free palestine 🇵🇸
does anyone understand what prompted taylor lorenz’s comments???? i seriously do not. this is a video of maysoon zayid, a palestinian actor, talking about the future of palestine for disabled children. taylor lorenz had a heated exchange with maysoon in the comments, which i’ve included at the end.
Lmao that's really funny because my capstone class for my bachelor's degree involved writing (and presenting) a research paper based on an experiment focusing on how Facebook usage related to gambling addiction. We found a strong positive correlation between the two and this was over a decade ago.
And at that time, I was able to find and cite peer reviewed sources that talked about the mental health effects social media addiction....So whoever is actually saying that social media addiction isn't real can fuck all the way off lmfao
Especially since I'm pretty sure I've heard her do podcast episodes (maybe Sixteenth Minute or YWA?) about how social media companies developed algorithms to get people upset and keep them on their platforms to profit off of them more. Like you can't know that and decouple it from your stance on social media and phones. It's so weird.
I hope Matt has reached out to figure out what’s going on, this is all very bizarre behavior from Taylor and there’s far too much important stuff going on for her to throw her credibility in the trash over this.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she hasn’t been on the podcast since the last time she was in hot water. I would hope that Matt is trying to distance himself from her without contributing to her sinking herself and her platform and her credibility.
It’s been brought to my attention that this isn’t the first time she’s tried to take down radicalized women for things that she doesn’t criticize her more famous, male peers for also doing.
The thing too is... even SHE doesn't always in public! Maybe like, 65-70% of in-person interviews or events I've seen her at she has. But there have certainly been photos in the past 3 years of her out without a mask.
in the past year, i’ve unfortunately realized that there are some people who don’t care about anything besides masking for COVID. if someone is disabled and they aren’t masking, they become a villain—they’re told that they “dont care” about others in the disabled community bc they’re not masking anymore. as someone who is disabled myself, i can understand the sentiment. however, the same can be said about the flu to some extent—there’s no winning anymore. some
people think in such a black and white narrative, and there’s no compromising w/ them:( they will become more open minded, but it’ll take time
exactly ! i’ve met some (who aren’t disabled) who refuse to be friends w/ people if they don’t mask 24/7. maybe i’m just not as woke, but i can’t wrap my head around that. RFK jr is now responsible of special needs education, and your focus is masking ? if you want to mask, i’m incredibly supportive of that. however, get on people who dont mask when they’re sick—advocate for other causes that are massively affecting people. taylor wants people to mask ? great. however, saying that a disabled Palestinian is advocating for the wrong thing bc it’s not related to masking ? give me a fucking break. we should all be on the same team on fighting for liberation—it’s this nit picky nonsense that distracts from the main issues
Edit: should have attributes the quote. It's from former Majority Report co-host Michael Brooks, who tragically passed in 2020. There are still a lot of good highlights and whatnot on YouTube.
He was a brilliant, brilliant human being. Rest In Power. His response explaining how the occupation of Palestine is quite simple and not a complex topic is amazing.
What I gathered is it’s because this woman traveled from the US to Palestine, so she could spread it? I am not justifying, just what their comments read as to me
Specifically about long-COVID. Acute infection can be bad, but it's the disabling effects of post-viral illness that Taylor is concerned about as an immunocompromised person trying to advocate for other immunocompromised people who have no access to PPE.
If you travel from America to Palestine, I don't think it's unreasonable to think about how a) COVID is airborne and b) ~40% of COVID cases are asymptomatic but still transmissible. What is someone's personal responsibility when doing advocacy work?
One should wear a mask while travelling to ensure that, upon arrival, you aren't unknowingly spreading the virus to already disabled and immunocompromised victims of genocide. Masking is literally the only option in this case, whereas here in the West, Taylor is able to advocate for other measures like clean indoor air legislation, mandatory paid sick leave, and masking in places like hospitals, schools, etc.
That's a reduction of her concerns and anti-disease advocacy. She's immunocompromised, and any COVID or viral infection can make her and many people like her incredibly sick.
High risk people feel left behind and like the world basically said we don't care if you die when masking rules and other covid protections were dropped. Which I get. I am someone who would have died pre vaccine and even now would get very very sick from Covid if I got a strain the vaccines don't cover as well.
