Anna

Dear Greta Thunberg:

You were not kidnapped.

The 55 hostages still in Gaza were kidnapped.

The Bibas family was kidnapped. Shiri Bibas and her two young sons were brutally murdered after being kidnapped. Women and men were kidnapped and sexually assaulted. One young man from Kiryat Bialik was kidnapped and tortured with electricity. All the hostages were kidnapped and starved.

Your boat was boarded by the Israeli Navy, after a message was broadcast in English that they were not going to harm any of you in any way. Despite all of the passengers on the "selfie yacht" being virulently anti-semitic, the sailors were polite and cordial. They passed out sandwiches and water, making sure all passengers had adequate food and drink.

The boat was towed to the port of Ashdod. I know Ashdod doesn't look like much, but what were you expecting? At that time you and your fellow passengers were examined by physicians to make sure you were in good health after your journey.

Many people wanted you and your comrades to be made to sit and watch the video of the horrors of October 7, 2023. You and all your comrades declined. Why?

It was decided not to force any of you to watch the video. At this point you and four others voluntarily agreed to leave Israel, at which point all of you were put on the next flight out. (Did that stick in your craw? How much carbon was wasted on that?)

Yes, the rest of your shipmates are being detained in Ramle, but that is because they are fighting their deportation orders. This is procedure. They are not being mistreated.

One of my friends is wondering why the young man from Kiryat Bialik, his hometown, where he still lives, isn't in the news. No one cares about him, he said bitterly, only a spoiled brat with an unhealthy fixation, one of the world's oldest and most pervasive hatreds.

I wonder, too, why the world doesn't care about people who were kidnapped. People like Avraham "Avera" Mengistu, a mentally ill young man who spent over a decade in Hamas captivity. Or Hisham Al-Sayed, a schizophrenic Israeli citizen who spent almost ten years held captive by Hamas. Or identical twins Gali and Ziv Berman, who are still held hostage by Hamas.

I would really like for someone, anyone, to make you watch that footage. Those were people with names. People with families and friends.

In short, I hope one day you see reality. Until then, rot in hell, you spoiled brat.

Awhile back I posted about aesthetics and how I don't really identify with any.

Today I read an article saying that heroin chic is back.

Wait, wut?

I remember that from the first time around. I was a teenager then. Teen magazines praising Kate Moss for looking "ethereal". Lank, greasy hair. Eyes ringed by dark circles. Bones, bones everywhere. Skin not pale but sickly sallow.

Maybe my definition of ethereal differs from teen magazines. Then again, I expect angels to look either completely ordinary or to be so scary as to make one shit one's drawers. I always pictured ethereal as otherworldly and inhumanly beauty, not all-too-human decay and sickness.

Besides, I didn't tick most of the boxes of heroin chic. I was chubby. I didn't have dark circles. I washed my hair as often as necessary and it was full and healthy. Sure, my skin was pale - but it was rosy. And yes, I smoked cigarettes, but I was hardly a chain smoker (I went through two packs per week) and also, you know, ate food occasionally. While I still had enormous self-image issues, I was still grateful I didn't look like that.

Most importantly, I never touched heroin. Ever. I never did anything stronger than pot and didn't touch booze until I was 18. Even then I wasn't much of a drinker.

Heroin chic coming back in the wake of the opioid epidemic offends me on a deeply personal level. I'm from Appalachia. That shit is not chic. That shit destroys families and whole communities.

People die. That's not so chic when it's your friend, your neighbor, your family.

Some speculate that it's a backlash to body positivity. That people want thin to be back in.

Thin never went out, folks. Last year my brother suggested that fat-shaming wasn't such a bad thing, though in fairness that's entirely in-character for Ben - he fat-shamed me all through my adolescence. If you're fat and living your life, you're promoting unhealthiness. But looking actually sick and addicted is "chic."

Sure thing. I'm kinda glad this isn't coming back in Israel. Not that we don't have our share of body shaming, just that...well, right now, folks have more on their minds.