I have written a few comments about day to day life in Lebanon as we’re being bombed and now invaded by an indiscriminate killing machine. This war has more surreal than anything I’ve lived through: more surreal than the post-blast week, more surreal than peak lockdown season, more surreal than any of the waves of civil conflict throughout my life. I have never felt more guilty for every breath of air I take and every hug I give my family. People, normal civilian people like me, are losing everything, often their lives.
More surreal: an Arabic sweet shop I go to very often (it’s on a main highway) got damaged by an attack this week. It’s in the middle of a very safe city. Like imagine your favorite something just had to close from war damage. Good thing the indiscriminate killing machine didn’t suspect that terrorists were hiding in the baklawa. Maybe next week they’ll find them and finish the job.
Would you fucking believe it if I told you I get DMs from people “sympathizing with my hardships” but asking me if I could kindly remove my post because of some US election shenanigans.
Some people will just never understand that there is a whole world outside the Global North full of complex people and situations. I like not being bombed for the crime of not being a European colonist. But writing about it in English online? Must be a psyop huh. At least this isn’t Reddit where a few years back someone actually questioned whether I could really be Lebanese if I was writing so much in decent English. Truly le euphoric intellectual site.
And hey if I was an American voter I’d probably still cast an unenthusiastic ballot for the cop if I was in a battleground state. I get it, I hate the other guy, it would be morally gray, but no grayer than the options we get to vote for here. But that doesn’t mean this absurd defense of the indiscriminate killing machine, spewing forth from every corner of the woodwork, hasn’t really highlighted how the US just has two right wing parties. You guys (Americans) should be reframing the Vietnam protests as a cute little Sunday picnic compared to what you should be doing now. Which they were.
You have to hold these ghouls accountable and the “nice democratic countries’” fetish for pretend civility has never been more exhausting. You think in the annals of history they’re going to say “good thing they didn’t whip out the nooses, that would have been so beneath our perfect empire”? Of course not. It would just be correctly understood as appeasement. When the indiscriminate killing machine is properly listed next to Rhodesia and Nazi Germany, the fervent support the world showed them will be a rightful, eternal humiliation for every country that has been rewarding them for tearing our families and limbs apart.
Or hey, maybe we get wiped off the map and get all our towns renamed to someone else’s language. And we are removed from the history books. Clearly our lives are just acceptable collateral for people playing what should ostensibly be a very important political game. If that’s what our lives are worth, what is our memory worth?
I’m very moved by your comment and can’t even begin to approximate how you must feel and what you have to suffer.
You have hit every nail on the head. I don’t even know how to respond to most of the stuff you wrote, apart from nodding and fuelling my determination with it…
This war has more surreal than anything I’ve lived through: more surreal than the post-blast week, more surreal than peak lockdown season, more surreal than any of the waves of civil conflict throughout my life. I have never felt more guilty for every breath of air I take and every hug I give my family. People, normal civilian people like me, are losing everything, often their lives.
More surreal: an Arabic sweet shop I go to very often (it’s on a main highway) got damaged by an attack this week. It’s in the middle of a very safe city. Like imagine your favorite something just had to close from war damage. Good thing the indiscriminate killing machine didn’t suspect that terrorists were hiding in the baklawa. Maybe next week they’ll find them and finish the job.
This made me tear up while reading T_T
Would you fucking believe it if I told you I get DMs from people “sympathizing with my hardships” but asking me if I could kindly remove my post because of some US election shenanigans.
My first reaction was “What?! Is it already that bad here on the fediverse?!”. But on second thought, I am not surprised, considering the shit I had to permaban and delete just on here… -_-
I like not being bombed for the crime of not being a European colonist. But writing about it in English online? Must be a psyop huh
Are you sure we are not posting from the same Russian/Chinese/North Korean/Iranian bot farm? (/s obvsly)
At least this isn’t Reddit where a few years back someone actually questioned whether I could really be Lebanese if I was writing so much in decent English. Truly le euphoric intellectual site.
