kafkaeskin:

jewpacabruhs:

so something’s been bothering me for a while & i want to address it, and that’s how kyle broflovski’s jewishness is treated in this fandom.

im aware that this fandom, like most, is largely populated by non-jews. that’s just part of being a minority. and im plenty used to judaism being disrespected. but the thing is, within this fandom, yall dont mean to. it’s not genuine hatred or even disdain, it’s just ignorance. and ignorance is easily remedied, so i’m gonna attempt to do that rn. if u wanna hear what i have to say, and honestly u should bc learning new perspectives is super important, pls read on. and i hope i don’t sound condescending, cuz im not trying to be; i’m just a lil fed up, and understandably.

i think the ignorance of sp fans, primarily kyman shippers (and i am one) is best illustrated by how people throw around kyle’s religion & ethnicity like it’s a personality trait. the same way yall lovingly call cartman ur “evil lil fatass” and kenny is affectionately referred to as a “saintly lil immortal”, and shit like that? kyle’s called a “fiesty lil jew”, and other variations of that. and it’s from a good place, it’s meant fondly, but it’s involuntarily dehumanizing and alienating. a personal story: i spent most of ninth grade w a group of guy “friends” who repeatedly made fun of my jewishness, not maliciously, but enough that it eventually started to hurt. i had one guy who, every time he saw me, went “how’s my favorite jew bitch?!” and it was funny at the time, but looking back, it fucking sucks to be reduced down to your religion. 

and i hope that one day kyle might even confront cartman about passively referring to him as “jew” so often, because, while it’s not as terrible as some of cartmans other anti-jewish behavior, it’s still bad. and you guys replicating that, & enabling it, regardless of whether u don’t mean anything by it, is fucking hurtful. im well-aware that anti-semitism, no matter how nonchalant, is still rampant, & im uber-aware how rampant it is amongst kyman fans, and it’d be wishful thinking to hope that i can change everyone’s mind on this, but i wanna try none the less.

i think it’s important to look into how to correctly portray jewish characters – whether u ask someone (like me! im happy to help!) or u look for resources online. jewish identity is so complex, & especially in teenagers (which is the age most sp writers set their fics at), when jewish kids are realizing what their judaism means, to them & to the world. take the time to put some work into that part of kyle, or at the very least try not to be offensive about it. u can make kyle nonreligious, that’s fine, but don’t be anti-jewish in the process. and ik it’s hard to write about things u dont understand, but fandom is primarily composed of straight girls writing about gay ships, & they manage, so i think yall goyim can manage to write about a jewish character in a semi-decent way.

and for artists? im awfully tired of seeing kyle with stars of david on him in fanart. especially huge ones on his sweater & shit like that. not only does it strip him of personality by exclusively focusing on his religion, it’s also obscenely inaccurate. as jews, we can’t be visibly jewish out in public. it’s unsafe. hasidic jews can, within their communities, but even then, nothing could stop a violent anti-semite from attacking them. as for reform and conservative jews, who live life amongst goyim, and especially for young ones in high school, the best we can do is wear a small magen david necklace, preferably under our shirt; keeping our identities close to our hearts, but ourselves safe. i think yall doubt how violent antisemitism can get. we can genuinely be murdered just for being jewish. unlike black folks, who can’t hide their skin color & can’t avoid the treatment they receive due to said skin color, jews can hide our jewishness, & we’re fucking grateful for it. cuz it’s a scary world. we’re proud of being jews, but we don’t flaunt it, for our own protection. being jewish is being discrete in a world that’s not safe for us. so when artists plaster a big old magen david on kyle, as if he’d ever wear that and allow people to make assumptions & potentially end up in harms way? i cringe p bad.

and i know i sound like a whiny jew & yall think it’s not that deep but it’s important for people to know. kyle’s jewishness isn’t just a personality trait, and it’s definitely not an accessory; it’s a piece of his identity, even if he’s too young to realize it in canon. he may be a fictional character, but judaism isn’t fictional, & it’s important it’s treated respectfully. so please; make an effort.

wow thank you for writing this GOOD POST everyone should read this.