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Author Topic: ...Now Apparently Dungeons and Dragons is loaded with Anti-semitic Secret Codes  (Read 15545 times)

GameDaddy
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Shasarak

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If Dwarves are supposed to be Jewish* then how come they always speak with a Scottish accent?

Check and mate.



If you are looking for Jewish caricatures then the best I have seen are the Goblin Money Changers from the Harry Potter franchise which is famously not a DnD world.
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jhkim

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If Dwarves are supposed to be Jewish* then how come they always speak with a Scottish accent?

They might have Scottish accents in adaptations, but the Jewish parallel was confirmed by Tolkien himself.

Quote
In a BBC radio interview with Dennis Gueroult, recorded in 1964 and broadcast the next year, Tolkien made a statement connecting his Dwarves with the Jewish people. What he said was: ‘The Dwarves of course are quite obviously – wouldn’t you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic.’ Also in 1964, he wrote to W.R. Matthews: ‘The language of the Dwarves [...] is Semitic in cast, leaning phonetically to Hebrew (as suits the Dwarvish character).’
...
Tolkien had added a remark about ‘a tremendous love of the artefact, and of course the immense warlike capacity of the Jews, which we tend to forget nowadays.’
Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265759803_Jewish_Dwarves_Tolkien_and_Anti-Semitic_Stereotyping

Though he also had a distaste of nazis and other anti-semitism of his time.

Quote
In a letter to Stanley Unwin regarding this affair, dated 25 July 1938, an outraged Tolkien called the racist Nazi laws ‘lunatic’, adding ‘I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine’
Source: same



EDITED TO ADD:  Which is to say, Tolkien did base his dwarves partly on Jews - though that doesn't inherently make them anti-semitic. He certainly wasn't anti-semitic in the nazi sense, but I could see people saying that his image was helping to stereotype Jews. The point about the lich and the golem are more of a stretch. D&D does butcher the Jewish mythology of the golem, but it does the same to most other mythologies.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2021, 10:37:56 PM by jhkim »

Shasarak

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If Dwarves are supposed to be Jewish* then how come they always speak with a Scottish accent?

They might have Scottish accents in adaptations, but the Jewish parallel was confirmed by Tolkien himself.

Then why do they ride War Pigs when Jews are famously War Pig Fobic?

Now thats just not kosher.

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Does this mean I have to stop telling my Jewish players that if they bitch about the rest of us ordering Hawaiian pizza they're going in the oven?

BTW, we need MANY more articles like this one. The most exciting way forward for WotC to receive its much deserved total collapse is for nobody other than SJW freakjobs to consider playing their games because WHO THE FUCK would want to hang out with anyone like the fucknuts who write these articles and Twatter garbage who support it?

moonsweeper

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If that is the "antisemitism" that has him lathered up enough to write an article about then I think he is suffering from a first world problem...which is confirmed by the fact he is still playing that awful D&D game.

EDITED TO ADD:  Which is to say, Tolkien did base his dwarves partly on Jews - though that doesn't inherently make them anti-semitic. He certainly wasn't anti-semitic in the nazi sense, but I could see people saying that his image was helping to stereotype Jews. The point about the lich and the golem are more of a stretch. D&D does butcher the Jewish mythology of the golem, but it does the same to most other mythologies.

yeah...I think the golem and phylactery complaints are a non-starter considering some of the other 'abused' mythology in D&D.

...but in order to help the author out

Let me think for a sec...

Dwarves are harder than hell to kill off and their two favorite pastime activities are drinking and fighting?

...I'm claiming them as Scots-Irish.  :P

He can go find some other D&D race to 'represent' him.  I am proud of my Dwarven heritage!
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SHARK

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Does this mean I have to stop telling my Jewish players that if they bitch about the rest of us ordering Hawaiian pizza they're going in the oven?

BTW, we need MANY more articles like this one. The most exciting way forward for WotC to receive its much deserved total collapse is for nobody other than SJW freakjobs to consider playing their games because WHO THE FUCK would want to hang out with anyone like the fucknuts who write these articles and Twatter garbage who support it?

Greetings!

Exactly, brother! WOTC can choke on all of this stupidity.

Tolkien made his Dwarves with a nod towards being similar to the Jews? Fucking good! Jews should rejoice, and be proud. Tolkien's Dwarves are widely and deeply beloved by millions of fans world wide.

Clannish, grumpy, pragmatic, passionate Jewish Dwarves are fucking awesome! YES! The stereotypes, such as they have been alluded to, are fucking great. Who cares? Lots of them have aspects that have always been true. Any honest Jew will tell you the same. Everyone has stereotypes, and many of them remain accurate. Again, so what? Stereotypes are part of what makes life fun and interesting. Most Jews I know have a good sense of humour--and appreciate very much--and celebrate--their many cultural stereotypes. Just like Germans, Italians, Irish, Mexicans, Russians, Filippinos, Japanese, Greeks, and fucking everyone. Oh my god! Some book uses someone's stereotypes! Oh geesus. Fuck off and die in a fire. 

