Yes, Greta Tunberg is stupid. But people who have denounced her for an “antisemitic octopus toy” are just as bad. There’s absolutely no difference between piling on Greta over a stuffed octopus and hounding a trucker whose fingers look like they are showing the “white supremacist OK sign”.
Tunberg says so much stupid stuff that there’s zero need to read opinions into her room decor. Nobody should participate in these kind of fake outrage kerfuffles.
People, what are you doing? Are you so completely certain that there’s no item of decor, toy, piece of clothing, etc that you own that can be accused of racism/sexism/something phobia? If this is an okay thing to do, then it’s okay to do to anybody.
Clarissa's Blog 
“piling on Greta over a stuffed octopus ”
Personally I think it was put there on purpose by one of her handlers. Her public persona is a theatrical simulation not related to the real person at all.
I’m not in favor of piling on an obviously unwell young woman but I don’t buy the official story either.
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Someone on twitter says: “I’ve seen a lot of kids with those octopuses 🐙 they flip inside out with either a frown and color representing upset feelings or a color and smile representing happiness”
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“a lot of kids with those octopuses”
She’s 20 years old….
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I’ve got two and am thirty. They’re cute little things and hang out in my room. I take them to tabletop games and flip their expressions to match the current mood of the narration. They’re just like any stuffed animal. You don’t need to be a kid to have one.
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I’m half-Jewish, and the octopus doesn’t have any offensive meaning to me. Klara went through an octopus stage, and we’ve got a mini collection.
I think this is one of those invented supposedly offensive things nobody knows is supposed to offend.
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I didn’t understand why we seemed to be against humanitarian aid entering Gaza till I read:
// The “New York Times” newspaper reported that, contrary to Israel’s demand, the first 20 humanitarian aid trucks from the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip (el: only 20 trucks entered) were not checked to make sure they did not contain weapons. However, the spokeswoman for the UN Secretary General said that the next aid trucks will have to pass an inspection before entering the Strip. //
I trust UN. I really do. /sarcasm
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Now Israel denies that the aid trucks were not checked: “We have the ability to verify what was brought in”. Still, Israeli authorities mention our abilities, not UN doing its job.
Again, David Patrikarakos’s book comes to mind.
In other news, “The Shin Bet has created a special unit whose task is to physically eliminate everyone who is directly or indirectly related to the October 7 massacre.”
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On a completely different topic our horrible last weeks, want to share info about two books I discovered.
The first is Постлюбовь. Будущее человеческих интимностей by Виктор Вилисов . When I read the initial description, I was excited about such books entering Russian cultural space, hoped it would resemble Bauman’s “Liquid Love.” However, after finding full text online (link below), I was utterly disappointed. I still mention this book here because the chapter “Миграция” gives several examples of the horrible costs of migration on workers. You previously mentioned that hardly anyone speaks of that. Well, this book does despite being neoliberal and full of old Western ideas from a certain kind of not too good gender literature.
Миграция
Мальчика зовут Джейме, у него проблемы с сердцем; возраст не уточняется, но мы знаем, что он живёт в рабочем районе Гаваны, столицы Кубы. Он написал короткое письмо уехавшему отцу, а через два месяца умер в больнице от осложнений, так его и не увидев. Вот письмо:
Full text of the book in which you can search where the bit re migration starts:
http://flibusta.site/b/704575/read
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I sent a comment about books by accident w/o entering my name and now it’s in moderation.
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The second book I haven’t checked out yet, but it seems interesting and unfortunately extremely relevant. Here is the description:
“War in 140 Characters: How Social Media Is Reshaping Conflict in the Twenty-First Century” by David Patrikarakos (2017)
A leading foreign correspondent looks at how social media has transformed the modern battlefield, and how wars are fought
Modern warfare is a war of narratives, where bullets are fired both physically and virtually. Whether you are a president or a terrorist, if you don’t understand how to deploy the power of social media effectively you may win the odd battle but you will lose a twenty-first century war. Here, journalist David Patrikarakos draws on unprecedented access to key players to provide a new narrative for modern warfare. He travels thousands of miles across continents to meet a de-radicalized female member of ISIS recruited via Skype, a liberal Russian in Siberia who takes a job manufacturing “Ukrainian” news, and many others to explore the way social media has transformed the way we fight, win, and consume wars-and what this means for the world going forward.
Introduction
1 The Citizen Journalist: Stories Versus Guns
2 The Soldier: The State Flounders, and Homo Digitalis Emerges
3 The Officer: Militia Digitalis Takes to the “Battlefield”
4 The Facebook Warrior 1: The Virtual State
5 The Facebook Warrior 2: Homo Digitalis on the Battlefield
6 The Troll: The Empire Strikes Back
7 The Postmodern Dictator: Adventures in Unreality
8 The Interpreter 1: From the Bedroom to the Battlefield
9 The Interpreter 2: Man Versus Superpower
10 The Recruit: Friends Are Close but Enemies Are Closer
11 The Counterterrorist: Goliath Versus a Thousand Slingshots
Conclusion
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Btw, I heard of David Patrikarakos’s book on Yuriy Romanenko’s YouTube channel, so it gives hope the book is good. Don’t remember whether Romanenko or one of the guests recommended it.
If N hasn’t discovered Yuriy Romanenko yet, I advise. Great guests, very nice culture of discussion.
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N is an enormous fan of Romanenko, so you understood him well in this recommendation. 🙂
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Clarissa, can you find my comment about a Russian book on modern love in moderation or was it lost altogether?
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I rescued it! I guess you’ll have to wait for my “Neoliberal Love” to be finished. :-)))
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“Are you so completely certain that there’s no item of decor, toy, piece of clothing, etc …”
Clearly the Marvin the Martian in my office is there because I’m in league with Elon Musk and that once we have together achieved domination of the harsh Martian environment, we will send the almighty Mars Constitutional Republic Navy to Earth to teach the Earthers a thing or two about throwing freakin’ huge rocks.
Clearly. 🙂
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