The risks of antisemitism and the issues of the "Goblin Merchant" Dark and Darker

[[SiN]Rabbit]

At a time when that one game with the magic is being rightfully exposed for using Goblins as a stand-in for jewish people and including "goblin" traits like a "horn" which is a near mimic of the jewish Shofar, where that Horn references a "rebellion" that coincides with a pogrom against jewish people, it seems quite terrible to see a "Goblin Merchant"in the "Happy Merchant" antisemitic post.

https://i.imgur.com/o5LRVq8.png | https://i.imgur.com/ekwh7RS.png

https://twitter.com/MusketAnna/status/1624670100535103488 | https://twitter.com/MusketAnna/status/1624681378943041537

Truly, using goblins as a dogwhistle stand-in for jewish people is hardly obscure at this point, but adding antisemitic dogwhistles at the same time is just... far too clear.

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 OMG!：

引用自 SiNRabbit：

I'm not sure why you're upset, friend. Since the portrayal can be seen as antisemitic, and we agree that the devs and everyone else posting here are not antisemitic, then surely you support the changing of the art?


I agree. It is sad. :(

Hey I can't help but notice that rabbit you're using as a profile picture has it's front paws held together as if it's wringing it's hands.. could you please change your extremely problimatic profile picture please? I mean I'm sure you're not doing it on purpose but you should still change it.. to be less problimatic.

Ah, I think you're confused. Rabbits aren't capable of wringing their paws together. I hope this has been an educational experience for you, friend! It's not every day we get to learn about the wonderful biology of bunnies, after all!

[OMG!]

引用自 SiNRabbit：

引用自 OMG!：

Hey I can't help but notice that rabbit you're using as a profile picture has it's front paws held together as if it's wringing it's hands.. could you please change your extremely problimatic profile picture please? I mean I'm sure you're not doing it on purpose but you should still change it.. to be less problimatic.

Ah, I think you're confused. Rabbits aren't capable of wringing their paws together. I hope this has been an educational experience for you, friend! It's not every day we get to learn about the wonderful biology of bunnies, after all!

yeah but it looks that way so it veers into problimatic.. so you really should still change it.. i mean unless that's what you represent!? :O

[しord ひberman]

I am not sure if you are a troll or a goblin.

[Blaze Shadowflame]

You are the one comparing jews to goblins. Us normal folk just see a goblin in a fantasy game. Maybe you should think for a while about the fact that dogwhistles can only be heard by dogs, and why only you seem to be able to notice these "dogwhistles" that the rest of us miss.

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 Suros:/#：

引用自 SiNRabbit：

Maybe it's cultural empathy or generational empathy? Perhaps that is the difference, then. For some, bigotry has extended across such large swathes of time that multiple generations have been denied opportunities for advancement that have virtually restricted them to poverty, as with Redlining in the USA denying the chance for generational wealth to black families.

For jewish folks, antisemitic portrayals of them, as with the "happy merchant"-pose, which the "goblin merchant" uses, has been cause for extreme levels of abusive, bigotry, harassment, and violence. Empathy toward that nature would make one concerned, surely?

And since we're all in agreement that the devs of this game aren't antisemitic, I see no reason we can't all support them changing that, right? It is, after all, just a piece of art. Easy enough to change, and small in the grand scheme of things.

Well that's odd. I'm not any of those things, but I had my own share of problems anyway. Where was my shower of freebies? Somehow though, I made it anyway. As for the art, are you going to contribute the alternative, or are you going to demand that they produce more art until you're satisfied? Have you ever produced professional level art before?

I have produced professional art, yes, but my art exists in a different medium so it wouldn't be a useful contribution unfortunately.

As for your problems, friend, I truly regret that you have suffered them. Unfortunately generational wealth does not always pass down, due to the ravages of time, or the ravages of corporatism destroying the wealth of small towns, so many people end up finding themselves in our modern era having to start over from a much lesser position. And that says nothing about the rampant and long-running effects of changing on the tax-rates of corporations and the ultra-wealthy and how that has impacted everyone in the middle-class and belong, if we're still speaking in American terms. I know this won't help you with your struggles my friend, but the tragic reality is that those within minorities groups who come from a similar position in life as I do, or it seems like yourself as well perhaps, that of those without generational wealth, have even steeper barriers for building their own personal or generational wealth. And it's only gotten harder in the last four decades or so. Harder for all of us, and harder still for those in minority groups. I do not have much myself, life is a struggle every day and I think the last game I was able to afford was Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

[khaychi]

引用自 SiNRabbit：

At a time when that one game with the magic is being rightfully exposed for using Goblins as a stand-in for jewish people and including "goblin" traits like a "horn" which is a near mimic of the jewish Shofar, where that Horn references a "rebellion" that coincides with a pogrom against jewish people, it seems quite terrible to see a "Goblin Merchant"in the "Happy Merchant" antisemitic post.

https://i.imgur.com/o5LRVq8.png | https://twitter.com/MusketAnna/status/1624670100535103488

Truly, using goblins as a dogwhistle stand-in for jewish people is hardly obscure at this point, but adding antisemitic dogwhistles at the same time is just... far too clear.