Don’t worry, .world is working very hard on getting there ((:
And hey if I was an American voter I’d probably still cast an unenthusiastic ballot for the cop if I was in a battleground state. I get it, I hate the other guy, it would be morally gray, but no grayer than the options we get to vote for here.
I’m not from the USA either and do see it in the same way, which is why I’d vote for the Wall Street party as well in a swing state.
But that doesn’t mean this absurd defence of the indiscriminate killing machine, spewing forth from every corner of the woodwork, hasn’t really highlighted how the US just has two right wing parties
This, in combination with my point just above, is exactly why I have stayed clear of preaching to the choir about the ultraconservatives being bad and made sure that nothing I post has any messages of vote boycotting. But rather to maybe make a teeny-tiny microscopic dent in the unconditional support for the (neo-) imperialist/colonialist scum of this planet
the “nice democratic countries’” fetish for pretend civility has never been more exhausting
That seems to be tradition in virtually all western / white-majority countries. F.e. it showed during the fights for black liberation in the 20th century and still shows when oppressed people get righteously “angry” during discussions - “Why can’t they lead a civilized debate? We would listen to them if they did” - and then they might, but will (at best) pay lip service to those issues, never systematically address them… More often than not, they’ll continue as before or make it even worse (but at least it’s not the republicans doing it, right?)
When the indiscriminate killing machine is properly listed next to Rhodesia and Nazi Germany, the fervent support the world showed them will be a rightful, eternal humiliation for every country that has been rewarding them for tearing our families and limbs apart.
By God, that day will come if I can do anything about it
Clearly our lives are just acceptable collateral for people playing what should ostensibly be a very important political game. If that’s what our lives are worth, what is our memory worth?
Unfortunately, liberals in the imperial core are more worried about their personal privileges than the people’s suffering they are built on
Also, I have to apologize for this community having turned in the way it has over this issue. For various personal reasons, I’m not perpetually carrying out proactive moderation and it shows. I already had a few reports incoming, but more would help make it more consistent. I know I can’t ask that of you and that it should be a community effort.
It’s just disheartening and disgusting how so many people people think they can claim the label of “leftist” and support (or apologize/justify) genocide commited by the settler state extension of the us empire, supported by most of NAFO…
unfortunately it’s rlyyy widespread here in Germany (embodied by the “Anti-Germans” (Wikipedia link)) and from what I gather in the USA as well
Unfortunately, liberals in the imperial core are more worried about their personal privileges
“I like status”, therefore “I like gaining status through the oppression of an outgroup”, therefore “oppressing the outgroup is acceptable, because I like it.” The moral calculus for this is extremely addictive.
Americans are extremely dangerous because we are so coddled and isolated from the consequences of our actions. War is purely something that we see in video games and in movies. The news rarely covers the actual human cost or humanizes anyone outside of the imperial core. They dumped Malala real quick the moment she turned a critical eye to US policy.
These people were more than happy to support the unprovoked invasion and decades-long occupation of countries in the Middle East so long as it was “their guy” doing it “the right way.” Hundreds of thousands were killed and we were never allowed a choice in about it in any election, every democratic nominee, Kerry, Obama, Clinton, and Biden are all hawks. Liberals don’t see any problem with this and most are actually upset with Biden for pulling out of Afghanistan. Liberals pretend to care about these things but they don’t understand or respect the severity of them at all. It comes back to be so sheltered from the consequences of actions.
But I can’t believe that that shelter is going to last forever. Systems either adapt or die and the US is proving that it’s incapable of adapting to the shifting conditions of the present day. More and more non-aligned countries are getting fed up with us and that isn’t felt immediately but it is shifting the balance of power and reducing the effectiveness of American soft power. The day will come that Americans wake up and realize that we can’t keep throwing our weight around and ignoring everyone else’s concerns and perspectives, that we either have to play by the rules or fade into irrelevance. I just hope we don’t start WWIII to avoid facing that reality.
Until then, I’m sorry that our people keep pushing these election brainworms onto everyone in every English language space.
They dumped Malala real quick the moment she turned a critical eye to US policy.
Heartwarming stories of victims of oppression from other countries? Great.
