do people actually think the idf intentionally started wildfires in patagonia. i need to know. what the hell would they gain from that. people are saying this but the only actual thing ive seen is some random guy being accused of lighting a fire outdoors which some people are blaming for the wildfires? is climate change now also a plot by (((them))) to destroy the whi- i mean human race?

Short answer: no, they do not.

Longer answer: Suppose you know two people who say they believe in an urban legend. You confront them with evidence that the urban legend is not true. Each person has a different reaction.

Person A responds with relief and embarrassment. They'd told other people the urban legend as a warning, and now they realize they were spreading a fake story. They understand they'll have to apologize and make amends. They feel humbled by this understanding. But, again, the primary reaction is relief: they are glad that the horrible, scary thing represented by the urban legend is not true.

Person B responds with rage. How dare you show them your "evidence" instead of responding with fear and malleability, as they had expected and wanted? You must be in on the horrible, scary thing represented by the urban legend, too! That's the only reason why you'd try to dissuade them from it! But they're on to you and they won't fall for you nonsense!

So let's transpose the Patagonia urban legend onto this structure.

Person A is afraid that a foreign government may have set the fires in Patagonia because that is a scary thing to believe. They DO believe the story, but they don't WANT to believe it. They are persuadable that it's not true, and like a reasonable adult, they are glad to find out that it's not. One less monster under the bed, metaphorically speaking.

Person B wants it to be true, which means they know very well that it isn't. They want more monsters under the bed. They are only pretending to believe it to advance their actual goals, which are demonizing Israel and blaming Jews for literally everything that goes wrong in their world.

That's all it takes, IMO. Test the individual by confronting them with how incorrect they are (or see if others have done so). How do they react? Are they relieved or enraged?

Then, you will know whether it's worthwhile to engage. You can convince Person A. You cannot convince Person B, because they don't believe in the wildfires story anymore than you do.

You can't wake up someone who's pretending to sleep.

Immortalized. Real photo postcard from my collection, no date/info.

when the maids start talking back so i have to put them in their place with my Intimidating Grunt

This post is from 2011.

i’ve seen a fair amount of posts that are like “how come vampires get to be [wealthy/suave/mingling in human high society/effeminate] while werewolves always have to be [impoverished/dirty/on the margins of society/masculine]” and, while this can be an invitation to a fairly interesting character design thought experiment, there is an actual answer. i mean horror never comes out of nowhere. the original vampire in the works that defined our modern concept of vampirism is well-recognized (both now and then) as coded as jewish, while the original werewolf in the work that defined our modern concept of lycanthropy is explicitly romani, both portrayed with all the violent bigotry of the golden age of eugenics. even when later iterations shift the racial marking of the creatures, these original early 20th century antisemitic or antiziganist narratives still frequently form the skeleton or “engine of horror” of those new versions. a phenomenon worth keeping an eye on maybe

and something i should have clarified in the original post: even though online discussions and modern media works that create a vampire/werewolf dichotomy often do so in very “get to be/have to be” terms, stoker and murnau did not make their vampires rich out of admiration. the suaveness, effeminacy, and most of all wealth of the vampire is every bit as much of a bigoted moral condemnation, with an implicit threat of violence, as the poverty and roughness of the werewolf. the enemy of both has always been hegemonic whiteness

Green Mantle (Caria mantinea), family Riodinidae, Bolivia

photographs by Cell Cell

Reblog with just TWO choices

In a memo to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem regarding tribal members recently detained by ICE, Frank Star Comes Out, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said:

“This is a treaty violation. Treaties are not optional. Sovereignty is not conditional. Our citizens are not negotiable.”

He added:

“The irony is not lost on us.”

Several Iranian state TV channels, including Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), were hacked for about 10 minutes, and protest footage along with messages from Reza Pahlavi encouraging demonstrations and urging military personnel to side with the protesters were aired.

The hackers also played a message for Iran's president, Masoud Pezehskian:

"Dear Dr. Pezeshkian, you promised reforms, but your regime continues the oppression. The people of Iran demand freedom. Join us or step aside. The military must protect the nation, not the tyrants. Help is coming. Long live free Iran! Woman, Life, Freedom."

More info!! Other countries’ leaders are pulling away from IRGC terrorists now too

I really should do an "Antizionist" Bingo Card variant where one of the squares is "I'm just a [girl/autistic/trans/gay/Black/ Asian/Muslim/other minority] and thus you can't judge me or push back at all!"

Because damn if I haven't been seeing a lot of that, especially recently. "I'm blaming the (((Zionists))) for everything bad in the world, but I'm autistic so everything you say in response hurts me more, so you can't do it!" was the example today from venezuelalibre, which gave rise to this thought, but they're not alone. Not hardly.

It's really disgusting seeing people basically go, "I'm a persecuted minority, so that gives me a pass to persecute another minority and call it justice!"

Doesn't work that way.

I am so tired of people insisting that their axis of oppression means that they are to be treated like a small toddler who cannot be held responsible for the messes they make, while simultaneously insisting they're adults who deserve to sit at the adult table and argue with the adults.