#i will include the antisemtism tags however

[acearohippo]

OK this has to stop. This blatant red herring that's going on. Yes, the idea of goblins were linked to Jewish people (something I found out two minutes ago through a Google search... And it was mostly about JK Rowling which, well, is a bit yikes but not unexpected) but no that isn't why goblins existed in the first place. Goblins originated in western Europe, on the isles of what is now Great Britain and Northern Ireland WAAAYYYY before they even came into contact with Jewish people. Instead, goblins were created to be cave and underground sprites that help the good navigate the vast systems (they were tin miners back then) or caused trouble for those who were bad. They liked to play tricks on unsuspecting people too (as did all Gaelic/Celtic mystical creatures). Here's a link to a reddit post that goes extremely in depth about the origins of goblins :

To summarise it: there was a belief that many sprites were just spirits of dead people and, later on when they finally met the Jews, they thought "oh, these must be the the people from which these sprites came from" because the Jews buried their dead underground and goblins come from underground. Makes sense. It wasn't until much, much much later that some of the more bad characteristics were linked to Jewish "culture" (in quotes because, obviously, these are just harmful stereotypes not factual links).

Now, I am not saying that just because its origins are mostly benevolent doesn't mean the meaning hasn't or cannot be changed into a negative one. I am also not saying that, if it does make you uncomfortable for this reason that you have to get over it or anything. However, I do ask that you take a moment to think, really think, and realise that the majority of antisemitism in history occurred/occurs in Europe and outside of the country it is not as, how you say, prominent. East Asia, which is where South Korea is located aka the hub of devsister's company, does NOT have the same history with Jews as Europe or even the West. They are aware of what happened but, much like how the West doesn't know about every single ethnic group that's been abused in east Asia and harmful stereotypes and slurs about them, the same goes vice versa.

But what about the goblins? And milk cookie? Easy answer: RPGs and/or DnD. When Milk cookie was introduce it was alongside a very obvious Barbarian Class Cookie. Cleric's are a well known class in DnD as well and the whole finding the dragons and picking up random teammates along the way SCREAMS tabletop rp. Which is what most of the fandom took it as. Goblins? Literally the most basic enemy in any RPG you play, alongside slimes and bandits. They're a staple to RPG culture and, ironically enough, popularised through Tolkien's version of goblins- those goblins being a subspecies of orcs (read the link, its really interesting!). As Western culture grew more into the fantasy genre, Eastern culture picked up on it as well, but they just picked up on what they saw not the potential problematic comparisons.

Which brings me to the end of this rant tirade. I am begging you guys to still be on the lookout for this sort of stuff in popular media. Never stop being wary until every group is respected and treated as people instead of vicious stereotypes. But I also plead for you guys to just take a step back before you go on your rants and look at the context of these situations. If this was an american or European game, then yeah this would absolutely be sus. But its not, its made in Korea, by Koreans, and for Koreans first and foremost. That's why you get the sort of silly outdated 1001 Arabian Nights' Yoghurt Cookie- although him being yoghurt and middle Eastern is very accurate as yoghurt is very important in middle eastern traditional cuisine. Take a moment to pause and see the setting the cookie's are introduced. To use another example, Sorbet Shark Cookie seemingly looking "white washed" in his shark form, when in reality he was a shark cookie FIRST and transforms into a cookie because of whatever spell or magic he obtained. Also, he's a fish he gets his colouring from food he eats. Fish don't get "darker/lighter" by the sun or lack of it, like humans do. But I digress. The Point I'm trying to make is at least wait until the update and get all the facts in before going on a tirade. Much like with Purple Yam Cookie where people just assumed that he would be a bad guy because they thought that's what devsisters were doing when they made him angry (which, honestly, felt rather sus to me for players to claim he was "another dark-skinned bad guy cookie" before he was fully introduced... *cough* who's the r*cist there? *cough*), just wait it out and see where they're going with the story. Overall, they've been very chill. Milk Cookie is not holy righteousness, just a very buff sweetie that wants to help and see the best in everyone.

So sorry, I cannot spread this around genuinely because I do not see it genuinely. Like I said initially, it feels more like a red herring being thrown around, meant to make people feel guilty for liking something without actually giving the reasons behind it. A tactic to get people riled up and readying for battle without any knowledge as to what, who, or why they're fighting. A very, very dangerous form of manipulation that does more harm to the oppressed group rather than help as a lack of research has them fighting the wrong enemy.

I know we’re all very excited for the new update with Kiwi’s buff, the new cookie Melon Bun, etc etc. But we absolutely HAVE to address the issues with Goblin Cookie. 

Goblins, as a whole, are rife with antisemitic sentiment as a lot of their prominent characteristics are stereotypes of jewish people. Goblin cookie is no exception as they have already been stated to be greedy and in search of crystals/treasure. Devsis has had issues with antisemitism before, too, with Milk Cookie’s whole design. I don’t want to see any of you drawing fanart or liking an antisemitic caricature.