Ok Gotta Talk About It.

i hope that the discussion about student protests does not get reduced to "privileged rich kids faffing around at an ivy league school." setting aside that tenuous claim, over the last week, protests have erupted over the entire country. a few days ago, riot police beat, pepper-sprayed, and arrested NYU faculty shielding students; protests started at the university of southern california when the admin cancelled the valedictorian's speech; encampments appeared at the university of southern carolina, UT dallas, the university of maryland, the university of new mexico, IUPUI, virginia tech, the university of virginia, the university of illinois, the university of north carolina — chapel hill, the university of pittsburgh, uc berkeley, the university of michigan — ann arbor, MIT, emerson, tufts, the university of rochester, rice, swarthmore, the new school, vanderbilt university, with students arrested; students protested or walked out at miami university, northwestern, temple, the 5 claremont colleges: pomona, pitzer, scripps, harvey mudd, and claremont mckenna, stanford, washington university in st louis, students were arrested at ohio state, students were confronted by riot police at cal poly humboldt, after which they occupied campus, students were arrested at the university of minnesota — twin cities, after which faculty walked out; and yes, there are protests at the other ivies, most notably yale, with students facing mass arests after encampments, but there is also an encampment at brown, protests appeared at cornell, princeton faculty issued a statement of solidarity while students are preparing an encampment, and harvard banned the undergraduate palestine solidarity committee. there are thousands of students who are protesting for palestine across the entire country, facing harassment, arrest, and suspension in return

Wissam Hamada, the mother of Hind Rajab, whose legacy continues to inspire movements worldwide, despite her tragic passing expresses her profound grief mixed with pride as her daughter's name now resonates at institutions like Columbia University. She calls on the world to continue protesting so that children like Hind could be spared what Hind had gone through.

[eye.on.palestine]

We just witnessed the assassination of Julius Caesar if one senator in particular went absolutely feral

Beware the tres de Mayo

My opinion is that Macklemore and Kendrick are two different situations. Kendrick’s drop is important because it’s exposing genuine issues within the music industry and exposing a literal predator, womaniser, and someone who has essentially been shitting on the history of hip hop and rap ever since he started his music career.

Macklemore’s drop is important because not only does it call out the IDF and America’s complicity in Israel’s genocide on a huge platform, but all the streaming proceeds actually go to helping Palestine.

What isn’t important is Drake. That’s why Macklemore only shouted out how he isn’t interested in Drake’s response, and doesn’t mention Kendrick at all, because no one should give a shit about what that whiny little bitch has to say and waste time waiting for the response.

But overall, the main takeaway from all of this, including Macklemore’s song, is that you shouldn’t let the actual drama distract you from talking about and supporting Palestine. Kendrick has won the “beef”. We all know that he has, and we need to respect what he did as a legitimate moment in history for the hip hop scene and for the music industry as a whole. That’s why I think viewing it as just “beef” is stupid anyway. Kendrick fucking executed that guy and now Drake should fall out of relevancy for good. I don’t give a shit about Drake’s response either. This isn’t celebrity drama, this was a hip hop legend cleaning up the scene for us.

Meanwhile, we should also be streaming Macklemore’s song because it sends all its funds to the UNRWA, and funding the Palestine relief effort is important as fuck right now. You can have whatever opinion you want on Macklemore himself, but streaming that song will help Palestine.

Basically, the Macklemore song and the Kendrick songs are important for different reasons, and they should be treated as such and not pitted against each other. Even Macklemore’s not pitting them against each other if you actually read his lyrics.

Don’t stop talking about Palestine. Don’t let celebrity drama distract you. Fuck whatever Drake has to say, and stream both Hind’s Hall and Kendrick’s diss tracks.

Why are Palestinians not allowed to have any allies? This is the same vein of people who lament about how “oh I only trust Palestinians to talk about Palestine” - we as Palestinians are asking you to speak up. It will always be just an excuse not to care or do anything. (And yes, what’s happening in Palestine actually does involve Americans!)

I have the BIGGEST side eye for anyone who says shit like 'celebrities aren't obligated to make political statements' or 'why do you even care what they think?'. Why the fuck would I want to support someone who sees what's happening in Palestine and has the power to inform their audience/fan base and simply doesn't? Why don't they care enough to say anything at all? How do they, as millionaires and billionaires with very real influence whether we want them to have it or not, not want to help? When they see these people suffering and begging to just survive, how do they continue about their lives and not WANT to speak out even once??

Like how do they see children being bombed and go 'oh, that's so sad...anyway, nothing I can do about it', when they absolutely can do something about it. Small content creators with only a few hundred people listening are doing more to help Palestine than Taylor Swift, Beyoncé or literally any other big-time celebrity with the power to both make massive change and preserve their careers through it all. So why, why the actual FUCK, would I want to support these celebrities in ANYWAY when I know that they are capable of ignoring what's happening in Gaza or any atrocity like this. Why would I give my time and possibly money to some cunt who can't get on Twitter for two minutes and post something as simple as 'I stand with Palestine' because sometimes that's all they need to fucking do!

Y'all can ask 'why do you even care what they think?' all you want, but I do care if someone I was openly supporting doesn't have the basic decency to want to help the people of Palestine when they are screaming to be heard. Where they stand on issues like this will ALWAYS be more important to me than their next album or TV show. Silence is compliance.

Hozier - Francesca

❝ My life was a storm, since I was born, how could I fear any hurricane? ❞

Social media users have launched “Operation Blockout” to mass block high-profile celebrities and influencers who have not used their platform to shed light on the ongoing genocide in Gaza and advocate for a ceasefire.

“These people have all the opportunity to make change in this world and instead of using their platform to talk about shit that matters, they use it to make themselves money. That’s it. Fuck ‘em. Block ‘em,” said one user on TikTok.

Some users are posting their daily block list on social media using the hashtags #blockout or #blockout2o24

I saw someone say that calling it allosexual-speactrum makes more sense than calling it the asexual-spectrum. thoughts?

yeah I agree with them

I absolutely do not agree with them

I have to give this a few more thoughts

both works I guess