Good lord, i hope you just forgot to take your pills today. If not, you should seek medical treatment QUICKLY.

[IroynArrow]

They/Them. Nonbinary trans elfin ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Obvious troll is obvious.

[OMG!]

引用自 SiNRabbit：

引用自 Suros:/#：

Well that's odd. I'm not any of those things, but I had my own share of problems anyway. Where was my shower of freebies? Somehow though, I made it anyway. As for the art, are you going to contribute the alternative, or are you going to demand that they produce more art until you're satisfied? Have you ever produced professional level art before?

I have produced professional art, yes, but my art exists in a different medium so it wouldn't be a useful contribution unfortunately.

As for your problems, friend, I truly regret that you have suffered them. Unfortunately generational wealth does not always pass down, due to the ravages of time, or the ravages of corporatism destroying the wealth of small towns, so many people end up finding themselves in our modern era having to start over from a much lesser position. And that says nothing about the rampant and long-running effects of changing on the tax-rates of corporations and the ultra-wealthy and how that has impacted everyone in the middle-class and belong, if we're still speaking in American terms. I know this won't help you with your struggles my friend, but the tragic reality is that those within minorities groups who come from a similar position in life as I do, or it seems like yourself as well perhaps, that of those without generational wealth, have even steeper barriers for building their own personal or generational wealth. And it's only gotten harder in the last four decades or so. Harder for all of us, and harder still for those in minority groups. I do not have much myself, life is a struggle every day and I think the last game I was able to afford was Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

The real question still remains though.. how can you ask them to change their so called problimatic image while refusing to change your own profile pic when someone says it's problimatic in the same way?

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 Blaze Shadowflame：

You are the one comparing jews to goblins. Us normal folk just see a goblin in a fantasy game. Maybe you should think for a while about the fact that dogwhistles can only be heard by dogs, and why only you seem to be able to notice these "dogwhistles" that the rest of us miss.

Ah, that's easy to answer! I've been deeply involved in researching the dissemination of neonazi ideals across the internet, and the tactics they use to infest communities. For example, one such tactic is the "reverse victim and offender" tactic, where they claim the person who is aware of their antisemitic dogwhistle but opposed to it is in fact the real problem.

I'm sure you had no intent to employ that tactic yourself friend, not on purpose of course, but that is more or less exactly how it appears. I hope you can use this educational experience to learn how to avoid it in the future.

This tactic can best be seen in the usage of memes where there may only be a small, seemingly innocuous trait that veers into bigotry, and the intent is to get people to laugh at it and slowly lead them down more and mot blatant examples all while denying any bigotry in a similar way until they just start to assert bigotries are truths.

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 IroynArrow：

They/Them. Nonbinary trans elfin ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Obvious troll is obvious.

Where did you see this?

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 OMG!：

引用自 SiNRabbit：

I have produced professional art, yes, but my art exists in a different medium so it wouldn't be a useful contribution unfortunately.

As for your problems, friend, I truly regret that you have suffered them. Unfortunately generational wealth does not always pass down, due to the ravages of time, or the ravages of corporatism destroying the wealth of small towns, so many people end up finding themselves in our modern era having to start over from a much lesser position. And that says nothing about the rampant and long-running effects of changing on the tax-rates of corporations and the ultra-wealthy and how that has impacted everyone in the middle-class and belong, if we're still speaking in American terms. I know this won't help you with your struggles my friend, but the tragic reality is that those within minorities groups who come from a similar position in life as I do, or it seems like yourself as well perhaps, that of those without generational wealth, have even steeper barriers for building their own personal or generational wealth. And it's only gotten harder in the last four decades or so. Harder for all of us, and harder still for those in minority groups. I do not have much myself, life is a struggle every day and I think the last game I was able to afford was Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

The real question still remains though.. how can you ask them to change their so called problimatic image while refusing to change your own profile pic when someone says it's problimatic in the same way?

Rabbits are not physically capable of wringing their paws. They don't have the anatomy required for that. Did I not already address this, friend? Ah, but if you were join the request for a change to the goblin merchant, then I would know you are making this statement in good faith and as such I would make the change myself. After all, you wouldn't make such a blatantly disingenuous claim just for the purposes of trolling. Surely you respect your own intelligence more than that, right? Of course you do, and I do as well. I know you're a well-rationed, intelligent, and reasonable person. So once you show yourself as an ally to the request, I'll be happy to change my profile picture even though the biological reality makes it senseless.

