i don’t know why i’m responding to this, but whatever. doing this all in one post, but i’m responding to both of yours, which is why this is so long. it’s also long because i’m actually responding to the things you say, which isn’t something you seem to know how to do
first things first, that substack you linked. many things wrong there. immediately, you’re invoking ‘i know a jewish person who says it’s fine.’ ok, on my end i know jewish people who think it is extremely not fine. in fact they were the ones who explained to me why the goblins in harry potter are problematic. second, having read the article it just blatantly lies in its base premise.
Goblins, the fantasy creature that has existed in various incarnations for centuries, may have initially been based on antisemitic stereotypes - short, big noses, greedy money-hoarders. Therefore, fantasy that depicts goblins (even if in a complex or sympathetic way that subverts some of the tropes) is automatically inherently antisemitic because goblins are representing Jews, and doing it in the most harmful stereotypical way possible. (note that I have yet to personally see this standard applied to a fantasy series other than HP)
this just isn’t a claim anyone is making. the claims about harry potter are much more specific about that. there are antisemitic tropes in the water surrounding goblins, but jkr ramped that up dramatically. this author just breezes past the fact that the goblins are bankers which is a whole lot more specific than a generic greed! people don’t say that shit about tolkien (as much, because people do rightly point out problematic elements in tolkien’s goblins quite a bit if you don’t ignore that to try and lie about how people are being mean to a bigoted billionaire) because tolkien goblins don’t run the banks!!! this shit is so blatant it’s unsurprising anyone trying to carry water for rowling has to just ignore it
she also claims that there’s no actual child kidnapping in the game, and that if there was it would be fine because other fantasy stories contain bits where people kidnap children to use their blood. i’m pretty sure the first point is untrue, because i can find many references to the goblins wanting to use the main character (who is 15 years old, so firmly a child)'s blood for a ritual, but i haven’t played the game and am not going to so i suppose it’s possible everyone referencing this just made it up in some kind of mass hysteria for some reason. but crucially that second bit is such bullshit it doesn’t matter. the problem is taking all these things together! when you have someone stealing a child’s blood for a magic ritual that is not problematic or blood libel on its own, but it becomes so once you have it done by members of the greedy hook nosed race that run the banks and don’t think it’s possible to own property and prefer to eat raw bloody meat and stab the heroes in the back and have stars of david on the floors of their banks. that shit is antisemitic, a lot more so than the culture broadly already is.
similarly it isn’t a pogrom when violence against goblins happens in other fantasy media because those goblins don’t run the banks and aren’t nearly as coded!!! what are you even fucking talking about!!! anyways as you can see i read her whole piece and it was all wrong and poorly argued. next!
sorry this is so long it had to be split up anyways, despite my efforts. you’re just too wrong to fit into the character limit!
i don’t know why i’m responding to this, but whatever. doing this all in one post, but i’m responding to both of yours, which is why this is so long. it’s also long because i’m actually responding to the things you say, which isn’t something you seem to know how to do
I’ve LITERALLY BEEN TRYING THIS WHOLE TIME TO RESPOND TO THE THINGS YOU PEOPLE ARE SAYING. Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?! I literally asked over and over again for one of you to actually explain the problems and yet you wouldn’t. So I just went ahead and explained why it wasn’t a problem. Fucking DARVO here. Acting like you’re the ones in the right here.
first things first, that substack you linked. many things wrong there. immediately, you’re invoking ‘i know a jewish person who says it’s fine.’ ok, on my end i know jewish people who think it is extremely not fine. in fact they were the ones who explained to me why the goblins in harry potter are problematic. second, having read the article it just blatantly lies in its base premise.
