Heather
@otherwisepod.bsky.social
Otherwise Unbearable with Heather Smith. Culture, identity & defense through a psychoanalytic lens. New essays weekly on Substack.
This is genuinely exhausting.
Okay, to sum up:
"How DARE these marchers not simultaneously advocate for the plight of Palestinians?"
Do you think it's wrong for activists to march for the people of Gaza without also explicitly advocating for the hostages? Or is it just random Jews you demand a both-sides performance from?
"How DARE these marchers not simultaneously advocate for the plight of Palestinians?"
Do you think it's wrong for activists to march for the people of Gaza without also explicitly advocating for the hostages? Or is it just random Jews you demand a both-sides performance from?
June 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
This is genuinely exhausting.
Remember:
The U.S. economy depends on the global use of the U.S. dollar, which in turn is enforced through Gulf oil sales and military dominance. All diplomacy and warfare in the region are shaped by this hidden economic foundation.
The U.S. economy depends on the global use of the U.S. dollar, which in turn is enforced through Gulf oil sales and military dominance. All diplomacy and warfare in the region are shaped by this hidden economic foundation.
June 13, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Remember:
The U.S. economy depends on the global use of the U.S. dollar, which in turn is enforced through Gulf oil sales and military dominance. All diplomacy and warfare in the region are shaped by this hidden economic foundation.
The U.S. economy depends on the global use of the U.S. dollar, which in turn is enforced through Gulf oil sales and military dominance. All diplomacy and warfare in the region are shaped by this hidden economic foundation.
Reposted by Heather
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but:
You can simultaneously oppose a regime-change war unilaterally initiated by Israel against Iran AND decry the oppressive theocratic regime in Iran whose proxies have harmed many.
You can simultaneously oppose a regime-change war unilaterally initiated by Israel against Iran AND decry the oppressive theocratic regime in Iran whose proxies have harmed many.
June 13, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but:
You can simultaneously oppose a regime-change war unilaterally initiated by Israel against Iran AND decry the oppressive theocratic regime in Iran whose proxies have harmed many.
You can simultaneously oppose a regime-change war unilaterally initiated by Israel against Iran AND decry the oppressive theocratic regime in Iran whose proxies have harmed many.
You cannot mention the Holocaust and assume that will shut down and all conversations around Zionism. Not anymore.
June 13, 2025 at 11:08 PM
You cannot mention the Holocaust and assume that will shut down and all conversations around Zionism. Not anymore.
There’s a common myth that anyone caught in the U.S. without documentation is immediately deported. That’s not true.
The reality is far more complex and more human. When someone is apprehended by immigration authorities, deportation is just 1 possible outcome.
The reality is far more complex and more human. When someone is apprehended by immigration authorities, deportation is just 1 possible outcome.
June 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
There’s a common myth that anyone caught in the U.S. without documentation is immediately deported. That’s not true.
The reality is far more complex and more human. When someone is apprehended by immigration authorities, deportation is just 1 possible outcome.
The reality is far more complex and more human. When someone is apprehended by immigration authorities, deportation is just 1 possible outcome.
Trump’s new official portrait breaks with decades of tradition by omitting the American flag. It’s not just a stylistic choice. It’s a symbolic one.
This isn’t a portrait of a president. It’s a portrait of power untethered from the republic.
This isn’t a portrait of a president. It’s a portrait of power untethered from the republic.
June 3, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Trump’s new official portrait breaks with decades of tradition by omitting the American flag. It’s not just a stylistic choice. It’s a symbolic one.
This isn’t a portrait of a president. It’s a portrait of power untethered from the republic.
This isn’t a portrait of a president. It’s a portrait of power untethered from the republic.
Reposted by Heather
Refusing to recognize an apartheid state isn’t extremism, it’s survival. If you truly believe the price of Israel’s existence is permanent domination over another people, then you don’t want peace.
You want obedience dressed up as coexistence.
You want obedience dressed up as coexistence.
