Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt, thinks September 11th attacks were "defensible"

[afeelingunacted]

What the absolute fuck pic.twitter.com/ofyBwxxWBP
- Casey Stegman (querying) (@cstegman) November 16, 2023

• In a series of now deleted tweets the author condemned The Guardian taking down Bin Laden's Letter to America in which he reveals his reasoning behind the September 11th attacks
• Felker-Martin called destroying the twin towers "principled" and "

Comments

[solira21]

Yall, I simply do not think dipping into the outrage cycle about a bunch of terminally online white leftists using hyperbole on twitter is a good idea. It's a tiny fraction of people. Frankly, I find the fact that this is getting massive press attention online over a million other things feels intentional, a way to vent discomfort over how successfully people who AREN'T terminally online but are leftists have organized in support of Gaza

[goldenhera]

People really need to be more savvy. It is not our first day on the internet. This is a vast place and on any given day there will be someone saying something incredibly vile.

[deerlike]

Wired noted that the supposed virality of this letter serves as the perfect excuse for far-righters to push their own agenda (centred around the ban of TikTok):

https://www.wired.com/story/far-right-bin-laden-letter-to-america-conspiracies/

[myhipusername]

Idk I’ve seen a lot of antisemitism and hate speech from people who supposedly care about all communities, I don’t think it’s just a tiny fraction. These individuals are not understanding that two things can be wrong at the same time, and it’s dangerous to let any of it slide (not saying you’re doing this just in general)

[solira21]

While I don't totally disagree, I think it's extremely reactive to draw excess attention to it at THIS particular time-a vital impasse in the overton window on Palestine, when Israel is churning out near-constant propaganda to diasporic Jews that any criticism of their activities is tantamount to antisemitism

[starchit]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[solira21]

Haha damn, fire emojis in a reply and not just as a reaction, I feel special <3

[starchit]

Your analysis has been spot-on in its accuracy! I just wish I could react to your last banger of a comment 😍

[baxtyre]

agreed, it's not a 'tiny faction'

[astrofisica]

I mean, at what point does this become an indictment of your social scene than of "leftists" and the Pro-Palestinian movement, because I can safely say none of my friends or comrades have revealed themselves as antisemitic.

[baxtyre]

just because "none of your friends" would ever hold that view doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your group of friends do not equal a political movement as a whole. Not an exact comparison but you would likely not accept someone saying "well MY friends who support Trump aren't racists". Factions of Pro Palestinian movement unfortunately have leaned into anti-semitic tropes, to deny that is willful ignorance.

[solira21]

I think you're equating public media condemnation and actually fixing a problem, when they are two different things. In this case I think the response from organizers about how to address this problem (ignore the internet personalities, downplay the virality of the story) is tactical, not designed to suppress an issue. Do you earnestly think that either of these stories (Felker-Martin and TikTok) getting pumped across the media landscape will truly solve issues of antisemtism in leftist communities? Convos from Jewish leftists have been ongoing in those spaces, and the way to conduct meaningful change is NOT to drum up a ton of media attention, towards communities most people are not in, at a time when "Anti-Zionism is antisemitism" rhetoric is at an all time high.

[baxtyre]

"Do you earnestly think that either of these stories (Felker-Martin and TikTok) getting pumped across the media landscape will truly solve issues of antisemtism in leftist communities?"

I agree, and no unfortunately I don't this will help to solve the issues you speak to. I think for most it will make ppl dig their heels in further, with one 'side' saying "Look at how antisemitic the PP movement is!" and the other, like the user below will say "well MY involvement and the ppl I KNOW in the movement are definitely NOT antisemitic". The truth is obviously somewhere in the middle, but it's obviously easier (often for our own sanity) to look at everything in black and white

[solira21]

Yeah that's fair. I hope my point was more clearly oriented towards how we respond on a mass-media scale to these issues, and not me discounting the issues themselves. It's just a very slippery slope overall-because these convos immediately get shifted to "the community" when the thing making headlines are individuals shooting from the hip.

[baxtyre]

I think your all comments in this post have been informative and I appreciate them! Your point regarding the mass-media scaling of individual opinions then being heaved upon a community as a whole is super important

[solira21]

Thank you! I do think because the internet has such a thin barrier between reality and being a "medium" that people still forget that posting is, indeed, a medium of publishing information and can be treated as such (and is not the same thing as like, talking to people or being in a community)