SLAM DUNK

Art by Higga for Mo Dao Zu Shi

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love is real. it’ll never happen to me. whatever

courting antisemitism

so i recently decided to take a look at the latest stonetoss comics (probably because i love suffering). and while i was expecting some content on the israel palestine conflict, what i did not expect was how... standard it seemed. well, most of it at least, but i'll get to that in a second.

for context, if you don't know what stonetoss is, it's a (poorly drawn) webcomic known for having radical alt-right views - meaning it's incredibly racist, homophobic, transphobic, islamophobic, antisemitic. all that fun stuff.

so while i was expecting to see bad stuff, one of the first things i saw on the topic of israel was this:

terrible art aside, this comic is making a point that i usually see in left wing circles: that israel is pinkwashing genocide.

curious if there was more like this, i kept looking, and the comic right before that one was this:

again, this makes points that i usually see in left wing circles. that american healthcare is crazy expensive, that canada tells poor people to commit suicide, and that israel is bombing hospitals.

why does stonetoss, this well known alt-right nutjob, now seem to be bringing up left-wing talking points?

curious, i kept going deeper:

well this is... odd. clearly, stonetoss is trying to say that israel is on another level of bad, even worse than russia, iran, and north korea. i can possibly see someone on the left making the argument that the russian invasion of ukraine isn't as bad as what israel is doing in gaza, or that at least north korea isn't invading any other countries, but... iran??? the country that has a police force designed to enforce religious law, and gets away with murdering women who do not properly cover their hair? the country that props up paramilitary groups in countries all over the middle east, including lebanon, yemen, and yes, palestine?? that's completely ridiculous

but, given how much more israel is in the news nowadays than any of these other countries, i could see why someone would buy this

and now, we're starting to get to the crux of what stonetoss is trying to do. when someone sees this, they might be inclined to agree with it. they might begin to think that israel is the worst country on the planet

and that might not seem so bad at first. but the more you hate israel, especially irrationally, the more you feel allowed to dehumanize those who support it. the more you might be willing to agree with this comic, which came out two days prior to the one above

this comic says that jews, as a whole have no desire to exist with other people. it is blatantly antisemitic

i'm sure you could imagine some young leftist who sees the comics above this one and thinks, "this guy makes some good points". and then, when they get to this one, they might realize that this is antisemitism

or, they may not.

and that would start them down the road to becoming an antisemite.

this is what stonetoss and other alt-right nutjobs are hoping to achieve. to take left wing fury at israel, and direct it at jews.

we saw it with those neo-nazis at the palestine rally, and we're seeing it again here.

and if you've found yourself agreeing with what stonetoss has said so far, i would like you to see the last comic stonetoss put out before october 7th:

this horrifically racist comic is in reference to an environmental activist who was murdered by a black man in early october. this blatantly racist garbage is the kind of stuff stonetoss usually puts out.

but as soon as october 7th happened? these were his next two comics:

stonetoss completely changed the comic's tone as soon as the current crisis started. why?

to get as many people as possible to get on board with hating jews.

and i know many of you might be thinking that "well, everyone knows that stonetoss is racist garbage. nobody is going to fall for this"

except, as we saw with the neo-nazis at the rally for palestine, it's not always that obvious who the antisemites are and who is just rallying for peace. they are often a lot better at disguising it than stonetoss is.

AND EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE AWARE OF THAT

EVERYONE, no matter HOW much experience you have, can fall victim to propoganda. EVERYONE needs to be aware of what people around them are saying, and able to pick out hateful rhetoric, because even the stuff that is just kind of toeing the line of what's hateful is still putting your foot in the door

be cautious, everyone. and stomp out hate where you see it.

Choi Dahye (b.1985) - Silent Cypress Tree. 2019. Acrylic on canvas.

this hour and what is dead, li-young lee / the last temptation (1988) dir. martin scorsese / calvary, william butler yeats / the sparrow, mary doria russell

So I was scrolling and saw this image in an article about the European heat wave,

And was like, uh, are you missing something there, buddy? Like all that red in northern Africa? Because that's a lot of red.

And I was going to give them the benefit of doubt, since I don't know much about the climate in Northern Africa, aside from Morroco and Egypt, which seem like really hot places, so you know, maybe it's normal there?

But nope, that's not the case:

Bloomberg.com

‘Hot Continent’ Perception Downplays Africa's Heat Wave Dangers

Africa is struggling with heat waves and many countries on the continent lack the resources rich economies have to deal with rising temperat

Some selections from the article:

"The region has been experiencing some of the most intense heat waves in recent years, but in many cases they’ve been under-reported due to misconceptions about Africans’ ability to withstand them.

“Africa is seen as a sunny and hot continent,” said Amadou Thierno Gaye, a research scientist and professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. “People think we are used to heat, but we are having high temperatures for a longer duration. Nobody is used to this.”

"The Sahel, for instance, has been heating at a faster pace than the global average despite being hot already. Burkina Faso and Mali, both in West Africa’s Sahel, are among countries that are set to become almost uninhabitable by 2080, if the world continues on its current trajectory, a UK university study found. Its people are especially vulnerable due to shrinking resources, such as water, and poor amenities, and a dearth of trees and parks means there are few options for places to cool off."

I love them so much

lee soo hyuk, kim rok soo, choi jung soo. The old team.

Justice for Muhammad Muhaymin

With at least three officers on his legs and back — and yet another applying a knee to his head and neck — the Black man in his 40s cries out “I can’t breathe” multiple times.

“Please Allah,” he says.

“Allah? He’s not going to help you now,” one of the officers struggling to cuff him says. 

“Just relax.”

“Please help me,” the man says, in between screams. “Please.”

“Relax!” an officer says. “Stop resisting.“The man’s shrieks and utterances become groans. His body goes limp, he falls silent, and vomits.Moments later in the bodycam footage, an officer can be heard saying, "He’s dead.” CASUALLY.

“Three years ago, Phoenix had its own "I can’t breathe” case. But its outcome has so far been very different than that of George Floyd’s.

In 2017, Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin Jr. tried to take his dog with him to the bathroom at a city community center in west Phoenix. The police were called, discovered he had a warrant for his arrest, and decided to detain him.

At least four officers got on top of him and held him down. Some put their knees on his neck and head.

“I can’t breathe,” Muhaymin is heard saying several times in police body camera footage. When officers eventually got off him, Muhaymin had no pulse, according to comments from officers in the video, and lay in a pool of his own vomit.

He was 43, unarmed and black”

The death of Muhaymin is the subject of a $10 million lawsuit his sister filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona. The lawsuit is against the 10 officers, a city parks and recreation employee and Phoenix. The Phoenix Police needs to be restructured  by better training officers and doing better background checks on officers while giving Muhammad and his family the justice he deserves by putting the murderers who killed him in jail.

From AZ Central Article (https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2020/06/05/phoenix-police-death-case-2017-muhammad-muhaymin-jr-resembles-george-floyd-death/3145190001/

Representatives to Contact (Call/Leave messages)

-Kyrsten Sinema (602) 598-7327

-Kate Gallego (602)-262-7111

-Doug Ducey 1-602-542-4331 / engage@az.gov.

-Phoenix Police Department (602) 262-6151) (Non-emergency number)”

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE