I think if JK wasn’t an absolute crapfest of a human being, I might be inclined to feel less anger towards the goblins. It was most likely done in ignorance (although pretty severe ignorance) and if she was a generally good person, who was trying to learn and grow, I might be more inclined to be like “yeah ok, mistakes happen and this is shitty but you’re trying.”
Obviously we know that is not the case.
But the goblin stuff is absolutely, 100% a connection. Antisemetism is old as fuck, as I’m sure you’re more than aware of. There is SO MUCH antisemetism in things that are spread around TODAY as like “memes” and shit.
the illumanati (secret rich people controlling society? jews!)
snake people living among us or hiding in the sewers (jews!)
this person is secretly a cyborg/alien trying to learn our human ways (jews!)
Not to mention, there’s a lot of shit we associate with witches in general that’s got antisemetic origins. Pointy hat, big nose, warts... once again, Jews. We still see this shit, notably in cartoon villians. Mother Gothel and Olivia Octavius from Spiderverse come to mind. Big bushy hair, pointy nose, you get the gist.
Do 90% of the people sharing these memes, or dressing up as witches or whatever even realize that? Absolutely not. But that doesn’t remove the antisemetism from the orgins.
So when JK Rowling sat down and wrote her hooked nose greedy race that controls all the money, she did so with a complete disregard for how that is an OBVIOUS antisemetic trope. She didn’t care. And she’s not a kid on the internet being like “heh heh, sneeple” either. She’s an adult publishing a book series. You think you’d put some thought into that??
OK I don’t mean to be giving you a “modern day antisemetism in pop culture’ lecture, and this isnt me assuming you don’t know this already. I’m just illustrating my point. These connections are NOT a coincidence. The big noses, the greed and money obsession, it all goes back to things society has been taught to associate with villainy and evil. Mother Gothel and Doc Ock are supposed to look like cunning witches, the goblins are supposed to be wealth obsessed grifters. But ALL those things go back to antisemetism, the way they’ve been ingrained into society and pop culture. Even if the direct association is removed in the minds of general audiences, the history is a hatred and fear of Jews.
Anyways, sorry this is such an essay and I’m also sorry if my original post was super aggressive sounding. I get frustrated about this stuff but that’s not an excuse for being rude.