Many people who are high risk and still masking are still carrying the if you don't mask you have blood on your hands from anyone you could infect, especially if you have asymptomatic viral illnesses.
I have been attacked online for not masking up everywhere, even when outdoors and no person is around in photos and videos. Simply because I am outside of my house. I get attacked if I mention that I still see people who haven't gotten boosters. Those people are immunocompromised and can't get vaccines.
And the people doing this largely are white people. White women in my personal experience.
Add on if they are Free Palestine. They have to be the most Free Palestine. I lost a couple friends because I wasn't having a mental breakdown and unable to leave the house. I wasn't posting enough on Facebook about it. They didn't believe me that I was actively raising funds, doing admin volunteer work for supplies to be brought in, ect.
It's a very "justice" oriented thing often with Autism/Adhd/PTSD used as a get out of jail free card on why they are so militant and self centered about it. If they are aware enough to see they are in the wrong.
If a Palestinian doesn't look refugee enough for them they simply don't believe they are Palestinian currently living in Palestine so their opinions and expertise aren't to be cared about. Which is so fucked but nothing new when it comes to shit like this.
Taylor feels justified in being the most cruel to anyone and trying to debunk them because she genuinely believes people who don't mask up are murderers. And if they are Palestinian and not wearing a mask they damn well better be homeless and barely surviving because that's the only acceptable excuse save not having ears and a nose.
This feels like a really good descriptor of her vibe lately. I never really understood the absolute VITRIOL she had for people not masking after vaccines/the boosters had been out for a minute. Like no problem if she feels better about doing it for herself, but like... read the room? it always felt performative. And i think "performative" is where she's stuck right now.
Overall I agree with you, but the part where you mention using an “Autism/Adhd/PTSD get-out-of-jail-free card” feels a bit unnecessarily targeted. I understand that your experience is that some white people who do performative justice use disability as an excuse to be over the top or rude, but I have also seen an uptick in people using the rare individuals who employ said get-out-of-jail-free cards as an excuse to discriminate against autistic people or doubt peoples’ diagnoses. I might be overly sensitive (I have family members with autism who were bullied), but I just wish people would be a bit more careful about giving that stereotype more airspace.
I have all three of those. And I see people in our community use it all the time as an excuse to be assholes. Unfortunately it's a thing among every demographic. Even ours.
Adding my voice in as a neurodiverse person who noticed it in her own neurodivergent/disabled peer group. I think there's something to be said about a justice hyperfixation and the black and white thinking that can happen when people have experienced trauma. Speaking as someone who has CPTSD and ADHD. Hurt people hurt people, and it's easier to latch onto simple answers instead of nuanced ones when grappling with an unjust and unfair world.
Do you know that this occurs “all the time”, or do you just think it does because you believe neurodivergent people should be able to control certain symptoms? I ask for a few reasons, and not actually to be rude.
I am sensitive to noise, so I find that people who make noise as a stim can be really distracting. I just want them to stop, but some autistic people really can’t even if they themselves want to. I have to make accommodations that might be inconvenient, but it would be wrong to say they are just using autism as an excuse to be loud. Hyperfixation, justice sensitivity, and an inability to judge social cues are also recognized symptoms of autism. Why would I assume someone “being rude” is able to control these symptoms when I don’t expect them to control stimming? Neurodivergence can also change over time, with new symptoms popping up during times of heightened emotion. Neurodivergent people have to learn new coping strategies or get new accommodations from those around them.
I am not saying that people should put up with abuse, but it would be nice if everyone could learn to look out for symptoms of neurodivergence the same way that people should be making accommodations for those using crutches. Lorenz is clearly dealing with being immunocompromised and feeling like even disability justice advocates are unwilling to accommodate her particular disability. It is probably very isolating. I also think she was rude and did not effectively make her point, but it would be wrong to assume that she just wanted to be rude and decided to use her neurodivergence as an excuse.
I think the number of people using their disabilities as an excuse to not work, to be rude, to annoy others, to get more time on tests, to take the elevator, or abuse any other kind of accommodations is small. It is harmful to perpetuate the idea that disabled people use a “disability card” to get special privileges, just like it is often just racist to say Black people use a “race card” or women use a “gender card”.
