Zodiark

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Occupied Palestinian Territory

Good afternoon and thank you all for your patience.

So first off, in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that people continue to be displaced amidst active fighting and bombardment.

Currently, the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, estimates that 65,000 people remain in Rafah. This is in stark contrast to six weeks ago, when Rafah hosted 1.4 million displaced people before the Israeli evacuation orders and military operations.

UNRWA also tells us that for more than eight months now, 625,000 children have been out of school because of the hostilities. Humanitarian partners are lending support by offering psychosocial activities, but children need to resume their schooling.

Meanwhile, OCHA reports that for the first time since early June, five trucks of fuel entered Gaza. However, the supplies remain scarce as no fuel had been delivered in the Strip for the past two weeks.

saw this on the Trueanon subreddit. Nader claims at least 200k have been killed by Israel so far.

We should have a "no lesser-evilism" rule. If we don't already.

Amusing as a 300+ comments section can appear to be, debating two lemmydorks about the merits of supporting a genocidaire because the other one is also such is not something that should provide you amusement. It should be shut down, ignored, and moved on from.

An active ongoing genocide is not something one plays around with like one plays around with food. The time has long past for any good faith liberals to have informed themselves; genocide is a red line and any liberal trying to haggle and justify their support for Biden is just someone who wants to go back to brunch. Liberals would rather play "out of sight out of mind".

Anyway, aside from the report function,

I don't know if it works for Lemmyverse users, but you can use it to block:

• Kerryposters
• Kerryposting genocide supporters
• Genocide apologists.
• Bigots, fascists, creeps.
• Liberals scolding you for not supporting Biden.

Saw the documentary after seeing that thread.

(Title is a reference to the Manga, Barefoot Gen, where an Imperial Japanese soldier insists two children stomp on Churchill/Truman's effigy painted on the street sidewalk as way to help defeat the Allies )

I don't feel comfortable having an Israeli flag on Hexbear with the star of David on its image burning.

On my part, though it does happen, this is not my conflation of Zionism with Judaism. I trust we believe that Zionism is using Judaism, the Star of David, and the history of the Jewish people to deface and tarnish the Torah and Jewish culture for its own settler colonial ideology and national chauvinism.

Zionism is using Judaism, Jewish culture, and identity as a weapon to fuel its own existence and legitimacy, and as shield to insulate itself from criticism and consequences.

And because of that people do link them together, whether we like it or not.

Creating an emoji with a burning Star of David is something that Hexbear has not done, but I don't appreciate the occassional poster here Just Asking Questions in debatebro fashion on why we can not have a burning star of david.

I certainly don't like having images of them spammed to me in my inbox with the message "just admit i'm right". Whether people do it on other forums and in crowds on the street is neither here nor there; there's a difference between ventilating frustration and cultivating an ecosystem of hate that is very fragile to navigate through in an issue so sensitive and urgent.

tl;dr - you don't need a burning Israel flag with the Star of David to express contempt, horror, disgust, shame, anger, and the solidarity of opposition.

Also don't harass people with your "argument".

Hi there,

I'm sure you've seen me around, as I've been here for quite while. I enjoyed and saw how this site grew, etc, but what I enjoyed was the genuine topics and conversation of discussions about this site. Perhaps it is the reintegration of life and routine, away from Covid, but I've noticed a decline in quality that makes me reminiscent and nostalgic for the past and even for members like LiberalSocialist.

You used to have something to say, regularly.

Chapochat/Hexbear wasn't just recycled memes and images from r/thedeprogram or r/trueanon.

There are still interesting things and conversations that are posted but they've been drowned out by pages of mediocre images that substitute picture and image for discussion and introspection; as another poster once typed, paraphrasing, we're all just trying to create site taglines and phrases and substituting quips for insight and catharsis.

Fair enough that catharsis, solidarity, and revelation can only be achieved through living your life and not through quiet meditation and discussion on reddit or psuedo-reddits. But there was at least more frequency of effort posts, venting, and exegesis of history, current and social events, and understanding of the world or at least an effort to do so.

To my observation, such that I lurk here, Such effort is only spared on video games. On media. On the dunk_tank. On getting upset about wrong opinion.

Despite the federation, this site seems to have only become isolated and divorced of what made it unique: effortposting.

Maybe it's not just Hexbear. Maybe that is why UlyssesT left; the catharsis is exhausted and online space is dominated by a a tendency for performative and justified outrage and yearning for solidarity and emotional validation. But rather than copium, as anyone afflicted with a disease would prefer, some small part of me wanted prognoses rather than diagnoses.

I don't know. I reflect on things like /moretankiechapo or /genzedong and see how things have declined in qualityposts. Perhaps it is for the better, as UlyssesT had discovered, to have the impetus to go outside and not only live life but to evangalize socialism and recapture purpose and community.

I'll see you tomorrow.