bookd.
Austria
Israel
feeling the need to log another entry about this match: while i understand the action taken by the administration of bookd to moderate the chat mostly around israel, i would be remiss to not say something (serious, i’ve made plenty of jokes). football is inherently political. israel is committing a genocide. criticizing israel is not antisemitism. joking about israel and their inability to do anything but slaughter children is not antisemitism. while antisemitism does exist around the topic, i don’t agree fully with the decision to potentially lock all chats involving israel. i’m palestinian, living in america. i am only writing this whilst sitting on my couch in detroit because of geographical luck and the sacrifices of my family throughout generations. there are thousands of children and young people who do not and will not ever have this luxury. there are thousands of children throughout palestine and the greater levant who had their dreams stolen, either by amputation or death; dreams as small as one day playing football with their friends on a pitch without the threat of bombs or snipers. i think of these children every time i’m watching a match or talking to my friends about the game or in the stands. they deserved to live as we do. obviously, it’s not that serious here. this is a football app. however, i think shutting down everything around the discussion of israel and their football team is wrong and sends a strange message. again— rationally, i understand the decision. however, i cannot support what feels like a blind deflection of the responsibility that comes with handling this sort of subject matter. shoutout toni and olivia for all they do, but free palestine till it’s backwards. israel is committing a genocide, and we cannot let anyone forget or turn a blind eye to it. 🇵🇸 (forgive any strange wording here, i’m a bit fired up)
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Comments
well said
brilliantly said, free palestine!! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
you wrote this beautifully free palestine till its backwards🇵🇸
hi! i agree with everything you have said. talk to me in real life and you will realise the extent of my beliefs. in high school most of the things i read on my own accord were works like on palestine by pappe and chomsky. i have lost count of the number of times i have watched mehdi hasan’s speech on the conflation of anti-zionism and anti-semitism. i sought out a local podcast to talk about the historical, material anti-semitist conditions leading to zionism.
@olivia the reality is though is that on bookd, we are not dealing with the state of israel. instead, we have a community of jewish people. statistically the majority of jews are zionists. around 70%. are they all terrible people? no. it is simply a consequence of their social processes surrounding them, just as are anyone’s beliefs to a certain extent. it is reductionist to think otherwise. so, i cannot strictly follow my own beliefs in regulating this app.
@olivia we are not closing discussions because we are complicit with zionism. we are closing discussions because it is not a productive and welcoming space. closing the chat goes against my beliefs as a person but aligns with my responsibilities as an app owner. in the meanwhile, reviews will always be open for discussion. the live chat discussion will be closing because they do not tend to improving conversation or community
@olivia i understand and i hope i made that point clear! just needed to get my thoughts out. i hope we can all move forward and somehow find a way to open that space up again in the future. 🌸
@finky of course! i completely understand where you’re coming from. agreed! that is the ultimate goal 🩷💚
Couldn’t agree more. Thank you for sharing this. I understand that the jokes leaned into edgy territory and that nobody was actually discussing the match, which is what the app is for. That being said, expecting people not to mention politics when Israel is involved is ridiculous. Fuck Israel and fuck anti-semitism. But from what I’ve seen, the majority of that chat was not anti-semitism. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
u put this together perfectly 🫶🏽🫶🏽
thank you for writing this. i can’t imagine how difficult this must have been for you to put into words. i didn’t watch the match myself but i hope more people see this. i wish more people in the football community would take a stand against israel committing genocide because football, like you said, is played on a political stage, and pretending like it’s separate from politics makes no sense whatsoever. and you’re so right about antisemitism too, conflating judaism with zionism is horrid
this being said: i do not ever EVER condone antisemitism nor encourage it in any discussions surrounding the palestinian cause. it sets us back and it is not representative of the palestinian people, who are beautiful, loving, and welcome all with open arms. sumud is steadfastness in all areas, including in morals. peace to all, but never to oppressors. with that out of the way, some of the greatest allies we have are our jewish brothers and sisters, and i am grateful for all their sacrifices