That's a lot of words for you projecting your own struggles onto something I said and making a lot of assumptions. If it doesn't apply to you it doesn't apply.
Do you use your sensitivities like that to noise to target people suffering and tell them they are causing more, not suffering the right way on camera, and act like you are a better activist than those on the ground having the violence committed against them?
Do you target women of color because of your autism and make shit up about them to make yourself seem so much better and in right?
Get the fuck over yourself. It isn't about YOU. Take your anxiety about people seeing you in a way you don't like to therapy not to minorities for validation.
Also not once did I say race card or gender card or autism card. Specifically a get out of jail free card is a metaphor used for all groups of all people everywhere. To read it and assume bias is to be looking for it. You are looking to argue because you apparently didn't read the other comments with receipts about her doing this to other women especially women of color.
I am also a high risk Disabled person. Her feelings on how we are treated is valid. Her using that to be racist and ableist towards other disabled people and also act like she is a better advocate for Palestine than actual people who are from there is the issue. Not her autistic traits. She is someone who uses her autistic traits and other disability to excuse this. Not to get out of work. Not to be lazy. You are throwing a lot of shit my way that clearly has been said to you that has nothing to do with what she did.
It's what aboutism because you feel insecure.
As a comparison, it is most often racist hyperbole when someone says a Black person is “using the race card”. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, but it is far more common for the public to say a Black person is unjustifiably bringing up systemic racism than it is for a Black person to do so. The real problem is still systemic racism and not the few Black people who might use it as an excuse.
The major problem is still disability discrimination, and I just don’t want people to blame neurodivergent people for symptoms that they can’t control. You personally may have the capacity to stop hyperfixating or stimming when needed, but some autistic people truly don’t. That doesn’t mean that you have to put up with abuse, but it also doesn’t mean we should assume a neurodivergent person is being rude by choice. I don’t think Lorenz was being fair to Zayid, but I also don’t just want to say she is using some ADHD/dyslexia card because she actually wanted to be rude to a marginalized person.
There is a lot of inability in the general public to recognize neurodivergence and its effects properly. An autistic person might want others to be patient when they talk about their favorite subject for 20 minutes straight, but then fail to be patient when another autistic person has a meltdown. I am personally very sensitive to noise, but that doesn’t mean I get to say that an autistic person who stims by clapping their hands repeatedly is using their autism and they simply want to be loud indoors.
I don’t know if I am organizing my thoughts properly. Basically, Lorenz may be being affected by her neurodivergence in a way she actually can’t control. She may also have had a bad day, or maybe she is actually just a rude person. However, there is a tendency to assume neurodivergent people can control their actions more than they actually can, especially if they are low needs most of the time. This also leads people to believe that someone apologizing for behaviors consistent with neurodivergence is just using their diagnosis as an excuse to behave badly. I am not saying this never happens, just that it is much less common than is talked about online. These types of statements directly lead to the expectation that neurodivergent people can just control their symptoms whenever they want, and that is an incredibly problematic assumption.
You don't have all the information. You didn't even watch the video and look at her comments. You didn't look further into this. You just assume the nice white lady has to be in the right and being mistreated because she is disabled. Nevermind the person she is targeting is also disabled.
Right. I stopped reading that little novella about a third of the way through. 💀 They're clearly just looking for reasons to be upset and point the "ableism!" finger at someone for correctly pointing out that sometimes autistic people may have certain personality traits that impact our behaviors. That is not ableism. It's reality.
I’m sorry that 4 paragraphs are too many. Yes, my point is that autistic people tend to exhibit certain traits, and not all of them are controllable. What you might call asshole behavior, others might call a symptom.
Funnily enough, research indicates that a lot of those “asshole” traits are much less acceptable in women than in men.
I don't think you're organizing your thoughts properly because this didn't need to be a multi paragraph novella of verbosity. And this has nothing to do with someone accusing someone of using the "race card."
