I organized a free “how to write an essay” session for the building where I’m staying (full of undergrads). Was advertised in the building newsletter. Bought a bunch of pizza. Nobody showed up. I’m actually so sad.
@WorldOfOrdinary
I'm hoping I get another shot to do this, maybe in a more informal context, while I'm still here (visiting on a semester research fellowship). Someone helped me this way decades ago when I was a student and I try to pay it forward every year.
@mtgreenee
I’ve lost loved ones to COVID, and I’m a Jew who bears the trauma of Nazi atrocities. I wish I could say something to you that would hurt you as much as your words hurt me. But I don’t possess that level of cruelty, and you don’t posses the empathy required to feel anything.
@ardenthistorian
Thank you for saying that. I’m just here for a semester on a research fellowship, but I do this every semester at my home university. When I do it next hopefully students will be in a better place and feel more ready to participate.
My friend
@CaslerNoel
makes jokes for a living, but beneath his humor has always been a deep wisdom, a regard for morality and honesty -- coupled with a rejection of insecure cruelty and violence masquerading as strength.
I sent this tweet Friday, but it speaks to the fear of women in much of conservative ideology a la the shameful op-ed against Dr. Biden. We also see it in the cartoon character Crenshaw has created to manipulate the toxic cosplay desires of the MAGA crowd.
#CancelCrenshaw
I need to withdraw from this site for a while. The positions that fellow academics are espousing celebrating the death of civilians as some sort of valiant moral accomplishment is too much for my soul to bear.
I've spent 34 years engaged in the critical study of religion and ancient Judaism in order to finally write an essay with this title and opening paragraph:
@1RachaelStorm
...that the God you have in mind is a deity whose protection and blessing in a specific place only happens when you engage in devotion to him in that place. Such a deity is either very limited in power, profoundly cruel, or both. 2/
@Boiarski
I actually brought one of the pizzas outside because there were two homeless people who I always see nearby. I gave it to them and we talked about Rush (I was wearing a Rush t-shirt). It was nice and gave us all a smile.
To all the amazing people who shared their insights on how to help students during difficult times, I thank you with closeups of my doodles Milo and Ezra.
@1RachaelStorm
I went to a secular public school from 1988-1990. We didn't have shootings. God doesn't have anything to do with why this happened in Uvalde. And what you are really saying here is...1/
@bctyszka
Thanks Brooke. I'm just sad that they missed a quick chance to learn some easy tricks the really be a better writer. I just wanted to pay it forward. I'll still try.
@marcorubio
Every verse you quote can be countered by others. "Do not rejoice when your enemies fall" is countered by Exod 15:1-18, a song of rejoice at the defeat of Egypt at the Red Sea. Vomiting out a random verse is a meaningless posture, a sign of fake, performative faith. 1/
If you’re protesting for a Free Palestine outside of a synagogue where Jews are simply attending Shabbat services, your protest is less about a Free Palestine and more about Jew hatred.
Det ni ser är en demonstration mot Israel vid synagogan i Malmö nyss. Vidrigt hur den judiska församlingen i Malmö ånyo attackeras av islamister. Viktigt med tydliga fördömanden
@KatrinS_J
mfl
Samantha Woll devoted her life to building bridges between Jewish and Muslim groups in Detroit. I don't know the motivation of her murderer/s, but it is repugnant that so many comments on social media view her slaying as a victory for Palestinian liberation. It is not.
@MarkRuffalo
@SenTedCruz
I have no love for Cruz, but he’s not stupid. He knows what the PCA is; he’s angling to appeal to an electorate that doesn’t, and is trying to affirm his nationalist, isolationist credentials to build their support for either the 2022 senate race or the 2024 presidential race.
Ron DeSantis supporter outside Disney World as families drive in: “If you do business with Disney, you support pedophiles, you support child molesters.”
@EvaMroczek
Maybe that's it -- the students in my building seem okay on the surface but underneath they're probably still struggling to hold it together.
@LindseyGrahamSC
@realDonaldTrump
You’re not interested in healing the country. You’re just afraid of getting harassed at the airport for the rest of your life. But don’t worry. Convicted felons don’t usually travel much while they’re serving their prison terms.
This image has been making the rounds today. Undergrad students -- if an instructor pulls this baloney on you, don't accept it. Take it to the chair of the instructor's department or the dean's office. Always advocate for yourself!
The hostages are now safe, but all of them have been horribly traumatized. And Jews around the world like me are traumatized by this and other acts of antisemitism that have been on the rise in this country for years.
