I don't remember exactly what I was reading; I think it was probably a Tumblr post, possibly related to a certainly recently released blatantly antisemitic video game. But anyway, I was reading some post or article about antisemitism, and it made the point that one of the common antisemitic tropes is that Jews secretly control the world... and that many conspiracy theories about powerful, sinister secret societies are rooted in antisemitism.

So I got to thinking about some of the worlds of the Wongery. Surely secret organizations that exercise power behind the scenes aren't inherently an antisemitic trope, right? Besides, did I have many such organizations in the Wongery? Well, there are the groups of wizards that secretly control the world of Curcalen, but, again, the idea of secret societies isn't confined to antisemitic conspiracy theories. And in the case of these specific secret societies, I didn't think they were a problem. There's nothing about the cabals of Curcalen that necessarily...

Hold up hold up hold up.

The word "cabal" is of Hebrew origin; it comes ultimately from "Kabbalah" (קַבָּלָה), the name of a Jewish tradition of esoteric thought. Hm... a word taken from Hebrew used to refer to secretive organizations; has "cabal" ever been used as an antisemitic dogwhistle?

So I looked it up online and of course it has.

That's not to say I think using the word "cabal" is necessarily always antisemitic. In some contexts, it probably would be fine and not bring to mind antisemitic conspiracy theories. Similarly, I don't think the idea of mystical organizations that secretly control the world necessarily smacks of antisemitism. But putting the two together, mystical organizations that secretly control the world and are called cabals... yeah, that's, uh, a bad look.

Now, I certainly didn't mean it that way. While I had been aware of the word's Hebrew origin, I didn't have it in mind when I decided to call the sorcerous organizations that secretly control Curcalen "cabals". I definitely did not intend for any parallels to be drawn between these organizations and some sort of supposed Jewish conspiracy. But. The fact that I didn't mean it that way doesn't mean it can't be taken that way, and there are antisemitic connotations there even if I didn't intend them.

Now, I like the word "cabal", and I think it fits the Curcalish wizardly societies, and I even kind of like the alliteration of "cabals of Curcalen"... but I don't like the word enough to leave it in where it might be taken for an antisemitic dogwhistle. I'll come up with another name for those organizations. (In fact, presumably by the time you're reading this the change will have already been made, but, yeah, originally they were called "cabals".)

I'm not saying all this to pat my own back for spotting and removing this loaded reference. If I'd been more sensitive to the issue, I would never have named them "cabals" in the first place. I'm just telling this to make the point that while I certainly haven't intentionally put anything into the Wongery that plays into racist, sexist, ablist, or otherwise prejudicatory and vilipensive themes, there may be content that does so unintentionally. I certainly belong to some privileged classes myself—I try to avoid giving any identifying information, but I don't think it's giving away too much to say that I am not a physically enabled cis straight white male, but I am most of those things. I don't have much direct experience with being a target of discrimination, and there may be some dogwhistles and disparagements that I don't recognize as such. There probably are some tropes and stereotypes I've internalized without being aware of their derogative origins, and while I am opposed to any such systems and instruments of oppression I unfortunately can't guarantee I may not still retain some biases myself that I'm unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge. If there is anything in the Wongery that seems to be promoting or reflecting some slur or stereotype about some race, gender, sexuality, or other disadvantaged group, please point it out, and if it seems to be a serious issue we'll change it.

Anyway, I'm still not sure what I'm going to rename the groups of conspiring Curcalish wizards, but yeah, by the time of the hard launch next January I'll have come up with something; I definitely don't plan to leave them as "cabals"...