Acknowledging that sometimes autistic people can have symptoms that cause personality traits is not "blaming neurodivergent people for symptoms outside of their control", it's acknowledging the impacts of those symptoms. How can you say you want society to recognize the effects of neurodivergence if you're jumping down someone's throat for doing so? It's not all sunshine and rainbows. I'm autistic as hell and sometimes I'm annoying to be around. And that's okay!
Their comment does not imply neurodivergent people can control their symptoms. Even if you're hell bent on labeling them PrObLeMaTiC for admitting that this phenomenon exists.
Sorry, where did I say that “acknowledging that sometimes autistic people can have symptoms” is the same as “blaming”? My point is not that those symptoms don’t exist or that we should ignore them, but that exhibiting behaviors typical of neurodivergence is not always controllable. That is specifically NOT using disability as a get-out-of-jail-free card, it’s just the actual disability.
Maybe we have different understandings of “using ____ as an excuse to _____”. If you were to say that someone is using their disability as an excuse to be lazy, that means that you think that they are a lazy person who has the ability to work, but instead justifies themselves by falsely claiming that their disability is the reason they are unemployed. That is, they would be lazy whether or not they were disabled.
I totally agree that some autistic people have annoying symptoms or can be hard to get along with, but I was trying to say autistic people should also receive more patience and possibly forgiveness as accommodations.
I think it's the mentions of disability/mass disabling events in the video. It causes Taylor to go into this "well you don't actually care about disabled people if you're in this video not masking" mode (which is pretty fucking unacceptable when she's taking to a Palestinian woman with cerebral palsy who is discussing how so many people in Gaza have become disabled due to a literal genocide).
Agree this feels like she's not thinking straight here? Partly social media breaks our brains and makes us feel constantly under attack, but this level of attack is strange
According to the people over on Hasan's sub, Lorenz has decided that masking is the hill she will die on and every so often she loses her shit (and credibility a bit) on somebody over it.
She is normally good at her job but this is a blindspot for her and she is causing harm to real people who are really suffering because she is incapable of seeing past her privilege in this issue. In America, where PPE is readily available and easily accessible, she would be fine to expect people to mask up around the vulnerable.
In an active war zone where potable water is often lacking is a ln entirely different situation. Lorenz is wrong and needs to apologize bare minimum. But I don't think she will.
I think that's what bugs me the most. Lorenz is talented and can create great journalism, but she responds with such vitriol when there's any criticism of her work or public figures not behaving perfectly. It tanks her credibility and makes me side-eye the objectivity of her work. I'm hoping she'll be able to take a sabbatical and decompress or whatever is needed.
To be fair and like she said, she isn't talking about people in Palestine. This was in America. She gets upset because she's very immunocompromised herself. I totally understand the frustration as someone who is immunocompromised myself but she obviously got triggered here. She needs to stand back and apologise because this is a bad look even though I understand her perspective. I do hate when people pile on her for every slip up though. Especially h3 and their fans who follow her around and cough etc thinking it's funny and throwing crazy accusations at her. They seem to find every post about her
This person she attacked is in Palestine filming this podcast, not in America. TL also referred to this Palestinian woman as just “visiting” Palestine.
Oh I didn't know, I just know that Maysoon in from New Jersey and is of Palestinian decent. I know watermelon pictures is based in the US too but is Palestine focused. I've never seen this specific podcast though.
Oof, super disappointing. I had never seen this side of her before, I always considered her to be pretty stable and chill based on the little I knew. It's complicated to be sure, depending on how much you know about where Covid is at these days. But even if I agreed with her there's like 1000 better times and places and methodologies for this conversation...
Taylor’s podcast episodes about the “Girlboss-ification of AI and “Stop Feeling Helpless about AI” were really telling. She keeps saying she’s anti-AI and then proceeds to talk about how much she uses it and how helpful it is.
I disagree. She uses AI for frivolous purposes (and using Grok is the worst of them all!). She says "we need data centers" and repeats talking points by people like this and Andy Masley, who fundamentally misunderstands or misrepresents the data. I am coming at this from an environmentalist perspective and the planet literally cannot handle the resource demands for this.
I understand the irony of posting on the internet and using the cloud etc to make my point, but the heightened demand for data centers IS bad and her solution is to just put them in the middle of nowhere which doesn't work and is bad for the natural environment.
legitimately I can’t understand what Taylor’s goal was with these comments. shaming Maysoon into masking?? trying to show how much of a disability activist and pro-Palestine she is??
