Well
A lot has happened. I’ve been out learning, and out protesting, which has absolutely slowed down the art. A part of my understanding of this beautiful world has cleared up, like i put some eye drops on. And with the conversations and action happening around me, I run into a familiar word:
“Justified”
What is considered justified is what is considered right. To decide what is justified means a person is the judge, jury, and executioner on deciding the intensity of an action or reaction. “If this happened to me, it’s only fair that it happened to another; it is justified”
And i feel like this word has lead to the vast majority of generational cycles and traumas we have run into. Justification has been correlated with justice, and its hard for people to imagine that they are not the same. Justification has been used as a form of retaliation. It is an understanding of justice as an action against someone in a way to inflict damage that was done to you.
But two rights do not make a wrong. And recycling the same wounds against a group of people is also not the coolest thing. And understanding this kinda brought me to the point of this email: Generational cycles of trauma could be created by people justifying their actions to others.
“Generational trauma is trauma that extends from one generation to the next. It begins when a group experiences a traumatic event that causes economic, cultural, and familial distress. In response, people belonging to that group develop physical or psychological symptoms.” - Health.com
By justifying our pain, and justifying what has happened to us, we inflict the same damage to the world. It is an attempt to find fairness out of an unfair event. But I don’t think that that is possible. There isn’t justice in the bad things that happen to people. While it may be a bit of instant gratification, it doesn’t undo the harm that happened to you, and only incites the same reactions from the victim.
I’ve seen this a lot with the Palestinian genocide happening. People ask if this is justified. Did they deserve it? A lot of people said yes. But these people called them savages and barbarians, meaning they are tough people - should the damage be escalated so it hurts just as bad? How can something be properly justified against a people that are only trying to live? It feels like people try and figure out what is “justified” in a way to procrastinate on dealing with justice. Justice involves holding yourself accountable for your justifications.
And thats like sooooo embarrassing like omg. I do think we are still stuck on someone being permanently right or wrong, and not letting them escape from that idea due to social media (pluto in capricorn era things). Things now have a sense of permanence that we didnt have before, and to confess you fucked up to the annals(lmao) of history is scarring, especially when that same history happened to you. Its a harm of generational trauma, and a harm of justification.
TLDR; justification is not about moving forward, but instead reacting on the past. Which is bad bc it will absolutely keep u trapped + will bring others down into the same pains you went thru.
Much love,
Free palestine,
Faraz
ps. I want to do fun emails soon but theres just a lot happening in the world rn. I’ve talked abt my political beliefs before, and i will definitely talk about them again. I do believe all art is political, and I will gladly stand on mine.
pss. For some positives tho, my art show was cute asf! I had a few pieces as a part of a persian gallery, and i got to meet a bunch of ppl. I didnt wanna go at first, but it was so worth it. I’ll talk abt it soon, or even do an extra email soon to chat abt it. ill add a pic tho
piss. Ive been protesting a bunch, and now Im back home to do job apps. and of course, i have found a way to not focus on job apps, so I am now helping to set up a fundraiser for palestine. Happy to be helping in this way, but ik that u need to take care of urself before taking care of others, and a job is going to b very necessary for me soon. Its coming tho; good things are at the door.
pipis. I havent carved in so long ive just been doing stopmotions tho ill post them on ig soon xoxo
omg website again??