -- and i know, of course, that these zionist jews i've interacted with are either israeli or have loved ones in israel, and so have a very personal stake in the safety of israeli hostages (which may very well be friends or family members), but i find it strange how much emphasis they put on hamas' cruelty in taking hostages while the IDF is doing the same thing (in essence; the exact details of who's doing it worse are important to note, but not relevant right now, because folks should realize that their side is being at least as cruel as the enemy's).
recently i was drawn into an argument with an israeli zionist (who, unfortunately, is very close to the action and tragedy by being israeli), and she was incredibly offended by my anti-zionism and my opposition to israel's abject cruelty to palestinian citizens, as it seemed (to her) like i was bypassing the cruelty hamas has enacted on israeli citizens -- which is very telling. i've noticed that we as jews have the tendency, whatever the situation may be, of focusing more on our pain than the pain of others, even if we are the ones hurting them. that person has every reason to be scared and hurt, and i'd be lying if i said her response wasn't at least somewhat sympathetic, but her pain in this horrible, violent conflict does not invalidate the pain on the other side. jews, throughout this recent crisis, have consistently not talked in depth about the constant losses in palestine -- am i suddenly being callous by focusing on those losses, and not our own? (YOUR PAIN AND THEIRS AREN'T MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, YOU DOLT! sorry...)
because it all comes down to believing in israel! my mom has always told me about how beautiful it is there, about her time living on a kibbutz... and sure, it might be nice. i can't argue with that. but why is it that our nationalism for israel is so strong, so virulent? i have not seen patriots as loyal for any other country. and when you criticize israel, israelis feel like you're criticizing their entire existence -- and many non-israeli jews do, as well. because zionism has been built so deep into the modern religion! it's made to be a necessary piece! belief in it is the default!
and, from the inside looking in, i can't be surprised that many jews take anti-zionism as being antisemitic -- because, to them, israel and zionism stand as the pinnacle of safety and support for the jewish people. it is impossible to argue with them about anything above that base layer, as the base layer itself serves as a foundation: so long as a jew thinks that israel is right, deserved, and necessary, no proof will sway them into hating israel. it's just impossible, and that's very frustrating.
for me in particular, i find it very frustrating, as this single idea has turned so many people i know to support a genocidal entity. they believe in and support israel, so they stand with it now -- even if they condemn its current actions, they neglect how those actions are just an extension of its inherent existence -- whether they think israel's doing the right thing or wrong thing right now, they don't really care at the end of the day, because israel, to them, is necessary in keeping the jewish people alive. they stand with it, thinking that jews can only stand at all if they do.
but a genocidal crutch is no crutch at all: it only breaks us more. zionist jews make me so mad, and the worst part is that i could never express that to them in a way they'll understand.
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the more i think about it, the more i am Very Much looking forward to Hunter, Echo and Wrecker's confrontation with Cid.
not just for the "Cid getting what she deserves" part
for the "Hunter, Echo and Wrecker unleashed" part.
yelling. screaming. crying. waving guns around. throwing bottles. shooting bottles. stabbing the bar top with a knife.
i want Wrecker ripping arcade games out of the walls.
i want Echo to march into Cid's office, grab the clone helmets she's displayed, take them, and then utterly trash the rest of her office. top to bottom.
i want Hunter to take the dejarik table, the exact one where Omega played to pay off their debt, where he and Omega played against each other, and i want Hunter to rip it clean out of the floor and fucking launch it at Cid's head.
i want them to release all their stresses, and their pain and heartbreak, and their rage, on that little parlour.
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If The Gentle Light had continued, what, do you think, would Yo Han's immediate thoughts/feelings have been upon seeing Ga On again?
Well. I mean. I don't really think — I know. Because I'm sometimes forced to write down the Yo Han bits that just won't leave me the fuck alone. Usually just short snippets, often ones that aren't even connected, but yeah. If I don't, they'll keep looping inside my head, slowly driving me insane.
So anon can have some Yo Han POV, as a treat:
Yo Han took another sauntering step forward, gaze wandering over Kim Ga On's terrace. Pots, plants, and various tools littered the space, but it was by no means cluttered or disorganized. Everything had its proper place, either tucked away in practical plastic crates or arranged in neat little rows. Even the plants were positioned with great care, lining the otherwise empty space — enveloping it, turning it into something more than just a terrace.
Like a small oasis of life — delicate yet vibrant — right there in the heart of Seoul.
Yo Han shook his head and walked over to the shelf placed against one of the walls, plants of all shapes and sizes crowding together inside it.
How very like Ga On, to surround himself with so much life.
And to be so desperate for something to care for that he hoarded these frail little plants, showering them with the love and affection he couldn't find an outlet for elsewhere. It seemed that Kim Ga On might very well cease to exist if he wasn't allowed to care for and nurture the living and breathing things around him, the need going beyond instinct into outright compulsion.