June 3, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Refusing to recognize an apartheid state isn’t extremism, it’s survival. If you truly believe the price of Israel’s existence is permanent domination over another people, then you don’t want peace.
You want obedience dressed up as coexistence.
You want obedience dressed up as coexistence.
They say it’s about human rights, but whose grief gets counted? Whose pain is permitted?
New essay:
A Monopoly on Grief: When Human Rights Become a One-Way Mirror
On trauma, moral asymmetry, and the choreography of selective mourning.
Read here:
open.substack.com/pub/otherwis...
New essay:
A Monopoly on Grief: When Human Rights Become a One-Way Mirror
On trauma, moral asymmetry, and the choreography of selective mourning.
Read here:
open.substack.com/pub/otherwis...
A Monopoly on Grief: When Human Rights Become a One-Way Mirror
They walk in silence, wearing red shirts and carrying signs that read Bring Them Home.
open.substack.com
June 2, 2025 at 9:02 PM
They say it’s about human rights, but whose grief gets counted? Whose pain is permitted?
New essay:
A Monopoly on Grief: When Human Rights Become a One-Way Mirror
On trauma, moral asymmetry, and the choreography of selective mourning.
Read here:
open.substack.com/pub/otherwis...
New essay:
A Monopoly on Grief: When Human Rights Become a One-Way Mirror
On trauma, moral asymmetry, and the choreography of selective mourning.
Read here:
open.substack.com/pub/otherwis...
Even when Israeli leaders insist that any criticism of Israel is antisemitic, conflating Zionism with Judaism endangers Jewish people and erases the global Jewish tradition of dissent, diaspora, and resistance to state violence. 🧵
June 2, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Even when Israeli leaders insist that any criticism of Israel is antisemitic, conflating Zionism with Judaism endangers Jewish people and erases the global Jewish tradition of dissent, diaspora, and resistance to state violence. 🧵
Much of what we call “moral clarity” is just a refusal to tolerate ambivalence.
It feels good to be certain.
But certainty isn’t the same as justice.
And clarity isn’t always truth.
It feels good to be certain.
But certainty isn’t the same as justice.
And clarity isn’t always truth.
May 24, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Much of what we call “moral clarity” is just a refusal to tolerate ambivalence.
It feels good to be certain.
But certainty isn’t the same as justice.
And clarity isn’t always truth.
It feels good to be certain.
But certainty isn’t the same as justice.
And clarity isn’t always truth.
I think this take overlooks something important. If someone prefers talking to ChatGPT over a human therapist, it’s worth asking why, rather than ridiculing it. 1/
I think if you're the kind of person who thinks that doing fake therapy with chat GPT is preferable to talking to a trained and accredited human being... that's probably something you should bring up in (real) therapy
May 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I think this take overlooks something important. If someone prefers talking to ChatGPT over a human therapist, it’s worth asking why, rather than ridiculing it. 1/
Empathy isn’t fragile. It’s disruptive.
It threatens systems that rely on dehumanization—whether carceral, ideological, or interpersonal.
That’s why both the far right and parts of the left find reasons to reject it.
Because empathy doesn’t just feel—it implicates.
It threatens systems that rely on dehumanization—whether carceral, ideological, or interpersonal.
That’s why both the far right and parts of the left find reasons to reject it.
Because empathy doesn’t just feel—it implicates.
May 23, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Empathy isn’t fragile. It’s disruptive.
It threatens systems that rely on dehumanization—whether carceral, ideological, or interpersonal.
That’s why both the far right and parts of the left find reasons to reject it.
Because empathy doesn’t just feel—it implicates.
It threatens systems that rely on dehumanization—whether carceral, ideological, or interpersonal.
That’s why both the far right and parts of the left find reasons to reject it.
Because empathy doesn’t just feel—it implicates.
You’re right that it’s not complex to denounce violent antisemitism.
I do. Always have. It’s abhorrent. So is Islamophobia. So is anti-Blackness. So is ethno-nationalism in all forms.
