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Magdi Jacobs Profile picture
Magdi Jacobs
@magi_jay
I write about politics, culture, & science for https://t.co/Gti12sLy1c. Bylines in @PostOpinions, @ForeignPolicy, @Slate, @damemagazine, @Alternet. She/her
26 subscribers
Jun 10 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
The comparisons between any modern protest movement we've seen & the Civil Rights Movement are simply inaccurate. The inaccuracy is beyond frustrating b/c it contributes to an erasure of history. An erasure of the nature of the movement itself. Here are notes from CORE, 1963 Image
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Image The purpose of the movement was to show the world the apartheid state. Nonviolence was a "philosophy" re: right/wrong, but it was also, perhaps more importantly, a tactic w/in a broader strategy. "You will be peaceful. And you will be beaten. And then the world will see." Image
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Jun 4 • 8 tweets • 1 min read
Here's what I think.
-We have never paid as much attention to any war as we have the Israel/Gaza war. Even our "own" wars.
-Israel has consistently been framed as the primary agent in this defensive war, with malicious (genocidal) intent against Palestinians
-Why? -Just the fact that we pay more attention to this war should be illuminating.

Why.

Does it require more attention than the Syrian Civil War, Sudan, Ukraine, etc?

Why.
May 28 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
I did know that, in fact. And now I know something else: You are wildly unqualified to make any comments on this topic. The depth of the ignorance that you proudly display as "knowledge" is so freaking profound that I don't think you even know what antisemitism is. Image If you don't know that
-"Jewish" refers to an ethnicity, as well as a religion
-Western antisemitism has, for over a century (at least, maybe longer) been primarily an anti-ethnic phenomenon
&
-Being Christian hasn't saved ethnic Jews before
Please get out of the conversation.
May 25 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
Yes. I would count myself as having been sane about Israel pre-10/7, vis à vis other people, as well as careful about my conscious bias. After 10/7, I realized I--& other Westerners--were subject to greater bias than we knew & this bias can be linked to decades of propaganda. This doesn't mean I approve of Netanyahu's conduct in war or his war-planning. It just means I did not view Israel w/ clarity of thought, nor did I understand its history vis à vis Palestine at all. And I would consider myself well-educated in history.
May 24 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
This is important. It also jogged my memory. I didn't always know this history. I only learned about it last year. I learned about it precisely bc I suspected, from my experience on this website, that Russia was exploiting & amplifying antisemitism, as well as divisions over I/P Let me correct myself, before continuing. I said I "suspected" RU was exploiting & amplifying antisemitism. That is incorrect. I actually *knew* this was happening. It was documented. What I "suspected" was that it was *also* happening on this site. Image
May 24 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I am currently more concerned about left-wing antisemitism b/c it has not only spread to the academy, but also because "good people" stand up to it less. The gate-keepers--from academics to journalists--call out right-wing antisemitism. They're silent on left-wing antisemitism. Some academics even participated in the spread of antisemitism immediately post-10/7. Others were silent. It's a classic case of group psychology. There are a few extremists. A few good people who speak out, often to their own detriment. And the rest just go along.
May 22 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Harrison has disputed an account involving him in Tapper's book. When interviewing Tapper, @ezraklein immediately assumes Tapper's position, before going on to explain Harrison's account is driven by blind loyalty. Why is @ezraklein in any position to mediate the truth, here? Image This approach from @ezraklein flies in the face of regular journalistic practice. The account involving Harrison is anonymously sourced. On a very basic level, Harrison's own version should be given greater evidentiary weight than the anonymous source's.
May 20 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The white men are playing their parlor games again. Image
Image We've gone through so many iterations of "I'm not racist; Here is an example of the one Black person I like" and "I'm not sexist; Here is an example of a different woman I like," that I just had to roll my eyes w/ Rice. Don't have issues w/ her; It's that the REACHING is obvious Image
May 19 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Take healthy steps to protect yourself today. If you are a good person, there are other people out there who are getting high on hurting you & others. They seem to be confusing cruelty w/ not just moral virtue, but political acumen. They don't deserve the pain of good people. For those who are making the above mistakes: You are on a bad path. No one is immune to the psycho-social effects of social media. Some of the cruel people are random to me; Others are people I've been aware of for years. I've seen new hives created. I've seen the radicalization
May 15 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Something I will be clear about: I am light-years more qualified to be commenting on Biden's "cognitive state" than others who opine. I was a researcher in Vanderbilt Medical School's Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences. I am an "expert" in Communication Science & Disorders. The conversation as it is happening now offends me on a personal level. It offends me on a tactical level. It also offends me on a personal level. These offenses increase the more I & others are gaslit into being the less objective folks in the conversation.