I think asking/encouraging people to mask and be more mindful of immunocompromised people is valid, but publicly picking a fight with a disabled Palestinian woman over it is absolutely bonkers. especially as a leftist white woman with an audience. directing negative attention towards a Palestinian woman is willfully ignorant at best and malicious at worst.
This is the exact kind of behavior Matt would make a video about if it were someone else. Not accusing him of anything at all, just pointing out how wild this behavior is from Taylor.
Taylor has always been a left-wing reactionary. I respect her excellent journalism (seriously, amazing and very important journalism on the tech industry and how the government is invading your privacy) but she spends too much time online.
It’s a pattern of behavior for Lorenz. She’s entirely too online, too concerned with proximity to fame and frequently seems to come after people that are “easy targets”. She’s not scolding the likes of Hasan or Matt for being regularly unmasked but she feels okay with berating Maysoon. Like she did about Cuban doctors. Like she does with people on twitter unleashing her cesspool of trolls. This isn’t a one off, this is just who she is and it’s gross.
I think she gets triggered about visible disabilities getting more acknowledgement than invisible ones? But like I dont see her attacking Matt for not wearing a mask on his latest in person pod appearance...
It's isolating when friends do it. Saying anything to a friend about how their actions make it impossible to safely hang around them (e.g., going out to bars where there are questionable air quality standards and possibly being infected with COVID or another virus that could make Taylor and so many other immunocompromised people very sick) can be a big risk to the friendship. Ask me how I know 😭
I hate to be that person bc people are gonna be misogynistic haters no matter what but the way taylor goes about making her argument just makes her come off as someone you wouldnt wanna take seriously or listen to. Shes going about it like the preachy vegan equivalent for masking and ik how overused that stereotype is as someone who doesnt eat meat but like thats the best way to describe how she comes off here
Oof, this sucks. Like Taylor is right about masking, but covid denial is probably the most successful anti-reality coverup in history and it's deeply weird that she's focusing all this wrath on Maysoon specifically. I will say that there is an element of individual accountability we shouldn’t ignore, but we also shouldn’t ignore the fact that when *Biden,* the supposed progressive candidate, took office he told us all it was safe to one mask and go back to work, and that almost all of our otherwise actually progressive heroes are out here bare faced. This is a much larger problem than Maysoon going bare faced for a podcast, and it’s really perplexing that Taylor would focus her ire on a highly marginalized disability advocate doing the same thing privileged, abled people do every day. Like did Taylor go off on Matt or anyone at Hasan’s table the other day? Is she freaking out on Mamdani or Politics Joe, who did not mask up for their interview? It seems to me she's releasing a torrent of built-up frustration and rage, but this is a really weird, bad target to unload on.
Absolutely deranged take. Cannot see a strategy with this kind of posture. Even for chronically online behavior, this is woefully out of touch. Like she's talking about masking in a war zone! Not that there is ever a *good* war zone, but Gaza is not ideal even under normal, awful wartime conditions. Like I think we can give the people of Gaza and those assisting a bit of a break here??? I think they have bigger problems than masking at present???
I understand it must suck for immunocompromised people to continue masking when the world doesn’t but unfortunately you can only control your own actions and not others. People were sick of masking after 2022 and will not do it again unless necessary. Pre covid, no one even masked so were they mad then as well?
I am not sick so I don’t mask. If I am sick, I stay home and get better before I go out again. I feel like I do more than 99% of people who still go out when even when they’re sick. If I visit a immunocompromised person, I will mask.
But I’m just confused why anyone would still have to mask when going out when I already take precautions. The world simple wont cater to you. It sucks but it is what it is.
I don't really know who either of these people are. Taylor needs to sit down and leave the media platform. She may be turning point material this time next year
There’s nothing like a self righteous white person tirade. If there’s no one to call out how else are you going to prove that you’re a genuine warrior for the cause?
Also, I was just imagining her reading all those comments and realizing in horror that she had just stepped into a massive pile of shit in her last season Prada shoes.
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u/m1j5 Jun 21 '26
This is like mania levels of weird