Critical of oppression caused by the US or a country they are friendly with? Shut up.
Would you fucking believe it if I told you I get DMs from people “sympathizing with my hardships” but asking me if I could kindly remove my post because of some US election shenanigans.
We must hide atrocities against the innocent, because those atrocities make the less insane right-wing party in another country complicit in supporting the murder of those innocents look bad.
Clearly our lives are just acceptable collateral for people playing what should ostensibly be a very important political game.
Me stating online as someone in the Global North hurts, especially when others scoff at it.
You stating this as someone at risk of being really harmed hurts even more.
I get pushback for saying that I don’t agree with killing innocents. “Yes, but you have no choice.” Well, that’s a shit choice.
I get pushback for saying I do not wish to participate in a system where I am forced to trade the lives of children for my own rights as a queer person, as a feminist, etc. I do not accept that my health and ease are more important than the health and ease of others.Just because people are far away and have a different heritage does not mean I can allow their safety to be reduced so that I may profit.
Fuck this whole system of explicitly regarding the worth of humans based on political convenience. People > politics, people > power, and morality > convenience.
I have written a few comments about day to day life in Lebanon as we’re being bombed and now invaded by an indiscriminate killing machine. This war has more surreal than anything I’ve lived through: more surreal than the post-blast week, more surreal than peak lockdown season, more surreal than any of the waves of civil conflict throughout my life. I have never felt more guilty for every breath of air I take and every hug I give my family. People, normal civilian people like me, are losing everything, often their lives.
More surreal: an Arabic sweet shop I go to very often (it’s on a main highway) got damaged by an attack this week. It’s in the middle of a very safe city. Like imagine your favorite something just had to close from war damage. Good thing the indiscriminate killing machine didn’t suspect that terrorists were hiding in the baklawa. Maybe next week they’ll find them and finish the job.
Would you fucking believe it if I told you I get DMs from people “sympathizing with my hardships” but asking me if I could kindly remove my post because of some US election shenanigans.
Some people will just never understand that there is a whole world outside the Global North full of complex people and situations. I like not being bombed for the crime of not being a European colonist. But writing about it in English online? Must be a psyop huh. At least this isn’t Reddit where a few years back someone actually questioned whether I could really be Lebanese if I was writing so much in decent English. Truly le euphoric intellectual site.
And hey if I was an American voter I’d probably still cast an unenthusiastic ballot for the cop if I was in a battleground state. I get it, I hate the other guy, it would be morally gray, but no grayer than the options we get to vote for here. But that doesn’t mean this absurd defense of the indiscriminate killing machine, spewing forth from every corner of the woodwork, hasn’t really highlighted how the US just has two right wing parties. You guys (Americans) should be reframing the Vietnam protests as a cute little Sunday picnic compared to what you should be doing now. Which they were.
You have to hold these ghouls accountable and the “nice democratic countries’” fetish for pretend civility has never been more exhausting. You think in the annals of history they’re going to say “good thing they didn’t whip out the nooses, that would have been so beneath our perfect empire”? Of course not. It would just be correctly understood as appeasement. When the indiscriminate killing machine is properly listed next to Rhodesia and Nazi Germany, the fervent support the world showed them will be a rightful, eternal humiliation for every country that has been rewarding them for tearing our families and limbs apart.
Or hey, maybe we get wiped off the map and get all our towns renamed to someone else’s language. And we are removed from the history books. Clearly our lives are just acceptable collateral for people playing what should ostensibly be a very important political game. If that’s what our lives are worth, what is our memory worth?
I’m very moved by your comment and can’t even begin to approximate how you must feel and what you have to suffer.
You have hit every nail on the head. I don’t even know how to respond to most of the stuff you wrote, apart from nodding and fuelling my determination with it…
This made me tear up while reading T_T
My first reaction was “What?! Is it already that bad here on the fediverse?!”. But on second thought, I am not surprised, considering the shit I had to permaban and delete just on here… -_-
Are you sure we are not posting from the same Russian/Chinese/North Korean/Iranian bot farm? (/s obvsly)
Don’t worry, .world is working very hard on getting there ((:
I’m not from the USA either and do see it in the same way, which is why I’d vote for the Wall Street party as well in a swing state.
