For people wondering why Hogwarts Legacy (from here on "HL) is bad and why people are angry, it's not just because it's Harry Potter and JKR is a Terf. I myself was honestly misled to think people were angry because "It's Harry Potter and JKR is a Terf" because that's all I saw people talk about.
Trust me I 100% understand thinking "but just because I'm playing a Harry Potter themed game doesn't mean I'm transphobic" and legit I get that. People (probably) wouldn't have the same reaction to finding out you play Lego Harry Potter for example, but there's a reason for that.
Thing is the much much MUCH bigger problem with HL is the blatant and horrifying anti-Semitism which is a core theme of the game.
Don't get me wrong, JKR being a Terf and supporting HL = supporting JKR is also a valid issue and should be brought up, but it should not overshadow the far far bigger concern which is the literal plot of the game being so deeply marinated in anti-Semitism that it cannot be separated from the game as a whole.
That's why people are comparing this game to the confederate flag, that's why people will probably distance themselves from you (and rightfully so) for playing this game. And while I wouldn't recommend anyone buy it even if the reason were simply "it's a Harry Potter game and JKR is a terf", because honestly fuck Harry Potter and fuck JKR, the blatant, unavoidable fact that supporting this game = supporting anti-Semitism means that I cannot with good will say anyone would be morally clear for playing this game, even if you donate to Trans charities, even if you didn't pay for it.
Don't play this game.
Don't support this game.
Don't support Harry Potter or JKR.
And certainly don't support anti-Semitism.
154 notes
·
View notes
People of the internet: learn to fucking read.
What I said: I feel bad for Palestinians that don’t support Hamas. If they die, they will be casualties in this war, and we mourn their loss. I feel bad for the children who have been raised this way and don’t know any better. I don’t, however, feel bad for Hamas supporters (which, according to several sources, is the simple majority of Palestinians right now). If a Hamas supporter dies, I will not mourn them. They are Nazis, and I will not cry over their loss.
What you heard: I want all Palestinians to die horrific deaths. I love when children are dead. I hope everyone dies in this war. I hate Palestinians because they elected Hamas 18 years ago, not because of them currently supporting Hamas. In fact, even if every Palestinian tried to fight Hamas right now, I would still want them all dead.
…
I’m done replying to the comments and reblogs of people who have zero reading or critical thinking skills. So if you comment, DM, or reblog me trying to debate, and I don’t respond - this is why. Some people ask good faith questions. Others are either lacking in the reading comprehension department, or acting in total bad faith.
49 notes
·
View notes
When Hollywood erases Jews, also known as modern day “acceptable” antisemitism
Let’s start with some definitions.
Jews - Jewish people, either through religion and/or ethnicity. The reason for the “or” is because many Jews don’t practice Judaism, but they are still 100% as Jewish. And depending on who you ask (2 Jews 3 opinions), when a person converts in they join the tribe and become (for all intents and purposes) ethnically Jewish as well (their kids are ethnically Jewish). All that to say— Being Jewish does not automatically mean a purely religious affiliation.
Antisemitism - Jew hate. There is no hyphen in the word. It does not mean hate against other semantic people, because there are only semantic languages, not groups. This term was coined by the Nazis to make hating Jews sound fancy. If a Jew tells you something is antisemitic, believe them.
“Acceptable” - In this context, this means socially and culturally acceptable. Something that the wider world just goes with and accepts as normalized and just how things are. It doesn’t mean it is right or okay, it purely just means that it is what is accepted by mass amounts of people.
Now, let’s discuss what we know about Jewish actors on TV or in movies.
From the earliest eras of Hollywood, Jews were around. They were founding companies, writing songs, writing scripts, and if they could— acting.
Jewish actors of the time (and into present day) would more often than not have to change their names in order to not reveal their Jewishness. Let me repeat that— Jews were running some studios, but yet Jewish actors still had to pretend to not be Jewish in order to appeal to the audiences. So they did. And they do.