@1RachaelStorm
To say, really, "anybody who doesn't envision the world the way I do deserves what they get," and then to spin a rendition of God that justifies your heartlessness. You proclaim yourself a servant of God, but you want a God that serves YOU. 5/5
Again,
@marcorubio
shows that he doesn't actually read the Bible when he quotes from it: these verses appear in a prayer uttered by Daniel because everything has gone wrong and he believes he and his people are to blame for sinning against God. Appropriate, post-CPAC.
But to the Lord, our God, belong compassion and forgiveness, though we rebelled against him and did not hear the voice of the LORD, our God, by walking in his laws given through his servants the prophets.
Daniel 9:9-10
@GreenfieldIowa
I was on that huge Zoom call a few months back with you and other Dem candidates. I’m in PA but have been donating to your campaign and am proud to support you. Thank you for working so hard and for giving a damn about this country.
@liverational22
@PastorAlexLove
"Why can't the zealot just pray for a lobster with penmanship" is not a question I ever thought I'd hear anyone ask. But I am SO glad that you did.
@TimNoEgo
@TheTweetOfRhea
Here's what I think: it's reasonable to believe in the idea of a deity, but the key word is *believe*. The minute someone begins thinking that what they believe is somehow a demonstrable fact by which everyone should abide, they've suspended their capacity for reason.
@1RachaelStorm
What you're really doing is saying "this happened because they weren't religious enough" -- you're blaming the children slaughtered by this monster. You're blaming their grieving parents. You're blaming the victims. And why? 3/
Yes I know that this does not have the urgency of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. But this type of antisemitism is growing exponentially at protests, and those who ignore it are complicit in the violence it heralds.
@1RachaelStorm
To center yourself. To affirm YOUR preferences and values as the MOST IMPORTANT THING in this horrid moment. To position your misguided sense of faith and vision of society above everything else, and to condemn everyone who doesn't share it. 4/
A thread on academics enabling sexual predators and extending the trauma they case…
Today, during the 2nd day of the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting (
#AARSBL2021
), the name of a convicted sex offender, Richard Pervo, was brought up during a session. 1/
Grading exams and I find this note from a student (I give them space to offer a comment for 1 extra credit points). I’d say I’m not crying but that would be a lie.
I'll be at University of Michigan for a research fellowship in September, but if I wasn't, I'd be going to see my friend
@CaslerNoel
perform at this awesome event. If you can go, GO. It will be a riot and good for the soul.
@AIPAC
It is repugnant that you tweeted this. The man was a hateful bigot and only cared for Israel as a vehicle for his own political and eschatological agenda.
The bombing of the Babi Yar memorial site was not an unfortunate accident of battle. It was part of a deliberate effort to erase testaments to Jewish suffering in the Holocaust from Ukrainian public memory, and signals the role of antisemitism in Putin's strategy.
@Out5p0ken
@jmartNYT
@billpalatucci
That sounds an awful lot like a middle school bully who tells you in private that he/she actually likes you but needs to abuse you in public to maintain their place in the popular kid pecking order.
@yorkuniversity
@Amariarv
Your initial response is insufficient and amounts to little more than empty posturing. Your update is vague and does not make clear that you have ensures that this toxic instructor will be prohibited from causing further harm to future students.
In one succinct, brilliant tweet.
@JamaalBowmanNY
not only lays bare
@mikepompeo
’s racism, he reminds us how this nation’s original sins self-perpetuate.
This very bearded man apparently skipped over the parts where an entire human population is wiped out by a flood, Egyptian infants are mass-murdered, Moses had to dissuade God from destroying the entire Israelite people, and the body count in Revelation.
.
@MorningEdition
just reported that the Dagestan crowds showed up to “protest” the arrival of the flight. Footage shows them trying to find and kill Jews.
Pogroms are not protests. It is unethical journalism to obscure the reality of this deadly situation.
I’ve been disturbed by the number of men chiming in over the last several days on the topic of David and Bathsheba, arguing that David didn’t rape Bathsheba. Below is a screenshot of one such post. I have some thoughts. 1/
The man accused of shooting three Palestinian students in Vermont. His social media suggests MAGA radicalization. As many of my colleagues note, white supremacists are using the Israel-Gaza crisis as a cover for their own hate crimes.
One of the hallmarks of white Christian nationalism: colonize Jewish tradition, claim Jewish rituals and symbols, and use them to harvest what is perceived as “Jewish power” while simultaneously promoting conspiracies about Jews abusing those alleged powers.
MAGA Sen. Doug Mastriano announced his candidacy for Gov of PA today. They opened the proceedings the same way they opened J6 in DC, by blowing the Shofar, signaling that this political battle will also be spiritual.
Just got an email from a student asking for a letter of recommendation; she took a class with me 20 years ago and now wants to return to school and do her PhD.
It's NEVER too late.
