Funny how you never heard this much outrage on social media from the years of Uyghur genocide committed by China or Russia’s murders of it’s internal political opponents. Palestine is terrible and deserves attention, but it’s pretty clear this movement is getting a major boost from Chinese and Russian social media farms to influence US voter turn out.
Or it’s because Western countries directly prop up and support Israel, which we do not do for China or Russia.
And therefore Western citizenry feel more culpable and outraged about something their countries support.
We could also point to half a dozen other “ally” countries engaged in human rights abuses, most of which are largely ignored because of economic reasoms, but that also does not invalidate criticisms of Israel.
Like just because nobody protests Saudi Arabia or Sudan or El Salvador, it doesn’t mean that we support what the USA is doing in those countries. It just means people aren’t paying as much attention for a variety of awful reasons.
I again am not saying that what Israel is doing is okay or defending them at all. My point is people need to also be aware how much Chinese and Russian troll farms control the discourse across the internet by escalating atrocities that specifically make the US look bad and downplaying ones that make China or Russia look bad wherever possible. It is a major problem because those countries are manipulating genuine outrage to specifically target and weaken their enemies while drowning out the voices of other people also in need of support through genocide like the Uyghurs. It’s important because those groups get forgotten when all the discourse is manipulated towards one popular cause that the authoritarians get to hide their crimes behind. We can acknowledge Israels crimes and still be cognizant of the threats coming from authoritarian troll farms.
No, I wasn’t saying you were defending Israel. And I think you have a strong point that our silence on other atrocities undercuts our moral authority in pointing out others.
But ultimately, reality is what we see. An atrocity is an atrocity, and protesting one thing doesn’t mean we condone another. It just means this is the thing we’re focused on right now.
I can’t help the Uyghurs. I have no leverage against China. I can write to my Senator, a guy who I voted for, who is a strong supporter of Israel, and I can tell him how I feel. I can talk to my friends and relatives about it, and we can change the dynamic of public support for a nation engaged in human rights abuses that are enabled by American voters. I could mention Uyghurs in my letter, and lgbtq+ rights in Russia, and Muslims and Sikhs in India, and half a dozen other problems. But fixing those problems would mean invasion. We might win one of those wars, but we won’t win them all and we aren’t really in a position to be exporting freedom around the world, anyway.
We can stop Israel now. Today. Biden, the US government, the American citizens, we can stop this. We can’t stop Hamas from attacking. We can’t ensure humans everywhere have food, safety, and water. We can stop Israel.
We can stop Israel.
Well, that’s a big question mark, but I would say we can stop SUPPORTING Israel in its genocide, at least.
Well yeah. I mean, I should say we have a hope of stopping Israel. Netanyahu wants Trump, but he’s not going to defy Biden in the meantime, that is if Biden ever actually took a hardline position.
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Smells like IDF whataboutism.
No, I just don’t myopically go after one cause while ignoring others because manipulated social media points me in a direction. I am pointing out that people need to pay attention to the world, not only the issues bots push to the top of threads. The manipulation of algorithms by authoritarian troll farms has consequences for all the other suffering people in the world not getting heard. The pressure on Israel and the US has gotten Palestine support and aid. Others need that same support and you barely hear anything about other genocides online. That is no mere coincidence and people should be aware they are being manipulated away from other genocides on purpose by authoritarian regimes like China. The world needs to keep pressure on them over their Uyghur genocide and internment/enslavement as well. You can create awareness and pressure online about more than one movement at a time.
Has a queer army somehow invaded a country and gone unnoticed?
A way to try to discourage leftist criticism of Israel’s actions is to appeal to Israel being the only country in the middle east that somewhat recognises queer people and their rights.
That should only work on people capable of a single thought.
I want Israel to fuck off and pay for their crimes.
I want LGBTQ rights everywhere, and those that impede them should be deposed and, depending on their actions, charged with crimes.
If the current leaders of Gaza do not respect the rights of all humans, they should be removed. This has nothing to do with the ongoing invasion and bombings from Israel, they are separate thoughts.
Nuance isn’t allowed on the internet tho.
I want LGBTQ rights everywhere, and those that impede them should be deposed and, depending on their actions, charged with crimes.
Does that include Gaza?
Why wouldn’t it?
Human rights exist everywhere, and I decry anyone who opposes that.
This is accomplished through reasonable, legal process. Not bombs.
You cant despose of and charge with crimes without some amount of violence, they arent going to come quietly
I’m taking about Palestinians governing themselves, same as any other place.
Im not saying anywhere deserves to be bombed over this, I’m saying (and your seem to have missed it) that the invasion and the LGBTQ rights issues are entirely separate, and should be handled separately.
Israel has nothing to do with it
Spec ops: the rainbow
I’m not sure. But this might be the answer to the question “British or Gay?”. Maybe we colonized the UK and are only now able to answer the question with “Yes, both.”
The “unnoticed” part is what I balk at:
They’d be the flamboyantest army around, wouldn’t they??
People disagreeing with this meme is a prime example of why you do not allow your entire worldview to be defined by bourgeois elections.
Liberals weaponizing LGBT rights to justify atrocities harms LGBT movements around the globe. We do not need, for example, companies like Raytheon or the Pinkertons appropriating our symbols. Every time someone uses queer right to justify colonialism, it gives reactionaries ground to paint legitimate queer movements as agents of the West. And I’m not just talking about Russia or China, but non-aligned countries across Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, of course, queer rights are under attack in many Western countries.
It’s the same shit as when the “New Atheist” and Bill Maher types started justifying the Iraq War on the basis of feminism or whatever. Firmly rejecting that mentality and distinguishing ourselves from it is more important than worrying about which imperialist gets elected.
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The inconsistent ‘O’s are kind of bothering me, but also I have no idea what this is referring to. Did the IDF start flying rainbow flags or something?
Israel has the best lgbtq rights in the middle east. Its a low bar. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Israel
In Gaza, being gay is illegal, and coming out often results in death. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_State_of_Palestine
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They don’t even meet that bar. You can’t get married in Israel if you’re gay. They aren’t the progressive paradise they like to pretend to be when they engage in pinkwashing.
It’s about people saying a vote for Biden protects LGBTQ+ people more than a vote for Trump - and that reality being unacceptable as a rationale to the meme maker.
What a truly stupid meme
I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they’re referring to the pinkwashing of Hamas’ crimes and goals of turning that whole area of the world into a right wing theocratic ethnostate where anyone who isn’t arab, conservative, and muslim gets hunted for sport.
But I think I get it:
Let’s say you really love the rich taste of Royal Dutch Shell gasoline, but you’re concerned that their mineral rights contracts with developing countries might be exploitative. Now, if they release a rainbow colored logo for Pride month, you might feel less shame when drinking their gasoline, because they did a good deed.
However, the truth is none of it matters because you’re gonna keep on guzzling all the Royal Dutch Shell gas you can get your hands on because it just. tastes. so. good.
This poster looks cool af
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