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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2488 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 12, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Found an enticing Yemeni restaurant in Oslo, but then I checked their Yelp page and saw a massive Palestinian flag hanging on the wall, and they're selling some crappy coke knockoff that raises funds for charity in Gaza. What's the sentiment here? Do I look elsewhere, or do I separate the art from the artist? Whenever I'm in the mood for Somali or Pakistani food, I manage to find places that don't put up any pro-Palestinian virtue signaling. I'm sure their proprietors still harbor some problematic views, but if it's not pervasively advertised, I can at least grant them some plausible deniability. It just doesn't sit right with me to eat from an establishment that could very well chase a Jewish individual out of it.

Okay, these are your views and you are entitled to them, and if this sincerely offends you, you have every right not to patronise this business. I'd probably feel the same way about a place of business bedecking itself ostentatiously in Pride flags for this month and selling Trans Cola for the charity about trans genocide.

But why did you feel the need to come on here and tell us all about it? Most of us are not in Oslo, those who are may not be looking for Yemeni restaurants (enticing or otherwise). Even if you wanted a mass boycott of Bad Bad Views by all us on here on The Motte, right now the sum total of "comments on the Motte, is in Oslo, is thinking of NOT going to a Bad Bad Views restaurant" seems to be one (1), i.e. you.

What it really sounds like is (a) you want praise and headpats from us for being such a staunch anti-anti-Semite and (b) a fishing expedition to get us to express anti-Semitic/pro-Palestine/Gaza/Hamas views so you can then rush off elsewhere to report us for "lookit all these right-wing fascist anti-Jewish Nazis on there".

Businesses bedecking themselves in Palestinian flags and symbols are a common sight in all of Europe and not just my neck of the woods. I am almost certain this is also prevalent, albeit to a lesser degree, in the larger metropolitan areas of the US. Out of innocuous curiosity, I wanted to inquire about what position others take on the matter, as I imagine in a highbrow space like TheMotte, people do frequently patronize ethnic restaurants serving exotic cuisines.

Just as they say opposite of love is not hatred but indifference, there is a case that the opposite of a loudly pro-Gazan restaurant is not a loud choice to boycott it but eating there while disagreeing and not giving a shit. If you imagine the proprietors at their most brainrotten, which choice do you think would irk them more? The only way to kill toxoplasma is to refuse to be fazed by any part of its lifecycle.

This doesn't mean patronize them anyway though, it means choose somewhere else while not spreading the culture war reason you're doing it.

Don't go there, find a competing place that's better (possibly along a different axis) and if anyone asks why you don't go there, take the opportunity to advertise the better place.

This makes their choice decrease their customer base without a corresponding increase from people on the other side of the culture war.

If you imagine the proprietors at their most brainrotten, which choice do you think would irk them more? The only way to kill toxoplasma is to refuse to be fazed by any part of its lifecycle.

I've seen people get mad for attracting the wrong kind of clientele, but their "wrogness" has to be obvious for all to see. I think they'd actually enjoy a zionist paying them money, but having to hide the fact thay they're a zionist (/or simply Jewish depending on far gone they are).

I also think these statements are contradictory, how do you propose that getting people mad at you showing up to their business will kill toxoplasma?

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