An Alternative Explanation

Tweeting into the void

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@aspdbenrey @BriskittyThe3rd @chantalAkerstan You're right, my coffee art suggestions probably aren't great.

Doesn't mean this isnt erasure.

If an Israeli cafe in Ireland, with pictures of Herzl on its walls, had the same coffee art, would you call it Palestinian erasure? I certainly would.

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@TheStarspill @chantalAkerstan Given that
- it's an explicitly pro-Palestine cafe, and
- a lot of Palestinians + activists do genuinely want the destruction / conquering of Israel, and
- they chose to post this picture on their social media,

seems extremely unlikely. But... sure, technically possible.

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@TheStarspill @chantalAkerstan If it were a "pro-Israel cafe", I'd absolutely accuse them of erasing Palestine.

But in a place which has a picture of Leila Khaled hanging on its wall, I'd imagine this is probably Israel-erasure.

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@jeremymonline @chantalAkerstan I would argue that this would be an act of "erasing the cis-normative definition of woman."

I would also argue that this is a good thing to erase, but it still would be an act of erasure.

It's fine if you want to support Israel-erasure. But be honest about what this is.

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@dropdammit @chantalAkerstan Historically, and today, many Palestinians seek to destroy/conquer Israel (many Israelis want to do the same to Palestine).

So, I think it's pretty clear what this outline implies. Just like it'd be pretty clear what the Russia+Ukraine outline would mean in a Russian cafe.

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@dropdammit @chantalAkerstan And, I would be surprised if a Ukrainian cafe grouped Ukraine+Russia together. I don't think Ukrainians generally want to destroy or conquer Russia.

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@dropdammit @chantalAkerstan I'd hope Russian people have different opinions than their leaders, and would omit Ukraine from their idea of Russia. And, if they didn't, I'd find that condemnable.

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@BriskittyThe3rd @chantalAkerstan I don't "expect" anything, just saying that Heidi isn't wrong. But, off the top of my head, they could've used a Palestinian flag? Or a watermelon?

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@dropdammit @chantalAkerstan I mean... if I visited a Russian cafe, and they had coffee art of the shape of Russia+Ukraine as a single entity, I'd probably say this is something like erasing Ukraine. Wouldn't you?

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@DSA_Watch I don't like Hasan Piker but I'm 99.99% sure that this is out-of-context.

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@DanielJ718618 @mehdirhasan I don't know your circumstances. But I do think that the "1/8 Cherokee" comparison is appropriate for some people, and I find that distasteful.

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@DanielJ718618 @mehdirhasan I think you're taking this a bit personally. I have friends who I know have never identified themselves as Jews, now (selectively) embracing the title.

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@EYakoby Pretty sure it's Lebanon?

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@DanielJ718618 @mehdirhasan It kinda hits my ear like a white person saying "as a 1/8 Cherokee Indian," ya know?

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@DanielJ718618 @mehdirhasan I think you misunderstand me, friend. I know there are many Jews who are connected to Jewish culture who hate Israel.

But it's frustrating when people who've never identified as Jews, suddenly qualify their opinions with "as a Jew." Even when I agree with their opinion... blech.

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@josie62j @OliLondonTV Matt Damon's stunt double is on the right (the smaller one). The person on the left is a different stunt double, presumably for the same scene.

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@mehdirhasan It doesn't invalidate their opinion, obviously. But if someone lives their life completely indistinguishably from a gentile, grew up almost entirely around gentiles, and don't do anything "outwardly Jewish", then I think it hard to take their opinion "as a Jew" seriously.

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@mehdirhasan I'm a secular Jew, and I strongly dislike Ben Shapiro, but I know what he means here.

It's hard to quantify it, obviously. But there are people of Jewish descent who are so clearly disconnected from the culture that their opinion "as a Jew" doesn't really hold water.