This can't be real life, so let's move on to fantasy

[selenak]

Since we appear to be still in the Darkest Timeliine as far as politics is concerned - and I mean on a global level, not just the Orange Menace and his cast of Disney movie villains (my apologies to actual Disney movie villains, who are wonders of subtlety and competence by comparison) - I cling all the more to fiction. I mean, in which other time line would something like the news that Russia appears to have revived the "blood libel" of antisemitic infamy be worth only a tiny mention, because there is so much else going to hell?

(I kid you not, though. When the director of what sounds like a bland avarage type of royalist fluff about Nicolas II. and his youthful love for a ballerina got death threats because the late Nikki - outside of Russia regarded on a level with Louis XVI, which is to say, personally well meaning but entirely in over his head, none too competent and prone to bad decisions - is now considered a saint, it sounds absurd enough to laugh. Not for the director, who considers himself a patriotic Putin follower and didn't understand where all the hostility came from. But, you see, the director is Jewish. And now the same Orthodox leader who campaigned against the movie - and who rumor claims is Putin's "confessor", which neither of them denies, and at any rate is hand in glove with Putin - has decided that the execution of the czar and his family was ritual murder, a blood sacrifice. Yes, like that. See also: middle ages. And an official investigation is to follow.)

(This kind of thing is why Putin apologists drive me mad. Yes, he's not crazy or stupid the way the Orange Menace is. But he's supporting right wing nutters and thugs all over the world so that they may take over, and he himself supports every -ism and phobia in his own country in order to have scapegoats he can throw at the population.)

Give me fiction, with characters and plot developments I can at least believe in instead. Just a few weeks now until the Yuletide Archive opens. In honor of Yuletide, I shall link one of the most awesome YT stories ever posted. The Year: 2012. The Place: Babylon 5. It was the last of the Babylon stations...

The Subtle Arrangement of Stones

A season 1 tale, in three of the four main ambassadors are kidnapped by the Homeguard and it's up to their aides to come to the rescue. (While Delenn must keep Londo and G'Kar from killing each other in captivity.) If you haven't read this fantastic tale yet, do so at once. If you've read it all those years ago, read it again. Vir, Na'Toth and Lennier teaming up against the odds is the best thing ever.

Comments

[sovay]

has decided that the execution of the czar and his family was ritual murder, a blood sacrifice.

Well, that has the virtue of being a variation on blood libel I have not seen before, which is no virtue at all. Thank you for the link; I also like your icon.

[edit] Disney villains at least get good songs. There is no art out of this administration worth the name.

[selenak]

The icon was made by ruuger. I *heart* Vir.

On a less joyful note, if you can read German, here are two articles on the subject:

Bishop Tichon Schewkunow profiled by the SZ and

New and old antiseminitism in Russia by the TAZ.

ETA: re: good songs for Disney villains: truly. Mind you, I don't doubt the Orange One will continue his practice of stealing songs for his events and his minions whose composers and original performers abhor him (see also: Rolling Stones).

[sovay]

I *heart* Vir.

I understand that.

On a less joyful note, if you can read German, here are two articles on the subject

Thanks. I find that I have the same reaction to the statement about Putin not being anti-Semitic as I do to statements about Trump not being anti-Semitic, because Putin has Jewish friends and Trump let his daughter marry one, after all: at the point where you not only permit the ideology to flourish but cultivate its growth, I think the distinction is less than academic.

[moon_custafer]

I was always one of those people who wondered how the Nazis and the Japanese militarists could team up, given their respective beliefs; in the last little while I’ve concluded that it’s extremely common for people to think “oh, the racists will make an exception for *me*” and indeed, for some of the racists to indeed make an exception for friends, in-laws, and people who are useful to them – at least until the other racists vote them down.

[sovay]

in the last little while I’ve concluded that it’s extremely common for people to think “oh, the racists will make an exception for *me*”

"But you're one of the good ones."

and indeed, for some of the racists to indeed make an exception for friends, in-laws, and people who are useful to them – at least until the other racists vote them down.

Or until they decide themselves that you're not that useful anymore, or that much worth the actual/potential blowback. I have no doubt that Trump will be happy to throw his son-in-law under the anti-Semitic conspiracy bus when it comes time. I'm just not looking forward to it.

[selenak]

Indeed. If you're a politician, whose decisions affect millions, then your political actions are those that count, not whether or not you have Jewish friends.

[ratcreature]

I think there are are probably worse timelines but we definitely aren't on the primary Earth with the cohesive plots and happy endings... :(

[selenak]

No kidding. Gwen (from Galaxy Quest's) outburst about the person who wrote this episode comes to mind.

[rettnord]

To be fair, he (the bishop) did not decide that it was a ritual murder just now. This "ritual murder" story has been around since 1920s, based on such strong arguments as "there was a guy with a Jewish surname among the executioners!" and "someone saw ink stains on the wall which totally looked like cabalistic symbols". Although none of this, of course, makes anyone using this theory now less antisemitic.

The actual reaction to the movie places the whole situation in the Stupidest rather than the Darkest timeline, because together with antisemitism it included state prosecutors, weeping statues and people complaining about a movie which wasn't made yet.

[selenak]

The weeping statues were unreported by our media. I feel robbed. :) More seriously, it does sound extremely stupid, but it just needs one person to actually go through with the threats to kill the leading actor/the director/whoever for it to become a tragedy. And in a time like ours, I think it's very possible one will.

[taelle]

Did your media report on Natalia Poklonskaya's participation in the fight against the movie? Because since (a) when Poklonskaya got her first bit of fame as the (only person to agreed to become) state prosecutor for the occupied Crimea, there was some Japanese anime-style fanart of her; and (b) she may or may not actually be in love with Nicholas II, I feel like we're in an anime storyline.

[selenak]

Nope, she didn’t make the cut, either. If you fall in love with dead Czars, why of all the people Nicholas II.? Good grief.

[taelle]

The heart knows no reason, apparently. The weeping statue is also due to her - https://www.calvertjournal.com/news/show/7866/russian-internet-goes-crazy-as-tsar-nicholas-ii-sculpture-appears-to-weep
And here she carries an icon of him during a march where people are supposed to carry the portraits of their relatives who fought in WWII:
https://themoscowtimes.com/static/uploads/publications/2017/3/7/68ebf408f01147229e43362e4563b715.jpg

[labingi]

I share your sentiments about global politics. Crazy times. Fiction is a welcome escape.