But naming harm clearly doesn’t require abandoning complexity elsewhere.
I do. Always have. It’s abhorrent. So is Islamophobia. So is anti-Blackness. So is ethno-nationalism in all forms.
But naming harm clearly doesn’t require abandoning complexity elsewhere.
It’s not complex to denounce violent antisemitism outright
May 22, 2025 at 8:22 PM
You’re right that it’s not complex to denounce violent antisemitism.
I do. Always have. It’s abhorrent. So is Islamophobia. So is anti-Blackness. So is ethno-nationalism in all forms.
But naming harm clearly doesn’t require abandoning complexity elsewhere.
I do. Always have. It’s abhorrent. So is Islamophobia. So is anti-Blackness. So is ethno-nationalism in all forms.
But naming harm clearly doesn’t require abandoning complexity elsewhere.
Fine. Let’s talk about how this statement misses crucial nuance because it collapses a complex set of motivations, traumas, and geopolitical conditions into a reductive binary of “normal” versus “insane,” using psychiatric language as a weapon of moral condemnation.
May 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Fine. Let’s talk about how this statement misses crucial nuance because it collapses a complex set of motivations, traumas, and geopolitical conditions into a reductive binary of “normal” versus “insane,” using psychiatric language as a weapon of moral condemnation.
It’s no coincidence that “emotional regulation” often gets translated as “make yourself easier to be around.”
In both therapy and culture, we reward composure over connection.
But regulation isn’t about being palatable. It’s about staying with yourself.
In both therapy and culture, we reward composure over connection.
But regulation isn’t about being palatable. It’s about staying with yourself.
May 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
It’s no coincidence that “emotional regulation” often gets translated as “make yourself easier to be around.”
In both therapy and culture, we reward composure over connection.
But regulation isn’t about being palatable. It’s about staying with yourself.
In both therapy and culture, we reward composure over connection.
But regulation isn’t about being palatable. It’s about staying with yourself.
There’s a familiar dread in the air.
Two Israeli embassy staff were killed today. The alleged attacker yelled “Free Palestine.”
And just like that, the narrative machine begins to spin.
Feels like I’m watching a pretext form. Feels like 9/11 all over again.
Two Israeli embassy staff were killed today. The alleged attacker yelled “Free Palestine.”
And just like that, the narrative machine begins to spin.
Feels like I’m watching a pretext form. Feels like 9/11 all over again.
🔴 LATEST | Washington DC shooting latest: Suspect in custody after two Israeli embassy staff killed near Jewish museum
Washington DC shooting latest: Suspect in custody after Israeli embassy staff killed
The shooting has drawn condemnation from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US president Donald Trump
www.independent.co.uk
May 22, 2025 at 6:53 AM
There’s a familiar dread in the air.
Two Israeli embassy staff were killed today. The alleged attacker yelled “Free Palestine.”
And just like that, the narrative machine begins to spin.
Feels like I’m watching a pretext form. Feels like 9/11 all over again.
Two Israeli embassy staff were killed today. The alleged attacker yelled “Free Palestine.”
And just like that, the narrative machine begins to spin.
Feels like I’m watching a pretext form. Feels like 9/11 all over again.
Attachment theory wasn’t meant to become a quiz result.
It wasn’t designed to label your nervous system or blame your parents.
It was meant to help us understand how humans feel safe enough to love—and be loved.
Let’s talk about what got lost. 🧵
It wasn’t designed to label your nervous system or blame your parents.
It was meant to help us understand how humans feel safe enough to love—and be loved.
Let’s talk about what got lost. 🧵
May 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Attachment theory wasn’t meant to become a quiz result.
It wasn’t designed to label your nervous system or blame your parents.
It was meant to help us understand how humans feel safe enough to love—and be loved.
Let’s talk about what got lost. 🧵
It wasn’t designed to label your nervous system or blame your parents.
It was meant to help us understand how humans feel safe enough to love—and be loved.
