Ben Pitt

Ex game dev & technical writer at Unity. he/him. Find my music, videos, gameography & more at: my own opinions here!

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

Skateboarding is a type of flying. https://t.co/C3ZI6yxmS7

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@ddclubx @ViralityClips https://t.co/6cqspozX3t

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@ddclubx @ViralityClips I googled the text in the post and found it :)
It's a Black-naped Pheasant-Pigeon

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

“My name is Amos Goldberg. I am an Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies. For nearly 30 years I have researched and taught the Holocaust, genocide and state violence.

And I want to tell whoever is willing to listen that what’s happening now in Gaza is a genocide.

A year ago when October 7th happened, like all Israelis I was in shock. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people - more than 800 of them civilians - were killed in one day. Children and the elderly were among those taken hostage. Communities were destroyed. It was outrageous, traumatizing, personal. Like most Israelis, I know people who were killed, who lost loved ones or whose loved ones were taken hostage.

But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response and within weeks thousands of civilians were killed in Gaza. It took me some time to digest what was unfolding before my eyes. It was agonizing to confront that reality. I was reluctant to call it a genocide.

But if you read Raphael Lemkin – the Jewish-Polish legal scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ and was the major driving force behind the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention – what is happening in Gaza now is exactly what he had in mind when he spoke about genocide.

It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide. Each genocide looks different and not all involve killing of millions or the entire group. The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words.

But there does need to be a clear intent.

And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza: Israel’s leaders - including the prime minister and the minister of defence - and many high-ranking military officers, media personalities, rabbis, as well as ordinary soldiers were very open about what they wanted to achieve. There were countless documented incitements to turn the whole of Gaza into rubble and claims that there are no innocent people living there.

A radical atmosphere of dehumanization of the Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I can’t remember in my 58 years of living here.

Now that vision has been enacted. Tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men have been killed. Over a hundred thousand were wounded. There is a near total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation and blocking of humanitarian aid. There are mass graves and reliable testimony of summary executions. Children that were shot by snipers. All the universities and almost all hospitals are gone. Almost all the population is displaced. There have been numerous bombings of civilians in so-called ‘safe zones’. Gaza does not exist anymore. It is completely destroyed. Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the stated intentions of Israel’s leadership.

Lemkin - that scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ - described two phases of a genocide. The first is the destruction of the annihilated group and the second is what he called ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.

And therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what a genocide looks like. We don’t teach about genocides in order to realize it retrospectively. We teach about it in order to prevent it and to stop it.

But like in every other case of genocide in history right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world.

But reality cannot be denied.

So yes, it is a genocide.

And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.”

- Statement to Led By Donkeys, December 2024
- Photo: Parliament Square, London, 8.40am, 4th December 2024

[Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 @MrMatthewTodd]

declare a climate emergency and have scientists tell the public the full truth about what is coming. The public need to know this - they should’ve been told long ago but it also will put massive pressure on Trump.

NASA: 2023 hottest year globally on record https://t.co/7rFcSKwX67

Sir David Attenborough: ‘the collapse of human civilisation is on the horizon https://t.co/Ic8d4fIRhF

https://t.co/tVwn7drLED

The real ‘Day After Tomorrow’ scenario is getting closer: https://t.co/oyNQ7Btv5n

‘We are afraid… billions are in danger…’ https://t.co/h92omT3XIy

https://t.co/OHydN8fNNR

The billion dollar disinformation campaign from the oil industry: https://t.co/rPSWCUONMj

climate change makes hurricanes more powerful and dangerous: https://t.co/85GygZOmNr

Facts: NASA https://t.co/AE2stHGHCv Oxford https://t.co/OHydN8fNNR Met office https://t.co/fB60rr3SUM Margaret Thatcher https://t.co/LDf2t2GNVg Stephen Hawking https://t.co/4VnTFZi7DA The oil PR campaign against the facts: https://t.co/FlCzmeGkRd The Royal Society https://t.co/31betE7TaC Princeton Uni https://t.co/XJcz9Dog4E Cambridge https://t.co/zWdfnxg7tW Harvard University https://t.co/wrMRfIWYuO Imperial, London https://t.co/Y1aR5HFCN9 Kings College London https://t.co/uotkevblnQ Manchester https://t.co/EuYcR6CEeY 11000 scientists warn of ‘untold human suffering’ https://t.co/jSbJQnT5mw ‘We are afraid’ Scientists warn the world is in uncharted territory https://t.co/h92omT3XIy

[Climate Defiance @ClimateDefiance]

There is no easy way to talk about this. This week the UN announced we are on track to reach up to 3.1° Celsius of warming. We are slated to blow past the goals of the Paris Accords. Here's what this means. (1/9) 🧵

[Volcaholic 🌋 @volcaholic1]

🧵 I've put together this thread to show just how much flooding has happened around the world, and this is only for the month of September—and it's not even over yet! Please share this because I don't think the message is getting out there.

