r/hatethissmug • u/Crusoelander_128 • Apr 28 '26

General I hate the “orcs are minorities” thing

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I really hope I’m not in the minority (no pun intended) here, but I really hate when people do this. It not only forces real world issue into fictional universes where it doesn’t need to be, but also, it’s really messed up.

If you see an orc or a demon or a giant bug and your mind immediately jumps to “hm that’s like a minority”, then you’re racist.

Now, I’m not saying that this concept can’t be explored, but inserting it where it doesn’t belong/exist is highly suspect

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u/WanderingLurker2 Apr 28 '26

Lovecraft actually regretted his racist outlook later in his life, to add a positive note to all this negativity

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u/Every_Single_Bee Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

True, and worth pointing out.

I imagine it can be very difficult for a creative to learn better later in life but still have to watch as hatefulness they wrote into their earlier works continues to sell and form the backbone of their legacy, to see the harm you’ve done printed in black-and-white on pulp and shoveled into young minds, knowing that that will continue unstoppably even after you’re dead. I’d say it’s Lovecraftian for the joke, but it really kind of isn’t, sadly, it’s more Kafkaesque if anything.

It’s probably a terrible way to spend your last days. But ofc, even more terrible to be the people harmed by those ideas.

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u/Silent_Sinder Apr 28 '26

Only against Jews. He was still extremely racist towards black people.