#anyway if youre not jewish dont speak on jewish topics if you havent done research

[weirdmageddon]

i had no clue about this new show until now so i looked it up and, while i can definitely see that this show has some potentially massive issues if it's not handled properly, i'm not seeing anything so far that would make it more problematic (i know that word's overused but it's the best i can think of h) than Gravity Falls already was. i mean, Bill Cipher himself is a sentient illuminati symbol who posses canonically Jewish characters on screen multiple times (Ford and Dipper). There's also Grunkle Stan starting off as a pretty glaring stereotype of Jewish people being money hungry, but that's at least slightly subverted when his motives are explained. i'm not saying any of this to condemn Gravity Falls or Alex Hirsch or to excuse anything going on in the upcoming show (especially since i'm not Jewish myself and have no say on the matter either way), i'm just curious as to why you're more wary of this show when Gravity Falls has very similar problematic elements. Thanks for reading this all the way through, sorry if any of this was confusing or came off as accusatory.

okay so let me answer this as an actual jewish person

the design of bill, eye of providence, isnt by itself tied to the illuminati (and there are different illuminati groups anyway) but has become conflated with such in the modern age which is what made bill such a controversial design so alex could piss off rosary-clutching evangelicals (which i gotta say is something i can respect). it would be wrong of me to completely ignore the conflation though and as we all know once historically normal symbols can become corrupted and lose their original meaning but nowhere in the show is the illuminati called by name.. in the show, the eye of providence symbol was modeled after bill himself appearing throughout history and bestowing guidance upon human beings for millennia which is more in line with the original symbol itself—the eye of god bestowing divinity and providence—than a “secret elite group”. he’s also got a pyramid pattern which is inspired by the half pyramid on the back of united states seal. the eye of providence itself does not have anything to do with pyramid imagery outside of this. (this also goes without saying but bill also has one of the fucking best character designs in history im a sucker for eye imagery, his stupid little mr. peanut top hat and bowtie and his little L-shaped feet)

the problem with the illuminati anyway isnt the illuminati themselves but the DEMONIZATION of them by the catholic church because they opposed superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life and abuses of state power. the catholic church and conservatives did not like that and of course used the jews as a scapegoat for their paranoia like fucking usual. the eye of providence is not even mentioned on the wikipedia page. the only common thread between the illuminati and the eye of providence is freemasonry (who are also subject to antisemitic conspiracies)—which used the eye of providence as iconography sporadically and even then was only sometimes enclosed in a triangle. sometimes all the answers are right in front of you

and i think that you’re reaching too far about bill possessing them. stan and ford were definitely raised jewish as seen in the journal but i dont think theres any canon evidence for mabel and dipper other than people going wild with headcanons because hirsch is half-jewish. and even if the pines are all jewish it affects nothing about the plot of the show which is uncovering the weirdness and mysteries of a strange town called gravity falls wherein bill uses them as pawns so he can move his triangle ass to a new dimension because the nightmare realm is unstable.

even after it was revealed he was raised jewish i never got jewish stereotype vibes from stan but that’s probably because it was revealed after we found out the reason he was so money-fixated (kicked out of home, forced to survive and told his dad he’d millions on his own to prove that hes capable without ford). if we were told he was raised jewish before we knew his backstory and before he got much depth i think it would’ve been different though.

i’m wary of alex’s new show because it’s actually going to be a comedy about the about the actual real life conspiracies that are used as antisemitic dog whistles (reptilians, new world order shit) and it will be a disaster if not handled properly. i don’t care if he’s half-jewish—i’m jewish and i just don’t think it’s right to be playing those things off as some lala funny things and distorting the conspiracies from their antisemitic roots any further so that they dont seem as bad. even if conspiracy jokes are made in good faith because of how absurd it is (like sure reptilians controlling the government does seem absurd) it still holds the feeling of being called a slur deep down because they were originally created to dehumanize us

and looking at this...

great! still feels like im lowkey being shit on but dont worry its a new spin on it. how about you guys just dont make the show❤️

it’s just a bit tone-deaf and insensitive i think, especially in this day and age when misinformation and conspiracies in general are actively out of control and a present danger, due to the information bubbles and digital tribalism curated online. it’s not the right time for lighthearted comedy on this because it walks a very thin line of falling into insensitive territory by making real life conspiracy theories seem less dangerous to society than they actually are. and of course it also downplays the roots of classic conspiracies, which are of course drenched in antisemitism