Fuckful Friday: Try to Give a Fuck
Fresh election survival fuck #56
Extra Fucks to Give
#56 Try to Give a Fuck
One of the perks of a small audience full of people I know is that I need not preach to the choir. If you didn’t want jabber about the struggle to give a fuck, you wouldn’t read the emails.
And here you are, reading this email.
So, you must give a fuck. Maybe you’re on the last sliver of a tiny morsel fuck. Or, maybe you don’t have any fucks left, but you’re considering one, or a few to give.
Better yet, you’ve got a healthy basket of fucks, and you want to keep it that way! If this is you, I am envious, and equally suspicious.
I’m glad you’re here, regardless.
As the Hellection rapidly approaches, let us hold onto whatever shreds of sanity we have left. I don’t care if or for whom you vote. These are impossible times and what will be, will be. All we can do is survive and continuing pushing for better tomorrows.
I can think of several politicians I’d like to push right off a cliff for instantly better tomorrows, but national security tends to frown on such deeds. Guess I’ll stick with writing things out.
Because the Halloween comet got eaten by the sun, instead of hitting Louisiana’s Governor directly in the frontal lobe, and we’re only days away from one genocidaire president-elect or another, I’d like to focus on something heartfelt. Hence—try to give a fuck, with your mind and your heart at the same time.
Over the last year I’ve attended almost 50 webinars related to the genocide in Gaza and Occupied Palestinian Territories. A quarter of them were hosted by organizations I followed before October 7th.
There are Jewish parents that raise their children on a belief in Palestinian liberation. Albeit not many, but some do, and my Dad was one of them.
Another quarter of the webinars were Palestinian legal organizations, including discussions with lawyers working on South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. The failure to prevent genocide, in violation of international law and explicit agreement, should be of no question at this point. People forget that South Africa is only requesting immediate action against Israel for failing to prevent a genocide; the issue of committing the very same genocide is a separate, and much lengthier, process of international law.
The other half of these webinars have been medical organizations, with NGO team leads, UN aid officials, and medical professionals who have been on the ground in Gaza.
I’ve dealt with complex medical issues all of my life, which makes me very curious about the science of genocide. That’s not something you hear often, but there is a science behind mass killing, especially when the slaughter is fueled by machine learning technology that’s used to precision-target medical locations, personnel, ambulances, supplies, and wounded patients.
If you’ve ever wondered why so many Palestinian children look uninjured in viral death photos and videos, you’re looking for answers about the science of genocide. Medical professionals treating the wounded can answer those questions. And they have been for a year, to hundreds of people at a time around the world, desperately trying to explain how catastrophic reality is in the Gaza Strip.
The answer to the question about the seemingly uninjured children is pressure. Bunker busters are 1-2K pound bombs that impact the body twice. First when it hits, and creates a pressure vacuum in the surrounding area, and second, when that pressure finds its way back in place. Children, not having fully developed bodies, have less protection around vital organs impacted by the blast radius. The official classification of bunker busters is Earth-Penetrating Weapons, and they should not be anywhere near children, let alone dropping on their heads.
One of the doctors I try to never miss hearing from is Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian physician who has provided medical relief to Gaza since the ‘70s. He is currently volunteering in and out of Southern Lebanon, as he’s been permanently banned from entering Israel, and thus, Gaza, for the last decade.
He recently shared a lovely heartache song on his IG stories that bears sharing. “How Many” by Winter Bird, a collective of artists attempting to make our craft make sense in senseless circumstances. The song is based on a poem by Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish. Absolutely read his work for a very different perspective of this genocide.
The song lyrics are below, followed by the collective’s accompanying video of Gaza’s beautiful children… I wonder how many of them are still alive these many months later.
How Many?
How many bedrooms do I need
to get a bit of sleep?
How many chairs to sit myself down?
How many roads to walk back to you,
my distant country?
This time I’ve gone
and I’m not coming back.
Your job, now, is to slip out,
lovesick and afraid,
and come in search of me.
May Election Tuesday be like a bad lay—come quick and leave quicker.