May 15 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
The people asserting that Biden had "cognitive decline" have the burden of proof; let's be clear about this. I am often accused of being a "Biden loyalist"--and I do love the man--but that's not what this is about. It's about *simple* truths in a time where truth is shredded. It is very important to me, as a person who cares about truth, particularly in an era of fascism, which is also an era where previously shared premises are being shredded. We have to defend the truth. We have to stick by evidence.
May 15 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Dems are doing "The Beaver." Party-flagellation is as innate as walking for some; combine that w/ addiction to social media conflict, which can only be fed thru intra-party conflict, & now we have a New Problem, conjured from wholecloth & Streisand-effected to the f*cking moon. Image "The Beaver," from @agraybee absolutely needs to be incorporated into the social media lexicon, à la "Waffles."
May 13 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Guys, George Clooney is one of their major sources, both on the record and on background. Clooney is trying to save his own reputation, here, and it is one of the most pathetic things I've ever read. Just look at these excerpts. They're all from Clooney's perspective. Image
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Image What is this paragraph even doing in the piece? It's bad enough for the New Yorker to farm out George Clooney's personal narrative as journalism. Do you really have to spend an above-average-length paragraph talking about how fatigued he is from his own awesomeness? Mud huts? Image
May 9 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
No matter how one feels about whether Biden should have dropped out, run again, etc, this is the height of tactical stupidity. "Oh, yeah, sure, let's dig into this totally toxic & evidence-free argument that makes Democrats furious at each other. That's how we get credibility." There's sort of this implicit argument here that Democrats need to do some kind of apology tour. Who are we doing this for, exactly? Swing voters? Is the theory that we need to appeal to swing voters by apologizing for an Old Man Incumbent?
Apr 27 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
I recommend reading Trump's interview with time on the sentence-level. For example, "Now, some countries may come back and ask for an adjustment, and I'll consider that, but I'll basically be, with great knowledge, setting—ready?" Image "I completed the wall, what I was doing, but we have, I wanted to build additional because it was working so well." time.com/7280114/donald…Image
Apr 26 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
Something people should know about the rural working class is that they experience classism more in terms of education than income &, yes, that experience of classicism--real or perceived--plays out in language as well. If you use words ppl don't know, it can make them resentful The convo about messaging often focuses around "what will capture attention?" Or, "Will people understand?" "Can we explain it?" Etc. That's all well and good. But I'm also asking people to consider messaging in the context of class/education-based resentment.
Mar 28 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
We're numb to so much right now &, if you're like me, you try to resist being hyperbolic. But this is fucking insane. It sounds like a pre-declaration of war. Other countries don't have the luxury of "don't take it seriously." He's doing it in front of troops in uniform. There is no way governments in Europe will watch this video & wave it aside. I mean, maybe we're not preparing for war against Greenland, because that's insane, right? They can't take that risk. Literally, this is a serious escalation. It is insane. & Europe will prepare for it.
Mar 28 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Let's stamp this out right now. Fascism operates on pretext. 10/7 happened. It was an antisemitic attack. After 10/7, there was an explosion of antisemitism at college campuses. These events happened. That Trump is exploiting them for his authoritarianism doesn't change that. Image The Reichstag was actually lit on fire. The fact that Hitler exploited the fire to seize total power does not retroactively un-light the fire. Fascists often use real problems or real events as pretext to enact oppressive policies.
Mar 7 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
"Trans Women in Sports" is a Republican trap. Stop falling for it. It is a trap because the number of people *on our side* who 1. have an internally consistent opinion on the matter & 2. are able to ~confidently~ defend that opinion is near-zero.
Jan 31 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I really want people to start realizing that societal dysfunction is the goal. It is a means to an end. I think this could apply to tariffs as well. Look at where the societal dysfunction of COVID brought us. Look at how much it helped Republicans. They learned a lesson. Look also at the environments within which fascism can take true hold. The economy is not strong in such environments. Society is not functioning well in such environments. There is, rather, chaos & strife. You don't get good fascism w/ a Biden economy.
Jan 7 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
In 2002, I was living in France during the election. The left split its votes and Jacques Chirac, a conservative, advanced to the second round against Jean-Marie Le Pen, a Holocaust denier. No political event apart from the Iraq War has ever influenced me to the same extent. I have never seen so many people in such a state of shock as the French were when Le Pen recieved ~20% of the 1st Round Vote. Prior to the election, as a young American Leftist, I was inspired by the # of different political parties, many types of Left. But. . vote splitting.