Hi Rakhel! I want to thank you for writing this beautifully written post, which quite succinctly and eloquently refutes JK Rowling's points. I stumbled upon your post because I wrote my own on the topic and am looking to see if I can publish it elsewhere (You can read mine here: https://artinmotionblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/response-to-jk-rowling.html). Though I'm writing as a straight/cis person, our blog posts are so similar in sentiment. It's amazing how many people must be processing this similarly but in our own ways. I also love your Jewish lens on the topic (I live in Chicago and svara is awesome!).
The only thing I take a bit of issue with is the goblin-anti-Semistim link that I've seen thrown around before. As much as I'm hesitant to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt anymore, I think I still will on this topic. It seems clear that goblin-lore is filled with negative portrayals of short, greedy folks who deal with money. These traits could also appear in anti-Semitic stereotypes/caricatures of Jews by chance or it could be that goblin lore is rooted in anti-Semitism. I'm not sure we'll ever know, but I'm willing to go with the assumption that the goblins were...well..just goblins. This is a good summary: https://momentmag.com/debunking-the-harry-potter-anti-semitism-myth/
Hi Rakhel! I want to thank you for writing this beautifully written post, which quite succinctly and eloquently refutes JK Rowling's points. I stumbled upon your post because I wrote my own on the topic and am looking to see if I can publish it elsewhere (You can read mine here: https://artinmotionblog.blogspot.com/2020/06/response-to-jk-rowling.html). Though I'm writing as a straight/cis person, our blog posts are so similar in sentiment. It's amazing how many people must be processing this similarly but in our own ways. I also love your Jewish lens on the topic (I live in Chicago and svara is awesome!).
The only thing I take a bit of issue with is the goblin-anti-Semistim link that I've seen thrown around before. As much as I'm hesitant to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt anymore, I think I still will on this topic. It seems clear that goblin-lore is filled with negative portrayals of short, greedy folks who deal with money. These traits could also appear in anti-Semitic stereotypes/caricatures of Jews by chance or it could be that goblin lore is rooted in anti-Semitism. I'm not sure we'll ever know, but I'm willing to go with the assumption that the goblins were...well..just goblins. This is a good summary: https://momentmag.com/debunking-the-harry-potter-anti-semitism-myth/
In either case, thank you for your writing!