Türkiye...
https://t.co/LCPBafy4Xj

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@HumansNoContext I know this is about butcher's ridiculous accent but
🇺🇸: baddle uh wadder

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@CinShiba @HumansNoContext 🇺🇸: puh tay dough

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@LottyEliza55833 @John__Phipps They were targeting an immigration lawyer office (they're very near it in that photo). They're angry about the run-down state of the UK, but they've been sold a lie by farage & robinson about the reasons why, and are now acting on it without realising they're being manipulated.

[Phil Syrpis @syrpis]

So, last night in Bristol, and across the country, a mass of people with legitimate concerns about the security of their communities, took to the streets, and made their point without resorting to violence. It’s not difficult.

[Edward Luce @EdwardGLuce]

Can't say this enough; Elon Musk's menace to democracy is intolerable. He's using the largest & most influential platform in the democratic world to stoke racial conflict and civil breakdown - in his own posts & what X promotes. Democracies can no longer ignore this.

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@ElstonDean1969 @jessphillips Probably didn't cross your mind to think of this but I expect they actually know each other. That's how she knows. Now, do you know any women Dean? How do you know if *they're* really women?

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@Franrekk these are so beautiful ❤️

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@interesting_aIl i'm not sure if I would like that to be exactly how I am commemorated tbh

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@CommodoreBlog nice short phone number :D

[TrashRash @QuesoandHuevos]

@elonmusk Because someone else is doing it for you and you're just taking credit?

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@Diktat17 @lottylotto @PaulBrandITV @ITVTonight Criticising Sunak for being out of touch with regular voters because he's richer than the king is not disparaging success. The man avoids interaction with working class people, doesn't know how to use a contactless card, and is in that position solely for the contracts.

[Ben Pitt @robotduck]

@Diktat17 @kirkers1975 @kAN3one1 @PaulBrandITV @ITVTonight Perhaps the point is that a privileged but honest and empathetic person who genuinely wants to make the country better would acknowledge it like "I was lucky to not have to go without, but I want to change things so others don't have to either". But instead he reaches for this.

[@joshfwd.bsky.social @JoshFwd]

Yes, it’s possible to vote the Tories in to 3rd place.

It’s possible 13 million people will vote anti-Tory, lending their votes tactically to opposition parties.

https://t.co/aApHoglKFf

But the odds are still against us.

Reasons getting the Tories out isn’t a done deal:

1. 🔀 polls are not outcomes, they’re national intent, we still need to vote efficiently (tactically) for the most likely candidates to beat them in each constituency because of FPTP.

2. 🚨 8 million people could be missing from the electoral register

https://t.co/dSQxJlzoPv

3. 🚨 5 million might not have the right photo voter ID they’ll need

https://t.co/pS5JX5N5YE

SO WHAT TO DO?

1. ✍️ When you sign up to join https://t.co/IjkRiEzwpo you get a registration checklist in your email with links to everything you need.

2. ⏩ Forward that email to as many people as you can, copy the links to Facebook, WhatsApp, etc

📋 Election checklist

☑️ Register to vote by June 18th
https://t.co/VGQhZm4vwk

☑️ Get voter ID by June 26th
https://t.co/yAu3y4c5vT

☑️ Get a postal vote by June 19th
https://t.co/qmgZhOc4si

☑️ Get a proxy vote by June 26th
https://t.co/jVt6P1oidw

☑️ Vote your Tory out on July 4th
https://t.co/dCCMTeCiR3

(Copy/pasting the links from this tweet might break them, best to get the email)

3. 📜 put up a poster to spread the tactical voting info locally

https://t.co/fXBZML49dW

4. Double your tactical vote!

👩🏾‍🤝‍👩🏼 Firstly just by taking a friend with you to vote your local Tory out.

🔀 Secondly finding a swap partner to vote tactically where they are

https://t.co/zAKsv020g5 launching soon.

THEN WHAT?

After the election we’re going to need to show the new government why we voted the Tories out, and what we showed up for.

Together at scale, using our votes like a union or newspaper does to mobilise, we can remind hundreds of new MPs that we put them there, and how to earn our votes from here on.

https://t.co/b3RwShzltH

We’ll help empower that, join up and use the power you have as a voter