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something true, or nothing at all

@strangesmallbard / strangesmallbard.tumblr.com

steph | 29 | they/them
i like thinking about how outer space narratives are reflexive and i'm always ready to fight the grimm brothers behind a walgreens! put 'em up boys!
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spicymotte

Do you ever forget that you have a gender to most peopleā€¦.. meaning that random people at the grocery store see me as a woman and not just a little internet guy

not even kidding when I say I should look like this

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i just think that too many people on this website answer complex and difficult questions with a simple ā€œeveryone should just moveā€ without examining it any further or thinking it through at all. like oh thereā€™s that problem done and done šŸ‘

everyone just needs to leave the rural, poor, racist, homophobic, transphobic, natural disaster-prone midwest and south and move to the beautiful urban utopia and all of these issues would be immediately solved!

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poll-stats

one of the prophets: 8,483 votes

not sure how, but i assume he appears somewhere in the torah: 4,554 votes

no role at all: 19,535 votes

rejected messiah/religious figure: 6,328 votes

something else?: 1,604 votes

iā€™m jewish and want to see the results: 3,523 votes

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reblogged

btw: if you reblog this poll, feel free to explain your answer in the tags or the reblog!

Correct Answer: No Role At All

Jesus does not play a role in Judaism. That includes both the Tanach, which is arguably our primary religious text, and the daily religious/cultural practice of judaism. he certainly plays a role in Jewish historyā€”largely a negative one, as his followers have persecuted Jews for multiple centuries. there is evidence that he may appear briefly in the Talmud, which is a compilation of Jewish legal commentaries and teachings that modern Jewish scholars study throughout their lives. however, this is not a commonly-known fact amongst jews (I myself didn't know this beforehand), nor do regular practicioners ever discuss him in Torah Study or services. (If any talmudic scholars want to comment on this, absolutely feel free to!)

Nothing described above constitutes a role in Judaism. One trend i saw in tags was the assumption that, since Jews often engage in scholarly and/or religious debate, we likely discuss Jesus amongst ourselves. We don't lol; if there's a consensus about anything in judaism, it's probably the Jesus thing. There is slight variance amongst individual Jews; for example, some consider him a wise rabbi/teacher with good ideas, while for others he's just some Jewish guy who probably existed and caused problems.

For every non-Jew who believed he had a role, I urge you to reflect on this assumption. Where did it come from? Who gavey you this information initiallyā€”a Jew or a gentile? Why might a Christian source want you to believe we accept Jesus as a prophet or prominent figure? I also urge anyone who grew up Christian (or in a Christian culture) to reflect on any emotional reaction you had to learning this information. Were you shocked or uncomfortable? What do you feel about Jews who don't like Jesus at all, no matter how "good" his ideas might be?

While Jesus doesn't play a role in Judaism, Christianity does play a large role in antisemitism. This may also be new information to you. If you feel shame or guilt about your reaction and/or not knowing, I gently urge you to unpack that before engaging in any more conversationsā€”if either emotion is the driving force of your allyship, you will burn out. And here's me talking specifically, because I can't speak for all Jews lmao: you don't need to confess or repent. You just need to show up and trust the perspectives of Jewish people about both our religion/culture and experiences with antisemitism. (You'll notice that all the sources I've included above and below are from Jewish organizations!) That's the first step, and I appreciate any non-Jews who take that step and keep going afterwards.

Results/Quick Analysis:

Thank you to everyone who participated! I was actually blown away by how seriously folks took this question; I've been joking to friends that i haven't ever seen this many goyim be normal towards Jews LMAO + genuinely curious to learn more about our religion, culture, and history. The bar is wildly low, but it's still cool to see it surpassed, and to see an absolute Torah Study happening in those tags.

Very Quick Analysis: the results were both relieving and worrying. Relieving because most people got the right answer! Worrying because, well, nearly half of the respondents did not. This isn't a verifiably solid sample size by any means, but that's still roughly 44% of 44,027 respondents, not including everyone who voted "something else." (Some of those answers veered from "very wrong" to "techically right," so it'd take a bit to accurately quantify).

That being said, the three primary wrong answers are not equally wrong. There are some important and interesting nuances to oberve here, and I plan to do so in a much longer post (hopefully) later this week. However, if you're interested in a quick explanation/breakdown of the wrong answers, click the read more below.

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quick version of the poll explanation is coming soon! trying to get rid of a sudden monster headache from drinking coffee too close to taking my adhd meds <3 life's funny little trials

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bearer of the curse <- asoiaf book fan in a world where most people only know the adaptation

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Back out in the Hall of Lamps, the mourners buzzed about them thick as flies, eager to shower her with useless condolences. [ā€¦] Hallyne the Pyromancer promised her that a flaming hand would burn in the sky above the city on the day her father's bones went west.

AFFC Cersei II

Dark and forlorn stood the Tower of the Hand, with only gaping holes where oaken doors and shuttered windows had once been. Yet even ruined and slighted, it loomed above the outer ward. As the wedding guests filed out of the Small Hall, they passed beneath its shadow. When Cersei looked up she saw the tower's crenellated battlements gnawing at a hunter's moon, and wondered for a moment how many Hands of how many kings had made their home there over the past three centuries.
A hundred yards from the tower, she took a breath to stop her head from spinning. "Lord Hallyne! You may commence."
Hallyne the pyromancer [ā€¦] waved the torch he was holding, and the archers on the walls bent their bows and sent a dozen flaming arrows through the gaping windows.
The tower went up with a whoosh. In half a heartbeat its interior was alive with light, red, yellow, orange . . . and green, an ominous dark green, the color of bile and jade and pyromancer's piss. "The substance," the alchemists named it, but common folk called it wildfire. Fifty pots had been placed inside the Tower of the Hand, along with logs and casks of pitch and the greater part of the worldly possessions of a dwarf named Tyrion Lannister.
[ā€¦] Some of the ladies gasped when the first flames appeared in the windows, licking up the outer walls like long green tongues. Others cheered, and made toasts.
It is beautiful, she thought, as beautiful as Joffrey, when they laid him in my arms. [ā€¦]
Cersei thought of all the King's Hands that she had known through the years: Owen Merryweather, Jon Connington, Qarlton Chelsted, Jon Arryn, Eddard Stark, her brother Tyrion. And her father, Lord Tywin Lannister, her father most of all. All of them are burning now, she told herself, savoring the thought. They are dead and burning, every one, with all their plots and schemes and betrayals. It is my day now. It is my castle and my kingdom.
The Tower of the Hand gave out a sudden groan, so loud that all the conversation stopped abruptly. Stone cracked and split, and part of the upper battlements fell away and landed with a crash that shook the hill, sending up a cloud of dust and smoke. As fresh air rushed in through the broken masonry, the fire surged upward. Green flames leapt into the sky and whirled around each other. Tommen shied away, till Margaery took his hand and said, "Look, the flames are dancing. Just as we did, my love."
"They are." His voice was filled with wonder. "Mother, look, they're dancing."

AFFC Cersei III

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