Oh, and much of those alluded to Jewish stereotypes for Tolkien's Dwarves are also very true for Scottish and Irish people, too! Clannish, proud, passionate, stubborn to a fault, pig-headed, moody, vengeful, being violent, and loving to drink alcohol, and smoke pipe tobacco? HELLO? Irish and Scottish stereotypes!!! I'm so fucking offended! God these jackasses need to choke!

And, as an aside, when the fuck did any inclusion, alliteration, borrowing, or otherwise inspiration of the Jews become such a whine fest? All of the SJW's, and all of the anti-Semite, anti-Jewish racists and fucking morons can go circle jerk themselves into a crying fit of sobbing hysteria.

Western civilization is *hugely* influenced by the Jews--by Hebrews, Israel, and also Judaism, especially through the many aspects of Judeo-Christian culture, mythology, iconography, and religion.

And you know what else? LOTS of the swarmy, snot-nosed, cock-sucking SJW's are HUGELY ANTI-SEMITIC! They *hate* Israel. They don't want to talk about how they would love for the Muslims to plough-fuck every Jew into oblivion. These cock-sucking frauds and racists only like to pretend to "defend Jews"--especially when it is socially convenient, financially profitable, or otherwise burnishes their virtue-signaling badges.

Semper Fidelis,

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« Last Edit: February 05, 2021, 12:47:56 AM by SHARK »
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Ratman_tf

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EDITED TO ADD:  Which is to say, Tolkien did base his dwarves partly on Jews - though that doesn't inherently make them anti-semitic. He certainly wasn't anti-semitic in the nazi sense, but I could see people saying that his image was helping to stereotype Jews. The point about the lich and the golem are more of a stretch. D&D does butcher the Jewish mythology of the golem, but it does the same to most other mythologies.

Exactly. The leap from Tolkien basing some aspects of Dwarves on Jews to antisemitism is the whole point of the article, and it doesn't bear any scrutiny, and gets downright silly in places.
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EDITED TO ADD:  Which is to say, Tolkien did base his dwarves partly on Jews - though that doesn't inherently make them anti-semitic. He certainly wasn't anti-semitic in the nazi sense, but I could see people saying that his image was helping to stereotype Jews. The point about the lich and the golem are more of a stretch. D&D does butcher the Jewish mythology of the golem, but it does the same to most other mythologies.

Exactly. The leap from Tolkien basing some aspects of Dwarves on Jews to antisemitism is the whole point of the article, and it doesn't bear any scrutiny, and gets downright silly in places.

Same way that Aunt Jemima and that Native American woman on the butter were also racist. They were there, so they had to be removed, because reasons, checkmate.

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I saw this earlier. There is evidently a reason the articles don't have a comment section, because we'd tell him it's fucking retarded.

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“If I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.” -Tolkien

Anti-Semitic? More like pro-Semitic.

jhkim

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It's an interesting question to me -- when did the stereotype of dwarves having a Scottish accent start? I'm guessing it predates the LotR movies, but I don't know what an earlier source would be.

“If I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people.” -Tolkien

Anti-Semitic? More like pro-Semitic.

While it might be misleading to call it "anti-semitism", many people are justifiably annoyed even at supposedly positive stereotypes -- like saying "Jews are great with money" or "blacks are great at sports and great dancers" or "Asians are good at math and martial arts". One of the problems of terminology around this is that these sorts of stereotypes are often lumped into the same category as nazis or the KKK, but that doesn't mean one can't complain about them.

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This is what happens when a generation does not get told at school (or outside school) that "No. You are full of shit, and your opinions are also shit."

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shuddemell

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If that is the "antisemitism" that has him lathered up enough to write an article about then I think he is suffering from a first world problem...which is confirmed by the fact he is still playing that awful D&D game.

EDITED TO ADD:  Which is to say, Tolkien did base his dwarves partly on Jews - though that doesn't inherently make them anti-semitic. He certainly wasn't anti-semitic in the nazi sense, but I could see people saying that his image was helping to stereotype Jews. The point about the lich and the golem are more of a stretch. D&D does butcher the Jewish mythology of the golem, but it does the same to most other mythologies.

yeah...I think the golem and phylactery complaints are a non-starter considering some of the other 'abused' mythology in D&D.

...but in order to help the author out

Let me think for a sec...

Dwarves are harder than hell to kill off and their two favorite pastime activities are drinking and fighting?

...I'm claiming them as Scots-Irish.  :P

He can go find some other D&D race to 'represent' him.  I am proud of my Dwarven heritage!

It's interesting how he bangs on about phylactery, when in fact the term is from the ancient greek, meaning amulet or to guard. How in the world does that translate to anti-semitism? It's use predates using it to describe the amulet that orthodox Jews wear, and in fact, wouldn't it be cultural appropriation to describe this Jewish talisman with Greek words? While it is used to describe that object, it in no way is using it as a perjorative or slight. It's preposterous from the get go.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2021, 02:34:22 PM by shuddemell »
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