Let’s talk about what got lost. 🧵
When people say “therapy culture has gone too far,” what they often mean is:
“I’m uncomfortable with other people setting boundaries, naming harm, or refusing to perform emotional legibility on my terms.”
The backlash isn’t about therapy. It’s about losing control of the narrative.
“I’m uncomfortable with other people setting boundaries, naming harm, or refusing to perform emotional legibility on my terms.”
The backlash isn’t about therapy. It’s about losing control of the narrative.
May 21, 2025 at 3:10 PM
When people say “therapy culture has gone too far,” what they often mean is:
“I’m uncomfortable with other people setting boundaries, naming harm, or refusing to perform emotional legibility on my terms.”
The backlash isn’t about therapy. It’s about losing control of the narrative.
“I’m uncomfortable with other people setting boundaries, naming harm, or refusing to perform emotional legibility on my terms.”
The backlash isn’t about therapy. It’s about losing control of the narrative.
Zionism, in its current form, has unmoored itself from geography. The drive for safety has become a theological and military project of totalizing control, projected onto the entire region—and increasingly, the entire world.
May 20, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Zionism, in its current form, has unmoored itself from geography. The drive for safety has become a theological and military project of totalizing control, projected onto the entire region—and increasingly, the entire world.
Hello, I’m Heather Smith—psychodynamic therapist, writer, and cultural critic. My work draws from psychoanalytic theory, disability studies, and systems thinking to explore the emotional and unconscious forces that shape our public life.
May 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Hello, I’m Heather Smith—psychodynamic therapist, writer, and cultural critic. My work draws from psychoanalytic theory, disability studies, and systems thinking to explore the emotional and unconscious forces that shape our public life.
Empathy is starting to look suspicious.
Not just on the right, but across the political spectrum.
A thread 🧵
Not just on the right, but across the political spectrum.
A thread 🧵
May 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Empathy is starting to look suspicious.
Not just on the right, but across the political spectrum.
A thread 🧵
Not just on the right, but across the political spectrum.
A thread 🧵
When violence accelerates as defeat nears, it’s no longer strategy—it’s narrative closure.
This essay traces the logic of redemptive destruction from Nazi Germany to Gaza, where annihilation becomes a final act of meaning.
🔗Read it on Otherwise Unbearable.
This essay traces the logic of redemptive destruction from Nazi Germany to Gaza, where annihilation becomes a final act of meaning.
🔗Read it on Otherwise Unbearable.
Redemptive Destruction: Gaza, Defeat, and the Psychopolitics of Elimination
What happens when a regime built on domination begins to collapse? This essay traces the logic of annihilation in Gaza and the psychology of redemptive violence.
otherwiseunbearable.substack.com
May 12, 2025 at 4:28 PM
When violence accelerates as defeat nears, it’s no longer strategy—it’s narrative closure.
This essay traces the logic of redemptive destruction from Nazi Germany to Gaza, where annihilation becomes a final act of meaning.
🔗Read it on Otherwise Unbearable.
This essay traces the logic of redemptive destruction from Nazi Germany to Gaza, where annihilation becomes a final act of meaning.
🔗Read it on Otherwise Unbearable.
When the U.S. tells others to “use nuclear restraint,” it’s not diplomacy—it’s projection.
The only nation to use nuclear weapons lectures others while disavowing its own omnipotence, denial, and grief.
This isn’t moral leadership. It’s a defense mechanism.
The only nation to use nuclear weapons lectures others while disavowing its own omnipotence, denial, and grief.
This isn’t moral leadership. It’s a defense mechanism.
May 12, 2025 at 1:31 PM
When the U.S. tells others to “use nuclear restraint,” it’s not diplomacy—it’s projection.
The only nation to use nuclear weapons lectures others while disavowing its own omnipotence, denial, and grief.
This isn’t moral leadership. It’s a defense mechanism.
The only nation to use nuclear weapons lectures others while disavowing its own omnipotence, denial, and grief.
This isn’t moral leadership. It’s a defense mechanism.