I am no invoking any “i know a jewish person”. I linked one article of thousands pointing out that this isn’t a problem. I have no clue who the author of that article is and ‘knowing’ a jewish person doesn’t matter in the slightest, that’s just anecdotes, not evidence.
sadly it still shovels money into her pockets and is about the cabal of hooked nose bankers stealing children to perform rituals
this author just breezes past the fact that the goblins are bankers which is a whole lot more specific than a generic greed! people don’t say that shit about tolkien (as much, because people do rightly point out problematic elements in tolkien’s goblins quite a bit if you don’t ignore that to try and lie about how people are being mean to a bigoted billionaire) because tolkien goblins don’t run the banks!!! this shit is so blatant it’s unsurprising anyone trying to carry water for rowling has to just ignore it
what in the fucking world are you talking about. At this point it’s just tiring. You have no actual case so you pretend like being a banker is somehow worse than being a greedy hoarder of gold. Are you serious? In any case, you’re completely ignoring other cases where goblins are depicted as bankers, like World of Warcraft, or Discworld, or one of thousands of other examples that you can find.
she also claims that there’s no actual child kidnapping in the game, and that if there was it would be fine because other fantasy stories contain bits where people kidnap children to use their blood. i’m pretty sure the first point is untrue, because i can find many references to the goblins wanting to use the main character (who is 15 years old, so firmly a child)'s blood for a ritual, but i haven’t played the game and am not going to so i suppose it’s possible everyone referencing this just made it up in some kind of mass hysteria for some reason. but crucially that second bit is such bullshit it doesn’t matter. the problem is taking all these things together! when you have someone stealing a child’s blood for a magic ritual that is not problematic or blood libel on its own, but it becomes so once you have it done by members of the greedy hook nosed race that run the banks and don’t think it’s possible to own property and prefer to eat raw bloody meat and stab the heroes in the back and have stars of david on the floors of their banks. that shit is antisemitic, a lot more so than the culture broadly already is.
Yeah it’s extremely clear that the people making these points haven’t played the game. Literally none of that happens. There’s no kidnap of children, there’s no blood for a magic ritual, there’s no greedy hook nosed race. Literally none of that. You have goblins, they are only portrayed as bankers in the very first fucking scene and after that you interact with goblins who are artists, goblins who work at the bar, goblins who are farmers. It’s so fucking clear you haven’t actually played and that you’re getting upset about things that never happened. There’s two main goblins in the story. One is deadly evil, and is trying to take over the world with magic he found after being oppressed by humans. Then his fucking brother is helping you fight to stop him. This is literally just like the original story with Voldemort. He even fucking kills his brother just like voldemort kills his family. There’s no plot to kidnap a child, no plot to get any blood (where in the world did this even come from, it’s not even implied anywhere, it’s just made up wholecloth). The bad goblin doesn’t even care about you, the main character, at all until you start to interfere with his plans.
similarly it isn’t a pogrom when violence against goblins happens in other fantasy media because those goblins don’t run the banks and aren’t nearly as coded!!! what are you even fucking talking about!!! anyways as you can see i read her whole piece and it was all wrong and poorly argued. next!
“it was all wrong” lol, sure bud, sure thing. There are plenty of examples of goblin bankers in other media, and yet you didn’t even play the game so you have no idea that the goblins you’re talking about in this game, aren’t even fucking bankers. They’re not even looking for money! Your argument is so poor that it literally doesn’t even hold up to the slightest scrutiny. It only holds up to the scarecrow you erected to pit your arguments against. Why not focus on the actual problems with JK which is her support of anti-trans legislation. Oh, but you can’t really do that here either because the developers of HL actually spent significant time making sure that trans people were fucking represented in the game. smdh.
i don’t know why i’m responding to this, but whatever. doing this all in one post, but i’m responding to both of yours, which is why this is so long. it’s also long because i’m actually responding to the things you say, which isn’t something you seem to know how to do
first things first, that substack you linked. many things wrong there. immediately, you’re invoking ‘i know a jewish person who says it’s fine.’ ok, on my end i know jewish people who think it is extremely not fine. in fact they were the ones who explained to me why the goblins in harry potter are problematic. second, having read the article it just blatantly lies in its base premise.