That innocence and selflessness was a weakness — a big, blinking target, so easy to exploit — but, at the same time, so breathtakingly beautiful it only added to Ga On's radiance.
Yo Han was frustrated by how much he adored it.
He reached out and slowly ran his finger along the leaf of one of the nearby plants. Yo Han was no expert, but it looked paler than it probably should have — closer to yellow than green. He frowned, his gaze flicking between the plants in front of him.
Almost every single one of them looked the same.
Discolored, with drooping leaves, some even edged with dry, crusty browns.
A small flicker of discomfort — of dawning realization — was all the warning Yo Han got before his chest clenched. He had no time to brace himself, the bloom of concern fierce enough to almost knock the breath out of him.
The implication was all too clear.
Kim Ga On might be withering away faster than Yo Han had anticipated.
___
Though I guess that's technically BEFORE he sees Ga On? So here's the one when he actually turns around and sees him for the first time in months:
Yo Han had pictured the moment many times over. He'd wondered — maybe even fantasized — what it would be like to see Ga On again after so many months apart. But none of those scenarios, each studied and evaluated down to the smallest detail, could prepare Yo Han for what he actually found when he turned around.
Not even once, at any point during his musings, had Yo Han thought that the first thing he would feel was a sharp, painful pang of guilt.
The eyes meeting his — those soft doe-eyes, usually so bright and vibrant — were flat and empty. They looked too big on Ga On's face, too black and bottomless against the paleness of his skin. As if there was nothing but a gaping emptiness behind them.
There was no spark. No light.
Nothing.
The world seemed to shift, just a fraction, but still enough to make Yo Han's stomach drop. The curl of dread was paralyzing.
He'd always known he was fated to eventually smother that gentle, fragile light, but he hadn't expected it to happen like this.
Not this soon.
He wasn't ready for that loss yet. He honestly never would be.
And so, for once, Yo Han didn't know what to do — or even how to react. The longer he stood there, staring into those blank eyes, the more the guilt grew. He could feel it seeping into his veins, slowly taking hold.
It hurt to breathe.
A pain which didn't ease even when something finally did shift inside Ga On's eyes. Because what Yo Han saw wasn't life, excitement, or even hope, but the heart-wrenching hunger of a desperate, half-starved creature, so weak it was a miracle it could even function.
The emptiness in Ga On's eyes suddenly made sense.
He was empty. And Yo Han could see the hunger growing — the near-frantic need to fill that cold, hollow space. And he knew exactly what had caused it.
Exactly what Ga On needed in order to fill that void inside of him.
If Yo Han had wanted to make Ga On less dependent on him, he'd failed.
___
... I guess the short answer would be: "... oh fuck."?
Bear in mind that I currently have no plans (or time) to write another chapter from Yo Han's POV, but yeah. I hope you enjoy the snippets?
Also, to be entirely honest with you all, it fucking hurts to write Yo Han's POV, especially these emotional scenes x'D Like, I feel for Ga On when I write about him and his struggles, I definitely do. But Yo Han is too similar to me in how he deals with and processes emotions so I'm, like, in agony when I write stuff like this because I can relate to it too much.
So some of my stubbornness not to write his POV is honestly sheer self-preservation at this point x'D
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🫠
So I went in to work today bc my coworker has been out sick and I'm the only one trained in his area (hard mode of my area with like 7 new responsibilities on top of the normal work I'm used to with 10 more units to keep track of and lots of areas where one tiny mistake (like forgetting to push a button) can cost days worth of work) and end of month is APPARENTLY this Thursday and they desperately need units for shipping because we are low on parts AND the guys doing the building are having trouble with a certain bit which fails all our tests, so it's all compounding into constant failures and nothing passing.
I haven't been sleeping (<3 hours of restless sleep every night the past few days, waking up in cold sweats, dry heaving every morning) because I am so stressed about getting everything out in time and without any dumb tiny errors because they just dumped this in my lap all of a sudden. also because I'm a mess and forgot if I confirmed if one valve was turned the correct way because if it isn't the entire area could flood with oil (one valve... on 37 different units!) and my memory is so dogshit that I left the parking lot and IMMEDIATELY FORGOT if I had turned one of them up or not (the process involves flipping it from drain (down) to cycle (up) a bunch to rid the line of air bubbles) and I had planned to take photos of every valve and FORGOT TO DO THAT TOO so I was up all night tossing and turning planning to get fired because I flooded the entire floor. I was all good the next morning because of fucking course I was I quintuple checked everything, but still didn't sleep that night so I am running on about 9 hours of sleep for this whole week so if I sound a little wired I apologize.
Anyway all this was to say it turns out I have been SO stressed about everything that I basically showed up, did the work I needed to do to hopefully finish testing the last 5 units on Tuesday, then puked up the slices of pizza I ate yesterday into the bathroom and took an Uber home. now I am unable to go to the party tonight because I feel like shit. I am become sad.
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