Art By Higga for Mo Dao Zu Shi

[among us] blue crewmate and his red imposter friend that stalks him to protect him from other imposter, part 5

The end

[Part 1-2] [part 3] [part 4]

a lot of you hate historians and archaeologists, and i think that’s a problem

look, i fully recognize that there are reasons to be skeptical of history and archaeology. i am very on board with criticizing academia as an oppressive institution, and the way that researchers take their bigotry and bias with them to their work. i also recognize that academia does a pretty bad job of communicating what it does to the public, and that’s a part of why people’s hostility to it is able to flourish.

but i am disturbed by the pervasive narrative in online leftist spaces that people who research the human past are ignorant and bigoted, and i think we need to do more to combat that narrative.

historians being homophobic has become a whole meme, and it feels like people are just using historians as a homophobia scapegoat, when in reality the humanities are overwhelmingly left-leaning. people also keep blaming historians for erasing the homoeroticism of fictional literary characters, which is just… not what historians do. homophobic biases and erasures in the interpretation of history over the past few hundred years are a very real thing that’s important to learn about, but scholars have radically shifted away from that approach in recent generations, and these memes are not helping people outside the field to understand history and reception. instead, a lot of people are coming away with the impression that…

(source… really? nobody?)

this thread gets bonus points for the comments claiming that modern historians argue about whether achilles was a top or a bottom using homophobic stereotypes, which i can only guess is a misunderstanding of the erastes/eromenos model (a relationship schema in classical greece; i think people have debated whether achilles and patroclus represent an early version of it). also a commenter claims that the movie troy invented the idea of achilles and patroclus being cousins when no, they were also cousins in lots of ancient sources.

there’s this post about roman dodecahedra (link includes explanation of why the original post is misleading).

there’s this thread about how some thin gold spirals from ancient denmark look exactly like materials used in gold embroidery to this day but archaeologists are stupid and don’t know that because they dont talk to embroiderers enough. in fact, the article says they were most likely used for decorating clothing, whether as a fringe, braided into hair, or embroidered. so the archaeologists in the article basically agree with the post, theyre just less certain about it, because an artifact looking similar to a modern device doesn’t necessarily mean they have identical uses.

this thread has a lot of people interpreting academic nuance as erasure. the museum label literally says that this kind of statue typically depicts a married couple, giving you the factual evidence so you can interpret it. it would be false to say “these two women are married” because there was no gay marriage in ancient egypt. (interpreting nuance as erasure or ignorance is a running theme here, and it points to a disconnect, a public ignorance of how history is studied, that we can very much remedy)

lots of other conspiracy theory-ish stuff about ancient egypt is common in social justice communities, which egyptologists on this site have done a good job of debunking

oh, and this kind of thing has been going around. the problem with it is that there are loads of marginalized academics who research things related to their own lives, and lived experience and rigorous research are different forms of expertise that are both valuable.

so why does this matter?

none of these are isolated incidents. for everything i’ve linked here, there are examples i havent linked. anti-intellectualism, especially against the humanities, is rampant lately across the political spectrum, and it’s very dangerous. it’s not the same as wanting to see and understand evidence for yourself, it’s not the same as criticizing institutions of academic research. it’s the assumption that scholars are out to get you and the perception that there is no knowledge to be gained from thorough study. that mindset is closely connected to the denial of (political, scientific, and yes historical) facts that we’ve been seeing all around us in recent years.

on a personal note, so many marginalized scholars are trying to survive the dumpster fire of academia because we care that much about making sure the stories that are too often unheard don’t get left out of history… and when that’s the entire focus of my life right now, it’s disheartening to see how many of my political allies are just going to assume the worst about the entire field

osaaka (2/?)

the Guardian

Palestine's UN ambassador holds back tears during appeal to world court – video

Palestine's UN ambassador appealed to the court to lift Israel's occupation

"what does international law mean for Palestinian children in Gaza today? It has protected neither them nor their parents. It has not protected their families or communities, it has not protected their lives or limbs, it has not protected their hopes or homes. We are a proud and resilient people that has endured more than its share of agony.