No, he didn't. He showed up and was granted an opportunity to model intolerance, intellectual dishonesty, white supremacist values, and a total lack of human empathy. And in closing the segment as they did,
@MorningEdition
normalized all of that. 9/
@Aruthasexy1
Hi, professor of religion here. The Bible is a collection of texts that originated independently of each other, often out of existing oral traditions. 1/
@LucBernard
@arash_tehran
The problem I see is the refusal by many to acknowledge civilian status among Israelis: all are viable targets. And I encounter similar views by those who deny Palestinians civilian status, claiming they are all Hamas supporters. Impossible to reason w those people.
Matt not only takes down a bigoted pseudo-intellectual hack in this thread, but also affirms the danger in how large platforms like the
@nytimes
normalize such voices and make space for white Christian nationalist violence as a result.
@TuftThomas
@latifnasser
Your comment reflects an attitude that knowledge can only be discovered once, and subsequent discoveries don’t matter. This is a legacy of intellectual gate-keeping benefiting the power of only one demographic group in America. Guess which one.
@marcorubio
But let's look at what you've actually quoted. The verse says not to rejoice in the fall of your enemy...not because it's a matter of compassion or respect, but only because God might get mad at you and actually empower your enemy. 2/
@Liz_Wheeler
Did you think, for a moment, how this tweet might affect people who were once parents but no longer are, and struggle with the trauma every day?
@aubrey_huff
Hello, professor of Ancient Judaism here. You’re thinking of the word “Reshef”, spelled by three Hebrew letters: Resh, Shin, and Feyh. The letter corresponding to the “Z” in Pfizer isn’t there, so the words are not really related.
@071219_
You’re right that every instructor has preferences, but there’s a structure and method that works for almost any critical essay assignment, especially in the Liberal Arts. Students tell me it works for them, so I want to help other students avoid the headaches.
I’m selling some custom-built fuzz pedals to raise money to fight hunger over this holiday season. Please view this brief video for a little more info and DM me if you’d like one. Thanks!
@lavern_spicer
The name of the God of Israel in Hebrew, “Yahweh”, translates into “He who causes”. The divine name literally begins with a pronoun. The Bible is full of pronouns all over the place. Please at least read it before you tweet about its contents.
In all the discussion about the real threats
@Mike_Pence
faced on January 6th, do not forget that his unshakeable support of every Trump statement and policy contributed to the deadly insurrection that day. He was complicit until the very moment he became a target.
I’m doing another run of custom guitar pedals to raise funds for philanthropies fighting the COVID crisis in India (100% of the profits will go to them). Check out the video and reply below for more info.
This type of equivocation is intolerable. This NPR segment fell prey to the old Fox News "fair and balanced" fallacy, i.e., that good journalism means granting all sides equal footing, platforms and legitimacy. 7/
Wanna see the saddest Seder plate in the world? Here. My flight to Detroit was cancelled so I’m on my own instead of being with my family. Gonna do a one-man-Seder. I look forward to bargaining with myself over the Afikomen later this evening (let the reader understand…).
@W_F_Thomas
And the whole thing only takes 30 minutes! I do lunch workshops every semester at my regular university and in that small amount of time we cover some basic but totally useful things that really makes getting those skills easier.
Stop demanding Muslim people condemn Hamas. Jews shouldn’t be forced to give an opinion on Israel and Muslim people shouldn’t be forced to condemn Hamas
I was honored to introduce the Metacriticism session on the ethics of citation at SBL, with
@MAdryaelTong
,
@CharlesJSchmidt
,
@evandeneykel
, and
@catebosh
. A difficult and essential conversation about confronting the work of abusers in our field.
This is bullshit of the highest order. The segment reporter herself noted, explicitly, that the white supremacist (she didn't label him as such) couldn't even accept the facts about what caused the Civil War. But in her view, HE showed up and LISTENED. Did he? 8/
Defending the murder of Israeli civilians by saying that there’s no such thing as an Israeli civilian doesn’t make you a human rights advocate, it makes you an antisemite and a supporter of mass murder.
Just now, on NPR's
@MorningEdition
, a segment was broadcast interviewing how alumni of a high school felt about it's name being changed from "Robert E. Lee" at the behest of current students and the community. 1/
How a monster thinks. A thread.
I want to break down this tweet from
@mtgreene
, because looking closely at it language tells us a lot about what is going through her mind and the minds of other Q-MAGA radicals. 1/
.
@GregAbbott_TX
would be a national hero if he would send the Texas National Guard to the border and stop the illegal invasion.
Not only would he save the border counties suffering with crime and so many illegals, but he would also save the country.
I tell my students that they cannot graduate from university without having at least one truly mind-blowing experience. That’s why I show this every year. And after seeing it over 100 times myself, it still blows my mind, every time.