This, in combination with my point just above, is exactly why I have stayed clear of preaching to the choir about the ultraconservatives being bad and made sure that nothing I post has any messages of vote boycotting. But rather to maybe make a teeny-tiny microscopic dent in the unconditional support for the (neo-) imperialist/colonialist scum of this planet
That seems to be tradition in virtually all western / white-majority countries. F.e. it showed during the fights for black liberation in the 20th century and still shows when oppressed people get righteously “angry” during discussions - “Why can’t they lead a civilized debate? We would listen to them if they did” - and then they might, but will (at best) pay lip service to those issues, never systematically address them… More often than not, they’ll continue as before or make it even worse (but at least it’s not the republicans doing it, right?)
By God, that day will come if I can do anything about it
Unfortunately, liberals in the imperial core are more worried about their personal privileges than the people’s suffering they are built on
Also, I have to apologize for this community having turned in the way it has over this issue. For various personal reasons, I’m not perpetually carrying out proactive moderation and it shows. I already had a few reports incoming, but more would help make it more consistent. I know I can’t ask that of you and that it should be a community effort.
It’s just disheartening and disgusting how so many people people think they can claim the label of “leftist” and support (or apologize/justify) genocide commited by the settler state extension of the us empire, supported by most of NAFO…
unfortunately it’s rlyyy widespread here in Germany (embodied by the “Anti-Germans” (Wikipedia link)) and from what I gather in the USA as well
“I like status”, therefore “I like gaining status through the oppression of an outgroup”, therefore “oppressing the outgroup is acceptable, because I like it.” The moral calculus for this is extremely addictive.
Americans are extremely dangerous because we are so coddled and isolated from the consequences of our actions. War is purely something that we see in video games and in movies. The news rarely covers the actual human cost or humanizes anyone outside of the imperial core. They dumped Malala real quick the moment she turned a critical eye to US policy.
These people were more than happy to support the unprovoked invasion and decades-long occupation of countries in the Middle East so long as it was “their guy” doing it “the right way.” Hundreds of thousands were killed and we were never allowed a choice in about it in any election, every democratic nominee, Kerry, Obama, Clinton, and Biden are all hawks. Liberals don’t see any problem with this and most are actually upset with Biden for pulling out of Afghanistan. Liberals pretend to care about these things but they don’t understand or respect the severity of them at all. It comes back to be so sheltered from the consequences of actions.
But I can’t believe that that shelter is going to last forever. Systems either adapt or die and the US is proving that it’s incapable of adapting to the shifting conditions of the present day. More and more non-aligned countries are getting fed up with us and that isn’t felt immediately but it is shifting the balance of power and reducing the effectiveness of American soft power. The day will come that Americans wake up and realize that we can’t keep throwing our weight around and ignoring everyone else’s concerns and perspectives, that we either have to play by the rules or fade into irrelevance. I just hope we don’t start WWIII to avoid facing that reality.
Until then, I’m sorry that our people keep pushing these election brainworms onto everyone in every English language space.
Heartwarming stories of victims of oppression from other countries? Great.
Critical of oppression caused by the US or a country they are friendly with? Shut up.
We must hide atrocities against the innocent, because those atrocities make the less insane right-wing party in another country complicit in supporting the murder of those innocents look bad.
Me stating online as someone in the Global North hurts, especially when others scoff at it.
You stating this as someone at risk of being really harmed hurts even more.
I get pushback for saying that I don’t agree with killing innocents. “Yes, but you have no choice.” Well, that’s a shit choice.
I get pushback for saying I do not wish to participate in a system where I am forced to trade the lives of children for my own rights as a queer person, as a feminist, etc. I do not accept that my health and ease are more important than the health and ease of others. Just because people are far away and have a different heritage does not mean I can allow their safety to be reduced so that I may profit.
Fuck this whole system of explicitly regarding the worth of humans based on political convenience. People > politics, people > power, and morality > convenience.