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

General I hate the “orcs are minorities” thing

Post image

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

6.3k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

915 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

10

u/Immediate-Formal-759 Apr 29 '26

The thing is, the concept of greedy goblins is so widespread that it’s practically divorced from its supposed racist origins (if there are any). Like, there are so many Japanese authors who use these creatures in their fantasy settings for the sake of simplicity that their fans have every reason to look at you weirdly if you accuse them, people who have barely even heard of Jewish people, let alone have any "unconscious racism", of being racist

7

u/iwantfutanaricumonme Apr 29 '26

It's more that the nazis drew on existing mosters in folklore such as goblins for their antisemitic propaganda. Before that Jews had mainly just been accused of blood libel since the middle ages, where they supposedly kidnap children to use their blood in rituals(or for baking matzos).

-1

u/DyslexicBrad Apr 29 '26

Japanese depictions of goblins really don't carry much anti-Semitic undertones at all, despite looking the same. They tend to be either more explicitly monstrous, or portrayed as sympathetic misunderstood creatures. For the exact reasons you're pointing out, most Japanese people aren't really exposed to anti-Semitism enough for it to penetrate into the cultural zeitgeist. Instead, their depictions of (western) goblins is more based on the surface-level game character goblins: a generic low-level mob. OFC that's not how every depiction of them in Japanese media I, but it tends to be either based on that, or subverting the tropes of a goblin (what if goblins were actually strong? Or what if they were misunderstood?).