Long before Hollywood’s time, and stretching as far back as ancient theatre and even Shakespearean theatre, Jewish characters were played by someone “dressed Jewish.” Meaning large hooked nose pieces, sleazy clothing, basically the visual representation of antisemitic tropes. This was the Jewish representation happening for centuries. Pure hate live on stage. This happened with minstrel shows for Black characters and Asian characters too. Basically if you weren’t white, you were a stereotype.
This is still true today.
Look at any show/film that has Jewish characters in them. Here’s just a few.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
The Goldbergs
Hollywood
Moon Knight
The Simpsons
New Girl
Transparent
Shiva Baby
These shows all contain stereotypes against Jews, use Jews are the punchline for jokes, only have Jewish characters for jokes, or just don’t include Jewish actors to even play those Jewish roles.
There’s a few things about this:
The Hollywood industry believes Jews only exist when they want them too. Such as for villain, victim, or vaudeville reasons. Example: The evil character is Jewish (that new teen movie I can’t remember the name of where the boy wears a Star of David and is the villain), the victim (every WW2 movie ever), the vaudeville clown (every time there’s a joke about the noses, the banks, the bagels, etc). Jews are so very rarely ever real people.
Not having Jewish actors playing Jewish roles is Jew-face, a term coined by Sarah Silverman. It started out meaning when non-Jewish actors put on a Jewish appearance to play Jewish, but now it just encompasses any non-Jew playing a Jew. Much like how blackface and yellowface and redface are.
Yes. Not casting Jews is a problem. Remember the first definition? It’s an ethnic group. You literally cannot play an ethnicity you are not a part of. It’s literally impossible. An actor cannot change their DNA (see the mention about converts and how they join the tribe therefore are included in any talk of Jewish ethnicity).
I repeat. An actor cannot play an ethnicity they are not. It is impossible. Any actor playing Jewish while not being Jewish themselves is literally erasing a minority ethnicity from the screen. That’s just a fact. Same way it would be if they cast a white actor to play hispanic or asian.
What actors who are cast in roles that are of a differing ethnicity to them do, is they (at the fault of the production) put on stereotypes to represent that ethnicity, because they want to show that this character is a certain way, but can’t do so because the actor is not. And we’re back at the ancient theatre history with actors in prosthetic noses begging for their pound of flesh.
And why is this acceptable to audiences?
Jews are a minority. Like .2% global, minority. There are about 24x as many people following Kim K on Instagram than there are Jews in the world. More people follow antisemites than there are Jews being recorded on census.
Since there are so few Jews in the world at all, people don’t realize that Jewish representation is lacking. Because it’s always lacking. You don’t see what’s not there, and then when there’s non-Jews playing Jews on TV or in movies, it just seems normal.
Most non-Jews (Christians) only view Jews as religion based followers, since that is what they know of their own religions. They are either religious or they have no religious affliction and therefore their ethnicity is wherever they or their parents are from. Their culture is (in the West) Christian-centric even if removed from religion. While Jews, even if not religious, are still Jewish.
So not having real Jews on screen erases an entire ethnic and religious group. But people are okay with it, because they don’t realize what is happening.
There are few explicitly Jewish characters at all, and yet of those roles, less than a quarter of them are played by actual Jewish actors. Of the shows listed above, less than a quarter are Jewish. In the larger Jewish cast shows there are an average of 2 Jewish actors per 10 Jewish characters. Otherwise there are no Jews portraying themselves.
Imagine if this were any other ethnicity. Can you imagine the outcry? Hollywood did. That’s why ScarJo is no longer playing Asian roles, and why they’ve stopped tanning white actors for West Side Story. Yet not even a month ago they announced that Daisy Edgar-Jones (not-Jewish) would be playing Carole King (very Jewish) in her biopic. Where is the outcry from the non-Jews?
I often think about this moment from Hollywood. Patti LuPone portraying Avis (a Jewish Hollywood icon who is fictional but based on real people). Patti, Italian like many famous Jew-face actors are, says this:
Ironic, huh? “Nobody thought a Jewish girl could be a movie star. Nobody thought they were pretty” said by a non-Jewish actress, playing a Jewish role. Seems some people still don’t think Jewish girls could be movie stars.