It is so painful to be Palestinian today. "

Today at the international court of justice hearing on Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, held back tears as he appealed to the judges to uphold international law in the Palestinian territories and help secure a two-state solution 'in which the two-states live side by side in peace and security'.

i made an eepy t kiss comp!

#miaomiao gives off so much malewife energy

Yu Hewei as Shi Qiang and Zhang Luyi as Wang Miao in THREE-BODY | 三体 (2023) Ep 1.17 (Kun's 63/∞ Three-Body gifsets)

POLICE BRUTALITY IN FRANCE

Video translation: My name is Aïssa Maïga. I am proud to be here, standing alongside Assa [Traoré] and all the families who have suffered police brutality in France. I am here in remembrance of all the people, too many of them to list, who endured this violence and paid the price of it with their lives.

I am a actress and a director. The fight we are leading in French cinema, television and theater is the same fight. It’s a fight for fair, positive and decent representation of French people of African descent, of Asian descent and of Arab descent.

We will not leave this alone. We will not leave French cinema alone. We will not leave the French justice system alone. We will not leave France alone. Not as long as there is injustice and not as long as our brothers, our sisters, our children risk dying at the hands of a police force that is supposed to protect them.

02/06/20 - 20,000 protesters gathered in Paris to demand justice for Adama Traoré, a young black man who died in police custody in 2016 after being pinned face down on the floor by the weight of three cops. The demonstration went ahead despite the chief of police waiving their right to march a few hours before the agreed upon start time. Protesters were later gassed and violently dispersed by the police.

The spotlight is on the US right now and obviously it’s vital for us to show our support, but it’s equally important to engage in the work that needs to be done at home. There is plenty.

Last night’s protest comes on the heels of mounting and widespread police brutality being used in repressing demonstrations against pension reform earlier this year, as well as heightened and disproportionate policing in black and brown neighbourhoods during the Covid-19 lockdown (link contains footage of violence).

The French Ombudsman has published several reports pointing to systematic racially discriminatory practices in the French police as well as its disproportionate use of force. He has also called for a ban on the use of rubber bullets and GLI-F4 grenades. France is the only country in the EU to allow for the use of these grenades and they are directly responsible for multiple people being permanently maimed in recent protests.

An internal affairs investigation was launched in January after a black officer reported his colleagues for insulting him in a whatsapp group, which later turned out to be full of cops bandying around racial, homophobic and antisemitic slurs, hate speech and conspiracy theories. I have listened to excerpts and cannot overstate how violent and disgusting the language and the content were.

In response to French cops regularly smashing phones being used to record them, Amal Bentounsi launched the Urgence Violences Policières app, which allows for footage of police misconduct to be directly uploaded to the cloud and sent to a collective monitoring police brutality in France. Now a draft bill is being put to Parliament aiming to limit our right to document police misconduct. People could face a €15,000 fine and 6 months in prison for sharing any footage of a police officer during the performance of their duties.

Last week, Camelia Jordana, a French singer, said on television that she, like thousands of French citizens, was afraid of a police force that routinely killed people because of the colour of their skin. Our Minister for Home Affairs immediately slammed her on twitter, calling her statement shameful and defamatory and then went on to say that he would “not let the Republic’s honour be sullied”.

All of this to say that our government is complicit, and our government as well as the media establishment and French police unions are finding it very easy to point fingers across the Atlantic while denying that the same violence is being perpetrated here.

If you’re French please sign the petition against the draft bill on police footage, sign the petition to legally ban unsafe forms of restraint used by the police, educate yourself further (x, x, x, x), contact your representatives, download the UVP app, and join the protests if you are able. Black lives matter the world over and now is the moment to push for change that’s been a long time coming.

Video courtesy of Taha Bouhafs on twitter

Palestinian girls watch their teacher during a ballet class at Gaza college in Gaza City on September 3, 2012. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

jujutsu kaisen sketch dump!