[Kettlesworth]

So, "The Happy Merchant" is real https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/happy-merchant But its in a specific context. Namely, portraying a stereotyped image of a Jew. The meme noted by ADL is quite recent; people have been doing "rubs hands together greedily" for a very very long time. If you're a writer, chances are you've written that exact phrase at some point, because its what comes to mind when we think of greed.

Take the "OK" hand signal. Sure, it's a dogwhistle when used by a racist to another racist who uses it that way. When my voice is taken by a cold and I'm using it agree with someone in person, I'm not doing a racist dog whistle.

Now, are goblins themselves, and especially greedy or mercantile goblins, universal jewish stereotypes, especially as they are commonly used in fantasy? I haven't seen evidence presented of that. Greedy goblins are a classic fantasy trope. Like orcs. Racism or anti-semitism comes into play when people equate real people with those fantasy creatures in a negative way.

For example, chimpanzees? Not racist. They're real animals. Photoshopping a black guy to look like a chimpanzee? Pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ racist. Does my white grandpa have some chimp-like features, and do I call my white nieces crazy monkeys sometimes when they climb all over things? Yes. Not being racist.

Context matters a lot, and I don't think we're in a place that all stereotyped greedy fictional races are actual stand-ins for Jewish people, and saying they are is in fact pretty deeply offensive. The ferengi in Star Trek? Big ears, very greedy, rub their hands together a lot? Not Jews.

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 OMG!：

引用自 SiNRabbit：

I have produced professional art, yes, but my art exists in a different medium so it wouldn't be a useful contribution unfortunately.

As for your problems, friend, I truly regret that you have suffered them. Unfortunately generational wealth does not always pass down, due to the ravages of time, or the ravages of corporatism destroying the wealth of small towns, so many people end up finding themselves in our modern era having to start over from a much lesser position. And that says nothing about the rampant and long-running effects of changing on the tax-rates of corporations and the ultra-wealthy and how that has impacted everyone in the middle-class and belong, if we're still speaking in American terms. I know this won't help you with your struggles my friend, but the tragic reality is that those within minorities groups who come from a similar position in life as I do, or it seems like yourself as well perhaps, that of those without generational wealth, have even steeper barriers for building their own personal or generational wealth. And it's only gotten harder in the last four decades or so. Harder for all of us, and harder still for those in minority groups. I do not have much myself, life is a struggle every day and I think the last game I was able to afford was Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

The real question still remains though.. how can you ask them to change their so called problimatic image while refusing to change your own profile pic when someone says it's problimatic in the same way?

In fact, out of a deep respect and acknowledgement for your wondrous intelligence, I'm happy to act in good faith myself and change my avatar first.

And as your evidence of your own intelligence, you will surely now join me in suggesting that the art of the goblin merchant be changed, yes?

[OMG!]

引用自 SiNRabbit：

引用自 OMG!：

..you wouldn't make such a blatantly disingenuous claim just for the purposes of trolling

Nope. Never. Neither would you right?

[[SiN]Rabbit]

引用自 Kettlesworth：

So, "The Happy Merchant" is real https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/happy-merchant But its in a specific context. Namely, portraying a stereotyped image of a Jew. The meme noted by ADL is quite recent; people have been doing "rubs hands together greedily" for a very very long time. If you're a writer, chances are you've written that exact phrase at some point, because its what comes to mind when we think of greed.

Take the "OK" hand signal. Sure, it's a dogwhistle when used by a racist to another racist who uses it that way. When my voice is taken by a cold and I'm using it agree with someone in person, I'm not doing a racist dog whistle.

Now, are goblins themselves, and especially greedy or mercantile goblins, universal jewish stereotypes, especially as they are commonly used in fantasy? I haven't seen evidence presented of that. Greedy goblins are a classic fantasy trope. Like orcs. Racism or anti-semitism comes into play when people equate real people with those fantasy creatures in a negative way.

For example, chimpanzees? Not racist. They're real animals. Photoshopping a black guy to look like a chimpanzee? Pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ racist. Does my white grandpa have some chimp-like features, and do I call my white nieces crazy monkeys sometimes when they climb all over things? Yes. Not being racist.

Context matters a lot, and I don't think we're in a place that all stereotyped greedy fictional races are actual stand-ins for Jewish people, and saying they are is in fact pretty deeply offensive. The ferengi in Star Trek? Big ears, very greedy, rub their hands together a lot? Not Jews.

As I was clear to cover, it is a wholly separate game which has included multiple jewish-analogues in with their portrayal of goblins, and that is what has put an attention on that goblin-jewish analogue into popular consciousness. I never accused this game or these devs of doing the same.