So again I ask, why is Jew-erasure in the form of not casting Jews as Jews acceptable in society? Why is this form of antisemitism okay?
Because it’s all we’ve known. Because people don’t consider Jews a minority ethnicity the same way they do other groups. Because there are too few Jews to complain about it. Because contrary to belief, Jews don’t run Hollywood. Because nobody thinks Jewish girls are pretty. Because Jews can only serve a Jewish plot, and if a character doesn’t have to be Jewish, it’s erased.
Canon and non-fictional Jews can’t just be erased when you want them to be if it doesn’t fit with your ideas.
Jew-erasure is Jew-hate is antisemitism.
Erasing Jewishness from the screen is erasure. Is hatred. Is antisemitism.
Many just are so used to it, that it doesn’t raise any hairs. But reminder, blackface was common into the 50s and is a disgusting practice. Them taping the corner of actor’s eyes to play Asian, or tanning them to play indigenous, used to be common too. But not anymore. Things change, rightfully so. So why can’t it change for Jews too?
As always, ask questions if you have any. I’m planning on doing another post about this with some additional thoughts at a later date, but my computer is dead so figured I’d get some out now.
Here’s a list of shows with good Jewish rep:
Schitts Creek (Kids are both half-Jewish, Johnny is Sephardic). Made and stars Jewish actors (Eugene and Dan and Sarah, since they explicitly have the characters as both Jewish and Christian I’m giving them a break with Annie). They are normal people doing normal Schitts Creek thangs.
House. Stars Lisa Edelstein as Jewish Lisa Cuddy. There’s only episode that really digs into her being Jewish when it talks about her mom converting to Judaism, but it’s not handled badly. Lisa is just a regular person, her Jewishness is never outwardly a focus, but you know it’s there.
9-1-1 Lone Star. Ronen Rubinstein and Lisa Edelstein. Ronen as TK, Lisa as his mom. In season 1, TK wasn’t explicitly any religion/known ethnicity. But when Lisa was introduced, she came in as a Jewish character and so TK became one too. It was never heavy handed and only really came up a handful of times. All pretty tasteful. Both Ronen and Lisa are Jewish.
Okay nobody is reading this any longer so that’s it for now. Bye!
98 notes
·
View notes
Hey, antifas isnt very helpful. Why are you offended by goblin, goblincore and goblin related terminology?
you are bypassing the actual jewish person telling you that something is antisemetic to ask their NON JEWISH friend for input on a conversation about antisemetism. classy.
however, since i actually give a shit about the jewish people in my life, i know why these phrases raise red flags. i am not offended by goblin or goblin related terminology. that was never the argument. goblin is not inherently a bad word or has a negative connotation. however, over time, a lot of writers, film makers, game makers, and ordinary people have began to give goblins traits that are alarmingly similar to negative jewish caricatures.
here is a very famous example of an antisemetic caricature. next to it is a goblin from world of warcraft. the long hooked noses, crooked smile, exaggerated forehead, and squinting eyes make this is a clear caricature of jewish people. this is not a coincidence.
the term "goblincore" is associated with wanting shiny objects or a lot of coins or money, often hoarding that gold for themselves. this is exactly like a terrible antisemetic world view that says jewish people control the world's money and elite. ever heard the phrase "upper echelon" and wondered why those specific words are used? it's all rooted in antisemetic ideology.
this is a goblin from the first harry potter movie. note the exaggerated nose, squinting eyes, crooked grin, and larger forehead. all goblins in this universe are quite literally BANKERS. they control the money of the wizarding world. they see others as beneath them and unworthy to handle money and wealth. they are one of the worst cases of antisemetism ive seen in media.
the issue is not the term goblins. it's not even goblins themselves. it's the association to antisemetic caricatures and beliefs that make people uncomfortable and it's people like you who make jewish people uncomfortable to call it out. i really hope you take the time to read this and do your own research instead of expecting jewish individuals to take the time to educate you.
this isn't about you. grow up. do your own research. reevaluate your morals.
50 notes
·
View notes