this just isn’t a claim anyone is making. the claims about harry potter are much more specific about that. there are antisemitic tropes in the water surrounding goblins, but jkr ramped that up dramatically. this author just breezes past the fact that the goblins are bankers which is a whole lot more specific than a generic greed! people don’t say that shit about tolkien (as much, because people do rightly point out problematic elements in tolkien’s goblins quite a bit if you don’t ignore that to try and lie about how people are being mean to a bigoted billionaire) because tolkien goblins don’t run the banks!!! this shit is so blatant it’s unsurprising anyone trying to carry water for rowling has to just ignore it
she also claims that there’s no actual child kidnapping in the game, and that if there was it would be fine because other fantasy stories contain bits where people kidnap children to use their blood. i’m pretty sure the first point is untrue, because i can find many references to the goblins wanting to use the main character (who is 15 years old, so firmly a child)'s blood for a ritual, but i haven’t played the game and am not going to so i suppose it’s possible everyone referencing this just made it up in some kind of mass hysteria for some reason. but crucially that second bit is such bullshit it doesn’t matter. the problem is taking all these things together! when you have someone stealing a child’s blood for a magic ritual that is not problematic or blood libel on its own, but it becomes so once you have it done by members of the greedy hook nosed race that run the banks and don’t think it’s possible to own property and prefer to eat raw bloody meat and stab the heroes in the back and have stars of david on the floors of their banks. that shit is antisemitic, a lot more so than the culture broadly already is.
similarly it isn’t a pogrom when violence against goblins happens in other fantasy media because those goblins don’t run the banks and aren’t nearly as coded!!! what are you even fucking talking about!!! anyways as you can see i read her whole piece and it was all wrong and poorly argued. next!
sorry this is so long it had to be split up anyways, despite my efforts. you’re just too wrong to fit into the character limit!
Removed by mod
i appreciate the backup and as always, i am endlessly impressed by the amount of effort you bring to the table
we may need to start handing out medals
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
Fuck yeah love the Shrieking Shack
very good podcast! i’m a little behind their catching fire read which is still a delight
First I’ve heard of it and am subbing now.
Removed by mod
You’re really cool and I appreciate you
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
I’ve LITERALLY BEEN TRYING THIS WHOLE TIME TO RESPOND TO THE THINGS YOU PEOPLE ARE SAYING. Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME!?! I literally asked over and over again for one of you to actually explain the problems and yet you wouldn’t. So I just went ahead and explained why it wasn’t a problem. Fucking DARVO here. Acting like you’re the ones in the right here.
I am no invoking any “i know a jewish person”. I linked one article of thousands pointing out that this isn’t a problem. I have no clue who the author of that article is and ‘knowing’ a jewish person doesn’t matter in the slightest, that’s just anecdotes, not evidence.
YOU literally said, and I quote:
what in the fucking world are you talking about. At this point it’s just tiring. You have no actual case so you pretend like being a banker is somehow worse than being a greedy hoarder of gold. Are you serious? In any case, you’re completely ignoring other cases where goblins are depicted as bankers, like World of Warcraft, or Discworld, or one of thousands of other examples that you can find.
Yeah it’s extremely clear that the people making these points haven’t played the game. Literally none of that happens. There’s no kidnap of children, there’s no blood for a magic ritual, there’s no greedy hook nosed race. Literally none of that. You have goblins, they are only portrayed as bankers in the very first fucking scene and after that you interact with goblins who are artists, goblins who work at the bar, goblins who are farmers. It’s so fucking clear you haven’t actually played and that you’re getting upset about things that never happened. There’s two main goblins in the story. One is deadly evil, and is trying to take over the world with magic he found after being oppressed by humans. Then his fucking brother is helping you fight to stop him. This is literally just like the original story with Voldemort. He even fucking kills his brother just like voldemort kills his family. There’s no plot to kidnap a child, no plot to get any blood (where in the world did this even come from, it’s not even implied anywhere, it’s just made up wholecloth). The bad goblin doesn’t even care about you, the main character, at all until you start to interfere with his plans.
“it was all wrong” lol, sure bud, sure thing. There are plenty of examples of goblin bankers in other media, and yet you didn’t even play the game so you have no idea that the goblins you’re talking about in this game, aren’t even fucking bankers. They’re not even looking for money! Your argument is so poor that it literally doesn’t even hold up to the slightest scrutiny. It only holds up to the scarecrow you erected to pit your arguments against. Why not focus on the actual problems with JK which is her support of anti-trans legislation. Oh, but you can’t really do that here either because the developers of HL actually spent significant time making sure that trans people were fucking represented in the game. smdh.
Removed by mod
Removed by mod
what do you mean by this
Removed by mod